Chapter 182: Old Zheng
After sending Irene back ahead of time, Yu Sheng returned to the living room. He saw Little Red Riding Hood sitting on the sofa, chatting with a young man in his twenties.
The young man still looked exhausted, clearly worn out from handling his relative’s funeral arrangements without rest for days.
Upon seeing Yu Sheng emerge from the bedroom, the young man slightly rose and greeted him before pointing at a cup of hot milk tea placed on the coffee table. “You’ve had a long day. I just bought this.”
“Uh… thanks.” Yu Sheng wasn’t overly polite and sat down next to Little Red Riding Hood. The two sipped their milk tea in unison.
The young man sitting across from them broke the silence. “Have you found anything?”
Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood exchanged a glance before the latter nodded lightly after a moment of thought. “We did find some clues… but I want to confirm something first. Are you aware of your uncle’s ‘line of work’? To what extent do you know about it? I mean… the nature of the items he collected and the ‘peculiarities’ of the matters he dealt with.”
“I know a bit,” the young man nodded. “He once mentioned the ‘Association of Strange Objects’ to me and even showed me some relatively ‘safe’ things. I know he dealt with unusual and sometimes dangerous objects. To be honest, I was interested myself and almost joined the Special Affairs Bureau as an external recruit. But my uncle wouldn’t let me. He said my curiosity was too strong and that I had a ‘High Sensitivity, Low Stability’ constitution, which made it too risky. He said I wouldn’t even survive the internship.”
“Your uncle was right,” Little Red Riding Hood sighed. “A High Sensitivity, Low Stability constitution combined with excessive curiosity is indeed unsuitable for this line of work—you probably wouldn’t make it past the probation period. Since you’re aware of this much, I’ll tell you what we know. Old Zheng might have been contaminated by something extremely dangerous and might have come into contact with an illegal occult cult. However, from what we’ve gathered, he seems to be a victim rather than an instigator. The Special Affairs Bureau might disclose more details to you as his relative.”
The young man sat there in silence, seemingly unsure of what to say.
Breaking the stillness, Yu Sheng spoke up, “Did your uncle come into contact with any suspicious people or do anything unusual in the days leading up to his death? Any sudden appearances of new ‘friends’ or habits he didn’t have before?”
“I don’t know,” the young man shook his head slowly. “Uncle had little contact with the family for over twenty years. Back then, he volunteered at an orphanage, but something happened—some say it was a romantic issue, others claim he was scared by something. After that, he moved here alone. I was too young to remember. I only know these stories from the family.”
He paused to recall something more before adding cautiously, “He did send me messages occasionally. If I had to say, he seemed rather cheerful in recent months—starting about two months ago. He said he finally had a chance to let go of the burden weighing on his heart. He even planned to visit home and asked me to check if an old notebook was still in the family’s old house… But then, the accident happened.”
“A notebook?” Yu Sheng’s eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, “Did you find it? Did you bring it?”
“Yes,” the young man replied, standing up and heading to the TV cabinet. He rummaged through a black suitcase and pulled out a thick, dark blue notebook from the bottom layer. “Here it is—I didn’t look inside. I brought it just as it was.”
Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood exchanged a look before taking the aged notebook, which was at least twenty years old. Quickly, Yu Sheng flipped through it.
Most of the content seemed to be mundane—daily memos, notes from Old Zheng’s time as an orphanage volunteer, and random observations. Some entries did provide insight into the orphanage’s situation twenty years ago, but nothing appeared related to his death.
As Yu Sheng thought about the notebook being just a sentimental keepsake for Old Zheng’s twilight years, his eyes suddenly caught sight of a page he had just flipped past. He quickly turned back to it.
It was a drawing—pencil-sketched with rough technique but drawn with obvious care. The yellowed page depicted a young woman around twenty-six or twenty-seven standing in front of an orphanage’s swing set, wearing a simple long dress with a calm and gentle smile.
Yu Sheng furrowed his brow, instinctively wondering who this woman was and what connection she had to Old Zheng’s tragic end—especially why she appeared at Little Red Riding Hood’s orphanage. Clearly an adult, yet she wasn’t wearing a Council employee’s uniform.
Before Yu Sheng could voice his thoughts, Little Red Riding Hood suddenly let out a soft “Huh?”
Without waiting for Yu Sheng to ask, she swiftly pulled out her phone and dialed a number. “Long Haired Girl, do me a favor and take a picture—the one in the East Building’s display room, the photo in the center marked ‘Cinderella.’ Take it and send it to me right away.”
