Chapter 69: Deep Dive
(This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation)
Yu Sheng had formed quite a few guesses about what Little Red Riding Hood might need from him. He strongly suspected it had something to do with the supernatural. After all, although she looked like a seventeen-year-old girl, she was actually a skilled “Spirit Realm Detective.” Her request would surely be related to her strange profession. Honestly, Yu Sheng was excited about the idea. He had encountered matters involving the Otherworld before, and helping her might be a wonderful chance to learn from this “young expert.” Perhaps he would gain some experience that would serve him well in the future, so it didn’t seem like a bad idea at all.
Still, he couldn’t help feeling a bit uneasy. What if what she needed turned out to be something far beyond his abilities? If the task was too difficult, he’d have to find a clever way to muddle through, hopefully without making a fool of himself.
He sat at a small café beside the road, legs stretched out beneath a tiny table, when she finally revealed what she wanted. He blinked, stared, and then blinked again at the object she placed before him.
It was a thick high school math workbook.
Yu Sheng looked from the hefty workbook to the short-haired girl sitting across from him. He glanced back and forth a few times, his eyes expressing complete confusion. This was… completely unexpected.
In fact, this looked even tougher than battling Otherworld creatures. At least when fighting monsters, no matter how hopeless it seemed, you could keep trying until you found a way to win. But with math? If you didn’t understand it, then you simply didn’t understand it. Even if you were knocked out and miraculously revived a dozen times, you might never solve that stubborn equation.
Foxy stood nearby, holding Irene carefully, her face as uncertain as Yu Sheng’s. She looked as if she had been prepared for something mysterious and dangerous, only to be presented with this strange, ordinary puzzle book.
“Just copy the answers from the back of the book into the workbook for me,” Little Red Riding Hood said calmly. “The solutions are all there. Your handwriting doesn’t have to be neat—just fill it all in. While you do that, I’ll take Foxy to the shopping mall next door to buy some clothes. Oh, and I’ll need a bit of your money. I don’t have much on me. Don’t worry, I’ll bring back the receipt, and we can sort out the differences later.”
Yu Sheng’s jaw dropped slightly. After organizing his thoughts, he managed to speak. “Wait, you want me to help with your homework? Is that really okay?”
“Of course,” she replied, looking slightly annoyed. “I already did the assignments once, but an Entity tore them up. My teacher refused to believe me, so now I have to redo them. I came here to buy a new workbook and was planning on staying up all night. Then I ran into you, and this seemed like a perfect shortcut.”
Yu Sheng frowned and glanced at the workbook again. “My handwriting is different from yours,” he pointed out. “Even if I try to copy your style, I doubt it’ll look the same. Won’t your teacher notice?”
Little Red Riding Hood waved a dismissive hand. “They barely check. Many of my classmates pay others to do their assignments anyway. At least I’m sort of doing it myself—well, through you.”
Yu Sheng sighed deeply. This world never stopped surprising him. He stood up, took out his wallet, and handed it to the girl. Then he turned to Foxy. “You go with her,” he said. “If anything odd happens, ask her about it. And take Irene with you. If something comes up, use Irene to contact me.”
Foxy hesitated for a second, eyes flicking over to Little Red Riding Hood, but then she nodded obediently, holding Irene close.
Little Red Riding Hood accepted the wallet, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “You’re just handing over your friend and your money to me? What if I run off?”
Without looking away from the baffling math workbook, Yu Sheng gave a calm, measured answer. “Do you plan on never going near a door again for the rest of your life?”
Her face froze for a moment, and her lips twitched awkwardly. “You can be quite frightening, you know…” she muttered.
Yu Sheng let out another sigh and tapped the cover of the workbook. “Not as frightening as this. I never thought I’d face high school math again. I swear, we never had this much homework in my day.”
Little Red Riding Hood stepped back, pulling Foxy along. “We’re off to buy clothes then!” she announced cheerfully.
Foxy, dragged along by her hand, tried to offer Yu Sheng a small wave. She ended up lifting Irene instead, since her other hand was firmly in Little Red Riding Hood’s grasp. As they moved away, Yu Sheng could see Irene’s little face twisting into a secret grimace, revealing her displeasure at this entire situation.
…
Far away, in a place completely different from the sunny roadside café, Song Cheng moved through one security checkpoint after another. It felt like he was traveling through the insides of a colossal steel and concrete creature. Each new door required proper verification, and with every step, he passed through layers of heavy airlocks and guarded passages.
At last, he reached his destination.
A brightly lit underground corridor ended at a massive alloy gate. Two fully armed agents from the Special Affairs Bureau stood guard. The gate’s surface was etched with complicated, dizzying patterns. Above it, in glowing green letters, were the words: “Deep Dive Area – D Submersible Dock.”
