The Door Opened Too Wide

Irene’s snap decision to spin around and bolt caught Yu Sheng somewhat by surprise, and the little doll’s short legs were undeniably churning at a brisk pace—unfortunately, she was currently only 66.6 centimeters tall. For a doll just over sixty centimeters in height, even pumping those stubby legs into an afterimage only got her so far. Worse, before she could even reach the doorway, the picture frame strapped to her back snagged on a nearby chair leg—she had intended to scurry right under the chair, completely forgetting what she was carrying on her back. Yu Sheng took a couple of leisurely strides and plucked Irene up while her legs were still paddling frantically in midair. "You can't hold a grudge like this!" Irene flailed her arms, throwing punches and kicks at empty air. "Besides, wasn't I just trying to wake you up?! Granted, my method was a little too creative, but didn't you end up waking up anyway?! Hey, put me down—" "I never said I was going to do anything to you," Yu Sheng interrupted with a laugh, casually setting the little doll down on the floor. "I just wanted to tell you not to bite so hard next time. Even with my regenerative abilities, it's been aching for this long—you definitely had some petty vengeance mixed in there. Though, of course, not biting at all would be even better." Irene blinked, visibly surprised. "Huh? You're not mad?" "Of course not. I know when someone's trying to help," Yu Sheng said, curling his lip as he turned away from Irene and headed toward the door. "Go get ready. It's time for us to head to that valley." Irene stood on the floor in a daze for a second, and only when she saw Yu Sheng walking away did she scurry after him. "Did you remember all the 'features' over there?" "Loud and clear." *** "I'm starting to think this place is actually pretty peaceful," Xu Jiali remarked from behind the window, taking a bite of the jianbing guozi Li Lin had bought that morning. Gazing down at the street outside, he murmured with deep feeling, "It's so nice. Far more relaxed than the Lawless Sectors, and not an Angel cultist in sight..." "Compared to the combat intensity when you're out on field operations, this place is practically a resort," Li Lin said, sitting beside Xu Jiali and sipping from a cup of hot soy milk. "Just treat it as half a vacation. Our mission is only surveillance anyway. If something truly nasty pops up, the bureau will naturally send backup." "Still, Little Red Riding Hood seems on edge the whole time," Xu Jiali noted, glancing out the window. "How old is she even? Tense as a coiled spring. I was just like her when I first came out of the 'Platform.'" Not far outside the window, atop the roof of an adjacent building, the young girl in the dark red coat was tucked away in a corner, watching the movements on the street below with a sausage hanging from her mouth. Phantom shapes of a wolf pack flickered in and out of the air around her. As if sensing the gaze directed at her, Little Red Riding Hood looked up alertly toward the window where Li Lin and Xu Jiali sat. Confirming there was no trouble, she gave a slight nod, glanced once more at the street, and pulled several notebooks, paper, and a pen from the backpack beside her, burying her head in her homework. The phantom wolves took over monitoring the street in her stead. Watching the dark red figure on the nearby roof, Li Lin couldn't help muttering, "I've often heard of 'Fairytale,' but she's the only member of their organization I've ever seen in person... She looks underage, doesn't she? Running around doing such dangerous work already?" "More than half the members in Fairytale are around her age, and they pretty much come from the same place," Xu Jiali sighed. "Poor kids, every last one of them." Li Lin was surprised. "All of them? Why—" "Because children are the ones who easily fall into 'Fairytales,' and adult members rarely survive inside one," Xu Jiali said with a dismissive wave. "If you're really interested, look it up in the archives later. Don't go prying into it in front of her." Sensing something serious from his colleague's tone, Li Lin uttered a thoughtful "Oh," and turned his attention back to the quiet, peaceful old streets outside. "Looks like nothing's going to happen today either." He breathed a gentle sigh of relief and went back to sipping his soy milk. "I'm not full," Xu Jiali said. "Where's your instant noodles? I'm grabbing a pack." "Under the bed in the back room. Boil the water yourself—the kettle is in the kitchen. The dispenser in the living room is busted and won't put out hot water. Oh, and make one for me while you're at it." *** Yu Sheng looked at Irene standing by the door, his face full of doubt. "This is your preparation?" Irene stood on the shoe-changing bench inside the entryway, puffing out her chest as hard as she could to look formidable. In her hands, she clutched a kitchen cleaver taken from the kitchen—the cleaver was massive, its handle far too large for the little doll's hands, forcing her to hug the hilt with both arms just to hold it steady. "It's called being prepared! Having an extra self-defense weapon makes me feel more secure. If a fight really breaks out, just watch my super-strong magical powers!" Hearing the doll's confident bragging, Yu Sheng's face twitched. "Then you'd have been better off taking a fruit knife. At least you could grip that." "A fruit knife lacks intimidation." "At your height, you wouldn't look intimidating even holding a Dragon Slayer Saber!" Yu Sheng said, exasperated. "Let me tell you, don't go breaking it once we get over there. I'm actually fond of that knife; it's great for slicing meat." "Alright, alright, stop nagging! What's with all the worrying?" Clutching the