Chapter 273

Chapter 274: Just Plain Weird

By the streetlight, Yu Sheng was on the phone, listening as Bai Li Qing told him how the iron ingot Foxy pulled out had been casually forged into a hammer and then showed a Machine Spirit, which was outrageous.

Not far away, the Fox Maiden was squatting by the shrubs, digging a very serious little hole, as if she wanted to bury a stone she had found who knows where.

Yu Sheng could hardly spare a moment to remind Foxy not to damage the greenery, because what Bai Li Qing was describing sounded way too absurd.

“The lab was going to start making a series of items to test that material’s Spirit Imbuement,” Bai Li Qing reported in a grave tone, “but I stopped the tests because the material might be precious. Its behavior is baffling. The composition isn’t special, yet after simple processing it shows unbelievable energy activity. We really want to know what it is, and whether Miss Foxy can provide more samples.”

She paused, then added: “Of course, we will pay.”

Yu Sheng rubbed his forehead and said while thinking back: “That stuff… Foxy said it was a reactor core byproduct after some reaction. From how she put it, it didn’t sound valuable, at least not where she’s from.”

After he said that, Bai Li Qing went silent for a good ten seconds, then answered at last: “Reactor?! You mean Foxy has a Reactor in her belly?!”

“Seems like it?” Yu Sheng only now realized how wild it sounded, and he scratched his chin, thoughtful: “This does sound kind of over the top, right?”

“Just ‘kind of’ over the top?!” For the first time, Yu Sheng heard a hint of near-breakdown in Bai Li Qing’s voice. The always cool and distant Director actually went up three pitches as she said: “You think this is only a little over the top?”

Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched as he watched the Fox Maiden digging in the shrubs, his expression rather complicated, though Bai Li Qing couldn’t see it through the call: “Let me put it this way, when I first saw her fire her tail like a missile, I pretty much used up my lifetime quota of surprise at her. My worldview-reset skill is so strong now it scares me, you get me…”

The line went quiet for two or three seconds, and Yu Sheng clearly heard Bai Li Qing take a deep breath.

“In short, you’re saying Foxy can make more of those ‘ingots’ anytime, but she needs some time to build up, right?”

“Yes, that’s what she said. She might also have a few in stock. I’ll ask her in a minute, but she’s busy right now.”

“What is she busy with?” Bai Li Qing asked casually.

“Busy digging holes in the greenery.”

Bai Li Qing: “…?”

Silence fell again on the other end.

Feeling awkward, Yu Sheng coughed twice and walked up behind the Fox Maiden: “Foxy, stop digging, I’ve got a question.”

Foxy lifted her head from her energetic digging, her eyes glowing in the night: “Benefactor, what’s up?”

“That metal lump you left behind after eating at the Special Affairs Bureau cafeteria last time,” Yu Sheng tried hard to find a good way to describe the thing she had pulled out, but nothing better came to mind, “do you still have more? Also, how long do you need to ‘make’ one?”

“It depends on what I eat and the Reactor’s daily output, so it’s hard to say,” Foxy blinked, “about seven or eight days for one? But I do have a few saved up right now. Do they want more?”

Yu Sheng nodded, and before he could speak, Bai Li Qing’s voice came through the phone: “Tell her the Special Affairs Bureau can build a dedicated cafeteria for the Hotel through The Door. You can open The Door straight to the serving window.”

“…”

Foxy kept blinking, not quite sure what had just happened.

So Yu Sheng told the Fox Maiden what the Bureau had discovered.

Foxy often looked simple, but she was sharper than anyone. After a few words she had grasped it and clapped her hands with a happy smile: “That’s just ‘spirit aura.’ Spirit Fox Dark Iron is our base material for crafting an Artifact Spirit. This result is normal.”

Yu Sheng opened his mouth. [Of course it’s Foxy. So this counts as ‘normal’ in her book?!]

Meanwhile, Bai Li Qing spoke again: “When we have time, let’s discuss setting up a ‘partner cafeteria’ for the Hotel via The Door at the Special Affairs Bureau, and, in the Bureau’s name, signing a long-term purchase agreement for… what was it called?”

Foxy leaned in: “Spirit Fox Dark Iron.”

“Right, a long-term contract to purchase Spirit Fox Dark Iron.”

…

Irene stared at Yu Sheng with scarlet eyes, while Yu Sheng sat on the sofa and calmly faced the Doll.

