Baili Qing didn't press Yu Sheng about what the “other accident” he'd mentioned had been, nor did she question him much about Irene. She simply gave him a rough explanation of the situation with “Alice's Cottage.”
“Most of Alice's Dolls stay outside the boundary zone, keeping the balance in other places. They hardly ever involve themselves in the Special Affairs Bureau's affairs, but they do have a fixed line of communication with the boundary zone. There's a contact point, right at the edge of the city—though ordinary people can't find it, and the dolls generally don't receive unfamiliar visitors.
“Still, I can send someone over there to ask about ‘Irene’ first. If there really is such a doll out there on her own... they should be willing to meet you.
“But it probably won't be quick. The dolls are very busy and have missions of their own, and the contact point in the boundary zone isn't staffed at all times. You may have to wait a while.”
Yu Sheng didn't mind. “That's fine, as long as your Bureau is willing to help. Let me thank you on Irene's behalf first.”
“A small effort,” Baili Qing said calmly. “Helping those who've fallen into trouble after coming into contact with the ‘extraordinary realm’ is one of the Special Affairs Bureau's jobs. If there's anything else you need help with, you can tell me all at once.”
Yu Sheng perked up at that. “As it happens, there is.” “Oh?”
“Can you help get two ID cards issued?” Yu Sheng said quickly. “If not, one would do too—real ones would be best.” Baili Qing: “...?”
“You should know I've got one more person over on my side now, someone I just rescued from a foreign domain. I don't know where her hometown is, and she has no legal identity here,” Yu Sheng explained. “I wanted to ask whether the Bureau has any way to arrange something for her. And then there's Irene, who has no legal identity either. Of course, that one isn't urgent—at her current height, an ID card wouldn't let her go out on her own anyway.”
Baili Qing's expression turned a little odd; Yu Sheng figured it was probably the first time in all her years as director that anyone had made such a request of her. Soon, though, she nodded. “This isn't the Bureau's work, but I can help. And if that doll truly needs one, it can be arranged as well. Of course, as you say, she'll probably just be a collectible holding an ID card... though in certain settings it might still come in handy?”
Yu Sheng thanked her repeatedly. He could now be sure of it: this rather young-looking female director really was easy to talk to, and when there was something to be done, she genuinely did it.
So he took the opening to raise another matter. “There's one more thing, also about someone I recently rescued from a foreign domain. I wanted to ask... can the Bureau help look for her hometown? Since you all oversee such a huge stretch of territory, your information network has to be much better than mine.”
“You can start by telling me about her situation,” Baili Qing said without refusing. “The report gave very few details. All I know is that she's a humanoid creature with beastification traits, and in the Bureau's records, the species with such traits number in the hundreds.”
“Damn, that many....” Yu Sheng was taken aback, but he caught on quickly and began recalling Hu Li's various descriptions of her homeland. “She says she comes from a place where immortals and ‘demons’ coexist. From the way she describes it, that place's level of civilization must be extremely high. She also mentioned a group called the ‘Heavenly People,’ saying they enlightened the people living on the ground....
Yu Sheng recounted it as thoroughly as he could, messy details included. But given Hu Li's state of mind when she told him all this, he added a few words of warning in the end. “What I've told you is only a reference. She seems to have still been a child when she left home, and after being trapped for so long, both her memory and her thinking are a bit muddled. There are bound to be parts she got wrong or exaggerated.”
“I... understand.” Baili Qing nodded a little hesitantly after hearing him out. Her face lacked expression, but the hesitation still showed that her mood at that moment was somewhat complicated. “Indeed, what you've described sounds a bit... wild. I'm not certain the Bureau's archives contain a place matching those traits.”
She had put it mildly, but Yu Sheng had already caught what she meant. There was probably no corresponding record in the Bureau at all.
“Do what you can. If it really can't be found, there's nothing to be done,” Yu Sheng said with a sigh. “She doesn't really have family anymore, and she isn't that attached to her hometown either. Helping her find it is really just a wish of my own.”
“You seem quite warmhearted,” Baili Qing remarked suddenly.
“I suppose I am?” Yu Sheng grew a bit embarrassed instead. “In the end, all my ‘warmheartedness’ just makes trouble for you people.”
