Chapter 259: A Good Place

Yu Sheng explained his intentions to Little Red Ridinghood, and the girl's eyes immediately lit up.

"Oh! Finally going to open a 'private door' for us? That's great! Teacher Su was just talking to me about it yesterday—she said it was pretty inconvenient having to come find you to open the door after work, and Rapunzel's been nagging me about it too... Where are you planning to put it?"

"The one on this side is easy enough," Yu Sheng said, pointing into the distance. "We just need to find a spacious and stable spot near the settlement, stick the door in, and we're done. I think the open space in the middle of the town is fine. The key is the door on the 'outside'—it needs to be opened in the real world, where ordinary people can't see it, but it can't be too remote either. We have to consider your future needs for coming and going, as well as employees like Teacher Su needing to commute conveniently."

"Put it at Green Source Square," Rapunzel chimed in from the side. "There are so many bubble tea shops over there—"

But nobody paid her any attention.

Little Red Ridinghood lowered her head and thought seriously for a moment, as if she already had an idea.

"How about putting it at the old orphanage site?" She looked up, her face earnest. "Think about it—first of all, we're already familiar with that place. Even though we're living in a new home now, if the 'home door' is near the old orphanage gate, going out day-to-day won't feel much different from before. And Teacher Su and the others won't have to change their routes. Second, our orphanage has always been a plot shielded by node devices. Now that the Dim Angel incident has just ended, the nodes definitely haven't been dismantled yet. If we talk to the Special Services Bureau, we can just set the door up over there without worrying about ordinary people seeing the portal, and we won't have to build new shielding nodes either.

"Of course, the only problem is that the place was leveled. It should still be a pile of rubble now. I'm not sure if there's even a space to install a door..."

Listening to the girl's analysis, Yu Sheng's eyes lit up and he couldn't help sighing, "High school students really have sharp minds. The way you put it... How about we go take a look over there first?"

Little Red Ridinghood thought for a moment and nodded lightly. "Mm, that works... I'd like to see what it looks like there now too."

Rapunzel, who had been listening nearby, jumped out again. "Where? Our 'old home'? Hey, I'm coming too! I haven't been back to see it since everything ended... Sigh, I didn't get to bring a lot of my stuff out—so many novels and figurines... Hey, are you taking me or not?"

By then, Yu Sheng had already casually opened a door leading to the orphanage (old site). Little Red Ridinghood stood at the threshold, turning her head to look at her roommate, who was still muttering to herself. "If you keep dawdling, we really won't take you. If you want to come, just come—why so many useless words?"

Rapunzel's face immediately broke into a big smile, and she hurried over. "Hey! Great!"

Crossing the door took only an instant. The scenery before them changed, and they had gone from the idyllic valley back in front of the old orphanage gate.

Of course, everything before them was no longer as they remembered it.

The mottled, towering wall had been nearly crushed to pieces during the Dim Angel's final outburst, leaving only countless broken bricks and tiles scattered along the roadside. The two main buildings in the courtyard, which had once transformed into the umbilical cords of the angel's fetus, had now collapsed into enormous wrecks amidst the rubble as the cords snapped. The former outdoor activity area, where children used to laugh and play, had once been saturated with nightmare matter. Now that the nightmare had receded, the swings, slides, and seesaws were all shattered fragments, their surfaces looking charred.

And the large sandpit was now nothing but a sunken, scorched black depression.

Little Red Ridinghood stood there, staring at the scene before her, silent for a long time.

Rapunzel, who had followed through the door, gazed wide-eyed at the ruins. After a long moment, she forced a carefree smile, took a deep breath, and slapped Yu Sheng on the shoulder. "Bro, you were right—it's all collapsed. Yep, all collapsed."

Yu Sheng said nothing, just patted Little Red Ridinghood on the back.

Of course, the site wasn't just ruins.

There were also Special Services Bureau personnel—the cleanup crew.

There were technicians monitoring the environment, fully armed operatives maintaining a state of alert, construction workers clearing the rubble, and large demolition equipment rumbling.

Among the Special Services Bureau operatives on scene, Yu Sheng spotted a familiar figure: Li Lin.

The latter also saw him and immediately walked quickly over.

Li Lin, wearing protective gear and carrying a real gun, looked much more dependable than usual. After coming over, he greeted Yu Sheng and the others, then his gaze fell on Little Red Ridinghood. "Came to take a look today?"

Little Red Ridinghood nodded. Yu Sheng spoke up, "It's not just to look around—there's something else. I'm planning to open a permanent portal here."

Li Lin's expression immediately turned serious. "A permanent portal?"

"Since 'Fairy Tale' has been relocated entirely to my backyard, I'm preparing a convenient passage to the real world for them," Yu Sheng explained. "I mentioned this to your director before, but the location hadn't been decided. We just discussed it and thought this place would be suitable—the nearby 'nodes' haven't been dismantled yet, right?"

