Chapter 77: Dining Hospitality at No. 66 Wutong Road

Little Red Riding Hood knew that people living in a domain were bound to be strange, but she found that she had still underestimated just how strange the "family of three" at Yu Sheng's place really was.

Especially when they started eating.

A puppet that didn't need to eat sat upright at the dining table, with a dedicated set of bowls and chopsticks placed in front of her, looking like a ritual offering;

A fox spirit with a bunch of tails kept pulling all kinds of snacks out of her own tails while eating, her diet extremely chaotic, including but not limited to flatbread wrapped around steamed buns, chili peppers with bananas, basically shoving anything into her mouth;

But the strangest was Yu Sheng—he actually ate human food.

Unbelievable.jpg.

Yu Sheng noticed Little Red Riding Hood spacing out and thought she was just a bit shy visiting for the first time. Enthusiastically, he urged, "Eat up, eat up! Let me tell you, I'm pretty confident in my cooking skills..."

Just as he was saying that, he suddenly remembered something and pointed at a dish on the table, adding, "Oh right, you'd better not eat this."

Little Red Riding Hood was taken aback. She saw that it was just an ordinary-looking dish of stir-fried pork with peppers. Puzzled, she asked, "Why?"

"This is made from the 'local specialty' of the domain. I'm not sure if ordinary people can eat it," Yu Sheng explained casually. "Anyway, Irene and Huli both avoid it."

Little Red Riding Hood's expression froze. "Domain... local specialty?"

"It's meat cut from the entity 'Hunger.' I have a taste for it—but most people don't eat this," Yu Sheng said very matter-of-factly, then added as an afterthought, "I'm pretty sensible about this kind of thing."

Then he saw the girl across the table freeze stiff, as if turned to stone.

After a few seconds, Little Red Riding Hood's eyes finally blinked. Her expression rigid, she looked at Irene, who was sitting on the table sniffing the food: "That's... really... niche..."

"First time, huh?" Irene reached out and patted Little Red Riding Hood's arm, with the air of someone who had been through it. "I had the same reaction when I first heard it—don't doubt it, it's exactly that stuff. Besides, you've seen how the entity in that valley was destroyed, so don't act so shocked—at least this is cooked."

"This one is better cooked," Yu Sheng nodded, picking up a slice of stir-fried meat with his chopsticks and putting it in his mouth. "I tried sashimi, but it was too tough."

Little Red Riding Hood suddenly looked horrified at the other dishes on the table, and started to regret accepting Yu Sheng's invitation today. She had originally thought it would be a chance to get close to this strange "person" and the strange No. 66 Wutong Road, maybe get some new information about the domain to sell to the Special Operations Bureau later. But now she realized one thing:

If an entity seemed harmless, it would definitely be freakish in other ways; if a domain looked especially safe, it must have very creative spiritual contamination...

Little Red Riding Hood nervously swallowed. Staring at Yu Sheng who was eating with gusto, she suddenly wanted to ask him—after you finish eating this, you're not going to eat me, are you?

But after hesitating for a while, she still couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

"Not to your taste?" Yu Sheng saw the girl across the table hadn't touched her chopsticks for a long time, and found it a bit odd. "Uh, I have a heavy hand with salt, but you can try this vegetable dish. It's good."

Little Red Riding Hood, under that gaze, couldn't avoid it or shake her head. After hesitating, she finally tentatively reached out her chopsticks to take a bite. While silently chanting "this stuff is edible," she swallowed it like taking medicine. Then she was surprised to find—it tasted good.

It was just a normal stir-fry.

"Benefactor's cooking is good, right?" Huli beside her laughed happily.

Little Red Riding Hood nodded with a subtle expression. Watching Huli constantly eating, and thinking about how her mouth hadn't stopped since she came in, she finally couldn't help but ask curiously, "You eat so much, don't you get full?"

"No," Huli's tails behind her wagged. "Eat more, stock up some tails, then I can help Benefactor fight."

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

What kind of nonsense is this!?

She suddenly started to wonder if her own comprehension ability was failing her. She even felt that No. 66 Wutong Road was operating under a completely different "worldview" from the normal world. Everything looked normal, everything sounded normal, how could it be so creepy everywhere?

Just then, Yu Sheng's voice came from the side, interrupting Little Red Riding Hood's random thoughts: "By the way, since I invited you today, there's actually something I'd like to ask your advice about."

"Ah... ah?" Little Red Riding Hood reacted half a beat late, looking at Yu Sheng with a dazed expression.

