The Door

Chapter 17: The Door

　　All the voices mingled together, the frenzied mind battling and tearing at the demon fox's last sanity, and while Yu Sheng heard the beaver's whimpering in pain beside his ears, his mind roared with more wildly misplaced voices--there was the demon fox's appetite that was on the verge of going out of control, the gouging out of his heart and piercing his bones with hunger, the compulsion of the chaotic darkness, and the ... cries urging one to escape.

　　Yu Sheng sucked in his breath fiercely and ambled lower before rushing towards a certain gap between the demon fox and the monster, but instead of running away as Hu Beaver urged him to do, he casually grabbed a piece of broken lapis lazuli plate from the ground and rushed towards the monster's side with it in his arms.

　　Of course he knew that he most likely still can't beat this monster, but he knew even more clearly that it is simply impossible to run out from here with only human feet, plus here are everywhere in the way of the wreckage, the only open exit to the outside of the broken temple has been blocked by the monster's huge body, in this case reckless escape, I'm afraid that it can only die a little more quickly.

　　It would be better to charge the wave with a hard head, the fight is unwinnable, but since one is not afraid to die, there is a chance to exchange some battle results before dying - and if by any chance the monster is distracted, it might even give Beaver a chance to get out of that horrible bondage, she is still struggling to maintain her sanity, and if there is really a chance for her to get out of the bondage, she might still have the The chance to fight back ...

　　All these thoughts were fleeting, Yu Sheng knew that he was thinking very poorly, but he couldn't care too much, with no other choice, he could only be ruthless, this body once again erupted with a tremendous power that baffled himself, smashing that heavy lapis lazuli plate like a cannonball towards that bloody beast.

　　In the next second, he didn't have time to confirm the "result" of his strike, a huge warning sign emerged from the bottom of his heart, Yu Sheng "saw" the monster's counterattack a second in advance, and his body violently jumped to the side.

　　A steel whip-like black shadow struck fiercely at the position where he had just stood, it was a snake tail that suddenly split from the monster's body surface, in a flash the earth and rocks splashed, the solid green stone and broken masonry were all turned into dust, Yu Sheng felt a powerful impact in the air, the broken stones crackled like bullets on him, and even made a sound like a gold and stone clash.

　　Yu Sheng, however, did not care about the pain on his body, he landed on the ground and rolled quickly, dodging the snake's tail, while the rest of his eyes swept over the direction where Hu Beaver was.

　　The silver-white demon fox struggled violently between the countless pitch-black spikes and fragments of bones, and the ghostly blue spirit fire burning near the fox's tail flickered violently, as if it would explode out of control in the next second.

　　But she was still trapped to death - it was as if those things that bound her were customized just for her, and Yu Sheng's interference from the sidelines had no effect at all.

　　In fact, Yu Sheng can judge at a glance that this fox girl is many times more powerful than himself, but she in front of that monster simply no room to fight back, that monster and between her, there is obviously a very obvious ... "restraint".

　　But in the beginning, in the clearing outside the broken temple, she had rushed over to "save" herself without any hesitation - and although she had failed to do so in the end, she had really wanted to help at that time.

　　Memories flashed by, and Yu Sheng gritted his teeth hard, wanting to charge up again and try to see if he could gnaw some more parts off that monster with the old life-for-life method.

　　He didn't know exactly where the extra growth of strength and resilience in his body came from, but he remembered biting a piece of flesh off of the creature before these changes first appeared.

　　He wasn't sure if there was a connection between the two things or not, but there was no other way at the moment and he wasn't afraid to die, so he could try all the bold guesses in his head.

　　"You don't, care about me!" Just then, Beaver's voice came once again, "It can't kill ... me, you, run!"

　　"It's okay, it can't kill me either," Yu Sheng spat out a mouthful of blood, a wound he had previously received when he was hit in the jaw by the debris in the air, he twisted his head to look at the silver-white demon fox with a pleasant smile on his face, "Later, I might die, but don't worry, I'll come back for you. "

　　The beaver's struggling movements paused for a moment, seeming to be in confusion for a moment.

　　Yu Sheng, however, didn't explain anything, but just took a step towards the monster, his pace brisk and the smile on his face becoming more and more obvious.

　　There was a going-to-a-feast kind of joy in that smile.

　　"Don't you like to persuade people to eat?" He looked at the bloody beast in front of him and muttered to himself, "Fine, Master's coming to eat!"

　　He leapt in the air and pounced on the feast table like a hungry wolf.

　　The dozens of eyes all over the body of that flesh and blood monster trembled violently, and for the first time, a hint of hesitation and ... cowering seemed to emerge from those chaotic and wild eyes.

　　Its huge mouth issued a vague roar, and then several tentacle-like "snake tails" with black scales split out from the flesh and blood body, stabbing at Yu Sheng in the air.

