Chapter 270

Chapter 271: The Pickup Point by Our Door

Foxy came into the living room with a bowl, squatted next to Yu Sheng, and ate while staring curiously at the three bodies of Irene huddled together with their knees up in a little circle of despair. After a while, Foxy could not help asking: “Benefactor, what happened to Irene?”

“She got hit hard,” Yu Sheng sighed. “She just learned there is a stone in this world that has no use at all, except it is perfect for dealing with her. Now she feels unlucky.”

“Oh.” Foxy nodded with the bowl in her hands, not sure if she understood, then patted one Irene’s shoulder with her tail and said: “Our teacher at the school said the gifted are envied by heaven.”

The three Irenes lifted their heads and said in one voice: “What does that mean?”

Foxy was an honest miss and said: “I do not know. But the teacher said if someone is very unlucky, say that to comfort them. Though they might still be unlucky after.”

The three Irenes sighed together. Two flopped onto the sofa, done with life, and the last one climbed up and ran to Yu Sheng: “Ah, Yu Sheng, I feel like the world is targeting me!”

Yu Sheng nodded and said: “Yes, that shows.”

“You still say yes!” Irene was close to tears as she said: “Why? That thing knocked me over, so I thought it showed some amazing trait. Turns out it blocks nothing, it only blocks me! Did I offend Anka Aila?”

“How would I know?” Yu Sheng rolled his eyes, then decided to comfort the little Doll anyway and said: “Think about it another way. Maybe the crystals target ‘Alice’s Doll’ as a class, not just you. When we contact Alice’s Little House again, have your sisters try them too.”

He had no proof at all, but Irene believed it at once. Her face brightened right away as she said: “You make sense! It must be that we Dolls are too strong. We naturally counter those Dark Angels as ‘outsiders,’ so even without Anka Aila, the world still has to target us.”

Her optimism was, in its own way, impressive.

In that moment, a noisy clatter from outside cut off their talk.

Foxy’s ears stood up at once.

Yu Sheng also looked toward the living room window, surprised. Wutong Road 66 was always very quiet. Except for people from the Special Affairs Bureau and Fairy Tale, normal people could not even get within a few dozen meters of the house. So where was that noise coming from?

With a flicker of doubt, he got up and went to the window. Irene followed, grabbing his clothes and squeezing under his arm onto the sill. Foxy came too, still holding the bowl. Two big heads and one small one lined up to look outside. They saw a group of people working busily at the closest intersection to Wutong Road 66.

That place was at the edge of the “no man’s zone” around Yu Sheng’s front door. A few storefronts with For Rent signs and some empty houses stood there year round. Yu Sheng had long suspected those empty houses were part of the anomaly of Wutong Road 66, but after he asked the subdistrict office, he found out they were not. The spot was just too remote to rent out.

Now one of the shops had clearly been rented. A truck was parked at the corner, and several sturdy young men were unloading fast, moving shelves, counters, and computers inside.

Yu Sheng clicked his tongue and said: “…Well now. Is our area finally about to get lively?”

“No way. You know about your house,” said Irene, face pressed to the glass as she peered out. “Even the birds won’t poop here. Dogs take a detour.”

“Even if you are right, you are very punchable when you say it like that,” said Yu Sheng.

“Benefactor, should we say hello?” Foxy finished her rice, wiped her mouth with her tail, and asked: “It is a little far, but they count as new neighbors?”

“Not really neighbors, but we can check what it is,” said Yu Sheng with a nod. “I will go say hi.”

As soon as he spoke, Foxy tucked the bowl into her tail and said: “Benefactor, I am coming with you.”

Irene jumped from the sill into Foxy’s arms and said: “Me too. I will play dead now.”

Before the words even finished, the little Doll’s arms and legs dangled, her eyes lost their shine, and she went limp. Very skilled.

Foxy casually removed her own ears, her tail popped away with a poof, and she moved just as fast as Irene.

Yu Sheng looked at his two little shadows, sighed, and said: “Fine. Together.”

He changed into going out clothes, then led Foxy, with “dead” Irene in her arms, down the steps and over to the shop. He had just started to look around when a symbol on the truck caught his eye.

Black background, red lines, a diamond mark like a vertical warning eye.

