Yu Sheng's question made Baili Qing immediately raise her eyebrows slightly, though the movement was very small.
"There is, of course, only one boundary zone," Baili Qing said. "Things like a 'world intersection point' aren't mass-produced."
"I'm talking about 'Jiecheng,'" Yu Sheng said, his face grave. "There's only one boundary zone. Then what about Jiecheng? This city that sits in the boundary zone—could there be another city in the world much like it?"
He paused, looking into Baili Qing's eyes, and went on slowly. "Very much like it, but not quite the same. They share the same name, and there are places with the same names, but they aren't 'extraordinary' the way this one is—just an ordinary place.... If this world has an observable scale of tens of billions of light-years, or even wider than that, then across a span so vast, could a city matching my description exist?"
Perhaps it was his imagination, but when Baili Qing heard this, an oddly grave expression came over her face.
This "Director" was silent for several seconds before she spoke with great care. "About this 'conjecture' of yours—I'll call it a conjecture for now. The scholars actually have a hypothesis. It goes like this:
"If the spatial and temporal scales of the entire universe are infinite, or at least, in a statistical sense, nearly infinite within the range humanity can imagine and suppose, then it is possible for two identical or highly similar locations to arise in the universe—two planets with highly similar parameters, two similar mountain peaks, even... two extremely similar stretches of history. The probability of such a 'mirror' coming into being may not be high, but given enough time and space, it is by no means zero."
Yu Sheng thought it over and nodded slightly. "I think I've heard of a theory like that..."
"Then let me tell you one restriction on that hypothesis—the part of it that isn't made public," Baili Qing said. "It is this: even granting the hypothesis, even granting that any location and any event in the universe might have a 'mirror' somewhere in infinite time and space, there are two exceptions—two places that can have no mirror.
"The first is a planet called 'Terra.' It lies deep among the stars, very far from here, but it shares some hidden 'connection' with the boundary zone. The second is this boundary zone itself.
"In other words, there can be no second 'Jiecheng' in this world, because this city is a principal component of the boundary zone, and the boundary zone itself... has no mirror. No matter how boundless the universe's space, how infinite its time, from past to future there will be only this one boundary zone, only this one Jiecheng."
Yu Sheng's eyes widened slightly. For a long time he did not speak.
"Judging by your reaction..." Baili Qing adjusted her posture. "You're all but certain that another 'Jiecheng' exists in this world—to the point that you've seen it?" Yu Sheng forcibly pressed down the surging thoughts in his chest, drew a deep breath, and slowly tapped his fingers against the table in front of him.
"Yes. I've seen it. It's a small city by the sea. Driving from the southern edge of the city to the northern edge takes only thirty minutes. There are no 'foreign domains' there, and no Special Affairs Bureau. People live very ordinary lives. The sunlight... the sunlight is always good—soft, not harsh on the eyes. The evening glow is beautiful too..."
Yu Sheng described to the woman before him the scenes he remembered, one after another.
He hid nothing of this. Given that the other party already knew the truth of No. 66 Wutong Road, and that she was herself charged specifically with overseeing matters related to foreign domains, this "Director" seemed to be the person he could reach who was most likely to be able to help him.
Baili Qing listened quietly to his description. Those colorless eyes of hers seemed always able to conceal her truest emotional shifts. No one could tell what she was thinking as she heard these descriptions. Only after Yu Sheng finished did she suddenly speak. "May I take a look?"
Yu Sheng was taken aback. "Take a look? Look how?"
The woman across from him simply reached out and pressed her hand to his temple. Along with the cool touch came a momentary daze.
"This is my ability—if you don't mind, open your imagination to me for a moment. Of course, if you're uneasy about it, I certainly won't insist," Baili Qing said earnestly.
Yu Sheng frowned, weighed it quickly, and then nodded.
He closed his eyes and, in his memory, pictured his hometown—the way that "other Jiecheng" looked.
That ordinary little seaside city rose up in his mind, and then he felt as though another pair of eyes were watching those imagined scenes along with his memories.
A moment later, Yu Sheng opened his eyes.
He found that Baili Qing, across from him, still had her eyes closed—and that behind her, the café that stretched out endlessly was collapsing without a sound, from far to near. Those neatly arrayed, infinitely repeating tables and chairs were being swiftly devoured by darkness, and the structures falling in on themselves looked as though they were dropping into an invisible abyss.
