Chapter 077

Chapter 77: The Dining Hospitality at Wutong Road 66

Little Red Riding Hood knew anyone living in an Otherworld would be a bit strange. Even so, she still underestimated how strange this family of three was.

It showed most clearly when they started eating.

A doll who did not need food sat prim and proper on the table itself, with a special set of chopsticks and bowl in front of her, looking like a small shrine setup.

A demon fox with many tails kept pulling snacks out of her own tails, and her eating was a chaotic mix: flatbread rolled with steamed buns, chili peppers with bananas, anything she could put in her mouth went in.

The strangest of all was Yu Sheng. He actually ate human food.

[Unbelievable.]

Yu Sheng noticed Little Red Riding Hood drifting off and thought she was just being shy as a first time guest. He waved her over warmly and said, “Eat, eat. I’m pretty confident in my cooking.”

Halfway through, he remembered something, pointed at one plate, and added, “Right, you should not eat that one.”

Little Red Riding Hood paused. It was only a normal looking plate of chili stir fried pork. She asked, “Why?”

“That one uses a specialty from the Otherworld. I’m not sure ordinary people can handle it,” Yu Sheng said. “Irene and Foxy both dislike it.”

“An Otherworld… specialty?” Little Red Riding Hood echoed, dazed.

“It’s meat cut from the entity called Hunger. I like it, but normal people shouldn’t eat it,” Yu Sheng said calmly. Then he added, “I do have common sense about this.”

He watched the girl across the table freeze in place like she had turned to stone.

After a few seconds, Little Red Riding Hood finally blinked. She looked stiffly at Irene, who was sniffing the air on the table, and said, “That is some unique vocabulary.”

“First time, huh?” Irene patted Little Red Riding Hood’s arm like an expert and said, “I had the same reaction the first time I heard it. Don’t doubt it, it’s exactly what you think. You even saw with us how that entity in the Valley got taken out. Don’t be so shocked. At least this is cooked.”

“This one is better cooked,” Yu Sheng agreed. He picked up a slice of the stir fried meat and said, “I tried it raw. No good. Too tough.”

Little Red Riding Hood stared at the other dishes in fear and instantly regretted saying yes to the invite. She had wanted to get close to this strange man and this strange Wutong Road 66, hoping to learn something new about this Otherworld to sell for a good price to the Special Affairs Bureau. Now she realized something else:

[If an entity looks harmless, it must be weird in some other way. If an Otherworld looks safe, it probably carries very creative mental pollution.]

She swallowed nervously as she watched Yu Sheng eat. For a second she really wanted to ask, [After you finish that, you are not going to eat me, right?] She held it back.

“Not to your taste?” Yu Sheng asked when he saw she wasn’t moving her chopsticks. “I season on the heavy side, but try the greens. Those should be fine.”

Under his gaze, Little Red Riding Hood didn’t dare dodge or shake her head. After a long moment she reached out, picked up a bite of greens like she was taking medicine, and then was surprised to find it was just good food.

It tasted like a normal stir fry.

“Our benefactor’s cooking is great, right?” Foxy said with a happy smile.

Little Red Riding Hood gave a careful nod, then watched Foxy keep eating and eating. Since the moment Foxy stepped through the door, her mouth had barely stopped. Little Red Riding Hood finally asked, “If you eat this much, won’t you get too full?”

“No,” Foxy said, her tails swaying. “I eat more to store a bit more in my tails. Then I can use them to help our benefactor fight.”

“What?” Little Red Riding Hood stared.

[What kind of nonsense is this?] She started to doubt her own understanding. She even felt like Wutong Road 66 ran on a worldview totally different from the normal world. Things looked normal and words sounded normal, but everything felt off.

Right then, Yu Sheng’s voice cut through her thoughts. He said, “By the way, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“Ah… huh?” Little Red Riding Hood looked up slowly, still lost.

Yu Sheng did not know why she reacted like that, and he didn’t think too hard about it. He asked directly, “For someone like you, a spirit realm detective, how do you usually work? Or what should a spirit realm detective watch out for?”

