Chapter 019

Chapter 19: Going Home

Li Lin stared at the now empty corner, still holding the scraper, his mind blank as if he had forgotten what he was doing.

The middle-aged man, Captain Song Cheng of the Special Affairs Bureau’s Second Team, tightened his brows the instant the stain disappeared.

Something had slipped from his memory and thoughts, but a trace still lingered. That trace tugged at his “spirit,” warning him something was wrong.

A hazy glow rose in Song Cheng’s eyes. He focused his mind and tried to “fix” that last trace in place so it would not fade with the missing memory. Years of training kicked in. Li Lin, scraper in hand, hesitated, then looked up and said: “Boss, I feel like I suddenly forgot what I was doing. Was there something here just now?”

Song Cheng reacted at once: “Cognitive interference. Check the depth now.”

Li Lin put down the sampling tools, pulled a palm-sized black box from his belt, tapped its surface a few times, then drew out a thin “soft tube” from the side. He connected the needle-like tip of the tube to his eyeball. After that, he lifted his head and looked around with the eye linked to the tube.

A faint hum came from inside the box. Liquid seemed to flow through the tube. Li Lin’s eye darkened, and in his spirit-sight, the old street turned black and white.

He reported as he scanned: “Depth L-0. No Otherworld reaction. No residue from anything coming out of the Otherworld.”

Song Cheng glanced at the box. It was a portable Depth Probe. Its range and sensitivity were lower than the suitcase-sized standard device, but even the portable model should detect depth changes.

He was sure something had messed with his memory and thoughts. He could still hold on to that fixed trace in his mind. There had to be something wrong here, something applying pressure to them. But the device sensed nothing.

He was about to tell Li Lin to switch the probe’s mode when Li Lin stiffened.

Li Lin stared toward the end of the alley.

The eye linked by the tube was black as ink. In the deep black, another sight overlapped. Between the black-and-white buildings, he saw a faint wash of color. It was blurred and pale, hard to make out, but it was large. After a long look he could roughly outline it. Its size matched a single house.

He spoke carefully as he walked forward: “Captain Song, there’s something ahead, very blurry, like a house. Depth still reads zero. No contamination. I’m almost in front of it. Do you sense anything?”

Song Cheng followed behind him, right hand gripping a badge in his pocket, ready to intervene if anything went wrong. He frowned and shook his head: “My spirit is not warning me.”

Li Lin stopped. He felt he was standing before that misty color. He hesitated, then slowly reached out his hand.

The black box shrieked. A sharp buzz cut the air, then a few quick crackles. A thin blue smoke lifted, and the Depth Probe died.

The tube popped free of his eye. Black sludge oozed out, and when it touched the air it steamed away at once.

A stab of sour pain hit his eye. Li Lin swore under his breath, dropped the now-hot box, and moved to rub the linked eye. Song Cheng stepped in and pressed a palm near Li Lin’s temple: “Don’t rub it. Wait.”

Li Lin froze. Heat spread from his temple. The eye pain faded fast. In a moment he was fine again, and he looked down at the Depth Probe on the ground, which still smoked a little.

He said quietly: “We should report this to the Bureau?”

Song Cheng answered: “Report it.”

Li Lin let out a breath and glanced back at where he had reached. There was only a small patch of open ground, and a wall at the end of the alley. Someone had sprayed messy graffiti there, bright colors sketching doors, windows, houses, trees, and stones.

He waved a hand through the air. He touched nothing.

He muttered: “There’s definitely something here. The instrument picked it up, but it died before I could confirm. It was still reading Depth L-0.”

Song Cheng thought for two seconds and decided: “We go back to the Bureau. I’ll report to the Council right away. This area needs ongoing monitoring. It could be an unregistered Otherworld. We will likely need large equipment and a specialized Deep Diver. Also, your eye okay?”

Li Lin asked hopefully: “If it isn’t, can I get a half day off?”

Song Cheng replied without pause: “No. We’re short on people.”

Li Lin sighed: “Then I’m fine. I’ll use some eye drops.”

Song Cheng nodded. Li Lin bent and carefully picked up the dead probe. They returned to their scooters.

Li Lin turned his key. The scooter’s screen flashed once, then went dark.

He stared, then looked up at Captain Song, whose face showed the same problem.

He said softly: “My scooter’s dead. Yours too?”

Song Cheng nodded.

Li Lin asked: “You think that’s a coincidence?”

Song Cheng shook his head and said in a low voice: “The Academy has a term for this.”

Li Lin blinked, remembering a page from some file, and spoke as Song Cheng also spoke:

“Machine Spirit is unhappy.” “Machine Spirit chickened out.”

They paused, then said together: “You remembered wrong.”

Song Cheng waved it off: “We can argue later.” He pushed his scooter and started walking. “Let’s leave this place first.”

Li Lin followed, pushing his scooter: “Boss, we’re pushing all the way back?”

Song Cheng said: “Unless you want to leave your scooter here.”

Li Lin grumbled: “Doesn’t the Bureau have a small truck? Or we can call the supply office’s trike to pick them up. Pushing all the way is going to kill me.”

Song Cheng said: “Less whining. You’re young and already weaker than me?”

The two veteran operatives of the Special Affairs Bureau pushed their scooters and headed off. Their figures shrank and vanished at the mouth of Wutong Road.

…

Yu Sheng was used to the deep, endless darkness. He had been here often lately. Floating in this chaos almost felt like going home.

Irene’s scream still rang in his ears.

He thought, [Me, covered in blood with a hole in my gut, opening the door and dying inside, probably scared that portrait doll half to death. Looks like even a cursed item like Irene does not have the best mental endurance.]

That made Yu Sheng curious about what would happen when he “returned.”

[When I come back and stand in front of Irene again, what will Miss Doll do? Will she remember I pushed the door open and died in the house?]

Floating in the dark, he pictured Foxy and remembered Night Valley. When the fox saw him in that ruined temple, she had completely forgotten that she had killed him with a headbutt. Later, for some reason, the memory snapped back, but at first Foxy really did forget his “death.”

Yu Sheng did not know why that forgetting happened. He did not know if the problem was with him or with Foxy, whose mind was already a mess. It would be normal for her to forget things.

[If Irene also forgets me dying in the house, then I can be pretty sure the problem is with me.]

Time had no shape here. After sorting his past experiences a bit, he emptied his mind, let his nerves rest, and waited for the darkness to end.

Then he felt the familiar drop, the fast fall back into the world.

Ready this time, Yu Sheng focused hard, trying to catch the instant he crossed the boundary.

Familiar scenes flashed before him. A faint pull pushed him to fall in a certain direction. He strained to pick out the flood of images. Before he could hold anything, one scene rushed toward him.

No. 66 Wutong Road, the living room past the entry door.

Yu Sheng’s eyes opened.

His home’s furnishings filled his sight. In the dining room beside the living room, the old, fine Painting stood quietly on the table.

From inside the Painting, Irene broke the silence and called out in delight: “Yu Sheng! You finally came back!”