Chapter 64: A Future Worth Anticipating

Hu Li quickly fell into a drowsy sleep—despite having been chatting with Yu Sheng just moments before, curious and hopeful about the new environment, seemingly too excited to sleep. But almost in the blink of an eye, Yu Sheng and Erin only heard steady, gentle snoring coming from the bed.

Erin sat by Hu Li’s bedside, watching the fox yao who had already sunk into slumber.

“She really is a light sleeper… and she’s already dreaming. Hmm, not bad, it’s a peaceful dream.”

“She probably hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time,” Yu Sheng said, unconsciously lowering his voice. “I was worried she wouldn’t be able to sleep here, since the environment suddenly changed, and where she was before didn’t even have a bed.”

Erin got up from the edge of the bed and walked over to tuck Hu Li in, speaking in a very professional tone, “She probably feels safe here—she told me fox instincts are pretty sharp…”

Before the little puppet could finish her sentence, Hu Li turned over in her sleep, and the next moment, Yu Sheng’s vision blurred—the tails that the fox girl had put away before sleeping suddenly burst out with a *bang*. Erin, who was bending over to help tuck in the blanket, let out a “Ma ya!” as she was sent flying by the oncoming tails, slamming into the wall along with her painting…

Yu Sheng immediately cursed, “Wo cao!” and rushed over to pick up Erin, who was sliding down the wall. He heard the puppet lady start spewing a string of profanity…

But Hu Li on the bed still didn’t wake up. The fox only mumbled vaguely a couple of times before turning over to a more comfortable position, pulling two of her tails to hug, while the rest replaced the blanket that had been thrown aside, wrapping herself tightly.

Within two seconds, she had turned into a fluffy fox ball.

“That damned tail monster! I &*&￥#% helped her out of the kindness of my…” Erin hung from Yu Sheng’s arm, spewing curses, then abruptly turned her head to look at him. “I’m telling you, don’t bother buying her a blanket tomorrow. She obviously doesn’t need one!”

Yu Sheng quickly carried the cursing puppet out of the room and only breathed a sigh of relief once they were in the hallway. He looked back helplessly. “Alright, looks like it’ll take some time to adjust… Erin, are you okay?”

“Does a wounded ego count?” The puppet rolled her eyes hard and crawled up Yu Sheng’s arm to his shoulder. “Hey, if I still had my original body, I wouldn’t have to suffer this humiliation. You have no idea how tough I was back then. I… was just really tough!”

“Alright, alright, you’re tough, I believe you…” Yu Sheng said as he carried Erin back to his own room, half-hearted.

But the puppet on his shoulder was unusually quiet, not bickering with him over his dismissiveness. Yu Sheng found it strange, so he looked up and saw Erin with her head slightly lowered, seemingly deep in thought about something.

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking… about how you said you wanted Hu Li to help you fight,” Erin said, rare seriousness creeping into her voice. “It seems like you’ve decided to keep dealing with the Otherworld from now on, haven’t you? And I don’t mean just being dragged into incidents… I mean actively looking for trouble?”

Yu Sheng was silent for a moment, and the silence was as good as an admission.

“Why?” Erin asked curiously. “You’ve already rescued Hu Li. There shouldn’t be any compelling reason to actively seek out more trouble—even though people who’ve been in contact with the Otherworld do tend to encounter things from ‘the other side’ for the rest of their lives, you could also choose to cooperate with the SSB and learn some ‘systematic techniques’ to avoid the Otherworld. Many people choose that path, and they live stable lives for years… at least more stable than those spirit detectives and investigators.”

Yu Sheng thought about it, looking at Erin with a half-joking expression. “What if I say it’s curiosity? The strange phenomenon of the Otherworld has piqued my curiosity, and I want some excitement…”

The little puppet immediately messed up Yu Sheng’s hair. “Are you serious? Are you serious?”

Yu Sheng quickly raised a hand to stop Erin’s claws while speaking rapidly, “Stop, stop, stop—don’t pull. About half of it is serious.”

Erin stopped messing with his hair and stared at him wide-eyed.

“Curiosity—that’s part of it, I’m not joking,” Yu Sheng said, catching his breath and turning serious. “Remember that night I took you and opened one door after another? The landscapes behind those… doors—do you remember them?”

“…I do.”

“I do too. I remember them vividly,” Yu Sheng said slowly as he sat down on a chair. “So many ‘distant places.’ We even discussed that glowing mountain peak… Erin, don’t you want to go see them? And that floating city in the sky, those birds flying over the canyon…”

“And the senior apprentice brother hung from the roof beam.”

