Chapter 046

Chapter 46: The Door Opened Wide

Irene whipped her head around and ran, which did catch Yu Sheng off guard, and for a Doll with such short legs she moved pretty fast. Too bad she was only 66.6 cm tall.

A sixty-something-centimeter Doll can only go so fast, after all, and before she reached The Door, the frame on her back snagged on a chair leg beside her. She had meant to crawl under the chair but forgot she had something strapped to her back.

Yu Sheng took two unhurried steps and picked Irene up while her little legs were still kicking in the air.

Irene flailed her arms and punched at nothing as she snapped: “You don’t have to hold a grudge like that! I only did it to wake you up! I admit my method was a bit too creative, but you did wake up in the end! Hey, put me down…”

Yu Sheng cut her off with a smile as he set the small Doll on the floor: “I didn’t say I’d do anything to you. I just want to say, next time don’t bite so hard. Even with my healing, it took a long time to stop hurting. That felt a bit like payback. And if you can avoid biting at all, even better.”

Irene blinked, surprised as she asked: “Oh, you’re not mad?”

Yu Sheng curled his lip and headed for The Door as he said: “Of course not. I’m not ungrateful. Go get ready. We’re heading for that Valley.”

Irene stood there a little dazed, then hurried after him with those quick little steps as she called: “Did you memorize all the ‘features’ over there?”

Yu Sheng answered without looking back: “Clear as day.”

…

“I’m starting to think this place is pretty peaceful,” Xu Jiali said from behind the window as he ate the breakfast jianbing Guozi that Li Lin had bought, his eyes on the street. He sighed with feeling as he added: “Nice. A lot calmer than the lawless zones. No Angel Cultists on the street either.”

“That’s normal. Compared to the fights you see on field duty, this is calm,” Li Lin said, slurping hot soy milk beside him. He patted the cup and added: “Treat it like half a vacation. Our job is just surveillance. If something big happens, the Bureau will send backup.”

“But Little Red Riding Hood is tense all the time,” Xu Jiali said, glancing out the window. “She’s just a kid, wound tight like a spring. I was the same when I first walked out of the Station.”

Not far away, on the roof of a nearby building, a girl in a dark red coat hid in a corner watching the street, a sausage between her teeth. The phantom of a Wolf Pack flickered in the air beside her.

Sensing eyes on her, Little Red Riding Hood lifted her head toward Li Lin and Xu Jiali’s window. After making sure nothing was wrong, she gave a small nod, checked the street again, then pulled out a few workbooks and paper from her backpack and bent over her homework.

Her Wolf Pack kept watch for her.

Staring at the dark red figure on the rooftop, Li Lin muttered: “I’ve heard the name Fairy Tale a lot, but the only Organization member I’ve seen with my own eyes is her. She doesn’t even look of age. She’s doing something this dangerous already?”

“More than half the members of Fairy Tale are about her age, and most are from the same place,” Xu Jiali said with a sigh. “They’re unlucky kids.”

“All of them?” Li Lin blurted. “Why…”

“Because children fall into Fairy Tale more easily, and adults who become Organization members usually can’t survive long in Fairy Tale,” Xu Jiali said, waving it off. “If you’re curious, read the files later. Just don’t ask her about it to her face.”

Catching the tone, Li Lin nodded, then turned his focus back to the quiet old street outside.

“Looks like nothing will happen today,” he breathed out, then kept sipping his soy milk.

“I’m still hungry. Where’s your instant noodles? I’ll make a pack,” Xu Jiali said.

“Under the bed in the back room. Boil your own water. The kettle is in the kitchen. The water dispenser in the living room doesn’t heat. And make one for me too,” Li Lin said.

…

Yu Sheng eyed Irene at The Door and asked with doubt: “This is your preparation?”

Irene stood on the shoe bench by the entry, chest pushed out to look tougher, clutching a kitchen cleaver she had taken from the kitchen. The knife was big and the handle didn’t fit a Doll’s hand, so she had to hold it with both hands.

She lifted her chin and said with great confidence: “I’m just being careful. Having a weapon on me feels safer. If we fight for real, just watch my super strong magic.”

