Chapter 85: “The Hotel”
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation
The moment Irene noticed the form in front of Yu Sheng, the little doll eagerly scuttled over.
“We’re forming a club!” she exclaimed, far more excited than Yu Sheng himself seemed to be. “Have you thought of a name yet? It has to be something that sounds super cool and mysterious, right? The kind of name that alone could bring us business!”
“A name, huh… I’ve thought of a few,” Yu Sheng said thoughtfully, pen in hand. “Got any suggestions?”
“I know! Let’s call it Irene’s Vanguard!”
Yu Sheng glanced over at Foxy instead, his eyes asking for her input. “What do you think we should call it?”
Irene pouted, jumping up and down. “Hey, don’t ignore me! What’s wrong with ‘Vanguard’? Just because there aren’t many of us, we can’t be a vanguard?”
Foxy looked between the animated doll and Yu Sheng, and then at the form on the table. She hesitated for a long moment before speaking cautiously, “I’m not very good at this, but how about… ‘One Big Happy Family’?”
Yu Sheng’s face instantly went blank.
Irene nearly bounced into his face. “See! That’s worse than my idea! Listen to me instead of the silly fox!”
Yu Sheng sighed, realizing he couldn’t rely on the two jokers at home. He picked up his pen and scribbled down the name he’d already settled on: “The Hotel.”
Irene craned her neck to see, and when she spotted the words, she paused. “‘The Hotel’? That’s it? Why? It sounds kind of… weird.”
Yu Sheng had to push her little doll head out of the way since she was blocking his view. “It’s because of my ‘doors’.”
The doll paused for a moment, then folded her arms, seemingly in thought. Slowly, she seemed to understand Yu Sheng’s reasoning—the doors that led to distant places, the incredible sights, and the far-off place Yu Sheng had always dreamed of finding.
“On the road, huh…” Irene nodded, murmuring quietly. But the quiet only lasted two or three seconds before she started with her nonsense again. “How about adding my element to it too? Put ‘Doll’ in front and add ‘Tail’ for Foxy—like ‘Doll-Tail Hotel’! No? Okay, okay, don’t glare at me.”
Yu Sheng sighed, but he was used to the doll’s constant antics by now, so he simply ignored her and continued filling out the rest of the form. Under the section for initial team members, he carefully wrote down Irene and Foxy’s names.
“Leave the ID number field blank for now,” Ren Wen Wen said, glancing at Yu Sheng’s progress. She pointed to a portable card printer on the desk beside them. “The chip cards are already inside. Once the data is processed, they’ll be active in a few minutes. You can fill in the basic personal details in the meantime.”
Yu Sheng made a noise of acknowledgment, hesitated for a couple of seconds, then looked up at Irene and Foxy. “What are your educational qualifications?”
Irene crossed her arms, lifting her head proudly. “A doll doesn’t need school! Dolls receive ancient knowledge directly during the creation process from the Ancestor of the Dolls, and then expand on that knowledge through the network of Alice’s Garden.”
Foxy hesitated, looking a bit embarrassed. “I was… still in elementary school, and then… well, things happened.”
Yu Sheng was stunned for a good while, suddenly struck by the harsh reality of it all. The grand ambitions and expectations he’d had for the future felt like they were crumbling in the face of this cold truth. After half a minute, he finally sighed and wrote down the qualifications of his founding team—qualifications that were sure to shock the industry.
One was prenatal education, the other—elementary school dropout.
Seeing his expression, Ren Wen Wen came over to comfort him. “Don’t worry about it. Different species have complicated backgrounds. Most education systems aren’t compatible with the Borderland’s, and degrees aren’t recognized across different races. This section is really just for reference.”
“Normally, only ‘locals’ would be registering an organization in the Borderland,” Yu Sheng said, giving the administrator a look. “You can stop comforting me.”
Ren Wen Wen blinked and opened her mouth to say more, but at that moment, a series of hums emanated from the card printer on the desk.
“Oh, the data’s been processed.”
Moments later, Foxy and Irene finally received their ID cards—two small plastic cards that looked like ordinary human identification cards.
“I think this picture is ugly,” Irene grumbled, holding the oversized card in both hands and examining it for a while before looking up to complain to Ren Wen Wen. “Do you guys go through special training for these ID photos? Even the prettiest people end up looking miserable—and you changed my eye color too!”
