Chapter 85: Hotel
Irene immediately noticed the form laid out before Yu Sheng. The little doll dashed forward with glee.
“We’re starting an organization!” she cried, somehow more excited than Yu Sheng himself. “Have you thought of a name? Something powerful, mysterious—a name that alone could land us a job!”
“A name, huh… I have a few in mind,” Yu Sheng replied, pen in hand, mulling it over. “What about you?”
“Call it the Irene Vanguard!”
Yu Sheng’s eyes shifted directly to the Fox Girl. “What do you think?”
Irene bounded around, indignant. “Hey! Don’t ignore me! What’s wrong with ‘Vanguard’? Just ’cause we’re a small team doesn’t mean we can’t have a bold name!”
Foxy glanced at the leaping Doll Lady, then at Yu Sheng and the form on the table. After a long pause, she cautiously ventured, “I don’t really get this… Maybe we could be ‘One Big Loving Family’?”
Yu Sheng’s face turned blank.
Irene nearly leapt onto him. “See? Even that name’s worse than mine! You shouldn’t listen to this silly Fox, you should—”
With a sigh, Yu Sheng acknowledged that neither of these two misfits could be counted on. He picked up the pen and wrote down the name he had long ago decided:
Hotel
Irene craned her neck to look. She froze when she saw the two characters. “‘Hotel’? That’s it? Why? It sounds… weird.”
Yu Sheng had to push her face away so he could see. “Because of my ‘Door’.”
The Doll Lady backed off, arms crossed in thought, slowly coming to understand Yu Sheng’s intention.
Those Doors to distant places, those unbelievable landscapes, and that far-off “place” Yu Sheng longed to find.
“On the road, huh…” Irene nodded, murmuring to herself—but only stayed quiet for two seconds before the nonsense returned. “Then maybe you should add my element too. Like ‘Doll-Tail-Hotel’. Or add something of Silly Fox’s, like a tail. Full name: ‘Doll-Tail-Hotel’… Okay, okay, don’t glare at me.”
Yu Sheng let out another sigh but was already used to the Doll Lady’s chaos, so he ignored her and proceeded to fill out the rest of the form.
In the section for initial team members, he carefully wrote down Irene and Foxy.
“Leave the ID number blank for now,” said Ren Wen Wen, glancing over at Yu Sheng’s progress and pointing to the portable card printer on the table. “The chip cards are already inside. Once the data transmits, they’ll be active. Just fill out the basic personal details below.”
Yu Sheng nodded, hesitated a moment, then looked up at Irene and Foxy.
“What’s your education level?”
Irene crossed her arms proudly, chin held high. “Dolls don’t need school! The Ancestor of the Dolls instilled ancient knowledge during creation. Then we share experiences through the network of Alice’s Little House to grow after birth!”
Foxy hesitated, visibly embarrassed. “I was… still in elementary school. Then everything happened…”
Yu Sheng stood there, mouth agape, stunned by the stark and cold reality. All his grand ambitions and hopes for the future seemed to collapse piece by piece. After half a minute, he sighed deeply and filled out two lines that were sure to rock the industry:
One: Fetal Education.
The other: Dropped Out of Elementary School.
Ren Wen Wen approached with a consoling smile. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter. Different races have vastly different systems, and most aren’t compatible with the Borderland. The education section is mostly just a formality…”
“But usually it’s locals registering organizations in the Borderland, right?” Yu Sheng glanced at the clerk. “Save your consolation.”
Ren Wen Wen paused, seemingly at a loss for words. Just then, the portable card printer buzzed.
“Ah, the ID data is here.”
A moment later, Foxy and Irene received their ID cards—small plastic cards indistinguishable from a regular human’s.
“I think this photo is ugly,” Irene grumbled, holding the oversized card and flipping it back and forth. “Did your photographers train with Doors or something? Everyone looks like they’re suffering in these shots. And you changed my eye color too…”
“That’s to make the ID usable in normal situations—though you probably won’t use it much,” Ren Wen Wen replied as she organized Yu Sheng’s paperwork. “Look, Miss Foxy has no complaints.”
