Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Help and Difficulties

Song Cheng finally experienced firsthand what Li Lin and Xu Jiali had mentioned in their reports. When dealing with Yu Sheng, things could suddenly happen that were perfectly logical, yet still felt wrong. Then, when you thought about it, they seemed reasonable. But if you thought again, they felt completely insane.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at his two subordinates. Xu Jiali was forcing himself to keep a straight face in that silent tough-guy posture, while Li Lin looked like he was about to crack.

“…Well,” Song Cheng said at last, breaking the silence after a couple seconds. “I just want to confirm. You mean delivery—packages and takeout—delivered to your door. Right?”

“Yeah.” Yu Sheng blinked, genuinely confused by the reaction. “That’s pretty easy to understand, isn’t it?”

He scratched his head. “You know how special my place is. Forget finding the exact address. Without enough spiritual talent or preparation, an ordinary person will unconsciously detour before they even get within a hundred meters of the house.”

“It’s stronger than your node. No one can get close. If I order takeout, I have to put the nearby supermarket’s address. If I buy something big online, I have to figure out how to go pick it up myself. It’s a pain.”

Song Cheng fell silent.

He distinctly remembered that, two minutes ago, they’d been talking about Dark Angels—intruders from outside the world. How had that turned into “delivery can’t get within a hundred meters of my front door”?

[Good lord. What did one sentence do to my brain…?]

But he recovered quickly. After all, he was the one who’d said, If you run into trouble, talk to us. He just hadn’t expected this special individual living beside Otherworld to immediately raise such a specific issue—one so painfully down-to-earth.

And if he thought about it, “delivery and takeout can’t reach Wu Tong Road 66” did involve Otherworld. It also involved entities.

“I’ll go back and study it, and see how to solve this,” Song Cheng said, adjusting his expression at once and nodding seriously. “If it comes to it, we can set up a dedicated pickup point here just for you…”

The moment he said that, Xu Jiali reached out and patted Li Lin on the shoulder. Li Lin froze, still processing, and stared at him in bafflement.

Yu Sheng immediately looked uneasy. “Uh… is that really okay? Isn’t that too much special treatment?”

“Not special at all,” Song Cheng said quickly, waving his hands. “Providing convenience for anomalous individuals living in the Borderland is one of the Bureau’s responsibilities.”

“In fact, fighting the threats of Otherworld and entities is only a small part of our daily work. Most of the time, we’re more like property management and a butler for this city’s other side. Managing everything is the normal state of affairs.”

He wasn’t being polite. Solving all kinds of strange problems for all kinds of strange sojourners hidden among humans really was routine. The only thing he didn’t say was that Yu Sheng—a “friendly entity”—felt far too rare even by Borderland standards.

And Director Bai Li Qing’s instructions before he left were still fresh in his mind, forcing him to swallow every complaint.

The director had said:

“As long as he isn’t trying to overturn the Borderland, you do your best to grant whatever he asks. Even if he really does want to overturn it, you still explain why he can’t. In short, don’t let him call the complaint line to me.”

Thinking of that last sentence, Song Cheng felt a chill crawl up his spine.

He looked back at Yu Sheng. “Besides that, is there anything else?”

Yu Sheng thought carefully. “Not really… oh, right. There’s also this. I asked you before to look into Irene’s situation, and Foxy’s background. Any progress?”

At once, the little doll on the coffee table and the demon fox girl beside him both perked up.

“Sorry,” Song Cheng said, shaking his head, oddly relieved. At least this part sounded like his normal work. “Still no news. We sent a message to the liaison station of Alice Little House, but they haven’t responded. The staff on duty might not be in the Borderland right now.”

He hesitated, glancing at Foxy. “As for Miss Foxy… it’s not exactly a problem. More like a hassle. With constraints like ‘demon fox’ or ‘beast-humanoid,’ there are too many possibilities. There could be hundreds of races in this world that resemble her.”