　　Yu Sheng felt that his body had been penetrated, fatal wounds, not knowing exactly how many, he felt that his life began to drain away, the warm blood was taking away the vitality in his body.

　　But that indescribable ... "appetite" had already surged up from the bottom of his heart, he ignored the pain on his body, ignored all the resistance and uneasiness about death, he hugged a snake's tail that had pierced into his abdomen, the corners of his mouth grinned, and he lowered his head to gnaw down! --

　　The monster let out a strange, shrill howl and flung that serpentine tail violently, as if attempting to shake off the deadly venomous insect that had climbed upon it.

　　However, Yu Sheng grasped the tail in death, not letting go no matter how violently the other party flung it, he was carried by the snake's tail and smashed on the ground, and smashed over a rotten wall next to him, his strong body did not get hurt in this fatal collision, instead, he became more and more lucid in the pain.

　　And just then, the serpent's tail rose high once more, flinging itself toward some large, tilted hole in the wall of the broken temple.

　　A strange golden light suddenly flashed across the edge of his vision.

　　Yu Sheng looked up with difficulty at the sound of the wind whistling beside his ears, and saw that the smear of gold color was rapidly approaching towards him, and he subconsciously raised his hand to block it before he had time to carefully distinguish what it was.

　　His hand grasped something - it was a handle.

　　Yusheng: "...?"

　　A slight creak mingled with the sound of the whistling wind, and the image of a door snapped into Yu Sheng's mind-a plain, unassuming door that led somewhere, to ...

　　No sooner had a subconsciously thought location come to his mind than the door was pulled open for him.

　　In the next second, Yu Sheng as well as the snake tail covered in black scales instantly fell into the door, and then with a piercing creak, the door closed with a bang.

　　The serpent tail of the flesh and blood monster was cut off by the suddenly appearing and disappearing gate, and a disorganized howl that was enough to drive the listener crazy echoed in the valley, and the trauma seemed to have driven it into a frenzy, as it roared and rampaged through the ruins of the broken temple and crazily gnawed at everything within sight, even its own torso, and then after an unknown amount of time it slowly calmed down, and its torso once again transformed into a dark and empty Shadow, a little bit dissolved in the night.

　　Those pitch-black spikes and fragments of skeleton disappeared without a sound, and the bruised and battered silver and white demon fox fell to the ground, motionless as if dead.

　　After a few minutes, the beaver finally slowly opened her eyes and looked around her blankly, her golden-red eyes seeming to have completely lost their "human" spirit.

　　It took a few more moments before her eyes focused on a certain spot in the ruins.

　　That's the step where she sat with her "benefactor" before.

Dragging her huge demon fox body, she slowly moved over, and when she saw the plastic bags with leftover rotten leaves scattered under the steps, she lowered her head and swallowed all of those things into her belly while letting out a whimpering sound.

　　But she was still hungry.

　　The compelling voice seemed like an unbroken demon, persuading her in the deepest recesses of her hunger--

　　"Eat, you know where else you can fill your stomach ...

　　"You buried them in the woods" ...

　　"Bones, flesh, and blood ...

　　"Go on, eat, you won't be hungry if you do ..."

　　The demon fox hung its head low and let out a whimper as if it were crying, before curling up under the steps and slowly stretching its neck out, gnawing at the broken bricks and tiles next to it, and digging up the dirt and rotten wood beneath the rubble, stuffing them slowly into its mouth and gnawing at them again and again.

　　"I'm not hungry ... I'm not hungry ... I'm not hungry ... I've been offered food ... He'll be back in a minute with more food for me... ...I'm not hungry ..."

　　She just gnawed and gnawed until she drifted off into unconsciousness as she had done for so many years past.

　　The sensation of falling awoke Yu Sheng from his daze. He still had the "feeling" of holding the door handle in his hand, but in the next moment, he realized that he had crossed a certain threshold.

　　His eyes widened in dismay as he saw that he was collapsing on the side of the road, with the familiar streetlights, utility poles, and old, low, outdated houses on Sycamore Road in his line of sight.

　　The aged facade and gate of 66 Sycamore Road stood not far ahead, in the dim morning light.

　　He looked back again with difficulty, and was seeing the shadow of a great door dissipating, and in the depths of the shadow it seemed vaguely as if he could still see the valley shrouded in night, the ruins of the broken temple, and ...

　　The white fox who was struggling to move through the rubble.

　　Yu Sheng tried to reach out to the white fox.

　　The last remaining shadows dissipated before his fingertips could touch them.

Chapter 18 Investigators

　　I'm back. I'm back in this weird "Boundary City".

　　Not long ago, this place was still a huge, weird and disturbing strange city for himself, but now, seeing those familiar streetlights and buildings, seeing the morning light of　　the streets and the sky, Yu Sheng's heart was flooded with a feeling of "nostalgia" that even he himself could hardly believe.

