Chapter 55: “The Professionals Are Right in Front of Us”
The massive eye left without a sound, vanishing silently without revealing any secrets.
The people inside the cave stared at each other, unsure of what to do. The oppressive feeling caused by the strange eye was so overwhelming that even after it disappeared, a lingering sense of unease and disbelief remained in their hearts.
“Did it really just leave?” Irene murmured, looking uneasy. “Could it have just hidden behind the clouds?”
Yu Sheng shook his head. “It really ‘left,’ at least it’s no longer in this Otherworld.”
He was certain of this because he could distinctly sense that the “gaze” which had always been over the Valley had indeed disappeared.
“Why though?” Irene continued to mumble, “What was that thing here for? It hid here for so long, suddenly woke up to scare us, even influenced the Entities here, and now it just leaves… What’s it after?”
Yu Sheng thought for a moment. “Maybe it was just resting here, and now that it’s had enough rest, it’s leaving.”
Irene blinked, looking at him with some doubt. “Is, is that so?”
This time, Yu Sheng was stunned—she believes this?!
“No one knows the purpose of Dark Angels,” Xu Jiali’s voice came from beside them, interrupting the pointless discussion between Yu Sheng and Irene. “In fact, we can’t even be sure if they have a ‘purpose’ in the first place. The appearance of these entities is always random. Sometimes they can be driven away at great cost, sometimes… they leave on their own. Trying to analyze the actions of Dark Angels is meaningless. We should be thankful that this particular eye wasn’t from a more active individual.”
Yu Sheng nodded, stroking his chin in thought. At that moment, his peripheral vision caught Li Lin, who was observing the outside situation from the cave’s entrance.
A strange sense of familiarity rose from his heart, and Yu Sheng couldn’t help but furrow his brow, the memories stirring. Suddenly, a scene flashed in his mind—
“Wait! Have we met before?” Yu Sheng suddenly realized, staring wide-eyed at Li Lin. “Recently, we definitely met! Where was it… a small supermarket, right, it was a supermarket!”
He took two steps forward and began to carefully inspect Li Lin’s face, which seemed plain and easily forgettable in a crowd. But this time, his memory matched perfectly: “You were buying a box of instant noodles, right?”
Li Lin curled the corner of his mouth. In that split second, he knew Yu Sheng had recognized him. But he didn’t show any panic or surprise—because when they first met in that ruined temple, he had also recognized Yu Sheng’s face.
Although they had only brushed past each other in the small supermarket, as a Special Affairs Bureau Operative trained professionally, his memory and observational skills far surpassed those of an average person. Recognizing each other was only a matter of time.
Seeing the other’s reaction, Yu Sheng quickly connected the dots and started to understand. His gaze shifted to Xu Jiali beside him and then to Little Red Riding Hood, who was resting not far away.
“Where are you all really from?” Yu Sheng asked, his brow furrowed slightly.
Li Lin sighed, stood up straight, and pointed to himself. “Li Lin, Operative from the Second Mobilization Squad, Special Affairs Bureau under the Borderland Council.”
Xu Jiali also walked over, adjusting his posture before speaking in a low voice, “Special Forces Group of the Second Mobilization Squad, senior Deep Diver, Xu Jiali—this is my real name.”
Yu Sheng opened his mouth, stunned, and after a long pause, turned his head to look at Little Red Riding Hood, who seemed like a High School Student. “So you’re also some kind of special agent…”
“I’m not,” Little Red Riding Hood crossed her arms, tilting her chin upward towards Xu Jiali, “I’m just a laborer they hired.”
Yu Sheng froze, staring at Xu Jiali in disbelief. “Your organization hires child labor?”
“Child labor?!” Xu Jiali shot a glare at Little Red Riding Hood, “It’s a holiday job! Could you at least say something like ‘working to support my studies’?”
Yu Sheng’s mind was in a fog. His first thought was that the high school students from Borderland were extremely hardcore—spending their holidays battling monsters in Otherworld. His second thought was that he was finally meeting the “professionals” Irene had mentioned, but these so-called professionals were not at all like he had imagined. His third thought…
“So, you’re after me?” Yu Sheng looked at the three “professionals” in front of him, feeling like he finally understood much of the situation. “You’ve followed me all the way to this Otherworld just to find me?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Xu Jiali and Li Lin both sighed deeply, their voices in perfect unison. Even Little Red Riding Hood sighed, dropping her arms and covering her face instead of her bruised arm.
