Chapter 086

Chapter 86: Newness

The clerk who called herself “Ren Wen Wen” from the Special Affairs Bureau left.

Irene leaned on the window to watch her go, then turned to Yu Sheng, who looked a bit dazed, and asked with bright curiosity: “What is that ‘The Blizzard Mystery’ she mentioned?”

Yu Sheng’s expression turned odd: “It’s a novel I wrote, serialized on a media account.”

“Then who is ‘Lin Qi’?”

“The male lead.”

“And ‘Nightblade’?” Irene blinked, but before Yu Sheng could answer, she looked suddenly enlightened: “Oh, I get it, the female lead, right?”

Yu Sheng fell silent and stared up at the ceiling.

Seeing that, Irene seemed to guess something and spoke more carefully: “…Could it be the other male lead?”

Sitting back in his chair, Yu Sheng said without expression: “If it were another male lead, I could at least understand.”

“…Then the male villain? I don’t remember much, but I faintly recall that kind of setup exists in the world…”

Yu Sheng gave the doll a look and thought: [Your memory is running on fumes; could you save some of it for useful things?] He sighed long: “It’s the male lead’s motorcycle.”

Irene: “…”

The little doll was stunned, even more shocked than when she first saw a giant eyeball covering the sky.

She hopped down from the sill, pointed at Yu Sheng, and sputtered: “You actually write stuff that creepy!”

“I did not write it like that!” Yu Sheng almost collapsed: “Maybe people who work at the Special Affairs Bureau are under too much stress, so their worldview is a bit skewed?”

Ren Wen Wen was gone now. If she were still here, Yu Sheng really wanted to say to her face: [Miss, your imagination is way off.]

Foxy had been listening for a while and finally gave in to curiosity: “Benefactor, Irene, what are you talking about?”

“Good kids shouldn’t hear this, and even bad kids shouldn’t,” Yu Sheng said, exhausted, as his gaze fell on the laptop beside him.

His grand plan to catch up on chapters had not even begun, and now he couldn’t write a word.

“You’re not writing today, are you?” Irene stared at his computer and asked.

“Tomorrow,” Yu Sheng sighed, then noticed her look. “What do you want?”

“Can I play with this?” Irene pointed at the laptop. “Watching TV all day is boring.”

Yu Sheng kept quiet, and the little doll hurried to add: “I won’t look at your browser history!”

“I’m not worried about that!” Yu Sheng glared at her. “I’m worried you’ll break it. Do you even know how to use it?”

“I do!” Irene said with full confidence.

“…Where did you learn?”

“I don’t know, I just can. I can type too!”

Yu Sheng eyed the doll with doubt. After a long pause, he waved: “Fine, go ahead. Just don’t break it. I’m going to check out this new phone.”

He stopped paying attention to Irene, moved aside, and took out the new phone Ren Wen Wen had handed him.

A “gift” from Director Bai Li Qing of the Special Affairs Bureau.

Yu Sheng inspected it. It looked pretty much like a normal phone, just a bit heavier in the hand. Maybe a bigger battery, maybe something else. Ren Wen Wen had not given any special manual; she only said it turns on like a regular phone, and the guidance meant for “special individuals” was built into the System.

After looking over the exterior, he unlocked the screen.

A large red diamond emblem appeared at the center, like a tall, watchful eye. It had to be the Special Affairs Bureau’s logo. The emblem faded, and a clean home screen came up. Since it was brand new, there were few icons. The most eye catching was at the very top: “Border Communications.”

Same red emblem, diamond logo. He tapped it. It launched fast with almost no loading. A simple, clear interface appeared.

Messaging, data search, a list of preset public channels, news pushes, and an emergency support button.

A strange sense of newness stirred in his chest. Curious, Yu Sheng explored this “all in one platform” the Bureau had built and opened to all registered Spirit Realm Detectives and Independent Investigators across the Borderland. Soon he noticed he was already logged in, with the username “Yu Sheng.”

The registration time was this morning.

[Did the Director set this up for me? Or is the device bound to the user so the info is written in before hand and can’t be changed? Special secure devices often work like that…] he wondered.

