Chapter 156

Chapter 156: Bai Li Qing’s Judgment

Reality proved that when it came to dealing with Yu Sheng, the director still needed practice.

She made him repeat himself—more than once—before she finally accepted that she hadn’t misheard.

With bright, almost alarming enthusiasm, Yu Sheng explained his wildly ambitious farm-stay plan for Star X Valley. He laid out the practical problems he’d run into while “farming in an Otherworld,” and he even gave a detailed breakdown of what he’d already tried and what was feasible.

By the time he finished, the well-traveled Bai Li Qing looked genuinely stunned.

To be fair, she’d been director of the Special Operations Bureau for years. She’d seen more strange things than most people could imagine.

She just hadn’t seen this.

“Honestly, I need a lot of help,” Yu Sheng went on, completely oblivious to the tiny shifts in Bai Li Qing’s expression—or maybe he just didn’t care. “What I told you is only the surface. The key problem is there’s no electricity in the valley right now. If possible, I want a set of power-generation equipment. But there’s no sun over there, either. The sky’s bright, but I don’t know if it can drive solar panels. There’s a small river at the foot of the mountain, but it’s too small. Even a micro-hydro station probably wouldn’t work. If it really comes down to it, we’ll have to use thermal power…”

He rambled happily for another minute before he suddenly realized what he was doing. He stopped midstream, looked at her, and coughed awkwardly. “Uh… is my list of requests too much?”

Bai Li Qing remained frozen for a few beats, as if her mind had to crawl back into place. Then she forced herself into her usual calm and said, “…I’ll arrange as much as I can.”

She paused, gathered herself, and her tone turned serious. “I’m surprised. What you’re talking about is a field no one has ventured into. Frankly, even these ideas have research value. I’m interested in the valley—its changes, and what its environment looks like now.”

“I didn’t think that far,” Yu Sheng admitted, scratching his head. “I just figured leaving that huge piece of land unused would be a waste.”

He looked at her. “So it’s settled? I’ll open certain areas of the valley for you to investigate, and you’ll support me with supplies and manpower?”

“No problem.” Bai Li Qing nodded once, solemn. “We can finalize the scope of support and the project list after professionals conduct an on-site survey.”

Yu Sheng stood and held out his hand. “Then happy cooperation.”

Bai Li Qing hesitated for a fraction of a second, then rose and shook his hand. “Happy cooperation.”

Yu Sheng exhaled softly. His gaze drifted to the laboratory across the hall, still buzzing with activity. After a moment, he said, “We’ve covered what we needed to. That metal component I brought probably won’t show results soon, either… Since we’ve got time, show me around?”

He gave her a small smile. “Consider it a celebration for the new cooperation project. I’m curious about your headquarters building.”

Bai Li Qing paused, then nodded. “Of course.”

“Then Irene, you and Foxy wait here?” Yu Sheng turned to them.

Irene looked surprised, and before she could speak, Foxy shot up. “Benefactor, I’ll go with you—”

“We’re just taking a quick look,” Yu Sheng said, reaching over to rub the fluffy fur behind her ear. “We’ll also talk about arranging an investigation team in the valley. It won’t be interesting. Stay here with Irene and keep an eye on the lab situation.”

Foxy froze, still hesitant.

But Irene hopped up onto the table, grabbed Foxy’s tail, and tugged. “All right. We’ll wait for Yu Sheng here.”

Then she looked at Bai Li Qing. “So, do you have anything tasty? Send some snacks over. We’ll eat while we wait.”

“Sure,” Bai Li Qing said. “The employee snacks here have a very good reputation.”

That did it. Foxy sat down obediently, adopting a posture that could only be described as waiting-for-food. She looked up at Yu Sheng with wide eyes. “Then come back early, Benefactor. I’ll be waiting. Don’t go too far, okay?”

Yu Sheng smiled and nodded. He bumped fists with Irene, then followed Bai Li Qing out at an unhurried pace.

In the corridor, Bai Li Qing didn’t speak. Like a moving block of ice, she kept a steady, unreadable expression and walked with mechanical precision along the long hallway of floor 54½. She only nodded slightly when employees greeted her in passing.

