Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Investigation and Settling In

A boss’s encouragement and empty promises didn’t soothe the exhaustion of overtime that ran all the way into an otherworld.

Paid leave did.

The two unlucky agents left the office smiling, leaving Song Cheng behind. He sat at his desk, exhaled, and kept staring at the computer screen with a worried frown.

Then an icon in the corner began to blink.

A video window popped up without warning.

A young woman in a white skirt suit appeared on-screen. Her gray-white hair was tied into a single ponytail, and her pale gray eyes—colorless as faded ink—looked straight into Song Cheng’s.

“Done being busy?”

A bigger boss had arrived.

“Director.” Song Cheng sat up straight at once, tension snapping into his posture. “You’re still not off work?”

“I’m working overtime today,” Bai Li Qing said calmly. Her voice held as little emotion as her washed-out eyes. “I saw the file the archives division sent. I want to hear your view.”

“About Yu Sheng?” Song Cheng frowned, then shook his head after a brief pause. “I don’t think we can make any judgment right now. We need formal contact with him to assess what kind of… individual he is.

“But the difficulty is whether we approach him by the standard for humans, or by the standard for entities.”

“By the human standard,” Bai Li Qing said without hesitation.

Song Cheng’s eyes widened.

“Because his self-identification is human,” Bai Li Qing replied, patient and matter-of-fact. “So whether he is human or not, we must ensure he continues to think that way.”

“Maintain the target’s self-identification,” Song Cheng said slowly, understanding forming. “You believe… if his self-identification shifts, the consequences could be severe?”

“We still can’t confirm what abilities he has, or his future impact on the Borderland. But the more who stand on the human side, the fewer who stand on the nonhuman side.” Bai Li Qing’s gaze didn’t waver. “Otherworld entities that are naturally friendly to humans are not common—especially one who has lived in the Borderland for so long. We should treat this as luck.”

Song Cheng nodded immediately. “Understood, Director. Then I’ll arrange a contact plan with Yu Sheng… I’ll go personally.”

Bai Li Qing gave a faint nod, as if preparing to end the call, but then continued. “About the latest dark angels, the councilor meeting already knows. Right now, we can basically confirm it is new.”

Song Cheng’s pupils tightened.

“No record in the old files?” he asked, leaning forward. “What about other factions’ records?”

“We’ve already asked the alglade astrologers’ consortium and the academy. Their official records never mentioned the giant eyeball-shaped dark angels that could cover the sky, as described in the report. The bamosa hermit society hasn’t replied yet, but if even the academy has no record, then the bamosians probably don’t either.” Bai Li Qing shook her head. “We can’t rule out that some smaller faction encountered it, but… it’s unlikely.”

Song Cheng’s brow knotted tighter, anxiety rising. “This is bad. A new angel with no data record. We didn’t even have time to collect intel before it left, and it was that large-scale. It could cover the entire sky above the Night Curtain Valley… From the official info on Night Curtain Valley, this thing was probably parasitizing that otherworld a long time ago…”

“Yes. High-level camouflage, deep parasitism. Earlier investigators who entered that valley even believed the sky there was naturally like that, which is why it got the name Night Curtain Valley.” Bai Li Qing spoke evenly. “In pure physical scale, this newly emerged dark angel could probably rank in the top three among all known angels.”

Song Cheng fell quiet, thinking. Then he said, “From what my two team members gathered, that demon fox beside Yu Sheng—the one who calls herself Foxy—seems to have been trapped in Night Curtain Valley for a long time. She might know something about that dark angel.”

“That’s a breakthrough point,” Bai Li Qing said. “But the investigation must be cautious.”

Song Cheng dipped his head. “Understood.”

Bai Li Qing hummed, clearly about to end the call.

Song Cheng spoke again. “Director, one more thing.”

“Say it.”

“I’m going to ride the train,” Song Cheng said, face serious. “See if I can ask about Yu Sheng on the train.”

