Chapter 075

Chapter 75: “Another Boundary City”

Not long after, two people stood in Bai Li Qing’s office.

One was the brawny Song Cheng. The other had graying hair and looked a bit over fifty.

The latter wore narrow-rim glasses. He was not tall and slightly overweight, like an ordinary small office leader easing toward retirement.

Bai Li Qing looked up at them and gave a small nod: “You came quickly.”

“You’ve met that ‘Yu Sheng’?” said Song Cheng first. “Seeing you like this… did you find something?”

“I talked with him a lot, and the whole thing went very differently from my expectations. ‘Yu Sheng’ may be the most unusual ‘non-natural’ individual I’ve met,” said Bai Li Qing. “But before we go into details, I want to show you something.”

She shifted her gaze to the graying man-the head of the Classified Records Office-and said: “Luo Zheng, close the door.”

Luo Zheng nodded at once and shut the office door.

As the door clicked shut, an unseen pressure spread through the room. It was like a breeze passing by, and where it passed, even the dust in the air seemed to freeze in place.

Seeing that setup, Song Cheng tensed and thought: [Oh no], then gave up on getting off work on time this afternoon.

When the office was fully “sealed,” Bai Li Qing rose in silence and walked to the floor to ceiling window.

The window was huge, and outside it a thin veil of mist always hung. Inside the mist, the scene kept changing, and that view clearly wasn’t what one should see in the Boundary City-it was sometimes rolling mountains, sometimes an endless Forest, but most of the time it was a calm lake with no ripples at all. In the distance by the lake stood a little house, wrapped in fog, hazy like a dream.

As Bai Li Qing reached the window, the drifting mist outside stilled quickly, and the shifting scenery faded.

Song Cheng and Luo Zheng watched that mist with grave faces. After just a few frozen seconds, something else began to appear within it.

Buildings. A scatter of roofs. A city no one knew-along with red glow spreading like a tide.

“What is this?” asked Song Cheng without thinking.

“This is what ‘Yu Sheng’ showed me. He said it is another ‘Boundary City’,” said Bai Li Qing softly. Her pale eyes rested on the mist as the scenes stored in her memory surfaced and rebuilt themselves there. “He is fixated on this place, and he has seen it.”

Shock washed over Luo Zheng’s eyes. He took off his narrow frames and wiped them on his shirt, then stared at the floating lights and shadows beyond the glass as he said: “Another ‘Boundary City’?!”

“Yes, another one,” said Bai Li Qing. “And I faintly felt his emotion. He seems to think this is how the Boundary City is supposed to look-the ‘normal’ state.”

Song Cheng and Luo Zheng fell silent in their surprise. With a bit of unease, they looked at that so-called “normal” view outside the window.

Black shapes of buildings, reduced to edges, lined the ground. Far away, strange tall spires stood, drawing a grand outline. Mist filled the air, and the rooftops and towers felt like rows of gravestones set in the fog. Crimson glow cut through the mist, giving the sky a weird, dim texture. As for the sunlight…

The blood-red “sunlight” flowed like water through the city, swirling between buildings. Mixed with the glow, it spilled from rooftops and ran down along the eaves, drip by drip, patter by patter…

Bai Li Qing’s voice reached their ears, a little airy: “He said it is a quiet seaside town with a beautiful sunset. The red glow pours over the sky like water and runs along the roofs…”

“It sounds poetic,” said Song Cheng softly.

“Yes. I thought the same at first,” said Bai Li Qing with a small shake of her head, “until I realized it was literal.”

“This can’t be a location that exists in reality,” said Luo Zheng, now serious. He had already shaken off the unease and tension that come from witnessing an ‘anomaly’ and soon regained his calm. “Maybe the universe has planets with strange scenery, but this scene does not look natural at all. The light around those buildings and that ‘sunlight’ break physical laws. They look… like they’re melting.”

“If I have to compare it, it’s like when a video game’s graphics driver crashes and the rendering goes wrong,” said Song Cheng, rubbing his chin, then adding, “I’ve seen that when my daughter was gaming.”

