Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Misfits Living in Otherworld

“You two can see the house up ahead, right?”

Standing on the open ground on Wu Tong Road, Yu Sheng raised a hand and pointed at the old, worn building in front of him, asking Foxy and Irene—who was cradled in Foxy’s arms.

“Yeah.” Foxy nodded like it was the most normal thing in the world. “It’s right there. We can see it when we leave, and we can see it when we come back.”

Yu Sheng nodded, then looked at Little Red Riding Hood, who had come along. “Can you see it?”

Little Red Riding Hood opened her Big Eyes and stared at the empty stretch ahead, at the low wall at the edge of the open ground. Then she turned and looked suspiciously at Foxy and Irene. “You two can really see it?”

“Looks like you can’t.” Yu Sheng understood at a glance. “Even if I ‘invite’ you, you still can’t see it while you’re standing here.”

Little Red Riding Hood spread her hands.

Yu Sheng fell into thought.

There were a lot of things he was curious about lately—about himself, about otherworlds, about the Special Operations Bureau, about Night Curtain Valley, and of course about the strange old mansion he’d been living in for the past two months. With what he considered a healthy research spirit, he’d invited Little Red Riding Hood along today when he came home. He wanted to test how many oddities the “nonexistent Wu Tong Road 66” still had.

Now he had a preliminary result.

Foxy and Irene could see Wu Tong Road 66. Little Red Riding Hood couldn’t. Even with the homeowner’s “invitation,” she still couldn’t observe its existence.

After a moment, Yu Sheng landed on the biggest difference between them.

“So…” he murmured, gaze flicking between Little Red Riding Hood and Foxy and Irene. “It’s a blood issue?”

Foxy and Irene had both “accepted” his blood. That had formed a subtle connection between them. Through that connection, they could even sense his “resurrection.” Little Red Riding Hood had never gone through that.

It was the most likely explanation he had.

Little Red Riding Hood didn’t seem to notice the shift in Yu Sheng’s expression. She was scanning her surroundings with curiosity.

The sun was sinking. In the shadows along the street, the outlines of wolves flickered in and out. The pack watched the whole block, serving as the girl’s ears and eyes.

She’d noticed something the moment they entered Wu Tong Road: the deeper they went, the fewer pedestrians there were. By the time they reached the open ground where “Wu Tong Road 66” supposedly stood, there wasn’t a single passerby in sight.

It was as if an invisible repelling force kept ordinary people from approaching the mansion.

Yet even her wolf pack couldn’t detect how that force worked. The entire block felt unnaturally “clean”—so clean that, to supernatural senses, it was like a vacuum.

Just then, she caught the feeling of someone watching her. She turned—and saw Yu Sheng looking over with a serious expression.

She felt awkward. “Uh… do you need something?”

Yu Sheng held out his hand. “Wanna take a bite?”

Little Red Riding Hood froze. “…Huh?”

“Blood,” Yu Sheng said, dead serious. “Irene and Foxy came into contact with my blood, and changes happened. After that, they could see Wu Tong Road 66. So I’m thinking you might want to try too. Just as an experiment…”

Little Red Riding Hood’s expression turned genuinely bizarre. She even took half a step back, eyes sharp as a startled wolfdog. After confirming he really was speaking out of pure “research spirit,” she relaxed a fraction—but her refusal stayed firm. “No!”

“It won’t mess up your stomach,” Yu Sheng said. He’d expected the reaction—asking someone to take a bite out of you was a lot to spring on a person—but he still wanted to test it. “Don’t you want to see what Wu Tong Road 66 looks like from the outside?”

“I’m not a cat!” Little Red Riding Hood snapped, taking another cautious half-step back. “Why would I be that curious?”

She turned to Foxy and Irene. “Why does he always do whatever pops into his head?”

In Foxy’s arms, Irene shifted. After confirming no one was nearby, she finally spoke. “That’s just how he is. He does whatever pops into his head and calls it ‘research.’ Don’t mind him.”

“That’s unfair,” Yu Sheng said at once, offended. “Am I really that bad?”

Irene didn’t answer. She simply lay there, quiet as ever, giving off a gentle lotus scent.

Yu Sheng: “…”

After two or three seconds of awkward silence, Yu Sheng forced a dry laugh and waved at Little Red Riding Hood. “Fine. If you don’t want to, forget it.”

He stepped up to the front door, unlocked it, then paused and stepped aside. “Foxy. Come here and try opening it.”

