Chapter 76: Strange People Living in the Other Domain

"Can you two see the house in front?"

Standing at the entrance of No. 66 Wutong Road, Yu Sheng raised his hand and pointed at the old, worn-down building before him, addressing the fox girl Hu Li beside him and Eileen, who was cradled in Hu Li's arms.

"I can," Hu Li nodded quite naturally. "It's right there. I can see it when I go out, and I can see it when I come back."

Yu Sheng nodded, then turned to look at Little Red Riding Hood, who had come along with them. "Can you see it?"

Little Red Riding Hood widened her eyes, staring at the empty space ahead and the low wall at the end of the vacant lot. Then she turned and gave Hu Li and Eileen a suspicious look. "You two can actually see it?"

"Looks like you can't," Yu Sheng realized from her reaction. "Even though I 'invited' you, you can't see it when standing here."

Little Red Riding Hood shrugged.

Yu Sheng fell into thought.

He was now curious about many things—about himself, about the Other Domains, about the Special Operations Bureau, about the Twilight Valley last night—and of course about this bizarre mansion he'd been living in for the past two months. Driven by a little bit of "necessary research spirit," he had invited Little Red Riding Hood over when he came home today, wanting to test just how strange the "nonexistent No. 66 Wutong Road" really was.

Now he had his preliminary test results.

Hu Li and Eileen could see No. 66 Wutong Road, but Little Red Riding Hood couldn't, even after receiving an "invitation" from the "owner of the house."

After a brief moment of thought, Yu Sheng quickly identified the biggest difference among Hu Li, Eileen, and Little Red Riding Hood.

"So... it must be a 'blood' issue?" He looked up thoughtfully, his gaze shifting between Little Red Riding Hood and Hu Li and Eileen.

Both Hu Li and Eileen had "received" his blood, which had established a subtle "connection" between him and them. It was through this connection that they had been able to sense his "return from the dead." Little Red Riding Hood had never undergone such an experience.

That was the most likely reason Yu Sheng could think of at the moment.

Little Red Riding Hood, however, hadn't noticed the change in Yu Sheng's expression. She was now curiously looking around.

The sun was gradually sinking, and in the shadows of the roadside buildings, wolf silhouettes flickered in and out of sight. The pack watched over the entire block, acting as the girl's eyes and ears.

She noticed one thing: starting from the moment she entered Wutong Road, the closer she got to this deep, empty area, the fewer pedestrians there were. By the time she reached the vacant lot where "No. 66 Wutong Road" supposedly stood, there were no passersby at all.

It was as if some invisible repelling force was preventing ordinary people from approaching this mansion.

Yet even her wolves couldn't detect how that force operated. The entire "environment" of this block was so "clean"—from the perspective of supernatural power, it was as pristine as a vacuum.

Just then, Little Red Riding Hood suddenly noticed a gaze fixed on her. She immediately turned to see Yu Sheng staring at her with a very serious expression.

The girl felt a bit awkward. "Uh... is something the matter?"

Then she saw Yu Sheng directly extend his arm toward her. "Want a bite?"

Little Red Riding Hood: "...Huh?"

"Blood. Eileen and Hu Li have both been in contact with my blood, and after that, some changes occurred. Now they can see No. 66 Wutong Road," Yu Sheng explained very seriously. "So I was thinking, maybe you'd like to try it too—just as an experiment..."

Little Red Riding Hood's expression visibly turned strange. She even took half a step back, her eyes like those of a spooked wolf-dog. Only after confirming that Yu Sheng was genuinely acting out of pure "research spirit" did she relax a little, but she still refused. "No!"

"It won't upset your stomach," Yu Sheng said—he had actually expected this reaction, since asking someone to take a bite out of you out of the blue did sound a bit abrupt. But he wanted to try again anyway. "Don't you want to see what No. 66 Wutong Road looks like from the outside?"

"I'm not a cat, why would I be that curious!" Little Red Riding Hood took another half step back and turned to look at Hu Li and Eileen. "Why does he come up with these ideas on a whim?"

Eileen, still in Hu Li's arms, shifted slightly. Confirming no one else was around, she finally had a chance to speak. "That's just how he is—acts on a whim. He calls it 'research spirit.' Don't pay him any attention."

"What do you mean by that?" Yu Sheng wasn't pleased to hear this. "Am I really that bad?"

Eileen didn't reply. She simply radiated a faint lotus fragrance from within Hu Li's arms.

Yu Sheng: "..."

After an awkward two or three seconds of silence, Yu Sheng gave Little Red Riding Hood a dry wave. "Fine, if you don't want to, forget it." Then he stepped toward the door, but just as he unlocked it and was about to enter, he remembered something. He stepped aside and called to the fox girl following behind him. "Come here and see if you can open this door."

