Chapter 151: Sample Testing and Archive Records
Yu Sheng was a bit stunned. The laboratory staff’s solemn and cautious attitude upon receiving the samples far exceeded his expectations. It had seemed normal when they collected the piece of paper, but their demeanor shifted dramatically when they took away the iron lump.
[So, items brought out from Wutong Road No. 66 really make the Special Affairs Bureau act like they’re facing a deadly threat?]
Yu Sheng’s mind swirled with thoughts, but he knew Xu Jiali standing beside him wouldn’t spill anything—and even if the man wanted to, he probably had nothing to say. After all, this muscular operative was, at the end of the day, just a seasoned combatant with likely no access to core secrets.
So Yu Sheng said nothing. He merely watched the lab personnel carry the items inside and let out a breath. He turned to Xu Jiali. “So that’s it? I thought I could observe the process myself…”
“Of course you can, but only from the observation room,” Xu Jiali chuckled. “This lab is high-security. Getting inside is a hassle—changing clothes, discharging static, taking a dose of Sanity Blocking Agent… it all takes at least half an hour. Only those with special Door training can enter the operational zone. It’s not worth the trouble.”
As he spoke, he gestured toward another Door along the corridor. “Come with me. This room gives a clear view of the lab. The documents you requested are already there. Also… our Madam Director is waiting for you.”
“Your Madam Director? She came in person again?” Yu Sheng was a bit surprised. As he led Foxy and Irene toward the adjacent room, he continued, “I feel bad always disturbing her…”
Xu Jiali just smiled, saying nothing more. When they reached the observation room, he knocked and announced them, then stepped back. “I won’t go in. Our Madam Director doesn’t like interruptions when receiving guests.”
Yu Sheng nodded and thanked him for his guidance. He straightened his expression and pushed open the Door.
The room inside was a modest rectangular space with light brown flooring and pale blue wallpaper. The lighting was bright, and the temperature was comfortable.
Being an “observation room” attached to the lab, its furnishings were simple. Apart from a few monitoring devices and control panels mounted along the wall, it held only a table and a few chairs that seemed temporarily brought in.
A woman in a white suit, her entire presence oddly devoid of color, stood in the room. Behind her was a vast window spanning nearly an entire wall. Through its faintly glowing blue surface, the adjacent laboratory was visible—a large space bustling with personnel in protective suits, all focused on the very samples Yu Sheng had delivered.
“Welcome to the Special Affairs Bureau,” came the cool voice of Bai Li Qing. Her icy demeanor as Female Bureau Chief cracked slightly with a possible hint of a smile. “Apologies for such a modest first reception—but I imagine you’re more interested in the analysis results than a comfortable parlor.”
“True. I’m a practical man, and I am quite curious about the… ‘work’ of these specialists.”
Yu Sheng stepped up to the giant window. Inside the lab, technicians were placing the scrap of paper from the Entity-Hunter beneath a device and spraying it with some liquid. It appeared to be an initial processing step.
Bai Li Qing’s eyes now shifted to Foxy and Irene, her colorless gaze holding faint undertones of curiosity and scrutiny.
Irene, unafraid, climbed onto the nearest chair, hands on hips, returning the gaze with her usual bravado.
Foxy, a bit more reserved, stepped beside Yu Sheng and gave a polite nod. “Hel… hello.”
“Greetings,” Bai Li Qing replied coolly.
“What about the other sample I brought? The iron lump that looked completely useless.”
“The two samples require separate handling. It’s been taken to a different operation chamber.”
As she spoke, Bai Li Qing casually tapped a control terminal on the table. The large window flickered, and half of it transformed into a live feed from another operational chamber.
Technicians there were placing the iron lump into a strange transparent tube-like container and positioning it onto a table, seemingly preparing to subject it to high-energy scanning or irradiation.
Yu Sheng watched the shifting view with surprise. Then, with a thoughtful frown, he turned toward Bai Li Qing.
“…Is that lab really ‘next door’?”
