Chapter 074

Chapter 74: Leaving

Hearing Yu Sheng mutter under his breath, Bai Li Qing’s expression turned a little strange, but she said nothing and kept watching the “man” across from her with mild curiosity.

Answering a few questions or helping with small problems was secondary; the most important thing today was the contact itself.

She had dealt with many, many Entities of all kinds. She had killed them and exiled them. She had spoken with strange beings that still had reason, even worked with them. She had tricked them and been tricked by them. But never had any Entity, no matter how Human-like, talked with her like this under these circumstances.

The “person” sitting in front of her even seemed interested in becoming a Spirit Realm Detective or an Investigator.

Setting those thoughts aside, Bai Li Qing broke the silence: “So, you want…”

Yu Sheng looked at her with some hope and asked: “Can I register a group? I’m not working alone. There are two others with me.”

Bai Li Qing said: “You mean the Doll named Irene, and the Demon Fox you brought out of the Otherworld?” She paused and frowned. “But they don’t have legal status in the Borderland yet.”

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then blurted out: “Then let’s get them Identification Cards? Ah, do they need jobs first to apply, but to register a job you first need an Identification Card, and then it gets stuck?”

Bai Li Qing clearly froze for a beat and asked: “Of course not. Why would you worry about that?”

Yu Sheng gave an awkward grin and said: “Oh, good. I overthought it.”

“I’ll arrange it,” said Bai Li Qing. In her heart she added a quiet note to her observation report: [has some sense of humor]. Then she raised her wrist and glanced at her watch: “Time is just about up.”

“Ah, you’re leaving?” said Yu Sheng, standing without thinking. “Then my…”

“Someone will come find you soon to handle the necessary registrations for you and your two friends,” said Bai Li Qing as she stood. “You’ll only need to fill out a few forms. Keep your phone on for the next two days.”

Yu Sheng answered: “Oh… okay.”

Bai Li Qing nodded, then seemed to remember something: “Right, one more thing.”

He asked: “What is it?”

She said: “About Night Valley-the Otherworld you visited before. Did you go back later to check on it?”

Yu Sheng looked puzzled and said: “That Valley? I haven’t gone back since… did something happen?”

“It’s exactly ‘unknown’,” said Bai Li Qing, shaking her head. “So if your The Door can still reach it, you might go take a look.”

Yu Sheng couldn’t read anything useful from her face, but he faintly felt this matter wasn’t as casual as the Director made it sound. She brought it up on purpose right before she left, which felt more like an emphasis.

After a brief pause and some thought, Yu Sheng nodded.

[Truth is, I don’t want to go back to that creepy Valley at all, and I have no interest in dealing with ‘Hunger’ again. But from Bai Li Qing’s attitude, I get the feeling something else has gone wrong there besides Entity-Hunger.]

In the blink of an eye, the café that stretched on forever forward and back quietly collapsed in his sight.

Bai Li Qing’s figure vanished into the crumbling backdrop. The café snapped back to normal at once, the sounds of the real world flowed into his ears again, and it all felt like a bizarre dream-only the faint trace of perfume in the air proved someone truly had been here.

Yu Sheng stared for a moment, then looked around and saw that no one seemed to notice anything odd. Little Red Riding Hood’s thick packet of worksheets still lay open on the table, waiting for him to keep grinding.

He muttered: “She really came and left just like that…”

Shaking his head, he sat down again, ready to go on writing homework for a high schooler.

This time, though, he just couldn’t calm down.

Everything he had talked about with the Director of the Special Affairs Bureau spun in his mind like an unruly whirlpool. Brand new knowledge about this world kept buzzing, mixed with many hopes and ideas about the future and the distance. [I haven’t felt this kind of hopeful yet slightly nervous feeling about tomorrow in years.]

There was also the thing Bai Li Qing had mentioned on purpose before leaving-Night Valley. What happened to that Valley?

Just then, a voice from not far away cut off Yu Sheng’s thoughts: “We’re back!” Little Red Riding Hood sounded cheerful as she asked: “Yu Sheng, how much did you write?”

He looked up at once, and the first thing he saw was the black-haired miss standing beside Little Red Riding Hood.

