Chapter 062

Chapter 62: A Ghost Living in the Borderland

Li Lin saw Captain Song, who was usually steady and reliable, frowning like he was facing a serious threat.

After listening to the report from the two Special Affairs Bureau agents and staying silent for a long time, Song Cheng finally spoke: “So… that eye-shaped Dark Angels just slipped out of the Otherworld it was parasitizing without a sound, did not try to pollute or control anyone, and left no ‘offspring’? During the whole process, you also did not hear any ‘high-dimensional whispers’ in your heads?”

Xu Jiali shook his head, his voice low as he said: “No, but it definitely noticed us. For a moment, I could clearly feel its gaze. Its focus fell on where we were hiding. It was like…”

Song Cheng frowned and asked: “Like what?”

After thinking back, Xu Jiali answered, unsure: “Like it was searching for something.”

Song Cheng tapped the tabletop with his fingers, looking annoyed, and said nothing for a while.

After more than ten seconds, he let out a long breath and turned to Li Lin: “When you met the man who called himself ‘Yu Sheng,’ did you sense any trace of ‘otherness’ from him? From your gut, does he seem more like a person, or like… something else?”

Li Lin spoke with certainty: “He seems human. At least his words, manners, and common sense in dealing with people all feel human. If he is an Entity disguised as a person, the disguise is too perfect. It is so perfect you can treat him as a person.”

Song Cheng sighed and said: “But he has ‘lived’ long term at ‘No. 66, Wutong Road,’ which does not exist in the real world. That is an Otherworld that appears in no official record. Otherworlds only generate ‘Entities,’ not… humans.”

After a moment of silence, Xu Jiali spoke: “There really are some ‘Entities’ in this world with reason and the ability to talk. Some that are very friendly, or that want something from our world, can even work with humans. For example, ‘Storyteller’ and ‘Passenger 22.’ They even show some human traits.”

Song Cheng shook his head and looked at Xu Jiali, then said: “But what you described about ‘Yu Sheng’ is on a different level when it comes to ‘being human-like.’ Can you confirm he is the ‘Door Opening man’ you saw on Aimein-IX?”

Xu Jiali nodded and said: “I can confirm it, but he did not recognize me at all. I was in full powered armor with a psychic shield. It seems his sensing cannot penetrate that gear.”

Song Cheng thought aloud, summarizing as he went: “Limited sensing ability. Strong personality traits. Can open ‘The Door’ at will. Can fight a Hunger Entity that was greatly strengthened by the influence of the Dark Angels, but the kill process at the time is a mystery. He seemed to hide his combat method on purpose. Also, one more thing…”

Li Lin added: “He is very friendly to humans.”

Song Cheng nodded slightly: “Yes, friendly to humans, and even willing to approach Special Affairs Bureau agents on his own.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but footsteps came from the hallway outside the door and cut him off.

There was a knock at the door, then a short-haired, petite woman pushed the door open and came in with a folder in hand: “Captain Song, the Archives Division sent the file.”

Song Cheng’s eyes widened a little as he said: “There really is a file on ‘Yu Sheng’?”

The short-haired woman set the folder on his desk and said with disbelief on her face: “Yes, but if you search it directly in the system it shows ‘canceled.’ The cancel date is the very day the Borderland population records system was set up. In other words, from the start this person already ‘did not exist,’ even earlier than the birth date on his file. Yet after the cancel date, his identity data stayed in ‘active’ status. The word ‘canceled’ looks like a tiny watermark in the system that no one cared about.” She went on without pause: “We can even find recent purchases, social registrations, and transit records tied to this Identification Card. All of that happened while the system showed his record as canceled.”

Lifting the folder, Song Cheng looked up in surprise and asked: “With a bug that serious, the system did not send an alert?”

“No. The Information Center already set overtime for tonight. I walked by and saw Director Wu letting out sharp screeches like an alarm.”

“Let him screech. He has to screech a few times every month anyway.” Song Cheng shook his head and looked down at the file in his hands.

