Chapter 36: Sleepless Night for Everyone (Except Yu Sheng)
No matter how well or poorly they got along, Li Lin had to admit that Xu Jiali was undoubtedly the most exceptional Deep Diver he had ever encountered. Having such a powerful fighter come to his aid at a time like this was proof that the bureau was looking out for a newcomer like him—at least to some extent.
Of course, that was only if he could tolerate the man’s big mouth and boastful attitude, especially after every mission.
“Let me tell you, I really hit the jackpot with some cursed Door business this time,” the burly man sprawled on the sofa, grabbing a bottle of water from the nearby coffee table. He twisted the cap off with a practiced motion, his tone casual as he spoke. “I caught one of those Angel Cultists hiding out in Ameyn. Finally managed to trap him in the wasteland. But just as I was about to take him down—guess what?”
Li Lin rolled his eyes. “Big mouth. Are you sure you’re allowed to talk about this here?”
“Of course! I’ve already filed my report with the bureau. This part’s been cleared for you,” Xu Jiali waved dismissively, not caring whether Li Lin wanted to hear it or not, and continued. “So I looked up—and holy hell! There was a guy just standing there! You know what he looked like? Just a shirt and pants, standing in the scorching toxic wind of Ameyn-IX. And next to him—there was this Door frame, just standing there like it belonged. Damn near scared me stupid. I was one second away from killing that Angel Cultist, but that freaked me out enough to let him catch his breath. Lucky for me, I still outskilled him in the end…”
Li Lin waved his hand impatiently as he moved to the monitoring equipment near the window. “Alright, alright. Every story of yours ends with ‘luckily, I was better.’ Can’t you come up with a more original twist?”
“But I really was better,” Xu Jiali glared at him, unbothered. “Wait, aren’t you shocked at all? I saw a guy just standing in Ameyn-IX’s toxic wind! No Powered Armor or anything! Not even Captain could pull that off!”
“You also claimed to have seen someone in the acid rain on Tata-V without a protective suit—it turned out to be a professor from the Academy doing field research,” Li Lin said without even turning around. “There’s no shortage of weirdos in this world. Plus, with the amount of Deep Diving you do, it’s not surprising you’re seeing things. I’ve heard your scary stories at least eight hundred times. I won’t believe a single punctuation mark of it. If one day you spot someone standing outside your shuttle window while you’re taking off from a starport, then maybe I’ll consider it. At least that would be somewhat original.”
Xu Jiali grinned and flopped onto Li Lin’s narrow bed, causing it to creak under his massive weight. “Actually, I did see that once. Some Taoist priest from Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, holding a mirror and waving at my monitor like he wanted to overtake me—try overtaking in your flesh form during a warp, why don’t you…”
Li Lin couldn’t help but pause his movements, glancing back at the burly man sprawled on his bed. After a moment, he sighed. “Your life as a Special Affairs Bureau field operative sure is colorful.”
“You should get a Deep Dive certification yourself,” Xu Jiali suggested. “Maybe next time, you’ll be out on special missions with me. What’s the point of staying in the Borderland? It’s dangerous, troublesome, and every responsibility weighs heavy.”
Li Lin thought for a moment before shaking his head. “The Borderland will always be short on manpower. Someone has to guard the biggest ‘Nexus.’ And honestly, I don’t think charging into wasteland planets in Powered Armor to fight Angel Cultists is any safer than dealing with Otherworld threats here. Besides, even on special missions, you still end up facing Otherworld anomalies.”
“It’s not the same,” Xu Jiali argued. “The density of Otherworld occurrences outside isn’t nearly as high as it is in the Borderland. It’s like every twenty bus stops here, seven of them are Otherworld stations…”
Li Lin glanced at him, about to point out that for ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of people, those seven stops were just empty space. But then he remembered the file on Xu Jiali, which stated that at age twelve, he had accidentally wandered into an Otherworld ‘station platform’ and survived there alone for six years. He’d only joined the Deep Dive Squad after being psychologically rehabilitated.
The frontline combat personnel of the Special Affairs Bureau came in two types: those trained through normal procedures, and those pulled out of the Otherworld.
It was best not to flaunt knowledge in front of those with trauma—even if they didn’t seem to mind.
Li Lin lowered his head, concentrating on the monitoring equipment to review recorded parameters. Meanwhile, Xu Jiali, bored with the quiet, stretched out on the bed and complained, “The bureau’s in chaos right now. All the team Captains got called in, and I heard even the Director showed up.”
