Song Cheng finally got a taste of what Li Lin and Xu Jiali had warned him about in their report: when dealing with Yu Sheng, it was entirely possible for a conversation to leap from a serious topic to a laughably ordinary one in the blink of an eye. At first, everything seed perfectly logical, but then it felt almost absurd when you realized how quickly the conversation had changed. Now, Song Cheng understood exactly what they had ant.
He glanced at his two teammates. Xu Jiali was doing his best to keep a straight face, looking like a silent tough guy, while Li Lin was barely managing to hide his amusent.
“Uh… I just want to confirm sothing,” Song Cheng said after a couple of monts. “Are you talking about… deliveries and food orders? To your ho?”
“Yeah, isn’t that easy to understand?” Yu Sheng asked, looking puzzled by their reactions. He scratched his head as if he genuinely couldn’t figure out what was so odd. “You know how strange my place is. You can’t just find a normal address for it. If soone doesn’t have enough spiritual talent or the right kind of preparation, they can’t even get within a hundred ters of my house. It’s like there’s an invisible force field around it—people end up walking in circles without realizing it. It’s even stronger than your nodes. So, whenever I want takeout, I have to give the address of a nearby supermarket, and if I order sothing big online, I have to figure out how to pick it up myself. It’s really inconvenient.”
Song Cheng fell silent. Just a mont ago, they had been talking about “Dark Angels,” about invaders from beyond this world. Now, out of nowhere, the conversation had jumped to the frustration of “packages can’t be delivered within a hundred ters of the front door.” The difference between those two topics was enough to make anyone’s head spin.
Still, he pulled himself together. After all, he was the one who had said, “If you have any problems, let the Special Affairs Bureau know.” He just hadn’t expected that this “special entity” living in the Otherworld would ntion such an everyday issue right away. It took him a second to process it.
But when he thought about it, the delivery problem really did have sothing to do with the Otherworld—and with entities.
“I’ll look into this and see how we can help,” Song Cheng promised, wearing a thoughtful expression. “If it cos down to it, we can set up a special collection point sowhere nearby, just for you.”
The mont he said this, Xu Jiali patted Li Lin on the shoulder. Li Lin, caught off guard, blinked in surprise before returning his teammate’s glance.
Yu Sheng looked a little embarrassed. “Um… are you sure that’s not too much special treatnt?”
“Not at all,” Song Cheng assured him, waving a hand dismissively. “Part of our job at the Special Affairs Bureau is to provide support for the ‘special individuals’ living in the Borderland. Handling threats from the Otherworld and from entities is only a small part of what we do day to day. Most of the ti, we’re like this city’s hidden caretakers. We make sure all sorts of problems get fixed. That’s our routine work.”
He wasn’t exaggerating. Helping strange, secretive Dwellers in the Borderland solve their unusual issues was a normal occurrence for the Special Affairs Bureau. What he didn’t ntion was that Yu Sheng, while classified as a “friendly entity,” was still one of the strangest individuals they had ever encountered.
But he rembered Director Bai Li Qing’s instructions clearly: “As long as he isn’t planning to overthrow the Borderland, do your best to et his requests—and if he ever does want to overthrow it, at least explain why he can’t. Just don’t let him call the complaint line and annoy .”
Recalling the director’s last words sent a shiver down Song Cheng’s spine. He focused again on Yu Sheng.
“Other than that, is there anything else?” he asked.
Yu Sheng thought for a mont. “No, not really… Oh, wait! One more thing. I asked you to look into Irene’s situation and figure out where Foxy ca from. Any news on those?”
At the ntion of this, the little doll on the coffee table and the fox-girl nearby both perked up, ears twitching.
“Sorry, nothing yet,” Song Cheng replied, though he felt a bit relieved that the topic had shifted back into more familiar territory. “We sent a ssage to our contact at Alice’s Little House, but we haven’t heard back. It’s possible no one is currently stationed in the Borderland. As for Miss Fox here…”
He hesitated, his eyebrows knitting together in uncertainty.
Yu Sheng leaned closer. “Is there a problem?”
“It’s more like a complication,” Song Cheng explained. “Just from ‘demon fox’ or ‘bestial humanoid,’ there are too many possible origins—hundreds, really. And none of those places match the holand Foxy described. So we were wondering if we could collect a bit of her fur to help us do a biological comparison. It might give us a clue about her species.”