Yu Sheng didn't know why she reacted that way, and without thinking too much, he asked directly: "How do 'Spirit World Detectives' like you usually work? Or rather, what should one pay attention to as a Spirit World Detective?"

"Usual work? Most of the time I take outsourced jobs from the Special Operations Bureau, sometimes from other organizations or individuals, but the latter is unstable," Little Red Riding Hood said casually. "Most Spirit World Detectives' main commissions actually come from the Special Operations Bureau, or subcontractors under them. After all, they're the official organization. They have good information channels, and many commissions get collected directly with them—look at this."

As she spoke, she pulled out her phone, tapped it a few times, and showed it to Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng curiously leaned in and saw a long list of chat interfaces on the screen.

More than half of the chat avatars had a uniform logo with the Special Operations Bureau's annotation.

"This is a dedicated platform built by the Special Operations Bureau. Spirit World Detectives and independent investigators can use it. We usually use it to exchange information, chat, and shoot the breeze. Public commissions are also posted here. The official name is 'Border Communications,' but a lot of people just call it 'Didi Work'..."

Yu Sheng listened in amazement, wanting to get another look at the screen, but Little Red Riding Hood had already put her phone away.

"Technically, I shouldn't show this to others. It's supposed to be kept secret from ordinary people, but since you're not an ordinary person even though you're not a Spirit World Detective or investigator, I'll let you see it. As for what to pay attention to in this line of work..."

Little Red Riding Hood paused, a hint of teasing in her expression: "Everyone has their own work habits. If there's any common 'framework,' it's just two things: first, don't disrupt order in the borderlands; second, try to stay alive—if you really can't manage the second one, at least die somewhere 'shallow' to make things easier for the corpse collectors."

She suddenly became curious, looking into Yu Sheng's eyes: "Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

Yu Sheng replied matter-of-factly: "Oh, we might become colleagues soon."

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

...

After dinner, Little Red Riding Hood left.

"I feel like she had a weird expression when she left," Irene sat on the table, muttering as she watched Yu Sheng clean up the dishes. "She seemed kind of dazed..."

"High school stress is normal, especially with a part-time job during breaks—plus, her phone screen was cracked, so her living conditions might not be great," Yu Sheng said casually while wiping the table. "That's why I invited her for a meal, as a chance to relax."

"Really?" Irene looked a bit skeptical. "I felt like she was more tense when she left than when she arrived..."

"That's your imagination," Yu Sheng waved his hand. "Trust my judgment, humans understand humans—besides, I was a high schooler too. Inviting her over more often will definitely help, trust me."

"Yeah... right?"

As he spoke, Yu Sheng finished clearing the table. After handing the dishes to Huli, who had volunteered to do the washing, he took a long breath and prepared to do something serious.

"I'm going to open a door."

Irene, who was about to crawl off the table to go watch TV in the living room, turned back: "Huh? Where are you going?"

"To check out that valley again."

Irene fell straight off the table leg, landing with a smack, both her and her painting flat on the floor.

"Did you run out of meat in the fridge?!" The little puppet scrambled up, looking at Yu Sheng in horror. "Are you going to restock?"

"No," Yu Sheng quickly waved his hands. "It's about that 'Director' who came to see me today. What she said bothered me."

He then told Irene about what Bai Liqing had specifically mentioned when she left.

Miss Puppet frowned as she listened: "Could it be a trap... tricking you into stepping on landmines or something? Those big shots who suddenly show up and ramble on and on love to do that sort of thing, I've seen it on TV."

"Then you should watch less TV," Yu Sheng rolled his eyes at the puppet. "Besides, even if she has other plans, I still need to go to that valley and take a look."

Irene continued frowning: "Why?"

"Some things I want to investigate again. I left too hastily last time," Yu Sheng said seriously. "Don't be so nervous. It's not like I can't come back. Now that the passage is stable, I can retreat immediately if things go wrong."

"Well... alright," Irene thought it over and reluctantly put her mind at ease. "Do you need to tell Huli? She might worry."

"I'm just going to check the situation. It shouldn't take long. If she comes out and asks, just tell her I'll be back soon," Yu Sheng said, already reaching into the air. A phantom door opened in his hand. "But I estimate I'll be out before she finishes washing the dishes, since I'm just taking a look."

He suddenly stopped and looked back at the door he had opened.

"...Should I have informed the Special Operations Bureau in advance?"

"You've already opened the damn door and only just remembered? Just go in now, before the complaint hotline starts ringing! Go, go, I'll wait for you here."