　　The experience of being trapped in the valley of the night made him feel a sense of homecoming even when he returned to the "Boundary City".

　　But in the next second, the trance brought about by the passing of life interrupted the feelings in Yu Sheng's heart, and he somewhat sluggishly lowered his head to see bright red blood slowly spreading underneath his body.

　　His body had been pierced, and the gruesome wound was enough to kill him in a short time, and even with the body's current resilience and vitality, he knew that he was going to die again - he was using "again" very skillfully in this case nowadays.

　　The culprit of this horrible wound was right next to it, the scaly "tail" cut off from the monster followed Yu Sheng and fell out from the gate, and it seemed to still have remaining vitality and even "thinking", and it was slowly wriggling in the pool of blood, and was trying to wriggle away from this place. And it is trying to wriggle away from this place.

　　Yu Sheng even felt that this thing was moving away from his ... meat and was afraid of him.

　　Yu Sheng frowned and got up from the ground with difficulty, he glanced at the door of his home which was just a short distance away, then casually picked up the scaled severed tail which was slowly squirming next to him and struggled forward.

　　He walked while still muttering, "Not that the protagonist from the desperate to escape from the life will be all right it ... this are map settlement injury is still retained is what crumbs settings ... mom a chicken pain dead ..."

　　The constant loss of blood was making him gradually blur into consciousness, and the physical drain was making every step he took staggering and difficult, as if he would fall down in the next second, and during the last few steps, Yusheng was moving forward almost by instinct, and he didn't know why he must go back to his home - perhaps to say hello to Irene ? Maybe to avoid being found dead by the early morning crowd?

　　Everything in front of him faded into dimness, the morning light tinted with a dark red, and Yu Sheng's mind drifted back to the golden-red eyes of the beaver-at the very end, they were filled with the bloodshot light of hunger, but with the last vestiges of humanity that remained, struggling to maintain themselves in the depths of the color of blood.

　　That fox ... don't know what happened to her, she said she wouldn't die, and I don't know if it's true ...

　　With these many thoughts floating in his mind, Yu Sheng finally struggled to the front door of his home, which was unlocked, and after picking at the door handle, he pushed the door open and then stepped in.

　　He saw the dining room angled toward the entry door, saw the painting still sitting against the wall, and Erin was looking up from it, looking at the doorway in surprise before her eyes slowly widened.

　　Yusheng pulled a returning smile at the other, "Erin, I'm back."

　　He knew that he was badly injured, and if it wasn't for the amazing recovery and strength of this body nowadays, I'm afraid that he would have died outside the house by now.

　　Just as such a thought popped into his mind, Yu Sheng felt his field of vision go askew, and his entire body slid down against the doorframe, with the familiar weight of darkness coming from all sides - along with Irene's terrified screams.

　　Now he's dead in the house.

　　...

　　Accompanied by a slight sound of brakes, two electric cars stopped deep in Sycamore Road, and two figures got down from the cars, looking at the old and quiet street in front of them.

　　One of them is a middle-aged man who looks calm and reliable, wearing a curry-colored long coat, tall and robust, with a slightly dark complexion and short black hair, an irregular scar near his neck adds a little bit of fear to his temperament, but the tired expression on the man's face and the dark circles under his eyes are out of character with his tall and robust physique and the hideous scars - - The face looks like it has been working overtime for three months without a vacation. -That face looks like it has been working overtime continuously for three months without taking a vacation.

　　The other person is a young man who looks like he is in his early twenties, the same short black hair, but the body is much thinner than the middle-aged man next to him, his appearance is ordinary, belonging to the randomly thrown in which the crowd will immediately find the kind of ordinary, he is wearing a black and blue jacket and pants, his face expression looks a little tight, with a kind of just a few days at work, the leader carried out of the field of the nervousness and urgency.

　　The two rode out into this quiet old town, observing the plain looking buildings around them, with the occasional resident of the area passing through the intersection from a distance, but very few casting glances in their direction.

　　"There's nothing odd about the way this place looks ...," the dark-haired young man grunted, "Team Song, confirm this is the place?"

　　"There was a border alarm just now, and the coordinates are indeed this place yes," the middle-aged man known as Team Song nodded, "Although the signal disappeared in a flash, it can be determined that it's an exotic response."

　　"The two of us rushed and missed," the young man glanced at the battery car next to him and spoke hesitantly, "Shouldn't we have driven here ..."

　　Song team looked at him: "Bureau of the car are out of the field well, leaving XuJiaLi that seven hand broken car, you drive ah? That thing doesn't necessarily have the speed of your battery car when you step on the gas."

　　The young man laughed dryly and changed the topic somewhat stiffly, "So what, who ... was codenamed 'Little Red Riding Hood' before, right? The one from the Fairy Tale Organization, she didn't seem to find anything over here either?"

