Chapter 243

Chapter 243: Hidden Dangers and Trade-offs

The voice on the other end spoke quickly. Bai Li Qing’s face grew especially grave. Yu Sheng didn’t dare interrupt, so he leaned closer to listen. He caught words like “settlement,” “missing,” “traces,” and “nearby energy response.” When he heard “Angel Remnants,” he snapped to full attention.

After another moment, Bai Li Qing began giving orders: seal certain traffic Nodes at once, pull surveillance, scan the walls and the Boundary Steles. When the call finally ended, Yu Sheng stepped back half a step and asked curiously: “Sounds like… something happened?”

She drew a long breath and said: “It’s debris from the Angel Fall. This is classified, but you were a direct party to the Angel Fall and we’ll be working together, so there’s no need to hide it. You must have seen the fall footage already. I’ll be direct. Anka Aila’s main structure disintegrated and vanished during the ‘fall and rise’, but a few fragments with Entity crossed the sky over Boundary City and fell to the ground. The Special Affairs Bureau sent several recovery teams. One of them just reported that some of the debris may have gone missing.”

Yu Sheng felt a dull ache in his back molars.

She said with a dark face: “There’s only an impact crater at the site. The pit is empty. The Bureau’s people are still searching the area, but it doesn’t look good.”

He tried to be hopeful and said: “Well, maybe it just evaporated out of nowhere. They’re Dark Angels, right? When they enter our world everything about them is strange. It wouldn’t be weird if some pieces fell and then disappeared.”

“I wish I could think that way,” Bai Li Qing sighed. “But I got used to ruling out the optimistic options first a long time ago.”

“Alright,” Yu Sheng said as he scratched his hair, “did they find any suspicious traces at the site? Like someone got there first?”

“That’s our biggest worry,” she said in a low voice. “Dark Angel fragments must not fall into the hands of Angel Cultists or the Holy Revere Hermitage. But from the field report, the recovery team found no other tracks near the impact point. That doesn’t rule out a quiet theft. This world is big. There are always some tricky people who can leave no trace.”

Yu Sheng’s eyes widened as he asked: “They’re that good? They can steal something right under the Special Affairs Bureau’s nose and vanish?”

Bai Li Qing didn’t answer. She simply looked at him.

After two seconds of being stared at, Yu Sheng got the hint and hunched his neck, saying: “Hey, don’t look at me. I didn’t take it.”

“I know you didn’t,” she said, tiredness in her tone. After a brief silence she continued: “It happened in the ‘suburbs’. The wildlands outside Boundary City aren’t as stable as inside the city. Sometimes criminals slip through cracks near the Boundary Steles to do shady deals or petty theft. Some of them have skills. But this is the Borderland. Those rats never dare stage a big move under the Bureau’s eyes, much less walk off with Angel Fragments, which would be kept in single rooms even in the core Containment Zone.”

He spread his hands and said: “That assumes they knew what it was. People pass by, see something shiny in a roadside pit, and pocket it. The world is one huge random set.”

Bai Li Qing didn’t reply. She pressed her lips together, pulled out her phone, and contacted a subordinate, rattling off quick instructions.

Yu Sheng watched carefully from the side. After a few minutes he asked, testing the waters: “How bad could this get at the worst?”

“To be honest, we can’t be sure of anything yet,” she said, glancing at him. “How serious it is depends on who took the Angel Fragments and on what the fragments actually are. The first batch that’s been recovered is already on the way back. Once they reach headquarters, the team will go into quarantine, and after a preliminary risk check the fragments will go to the High-Risk Laboratory for deeper analysis. We need to learn what properties they have. If we’re lucky, they’re just stones with special meaning. If not…”

She didn’t finish. Yu Sheng understood.

“Alright, then we wait,” he sighed. He sat back down by the sofa and stared at the sky. After two beats he muttered, half to himself: “Anka Aila, you’re gone and still left us such a mess.”

Bai Li Qing sat opposite him, much calmer, and said: “Some things always slip past the plan. You get used to it.”