“Not entirely,” Bai Li Qing’s eyes glinted with a subtle smile. “It seems you’ve already picked up on quite a few of this tower’s ‘quirks’ on your way here.”
“Is that ‘metal lump’ really so special?” Yu Sheng finally voiced the question that had been lingering in his mind. “You all looked like you were preparing for war… I even posted about it on the Border Communication Platform, but no one seemed to know what it was…”
“After you mentioned it yesterday, I tracked down your post,” Bai Li Qing answered readily. “To be frank, we don’t know what it is either.”
“Huh… you don’t?” Yu Sheng was startled. “Then why all the fuss…”
“Precisely because no known method could identify it,” Bai Li Qing said seriously, “even after deploying some rather… ‘unorthodox’ techniques, we found no matching records or leads. That makes it particularly intriguing. The sudden appearance of a foreign object in an already stabilized Otherworld is a rare phenomenon—one that warrants our full attention.”
Yu Sheng paused, finding the logic sound—until a thought struck him. “Wait, by that standard, Wutong Road No. 66 gets foreign objects all the time…”
At that, Bai Li Qing, who had been calmly composed a moment ago, suddenly widened her eyes, her gaze sharp as a blade. “What did you say? More foreign objects appeared there?!”
Yu Sheng flinched at her reaction, bewildered but quick to explain. “Uh… I mean, I gotta go out the Door to buy stuff, right? Groceries, market runs, whatever. Like that plastic bag on the table—I brought that back from the supermarket last time…”
Bai Li Qing: “…”
Yu Sheng: “…?
An awkward silence fell over the room. The two locked eyes, neither saying a word. Foxy’s ears bristled as she resumed her usual Demon Fox Maiden form since arriving at the Special Affairs Bureau. Nearby, Irene slid down from her chair, muttering under her breath as she crawled away, “Bet she’s about to start yelling again…”
“…I wasn’t clear,” Bai Li Qing finally said after a deep breath. Her tone leveled as she clarified for Yu Sheng, “I was referring to unidentified matter spontaneously materializing within Wutong Road No. 66—not groceries you fetched through the Door.”
Yu Sheng considered this, working to keep his face straight as he turned and sat in a chair nearby. “Right… then let’s talk about the Black Forest.”
“Good,” Bai Li Qing promptly took her seat across from him, sliding over some neatly arranged documents. “These are duplicate files pulled from the archive—operation records and personnel details from back then. You can go over them now. The documents must stay here; they’ll self-destruct once you leave this room. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me directly.”
Yu Sheng quickly composed himself, pushing aside distracting thoughts, and opened the fresh-looking paper files—copies clearly printed or reproduced earlier today, still marked with a destruction deadline.
On the cover of the first document, bold letters caught his eye—
Operation Codename: Coming of Age.
Yu Sheng’s expression subtly shifted.
Bai Li Qing’s voice flowed into his ears:
“That operation back then… we named it ‘Coming of Age.’ You can probably infer the meaning from the name alone. From our current perspective, that mission was immature, reckless—even arrogant. You’ll likely notice some of the avoidable ‘mistakes’ as you go through the files. But I must say this: every so-called ‘correct’ path we follow today was carved out by those pioneers—one hard-earned step at a time, often at the cost of their lives.”
“I understand,” Yu Sheng exhaled slowly, his demeanor growing solemn.
Bai Li Qing gave a small nod.
“When ‘Fairy Tale’ was first discovered, we knew almost nothing about it, and its traits were incredibly misleading,” she began, her tone slow and deliberate. “At the time, the Special Affairs Bureau believed it was a sort of mental confinement trap—targeting only minors, limited in strength and slow to activate. Early on, the children affected by ‘Fairy Tale’ didn’t show much destructive power. Most just had nightmares. That led to our first—and gravest—misjudgment.”
“We thought it wasn’t that powerful. After all, from the early cases, even ten-year-olds could resist its mental corruption for quite some time…”