　　"Well, nothing was found, so it's all the more certain that there's something wrong with this place," Team Song nodded slowly, "'Little Red Riding Hood' has done quite a bit of work for the Secret Service, I know her abilities, her wolf can sniff out the surroundings in even the faintest, smallest 'different' scent, but she searched this place all night and ended up finding nothing."

　　The young man blinked and didn't seem to respond for a moment.

　　"Didn't find anything, didn't you get it?" Team Song reminded again, "It's too 'clean', too 'normal', and there are no plots of land in Junction that are clean to this degree! Little Red Riding Hood's wolf can smell something different in every place in this city, even if that scent is very, very weak, but only here ... From an occult point of view, this entire street is 'clean' as if it were a vacuum!"

　　Upon hearing this, the young man finally woke up - what he had trained for in school finally matched up with what was happening in reality.

　　"Either, this place is really that clean, and a 'pure landmass' that is deeply parallel to the 'outside world' has really appeared in the Junction Land - which is also is not impossible, after all, this is the Junction Land, and all places in the world could be connected to this place," Team Song waved his hand and said with some fatigue, "Either, this place is hiding a ... 'big stuff ', that thing is constantly changing the environment of the entire landmass, and Little Red Riding Hood's wolves have encountered a border vacuum here."

　　The already somewhat taut expression on the young man's face tightened even more in the flesh.

　　"I'm not going to approve your transfer to logistics," Song lifted his eyes to look at him, "nor to another team."

　　"I didn't say I wanted to run!" The young man hurriedly waved his hand, "I was ready when I joined the team, and I will certainly do my duty to love my job and fulfill it conscientiously ..."

　　The conversation between the two was interrupted by the sudden ringing of a cell phone, a melodious piece of music - a classic tune from a certain explosive newcomer.

　　The young man froze instantly when he heard it and looked at his leader with a bit of a strange look in his eyes, "... You see that one too?"

The middle-aged man known as Team Song's face twitched fleshly, and while reluctantly pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he chanted, "It must be my daughter who secretly changed it for me, and she's been reading this ... lately."

　　The young man's expression changed subtly, and after half a day of holding his tongue, he couldn't get out the words "isn't it bad for a junior high school student to watch a bunch of lesbians playing in a band?" ...

　　Song team, on the other hand, connected the phone, put it in his ear and listened to a few sentences and then opened his mouth: "Yes, I and Li Lin have arrived at the scene this side of the same situation as Little Red Riding Hood before the investigation, this place is 'clean' a little bit of evil, you make arrangements, you may have to set up a fixed point of surveillance here, the specific personnel and so on I I'll go back and decide. In addition with the 'fairy tale' side to contact, see if they can come out another person over, this may be a long-term task ..."

　　Hanging up the phone, Team Song let out a long breath and turned his head to see the young man named Li Lin still looking at him.

　　He froze for a moment and couldn't help but speak, "It was really my daughter who changed it for me, I don't usually watch cartoons."

　　Leylin hurriedly coughed dryly, "Uh cough, I believe, I believe."

　　The two of them were embarrassed at each other for a moment, and tacitly chose to skip right over the topic.

　　And just then, Leylin seemed to suddenly realize something.

　　He frowned slightly and walked quickly towards a corner not far away.

　　"Team Song, come over here and look at this!" He lowered his head to inspect it and immediately looked up to greet him.

　　Team Song walked over and looked in the direction of Leylin's finger.

　　A dark red trail presented itself in the corner of the wall, looking like dried blood, so small in extent that it could easily be overlooked from a distance, and was now shrinking at a rate visible to the naked eye.

　　It wasn't seeping into the concrete, it was disappearing out　　of thin air at a rapid pace.

　　"Blood?" Team Song immediately frowned, followed by a quick reaction, pulling out a plastic tube as well as a portable scraper from the pocket of his long coat, "Nope, not blood, take a sample!"

　　"Good." Li Lin agreed, took the sampling tool and prepared to scrape the remaining dark red "blood" on the wall, but just before the scraper in his hand touched the wall, the last small piece of red color suddenly emitted a hissing sound, and then disappeared completely.

Chapter 19: Homecoming

　　Li Lin looked at the empty corner with some daze, still holding the spatula for sampling in his hand, and was so bewildered that it was as if he had forgotten what he was doing.

　　The middle-aged man who was called "Team Song" - the captain of the second team of the Special Services Bureau, Song Cheng - frowned tightly the moment he saw the blood disappear.

　　Something had disappeared from his memory and mind, but the residual impressions remained, and these stimulated his "spirituality", making him realize that something was wrong.