"Of course not," Li Lin quickly nodded. "Even if you hadn't come, those nodes would have to stay. This land was once parasitized by an angel, so the entire area needs to be shielded for at least ten years before any redevelopment assessment can be made... Are you really going to put the door here?"

"Mm," Yu Sheng said without much concern—after all, he knew Anka-Era's situation best. The Special Services Bureau following procedure was fine, but he was more aware that this place was actually quite safe now. "I just don't know how far the cleanup has progressed. Is there a spot available for me to 'work'?"

Li Lin's expression visibly tensed with a hint of nervousness—and perhaps three parts excitement and two parts anticipation. "Uh, what requirements do you have for setting up a fixed door? How much space? What materials? Do we need to clear the area first? Should I quickly call Engineer Sun over to set up a temporary shelter or something?"

Yu Sheng was momentarily stunned by this barrage of questions. He felt that the other's excitement seemed as if the door were being opened for his own home rather than for the orphanage kids. Then he instinctively asked, "Is that even Engineer Sun's responsibility?"

Before Li Lin could respond, Ailin, who was lying on his shoulder, muttered gloomily, "That's just how civil engineering bros are."

Yu Sheng awkwardly touched his nose. "Alright... but there's no need for all that trouble, and certainly no need to clear the area. Just find me a piece of open ground that's been cleaned up and won't be in the way later. As for materials, it's simple—the main component is a door, just an ordinary door to serve as a 'carrier.' The auxiliary materials..."

He paused there and took a light breath.

Li Lin's sense of foreboding shot up instantly.

If he had a richer vocabulary, his spiritual intuition would be jumping wildly right now.

Yu Sheng continued in one breath: "Five bundles of ritual candles, three barrels of rose essential oil—2.5L each—twelve catties of crystal dust, two thermoses of psychic ink, then four roast chickens, twenty steamed buns, twenty mantou, two boxes of ham sausages—and twenty skewers of grilled mushrooms."

"Me, me, me!" Rapunzel raised her hand vigorously beside him. "I also want a ticket to an X-star concert!"

Little Red Ridinghood immediately jabbed Rapunzel in the arm. "What do you need that for? Later, just ask the Mermaid to sing you one—she can even reproduce the audience screaming and hollering, close your eyes and it's like being at a live show."

"That's different!"

Li Lin was dumbfounded. He stared at his phone's notepad for a long time before squeezing out a sentence: "...Bro Yu, this... I have to report this to my superiors."

Yu Sheng thought about who his superior was and immediately laughed. "No problem. Go ahead and report."

"Are you sure I'm reporting exactly what you said?"

"Go ahead, go ahead."

Li Lin walked aside and dialed Captain Song's number. "Hello? Sir, I have a situation... Yu Sheng came to see me. He said he wants to open a fixed door and asked for 'some' materials... How did you know about the grilled mushrooms?!"

A moment later, the young Special Services Bureau operative returned with a strange expression. "The boss approved it."

Yu Sheng just looked at him and smiled.

"The door you want is right here," Li Lin said, clearing his throat twice as he quickly composed himself. "If you just need an ordinary door, there are plenty of intact ones pulled from the rubble—they can all be used directly. As for the other 'auxiliary materials,' they'll be delivered in a bit. Taking the 'shortcut,' they'll arrive in about half an hour. As for the empty space you need..."

He pointed to a corner of the orphanage ruins.

"How about that spot over there? It's one of the few areas in the whole yard that wasn't damaged. Coincidentally, when the 'umbilical cord' broke, so many chunks fell from the sky, but none hit that place. You can put the door there first. Later, we'll have Engineer Sun come over and build a canopy over the door to shield it from wind and rain, or even put up a small building. From now on, this can serve as the 'guardhouse' for the new 'Fairy Tale' headquarters..."

As Li Lin rambled on, Yu Sheng looked in the direction he pointed and saw a patch of open ground that remained intact amidst the rubble.

It was at the edge of the former outdoor activity area. Next to the empty space stood a tree—one that had also escaped damage. Nearby was a brick wall, half-collapsed, with a small section stubbornly standing next to a toppled swing set.

Yu Sheng looked at that spot for a long time.

He remembered that a long, long time ago, there had been a Cinderella who lived to twenty-six. She had stood in front of that brick wall and the swing set, smiling quietly, watching the old Zheng who was still young Zheng back then.

And a young Little Red Ridinghood, along with a much younger Wang Jiajia, had planted a tree in that empty space. Now, the tree had grown tall.

In the future, there would also be a door here.

A door to that sunlit valley.

"Alright," Yu Sheng slowly broke into a smile. "I think this place is a good spot."

(End of this chapter)