Chapter 157

Chapter 157: All of Us Are Strangers

N level—the Borderland’s “roof,” the strangest viewing platform in the Special Operations Bureau’s headquarters.

Even after all the impossible scenes Yu Sheng had witnessed through doors, this little island floating in nothingness unsettled him. The void. The river of light at its edge. It made him think of something he didn’t like thinking about.

The end of the world.

Maybe that association didn’t come from the scenery at all, but from the conversation.

Yu Sheng gently stirred the ice in his cup, watching the clear crystals clink and swirl. He didn’t speak for a long time. When he finally did, his voice was quiet.

“I’ve heard the world outside the Borderland is huge. On the other side of those doors, I’ve seen distant landscapes. Li Lin told me that even with the Special Operations Bureau’s influence, it still can’t reach the world’s end. Beyond the Star River… no one knows how much there is.”

“You’re right,” Bai Li Qing said. “This world is enormous. Most people in the Borderland never think about it, but people like us need a longer view.”

She held his gaze. “Even so, we’re more than eighty percent confident Foxy came from ‘outside,’ not from some distant, undiscovered place within this universe.”

Yu Sheng’s brows knit. “Why?”

“The reasons are comprehensive,” Bai Li Qing said patiently. “We analyzed her hair samples. Some components are beyond our understanding. We assessed the level of civilization described in her memories. If a civilization at that level truly existed, this universe should be filled with traces they left behind. The ripples from their travel would show up in background radiation, spread through space-time itself.”

She hesitated. “We also used certain… occult methods. Do you want to hear about those?”

“No.” Yu Sheng waved a hand. “As long as you reached this conclusion carefully, that’s enough.”

He fell quiet again.

Foxy’s hometown had always been far. He’d known that from the start. He just hadn’t expected “far” could mean outside the world.

Earlier, when Bai Li Qing had asked those focused questions, he’d already half-guessed the answer. To an ordinary person, it might have sounded like madness. To Yu Sheng, it was… unsettling, but not impossible.

Because he knew he, too, came from a “distant” place.

In terms of being a stranger, he and Foxy weren’t that different.

He found himself wondering: between his hometown and hers, which was farther? Which one was harder to return to?

Was the calm seaside town in his memory really hidden behind some door?

Could Foxy’s distant homeland be reached through a crack, back and forth?

If her home was outside the world, then what about his?

Was that small city truly inside this universe?

And in the end… this “world,” this “world” that included the Borderland—was it even what he’d always believed it was?

The thought made his sense of reality blur.

Bai Li Qing didn’t speak. She simply watched him from across the table, her colorless eyes steady and unblinking.

And within her field of view, another pair of eyes slowly opened in the distance.

They were as colorless as hers—hazy, unreal, like reflections on the surface of the void itself. They watched Yu Sheng from another angle, alongside her.

A voice without emotion sounded in Bai Li Qing’s mind.

“Unbelievable… I’m looking at him directly, and I still can’t see through what he really is. It’s like he isn’t here at all, and yet his presence is overwhelming. He’s interesting, sister.”

Bai Li Qing’s face didn’t change. She replied silently, “Don’t mess around. Don’t cause misunderstandings.”

“It’s fine,” the eyes said calmly. “No one can see a ‘gaze.’ I’m just satisfying my curiosity.”

Yu Sheng turned his head, glanced over his shoulder, then looked back at Bai Li Qing. He lifted a hand and pointed behind him.

“Is that your friend?”

Bai Li Qing’s eyes widened.

“…What?”

Yu Sheng paused. In that split second, he realized something was off—not the giant eyes themselves, but Bai Li Qing’s reaction.

She’d always seemed stone-faced. He hadn’t thought she was capable of looking this shocked.

“You can see her?!” Bai Li Qing blurted.

“Uh… should I not be able to?” Yu Sheng blinked, momentarily the one confused. He stared into the void behind him, where the eyes hovered openly, taking up so much space he couldn’t pretend they weren’t there.

He turned and tried to greet them, polite out of habit. “Well, uh, my name is Yu Sheng. You…”

The eyes vanished instantly.

Yu Sheng stared at the empty space, stunned.

He’d noticed them from the start. They weren’t hiding. A flick of peripheral vision was enough to catch them. His heart had jumped at first, sure, but Bai Li Qing hadn’t reacted, so he’d treated it like yet another “normal phenomenon” in the Borderland.

Now he wasn’t so sure.

Bai Li Qing stayed frozen longer than she ever had since he’d met her. When she finally recovered, she ignored the rising noise in her own mind and said, “You’re the first person to see her. Besides me.”

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, then closed it again. How was he supposed to know that?

He glanced at Bai Li Qing’s face and caught the faint reluctance there. She didn’t seem eager to discuss it with an outsider. So he cleared his throat and backed off.

“Ahem. Sounds complicated. I won’t pry.” He spread his hands. “But… why did she show up just now? And she disappeared the moment I greeted her. Did I scare her?”

Bai Li Qing sighed. “Yes.”

Yu Sheng winced. “Then… can you apologize to her for me?”

“Sure.”

For the first time, Bai Li Qing looked genuinely tired.

Yu Sheng finished his ice water in one swallow, exhaled, and stood.

“I’m going back.”

“You don’t want to ask more?” Bai Li Qing asked, puzzled.

“Ask more about what?” Yu Sheng shrugged. “Foxy’s, or your sister’s?”

He smiled, gentle this time. “I already know what I need to know. I won’t dig into your private matters. As for Foxy… unless you actually find her hometown and a way to send her home, I don’t care about anything else.”

He started toward the elevator. After only a few steps, he stopped abruptly and turned back.

“Wait. There is one thing.” His expression sobered. “By what you said, Foxy and those Dark Angels both came from ‘outside,’ right?”

“Yes,” Bai Li Qing said without hesitation. “But right now, we only know that ‘existences’ beyond the world are real. As for what ‘outside’ is like, we know nothing. The origin and purpose of Dark Angels, Foxy’s homeland—we have no leads.”

Yu Sheng nodded, like the second half barely mattered. “Then if you get any intel related to Dark Angels in the future, tell me immediately.”

Bai Li Qing stared at him for two seconds. “You mean…”

“I promised I’d send her home,” Yu Sheng said quietly. “Even if she keeps saying she doesn’t care… she should at least have the chance to choose.”

His voice hardened. “I don’t care where Dark Angels come from or what they want. But I’m very interested in what kind of ‘hole’ they used to get in.”

He paused, eyes dark. “And if Foxy, her dad, and her mother crashed into Nightfall Valley because of Dark Angels, then I’ve got a score to settle.”

Bai Li Qing watched him in silence. No one could tell what she was thinking. Then she nodded once.

“Fine. Since you’re asking, the Special Operations Bureau will prioritize sharing that intel with Hotel.”

“I appreciate it.”

Bai Li Qing hesitated, then added, “One more thing. You seem to care a lot about the people around you. You should know dealing with Dark Angels is dangerous.”

“I know,” Yu Sheng said with a faint, helpless smile. “I’ve been warned a few times already.”

Then his smile softened. “But what can I do? She calls me Benefactor. And in this world, she doesn’t have anyone else.”

“I understand,” Bai Li Qing said, and didn’t press.

But Yu Sheng had the odd feeling that after hearing that answer, the director seemed… slightly more at ease.