　　Song Cheng's eyes surfaced a chaotic glow, he immediately controlled his mind, trying to "solidify" the last residual impression of his heart, in order to prevent it from dissipating along with certain memories, years of professional training played a role in this moment, Li Lin, who was holding the scraper in his hand, raised his head after hesitation: "Leader, I feel like I've suddenly forgotten what I was supposed to do. Leader, I feel like I suddenly forgot what I was going to do, was there something in this place just now?"

　　"There's thought interference!" Song Cheng instantly reacted and quickly reminded, "Immediately check the 'depth' here!"

　　Li Lin sniffed without saying a word and put down the sampling tool in his hand, he quickly took down a black box from his belt that was only as big as a palm, pressed the surface of the box for a few times, and then pulled out a thin "hose" from the side of the box, and directly connected the tip of the hose that was like a needle to his own eyeball. -After doing all this, he raised his head and slowly looked around with the eye connected to the hose.

　　A slight buzzing sound came from within the pitch-black iron box, and there also seemed to be a liquid slowly flowing in the thin tube; Leylin's eyes were gradually tinted with a layer of pitch-black, and in his psychic vision, everything in this old street began to be tinted with a layer of black and white hues.

　　"Depth L-0, no otherworldly response," Leylin reported as he observed, "and no sign of anything running out of the 'otherworld' or residue."

　　Song Cheng frowned and glanced at the box in Li Lin's hand - this was a portable depth finder, the sensing range and sensitivity was not as good as that suitcase-sized standard equipment, but even if it was portable, it could still detect changes in the "depth" within the range.

　　He can be sure that he just now was really something to affect the memory and thinking, that kind of residual "impression" is still being forced by him to solidify in the bottom of his heart, there must be something evil here to exert influence on himself, but ... the device can not be sensed.

　　And just as he was about to open his mouth to ask Leylin to adjust the depth finder's sensing mode, the latter seemed to have suddenly realized something.

　　Leylin stared intently at a spot at the end of the street.

　　The one eye connected to the hose was black as ink, and reflecting another vision in the deep blackness, he saw that there was actually a faint glimmer of color between the black-and-white-covered buildings of the street-so faint and light that it was impossible to tell exactly what it was, but it was so large that he struggled to discern it for half a day before he was able to roughly determine the layer of so pale as to be almost transparent Outline range, judging its size is about equal to a house.

　　"Team Song, there's something up ahead here, but it's fuzzy and looks like a house," he said as he cautiously walked forward, "the depth cue is still 0 and there's no contamination response ... I'm almost in front of it ahead, can you feel anything?"

　　Song Cheng followed behind Leylin, his right hand cupping a badge in his pocket, ready to intervene if the situation was not right, while frowning and shaking his head, "The spirit didn't signal an alarm."

　　Leylin paused somewhere; he felt that he had come before the hazy color, and then he hesitated, and slowly reached forward-

　　A sharp buzz suddenly came from the blackened iron box, followed by a few soft crackles, accompanied by a puff of green smoke, and the depth finder stopped running.

　　The hose attached to the eyeball instantly fell off, and a dark, sludge-like substance flowed out of it, quickly vaporizing and dissipating upon contact with the air.

　　The acidic swelling and stinging pain that came from his eyes instantly made Li Lin couldn't help but let out a cry of "Crap ...", he threw away the black box that had already begun to burn his hands, and subconsciously wanted to rub the eye that he had just established a connection with, but Song Cheng, who was next to him, immediately took a step forward at the sight of the situation, and pressed his hand on Li Lin's temple. near his temple, "Don't rub it! It'll only take a moment!"

　　Leylin instantly stiffened in place, he felt a burning heat coming from near his temples while the discomfort in his eyeballs rapidly receded, after a moment he recovered and saw the depth finder on the ground still smoldering.

　　"The ... bureau gives the report, right?"

　　"Give the report."

　　"Luckily, it scared me," Leylin breathed a sigh of relief, then twisted his head to look in wonder at the direction he had just reached.

　　Yet there was only a small clearing, and at the end of it was a wall - a wall that had been graffitied by who knows who, with colorful spray paint outlining images of windows, doors, houses, trees and rocks.

　　He reached forward and waved, touching nothing.

　　"There's definitely something here, the instrument had just observed it, but the device broke down before I had a chance to confirm it," Leylin muttered, "Before the device broke down, the cue depth was still L-0."

　　"... back to the Bureau first," Song Cheng pondered for two seconds and made a decision, "I'll report to the Council when I get back, this place really needs to be monitored for a while, it can't be ruled out that it's some kind of unregistered It's not ruled out to be some kind of unregistered 'foreign domain', I guess we need large equipment and specialized 'deep divers' to cope with it. BTW are your eyes alright?"

　　"Can ... grant a half-day vacation if something comes up?"

　　"I can't, the Bureau is short of people."