“I know,” Li Lin replied without looking up. “This is the Borderland, after all.”
“Does stuff like this happen here often? I’m usually on special assignments, so I don’t know…”
“If you’re talking about tonight’s spatial dislocation, no. But if you mean anomalies in general, the Borderland never lacks those. This is the Borderland.”
“Ah, the alluring Borderland,” Xu Jiali mused, cracking his knuckles and reclining fully on the narrow bed, making it groan under his bulk. “Everyone who wants to destroy or protect the world is obsessed with this place. Good thing I don’t have to pull a shift at the bureau—I hear the Captains are always working overtime.”
Li Lin said nothing, focused entirely on his monitoring duties. Then the sudden ring of his phone shattered the silence.
He glanced at the screen and answered, “Li Lin here… huh? Really? Alright, got it.”
Xu Jiali sat up from the bed, curious. “What’s going on?”
Li Lin’s expression was odd as he gazed out the window at the calm, quiet night. “The bureau just called. The spatial rift phenomenon… has stopped.”
Xu Jiali froze, stunned.
“It stopped?” His eyes widened in disbelief. “Just… stopped? No follow-up attacks, no Angel Cultists? Not even a trace of an Otherworld?”
“Nothing. It just stopped. All the monitoring nodes across the Borderland have gone quiet,” Li Lin replied, shaking his phone.
The burly man groaned. “So I pulled an all-nighter for nothing?”
“Not for nothing—and you’ll have to keep at it,” Li Lin countered. “The Bureau isn’t resting either.” He waved his phone again, his tone firm. “Everyone is still on high alert, monitoring to see if the force that caused the rift phenomenon makes any more moves. Go sleep next door for six hours. I’ll wake you when it’s your turn to take over.”
“Got it.” The man stood up without further complaint. “If anything happens, wake me immediately.”
Li Lin nodded, his gaze shifting to the cityscape beyond the window. The night stretched on, restless and profound.
“Another sleepless night…” he muttered.
…
Yu Sheng slept soundly through the latter half of the night.
After successfully replicating a massive Door leading to a distant time and space, he had etched the feeling deep into his soul. He now knew how to guide his “Spiritual Intuition,” how to stabilize the Door’s frequency so it would consistently connect to the desired location.
He felt that most things in this world could be mastered after a few tries. Once he understood the process, he practiced and refined the technique, opening various passages until he was utterly exhausted.
Sleep came swiftly after that. It was the kind of deep, dreamless sleep he hadn’t experienced in years. Yet, a faint regret lingered—he hadn’t dreamed of Foxy this time. In fact, he hadn’t dreamed at all.
That told him one thing—the dream with Foxy wasn’t something stable or repeatable.
A hint of unease crept into his thoughts, coupled with an urgency he couldn’t quite shake.
When morning came, Yu Sheng shared his worries with Irene.
“Don’t overthink it. That Foxy’s survived in the Otherworld for so many years; a day or two won’t change that,” Irene said, unusually sincere and without her usual biting sarcasm. “Dreams are naturally unstable. Who knows? Maybe next time you sleep, you’ll see her again.”
“Let’s hope so,” Yu Sheng replied absentmindedly, picking up a slice of meat from the plate and popping it into his mouth.
The meat, cut from one of those “local specialties,” had been sustaining him for three consecutive meals. Despite its frequency, he wasn’t tired of it yet. However, he had stopped feeling any physical enhancement from consuming it—it seemed he had reached his limit.
But taste-wise, it remained appealing.
“Any plans after breakfast?” Irene’s voice broke the silence. “More practice with Door opening? Or are you going to try to reestablish the passage to the Valley?”
“I need to go out and buy a few things first. After that, I’ll start working on the Valley route. It might take a while since I can’t clearly recall the ‘feeling’ from last time,” Yu Sheng said, noticing Irene’s hesitant expression. “What is it? You look like you’ve got something on your mind.”
The Doll Lady fixed her gaze on him, her demeanor unusually solemn.
After a long pause, she finally spoke. “Give me half a day.”
Yu Sheng blinked, genuinely surprised. It was rare to see the usually unflappable Doll Lady looking so serious.
“Half a day? For what?” he asked cautiously.
“To make me a body,” Irene replied, her voice calm but resolute.