Chapter 018

Chapter 18: Investigators

Back again, back to this strange Boundary City.

Not long ago, this place had felt huge, eerie, and unsettling. Yet now, as he saw the familiar streetlights and buildings, the dawn-washed streets and sky, Yu Sheng felt a pull he could hardly believe: [I kind of miss it.]

Being trapped in Night Valley had changed him so much that even coming back to Boundary City felt like coming home.

The next second, the haze of life slipping away broke his mood. He lowered his head, slow and dull, and saw bright red blood spreading under him.

Something had pierced his body. The awful wound could kill him fast. Even with his body’s strong recovery and vitality now, he knew he was about to die again. [Great, I am getting good at saying “again” about dying.]

The culprit lay beside him. The scaly “tail” he had cut from the monster had fallen out of the Door with him. It still seemed to hold a bit of life, even a faint “mind.” It squirmed in the pool of blood, inching away from this spot.

Yu Sheng even felt it was inching away from him. This cut piece of flesh was afraid of him.

He frowned and pushed himself up with effort. He glanced at his front door not far away, then grabbed the scaly severed tail that was still wriggling, and staggered forward.

He muttered as he walked: “Isn’t the main character supposed to be fine once he escapes from a desperate situation? Why do the wounds still carry over after the map is cleared, what trash setting is this, dang it, this hurts so much.”

The steady blood loss blurred his mind. Every step took more strength than he had. He swayed, ready to fall at any second. In the last few steps, he moved only by instinct. He did not even know why he had to go home so badly. [Maybe to say something to Irene? Maybe so people going out at dawn would not find my body?]

Everything dimmed. The morning light turned a deep red. In his mind rose Foxy’s golden red eyes. At the end, those eyes burned with the red glow of Hunger, yet a last thin thread of humanity still held on inside that red.

[That fox… I wonder how she is. She said she would not die. Was that true?]

With all these thoughts crossing his mind, he finally reached his front door. It was unlocked. He pushed the handle and swung it open, then stepped inside.

He saw the dining room set at an angle to the entryway, and the Painting still leaning against the wall. From inside the Painting, Irene lifted her head. She looked toward the door and slowly opened her eyes wide.

He forced a last bright smile: “Irene, I’m back.”

He knew the wound was bad. If his body were not this strong now, he would have died outside already.

The moment that thought formed, his vision tilted. He slid down against the doorframe. The familiar dark weight rushed in from all sides, and along with it came Irene’s terrified scream.

Now he had died inside the house.

…

With a light brake, two electric scooters stopped deep on Wutong Road. Two figures got off and looked at the old, quiet lane.

One was a calm-looking middle-aged man in a coffee-colored long coat. He was tall and well built, skin a little dark, with short black hair. A jagged scar near his neck added a sharp edge to his look, but the tired face and dark circles did not match his strong frame and fierce scar at all. He looked like someone who had worked three months of overtime without a break.

The other was a young man just over twenty. He also had short black hair, but his build was much thinner. His looks were plain, the kind of face that would vanish in any crowd. He wore a black and blue jacket and pants. His expression was tight, the look of someone dragged into fieldwork only a few days after starting the job.

They rode into the quiet old district and studied the ordinary buildings. A few residents walked by far away at the corners, but almost no one looked at them.

The young man mumbled: “This place doesn’t look weird at all… Captain Song, are you sure it’s here?”

The middle-aged man, called Captain Song, nodded: “A border alarm went off. The coordinates are here. The signal vanished in an instant, but it was an Otherworld reaction.”

The young man glanced at the scooters and said, unsure: “We rushed and still missed it. Maybe we should have driven a car.”

Captain Song eyed him: “All the Bureau’s cars are already out. The only one left is Xu Jiali’s seventh-hand clunker. You want to drive that? Even with the pedal to the floor, it might not beat your scooter.”

The young man gave a dry laugh and changed the topic: “Well, um, that person before… codename ‘Little Red Riding Hood,’ from the Fairy Tale Organization, she didn’t find anything here either?”

Captain Song nodded slowly: “Right, nothing. Which makes me sure something is wrong here. Little Red Riding Hood has done a lot of jobs with the Special Affairs Bureau. I know her skills. Her wolf can sniff out even the faintest, tiniest ‘abnormal’ scent in the environment. She searched this area all night and still found nothing.”

The young man blinked, a step behind.

Captain Song reminded him: “Nothing, get it? Too clean. Too normal. The Borderland does not have ground this clean. Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf can smell anomalies everywhere in this city, even very weak ones. But here, from an occult point of view, the whole street is as clean as a vacuum.”

The training he had in school finally clicked with the scene in front of him, and the young man stiffened.

Captain Song lifted a hand: “Either this place really is that clean, a truly ‘pure zone’ that runs in deep parallel with the outside world. That is not impossible. This is the Borderland, and any place in the world can connect to it. Or this place hides a big thing that keeps changing the whole block’s environment. Little Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Pack ran into a border vacuum here.”

The young man’s already tight face pulled even tighter.

Captain Song glanced at him: “I will not approve a transfer to logistics for you. Moving to another team is also no.”

The young man waved fast: “I never said I wanted to run. I signed up ready to serve, stay on the job, and do my duty.”

A cheerful phone melody cut in, the classic tune from a hit new anime.

The young man froze, then gave his boss a strange look: “You watch that too?”

Captain Song’s face twitched as he pulled his phone out unwillingly: “My daughter must have changed it. She’s watching it lately.”

The young man’s expression shifted. He held back the line he almost blurted out: [Is it okay for a middle schooler to watch a show about a bunch of girls starting a band?]

Captain Song answered the call and said after a few seconds: “Yes, Li Lin and I are on site. Same as Little Red Riding Hood’s investigation. This place is clean in a creepy way. Set up a fixed monitoring post. I’ll decide the staff when I get back. Also contact Fairy Tale, see if they can send someone again. This might be a long-term task.”

He hung up, exhaled, and turned to find Li Lin still looking at him.

He paused, then said: “It really was my daughter who changed it. I don’t watch cartoons.”

Li Lin coughed fast: “Cough, I believe you. I believe you.”

They stood in an awkward beat, then skipped the topic by silent agreement.

Just then, Li Lin seemed to spot something.

He frowned and walked quickly to a corner of the wall.

He crouched and called out: “Captain Song, come look at this!”

Captain Song came over and followed Li Lin’s finger.

A dark red stain marked the corner, like dried blood. It was small, easy to miss from afar, and it was shrinking at a speed the naked eye could see.

It was not soaking into the concrete. It was vanishing into thin air.

Captain Song frowned: “Blood?” He reacted at once, pulling a plastic tube and a portable scraper from his coat pocket: “No, not blood. Sample it.”

“Got it,” said Li Lin. He took the kit and reached to scrape the remaining dark red “blood.” But before the scraper touched the wall, that last tiny red patch hissed, then vanished completely.