　　"That's fine, I'll just go back and put some eye drops in."

　　Song Cheng nodded, while Li Lin bent down and carefully picked up the remains of the depth finder that was no longer smoking, and the two of them went back to the place where they had just parked the electric car, one after the other.

　　Li Lin twisted the key of the car, and the LCD screen of the electric car flashed for a moment and then went out.

　　He froze for a moment and looked up, right into Captain Song's gaze, which was the same as his own.

　　"My car broke down ... you too?"

　　Sung Sung nodded wordlessly.

　　"... Do you think it's a coincidence?"

　　Song Cheng gently shook his head and spoke in a deep voice, "The people of the 'Academy' have a specialized way of explaining this phenomenon."

　　Leylin was slightly stunned, and then immediately recalled certain information he had once read--

　　"The machine soul is not happy." / "The soul of the machine is abashed."

　　The two said in different words and also in different voices.

　　Then they were each silent for a moment, this time in unison, "You're remembering it wrong."

　　"Let's talk about it later," Song Cheng waved his hand and pushed up the motorized cart to slowly walk back, "Let's leave this place first."

　　Li Lin pushed the electric car and followed Song Cheng, "... Leader, just push it all the way back ah?"

　　"Or what? You don't want your car?"

　　"Bureau does not have a small truck or something? Can't the downstairs logistics office of the electric tricycle to greet over also can ah ... this push go back to the life of ..."

　　"Cut the crap, not as physically strong as me at your young age?"

　　The two senior Special Branch officers pushed their motorized carts as they drifted away, their figures fading into the Sycamore Road road junction.

　　...

　　Yu Sheng was already familiar with the deep, boundless darkness that surrounded him, and as he had been coming more frequently lately, he even felt like he was going home as he floated through this dark chaos.

　　Erin's screams were especially loud.

　　He thought that the scene of his bloodied stomach opening a hole and pushing the door into the house and dying inside probably scared the painted doll - it looked like even as a "cursed object" Erin's mental capacity was only so good.

　　This made Yu Sheng begin to look forward to what would happen after his "return".

　　How will Ms. ... Doll react when she returns to the human world and appears in front of Erin again?

　　Will she ... remember what happened when she pushed the door to the house of death?

　　Yu Sheng floated in the darkness, the figure of Hu Beaver appeared in front of his eyes, and he recalled his experience in the night valley. He remembered that Hu Beaver had completely forgotten about her headbutt that had killed him when she saw him in the broken temple - although she suddenly recalled it again for some unknown reason. He remembered that when she met him in the broken temple, she had completely forgotten that she had killed him with a headbutt, and that although she had suddenly recalled it afterwards for some unknown reason, she had indeed forgotten about his "death" at the very beginning.

　　Yu Sheng didn't know what this "forgetting" was all about, and he wasn't sure if it was his problem or the fox's - after all, the fox girl's mind seemed to be quite confused, and it was normal for her to suddenly forget something.

　　But if later Irene also does not remember the scene that he pushed the door to die house, then Yu Sheng can basically be sure ... that the problem is in himself.

　　There was no way to judge the length of time spent floating in the darkness, so after a little bit of organizing his experiences so far, Yu Sheng emptied his mind and let his tense nerves rest and rest a little while patiently waiting for the moment when the darkness ended.

　　Then he felt the familiar descent, the feeling that he was rapidly "returning" to the earthly world.

　　Yu Sheng, who had been prepared for this, immediately focused his mind and tried to capture his perception of the moment he had crossed the "boundary" ---

　　A familiar scene appeared in front of his eyes, and a certain sense of guidance drove him to "fall" in a particular direction. He struggled to distinguish between the many images that appeared in an instant, but before he could grasp anything, he "saw" one of the images rapidly enlarging before his eyes--

　　66 Sycamore Road, the living room after the entrance.

　　Yusheng's eyes snapped open.

　　The familiar furnishings of the home were reflected in the eyes, and in the dining room next to the living room, the ancient and exquisite oil painting was quietly mortared on the dining table.

　　The oil painting of Irene breaks the silence.

　　"Yusheng! You're finally back!"

Chapter 20 Irene's Information and Advice

　　The mannequin girl in the oil painting greeted Yu Sheng happily and in surprise, her voice sounding a little surprised - but not in the least bit shocked or panicked at seeing someone who had died come back alive.

　　Yusheng felt that it was certainly not because Irene had a big heart.

　　Sure enough, the problem was with himself - but considering that he had died and lived so many times in such a short time, it didn't seem strange that something even more evil could happen to him.

　　"Sort of a mistake, well at least it's back." Yu Sheng casually responded and turned back to close the hidden door, followed by the first time he lowered his head to check on himself, confirming that not only was his body completely restored, even the clothes on his body were completely restored just like before.