The Special Affairs Bureau emblem.

In the second he stared, a familiar voice called out: “Teacher Yu!”

He looked up and saw Ren Wen Wen in a black suit, dressed like an office pro, beaming at him.

The young movers glanced up too. Two of them were agents who had helped in the Valley not long ago.

“…?” said Yu Sheng, expression baffled.

Seeing it was someone they knew, Irene stopped playing dead at once. She lifted her head from Foxy’s arms and asked: “Oh, it is you. What are you doing here?”

Yu Sheng looked at Ren Wen Wen with the same question. She smiled and pointed to a sign by the shop door that had not been hung yet.

“Stellar Express Wutong Road Pickup Spot,” it read.

“…A parcel station?” said Yu Sheng, face turning a little odd.

Ren Wen Wen laughed and explained: “You told the Special Affairs Bureau that Wutong Road 66 cannot receive deliveries or takeout, and it is very inconvenient. So we decided to set up a pickup spot as close to you as possible. It may not look like much, but the site and the staffing were tested again and again across the Bureau.

“This position is on the edge of your home’s ‘shielding zone.’ It is also the farthest point that ordinary humans can reach without cognitive interference. It is a golden location for a pickup spot. We will station two Bureau agents here. It is basically a special Bureau post. I will handle liaison for this site. You can also list this as the reception address for your ‘Hotel.’ That way it is easier when you take detective commissions. Otherwise clients may have trouble finding your home.”

She spoke carefully, point by point. Yu Sheng listened with a face that said “huh? oh, uh?” from start to finish, as if this came out of nowhere. It was not really out of nowhere. He had brought it up with Bai Li Qing a long time ago. He had just been so busy lately that he forgot it completely.

Noticing his look, Ren Wen Wen bowed her head with an apologetic smile and said: “Sorry to keep you waiting so long. Even a small site touches many departments. Also, thinking ahead, we linked in the ‘Stellar Express’ channel. That needed council approval too. Each step got special handling, but running every process still takes work.”

That finally woke Yu Sheng up. Seeing the helpful clerk miss looking guilty, he waved his hands and said: “No problem, no problem. I was just busy and forgot, so this surprised me. Wait, what do you mean by the Stellar Express channel? I saw the sign and wanted to ask.”

“Oh, that is a shopping and delivery platform directly funded and controlled by the Borderland Council,” said Ren Wen Wen as she took out a QR code. “Scan this to download the app.”

For a second, Yu Sheng felt like she was not a Bureau agent, but a mall promoter trying to get him to follow an account and sign up for a membership card just to sell him shampoo.

Ren Wen Wen did not notice his odd look. She went on happily: “Regular people cannot register. It uses a whitelist. Many products on it are restricted in the Borderland or need strict buying credentials. Do not worry. You have been on the whitelist for a while. Our Director signed you in personally. You can register directly. Of course, if an item is restricted, you still cannot buy it. The app will warn you at checkout. Also, if you do not need the app, that is fine. Stellar Express also handles normal logistics and parcels within the Borderland. It will be convenient for you.”

Yu Sheng did not catch the last bit. After he downloaded the app, he opened it and looked once, then closed it, then opened it again and looked a few more times, then closed it again.

He now had a rough idea of what it was.

The front page recommended “Bargomo Gourmet Aberrant Canned Food.” The first line of the product page taught users several practical fighting moves to use after opening the mutant can.

[Maybe this hardcore thing is not for me right now,] he thought, and put the phone away.

Right then, Ren Wen Wen switched topics and said: “By the way, Teacher Yu, I saw your new novel.”

To be honest, Yu Sheng jolted.

Mainly, this miss’s level of shipper madness had left a deep scar on him.

He quickly remembered he had already changed the hero’s mount to a llama last time, and he relaxed. Smiling a little, he asked: “How is it?”

“A bit… stimulating,” said Ren Wen Wen, thinking hard. She looked very serious, even a bit duty bound, as she added: “To be honest, it is quite difficult. But I am trying.”

“…” said Yu Sheng.

He stood there in a daze for a long beat, his brain finally catching up. Then he wished it had not.

Miss, what exactly are you trying? [He really did not want to know.]