Chapter 71: Learning More
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation
Yu Sheng sat facing the woman who introduced herself as the Director of the Special Affairs Bureau, a figure who looked both authoritative and distant. She had just unexpectedly frozen in place, and for a moment neither of them said a word. Yu Sheng tilted his head, puzzled. He had no idea why she had suddenly stopped talking, but since it seemed she was waiting for him, he decided to speak up first.
“You know,” he began, breaking the silence, “your bureau sure knows how to make an impression when contacting someone like me. I thought Li Lin or the others would come to see me, but here I am, sitting with the director herself. Is it always like this?”
At once, Bai Li Qing regained her calm expression, smoothing out whatever hesitation had crossed her face. “No,” she replied, her voice steady again. “Only when the situation is special.”
“Special?” he repeated, blinking as he tried to understand what that might mean.
She folded her hands and looked him straight in the eye. “Like when we’re dealing with someone who has lived in the Otherworld for a long time, yet stayed in the Borderland for over twenty years as an ‘ordinary person’…” Her pause was deliberate. Then she continued, “A ‘strange person,’ to put it bluntly. I hope you don’t mind me calling you that.”
Yu Sheng gave a small, awkward laugh. “Uh, no, I don’t mind,” he said honestly. “But am I really that strange in your eyes? Li Lin and Xu Jiali seemed pretty surprised by how I live too. I guess it’s understandable, but still…”
Bai Li Qing let out a quiet sigh. “Perhaps you don’t realize it,” she said, “but many people in the Special Affairs Bureau have been keeping an eye on you. Quite a few of our agents have been very busy lately, all because of you.”
Yu Sheng’s eyes widened. His mouth fell open as a soft “…Huh?” slipped out.
Bai Li Qing met his gaze with unwavering calm. “You have the ability to ‘open doors,’ don’t you?”
“Uh, yeah,” he answered at once. To show her, he reached out into thin air. With a simple motion, a door shimmered into existence beside him. “I used this to come back with Li Lin and the others…”
Before he could finish, Bai Li Qing raised her hand sharply, her voice suddenly tense. “There’s no need to demonstrate!” It was rare, Yu Sheng noticed, to see her so visibly on edge.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, Yu Sheng quickly released his grip on the doorknob. The door vanished again, and he cleared his throat softly. Judging from her reaction, there was more to this than he had realized. “So… from the looks of it, my door-opening is causing you all some trouble?”
Bai Li Qing gave a quick, direct nod. “Every time you open a door, the entire Borderland detects an unknown spatial disturbance,” she explained, her words precise and blunt. “The staff who monitor these events have lodged many complaints lately. Did you really not feel anything at all?”
Yu Sheng stood there, face turning slightly blank as he tried to recall. After a moment he shook his head, wearing a lopsided smile. “I had no idea… So my door-opening affects the whole Borderland, huh? Are you saying I shouldn’t use this ability anymore?”
There was a hint of reluctance in his voice. Those doors had made his life so much easier, and he was just beginning to appreciate how convenient they were. Now, to find out that the Special Affairs Bureau considered it a problem—even if they hadn’t outright forbidden him—was annoying. Still, Bai Li Qing’s serious look told him that the disturbances he caused weren’t something minor.
Bai Li Qing, noticing the shadow of disappointment on Yu Sheng’s face, took a moment before responding. “I’m only making a suggestion,” she said carefully. “I hope you can limit how often you open doors from now on. At the very least, don’t open a hundred rifts in a single night like you did before, or, if you must, give us some warning first. After all, this is your ability, and it hasn’t caused any direct harm to the Borderland itself. In principle, we can’t forbid you from doing it—as long as you agree to cooperate with us, register yourself properly, and maybe allow us to make a few adjustments to our monitoring systems.”
Yu Sheng blinked in surprise. The woman before him, who seemed so strict and cold, was being… quite reasonable. He had expected the conversation to be much tougher, full of bargaining and stubborn arguments. Instead, here was the Director herself, calmly trying to find a solution they could both accept.
When she mentioned “opening over a hundred rifts in one night,” Yu Sheng instantly realized what event she meant. At the time, he hadn’t noticed anything unusual, but now he could imagine the chaos he must have triggered behind the scenes. And yet, she was here, personally, speaking to him in such a patient way. It was a kindness he hadn’t anticipated from an official figure.
He wasn’t a naive teenager; he knew that goodwill from a high-ranking government official was no small thing. He had braced himself for a long, difficult standoff with the Special Affairs Bureau. He was prepared for strict demands, even some form of punishment. But now it felt as if he had rushed in expecting a brick wall, only to find a soft cushion.