　　Yu Sheng frowned, in connection with Irene's current reaction, he felt that he was not so much "resurrected" as "dead" the whole "event" seemed to have disappeared into thin air! ...

　　The way he stood in the doorway looking dazed fell into Ayrin's eyes, and the painted figure spoke up suspiciously, "Yu Sheng? Are you okay? Why do you look so dumbfounded? By the way, you tell me how you really came back, contact with you has been intermittent, your side is always a bunch of chaotic movement, I do not even know what strange things you ran into in that foreign realm ... hey? What's that you're carrying in your hand?"

　　When the other party reminded him of this, Yu Sheng then noticed that he was still clutching something in his hand - it was a strange and ugly severed tail with dark scales.

　　The corner of Yu Sheng's mouth trembled, "Crap, almost forgot about it ... Surprisingly, it's still here."

　　This thing even now in his hands slightly contraction writhing, but apparently no longer like the beginning of the "vitality", looks like this monster's limbs have amazing vitality, but after cutting off from the body or will gradually die.

　　A strange feeling surfaced in his heart, Yu Sheng did not even know how to explain the origin of this thing to Irene for a while, after a slight hesitation, he carried this broken tail towards the kitchen, casually saying to Irene while walking, "... a little bit of local specialty."

　　The painted mannequin sniffed, "... Huh?"

　　Yu Sheng at this time has casually thrown the broken tail in the kitchen sink, to confirm that this thing has no power to climb out of the pool after he was uneasy to poke a few knives in its surface, and then pressed a pot cover on it (so at least when it really climbed out of the time when he could hear the pot cover fall to the ground), only with a trace of fatigue back to the dining room, dragging a heavy body to sit down in a chair with a butt.

　　His mind was a mess, there were so many things to think about, and more importantly, he was really tired.

　　But he forced himself to stay awake, now was not the time to sleep.

　　Erin message across the table carefully looked this way, "Yu Sheng, you tell me about your experience in that otherworldly place, and how you ..."

　　"I was about to tell you this," Yu Sheng waved his hand without waiting for the other party to finish, and then immediately adjusted his sitting posture, looking at the painting doll with a straight face, "I've saved up a bellyful of questions - first of all, let's talk about the situation that I met over there. Situation, I met a girl over there who was trapped in a foreign land just like me, but she was trapped for probably a long, long time ..."

　　Yu Sheng didn't hide anything, but told the opposite mannequin everything he experienced in that night valley, including the part of the information that Hu Beaver had revealed to him, as well as the monster that seemed like a mixture of flesh and blood and had a very Formal Libertine look to it.

　　In addition to his own "back from the dead" situation, this he has not yet thought of how to tell the other side, so he did not mention it for the time being.

　　Of course, he knew that he still didn't know Erin very well, and he couldn't talk about much trust, but he didn't have any other options - in this city, Erin was the only "abnormal individual" he had contacted so far and could communicate with, and she was also the only person he knew of who had knowledge of "things beyond common sense". It was also the only person he knew who had knowledge of "things beyond common sense", and besides Erin, he really didn't know who else he could discuss things about the foreign world with.

　　He felt like he should have a little more trust in this painted idol, after all, as far as she had been so far, she had been quite friendly (except for the times when she had cursed really hard).

　　For her part, Irene listened attentively, her expression had become extraordinarily serious when Yu Sheng mentioned the flesh and blood monster, and there were several times when she seemed to want to open her mouth, but she held her tongue, never interrupting Yu Sheng's narration.

　　It wasn't until Yu Sheng's narration came to an end that the doll girl finally adjusted her posture, she sat down squarely on the red velvet carpeted chair and spoke with a serious face, "First of all, I still have to emphasize one thing, I don't remember much, and this painting has rubbed off too much of my memories, so I can be of very limited help to you... ..."

　　Yusheng nodded, "That I know."

　　"Well," Erin hmmmed, then her expression relaxed a bit, "then I'll do my best to fill you in on what I know about the Otherlands. First of all, you should already have some basic understanding of the Otherworlds, and know that they are some sort of catch-all term for 'zones' that deviate from the order and defy common sense, so did you know that there is also something called an 'entity' that is generated in the Otherworlds? "

　　"... entity?" Yusheng showed doubt.

　　"In short, it is the 'native' or 'product' of the foreign realm, the entity doesn't necessarily look like anything, sometimes it may be a strange-looking humanoid, sometimes it may be some kind of beast or monster, sometimes even a ball of fire, a gust of wind, a running stone, as long as it is something that was created in the foreign realm and has obvious 'activity' that can react to outsiders, it can all be regarded as an 'entity'. Sometimes it may be a strange-looking humanoid, sometimes it may be some kind of beast or monster, sometimes it may even be a fire, a gust of wind, a stone that can run, as long as it is something that was created in the foreign realm and possesses a clear 'activity' that can react to outsiders, it can all be regarded as an 'entity'."