“…Approved,” Bai Li Qing said after a pause. “But be careful. Even relatively rational and friendly entities must be approached with caution.”

“Understood.”

…

Upstairs, Yu Sheng was helping Foxy make the bed when he suddenly sneezed—hard—several times in a row. Irene, balancing along the footboard like a tightrope walker, jolted and nearly fell.

“You scared me!” Little Doll snapped.

“My nose itches.” Yu Sheng rubbed it, then grabbed Irene without ceremony and plopped her onto the bed. “Don’t just watch. Help. Sit in the middle so I can pull the sheet tight.”

“Oh.” Irene scampered to the center, sat cross-legged, and looked up at him like she was supervising.

Foxy stood a little farther back, awkward and lost, watching her benefactor make her bed.

“Benefactor… I can help too,” she offered, rubbing her hands. Her tails swayed uneasily behind her. “Cleaning is simple. I watched, I learned!”

“Then you can clean your own room from now on,” Yu Sheng said without looking up. “Today, don’t bother. I’m almost done.”

“Oh.” Foxy swallowed the uneasy warmth of being cared for and turned, curious, to study her new room.

It used to be packed with clutter, but the cardboard boxes were now stacked in the basement. After a quick cleaning, it was livable again—though barely. Besides the bed and an old table, the only real furniture was a chair in the corner.

Earlier, Yu Sheng had dug a folding wardrobe out of the basement. He and Irene studied it for an embarrassingly long time before finally assembling the metal pipes and canvas, then wedging it into the corner as the room’s fourth piece of furniture.

Foxy didn’t have clothes to fill it, though. She had almost nothing—only that ragged dress she’d brought from the valley. It was more scraps than fabric, and she couldn’t bear to throw it away. After washing it, she folded it as neatly as she could and placed it at the very bottom of the ugly wardrobe, as her first piece of property in this new home.

Even so, this little house—plain and almost shabby—made her so happy she could barely breathe.

She could sleep on a bed now. She’d tried lying down earlier, and it was softer and flatter than the best hay pile. A solid roof above her. Walls that blocked the wind. Warmth, unlike the valley where everything was cold. She didn’t even need to hug her tails to stay warm while sleeping.

There was bright electric light—brighter than fox fire.

And most important of all, no matter what she did here, it wouldn’t draw that monster. If she was hungry, she could find food anytime.

Right now, she had a lot of food in her tails.

Foxy sat on the floor, smiling like she’d won a lifetime of luck.

When Yu Sheng finished pulling the sheet tight, he turned and found her grinning at the ground. “Why are you sitting on the floor again? There’s a chair. What are you smiling at?”

“Oh.” Foxy stood quickly and sat on the chair. “Happy.”

“You should be.” Yu Sheng nodded, then straightened and looked around, a faint sense of satisfaction settling in his chest.

The room was sparse, but he’d worked to get it into shape. At least two hours of effort.

But it really was too bare.

“Tomorrow we’ll go to the mall,” he said, thinking aloud. “Buy you a spare set of bedding and two sets of clothes. Later we can replace the curtains too—these have holes. The wardrobe can stay for now. A new one is expensive, and I’m short on cash lately. And later, we can add a nightstand and a desk lamp.”

“No, no, I don’t need so many things.” Foxy waved both hands in panic. “This is already very good.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s everyday stuff. You should have what you should have.” Yu Sheng waved her off. “You’re going to be my number one enforcer, after all. I can’t give you bad conditions.”

From the center of the bed, Irene lifted her head. “Before you think about buying furniture, you should think about how you’re going to get anyone to deliver it. This wu tong road 66 of yours—you can forget about a new TV too. They can’t deliver it. Or… are you going to open a big door and carry a pile of furniture back yourself?”

Yu Sheng’s planning cooled instantly, his expression sobering.

He remembered what the two Special Operations Bureau agents had said before leaving.

Delivery was still a problem, because—

Wu tong road didn’t have a number 66.