Beside them, Foxy had spread out a pile of treasures she had picked up while walking through The Door: very straight sticks, very round stones, and oddly shaped screws.

The Fox Maiden fussed with them happily, not paying the others any mind.

“So you’re saying the Special Affairs Bureau is willing to spend a lot of money or regularly provide all kinds of supplies in exchange for those iron lumps Foxy tosses out? And to make sure she can produce enough, they’ll even build a dedicated cafeteria for the Silly Fox through The Door, like you can line The Door up with the serving window?” The little Doll’s eyes went wide as she said: “Wait, are they sick or something?”

“That’s not ‘iron lumps,’ it’s called Spirit Fox Dark Iron,” Yu Sheng corrected with a straight face, “back in Foxy’s homeland it’s a spiritual treasure material. In this world, it can reliably form a Machine Spirit. Do you understand how valuable that is…”

The little Doll listened in a daze, then plopped onto the sofa: “R-right?”

But she snapped back up and glared at Yu Sheng: “No, why though! Why is it that the scraps she spits out after meals turn into treasure the Bureau buys at a high price, while after all my cooperation testing crystals they only found an ‘Anti-Irene Crystal’… I knew this world is targeting me!”

Yu Sheng sighed and patted the little Doll’s head: “Hey, I really do feel for you.”

Irene tilted her head up, thought for a moment, then magnanimously waved her hand: “Fine, I’m not mad.”

Now Yu Sheng was the one stunned: “…”

[When did this Doll get such a good mindset?]

After smoothing things over with Irene, Yu Sheng went to Foxy’s side by the coffee table, where she was arranging her “loot”: “Still not done sorting?”

The Fox Maiden raised her head and happily showed him two straight sticks: “Benefactor, look! Don’t these two sticks look like a pair of swords?”

Yu Sheng looked, rubbing his chin: “You know, they do look like swords…”

“Then they’re a twin sword pair. One for you, one for me.” Foxy generously shoved one stick into his hand, then swept the messy pile on the table into her tail. In no time, the table was spotless.

Before Yu Sheng could react, he was holding another peerless stick…

He couldn’t help eyeing Foxy’s big storage tail and muttering as he rubbed his chin: “I’m really curious how you organize that tail of yours. You always just toss things in. I’ve never seen you sort it, yet when you pull stuff out it’s never a mess.”

“I do sort it!” Foxy said very seriously at once. “Even if it’s not sorted that well, it’s not that messy… Um, Benefactor, want to come inside and take a look?”

Yu Sheng had been mulling over how her Storage Tail compared to his own Door Opening when he heard that, and it took him a second to process. When he finally did, he was stunned: “…What?”

“Benefactor, do you want to go into my tail to look?” Foxy asked with bright delight. “I’ve never invited anyone in! Ah, that time I shoved Irene’s picture frame in doesn’t count.”

“…”

Yu Sheng thought and thought, and finally admitted that his imagination was still a bit weak compared to a nine tailed fox’s worldview. He was just starting to feel tempted and was about to answer when a sudden cry from the window cut him off.

“Hey! Yu Sheng! Look outside! A big fog rolled in!”

It was Irene.

Maybe because they had just rescued someone from thick fog in the Otherworld, the word “fog” made Yu Sheng jolt. He shot to his feet and looked toward the living room window.

Irene was standing on the sill, pointing through the glass.

Outside, fog blanketed everything. Heavy white vapor flowed like thick liquid. It covered the whole street. Even the far streetlights looked shaky and skewed, as if the whole world was behind some strange lens, eerie and wrong.

“What the heck?!”

With a shout, Yu Sheng ran to the window to look out with Irene at the fog-filled street.

“When did it turn like this?” he asked the Doll quickly.

“No idea. I just looked up and it was already like this,” Irene said, baffled. “But it can’t have been long. When it first got dark, one of my bodies glanced at the window and there was no fog then.”

“Benefactor, this fog looks…” Foxy came over, speaking in a slightly hesitant tone, “it looks like the one that trapped Zheng Zhi before, but thicker and heavier, and the feeling is even more ominous.”

Yu Sheng frowned, then went straight to the entry and pushed open The Door.

He wanted to check the street for himself.

Outside The Door, old Wutong Road lay quiet in the night, the streetlights steady and the sky clear.

There was no fog at all.