Chapter 69: Deep Dive
Yu Sheng had been pondering over what kind of help Little Red Riding Hood might need, coming up with various possibilities—all related to the supernatural realm. After all, despite looking like a young lady of seventeen or eighteen, she was a professional Spirit Realm Detective. Whatever task she had in mind, it was bound to be specialized. Truth be told, Yu Sheng was somewhat looking forward to it. After all, he also had to deal with the Otherworld on occasion, and being able to treat this assistance as gaining experience from a ‘little elder’ wasn’t a bad thing at all.
He couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious, unsure whether he could handle whatever task she had in mind. If it turned out to be too difficult, he’d have to think of a way to save face while bowing out…
Yet there he was, sitting at a roadside café, dumbfounded as he watched the young lady pull out a massive book of math worksheets.
It was to copy a high school math workbook.
A huge one!
Yu Sheng glanced at the math worksheets before him, then looked back at the short-haired girl across the table. His gaze kept darting back and forth, fully conveying his confusion.
Indeed, it was quite a challenge—even harder than fighting monsters in the Otherworld. After all, even if an Entity was tough to defeat, dying a few more times and dragging his corpse through would eventually get him past it. But math—if you didn’t know it, you just didn’t know it. Killing him and reviving him a thousand times wouldn’t make him any better at it…
Foxy, standing nearby with Irene in her arms, didn’t understand what was going on either.
“Just help me copy this workbook,” Little Red Riding Hood said casually. “The answers are all in the back, and it doesn’t matter if the handwriting is a bit messy. As long as it’s filled out, it’s fine.” She glanced at Foxy and continued, “Meanwhile, I’ll take Foxy to the mall next door to buy some clothes. Oh, and you’ll need to give me some cash upfront. I didn’t bring much with me. I’ll bring back the receipt and settle accounts later.”
Yu Sheng opened his mouth, struggling to find words. “Wait… so the help you needed was to write your homework? Is that… appropriate?”
“Of course it is. I had already finished it, but an Entity tore it apart. The teacher didn’t believe me, though,” Little Red Riding Hood grumbled, but her eyes lit up as she looked at Yu Sheng, relieved and grateful. “I was just planning to buy a new workbook and pull an all-nighter. Didn’t expect to run into you guys.”
Yu Sheng sighed helplessly. “My handwriting’s not like yours at all. Even if I try to imitate it, it might get noticed.”
“It’s fine. They won’t examine it that closely,” she waved it off nonchalantly. “At least I did it seriously the first time. Some of my classmates just hire others to do it outright…”
“Alright,” Yu Sheng finally gave in, accepting the unpredictable nature of his life. He got up, pulled out his wallet, and handed it to the young girl before turning to Foxy. “Stay with her. If you don’t understand something, just ask. Keep Irene with you, and if something happens, contact me through her.”
Foxy hesitated, glancing at Little Red Riding Hood with a hint of unease. But after hearing Yu Sheng’s instructions, she nodded lightly.
Little Red Riding Hood paused for a moment after taking the wallet, then smiled playfully. “Wow, handing over both your money and your girl? Aren’t you afraid I’ll run off?”
Yu Sheng, already focusing on the workbook, just raised his eyes. “Do you plan to avoid every Door for the rest of your life?”
Her face instantly tensed, and her lips twitched. “That’s… kind of scary.”
“This workbook is scarier,” Yu Sheng sighed again. “I never imagined that one day I’d be facing high school homework like this again. Back when I was in school, it wasn’t this intense…”
Little Red Riding Hood immediately pulled Foxy along and made a hasty retreat. “Alright, we’re off to buy clothes!”
Foxy hesitated for a moment before awkwardly waving at Yu Sheng, still holding onto Irene with one hand, while the other was firmly grasped by Little Red Riding Hood.
Even from several meters away, Yu Sheng could see Irene secretly baring her teeth in frustration.
…
Passing through layer after layer of isolation Doors and secure compartments, Song Cheng felt as if he were crawling through the belly of a gigantic beast forged from reinforced concrete. After navigating multiple checkpoints, he finally reached his destination.
At the end of a brightly lit underground corridor stood a massive alloy gate, flanked by heavily armed Special Affairs Bureau guards. The gate itself was etched with intricate patterns that seemed to twist and warp upon a single glance, enough to induce mild dizziness. Above it, a green light glowed reassuringly, labeled “Deep Dive Zone – D2 Submersion Port.”
Taking out his ID card, Song Cheng swiped it at the scanner marked “Customs Verification.” As the gate slowly opened, the scene beyond came into view.
