This was the first time Li Lin had seen Captain Song—usually so steady and dependable—get this way: brows locked in a frown, as if bracing for a formidable enemy.
"So... in the end, that eyeball-form Murky Angel just left the foreign domain it was parasitizing, quietly, without a sound? It didn't try to corrupt or control anyone, and it didn't leave behind any 'sub-body'?" Song Cheng had heard out the reports of the two Special Affairs Bureau operatives before him, and only after a long silence did he speak. "And in the whole process, you didn't hear anything like a 'higher-dimensional whisper' in your minds?"
"No," Xu Jiali shook his head, his voice low. "But that thing must have noticed us. For an instant, I could clearly feel that kind of 'gaze'—its line of sight once fell on the place where we were hiding. It was like..."
Song Cheng frowned. "Like?"
Xu Jiali thought back for a moment, then said, not very sure of himself, "Like it was searching for something."
Song Cheng tapped his fingers on the desk in some irritation and said nothing for a while.
Another ten-odd seconds passed before he let out a long breath and turned to Li Lin. "When you had contact with that man who calls himself 'Yu Sheng,' did you sense any aura of 'heterogenization' about him? Going by your gut, do you think he seems more human, or more like... something else?"
"Human. At least in his speech, his conduct, and his basic common sense in dealing with people, he's human. If that's an entity disguised as a person, then I can only say the disguise is simply too perfect—so perfect you could just treat him as a human being." Li Lin spoke with certainty.
"But he's long 'resided' at 'No. 66 Wutong Road,' which simply doesn't exist in the real world—a foreign domain that has never appeared in any official record," Song Cheng said with a sigh. "Foreign domains only produce 'entities.' They don't produce... humans."
Xu Jiali, to the side, was silent for a while, then spoke up. "There are indeed some rational, communicative 'entities' in this world. Some of them—the ones that are especially friendly, or that want something from the mortal world—can even cooperate with humans, like the 'Story Man' and 'Passenger No. 22.' They even seem to have certain human features..."
"But that's still a concept on an entirely different level from the 'Yu Sheng' you mentioned—when it comes to 'anthropomorphization.'" Song Cheng shook his head, looking at Xu Jiali. "Can you confirm he's the same 'door-opener' you saw on Emein-IX?"
"I can confirm it, but he didn't recognize me at all," Xu Jiali nodded. "I was equipped with a full set of power armor and a mental shield at the time. It seems his perception can't pierce that equipment."
"Limited perception, highly personified, able to open 'doors' at will, capable of taking on an Entity-Hunger greatly strengthened by the 'Murky Angel'—yet the exact way he killed it remains a mystery... as if he's deliberately concealing his fighting style..." Song Cheng slowly summed up the intelligence they had gathered so far, thinking out loud as he spoke. "And there's one more thing..."
"Very friendly toward humans," Li Lin said from the side.
"Yes, very friendly toward humans—even willing to take the initiative to approach Special Affairs Bureau operatives." Song Cheng gave a slight nod and seemed about to say more, but a burst of footsteps suddenly came from the corridor outside the door, cutting off what he'd been about to say.
A knock sounded, and then a short girl with short hair pushed the door open and walked in, a file folder in her hand. "Captain Song, the Archives Department has sent over the materials."
Song Cheng's eyes widened slightly. "...There really is a file on that 'Yu Sheng'?"
"There is, but if you search for it directly in the system, it comes up as cancelled. The cancellation date is the very day the current boundary zone population archive system was established—which is to say, from the very start, this person was 'gone.' Before even the date of birth listed in his file. And yet, after that cancellation date, this person's identity file has stayed in an 'active' state all along, with the word 'Cancelled' sitting there like an utterly inconsequential watermark in the system display," the short-haired girl set the folder on Song Cheng's desk, an expression of disbelief on her face. "You can even find some of his recent shopping and spending, social registrations, and travel records under this ID—all of it carried out normally while the system showed him as cancelled."
Song Cheng picked up the folder and looked up in surprise. "A bug that serious—the system never raised an alarm?"
"No. The Information Center is already arranging overtime for tonight. When I passed by, I saw Director Wu letting out an ear-piercing shriek..."
"...Let him shriek. He ends up doing it a few times every month anyway." Song Cheng shook his head and lowered his eyes to the materials in his hands.
From beginning to end, it all looked like a very ordinary resident's file, along with very ordinary daily spending records—except for the glaring red "Cancelled" watermark on every page, and the address "No. 66 Wutong Road," which shouldn't appear in the archive system at all.