"Huh? Okay." Hu Li hesitated for a moment, then nodded and stepped forward to grab the door handle.

Click. The already unlocked front door swung open easily.

But in Little Red Riding Hood's eyes, a door had simply materialized out of thin air in the empty lot, hovering beside that low wall covered in abstract graffiti.

"Good. At least now you and Eileen can come and go without needing me to open the door." Yu Sheng sighed in relief. Ever since he'd learned that No. 66 Wutong Road was an "Other Domain" invisible and inaccessible to outsiders, he'd had many little worries—including but not limited to: no takeout delivery, no appliance deliveries, no mailing addresses, and the two residents inside being unable to come and go freely. But now he was relieved—at least one of those problems was solved.

"Come on in, sit for a while," Yu Sheng said with a smile, extending his hand toward Little Red Riding Hood. "I'll cook later, we'll have dinner at home. Consider it thanks for accompanying Hu Li and Eileen today."

"No problem. You helped me write half my homework." Little Red Riding Hood said, but she still accepted the invitation and stepped into this mansion that didn't exist in the real world.

Yu Sheng turned on the living room light. The bright illumination dispelled the dimness of dusk and quickly warmed up the chilly atmosphere in the room.

Then he quickly put away the things they had bought, pulled out the ingredients for tonight's dinner from the shopping bags, told Little Red Riding Hood to make herself at home, and headed into the kitchen.

With a mixture of unease and curiosity, Little Red Riding Hood cautiously looked around.

This was her second time in this place, and this time she was an "invited guest."

She rarely visited other people's homes. In fact, the number of times she had ventured into Other Domains far exceeded the number of times she had stepped through someone's door. But on the other hand, she was fully aware that this seemingly ordinary civilian residence was, in fact, an "Other Domain." Today's "visit" was essentially an Other Domain expedition too.

This was the strangest "expedition" she had ever had since becoming a Spirit World Detective. No bizarre, twisted landscapes. No pervasive corruption. No phantoms masquerading as companions. Just bright lights and a warm environment. A gentle, friendly fox demon standing nearby. A cheerful puppet running over to turn on the TV. And the entity within this Other Domain—that powerful being capable of devouring "Hunger" itself—was cooking dinner in the kitchen.

She could even sit at the dining table, do a bit of homework, and wait for the food to be ready.

There were too many incongruous details; she didn't even know which one to lampoon first.

But the boisterous Eileen soon kept her from overthinking—the little puppet's lively voice came from the living room: "Come watch TV! The TV in the living room is bigger than the one in the dining room!"

"I need to finish my homework," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, casually replying as she walked toward the table. "Still have half a book left!"

"Ah, you humans are so tired," Eileen, who had already climbed onto the sofa, exclaimed loudly. "Fox, are you coming or not?"

Hu Li waved her hand and ambled toward the kitchen. "I'm going to see if my benefactor needs any help..."

She slipped into the kitchen, but less than two minutes later, she pushed the door open and came back out, holding a braised chicken leg in her hand and eating as she walked.

Little Red Riding Hood, who had just started her homework, saw this and asked in surprise, "...Why are you out again?"

"Kicked out. My benefactor said I was stealing the spices—if I ate them all, he couldn't braise the meat," Hu Li said with a perfectly innocent look, then proudly raised the chicken leg. "But my benefactor gave me this drumstick. Want some?"

Little Red Riding Hood hesitated. "Uh... I'll just..."

Hu Li immediately pulled the chicken leg back. "If you don't want it, I'll eat it all."

Little Red Riding Hood: "..."

By then, the aroma of stir-frying was already wafting out of the kitchen, stirring up appetites.

Little Red Riding Hood thought for a moment, then reached into her bag, pulled out her phone, and dialed a number.

"It's me. I won't be home for dinner tonight—eating at a friend's place. Ah, newly acquainted. Safe, safe. I'll tell you about it when I get back. I'll be home before ten. Okay, bye."

She hung up. Turning around, she found Hu Li staring straight at her—while continuing to nibble on the chicken leg.

"You can't eat this," Little Red Riding Hood instinctively covered her phone.

She didn't know why she had blurted that out.

Hu Li, however, didn't seem bothered. She just asked curiously, "Was that your family you were contacting just now?"

"Yeah."

"Your mom and dad?"

Little Red Riding Hood's expression stiffened slightly. "Uh... my parents passed away early. It was someone else at home."

"Oh," Hu Li nodded. Little Red Riding Hood had no idea what was going through the fox demon girl's mind in those few seconds, but then she saw Hu Li suddenly hold out the almost-gnawed chicken leg. "Want a bite? Just a small one."

Little Red Riding Hood: "...?"

She felt that she really couldn't understand these "strange people" who lived in the Other Domain.