A faintly distorted energy barrier covered the inner side of the gate. Beyond it was a vast hall filled with bright lights and rows of large, tank-like devices. Each tank measured three meters on each side and rested on a complex black metal base, filled with a faint blue liquid.
Numerous personnel in white uniforms moved between the tanks, inspecting and maintaining the equipment.
Song Cheng stepped through the gate.
The moment he passed through the distorted barrier, he felt a brief sense of weightlessness and dizziness, followed by a few seconds of persistent ringing in his ears. When it subsided, a soft system notification sounded through his headset: “Entered D2 Submersion Port. Current Deep Dive Zone located at Paning-III Station. Average Depth: L-1. Environment: Stable.”
Shaking off the remnants of dizziness, he strode towards a line of tanks. He noticed a figure already standing there—a young woman with long, grayish-white hair tied in a ponytail, clad in a white dress.
“Director!” Song Cheng called out, quickening his pace in surprise. “You came in person?”
“It’s a situation we’ve never encountered before,” Bai Li Qing replied, her colorless eyes glancing briefly at him. “Your team is already prepared.”
Nodding, Song Cheng turned his gaze to the six tanks before him.
Six Deep Divers were being lowered into the tanks with the help of mechanical arms. Clad in pitch-black Powered Armor, their fully covered helmets hid their faces, with only faint red monitors glowing where their eyes would be. Each one carried a micro-reactor backpack to power mental shielding and specialized observation and recording devices.
The Deep Divers were hoisted from above and gently lowered into the tanks, where they floated within the light blue liquid. The black metal bases below emitted a soft hum, growing steadily louder as the systems powered up.
Broadcasts echoed through the surroundings: “Configuring the ‘Deep Sea’ environment. All personnel, prepare for descent… ‘Umbilical Cord’ ready, awaiting manual command.”
A technician responsible for monitoring the ‘Water Tank’ stared intently at the readings on his device. A few seconds later, he shouted, “Connect the ‘Umbilical Cord’!”
Several white-robed staff members immediately approached and began manually inputting commands into each ‘Water Tank.’
The pale blue liquid within the tanks started to ripple. At the same time, black metallic tubular structures resembling vertebrae rose from the bottom of each tank. A dim red glow flickered between the metallic segments as they slithered through the liquid like living creatures, finally attaching precisely to the chests of each Deep Diver.
A broadcast voice announced: “‘Umbilical Cord’ connected. Inductor injection… commencing descent.”
Waves formed in the tank, and the pale blue liquid seemed to transform into ‘seawater’ in the blink of an eye. It was as if each tank had become a small fragment of an immense ocean, pulsating with a peculiar rhythm.
In the next moment, all the Deep Divers vanished from Song Cheng’s sight, leaving only the ‘Umbilical Cords’ connected to their Powered Armor floating in place, swaying gently as if indicating that the Deep Divers were still inside — merely no longer visible from outside the tank.
“Do you think this will work? What will they see?” Bai Li Qing turned to Song Cheng.
“…The inductor will immerse them in the Spirit Realm. It works well with certain types of Otherworlds, especially those accessed through emotions, dreams, or spiritual conduits. But to be honest… Night Valley is a bit unique,” Song Cheng shook his head. “We still haven’t found a stable way to enter Night Valley. Even the inductor can only make the observers glimpse its shadow through hallucinations. And now that the place is showing ‘mutations,’ even Passenger No. 22 is uncertain about the situation. I suspect… the Deep Divers will return empty-handed.”
Bai Li Qing nodded. Song Cheng seemed about to say something more when a sharp buzzing sound suddenly pierced the air!
“Damn! Contamination!” A technician sprang up instantly, rushing like a gust of wind to the emergency shutdown button. “Pull them back!”
The shutdown button was slammed down forcefully, and piercing noise erupted from the base of every ‘Water Tank.’ In the blink of an eye, the pale blue liquid was expelled. Simultaneously, glaring sparks erupted from the surface of each ‘Umbilical Cord,’ and in the next second, six Deep Divers reappeared in reality — collapsing into the tanks, their bodies curled up. One of them tore off his helmet, retching violently on the floor. Another staggered to the edge of the tank, pounding on the reinforced polymer wall, desperately trying to shout something to those outside.
Song Cheng and Bai Li Qing quickly approached.
“We reached the end of the passage!” yelled one of the struggling Deep Divers, his distorted and garbled voice echoing through the tank’s security barrier. “At the end of the passage! A beam of light! No Night Valley — nothing! At the end, it was just… just… math problems! All of them! Goddamn full-length math problems!!”