Xu Jiali pulled out a cigarette, his face dark with worry, lighting it and taking a third of it in one drag.
“If we could, we wouldn’t,” he muttered, “This wasn’t the plan from the start…”
Yu Sheng blinked. He felt that the large man in front of him wasn’t exactly thrilled about the situation but didn’t dare to ask any further.
At least, things here had been resolved—there were still many unanswered questions, but they could all wait until everyone safely returned to the real world.
Irene had returned from Foxy’s arms to Yu Sheng’s, and he gently held the wounded little doll, stepping out of the hiding cave first.
“It’s completely quiet now,” Irene sat on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, using her broken arms to embrace his head. She stared toward the depths of the Valley with an expression of both astonishment and disbelief. “…It’s a mess.”
“Yeah, a mess. But at least the Hunger Entity is gone,” Yu Sheng nodded, gazing at the Valley, where an entire layer of ground had been devoured. “…Do you think that thing will come back?”
“It will,” Irene whispered softly, her arms wrapped around his head. “As long as the Otherworld exists, the Entities will return. And the Otherworld will never disappear. Even if you bomb it a thousand times, it will return to its original state.” She paused, her voice softer. “But… this time, it’ll take a while.”
“We should leave this place,” Yu Sheng exhaled deeply. The air in the Valley had already felt much fresher now that the Hunger Entity had temporarily disappeared. A sharp wind blew from afar, and bright sunlight started to break through the eternal night. Despite the broken and shattered landscape before him, he felt a sense of relaxation in his heart. “Foxy, how do you feel now?”
Demon-Fox Maiden, who had been trailing closely behind him, lifted her head immediately, “I’m fine. Not cold, not hungry anymore. I ate a lot earlier!”
Foxy smiled happily, the first time she had done so without any burdens, her smile bright as the sun.
Yu Sheng smiled back, extending his hand toward her. “Then let’s go home.”
But just as he was about to open the great Door home, Foxy suddenly stepped forward, lightly tugging at his sleeve.
Yu Sheng paused in confusion, looking at the Demon-Fox Maiden.
“Are you worried about the food left behind in the ruins of the broken temple? It’s probably been ruined by the Hunger Entity, right? Do you want to go back and get it?” he asked.
Foxy nodded slightly but then shook her head.
“Benefactor, I want to go somewhere. I…”
She hesitated, as though concerned that her request was too much, or that the things she wanted to do were too willful. She looked torn.
Yu Sheng watched the hesitating Foxy, unsure of what she wanted to do. But suddenly, a memory from her dream flashed in his mind.
After a brief pause and some careful thought, Yu Sheng nodded. “I see now. Is it in that grove?”
Foxy looked up at him, surprise in her eyes.
She nodded faintly.
Li Lin and the others were puzzled, casting questioning looks at Yu Sheng. He didn’t offer any detailed explanation, simply waving them off. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure out a way to send everyone back in a moment. But for now, I’m going with Foxy to a place. If you’re worried, you can come along.”
“Then let’s go together,” Xu Jiali was the first to agree. “It looks like this Young Lady has been here for a long time. She must have some unfinished business before leaving. I understand.”
The group left the back mountains, bypassing the now even more broken temple—only a few broken walls remained—and crossed the Valley Floor, which was covered in ravines and fissures. They finally arrived at what used to be a small grove.
The grove was long gone. The dark, mutated plants had been devoured during the earlier feast. All that remained was a patch of blackened wasteland, filled with deep pits of various sizes and suspicious black fragments.
“Is this the place?” Yu Sheng quietly asked Foxy, glancing at her.
“Yes,” Foxy nodded slowly. “FatherMother, right here.”
It was only then that Irene finally understood what Yu Sheng was doing. Little Doll widened her eyes, recalling the images deep within Foxy’s dream. She remembered the temptations, the confusing, false memories, and the icy illusions within the Hunger. For some reason, she felt an unsettling feeling. The numerous deep pits around them only heightened her unease.
“B-but… we might not find it,” she couldn’t help but say aloud. “The ground’s been eaten away! It might have already been taken by the tendrils that came from the earth…”
But Foxy just shook her head, interrupting Irene.
“No,” she said firmly, “I buried them very deep. FatherMother told me to bury them deeper, so I did.”