“This should be an Otherworld,” said Luo Zheng carefully. “From the scene, the scale is probably large, but we lack data and references. We can’t tell if it’s a ‘wilderness’ or a ‘kingdom.’ It’s definitely not a ‘fortress’.”

“It could also be an ‘abnormality’,” said Bai Li Qing mildly.

“An ‘abnormal’-type Otherworld?” said Luo Zheng in surprise, frowning. “Like ‘Fairy Tale’ or like a heroic epic? But it looks like an actual space…”

“Abnormal-type Otherworlds also take on their own ‘reality’ in cognition,” said Bai Li Qing, shaking her head. “What I’m seeing is only the image drawn from Yu Sheng’s mind, so we can’t rule out that this is just a piece of ‘memory’ or a ‘story.’ Right now the key point is: whatever this Otherworld’s nature is, Yu Sheng believes it is another ‘Boundary City’.”

Silence fell again, and the office air grew heavy.

Countless Otherworlds exist in this world. Many of them establish a link with the Borderland, some even overlap with it. But in the end, Otherworlds are still just Otherworlds. Where they overlap with the real world is always very limited. Since records began, there has never been an Otherworld that could, like this-

Point to another “Borderland.”

Song Cheng stood before the window and stared hard at the city soaked in flowing red light.

To be fair, those black city silhouettes didn’t look very much like the “Boundary City” under his feet-at least he couldn’t see it. He didn’t understand why that “Yu Sheng” thought this was another Boundary City. But there was one thing he did understand:

Change the point of view, and the world you see changes.

Algladians see the starry sky filled with gorgeous, orderly lines and patterns. Bamosians see their world lit by both “light” and “magnetic fields.” Gyproians can make out the shapes of electric fields. The ancient Forest Folk, in meditation, embrace time and can even glimpse the near future.

Humans are one of the most narrow-sighted races in the world. In the eyes of those born with such gifts, Humans are both deaf and blind. In this huge world, less than one percent of all information is “effective” to Humans. Yet, with proper tools or methods, the Human mind can handle almost any “knowledge,” and their tolerance and adaptability to dangerous information beyond the senses is absurdly high.

Because of this, Humans are widely recognized by all races as “born Investigators.”

“His world isn’t the same as ours,” said Song Cheng suddenly.

“Yes,” said Bai Li Qing. “But he can live in our world as well. Other than some small awkwardness, he adapts very well.”

“Holding both a Human and a… ‘non-Human’ point of view at the same time? Or two cognitive systems?” said Luo Zheng, frowning as he thought. “You met him. Do you believe he is an Entity, or a Human?”

“More like a Human. At least that’s what he believes right now,” said Bai Li Qing. She tapped the glass lightly as she turned. With her words, the “view” outside collapsed and shrank in an instant, returning to the earlier calm state of drifting mist with mountains and water trading places. “I think it’s best not to break this ‘status quo’-not until we can be sure what Wutong Road 66 and ‘Yu Sheng’ really are.”

“I understand,” said Song Cheng, taking a slow breath and nodding solemnly. “Then next…”

“Next,” said Bai Li Qing, “Second Unit should assign some people and attention to specifically handle matters related to Wutong Road 66 and ‘Yu Sheng’. First, help him with a few registrations.”

“Registration?” said Song Cheng.

“The two ‘people’ around him need legal identity,” said Bai Li Qing, unhurried. “Second, he himself seems interested in registering as a… ‘Spirit Realm Detective’.”

“…Huh?” said Song Cheng.

“He says he wants to uphold order in the Borderland and oppose Otherworlds and Entities,” said Bai Li Qing.

“…Huh?” said Song Cheng.

“I know why you’re saying ‘huh’,” said Bai Li Qing, lifting her eyes to him. “The Special Affairs Bureau deals with ridiculous things all the time. Make the arrangements-pick someone sharp and reliable to handle this. The two from the last report looked good to me.”

Song Cheng’s expression turned a little odd as he said: “I just gave them three days off…”

“That’s fair. They should rest in this kind of situation,” said Bai Li Qing after a moment’s thought. “Arrange it as you see fit. Just don’t delay too long.”