Dimensional Hotel

The encouragement and promises from the higher-ups might not always soothe the physical and mental exhaustion that came from working overtime in the Otherworld, but paid leave certainly could.

The two exhausted agents walked out of the office with forced smiles on their faces, leaving Song Cheng behind his desk. He let out a long sigh and continued staring worriedly at his computer screen.

Just then, he noticed an icon flashing in the corner of the display. A moment later, a video window unexpectedly popped up.

A young woman appeared on the screen. She was dressed in a white suit, with ash-gray hair tied back in a ponytail. Her pale gray eyes, almost devoid of color, gazed directly at Song Cheng. “Finished with your work?” she asked.

An even higher-ranking leader had arrived.

“Director,” Song Cheng immediately straightened up, his expression a little tense. “You haven’t left yet?”

“I’m working overtime today,” Bai Li Qing replied calmly. Her voice was as emotionless as her faded eyes. “I saw the information that just came in from the archives and wanted to hear your thoughts.”

“About this ‘Yu Sheng’?” Song Cheng frowned slightly. After a brief pause, he shook his head. “I don’t think we can draw any conclusions yet. We need to have a formal meeting with him to figure out what kind of… individual he is. The difficulty is deciding if we should treat him as a ‘human’ or as an ‘entity’…”

“As a human,” Bai Li Qing said without hesitation.

“Because he sees himself as a ‘human,'” she explained patiently. “So regardless of whether he is human or not, we need to make sure he keeps believing that.”

“Maintain the target’s self-perception, is that right?” Song Cheng pondered, starting to understand her reasoning. “You think that if his perception shifts, it could have serious consequences?”

“We can’t yet determine what abilities he possesses or how he might impact the future of the Borderland,” she said. “But having one more individual on the side of ‘human’ is better than having one more on the side of ‘non-human.’ It’s rare to find an otherworldly entity that’s naturally friendly toward humans—especially one that’s been ‘living’ in the Borderland for a long time. We should consider ourselves lucky.”

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

On the screen, Bai Li Qing nodded slightly. Then she added, “Regarding the newly emerged ‘Dark Angel,’ the Council is already aware. We can confirm it’s a new one.”

Song Cheng’s eyes widened.

“There’s nothing in the old records?” He leaned forward, his expression grave. “What about records from other factions?”

“We’ve inquired with the Algaleid Astrologers’ Society and the Academy,” she said, shaking her head. “Their official records have no mention of the giant, eyeball-shaped Dark Angel that was reported to cover the sky. We haven’t heard back from the Bamosa Secret Order yet, but if even the Academy has no record, it’s unlikely the Bamosans do either. While we can’t rule out the possibility that smaller factions may have encountered this Dark Angel, it’s not very likely.”

Song Cheng furrowed his brow deeply, looking anxious.

“This isn’t good… A new ‘Angel’ with no recorded data, and it disappeared before we could gather any intelligence—and it’s on such a large scale,” he muttered. “It could cover the entire sky above Nightfall Valley… From the official records, this thing might have been parasitizing that Otherworld for a very long time…”

“Yes,” she agreed. “High-level camouflage, deep parasitism—to the extent that early investigators who entered the valley thought the sky there was naturally like that. That’s how Nightfall Valley got its name. Purely from its physical scale, this newly appeared ‘Dark Angel’ could rank among the top three of all known Angels.”

Song Cheng fell into thought. After a brief silence, he spoke. “Based on the information gathered by my two team members, the fox spirit named ‘Foxy’ who’s with Yu Sheng seems to have been trapped in Nightfall Valley for a long time. She might know something about this ‘Dark Angel.'”

“That’s a lead,” she said, “but we need to be cautious in our investigation.”

Song Cheng nodded. “I understand.”

“Good,” she murmured, seeming ready to end the call.

But he suddenly spoke up. “By the way, Director, there’s one more thing.”

“Go ahead.”

“I’m planning to take the ‘Train,'” he said seriously. “To see if I can find out anything about ‘Yu Sheng’ onboard.”

“Approved,” she said after a moment’s pause. “But be cautious. Even with rational and friendly entities, you must be careful when interacting.”

“Understood.”