Yu Sheng’s face twitched at her bragging as he said: “Then you might as well take a paring knife. It would fit your grip better.”

“It has no presence,” Irene said.

“At your height, even a giant dragon slayer blade won’t look imposing,” Yu Sheng said, helpless. “Listen, don’t break it when we cross. I like that knife. It’s great for cutting meat.”

“Enough with the nagging. So fussy,” Irene said with a glare as she hefted the cleaver with both hands. “Hurry up and do the Door Opening. We should first make sure what’s on the other side.”

Seeing this, Yu Sheng stopped talking and turned to grip The Door handle. He checked the pile at his feet again.

It was food for Foxy.

Last time he went into the Otherworld, the things on him and the trash bag he was carrying went through The Door with him. This time he would bring much more, including Irene. With so much extra load, he wasn’t sure he could pull it off. He had tested the process, but only with short Door Opening inside the apartment. Going to the Otherworld was not the same as a small move in reality.

So he prepared more. If it failed, it would still count as a test.

He wore an extra large coat with pockets inside and out stuffed full of compressed biscuits, bread, and a few cans of eight-treasure porridge. When he opened The Door, he would try to hold it open, send the supplies through first, then cross the passage with Irene.

To do that, he needed to open The Door as wide as he could.

He still didn’t know the real method behind any of this, so he could only go by feel.

Half closing his eyes, Yu Sheng recalled the features he had recorded through Foxy’s senses about that Valley: the cold night wind, the rotten stench, and the marrow-gnawing feeling of Hunger that filled the Otherworld. Most important of all was the “scent” needed for spiritual guidance.

He turned all of that into the “frequency” of the Door Opening, into the picture he held in his mind of what lay beyond The Door.

Then he put all his focus on opening it this time. He wanted a Door big enough and stable enough to take Irene, to take all their things, and to drop them right beside Foxy.

The handle turned. A chill seeped through the slowly opening gap.

A passage far larger than any he had opened before took shape.

How large was it?

Large enough to set off piercing alarms in the office of Director Bai Li Qing and for every action team captain in the Special Affairs Bureau.

Buzzz.

A strange low hum rolled across the whole Wutong Road block. It was well beyond normal human hearing. Only those trained to sense the Otherworld felt the steady vibration in their spirit.

Carrying two bowls of instant noodles out of the kitchen, Xu Jiali felt it at once. He looked up in shock to see the daylight outside dim fast, as if a heavy curtain were falling over Boundary City. Under that curtain, the buildings outside turned transparent and faded, while a misty, Valley-like scene began to “grow” out of the old street.

On the roof, Little Red Riding Hood snapped up her head. The Wolf Pack whimpered in the shadows. A cold wind rose out of nowhere and flipped her math workbook.

Li Lin, who had been praising the peaceful street a second earlier, jumped to his feet and blurted with perfect diction: “What the heck, something’s happening outside!”

Xu Jiali rushed over with the noodles, then corrected himself at once: “No. It’s not outside!”

Li Lin whipped around: “What do you mean?”

“It’s our view that’s changing. We’re falling into the Otherworld,” the veteran Deep Diver said at once. He shoved a bowl of noodles at Li Lin and sprinted for his gear case, pulling out a Beam Dagger and protective equipment as he barked: “Call the Bureau. Do it before the signal…”

But the sinking was faster than he expected.

A pull far beyond his experience ripped their senses past the limits of common sense and reason. His vision swam; he managed to grab his gear just as an empty wind howled around them.

Everything changed. The rental unit vanished like a dream, and a Valley cloaked in night appeared before them.

Li Lin had time only to see his phone on the table light up once with a flash of the Director’s number. Then there was nothing but black stone and black trees.

The two Special Affairs Bureau agents lifted their heads and traded a blank look. A wolf’s growl sounded nearby.

They turned and saw the girl in the dark red coat standing close by with a grave face.

“We’ve fallen into the Otherworld,” Xu Jiali said, his voice low.

Little Red Riding Hood gave a small nod: “I know. From the size and signs, it’s a ‘wasteland’ type.”

Li Lin looked at her, then at Xu Jiali, and felt he should say something. He raised his hand and asked: “Want instant noodles?”