Song Cheng swiveled his chair around, turned on the computer on his desk, went into one of the Special Affairs Bureau's internal applications, and typed in the keywords "No. 66 Wutong Road." After he hit Enter, it directly displayed an error.
"A ghost... a ghost living in the boundary zone, casting an indelible shadow across our complex population management system. And he didn't just surface recently, either—by that 'Yu Sheng's' own account, he's already lived in this city for over twenty years, which matches the records in the file," Song Cheng muttered, his expression a little grim—though that was mostly because of his frequent overtime lately. "All this time, no one noticed. Even the Director's eyes never caught sight of him—until now, when he jumped out on his own to make contact with us."
Li Lin and Xu Jiali exchanged a glance, and each saw a trace of gravity in the other's eyes.
—Fortunately, this "ghost" had no interest in causing destruction. He even believed himself to be an "ordinary person."
And just then, Song Cheng's gaze landed on a certain entry in the file.
"...A writer?" He raised his eyebrows in some surprise. "This ghost has a job?"
"Freelance writer. He submits work to some small magazines and media accounts, writes thriller stories or third-rate scripts, but he's not well known, and he's barely written anything lately."
Song Cheng thought for a moment. "...A flop?"
The short-haired girl looked serious. "He can support himself, so he's not really a flop."
"...What's his writing like?"
"There's a short piece at the end of the file. I found it in a magazine from last year—I had a feeling you might be interested."
Song Cheng immediately flipped the file to the last page and skimmed it quickly.
The short-haired girl watched Captain Song with faint anticipation. "What do you think?"
Song Cheng was silent for a moment, then looked troubled. "I... don't really understand what young people these days are into."
Having said that, he immediately gave two dry coughs, quietly closed the folder, and composed his expression. "But in any case, this is a lead very much worth following up—arrange for someone to collect everything this 'Yu Sheng' has written, and put together a psychological profile and a personality assessment. Also, keep an eye on his future... uh, 'creative output' at all times."
At this point he paused, then added, "A 'suspected entity' who believes himself to be human—not only does he think like a human, he can even create like a human. His works are bound to reveal his inner, more genuine way of thinking and his emotions. Nothing like this has ever happened before. It must be taken seriously—but don't let him notice."
"Understood, Captain Song."
The short-haired girl took the materials and left the office, and Song Cheng's gaze returned to Xu Jiali and Li Lin as well.
"Regarding the matter of creating a 'spatial rift' in the boundary zone—did you two ask the other party what the situation was?"
Hearing this, Li Lin felt a bit awkward and glanced at Xu Jiali. Seeing no sign that the other man meant to speak up, Li Lin could only reluctantly admit, "...I forgot to ask."
"You could forget that?!"
"I was overly tense at the time—maybe it was an aftereffect of witnessing the 'Murky Angel,'" Xu Jiali finally spoke up. A veteran like him bailed out the newcomer Li Lin the moment he opened his mouth. "But even though we didn't ask directly, while we were retreating to the hideout together with two of 'Yu Sheng's' companions, we did pick up some intelligence."
"You mean that doll and that fox spirit?"
"Right. According to what they mentioned in their conversation, the so-called 'spatial rift' seems to have been just... 'Yu Sheng' trying to open a door, to rescue the fox spirit trapped in the foreign domain."
Song Cheng stared. "...That's all it was?"
"It should be just that."
"...Just to find a way through, opening and closing a few doors, and he shook the whole boundary zone into an uproar, disturbing even the chickens and dogs?!"
Xu Jiali grimaced. "Actually, it only really shook things up as far as the Bureau..."
Noticing the expression on the captain's face, he immediately stopped there.
Song Cheng sat behind his desk, glaring and stewing, and after a good while he waved his hand in exhaustion. "All right, you two withdraw for now. This matter is a bit big—I need to discuss it with those above again."
Li Lin and Xu Jiali looked at each other. Xu Jiali spoke up hesitantly. "Then, regarding the formal contact with that 'Yu Sheng' afterward... do we still follow procedure?"
"Don't worry about that for now. This matter will most likely have to go through the Director," Song Cheng said with a sigh. "If that Yu Sheng really were an 'ordinary person,' I'd just send the two of you straight over, but things aren't that simple now. Go back and rest for now—ah, don't forget to stop by the 'treatment room' first, get your checkup and fill out the forms before you leave. Starting tomorrow, I'm giving you three days off."
Chapter 62