　　Yusheng nodded thoughtfully.

　　"Entities are broadly categorized and numerous," Erin continued, "Generally speaking, entities have obvious 'abnormal' characteristics; they are born in a foreign realm, and are naturally characterized by being unorthodox, strange and dangerous, etc. Most entities are irrational, or at least do not exhibit 'thinking behavior' that can be understood by humans. Most entities are irrational, or at least do not display 'thinking behavior' that can be understood by humans, but it seems that there are also a very small number of entities that possess intelligence ... I can't remember this part of the situation.

　　"Ninety percent of entities are dangerous anyway, except that they also come in varying strengths and weaknesses; some entities may be harmful only in the sense that they tickle a person's nose, but there are others whose lives are in danger just by witnessing them by a human being - so there's a speculation that the 'Entities' are some sort of xenophobic reaction of the Otherworld, an anti-virus program generated by the Otherworld in order to eliminate intruders, a view that suggests that for the Otherworld, it's the Investigators and Lost Ones from the world of order and common sense who are the monsters that must not be named ... "

　　Yu Sheng listened silently, and at this time suddenly reacted, "... That is to say, the 'monster' I met is the 'entity' generated in the valley '?"

　　"I suppose so." Erin nodded.

　　"Can entities be annihilated?" Yusheng asked immediately afterward.

　　"Entities can be killed, but they can't be completely annihilated," Erin said gravely, "because technically, entities are just 'generators'; kill one, and a new one will be 'copies' are generated in the Otherworld, they are the embodiment of the rules governing the operation of the Otherworld, and as long as the Otherworld is still there, the entities will always be generated - but generally speaking, the generation of entities takes time, and it seems that there are ways to inhibit the operation of certain Otherworlds, delaying or even block the generation of entities in them ... Specifically, I don't remember."

　　"It can be killed, but it can't be completely annihilated ...," Yu Sheng repeated, suddenly feeling as if things were even trickier than he had imagined.

　　He's not afraid to die.

　　The monster seems more unafraid ...

　　Unconsciously, Yu Sheng had already tacitly accepted that he would return to that valley and encounter that monster again - he didn't know where this thought came from, but when he realized it, this thought, or some kind of "intuition", had already taken root in his heart. The idea, or some kind of "intuition", had already taken root in his heart when he realized it.

　　"... Whatever, it's good to be able to kill it for now," he exhaled softly and looked up at Erin again, "Other than that, what else do you know about entities? Like their weaknesses and such."

　　"Entities don't have a uniform weakness, sometimes an entity's weakness isn't even in itself, but in the 'foreign realm ' or in the rules of the foreign realm itself, and there are also entities ... that even change their weaknesses ," Erin shook her head, "So exploring the Other Realm and fighting entities is a specialized and dangerous thing, and I'd suggest that you'd be better off with the help of a professional - not one like me who's stuck in a painting."

　　Yu Sheng couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard this, "Easy for me to say, where can I find professionals, it's not like they're going to be painting small ads on utility poles ..."

　　Erin: "Will do."

　　Yusheng: "...?"

　　"They have contact information ah - of course, it's not necessarily the small advertisements on the poles," Erin saw Yu Sheng's dumbfounded expression, and nodded her head with extra emphasis, "Since the world is full of exotic areas, and exotic areas are dangerous to ordinary people, then of course there will be a large group of professionals who specialize in dealing with this matter. dangerous to ordinary people, then of course there will be a large group of professionals who specialize in dealing with this aspect of things, not to mention other things, such a large city, there has to be someone responsible for maintaining order in both the open and the dark, right - there is an official management department, there are also large and small organizations in the private sector, although I don't remember the specifics too well, but these people must be The active ...

　　"Of course, they will normally keep a distance from ordinary people's lives and hide in the shadows, because many exotic domains have strange and odd characteristics, such as 'will activate if known', or 'will actively approach those who are afraid of them' and the like, so it is necessary to avoid ordinary people coming into contact with information related to exotic domains as much as possible. ' and so on, so as far as possible to avoid ordinary people contact with information related to foreign domains, but once there really are unlucky people have contact with foreign domains, or the city appeared in the reaction of the foreign domains, these professionals naturally have a set of methods to quickly locate and come to the door ... "

　　Yusheng listened to Erin's narration with a blank stare, and after a moment's hesitation raised his head and looked out the window.

　　"That is to say, now that I have had an 'exotic reaction' on my side, all I have to do is wait, and the 'professionals', as you call them, will reach out to me, right?"

　　"... should ... it?" For some reason, Erin's tone suddenly wasn't as strong.

　　Yu Sheng also heard the other party's lack of bottom: "... Then why didn't they come?"

　　"I don't know how, it's supposed to be here."