“Huh? Okay.” Foxy blinked, then nodded. She walked up and took the handle.

Click.

The already-unlocked door swung open with ease.

But in Little Red Riding Hood’s eyes, a door appeared out of thin air on the open ground, floating near the low wall covered in abstract graffiti.

“Good,” Yu Sheng said, relieved. “At least you and Irene can come and go now without needing me to open the door every time.”

Ever since he’d learned Wu Tong Road 66 was an otherworld that outsiders couldn’t observe—or enter—he’d started worrying about every little detail. Food deliveries that never arrived. Appliances that could never be delivered. Online orders with no usable address. And worst of all, the two residents in his house being trapped unless he escorted them in and out.

Now, at least one problem was solved.

“Come on.” Yu Sheng smiled and gestured for Little Red Riding Hood to follow. “Come in and sit. I’ll cook. We’ll eat at home. Consider it thanks for spending all day shopping with Foxy and Irene.”

“It’s nothing.” Little Red Riding Hood stepped forward. “You already wrote half my homework for me.”

She crossed into the mansion that didn’t exist in the real world.

Yu Sheng turned on the living room lights. Bright warmth chased away the dusk and quickly filled the house’s chilly emptiness.

He put the day’s purchases away with practiced speed, dug ingredients out of the bags, told Little Red Riding Hood to find a seat, and headed into the kitchen.

Little Red Riding Hood looked around with a mix of unease and curiosity.

This was her second time here, and this time she was an invited guest.

She rarely visited other people’s homes. In fact, she’d stepped into otherworlds far more often than she’d stepped through someone else’s front door. And she knew exactly what this ordinary-looking house really was: an otherworld. Today’s “visit” was, in a sense, an otherworld adventure.

It was also the strangest “adventure” she’d had since becoming a Spirit Realm Detective. There were no warped landscapes, no creeping corruption, no illusions disguised as teammates. There were only bright lights and a warm, tidy space. A gentle, friendly demon fox stood nearby. A cheerful doll scampered off to turn on the TV. And the otherworld’s entity—the powerful entity that could swallow “hunger” whole—was cooking dinner in the kitchen.

She could even sit at the dining table and do homework while waiting.

It felt so wrong she didn’t know what to complain about first.

But Irene’s energy gave her no time to stew. From the living room came the doll’s lively shout: “Come watch TV! The TV in the living room is bigger than the one in the dining room!”

“I need to catch up on homework,” Little Red Riding Hood said, shaking her head as she headed for the table. “I still have half of it left!”

“Humans are so exhausted,” Irene called dramatically from atop the sofa. Then she added, “Foxy, are you coming?”

Foxy waved and drifted toward the kitchen. “I’m going to see if Benefactor needs any help…”

She slipped inside.

Less than two minutes later, she pushed the kitchen door open again and walked out chewing on a braised chicken leg.

Little Red Riding Hood, who had just started working, stared in shock. “…Why are you back already?”

“I got kicked out,” Foxy said innocently. “Benefactor said I was stealing spices and eating them, so there wouldn’t be any left to stew the meat.”

She lifted the chicken leg like a prize. “But Benefactor gave me this. Want some?”

Little Red Riding Hood hesitated. “Uh… I—”

Foxy pulled it back at once. “If you’re not eating it, I’ll eat it all.”

Little Red Riding Hood: “…”

A rich stir-fry aroma was already drifting out of the kitchen, tugging at her stomach.

After thinking for a moment, she reached into her bag, took out her phone, and dialed a number.

“It’s me. I’m not coming back for dinner tonight—I’m eating at a friend’s place. Yeah, someone new. I’m safe, safe. I’ll explain when I get home. I’ll be back before ten. Bye.”

When she hung up, she turned—and found Foxy watching her while she chewed.

Instinctively, Little Red Riding Hood covered her phone. “No. That’s… that’s already half-eaten.”

She wasn’t even sure why she blurted it out like that.

Foxy didn’t seem to care. She asked curiously, “Were you calling your family?”

“Yeah.”

“Your dad and mom?”

Little Red Riding Hood’s face tightened. “Uh… my parents died early. I live with other people.”

“Oh.” Foxy nodded.

Little Red Riding Hood had no idea what went through the demon fox’s head for the next few seconds. Then Foxy suddenly held out the chicken leg again—the one she was almost done gnawing. “Want a bite? Just a small bite.”

Little Red Riding Hood: “…?”

She really couldn’t understand these weirdos who lived in an otherworld.