After hanging up the phone, Yu Sheng’s mobile buzzed again. Curious, he leaned over to check and saw a photo appear on the screen.
It was a young woman in her twenties, her appearance almost identical to the portrait in Old Zheng’s notebook.
“What is this…?” Yu Sheng asked, intrigued.
“A Cinderella from many years ago… She lived to be twenty-six,” Little Red Riding Hood said softly, her gaze lingering on the smiling figure in the photograph. “She was the longest-living ‘Cinderella’ in the history of the Orphanage. After her death, the role of ‘Cinderella’ remained vacant for a decade until a new one emerged just over ten years ago. We often said that she used her own life to temporarily suppress the workings of the ‘Eternal Ball’ subset, though that’s just speculation.”
Little Red Riding Hood bit her lip before continuing, “It’s said that she was even considering trying a normal life.”
Yu Sheng listened in silence, lifting his gaze to the distant table where Old Zheng’s memorial photograph stood quietly. Nearly fifty years old, his face showed the wear of time—loose skin and wrinkles creeping up the corners of his eyes, exhaustion etched deeply into his expression as if chronicling a journey spanning two decades.
For twenty years, he hunted for ‘strange objects,’ seeking to break a never-ending curse, only to lose to a grand deception in the end.
He wasn’t the first to challenge the ‘Fairy Tale’ organization, and he wouldn’t be the last.
Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood stood up, and she solemnly returned the notebook to the Young Man sitting across from them.
“Thank you for the clues,” Yu Sheng said firmly. “We’ll make sure Old Zheng gets justice.”
“Thank you,” the Young Man replied, accepting the notebook. He seemed on the verge of asking something but hesitated, perhaps recalling his uncle’s long-ago warnings. In the end, he merely waved his hand at the two detectives. “I won’t see you out—I’ve got a lot to sort through here.”
“Understood,” Little Red Riding Hood nodded before recalling something. “There are some… ‘things’ under the bedroom carpet. Though theoretically, they’ve lost their power, it’s best not to touch them. Let the professionals handle it.”
“Got it,” the Young Man agreed.
When they exited the apartment building, night had already fallen, and the city stretched out before them—Boundary City, a sprawling metropolis without end, illuminated by neon lights. A pack of Wolves escorted Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood to the highest rooftop nearby, where Yu Sheng gazed down at the sea of lights flowing through the urban forest. The vast city remained lively even under the shroud of darkness.
How many people lived within this strange city? Millions? Tens of millions? How many were ordinary, and how many had glimpsed the ‘other side’ as detectives and Investigators? How many fought to protect the city and maintain order, while others lurked within the shadows of the lights, like some chaotic, formless tendrils, preying on careless souls…
For the first time, Yu Sheng felt that this strange, eerie, and unpredictable city was alive—breathing with a pulse of its own.
Little Red Riding Hood broke the silence. “After I get back, I’ll continue the investigation. I need to visit the Association of Strange Objects headquarters and check in with the Spirit Realm Detectives and Investigators Old Zheng was in contact with.”
Yu Sheng looked at her. “Do you need me to come along?”
“No,” she shook her head. “I’d like you to go to the Special Affairs Bureau.”
Yu Sheng frowned. “The Special Affairs Bureau?”
“To inform them about Old Zheng. The involvement of Angel Cultists will inevitably draw the Bureau’s attention, but if you personally report it, they’re bound to take it more seriously.”
Yu Sheng hesitated. “Will they?”
Little Red Riding Hood sighed, giving him a tired look. “Do you really not know your own influence?”
Yu Sheng chuckled awkwardly, then nodded seriously. “Alright, I’ll go tomorrow.”
They fell into silence once more. After a few moments, Yu Sheng spoke again, deep in thought. “Do you think there’s a connection between the ‘Dark Angels’ and the ‘Fairy Tale’ Otherworld?”
Little Red Riding Hood pondered the question seriously, finally shaking her head. “I have no clue. A lot of things happened simultaneously, but they lack a vital link. The Angel Cultists approached Old Zheng, who was trying to defy the Fairy Tale Curse, and used him to lure me to the White Exhibition Hall. The critical point is—what were they targeting? My status as a Fairy Tale member? Or did they just want a sufficiently powerful ‘sacrifice’?
“Ultimately… there’s more than one Dark Angel in the world. We don’t even know which ‘Angel’ the cultists are following, so naturally, their true objective remains unclear.”