cleaver in both hands, Irene rolled her eyes impatiently at Yu Sheng. "Hurry up and open the door. At least let's see what the situation is on the other side." Seeing this, Yu Sheng said no more. He turned to grip the front door's handle, simultaneously casting a quick glance at the supplies piled at his feet. It was food for Hu Li. During his previous trip into the foreign domain, the items he carried on him and the trash bag in his hand had been brought through the door along with him. But this time, he was attempting to bring far more—on top of a huge pile of provisions, there was Irene. With so much additional "payload," he honestly had no idea whether it would work. He had run tests, of course, but only over short distances inside the apartment. Going to a "foreign domain"... was a completely different matter from small-scale movement in the real world. So all he could do was prepare as best he could. If it failed, he would simply treat this as another trial. Yu Sheng wore an extraordinarily oversized coat, its inner and outer pockets stuffed full of compressed biscuits, bread, and several cans of eight-treasure congee. When he opened the door shortly, he planned to "brace" it open as long as possible, shove the supplies at his feet across first, and then cross through the passage together with Irene. To accomplish this, he needed to open the door as "wide" as he possibly could. He still didn't understand the underlying principles of the process, so he could only rely on intuition. Yu Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly, recalling the features of that valley he had mapped through Hu Li's senses. He recalled the chilling night wind, the stench of rot, and the bone-gnawing hunger that suffused the entire foreign domain. And most importantly, the "aura" required for spiritual guidance. All of this coalesced into the "frequency" for opening the door, into the landscape on the other side as he envisioned it. Next, he focused the entirety of his attention on opening this door. He needed to open a door vast enough and stable enough—large enough to carry Irene across, large enough to take all the supplies across, and precise enough to land right beside Hu Li... The doorknob turned slightly. A chilly draft seeped through the slowly widening crack, flowing into the entryway... A passage far larger in scale than any before was established. As for just how massive this passage was? Suffice it to say, it was enough to make Director Baili Qing and every single strike team captain at the Special Affairs Bureau shriek in sheer panic in their offices. *Bzzzz—* A bizarre, low hum abruptly echoed across the entire Wutong Road neighborhood. Yet this humming was far beyond the limits of ordinary human hearing; only those who had been trained and possessed supernatural sensitivity to the forces of the "other world" could perceive the sustained tremor it generated deep within their spiritual faculties. Carrying two bowls of instant noodles as he stepped out of the kitchen, Xu Jiali instantly sensed something. He looked up in astonishment toward the window, only to see the daylight outside rapidly darkening, as though a heavy shroud were descending over the entirety of Jiecheng. Beneath the shroud, every building outside was turning translucent, vanishing, while a hazy, bizarre landscape resembling a mountain valley began "growing" out of the former neighborhood. On the roof outside, Little Red Riding Hood, busy catching up on her homework, snapped her head up. The wolf pack let out uneasy whimpers in the shadows as a cold wind blew out of nowhere, fluttering the pages of her math exercise book. A moment earlier, Li Lin had been basking in the street's tranquility; now, he bolted to his feet like a shot, a crisp and ringing "Holy shit!" bursting from his mouth: "Holy shit! Something's happening outside!!" Xu Jiali rushed behind Li Lin in a few strides, noodles in hand, before instantly realizing the truth. "No! It's not outside that's in trouble!" Li Lin whipped his head around. "What do you mean?" "It's that we're *observing* the change—we're falling into a foreign domain!" As a veteran deep diver, Xu Jiali diagnosed the situation in an instant. Shoving the instant noodles into Li Lin's hands, he dashed straight for his gear case, pulling out a beam dagger and protective equipment. "Contact the bureau, quick, before the signal—" Yet the descent into the foreign domain was faster than even Xu Jiali could have imagined. A "tugging" force vastly exceeding his experience dragged his and Li Lin's perceptions past the boundaries of common sense and sanity in a near-instant. Xu Jiali's vision blurred; he had barely grasped his gear when he heard the hollow howl of wind rushing toward him. Every sight before them transformed. The rented apartment dissolved like a dream, and a valley shrouded in night appeared before his eyes. Li Lin had only caught a glimpse of his phone screen abruptly lighting up on the desk, the director's number flashing for a split second—and then, all that remained before him were dark, brooding rocks and black, shadowy woods. The two Special Affairs Bureau operatives looked up in daze. After exchanging a glance, they heard the low growl of a wolf beside them. They turned their heads and saw the girl in the dark red coat standing beside them with a solemn expression. "We've fallen into a foreign domain," Xu Jiali said in a low voice after a moment of silence. Little Red Riding Hood nodded slightly. "I know. Judging by its scale and characteristics, it should be a 'wilderness' type." Li Lin looked at Xu Jiali, then at the girl in red, feeling he ought to say something too. He looked down at his hands, raised them slightly, and said, "Want some instant noodles?"