Yu Sheng glanced over at Foxy. She nodded without hesitation.
“Neither of us mind,” Yu Sheng said with a slight shrug. “You only need so fur, right? No special requirents?”
As he spoke, he casually reached between the couch cushions, pinched sothing, and handed it to Song Cheng. “Will this work?”
Song Cheng blinked. “Uh… what is that?”
“She sheds a lot,” Yu Sheng said, keeping a straight face. “Now that the weather’s getting colder, there’s even more fur floating around. You wouldn’t even need to ask —just check your clothes after you sit down on the couch.”
Foxy’s cheeks turned bright red. She imdiately wrapped her big tails around herself, forming a fluffy ball with only her eyes peeking out. “I’m sorry…” ℞ÄΝꝊＢËs
“It’s fine,” Yu Sheng told her, patting one of her silvery tails. (He had been aiming for her head, but she was too curled up.) “Just don’t use your tail to dry the dishes, all right? I keep ending up with fur in my mouth.”
From inside the fluff-ball ca Foxy’s soft reply. “Okay.”
Looking a bit flustered, Song Cheng carefully took a sample tube from his pocket. With a slightly stiff expression, he gathered the silver-white hairs Yu Sheng offered and dropped them into the tube as though handling a priceless treasure.
A mont later, he led Xu Jiali and Li Lin out of the house. When they finally disappeared around the corner, Yu Sheng, who had gone to the door to see them off, returned to the living room and collapsed onto the couch with a long sigh of relief.
He glanced over to see that Foxy was still standing there, huddled into a fluffy ball. She had even covered her eyes this ti, leaving only her feet visible—like a strange, fuzzy sculpture in the middle of the room.
Yu Sheng couldn’t help but grin. Reaching out, he tried to pry the fox-girl out from her cocoon of tails. “All right, co on, they’re gone. There’s no need to hide.”
Foxy peeked out, her tails unfurling like a flower. She gazed at Yu Sheng apologetically. “I… I’ll take care of cleaning from now on.”
“You can just tidy up the places you usually hang out,” Yu Sheng said with a chuckle, settling more comfortably into the couch cushions. “Oh, and next ti you wash your tails, rember to clean out the drain filter. It was clogged again this morning.”
Foxy imdiately curled back up into her fluff-ball.
This ti, Yu Sheng let her be. He simply laughed and gave one of her tails a reassuring pat. Then he turned his attention to Irene, the tiny doll perched on the coffee table. She seed lost in thought, her tiny brows creased.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
“I’m thinking about those Dark Angels,” Irene replied, her voice quiet and serious. “Why would people summon them when they know how dangerous they are? Song Cheng said most of the cultists were transford after receiving the ‘guidance’ of these angels and aren’t really human anymore. But there are still a few who willingly sacrifice themselves to the angels, hoping for knowledge and power. Why would anyone do that?”
“Not all of them are human,” Yu Sheng pointed out. “And I’m guessing every group has its share of odd folks.”
He paused, studying Irene curiously. “But you—usually, you’re not one to fuss about saving the world or anything like that. Why so curious now?”
“I—I’m not that heartless!” Irene huffed, crossing her little arms. “I’m a doll from Alice’s Little House! We always do our best to maintain order. We punish evil and help others! Don’t go imagining I’m so kind of cold-hearted villain. I’m an honest, kind, gentle, polite, fair, and just lady—”
Yu Sheng stared at her, montarily speechless at the list of praises she had just heaped upon herself. It took him a mont to process all those adjectives, and it was even harder for him to imagine them actually applying to this feisty little doll.
He coughed lightly. “I’m tired. I need a nap,” he said at last, waving toward Foxy and Irene. “I hardly slept last night, and now I feel like I’m going to pass out. Wake up before dinner. I’ll make sothing for us to eat.”
Foxy, poking her face out from her tails again, lit up. “Okay! Got it, Benefactor!”
Yu Sheng paused, feeling exasperated by these two mischievous housemates (and by the fact that the number of residents had recently doubled). But he simply lifted a hand in farewell before trudging up to the second floor, yawning on the way.
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