Chapter 590: Sounds of Suspicion in the Dark Alley

Peaceful, uneventful days were always rare. In this blessed land of the Convergence, it seemed normal for something to go wrong in life—Yu Sheng had thought that after the Boundary Bridge Crisis, the city would at least quiet down for two months. But in reality, in this vast Convergence, there was never a day when nothing happened.

To be honest, he wasn't all that interested in minor incidents elsewhere—the Special Operations Bureau would always handle them. But changes in the Dark Alley... he had to go check it out.

Dusk had arrived.

Little Red Riding Hood and Yu Sheng once again arrived at the entrance of Old Street, along with Hu Li and Luna. As for Aileen—at the little doll's insistence, Yu Sheng had ultimately brought the golden-haired version.

The little doll was still clutching her precious frying pan, raring to go, saying that if they encountered danger, she'd show them what she could do.

To be honest, Yu Sheng didn't have much confidence in Aileen's "showing off." Every time this little thing was brimming with confidence, something always went wrong. But he also wanted to see how this "original shell" of the little doll actually performed in combat...

The Special Operations Bureau had already raised the danger rating for the Dark Alley and issued a hazard warning on the Border Network for anyone entering recently. Many ordinary Spirit World Investigators and independent surveyors who had originally planned explorations had temporarily put their tasks on hold. By the time Yu Sheng and his group arrived, they even saw several Bureau vehicles parked next to the node device at the entrance of Old Street.

Several fully armed Bureau operatives stood guard at the Otherverse entrance, the node device running at full power humming behind them.

Noticing someone approaching, the armed operatives on site seemed a bit tense, but upon recognizing Yu Sheng's face, they relaxed—apparently, his face was quite well-known within the Bureau.

But the relaxation only lasted a moment. The next second, their expressions became even more on edge than before. As Yu Sheng walked over, the veins on two of their necks bulged. An operative who looked like a squad leader stepped forward, saluted first, then put on a grave and tense look.

The moment he opened his mouth, Yu Sheng said in unison with him, "Has it gotten this serious already?"

Then both of them froze.

Yu Sheng was the first to recover and quickly coughed twice. "Ahem, I meant, has it gotten so serious that the Bureau has sent people to directly seal off the Dark Alley?"

"I also thought it had gotten serious enough to require your involvement... I was wondering why headquarters hadn't sent a notice," the squad leader said, awkwardly rubbing his nose before quickly explaining. "There's no full lockdown order yet, but entry has been banned for non-senior Spirit World Investigators and independent surveyors. We're stationed here to prevent accidents."

Little Red Riding Hood frowned, seeming to pick up on something from the operative's tone. "...Has the situation changed again?"

"...The entrance to the Dark Alley has shifted," the squad leader glanced at the group and didn't hide the current situation. "Anyone entering now gets teleported directly to a random depth and random location, not to the safe zone on the first layer. The casualty risk is very high. Also... the earlier rumors about 'humanoid entities' appearing in the deep layers have been confirmed. The Bureau currently rates the danger level at 3, but it could be raised at any moment."

Little Red Riding Hood blinked. "...Has their lethality been confirmed?"

"They exhibit clear and indiscriminate malice, actively attacking and attempting to kill intruders—and they operate in groups, with suspected abilities in spatial teleportation and stealth phasing. This was determined by an elite squad inside," the squad leader nodded. "The only good news is that the Dark Alley's evacuation mechanism is still functional, and the crossroads still have safe exits."

Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood exchanged a glance.

"We're going in to take a look," Yu Sheng said, turning around. "Do we need to go through any procedures?"

"No need. The Bureau has orders: unless otherwise notified, you have investigation authority over any Otherverse at any time, including areas designated as off-limits—and your team has the same authority."

Yu Sheng didn't say much, just thanked him. After exchanging greetings with the Bureau operatives on site, he led his team through the blockade to the narrow entrance nestled between two buildings.

The mottled old brick wall did not retreat or evade. At least this time, the entrance to the Dark Alley opened as usual.

The unique "otherness" of entering an Otherverse spread around them. The scene before the group shifted, and the noisy sounds from the real-world street faded instantly. A silent, gloomy alley came into view.

Little Red Riding Hood immediately summoned her wolves, who guarded the perimeter of the team. Blue ghostfire silently rose in the air, dispelling the nearby dimness and chill.