…

Meanwhile, Yu Sheng was helping Foxy make her bed when he suddenly sneezed several times in a row. Irene, who was balancing on the footboard of the bed with her arms outstretched, nearly fell off in surprise.

“You scared me!” the little doll glared at him.

“My nose itches,” Yu Sheng said, rubbing his nose. He casually plucked Irene off the footboard and tossed her onto the bed. “Don’t just watch—come help. Sit in the middle of the bed so I can straighten the sheet.”

“Oh,” Irene replied, scrambling to the middle of the bed and sitting cross-legged, watching Yu Sheng work beside her.

Foxy stood a bit farther away, unsure of what to do as she watched her benefactor make the bed for her.

“Benefactor… I can help too,” the fox girl said, wringing her hands, her tail swaying nervously behind her. “Tidying up the room is simple. I’ve watched and learned!”

“You can tidy your room yourself in the future, but not today,” Yu Sheng said without looking up. “I’m almost done here.”

“Oh,” Foxy murmured. She suppressed the uneasy feeling that came from being taken care of and cautiously, curiously surveyed her new room.

It was the room on the second floor that had once been filled with clutter. Now, all the boxes had been moved to the basement, and after a simple cleaning, the room was habitable again. The furnishings were still simple, though—besides the bed and a table that had been piled with stuff, the only other piece of furniture was a chair in the corner.

Because of this, Yu Sheng had fetched a folding wardrobe from the basement. He and Irene had spent quite some time figuring out how to assemble the metal rods and canvas, and they placed it in the corner as the room’s fourth piece of furniture.

But Foxy didn’t have any clothes to put in it—she had almost no personal belongings. Only the tattered “dress” she’d brought from the valley, which was nearly a rag. She couldn’t bear to throw it away, so after washing it clean, she carefully folded it and placed it at the bottom of the rather unattractive wardrobe. It was her first possession in this “home.”

Even such a simple, somewhat shabby little room made her incredibly happy.

She could sleep on a bed now. She’d lain down just a moment ago, and it felt even more comfortable than the softest haystack. There was a solid roof over her head and walls to block the wind. The room was warm, unlike the valley where it was cold everywhere. She didn’t need to hug her tail to stay warm while sleeping, and there was a bright electric light—brighter than foxfire.

Most importantly, no matter what she did here, that monster wouldn’t come. If she was hungry, she could always find something to eat.

Right now, she even had lots of food stored in her tail.

Foxy sat down on the floor, a happy smile spreading across her face.

Yu Sheng finished smoothing the bedsheet and turned to see the fox girl grinning on the floor. “Why are you sitting on the floor again? There’s a chair right there. What’s making you so happy?”

“Oh,” Foxy said, getting up from the floor and sitting on the chair. “I’m just happy.”

“Well, you should be,” Yu Sheng nodded. He straightened up, looking around the room with a sense of accomplishment.

The room’s furnishings were simple, but it had taken a lot of effort to tidy up—over two hours of work.

But it was still a bit too bare.

“Tomorrow I’ll go to the mall to buy you an extra set of bedding and two sets of clothes. We’ll replace the curtains later—these have holes in them. For the wardrobe, we’ll use this temporary one for now. A new one is quite expensive, and money is tight lately,” Yu Sheng planned aloud. “Hmm, in the future we can get a bedside table and put a lamp on it.”

“No need, no need for so many things,” Foxy hurriedly waved her hands, flustered. “It’s already very good like this.”

“Don’t worry about it; these are everyday necessities. We should have them,” Yu Sheng dismissed her concerns. “After all, you’re going to be my number one enforcer; we can’t have you living in poor conditions.”

Irene, who was sitting in the middle of the bed, looked up and cast a glance at Yu Sheng. “Before you think about buying furniture, maybe you should figure out how to get it delivered here. Your ‘Wutong Road Number 0’—looks like you can’t count on a new TV either; they definitely can’t deliver it. Or… are you planning to open a ‘big’ door and carry a bunch of furniture home yourself?”

At Irene’s nagging, Yu Sheng’s enthusiastic planning suddenly cooled off.

His expression grew serious.

He recalled what those two Special Affairs Bureau agents had said before they left.

Yes, delivery was still a problem. After all, Wutong Road Number 0 didn’t exist.