“That was so your ID could be used in general situations—though you probably won’t need it often,” Ren Wen Wen replied absentmindedly as she sorted through the form Yu Sheng had filled out. “See, Foxy doesn’t mind.”
“Mm-hmm, I think it’s good,” Foxy nodded quickly, then carefully tucked her ID card into her tail. She looked up at Yu Sheng, her face lighting up with a smile. “Thank you for helping me, Benefactor.”
Yu Sheng smiled back, saying nothing as he reached out to ruffle her hair, scratching the fur behind her ears. Foxy loved that—she closed her eyes, looking like she was thoroughly enjoying it.
“Well, the registration process is complete,” Ren Wen Wen said, packing up her things as she stood from her chair. “The license can’t be issued on-site, but someone will deliver it in a couple of days. Also, there’s something else—it’s for you.”
With that, she dug through her seemingly bottomless bag again, pulling out something to hand to Yu Sheng. It was a brand-new phone.
Yu Sheng looked at the device in surprise, hesitant to take it. “Uh, why?”
“It’s special equipment. It has a built-in platform for sharing information and communication, created by the Special Affairs Bureau. It can also activate support nodes set up throughout the Borderland and has other useful features, like maintaining communication in tough conditions or finding the nearest station in areas outside the Borderland that are under the Bureau’s management. If you’ve worked with other Spirit Realm Detectives before, you’ve probably seen them use one. It’s different from a regular phone.”
Yu Sheng blinked, suddenly remembering the phone Little Red Riding Hood used. It did look a lot like the one Ren Wen Wen held.
He hesitated. “This thing… it’s free?”
“There is a fee, though it’s fairly affordable,” Ren Wen Wen laughed. “But you don’t need to worry about it—it’s a gift from our director, personally.”
Only then did Yu Sheng reach out to take it, still a little taken aback. “Director Bai Li Qing? Is this… appropriate?”
“You cleared out the Entity that was occupying Night Valley and brought back two Special Affairs Bureau operatives and a Spirit Realm Detective safely to the real world. This gift is just a small token of appreciation,” Ren Wen Wen said seriously. “When I left, both the director and our captain made sure to tell me that if you ever need anything, you should contact us directly. Especially if you face any difficulties in your everyday life because of ‘supernatural reasons,’ we want to know. Don’t worry about being a bother.”
Yu Sheng listened, a bit dazed, and made a vague sound of acknowledgment. The “support” Ren Wen Wen was conveying felt strange to him, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was off about it.
A moment later, when he saw that the administrator still hadn’t left, curiosity got the best of him. “Um, is there anything else?”
Ren Wen Wen opened her mouth, visibly hesitant. She really seemed to want to say something, but looked nervous and unsure of herself.
“If you’ve got something to say, just say it,” Yu Sheng said, smiling. “If it’s something the Special Affairs Bureau needs, I’ll cooperate as much as I can. After all, you guys have helped me out a lot.”
“It’s not from the Bureau… it’s personal,” Ren Wen Wen finally mustered the courage to speak, her earlier efficiency nowhere to be seen. “I just wanted to confirm—are you the author of ‘The Blizzard Mystery’?”
Yu Sheng’s expression froze for an instant before he realized what she was talking about. He looked at her uncertainly. “Uh, yeah, I wrote that. You are…?”
The administrator’s face lit up. “I’ve read your work! A lot of it! I read it on my phone!”
Yu Sheng finally understood, his guess confirmed. He straightened up immediately, turning to Irene. “What did I say?! See? I told you! I am—”
He didn’t even get to finish his bragging before Ren Wen Wen quickly pulled a notebook from her bag and thrust it toward him with the urgency of someone about to stab. “Can you sign this for me?”
Yu Sheng couldn’t help but laugh. He was delighted, happily taking the notebook and pen. “Of course, of course…”
“This is amazing! When I saw it in the files, I couldn’t believe it. I even recommended your writing to our captain, though he said he didn’t get it…” Ren Wen Wen went on animatedly. “Oh, and let me tell you, my favorite character of yours is Lin Qi! I totally ship him with Nightblade—”
Yu Sheng: “… ?”
The hand holding the pen suddenly started trembling a bit.