For an instant Yu Sheng was dumbfounded, with no idea what was happening. "Hey! This place is collapsing! Hey, wake up! This—" He was halfway through when Baili Qing finally opened her eyes. "It's fine. Just a minor aftereffect of activating my ability." As she spoke, the collapsed buildings and tables and chairs in the distance quietly returned to how they had been.
Yu Sheng felt a little awkward and gave an abashed laugh or two. "Oh. Your ability is pretty... cool." Baili Qing said nothing, only rubbed her forehead lightly, as though thinking about something.
"Did you see it all?" Yu Sheng asked, curious. "So, uh, what do you think—"
"I saw it. It really is as you described—a... peaceful little seaside city, yet in many places it bears the shadow of this one," Baili Qing cut in. For some reason she seemed to hesitate as she spoke, but that hesitation was quickly smoothed away. "I now believe you really have seen such a 'Jiecheng.' But I'm curious—why are you so set on this 'place'?"
"For some personal reasons, I want to find it," Yu Sheng said gravely. "But according to what you said..."
"Theory is, in the end, only theory," Baili Qing said, shaking her head. Her attitude was suddenly not as certain as it had been at first; there was much more room to maneuver in her words. "In fact, I still don't believe a second boundary zone exists in this world. But if it's only that some place happens to resemble this city a little in its architecture and layout, then... that isn't entirely impossible either."
Yu Sheng looked at the woman before him with some suspicion. "...Really?"
"Who knows?" Baili Qing let out a breath. "Some scholar once said that our universe is still very young—that there are even new laws of physics that haven't yet had time to come into being.
"Which means everything we understand about this world, understood from a human vantage point, could be wrong, or could be overturned one day in the future. Right now I do believe the 'Jiecheng' you showed me truly exists—it's just that... it isn't recorded even in the boundary zone's archives."
"Then if one day you find it—"
"You'll be the first to know." Baili Qing nodded earnestly. Yu Sheng thanked her.
But he did not quite believe it, because on instinct he always felt that this woman was not being altogether "sincere" with him in this matter. He didn't know where the feeling came from, but he decided not to pursue the subject.
"I have one more question," Yu Sheng said, quickly changing the subject. "I'm asking on behalf of a friend of mine." Baili Qing nodded. "Ask. I have plenty of time today."
Yu Sheng thought for a moment, gathering his words. "About 'Alice's Cottage'—does your Special Affairs Bureau know this organization?"
"Alice's Cottage? Of course we know it," Baili Qing answered at once. "Those 'living dolls' are active in the supernatural realm, and they've had no few dealings with us."
Yu Sheng's heart stirred; he felt he had finally found the right organization for the little doll. "You mean 'Alice's Dolls'? So this 'Cottage' is also registered with the Special Affairs Bureau?"
"No, you've got one thing wrong," Baili Qing said, shaking her head. "Alice's Cottage isn't something 'registered with the Special Affairs Bureau.' It is an independent power located outside the boundary zone. They keep a very low profile, but their influence is actually not smaller than the Special Affairs Bureau's."
Yu Sheng: "...?"
"This world does not have only one special place, the boundary zone, and naturally it does not have only one great organization, the Special Affairs Bureau. We are merely one of the many official bodies that deal with foreign domains and entities. Besides us there is the 'Bamosha Hermit Society' founded by the Bamosha people, the 'Academy' and the 'Archaeology Association' from Terra, the 'Astrology Association' of the Argelades, and so on and so forth. The 'Alice's Cottage' you just mentioned is another such independent power—they follow an ancient holy spirit called 'Alice,' and are ancient creations directly blessed by an ancient holy spirit. The era in which they were active... is even earlier than the Special Affairs Bureau."
Yu Sheng: "..."
That Irene really did have such a big background behind her?! So the little doll hadn't just been boasting all this time!
Yu Sheng made no attempt to hide the change in his expression, and Baili Qing quickly noticed something. "As I recall, the report mentioned that there's also a 'doll' by your side?"
"That's right. Her name is Irene. She claims to be a member of 'Alice's Dolls' as well—it's just that she was accidentally sealed away for a long time."
"But I also recall the report saying that she's only about this tall..." As she spoke, Baili Qing raised a hand and indicated a height beside the table.
Yu Sheng rubbed the tip of his nose awkwardly. "Ah, well, that would be another accident..."
Chapter 72