Chapter 158

Chapter 158: Contact, Evaluation, Judgment

The elevator slid down smoothly and silently, and the car was very quiet.

Bai Li Qing was the first to break the silence: “About Foxy’s ‘hometown’ possibly being in the Outside, it’s best that no one says a word.”

Yu Sheng did not speak, but he glanced at her with a questioning look.

Bai Li Qing kept it direct: “Because of the Dark Angels, people in this world are very nervous about ‘visitors from elsewhere’. Official organizations like the Special Affairs Bureau can be careful and rational, but there are other organizations that are not so calm.”

Yu Sheng nodded lightly: “All right, I understand.”

When they returned to the small room, Irene and Foxy were still waiting obediently inside.

The moment Yu Sheng walked in, Foxy rushed over, holding a plate of cake with the momentum of a sneak attack as she thrust it at him: “Benefactor! This is for you. It’s tasty!”

Yu Sheng almost got speared by the plate and stepped back half a step to steady himself. He checked the plate and saw a palm sized sponge with cream, squeezed crooked all over, and piled high with nuts. The toppings clearly went past the normal amount. Stuffed in, they were even larger than the cake itself.

He looked at Foxy and saw cream on her face and hands, and even a smear on one ear. He had no idea how she managed to get cream on her ear. [Did she push her head into the cake?]

The fox girl beamed, eyes full of hope. After a brief hesitation he took the obviously “modified” cake. Irene waved him on, explaining: “Just eat it. Silly Fox saved this especially for you. She said you love nuts and raisins, so she dumped half the jar in there.”

Yu Sheng had walked in carrying heavy thoughts about the Dark Angels and a bleak fairy tale of returning home from a foreign land. But when he saw Foxy’s warm, happy smile, most of that gloom melted away at once. He still looked pained as he studied the cake in his hand. He was touched, to be honest, but the thing looked rough, and he felt like his blood sugar went up just from looking at it. [This is sweet enough to knock me out.]

It was Foxy’s good intention, though, and it was hard to refuse, especially with Bai Li Qing nearby watching with what felt like silent amusement. Yu Sheng thanked her, braced himself, and dug in with the fork.

His tooth nearly cracked on the first bite.

“What is this?” Yu Sheng stared, poked through the cake, and pulled out a shiny, rock hard chunk. He looked up at Foxy.

Foxy smiled brightly: “A raisin.”

Yu Sheng paused: “…?”

“When I could not fit any more in, I squeezed them.”

Yu Sheng was speechless: “…?”

[This is not a raisin. This is a brick.] The silly fox might lack common sense, but she had real grip strength.

He forced down two bites of the parts that could be swallowed, then handed the rest back and said he had eaten a snack while out and was not hungry, but he was very grateful for the thought. Foxy did not think much of it. She happily took it and started eating. When she crunched the raisin brick, it sounded like a blender.

Yu Sheng even felt like he saw tiny sparks fly from her mouth.

“Let’s head home after you finish,” Yu Sheng said as he wiped the cream off Foxy’s ear with a tissue. “We still have a lot to do.”

“Finished ‘touring’?” Irene stood on the table and looked up at him.

Yu Sheng smiled and patted the little doll’s hair: “Finished.”

“All right,” Irene said as she nudged his arm aside and climbed onto his shoulder like it was second nature, then asked, “What about the ‘Iron Lump’ you brought? No result yet? Are you leaving it here?”

Yu Sheng looked toward Bai Li Qing.

“That will take some time,” Bai Li Qing said calmly. “We need detailed scans of its interior and microstructure. That is not a one or two day job. If you trust us, leave it here.”

“That works,” Yu Sheng agreed after only a moment’s thought. “It is just sitting around at my place anyway. Let me know as soon as you have a conclusion and… Foxy! Do not wipe your mouth with your tail!”

Bai Li Qing watched the scene in front of her.

Odd, mismatched, abstract, yet perfectly natural for this group.

A faint, hard to notice smile touched her eyes.

“I will arrange a car to take you home,” she said suddenly.

“No need, we can go back by ourselves,” Yu Sheng replied as he kept wiping Foxy’s mouth, hands, face, and tail. He glanced back at Bai Li Qing and added, “Since you are here, I do not need to file a phone report, right?”

Bai Li Qing froze for a second, then understood. She quickly called the Monitoring Division and sent a notice, then looked at Yu Sheng with a strange expression: “Now… is it okay?”