It was Foxy in her new clothes.

The weather had turned chilly, so Little Red Riding Hood bought her a white, warm coat and a cotton dress. The clothes were simple, but they fit Foxy surprisingly well. The fluffy trim at the collar both decorated and blocked the wind, and it even made people think of Foxy’s own furry ears and tail-the same silver white, simple with a gentle charm.

Miss Fox stood there a bit stiff, looking a little dazed. Maybe she wasn’t used to wearing clothes that fit, or maybe she was still overwhelmed after walking for a long time in a place full of strangers. Only when Yu Sheng waved did she blink like she woke up, then hurry over with several big shopping bags.

Foxy stood across the table, a bit nervous, but at least she remembered to use his name in public as she said: “Yu Sheng, the new clothes fit well.”

“Yes, they look great,” said Yu Sheng with a smile. He could feel she was happy, but his gaze dropped to her dress as he asked: “It got colder these days. Is this warm enough?”

“She’s got long johns on underneath,” said Little Red Riding Hood as she sat down right beside him and leaned over the table. “Let me see how much you wrote… uh, not much, right?”

“Something unexpected happened just now and dragged on for a long time,” said Yu Sheng with a sheepish rub of his nose. Then he looked at Foxy and Little Red Riding Hood and asked: “Wait, where’s Irene?”

“Oh, here!” said Foxy, reacting at once. She lifted one of the big shopping bags from the floor for Yu Sheng to see. “We bought too much in the middle, I couldn’t carry her in my arms, so I put her in the bag.”

Yu Sheng leaned over and saw the little Doll lying in the bag. Irene lay on a pile of clothes with eyes that had lost their sparkle. The whole bag was full of the Doll’s resentment.

The resentment was so strong the tote was about to turn into a cursed item.

He asked in his heart: [You okay?]

The little Doll burst out in his mind: [Okay my foot! Get me out! In the mall I stared at ceilings the whole time, and now out here I’m still staring at a ceiling! Little Red Riding Hood put her half-finished drink in the bag! She dumped snacks in too! I even fell to the bottom of the bag and they didn’t notice! I protested the whole way, and this Silly Fox got dizzy from shopping and ignored me!]

Yu Sheng hurried to lift the furious Miss Doll out of the shopping bag and set her on the nearby chair, soothing her a long while in his head.

Little Red Riding Hood flipped through her homework, then turned to Yu Sheng with curiosity and asked: “What unexpected thing happened?”

Yu Sheng didn’t hide it. Lowering his voice, he said: “A woman suddenly showed up. She said her name is Bai Li Qing, the Director of the Special Affairs Bureau.”

Little Red Riding Hood froze while turning a math worksheet. After two or three seconds, she stiffly turned her head and said: “…Huh?”

Yu Sheng glanced around and whispered to her: “Is that so rare?”

“Director! Bai Li Qing! That big shot!” whispered Little Red Riding Hood, her voice changing as she tried not to speak too loud and draw attention. “Why did she suddenly appear, and why did she come to you herself? She…”

She cut herself off, a bit nervous now, and asked: “Does she think you’re dangerous, so she came in person to deal with you?”

Probably because she had spent half a day shopping the mall with Foxy, she spoke to Yu Sheng much more freely now, without the obvious nervous caution she had at first.

Yu Sheng didn’t care about that small change. He thought back to the conversation with Bai Li Qing, then shook his head and said: “No. She just wanted to learn the situation. She asked me a few things, and I asked her a bunch. I think she’s pretty easy to talk to.”

Little Red Riding Hood stared, doubting her own hearing.

Bai Li Qing? Easy to talk to? That sure was a new combo of words.

…

At Special Affairs Bureau headquarters, in a certain office, a pale Human-shaped outline popped into being behind the desk amid a collapse and twist of light and shadow. The outline quickly took form and color and turned into Bai Li Qing.

She sat quietly behind the desk, not moving for a long time, as if deep in thought.

No one knew how long it was before she suddenly looked up, pressed a button on the desk, and said: “Notify Second Unit’s Song Cheng and the head of the Classified Records Office, Luo Zheng, to come to my office at once.”