Chapter 178

Chapter 178: A House Call Investigation

Traveling with the wolf pack was unlike anything Yu Sheng had ever experienced—riding through the city’s distorted reflections as if they were a second, broken world.

Half-real building outlines streamed backward in his vision. In shadowspawn, the entire boundary city became countless drifting fragments, with buildings and streets stacked and crossed in chaotic layers. Districts that were far apart in reality could connect at the next corner here, while houses that had been side by side might end up split into different shards.

The wolves threaded through upside-down structures with effortless grace, following invisible roads and leaping intersection after intersection.

A streak of red shadowspawn slid in from the edge of his vision. Little Red Riding Hood wore a bright, delighted smile as she turned to him.

“Isn’t it awesome?”

“It’s awesome,” Yu Sheng said, meaning it. “So this is what you usually see when you go out?”

“I only use it for longer trips,” Little Red Riding Hood said cheerfully. “Sometimes I use the wolf pack to carry other members from the organization out on missions too. You’re the first outsider I’ve ever invited.”

“Then I’m honored—wait.” Yu Sheng leaned a little, as if he could glance at her more easily. “You usually have to pick people up and drop them off, too?”

Little Red Riding Hood waved a hand. “What can you do? At the orphanage, nobody can drive, and taxis are expensive.”

Yu Sheng pressed his lips together. Then he suddenly shouted, loud enough to be heard over the wind and the rushing shadows.

“Next month you can take your driver’s test!”

Little Red Riding Hood froze.

Then she burst into laughter and shouted back just as loudly, “Right! Next month I can take my driver’s test!”

…

The shadows thinned. Forms condensed out of shadowspawn. Under the dim light of the approaching evening, Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood stepped out from the shadow of a tall building and back into the normal world.

“It’s not as good as your door or the Special Operations Bureau’s shortcut,” Little Red Riding Hood said, turning back with a grin, “but it’s still faster than a taxi, right?”

Yu Sheng checked the time on his phone. From leaving Wu Tong Road 66 to arriving here, it had taken a little over ten minutes.

“Which way?” he asked, lifting his head.

They were in a busy, prosperous part of the city, full of skyscrapers—nothing like the old quarter he was used to.

“Over there.” Little Red Riding Hood pointed ahead. “Old Zheng lived alone on a high floor in that building. It’s close to the Curiosities Association’s office.”

Her voice turned businesslike. “The management here is strict. We’ll have to register with the security guard. I already contacted Old Zheng’s nephew and had our names noted. When we go in, just say you were also Old Zheng’s friend and you came with me.”

Old Zheng was the liaison she knew well.

Yu Sheng followed her along the paths through the apartment complex and into a high-rise that clearly wasn’t cheap. At the access gate for the elevator lobby, a blank-faced young man sat in a small booth and slid two visitor forms out through a window.

Yu Sheng filled out the basic information without complaint. Then, out of habit, he glanced at Little Red Riding Hood’s form—and froze.

After the security guard checked the forms against the filed information and let them through, Yu Sheng waited until there was no one nearby. He leaned closer and whispered, “Who is Wang Jia Jia?”

Little Red Riding Hood stopped short. She looked up at him, her expression both dazed and painfully clear. After a long pause, she managed, “I’m Wang Jia Jia.”

Yu Sheng stared. “…?”

Little Red Riding Hood stared right back. “…?”

They held eye contact for several seconds, both of them equally bewildered.

Then Little Red Riding Hood snapped first. “You didn’t think my last name was ‘Little,’ did you?!”

Yu Sheng forced his face into something like composure, caught between wanting to laugh and wanting to sink into the floor. “…For a second, I honestly thought Wang Jia Jia was your field alias.”

“‘Little Red Riding Hood’ is the code name!” The girl’s eyes nearly popped out. “Who has a real name like Little Red Riding Hood? I have an actual name!”

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, then closed it. After a long beat, he turned it into an awkward smile and kept walking like nothing had happened.

He truly hadn’t thought about it. From the first day he’d met her, he only knew her as “Little Red Riding Hood.” They’d worked together—exploring the museum, fighting in the forest—and there had never been a reason to share real names. Somewhere along the line, her code name had become so natural that he’d stopped questioning it entirely.

The awkwardness clung to them until the elevator doors opened and they stepped onto the correct floor.

At the door of Old Zheng’s apartment, Little Red Riding Hood pressed the bell.