“Mm! I think it looks great,” said Foxy, nodding happily. She carefully tucked her ID into her tail and looked up at Yu Sheng, beaming. “Thank you, Benefactor, for running around for us~”
Yu Sheng smiled faintly, saying nothing. He simply reached out to ruffle Miss Foxy’s fur, scratching the soft tufts behind her ears.
Foxy loved that kind of attention—she narrowed her eyes, clearly enjoying every moment.
“Then, the registration process is now complete,” said Ren Wen Wen as she began gathering up the paperwork and stood from her chair. “The license can’t be produced on-site, but someone will deliver it to you in a couple of days. There’s also something else for you.”
As she spoke, she rummaged once more through her seemingly bottomless backpack and handed something to Yu Sheng.
It was a brand-new phone.
Yu Sheng stared at it in surprise, momentarily hesitant to take it. “Huh? Why?”
“It’s a special device,” Ren Wen Wen explained. “Preloaded with the intelligence sharing and communication platform established by the Special Affairs Bureau. It can activate support nodes scattered across the Borderland, and it comes with other auxiliary functions—like maintaining communication under extreme conditions or locating the nearest contact station in Special Affairs Bureau-controlled areas outside the Borderland. If you’ve met other Spirit Realm Detectives before, you may have seen them use this model. It’s not like a regular phone.”
Yu Sheng blinked and suddenly recalled the one used by Little Red Riding Hood. Its design was indeed quite similar to the one Ren Wen Wen held now.
He hesitated. “This thing… it’s free?”
“Nope. It’s priced fairly, though,” she said with a grin. “But you don’t need to worry about that—this is a personal gift from our Madam Director.”
Only then did Yu Sheng reach out to accept it, still visibly surprised. “A gift from Bai Li Qing? That… is that alright?”
“You resolved the Dangerous Entity entrenched in Night Valley and brought back two Special Affairs Bureau Operatives and a Spirit Realm Detective safely to the real world. This gift is merely a token of gratitude,” Ren Wen Wen said earnestly. “Before I came here, the Madam Director and our Captain both made it clear—if you ever need anything, feel free to contact the Bureau. Especially when it comes to everyday matters. If you encounter difficulties due to certain ‘supernatural reasons,’ you must let us know. Don’t worry about bothering us.”
Yu Sheng murmured a couple of responses, dazed by the concern Ren Wen Wen conveyed. Something about it felt odd, but he couldn’t quite place what.
After a few more moments passed, he noticed that the clerk still hadn’t left. Curious, he asked, “So… is there something else?”
Ren Wen Wen opened her mouth, clearly hesitant. She seemed to have something to say but was nervous and unsure how to begin.
“Just spit it out,” Yu Sheng chuckled. “If it’s something the Special Affairs Bureau wants me to do, I’ll cooperate. You folks have helped me out a lot.”
“It’s not from the Bureau… It’s personal,” the clerk admitted after a long pause. Gone was the composed, professional demeanor she’d maintained during the registration process. “I just wanted to ask… did you write that story, The Snowstorm Mystery?”
Yu Sheng froze for a moment, then processed what she meant. He looked at her, uncertain. “Uh, yeah. That was me. You are… ?”
Her face lit up like a sunburst. “I’ve read your work! Lots of it! All on my phone!”
Yu Sheng immediately realized his suspicion was spot-on. He spun toward Irene, triumph sparkling in his eyes. “What did I say? Huh? What did I say! I’m a—”
Before he could finish his self-congratulations, Ren Wen Wen had already whipped out a notebook from her bag with the force and determination of an assassin.
“Can I get your autograph?”
Yu Sheng was absolutely thrilled. He eagerly accepted the notebook and pen. “Of course, of course…”
“Amazing! I couldn’t believe it when I saw it in the records. I even recommended your stuff to the Captain. He said he couldn’t understand it…” Ren Wen Wen beamed. “Oh, and my favorite character is Lin Qi. I totally ship him and Nightblade…”
Yu Sheng: “… ?”
His hand, mid-signature, suddenly trembled.