From start to finish it looked like an ordinary resident record with ordinary living and spending logs. The only odd parts were the red, eye-stinging ‘canceled’ watermark on every page and the address ‘No. 66, Wutong Road,’ which should never appear in the archive system at all.

Turning his chair, Song Cheng opened the computer on his desk and, inside a Special Affairs Bureau internal app, typed in the keywords ‘No. 66, Wutong Road.’ After he hit enter, an error popped up at once.

He muttered under his breath with a sour look that mostly came from too much overtime: “A ghost. A ghost living in the Borderland. He left an unerasable shadow inside our complex population management system. He did not just show up recently. By his own words, he has lived in this city for more than twenty years, which fits the file record. No one noticed. Not even the Director’s eyes saw him. Not until he stepped out to contact us.”

Li Lin and Xu Jiali looked at each other and saw the same weight in each other’s eyes as they thought: [Good thing this ‘Ghost’ has no interest in wrecking things, and even thinks he is just an ‘ordinary person.’]

Right then, Song Cheng noticed another line in the file.

He raised his brows in surprise and said: “A writer? This Ghost also has a job?”

The short-haired woman answered: “A freelance writer. He sells work to some small magazines and media accounts. He writes horror shorts or third-rate scripts. He is not famous, and he has written very little lately.”

Song Cheng thought for a moment and asked: “So he is a washout?”

With a serious face, the short-haired woman said: “He can support himself, so he is not washed out.”

Song Cheng asked: “What does he write like?”

She said: “There is a short piece at the end of the file. I found it in a magazine from last year. I thought you might be interested.”

Song Cheng flipped to the end at once and skimmed it quickly.

Watching him with a hint of hope, the short-haired woman asked: “How does it feel?”

After a short silence, Song Cheng looked troubled and said: “I… do not really get what young people like now.” He cleared his throat twice, closed the folder without fuss, and straightened his face: “No matter what, this is a lead worth watching. Have people collect everything this ‘Yu Sheng’ has written and do a psychological profile and personality read. Also keep tabs on his future, uh, ‘creative’ work.”

He paused, then added: “If he is a suspected Entity who believes he is human, not only does he think like a human, he can also create like a human. His work will show his real inner way of thinking and feeling. That has never happened before. Treat it seriously, but do not let him notice.”

“Understood, Captain Song.”

After the short-haired woman left with the folder, Song Cheng looked back to Xu Jiali and Li Lin.

He asked: “About making ‘Space Rifts’ in the Borderland, did you ask him what was going on?”

Li Lin glanced at Xu Jiali with some guilt. When he saw the other man would not speak, he braced himself and said: “I forgot to ask.”

Song Cheng stared and snapped: “You could forget that?”

Speaking up at last, the seasoned Xu Jiali shielded the rookie and said: “Our minds were under too much stress. It was probably the after-effect of seeing the Dark Angels. We did not ask directly, but while we withdrew with two of Yu Sheng’s companions, we heard a few things.”

Song Cheng asked: “You mean that doll and that demon fox?”

“Right. From the way they talked, the so-called ‘Space Rifts’ were just Yu Sheng trying to open The Door to rescue the demon fox who was trapped in the Otherworld.”

Song Cheng stared: “Just that?”

“It should be just that.”

He could not help himself and said: “So just to find a path, he opened and shut a few Doors and shook the whole Borderland so hard the dogs and chickens could not rest?”

Xu Jiali’s face twitched as he said: “It mostly just shook the Bureau.”

Seeing his captain’s face, he stopped talking at once.

Breathing hard behind his desk, Song Cheng glared. After a long moment he waved in weary surrender and said: “All right. You two can go for now. This is big. I need to discuss it with the higher-ups.”

The two agents looked at each other. Then, hesitating, Xu Jiali asked: “When we make formal contact with ‘Yu Sheng’ later, do we still follow the usual process?”

Song Cheng sighed and said: “Do not worry about it yet. This will likely go through the Director. If that man were truly ‘ordinary,’ I would send you two at once. But this is not that simple. Head out and rest. Oh, stop by the ‘treatment room’ first. Do the checkup and fill out the form, then leave. Starting tomorrow, you get three days off with pay.”