Rubbing the back of his head, Yu Sheng gave a small smile. “Well, that’s fair. Registering isn’t a problem,” he said. “But I have a few questions of my own. Could you answer them first?”
“Of course,” Bai Li Qing replied with a calm nod, folding her hands again. “What do you want to know?”
Yu Sheng leaned forward slightly, as if trying to solve a puzzle. “First,” he said, “this ‘Special Affairs Bureau’ of yours… what kind of organization is it, exactly? What’s its scope, its jurisdiction?”
Bai Li Qing seemed mildly surprised by his curiosity, but she answered right away. “That’s all you want to know?” Her eyes searched his face for a moment, then she continued, “The Special Affairs Bureau, officially known as the ‘Bureau of Special Safety and Services,’ is directly managed by the Council, which is the highest governing body of the Borderland. We handle all sorts of extraordinary incidents, including those related to the Otherworld, Entities, and various anomalies. If you imagine the Borderland as having two sides—one ‘Natural’ and one ‘Supernatural’—we’re the ones who oversee and manage the ‘Supernatural’ side.”
She paused to let that sink in, then went on, “However, our work and influence aren’t limited to the Borderland alone. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed the Borderland’s unique nature…”
She stopped speaking and held his gaze, making sure he understood the weight of what she was about to say.
Yu Sheng’s brows drew together. He thought about what Irene had told him and about his own strange abilities. The Borderland was not just one city. Beyond its edges, there were countless distant lands. He had opened doors to unimaginably far places. He had begun to realize this world was far more complex than it seemed at first glance.
“I think I have an idea,” Yu Sheng said, his voice quiet. “From the name alone, it seems this place connects to many others. People say there are countless strange things hidden under the normal surface…”
Bai Li Qing nodded approvingly. “One of the Bureau’s tasks is to keep those strange and extraordinary things hidden—or at least, contained—so that the Borderland can function normally. We have to ensure that the city continues to operate and grow according to standard parameters. Just as you guessed, the Borderland is linked to many different worlds, and the range and number of these connections go far beyond what most people can imagine. You can think of the world as a huge ‘web,’ woven from countless lines of connection. These lines are invisible to ordinary senses, but in the Supernatural realm, they twist and overlap, affecting each other. At the center of all these connections lies a place where they gather together…”
She lowered her voice as if sharing a secret. “That place is the Borderland.”
Yu Sheng listened closely, feeling as though he were glimpsing something vast and mysterious. Bai Li Qing waited a moment before continuing, giving him time to absorb it all.
“Our job in the Special Affairs Bureau is twofold,” she explained. “First, we maintain the boundary between the Natural and Supernatural sides in the Borderland, keeping a kind of balance. Second, we deal with any threats that spread through these ‘webs’ of connection, no matter how far they might reach—whether they’re from the building next door or from billions of light-years away in the depths of space.”
Yu Sheng’s eyes went wide. After a long moment he managed to blurt out, “…Isn’t that a bit too much distance?”
“For the unique properties of the Borderland, distance makes no difference at all,” Bai Li Qing replied smoothly, pointing at Yu Sheng. “And for you, isn’t it the same?”
He froze, realizing what she meant. Indeed, his doors did not seem bound by ordinary limits. He could open them to impossible distances—surely he had already done so without fully understanding it.
“Among those hundreds of rifts you opened,” Bai Li Qing continued, her tone casual yet precise, “more than a few were directed billions of light-years away.”
Yu Sheng fell silent. He didn’t appear shocked outwardly, but inside his mind spun rapidly. He had guessed something like this before, but hearing it confirmed so plainly still shook him. He remembered how Irene had hinted at the incredible reach of his abilities. Now he had a clearer picture: what he could do was not just unusual, it was beyond what most would even dream possible.
What truly surprised him was the scale of the Special Affairs Bureau itself. To think that Li Lin, who acted like a friendly, regular guy buying instant noodles at the supermarket, belonged to an organization that could influence matters both local and cosmic. It was almost too big to grasp.
Still, Yu Sheng decided to keep these thoughts to himself. He didn’t want to say anything that might affect Li Lin’s standing or make him look bad. He could picture Li Lin’s carefree grin and quick jokes, and he found himself holding back a wry smile.
A quiet moment passed between Yu Sheng and Bai Li Qing. Neither spoke, as though both were waiting to see what the other would say next. After half a minute, Bai Li Qing broke the silence. “Do you have anything else you’d like to ask?”
Yu Sheng nodded, pushing aside the messy swirl of thoughts in his head. “I do,” he said, taking a second to form his question. “The Boundary City… is there only one?”