“…Right, and the senior apprentice brother hung from the roof beam,” Yu Sheng shook his head with a smile. “Erin, whether they’re some ‘distant place’ or some ‘Otherworld,’ I’m genuinely drawn to those sights. Think about it—I opened so many doors, and I can open them again anytime. Now that I know there’s such a vast world beyond the Boundary City, could I really just stay here in the Borderlands, living a ‘stable life’ like you said?”

Yu Sheng paused and took a light breath. “If I keep opening doors, I’ll definitely keep encountering those ‘landscapes’—and this door has already been opened.”

“That does make sense,” Erin said, holding Yu Sheng’s head and thinking seriously, then starting to smooth back the hair she had just messed up. “If I were you, I’d be full of reckless ideas too—I’d be even more suicidal than you.”

Then the little puppet paused and asked, “So what’s the other part of your reason?”

Yu Sheng didn’t speak for a moment, just narrowed his eyes slightly.

Images from his memory floated into his mind.

The sunlight flowing through the old alley, the reddish sky, the cloudlike haze—that not-so-large but familiar and intimate “small coastal town.”

“There’s a place I want to find,” Yu Sheng said softly.

He felt the little hands messing with his hair suddenly stop.

“I have a feeling…” Erin ducked down, her eyes sharp as they locked onto Yu Sheng’s face. “Like you’re going somewhere and don’t plan to come back?”

Yu Sheng opened his eyes and saw that crimson pupils were staring straight at him, the puppet’s gaze making him feel a bit uneasy.

“…Uh, I just want to find that place, go take a look, and then come back.”

“Really?” Erin squinted suspiciously.

“Really,” Yu Sheng nodded. Then he paused, as if genuinely thinking about something, and repeated, “It’s true.”

“Seems like… you’re not lying to me,” Erin tilted her head, temporarily seeming to believe him, but then quickly shook her head. “Never mind, even if you are lying, there’s not much I can do about it—the ability to open doors is in your hands… Let’s drop this. Since you’ve decided to deal with all that messy stuff from now on, have you figured out how to start? Are you going to become a spirit detective? Take on commissions that might involve the Otherworld? Or become a solo investigator? Actively search in every nook and cranny for clues about the Otherworld and distant places? Or… open a door at random every day and jump through to court death…”

“Let’s not consider that last option for now,” Yu Sheng immediately waved his hand. “I’m not afraid of dying, but I’m not that reckless. If I really run into something I can’t beat and can’t run from, I’ll be totally screwed…”

“Oh, not completely insane, then.” Erin happily shook her head. “So that means you want to be a spirit detective or an investigator? Spirit detectives mainly take jobs—steady work but restricted. Investigators rely on luck and guts—free movement but often big ‘surprises’…”

Yu Sheng thought it over and asked, “What kind is that ‘Little Red Riding Hood’?”

“Definitely a spirit detective. She takes outsourced jobs from the SSB, and besides, she’s a student on break,” Erin waved her hand. “But according to her, she has an organization behind her, called ‘Fairy Tale’ or something…”

Yu Sheng’s mind started working. “Organization… do you need to register such an organization?”

“…Probably?” Erin scratched her head. “How would I know? I’ve forgotten everything~ But registration is probably required, right? With an official administrative department like the SSB in place, if you gather a bunch of Otherworld experts with professional skills and don’t register, wouldn’t that make you an ‘illegal social group with vitality’?”

At that, the puppet suddenly paused, looking at Yu Sheng with some confusion. “What, you’re thinking of starting an organization? Including that fox, we have three people, and that fox doesn’t have an ID—of course, neither do I. Hey, that means you’re the only one in this house who counts as a ‘person’?”

“That’s true too,” Yu Sheng said, feeling awkward and rubbing his nose, only now realizing the issue. “Oh wow, where am I supposed to get an ID for Hu Li…”

“Ask next time someone from the SSB gets in touch with you?” Erin started offering advice. “They probably wouldn’t mind doing a little favor like that, right?”

“…Is that the same department as before?”

“Asking doesn’t cost anything.”

“…Alright, fair enough.”

Yu Sheng scratched his hair, and then a new problem occurred to him.

“Wait, Erin, are you planning to stay in my room again tonight?!”

“Duh! That room of mine is so creepy!”

“You’re creepy enough yourself! Go back to your own room!”

“No way!”

(End of this chapter)