Yu Sheng smiled. Right in front of her, he reached into the air and tugged. A faintly glowing Door opened out of nothing. On the other side was the living room of No. 66 Wutong Road.

Standing at the threshold, Yu Sheng spoke politely to the Director out of habit: “Do you want to come in and sit? We are already at my door anyway…”

However she heard it, it sounded wrong to Bai Li Qing, who shook her head stiffly: “No. I still have work.”

“Okay, we are heading out. Thank you for the hospitality. Call me if anything comes up,” Yu Sheng said as he hoisted the doll and took the fox girl by the hand, turning to step through the Door. “Bye.”

“Mm, goodbye…”

As soon as she finished, the shimmering Door faded away. The guests were gone, sudden yet natural, as if they had never been there.

Bai Li Qing stood quietly in the small room, looking at the place where the Door had vanished. After a long time, she drew a deep breath and her eyes grew calm.

She picked up her phone, dialed, and spoke evenly when it connected: “How is the Monitoring Unit?”

Song Cheng’s voice came through the receiver: “We have people tracking and recording by hand. The misalignment effect just subsided.”

“Has the Spatial Stabilizer been running this whole time?”

“Yes. Full power.”

“Are the internal calibration system and the Spatial Shielding Grid in the headquarters building also on?”

“These two systems never go offline. You know that.”

“What about the Warp Interdictor?”

Song Cheng sounded a bit helpless: “Also on. We set it to maximum today and used nondiscriminatory coverage. Because of that, the customs office and the transit station downstairs were affected and had to close temporarily.”

Bai Li Qing was silent for two seconds.

“He opened a Door right in front of me and showed no confusion. I think he did not even notice there was any ‘obstacle’ here.”

A soft click came over the line, the sound of a lighter.

“Director,” Song Cheng said, weary, “I should remind you, him opening a Door and leaving in front of you is a small matter. Next time he can open a Door to come in. You should be ready for that.”

“I know. That was expected.”

“Isn’t the risk a bit high?” Song Cheng could not help asking. “We invited him straight to headquarters today. Now he knows our coordinates.”

“Trust my judgment, Little Song,” Bai Li Qing exhaled and spoke calmly. “Letting him think of the Special Affairs Bureau as a friend brings far more benefit than risk. After today’s close contact, I am even more certain.”

“I understand. I trust what your eyes saw. I will get back to the Monitoring Unit.”

“Good.”

Right before he hung up, Song Cheng remembered something: “Oh, right, there is good news.”

“Say it.”

“The Technical Department has progress. The task force filtered and integrated the Door Opening signal features we have recorded so far. We should be able to add auto filtering and auto labeling to the space early warning system soon,” Song Cheng said with a smile in his voice. “If it works, things get easier.”

“Employee of the Year, Outstanding Team, Star Troubleshooter, Technical Star Medal, and public commendation, if it succeeds.”

“Director… the year is not over yet…”

“Settled,” Bai Li Qing said lightly. “Unless someone uses the last month to hurry up and save a world.”

“All right…”

She ended the call, tossed the phone onto the desk, let out a tired breath, leaned back in the chair, and turned her head to look through the wide window into the lab across the way.

On the glowing, pale blue surface of the Polymer Barrier, a pair of cool, faded eyes had quietly appeared at some point.

Those eyes watched her.

“That man has left?” the voice asked.

“He left,” she said.

“Oh.”

“Will you still look around without permission?” she asked.

“I will,” the voice answered.

Bai Li Qing’s face did not change, but she sighed.

The mechanical, flat voice sounded again in her mind: “I cannot help it. You know this. It is my instinct.”

“Suit yourself,” Bai Li Qing said. She paused, then asked offhand, “Did you find anything? You were too reckless this time, but you did complete a close observation.”

“He has humanity,” the eyes said.

Bai Li Qing did not answer. She was not surprised.

“Strong, real humanity, not a mimic,” the eyes went on. “Also, he should not be an Entity, at least not an Entity ‘generated’ by No. 66 Wutong Road.”

Bai Li Qing’s eyes finally changed a bit.

“How can you tell?”

“His shadow, his projection in the Spirit Realm, is larger than No. 66 Wutong Road. Rather than the manor generating him, it is more like he created No. 66 Wutong Road in the Borderland so that he could reasonably ‘exist’ in our world.”