“Normal work? Most of the time I take outsourced jobs from the Special Affairs Bureau. Sometimes there are other organizations or private clients, but that’s less stable,” Little Red Riding Hood said. “Most spirit realm detectives get their commissions from the Special Affairs Bureau or their subcontractors. That official organization has the best info, and lots of jobs get collected by them. Look at this.”

She took out her phone, tapped a few times, and showed the screen to Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng leaned in. The screen showed a long list of chats.

Over half the icons had the same mark, with notes that said Special Affairs Bureau.

“This is a dedicated platform built by the Special Affairs Bureau. Spirit realm detectives and independent investigators can use it. People chat, share info, and public commissions get posted here. The official name is Border Communications, but lots of people just call it Gig Didi,” she said.

Yu Sheng listened with interest and wanted to keep reading, but Little Red Riding Hood had already put her phone away.

“Technically I shouldn’t show that to outsiders. We keep it secret from normal people. You’re not a detective or an investigator, but you’re not a normal person either, so I let you see. As for what to watch out for doing our job…” She paused, a teasing look in her eyes, then said, “Everyone has their own habits. If there’s a shared frame, it’s only two things. First, don’t break the order of the Borderland. Second, try to stay alive. If you really can’t do the second, then try to die in a shallower place so the body collectors don’t have too hard a time.”

She looked into Yu Sheng’s eyes with curiosity and asked, “Why are you asking this all of a sudden?”

Yu Sheng answered plainly, “Because we might soon be colleagues.”

Little Red Riding Hood stared.

After dinner, Little Red Riding Hood left.

“I feel like her face looked a little weird when she left,” Irene muttered while sitting on the table, watching Yu Sheng clear the dishes. “Like she was in a trance.”

“High schoolers are under a lot of pressure. That’s normal, especially if she also does part time work,” Yu Sheng said while wiping the table. “Her phone screen is cracked. Her life might be a bit rough. That’s why I invited her to eat here, so she could relax.”

“Really?” Irene sounded doubtful. “I think she looked more tense when she left than when she came.”

“That’s your imagination,” Yu Sheng said with a wave. “Trust my read. Humans understand humans. I was a high schooler too. If we have the chance, we should invite her again. That will work out.”

“Is that so?”

By then Yu Sheng had finished clearing the table. He handed the dishes to Foxy, who had volunteered to wash them, took a long breath, and said he was going to do something serious.

“I’m going to open a door.”

Halfway off the table, Irene turned and asked, “Huh? Where are you going?”

“I’m going back to check that Valley.”

Irene slipped off the table leg and fell, landing with a thump along with her painting.

“So you ate all the meat in the fridge, is that it?” the doll cried, scrambling up with a shocked face. “You’re going to restock?”

“No,” Yu Sheng said, waving his hand. “The director who visited me today said something that stuck in my mind.”

He told Irene what Bai Li Qing had brought up before leaving.

The doll frowned and asked, “What if it’s a trap? Like tricking you into stepping on a landmine? All those big shot beings who pop up and ramble on love doing that. I’ve seen it on TV.”

“Watch less TV,” Yu Sheng said with a look. “Even if she had other plans, I was going to check that Valley anyway.”

“Why?” Irene kept frowning.

“There’s something I want to investigate. We left too fast last time,” Yu Sheng said seriously. “Don’t worry. It’s not like I can’t come back. The passage is stable now. If things look bad, I can retreat right away.”

“Fine,” Irene said after thinking it over. “Do we need to tell Foxy? She might worry.”

“I’m just going to take a look. It shouldn’t take long. If she asks, tell her I’ll be back soon,” Yu Sheng said, reaching into the air. A phantom door opened in his hand. “I bet I’ll be back before she finishes washing the dishes. It’s really just a look.”

He stopped, turned, and stared at the door he had opened.

[Should I tell the Special Affairs Bureau first?]

“You already opened the door and only now thought of that? Get moving before the complaint call comes in,” Irene said. “Go on. I’ll wait here.”