Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Help and Trouble

For the first time, Song Cheng got to experience what Li Lin and Xu Jiali had written in their reports: when you deal with Yu Sheng, a very logical but somehow wrong feeling thing will suddenly happen. Then you think it through again and it seems reasonable, but then you think once more and it still feels crazy.

He cut his eyes toward his two subordinates. Xu Jiali was working hard to keep a straight, silent tough guy face. Li Lin looked like he was about to lose it.

“Let me confirm,” after holding it in for two or three seconds, Song Cheng finally broke the silence, asking carefully: “You mean delivery and takeout… all the way to The Door, right?”

“Yeah, that’s easy to understand, right?” Yu Sheng looked confused by their reaction. He rubbed his hair and said, almost apologizing: “You know how special this place is. Forget finding the exact address. Without enough spiritual talent or prep, a normal person can’t even step within a hundred meters of the house. They’ll walk right around it without knowing. It’s stronger than your Nodes. No one can get close. When I order takeout I have to use the nearby supermarket’s address. If I buy something big online, I have to figure out my own pickup. It’s a hassle.”

Song Cheng fell silent: [We were on ‘invaders from outside the world’ five minutes ago. How did we jump to ‘couriers can’t get within a hundred meters of your house’?]

He quickly got himself under control. He was the one who had just said, “Tell the Bureau if you hit trouble.” He just hadn’t expected this “special Entity living in the Otherworld” to raise something so down to earth, and so fast.

Still, the problem at No. 66 Wutong Road really did involve both the Otherworld and an Entity.

“I’ll study it when I get back and see how to fix it,” said the seasoned captain, face serious again. “If nothing else, we can set up a dedicated pickup point here just for you.”

As soon as he said that, Xu Jiali reached over and patted Li Lin’s shoulder. Li Lin blinked, confused by the sudden pat.

Yu Sheng looked uneasy: “Is that… okay? Wouldn’t that be special treatment?”

“Not special at all,” said Song Cheng, waving fast. “Making life easier for ‘special folk’ living in the Borderland is part of the Bureau’s job. In fact, ‘fighting threats from the Otherworld and from Entities’ is only a small share of our daily work. Most of the time we’re more like the property manager and steward for the city’s ‘other side’. We handle everything. That’s normal.”

He wasn’t being polite. Helping all the strange “long term visitors” who hid among humans with their equally strange problems really was part of the Bureau’s routine. The only thing he didn’t say out loud was that even among all the odd beings in the Borderland, Yu Sheng, a “friendly Entity,” was still unusually odd.

But the Director’s orders before they left kept all his complaints bottled up.

The Director had said this:

“As long as he’s not trying to overthrow the Borderland, agree to whatever he asks. If he really does want to overthrow something, explain clearly why he can’t. Just don’t let him call my complaint line.”

Thinking of that last line made the back of Song Cheng’s neck go cold.

He raised his head and asked Yu Sheng again: “Anything else?”

Yu Sheng thought it over: “Nothing for now… oh, right. I asked you to check on Irene’s situation and where Foxy came from. Any news on those?”

At once, the little Doll on the coffee table and the Fox Maiden sitting beside it both perked up their ears.

“Sorry, nothing yet,” said Song Cheng, shaking his head, though he felt relieved to be back on familiar ground. “We sent word to the Alice’s Little House contact point, but they haven’t replied. Maybe the staff on duty aren’t in the Borderland right now. As for Miss Foxy…”

He hesitated and looked unsure.

Yu Sheng leaned forward: “What trouble did you hit?”

“It’s not trouble, just messy. If we only use ‘Demon Fox’ or ‘beast-shaped humanoid’ as filters, we get too many results. There could be a hundred races similar to Miss Foxy. But none of them match the world she described as her home,” said Song Cheng. He glanced at Foxy and, in a consulting tone, added: “So we were hoping to take a few hairs back. If that’s not enough, we can do a simple bio comparison. Once we know her species, we’ll have a direction.”

Yu Sheng looked at Foxy. She nodded right away.

“She’s fine with it, so I’m fine with it,” said Yu Sheng, waving his hand. “Hair samples, right? No special quality needed?”

He felt along a sofa cushion, pinched a few silver hairs, and held them out to Song Cheng: “These okay?”

Song Cheng blinked: “Huh?”

“She sheds,” said Yu Sheng with a straight face. “It’s getting colder, so it’s worse. You don’t even need to ask me. After sitting on the couch this long, you can probably pick enough off your clothes when you get back.”

Foxy’s face flushed. Her big tails wrapped around her until she became a round fluff ball. Her eyes peeked out between the tails as she whispered: “I’m sorry…”

“No big deal,” said Yu Sheng, patting one of the Fox Maiden’s silver tails with his free hand. He had wanted to pat her head, but she had bundled herself up. “Just don’t use your tail to wipe dishes next time you wash. I keep eating a mouthful of fur.”

From inside the fluff ball came Foxy’s muffled voice: “Okay.”

Expression stiff, Song Cheng froze for two or three seconds, then fished a sample tube from his pocket, carefully received the silver hairs, and sealed them in the glass.

After that, he led the two Special Affairs Bureau agents out.

When they had vanished at the corner, Yu Sheng, who had gone to the Door Opening to see them off, returned to the living room and let out a long breath.

Then he saw Foxy still crouched beside the couch, all fluffy.

She had even covered her eyes this time, leaving only two small feet sticking out. A giant ball of tails stood there like an abstract sculpture.

Yu Sheng couldn’t help smiling and sighing. He reached into the pile of tails and tried to “dig out” the Fox Maiden, saying gently: “Don’t hide. They’re gone.”

Foxy peeked out. Her tails slowly blossomed open, and she looked at Yu Sheng with a hint of guilt, saying softly: “I… I’ll take care of cleaning the house from now on.”

“Just clean the places you use,” said Yu Sheng, grinning as he leaned back on the sofa. “Also, when you shower and wash your tails, remember to pull the drain filter and clear it. This morning I saw the pipe clog again…”

Foxy instantly rolled back into a ball.

This time Yu Sheng didn’t force her to come out. He just chuckled, patted one silver tail, and turned to the two Irenes sitting on the coffee table, staring into space, asking: “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about the Dark Angels,” said Irene after a pause, face serious. “Tell me, even knowing how dangerous they are, why do some people still try to summon them? That ‘Song Cheng’ said most Angel Cultists are transformed after ‘guidance’ and aren’t really human anymore. But he also said a small number offer themselves up for knowledge and power. Why do humans do that?”

“Maybe not just humans,” said Yu Sheng. “Every race probably has a few who like to ‘ask for it’.”

He paused, then looked at the Doll with some curiosity, adding with a teasing smile: “But you don’t usually care about ‘world peace’. Why so into this all of a sudden?”

“I am not that heartless!” Irene glared at once, puffing herself up. “I’m a Doll from Alice’s Little House. We work hard to keep the world in order. We punish evil and help people everywhere. Do not get the wrong idea about a lady who is honest, kind, gentle, polite, fair, and upright…”

Yu Sheng stared dumbly at the little Doll’s long list of fancy words, struggling to stick them on the grumpy shorty in front of him. [This kid is small, but her face is really thick.]

He wisely kept that last thought to himself.

“I need a nap,” he said, waving to Foxy and the Irenes. “I barely slept last night. I’m dead tired. Wake me before dinner, and I’ll cook.”

Foxy popped her head out of the tails, face bright: “Okay, benefactor!”

Yu Sheng fell silent: “…”

He gave his two household goofballs a long look, noting that one of them had even multiplied, then waved and trudged upstairs, heavy with sleepiness.