A moment later, the door opened. A young man appeared. He looked exhausted—black hair messy, wearing a T-shirt and long pants, face plain and ordinary.

He didn’t talk much. After a few brief words with Little Red Riding Hood, he stepped aside and let them in.

Yu Sheng immediately saw the black-and-white memorial photo on the living room table.

The man in the photo looked to be in his forties or fifties. His hair was neatly combed. His face was slightly plump, and his eyebrows and eyes resembled the young man who had opened the door. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

A member of the Curiosities Association. A liaison familiar with two generations of Little Red Riding Hood.

In the photo, he looked like nothing more than an ordinary middle-aged man.

Yu Sheng looked away and scanned the apartment.

Nothing about the furnishings seemed special. The layout was simple. Past the entryway was the living room. One side held a semi-open kitchen. The other led to the bedroom and bathroom. A small balcony jutted out beyond, where a few plants still grew thick and green, as if showing the careful attention their owner had given them when he was alive.

Aside from the memorial photo, there was almost nothing in the apartment that suggested death or mourning.

Yu Sheng couldn’t hide his confusion. “There’s no funeral…?”

“Uncle said that while he was alive, he didn’t like making a fuss,” the tired young man said, pouring water for them. “He told me not to hold a funeral, and to bury him as soon as possible.”

Little Red Riding Hood’s brows knit, suspicion rising. Before she could speak, Yu Sheng asked the question that had already formed in his throat.

“He told you that in advance?”

Yu Sheng glanced at the memorial photo again.

It made sense for an elderly person to arrange their affairs. But from what Little Red Riding Hood had told him on the way here, this liaison wasn’t even fifty and had always been in good health. Why would someone like that suddenly start laying out instructions for after his death?

“I know what you two are here to investigate,” the young man said, cutting him off. He sighed and sat on the sofa across from them. “I won’t hide it. Before my uncle’s accident, it was like he had a feeling. At least half a month ago, he called me and explained a lot of things.”

His eyes lowered. “But he refused to tell me the specifics. He only said nobody was harming him, and that everything was as it should be…”

Yu Sheng instinctively exchanged a look with Little Red Riding Hood.

This client really was suspicious.

But that fake commission—the one that had nearly pushed Little Red Riding Hood over the edge—was it truly a trap he had set for personal reasons?

The suspicion should have felt straightforward. Instead, it wavered, because the young man’s retelling sounded full of holes, like pieces had been removed.

“…Old Zheng,” Little Red Riding Hood said at last, voice tight. “Where is he now? Can we see him?”

The young man lifted his hand and pointed to a low cabinet not far away.

On it sat a porcelain urn.

Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood both went still.

“Huh?!” Little Red Riding Hood blurted. “He’s already been cremated? That fast…”

“It was also Uncle’s instruction—to cremate as soon as possible,” the young man said slowly. He looked up at them. “I’m not from your world, so I don’t understand the rules or taboos. But I know what my uncle did. He dealt with strange things, and those things are dangerous. So I didn’t dare delay what he told me to do.”

Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth, then couldn’t find words. She could only turn and look at Yu Sheng.

“That conversation-with-the-dead ability of yours…” She leaned in, voice low. “Can it still work in this situation?”

Yu Sheng looked just as stunned. “It only works if I can touch blood… I didn’t expect this, either.”

“Then what do we do?” Little Red Riding Hood’s voice turned thin. “He’s already been burned. Do you still want to try?”

Yu Sheng’s eyelid twitched. He glanced at the dead man’s nephew sitting across from them, then forced the thought into words with grim honesty.

“In front of the dead man’s family, you want me to take out his ashes and rub them all over my hands?”

Little Red Riding Hood went silent.

The young man seemed not to notice their whispered exchange. He sat with his head lowered as if thinking. After a long while, he suddenly stood.

“I’m going out to buy something,” he said. “Make yourselves at home.”

Yu Sheng watched him head for the entryway. Before he opened the door, the young man paused, turned slightly, and added, “I organized some of the things my uncle left behind—books he read, notes and scraps he wrote. They’re on the bedroom desk. If you’re interested, you can look through them. Just don’t mess them up too much. Some of it, I’m taking with me later.”

“Uh… okay,” Yu Sheng said automatically. Then he nodded, sincere. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I hope you really can find something.” The young man hesitated at the door, then said quietly, “Also, I’m leaving in a few days. So hurry.”

Then he left.