At the end of the corridor, they entered an elevator. Bai Li Qing swiped a black card—but didn’t select a floor. The elevator seemed to decide on its own and surged upward.

“Where are we going?” Yu Sheng asked.

“N level,” Bai Li Qing said casually. “A place suitable for talking.”

Yu Sheng glanced at the control panel. There was no option labeled N. The floor numbers climbed. After they passed a certain point, the display stopped showing floors at all. It simply read: ELEVATOR ASCENDING.

After a while, the car began to slow. The cabin lights dimmed. The ascent prompt vanished. A few seconds later, the display went blank—then a single large letter appeared:

N.

The doors slid open.

Bai Li Qing stepped out first. Yu Sheng followed, curiosity winning over caution.

Then he stopped.

Outside the elevator wasn’t a corridor or a room. It was a stretch of dark, jagged rock—only a few hundred meters across. The edges were broken and uneven, and countless shards of rubble floated in midair around it. Even the “ground” itself looked like it was drifting in a void.

Beyond the small island lay an endless chaos. And above it all, a massive, brilliant current of light poured across the sky from one horizon of nothingness to the other, hanging over the lonely rock like a river of suspended radiance.

Yu Sheng turned and looked back.

The elevator shaft pierced straight up from the center of the floating island like a steel pipe punched through stone. It stretched upward without end until it vanished into the depths of that magnificent river of light.

“…Your headquarters really does have stunning scenery,” Yu Sheng said at last. “Is this still the Borderland?”

“Welcome to the Borderland’s ‘roof,’ or at least part of it,” Bai Li Qing replied flatly. “Very few people come here. It’s always been my favorite observation deck, but others don’t seem to like it.”

She gestured toward a small patch of leveled ground near the elevator. Only now did Yu Sheng notice it: a ring of stones, a couple of sofas, a coffee table, chairs, a bar counter—and, absurdly, a drink fridge and an ice machine.

Bai Li Qing was already pulling out a drink and a scoop of ice. “Want something to drink?”

Yu Sheng stared at the setup, then at her. “How did you get water and power hooked up here?”

Bai Li Qing blinked.

“…Huh?”

“I mean the water and power,” Yu Sheng said, as if it should be the first question anyone asked.

For the first time, Bai Li Qing’s expression twitched into something almost… perplexed. “I’ve hosted guests here several times. You’re the first one to ask that.”

“No choice. I’m the type who needs things to make sense.” Yu Sheng sat down on the sofa and waved a hand. “Water’s fine. Lots of ice.”

Bai Li Qing handed him a glass. Her face returned to calm. “It’s routed through the elevator shaft. If you’re asking how the shaft ‘pierced’ its way here, I can’t explain it. You’d have to ask engineering.”

“Got it.” Yu Sheng took a sip and didn’t press further. Then he set the glass down and looked at her directly. “Just tell me straight. What’s really going on with Foxy’s hometown?”

Bai Li Qing didn’t look surprised. Her answer was unusually blunt.

“We suspect she came from ‘outside.’”

“Outside?” Yu Sheng frowned. “You mean…”

“Do you remember the files Song Cheng brought you before?” Bai Li Qing asked, meeting his eyes. “The ones about Dark Angels.”

Yu Sheng went still for a moment, then murmured, “Dark Angels are intruders from outside the world…”

“Yes,” Bai Li Qing said. “That’s the key phrase. ‘Outside the world.’ The appearance of those intruders revealed a fact to us early on: beyond our known universe, there is other ‘stuff’—existence that is completely different from us, incompatible with us, eerie and hard to describe.”

Her expression stayed calm. “Until Miss Foxy appeared by your side, that was our entire impression of ‘outsiders.’”

Yu Sheng stared at her, then shook his head, voice low. “Foxy isn’t a Dark Angel. She’s not an intruder. She’s a victim.”

“I know,” Bai Li Qing said. “That’s why I said she might be an outsider. Not that she’s a Dark Angel, or something like them.”

She paused, and her voice stayed steady. “Even if it challenges our assumptions, I can still make a rational judgment.”