“You’re taking it better than me,” Yu Sheng said as he picked up his half-finished drink and drained it. He waved a hand and added: “Looks like we won’t have answers for a while, so I’ll head home. Got a bunch of stuff to handle.”

“Okay,” Bai Li Qing stood and said: “I won’t see you out.”

Yu Sheng nodded. Just as he reached for the door handle to leave, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to her, saying: “Right, one more thing.”

“Go on.”

“The Fairy Tale Cursed Children are holding a celebration tonight,” he said, face serious. “It’s in the valley. I know the Special Affairs Bureau has always looked after that Orphanage, so… would you like to come?”

He paused, then added: “I know you’re busy, especially with this mess. If you don’t have time…”

She cut him off and asked: “Will the ‘Hunter’ be there?”

Yu Sheng blinked, then nodded lightly, saying: “Yeah. ‘They’ will be there, and Squirrel too.”

“I have time,” the corners of Bai Li Qing’s mouth seemed to lift a little as she said: “Please come pick me up then.”

“Deal. It’s set to start at six. I’ll call you before,” Yu Sheng said with a smile, waving to her. “See you tonight.”

“See you tonight.”

The Phantom Door closed without a sound, then faded away.

Bai Li Qing stood there a while longer after Yu Sheng left, thinking quietly. At last she let out a faint sigh and turned back to the bar.

She poured herself half a glass of strong liquor and sat on a bar stool, sipping slowly.

A pair of huge colorless eyes slowly surfaced in the air behind her, watching in silence.

The voice sounded in her mind, teasing: “If you want to go, just say so. No need to act like it’s only because of those Deep Divers.”

“Just a casual question,” Bai Li Qing said without turning around. “What did you talk about with him?”

“I asked for some details about Dark Angels. The rest was small talk,” the eyes said, then added as if in passing: “Also, I told him my name.”

“Your name?” Bai Li Qing’s hand froze with the glass halfway up, her voice carrying a hint of surprise as she asked: “You did?”

“Is it that shocking?” The eyes drifted to float a few meters in front of her, saying: “It’s only a name. I still remember basic manners.”

Bai Li Qing didn’t speak at first. She just looked at the eyes across from her. After a moment she asked: “Remind me… what’s your full name again?”

“…”

She tugged the corner of her mouth and said: “Just kidding. You’re always tense. You need to relax.”

“I forgot you knew how to joke,” the eyes said. The tone held no emotion, but the gaze seemed gentler. “Enough of that. About this Angel Fall, when do you plan to make it public?”

“After the fragments we’ve already found are safely back at headquarters,” Bai Li Qing said. “As for Anka Aila’s specifics, we’ll only brief the senior people at Terra Academy, the Alglade Astrologers’ Consortium, and the Bamosa Hermit Society for now. The fact that Dark Angels can communicate isn’t suitable for full public release yet.”

“Oh?” The eyes sounded puzzled as they asked: “Why? Isn’t that inspiring news? After so many years, our understanding of Dark Angels finally made a breakthrough.”

She swirled her glass and said: “Then all kinds of so called rational and kind groups will pop out of the corners, waving little flags to call for systems to talk with and understand Dark Angels. They’ll argue over the tragic fate behind every Dark Angel and the chance to ‘save’ them. In a few months, they’ll be shouting ‘love and understanding’ and ‘reflection’ and ‘tolerance’, and they’ll turn their aim at the units that have stood on the front line against Angel invasions.”

She sighed and added: “One group of Angel Cultists is already enough of a headache. Can you imagine Dark Angel protectionism showing up in this world?”

The floating eyes visibly trembled.

“If I still had skin, I’d have goosebumps right now,” she said.

“Exactly. That ridiculous situation would happen. The wisdom of crowds and the stupidity of crowds are both unbelievable,” Bai Li Qing said, rolling the liquor in her glass. “I dislike that outcome, so I’ll at least delay it. Even if one day we truly learn much more about the Dark Angels, and even confirm they’re all communicative like Anka Aila, it must happen in a reasonable, controlled, step by step way, and we have to put our world’s interests first. Bottom line, I don’t like foolish things. I never have.”