“But we can’t find a single place that matches the hometown world she described,” he continued carefully. “So we were wondering if we could take some hair samples back. If needed, we’ll do a biological comparison first, determine her race, and then go from there.”

Yu Sheng looked at Foxy. She nodded immediately.

“If she’s fine with it, I’m fine with it,” Yu Sheng said, waving a hand. “Hair samples are enough, right? No quality requirements?”

As he spoke, he casually felt around on the sofa cushion beside him, then handed something to Song Cheng. “Is this okay?”

Song Cheng blinked. “…Huh?”

“She sheds,” Yu Sheng said flatly. “It’s getting colder, so she’s shedding more and more. Honestly, you didn’t even need to ask. Just from sitting on the sofa for a bit, you’ll have enough stuck to your clothes when you go back.”

Foxy’s face turned bright red. Her tails curled up and wrapped her into a fluffy ball, and she stared at Yu Sheng through the gaps. “Sorry…”

“It’s not a big deal,” Yu Sheng said, reaching out and patting one of her tails. He sounded more amused than annoyed. “Just don’t use your tail to wipe dishes next time. I keep getting a mouthful of fur.”

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

Song Cheng stood there stiffly for a few seconds. Then he pulled out a sample collection tube, carefully took the few silver-white hairs Yu Sheng offered, and solemnly sealed them inside.

After that, he led the two agents away.

Once their figures disappeared at the end of the road, Yu Sheng went back inside, dropped onto the sofa, and let out a long breath.

Then he immediately saw Foxy still standing there beside the sofa, all fluff and tails. She’d covered her eyes completely, leaving only her bare feet exposed. The huge tail-ball stood there like an abstract sculpture.

Yu Sheng found it funny and helpless. He reached into the pile of tails, trying to dig the demon fox girl out. “Stop hiding. They’re gone.”

Only then did Foxy peek out. The tails slowly opened like a blooming flower, and she looked at him with an apologetic expression. “I… I’ll clean the house from now on.”

“Just clean the places you’ve been,” Yu Sheng said, laughing as he leaned back. “Also, next time you shower and wash your tails, don’t forget to take out the drain strainer and clean it. This morning I saw the sewer was clogged again…”

Foxy instantly rolled herself back into a fur ball.

This time, Yu Sheng didn’t force her out. He only smiled, patted one of her tails, and looked over at Irene—both identical dolls perched on the coffee table, staring off into space. “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about those Dark Angels,” Irene said hesitantly, and for once she sounded serious. “Tell me—if you know they’re that dangerous, why would anyone still want to summon them on purpose?”

“Song Cheng said more than half of the cultists were transformed after they encountered ‘guidance,’ so they can’t really count as human anymore. But he also said a small part of them offer themselves to those ‘angels’ on purpose for knowledge and power… Why would humans do that?”

“It’s not necessarily all humans,” Yu Sheng said. “Doing stupid, suicidal stuff like that… every race probably has a few weirdos.”

He paused, then looked at the doll, curious. “But you—you usually don’t care about ‘world peace’ and all that. Why are you suddenly so invested?”

“…I’m not that heartless, okay!” Irene snapped, eyes wide. “I’m a doll from Alice Little House!”

“We’re always seriously maintaining world order, punishing evil and promoting good everywhere, helping people—don’t form the wrong impression of an honest, kind, gentle, polite, fair, and righteous lady…”

Yu Sheng stared at her, stunned. For a long moment, he couldn’t make that long string of adjectives match the short, fiery gremlin in front of him.

This kid’s ego really was bigger than her body.

In the end, he didn’t dare say that out loud.

“I’m going upstairs to catch up on sleep,” he said, waving at Foxy and Irene. “I barely slept last night, and I’m dead tired. Wake me up before dinner, okay? I’ll cook for you.”

Foxy immediately popped her head out, beaming. “Yeah! Okay, benefactor!”

Yu Sheng stared. “….”

He looked at the two little clowns in his home—one of them somehow having multiplied into two—then turned, waved, and trudged upstairs.