Song Cheng produced his ID card and swiped it across a scanner labeled “Customs Verification.” The gate unlocked with a soft hum and opened, revealing what lay beyond.
A shimmering curtain of light covered the entrance. Through it, he glimpsed a large, well-lit hall. Several enormous tank-like devices were arranged in neat rows. Each “tank” was about three meters on each side—a perfect cube—with a dark, gleaming metal base. Inside each one was a pale blue liquid. Technicians in white uniforms bustled back and forth, checking instruments and making careful adjustments.
Song Cheng stepped through the shining barrier.
The moment he did, he felt a fleeting sense of weightlessness and a sudden dizziness. His ears rang loudly for a few seconds. When the ringing eased, a gentle voice spoke through his earpiece: “Entered D Submersible Dock. Current Deep Dive Area at Panin-III Station. Average depth L-. Environment: Stable.”
Shaking his head to clear the last traces of disorientation, Song Cheng approached the tanks. There was someone waiting for him: a woman in a white uniform, her long gray hair tied into a practical ponytail.
“Director!” Song Cheng called, hurrying toward her. He sounded startled, as if he hadn’t expected her here in person. “You came down yourself?”
“This is an unprecedented operation,” Bai Li Qing replied, turning her pale, colorless eyes on him. “Your team is ready.”
Song Cheng nodded and focused on the six tanks before him. Inside each one, a “diver” was being slowly lowered into the pale blue liquid by mechanical arms. Each diver wore a sleek, jet-black powered suit. Their helmets concealed their faces completely, revealing only dark red indicator lights that flickered softly. Each diver’s suit had a special micro-reactor backpack to power psychic shields and unique surveillance tools.
The mechanical arms gently dipped them into the tanks, suspending them in the strange fluid. Soon, a quiet hum vibrated through the air. The black metal bases of the tanks began powering up, and the sound gradually intensified to a steady, resonant thrum.
A voice echoed through the hall’s broadcast system: “Configuring ‘Deep Sea’ environment. Personnel, prepare for descent… Umbilicals ready, awaiting manual command.”
A technician studied the readings on his screen. After a moment, he lifted his head and shouted, “Connect the umbilicals!”
Several technicians in white robes rushed forward and tapped instructions into control panels. The pale blue fluid began to stir, rippling faintly. From the bottom of each tank, black, spine-like tubes emerged. Each tube had glowing red segments at its joints and writhed in the liquid like some mechanical sea creature. They stretched upward until they connected with the divers’ chests.
The broadcast voice rang out again: “Umbilicals connected. Injecting inducer… Begin descent.”
The pale blue liquid shimmered, and for an instant, it looked like real seawater. Each tank became its own private ocean, gently undulating. Then, as if by magic, the divers disappeared from sight. Only the umbilicals, attached to seemingly empty spaces, remained as clues that the divers still floated there, invisible to all observers.
“Do you think this will work?” Bai Li Qing asked quietly, turning her steady gaze toward Song Cheng. “What do you think they will see?”
Song Cheng folded his arms and took a thoughtful breath. “The inducer will guide them into the Spirit Realm,” he explained. “For certain types of Otherworlds—those formed from thoughts, dreams, or emotions—this method helps us glimpse inside. But the place known as Night Valley is unusual. We still haven’t discovered a stable way to enter or leave it. The inducer will probably only give them a fleeting vision. And with that ‘mutation’ occurring there, even the numbered passengers don’t truly know what’s going on. I honestly suspect our divers will return empty-handed.”
Bai Li Qing offered a small nod, as if accepting this assessment.
Song Cheng opened his mouth to continue, but before he could say another word, a shrill alarm broke through the air. The siren’s wail made everyone jump.
“Contamination!” shouted one of the technicians, leaping up and dashing toward a large red emergency button. “Pull them out!”
He slammed his hand down. Harsh mechanical grinding sounds issued from beneath each tank. The pale blue fluid drained almost instantly, and sharp sparks crackled around the umbilicals. In that same moment, the divers reappeared—no longer invisible. They were revealed in desperate positions: some curled up in distress, one tearing off their helmet to vomit, and another pounding frantically on the tank’s reinforced walls. They looked shaken, panicked, and utterly terrified.
Song Cheng and Bai Li Qing hurried over, their eyes wide with alarm. They could see one diver pressing close to the transparent barrier, trying desperately to communicate.
“We reached the end of the tunnel!” the diver shouted, voice muffled by the barrier. “We got there, and there was no Night Valley at all—just a brilliant light! Beyond that… it’s… it’s just MATH PROBLEMS! Giant, real math problems everywhere!”
Song Cheng stared, utterly bewildered, while the diver’s desperate voice echoed around them.