Yu Sheng looked left and right, seeing the alley stretching away on both sides. The narrow street was filled with damp mist, the sky dark with what seemed like malice. The wet pavement reflected the tangled strings of lights and wires above. Colorful lights hung over the nearby buildings, but instead of vitality and festivity, they emitted an eerie, cold glow, flickering like poor video signals in the mist, even trembling and deforming slightly.

The situation was exactly as the squad leader had said: the entrance had shifted. This was clearly not the stable "first layer," and Yu Sheng's group had arrived in the middle of the alley.

However, they didn't see any of the rumored "humanoid entities" in sight.

"Something's really off," Little Red Riding Hood muttered softly, controlling several shadow wolves to move outward as she looked toward the end of the alley. Her eyes had turned wolfish without her noticing, glowing faintly in the dimness. "They're all open..."

On both sides of the narrow street, every street-facing shop was lit. Doors that had normally been closed were now wide open, stretching all the way to the hazy crossroads at the end of the mist.

But the light from the shop windows and doors wasn't warm; instead, it carried an eerie coldness. The light couldn't extend far, as if held back by some invisible force, trapped within the buildings like sticky gel.

Luna quietly equipped her fingertip blades, then lightly leaped onto a nearby rooftop. Moments later, she returned to Yu Sheng's side.

"Cats."

She said briefly.

Yu Sheng was startled, then quickly understood. He looked around. "The cats here seem to have all disappeared."

In the deeper layers of the Dark Alley, entity "cats" would spawn. The cats actively attacked "intruders" entering the alley, and their numbers multiplied with depth.

This was clearly one of the deeper layers of the Dark Alley, but not a single cat was visible.

"...This is even worse than when it was full of spiderwebs," Aileen muttered, clutching her precious frying pan. "At least I was familiar with those."

Hu Li, on the other hand, pulled down two of her tails, tucking one under each arm, and turned to ask Yu Sheng, "Benefactor, should we bomb this place?"

Yu Sheng quickly waved his hands. "No need, no need. Let's first figure out what's going on here."

Just as he said that, Yu Sheng suddenly heard a faint sound drifting from the mist, vaguely reaching his ears.

It sounded like someone whispering not far away, but as if through thick curtains.

Yu Sheng looked toward the direction of the sound. There was only a lit shop, its sign crooked and twisted, with color light bulbs that writhed like living things, forming unreadable symbols. He had no idea what the shop sold.

He walked toward the shop, stopped beside a grimy window, and looked inside. The dim yellow light from the window was trapped in the air about ten centimeters outside the glass, and on the other side of the window, there seemed to be several nearly transparent human figures.

Were those "customers" in the shop? Or the rumored "humanoid entities"?

Yu Sheng was slightly startled. This was the first time he had seen human silhouettes in the Dark Alley. The changes here were indeed suspicious—but those blurry figures did not attack as the reports mentioned. They merely swayed inside the window, like... projections cast onto these panes from far away.

Luna also stood by the window, staring at the blurred reflections inside for a long while, tilting her head slightly.

"C-clasp? Did you find something?" Aileen asked curiously.

"No," Luna shook her head slowly, but her voice carried a trace of hesitation. "Just... suddenly... puzzled?"

Yu Sheng frowned. Miss Saint usually spoke slowly, but she had never seemed so uncertain before.

He walked forward again. After passing two more shops with unknown businesses, he finally saw a familiar place.

It was the "Old Bookstore" in the Dark Alley.

But the current state of the "Old Bookstore" was clearly abnormal. When every street-facing shop in the Dark Alley was lit, this bookstore, which was often open, was instead dark, not even the lights on its sign were on.

Yet its door was open.

Inside the door was pitch black, and the display window beside it was also dark.

Aileen, emboldened, jumped down from Yu Sheng's shoulder, approached the bookstore entrance, and peeked inside. But before she could even take half a step in, she scurried back on her little legs as fast as she could.

"It's pitch black in there. Silly fox, toss some fire in."

"You can't light a fire in a bookstore..." Hu Li muttered, but she still conjured a bright flame, ready to throw it into the Old Bookstore.

But just as she formed the flame, Yu Sheng heard that vague whispering again, coming from some direction, and it sounded clearer than before.

A man and a woman were talking—

"...Have you heard? The old blacksmith in the next village—both his sons were 'chosen.' They're going to the city to become knights. A Red Envoy came to pick them up in person..."

"Knights? That's nothing... Our village once produced a saint... That girl named Luna..."

Yu Sheng's eyes snapped wide open.