Chapter 083

Chapter 83: The ID Clerk Arrives

Morning came with bright sun and scattered clouds.

A dull city variety show played on the living room TV. Irene hugged the remote and watched with great interest. Foxy was in the dining room, licking bowls and using a bunch of tails to gather plates, chopsticks, and cups.

Yu Sheng set his laptop on the dining table and, ever since finishing breakfast, had been staring at it with total focus.

Foxy was curious what her Benefactor was doing, but seeing how serious he looked, she didn’t dare interrupt. Now and then, while tidying up, she tilted her head to peek at the screen, couldn’t understand it, and went back to work.

By the time Foxy ran to wash the dishes, Yu Sheng was still staring at the screen. Irene drifted over from the living room. Unlike Foxy, she was not shy. Seeing Yu Sheng busy with something on the computer, she pattered over, grabbed his pants, and climbed up: “Hey, hey, what are you doing? Can I see?”

Yu Sheng picked her up by the collar and set her on the table: “Don’t make trouble. I need to write.”

“…Write?” Irene blinked in confusion. “Why?”

“It’s my job. I’m a writer,” he said without looking up, flicking a glance at the Doll. “You didn’t think I was unemployed, did you? I make a proper living.”

Irene listened, stunned. Surprise grew on her little Doll face. She had never thought about Yu Sheng needing a job or where the money came from. Her eyes said she’d opened a new Door to the world.

Yu Sheng didn’t care about her reaction and kept talking: “We’ve spent a lot lately. I bought a bunch of things for the house. I also owe two drafts that are half a month late. I need to catch up. So don’t poke around. Go watch TV.”

Irene slid along the edge of the table, scooted under his arm, and craned her neck for a glance: “But you’re clearly on a video site…”

Yu Sheng kept a straight face: “…This is the warm-up step before I start.”

She pointed at the screen: “And you’ve got a forum tab open behind it.”

He tried to keep a straight face, but his eyes looked awkward: “Reading other people’s posts helps too. There are a lot of creative ideas in forums. It sparks inspiration. That’s fine, right?”

Irene tipped her head: “You haven’t even opened a document.”

“Why so many questions!” He finally lost his cool, lifted Irene, and set her on the floor. “Have you ever written anything? This takes skill. Thinking and gathering ideas before writing is the main work.”

With hands on hips, Irene stared up, righteously: “Then when will you start?”

“When you stop bothering me, I’ll start.”

Miss Doll pouted, turned, and walked back to the living room, muttering, “Hmph, so many excuses for procrastination…”

Yu Sheng thought about it and decided the little twerp had a point. He turned back to the screen and let his mind go blank.

He was a writer. Well, that was the fancy way to say it. Truth was, he was a second-rate author at best.

It was one of the few things that matched his “hometown life” and life in Boundary City. He had always done this work. From that calm Coastal City to this huge, unfamiliar one, his way of living hadn’t changed much. That was a stroke of luck.

But so many unexpected things had happened these days that he couldn’t calm down to write. It wasn’t that he had no ideas. He had too many wild ones. He didn’t know which to use in a story and which might point to a real Otherworld and attract unsafe things.

After touching the surreal in real life, a writer of weird fiction felt more lost than ever.

He sat there, mind blank, for who knew how long. Then he took a deep breath and quickly closed the video site and the forum.

[Get it together, Yu Sheng. Think about Foxy’s appetite. Think about Foxy’s new clothes. Think about the materials to make Irene’s body. And think about Miss Doll’s beloved new TV.]

A low-tier author didn’t have much in savings. If he didn’t write, they really would be eating dirt. Forget becoming a Spirit Realm Detective. First he had to feed everyone in this house.

He slapped his face a couple of times, wiggled the mouse… and opened a game.

[Collecting thoughts is exhausting. One bot match to relax first…]

Before he could start, something bumped his calf. Irene had slipped back from the living room and headbutted his leg: “Yu Sheng, you’re playing a game!”

“Why are you in everything!” His face burned. He bent down to shoo her away. Before he could, his pocket buzzed and his phone rang.

It was an unknown number.

He hesitated, answered, and said, “Hello?”

A young woman’s voice came through, nervous and flustered: “H-hello! Are you Mr. Yu? I was sent by Director Bai Li Qing! I’m here to deliver your registration forms.”

Yu Sheng blinked, then remembered the matter he’d mentioned to the Director earlier. He had almost forgotten. “Yes, that’s right. I remember. I’m at home. Where are you now?”

“I should be right near your place, but I can’t see your house,” she said, sounding anxious. “The Director told me to call before coming, but I forgot and only remembered after I got here…”

“Wait there. I’ll open the Door.”

He headed for the doorway. Irene called from behind: “Hey, who is it? Do I need a disguise?”

Foxy walked out, a bit tense: “Do I need to change form?”

“No,” Yu Sheng waved them off, “someone’s here to get your Identification Cards made.”

By the time he finished, he was already at the door. He looked through the peephole and saw, not far away, a short-haired young woman in a neat black suit standing on the open ground, phone in hand, looking around.

She looked exactly like a temp worker sent out by her boss to handle a chore.

Yu Sheng opened the door.

The short-haired woman jumped, then turned and stared at the door that had appeared out of thin air and at Yu Sheng standing there.

“Mr. Yu!” She came trotting over with a document envelope. “Hello, I’m with the Special Affairs Bureau Second Unit. You can call me Ren Wen Wen. May I come in? I’ll need to take ID photos later… Oh, right, here’s my ID. Please take a look.”

She fumbled out a small black booklet and opened it.

Yu Sheng glanced at it. It looked similar to the IDs Li Lin and Xu Jiali had shown before.

He didn’t really need to check it. Right now, the only ones who knew both his phone number and “No. 66 Wutong Road” were people from the Special Affairs Bureau and Little Red Riding Hood.

Oh, and those three locksmith masters from before.

“Come in,” said Yu Sheng, stepping aside. He felt something odd. Maybe it was just him, but Ren Wen Wen seemed especially nervous. It wasn’t the same kind of nervousness Li Lin and Xu Jiali had shown the first time they entered No. 66 Wutong Road. It was… different. [Something about her nerves felt off, but he couldn’t say how.]

Ren Wen Wen came in. Yu Sheng leaned out for a quick look. The stretch outside the door was as empty as always, so he shut it.

Irene and Foxy looked curiously at the short-haired newcomer.

Ren Wen Wen also looked, equally curious, at the Doll and the Demon Fox.

“How do we do this?” Yu Sheng walked over. Seeing the three of them standing there, he took the lead: “Do we register them first, or do we handle my own account first?”

“F-first, we’ll get their legal identity set up,” Ren Wen Wen snapped back to work mode. She pulled forms from the envelope and a portable device from her bag. “You’re registering an independent team, right? Then we need to fix each member’s identity first. Please fill out these two forms. Then I’ll take their ID photos and make the cards. I brought the equipment. Our office is ready to link up. We can print the cards and upload to the System on site.”

She quickly spread her gear across the table, then took out two pens and looked up at the little Doll standing on the table, all of 66.6 centimeters tall, and the Demon Fox beside her.

“Can you fill them out yourselves?”

Foxy blinked at the forms, then looked up at Yu Sheng, helpless.

She couldn’t read these characters…

Yu Sheng sighed, stepped forward, and took the pen: “I’ll fill them out for her.”