He found the chat feature in Border Communications, then, on a sudden thought, typed “Little Red Riding Hood” into the search bar. A profile picture of a figure in a red cloak appeared, showing online.

Yu Sheng considered it, then sent his first message: “You there?”

Two or three seconds later, the avatar flashed, and a burst of punctuation popped up: “??!!”

“I’m Yu Sheng. The Special Affairs Bureau just gave me a phone,” he typed. “I’ve seen you use this app. Now I have it too.”

This time, Little Red Riding Hood took longer to reply: “You actually did it?! I thought you were joking!”

After a pause, a second message arrived: “I’m in class.”

Yu Sheng: “Will the teacher catch you?”

“No. I had my wolf take the phone to the roof to text for me, using its eyes and paws with shared senses. I’m sitting in class looking super serious.”

Reading that, Yu Sheng went a little blank: “…You can do that?”

“I practiced for over two years. At first I could only send an emoji back to urgent messages. Now I can use shared senses to duo queue in battle games,” Little Red Riding Hood typed fast, sounding proud. Only at times like this did she show a light hearted side like an actual teenager. “What about you? You really became a Spirit Realm Detective… Did the two at your place register too?”

“I registered them,” Yu Sheng said, glancing at Irene, who was clacking furiously at the keys doing who knows what, and at Foxy, who was wandering the room looking for snacks. “But we only have one phone…”

He paused, then sent another message: “And even if we’re registered, once the novelty wears off, I’m not sure what we can do next.”

“Talk it over with that doll. Her name is Irene, right? She seems to know a lot about the extraordinary domain.”

“She’ll definitely tell me to go paste flyers on street poles,” Yu Sheng shot back at once. “Better to ask you.”

“…That’s actually not a bad idea,” Little Red Riding Hood wrote, then switched tone. “But for now, don’t try to ‘do something huge.’ If you have time, read the files. The Bureau has shared tons of dossiers with Detectives and Investigators: many special spots in the Borderland and intel on Otherworld locations that can be entered and exited stably. Or check the public channels for new posts. Some Detectives and Investigators share intel from their recent cases. You might find it interesting. If you want to make money, look for help requests. If you’re worried about getting scammed or unsure about pricing, ask me.”

She sent a long, patient message.

Even through a phone screen, Yu Sheng could feel the wolf girl’s help was sincere.

“Thanks. That’s really useful,” he replied, truly grateful.

“No problem. Just small tips. Oh, since you registered as a Spirit Realm Detective, you probably created a team too, right? What’s it called?”

“Hotel,” Yu Sheng typed carefully, then added: “But you probably can’t search it yet. The files were just taken this morning.”

“Sounds great,” she answered quickly. Whether she meant it or was being polite, it was hard to tell. “Maybe it’ll soon be a big name in the Borderland?”

“From your lips to the world,” Yu Sheng laughed, fingers flying. “I’ll stop bothering you. I’ll go explore the database.”

“Okay, bye~”

When the chat ended, Yu Sheng let out a small breath, then heard Irene still hammering the keys.

He finally went over: “What are you doing? You’re making a racket… Don’t break my keyboard.”

“Playing a game. Someone said I react slow, so I’m roasting them back,” Irene puffed up her cheeks. Sitting cross legged in front of the keyboard, she moved her whole body as she typed. “This keyboard is too big. It’s so hard to use!”

Yu Sheng peeked at the screen and saw Irene flaming the entire lobby. From teammates to opponents, nobody was spared. Even the game devs and the companies whose ads showed up on the map got dragged.

She was not slow at typing at all!

Yu Sheng was instantly awed.

The little doll’s gaming skills were awful, but her trash talk was terrifying. Usually Yu Sheng could stop her in person. Online, she was off the leash.

She did not get to rampage for long.

Within minutes, she was banned, kicked straight out of the match. A giant temporary suspension warning filled the center of the screen.

“That’s what you get,” Yu Sheng laughed out loud as Irene jumped off the desk in fury. “Serves you right.”

Irene was still cursing when she suddenly froze, then turned her head in a small voice: “…So, about that… This is your account.”

Yu Sheng: “…?”