“The Bureau has always dealt with ‘trouble.’ By comparison, we're actually more willing to make contact with persons of interest like you,” Baili Qing said. “If the targets we usually face were all like you, the Bureau's work would be much easier—at least the ‘contact’ stage would be far less taxing.”
Yu Sheng raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
“Clear thinking, able to communicate, doesn't suddenly attack people, doesn't drop dead on the spot.” Baili Qing sighed and spread her hands. Complaining about one's job was probably the most honest thing any working person could do, and the gesture made her seem rather human at that moment. “Hitting three out of those four already makes you one of the ‘quality clients’ we rarely see day to day.”
Yu Sheng: “Your Bureau's normal work environment is that brutal?!” Baili Qing didn't answer. She only sighed.
Yu Sheng had never worked at the Special Affairs Bureau, but he understood that sigh instantly.
Baili Qing quickly returned to her strictly official manner. “I've answered many of your questions already—do you have any others?”
“Questions... none for the moment.” Yu Sheng thought for a moment and shifted in his seat. “So shouldn't we move on to the ‘registration’ procedure you mentioned earlier?”
“Normally, an ‘ordinary person’ who has come into contact with a foreign domain must register at one of the Bureau's offices and undergo basic examination and assessment, accompanied throughout by the contact personnel we assign. However... since this is a special case, I can use a little of the director's authority and skip these formalities,” Baili Qing said, her colorless eyes studying Yu Sheng. “But first I'd like to hear what plans you have for the future.”
Yu Sheng lowered his head to think for a moment, then looked up and asked seriously, “If I register as a spirit realm detective or an independent investigator, would there be any conveniences?”
Baili Qing showed no surprise at all, as though she had long anticipated this turn. She simply nodded slightly and answered, “In short, you would gain access to the intelligence the Special Affairs Bureau shares with the boundary zone's various legitimate extraordinary organizations and individuals, the right to use a great many support facilities, a liaison platform with other organizations or individuals, a ‘legal identity’ acknowledged by other powers, and most importantly—access permission.”
Yu Sheng leaned forward unconsciously. “Access permission?”
“There are many ‘points’ in the boundary zone connected to the ‘distant lands,’ and most of those points are under control. Using those connection points or entering certain restricted areas requires access permission—of course, I suspect your ‘door’ can probably ignore these issues, but legal passage means you can get more intelligence support. If you want to deal with foreign domains, ‘intelligence’ is more useful than any combat strength most of the time. And...”
“And?”
“And do consider the rest of us, who have to work overtime at the Bureau,” Baili Qing said with a sudden sigh. “From now on, if there's somewhere you can reach by card, don't open a door.” Yu Sheng was instantly embarrassed.
Fortunately he was thick-skinned; after a moment of awkwardness he composed himself and nodded with a straight face. “I've always been happy to help maintain order.” Baili Qing said nothing and simply took it at face value.
Then she looked seriously into Yu Sheng's eyes. “Anything else you want to ask?” “What are the requirements for registering as a spirit realm detective and as an independent investigator?”
“An independent investigator is simple: clear thinking, the mental preparation to face death, experience surviving in a foreign domain or at least the basic knowledge of it. Beyond that, we only need to confirm that you aren't doing this suicidal work out of madness, and then you meet the conditions. The requirements for a spirit realm detective are a bit higher—aside from the skills an investigator must have, you also need a legally valid ‘registered organization.’”
“A registered organization?” Yu Sheng thought about it. “Oh, I get it. Something like the ‘Fairytale’ organization behind Little Red Riding Hood, right?”
“That's one way to understand it.” Baili Qing nodded. “So most people who survive a foreign domain and want to keep dealing with the extraordinary world start as independent investigators—finding an organization willing to take in an unfamiliar newcomer is very difficult. In many dangerous foreign domains, a clumsy newcomer can pose more danger than an encounter with an entity. Of course, there are exceptions, like a group that encounters a foreign domain together and all survive it, though that's rare.”
“Are there restrictions on registering such an organization?” Yu Sheng asked curiously.
“At least two members who meet investigator qualifications, at least one member with experience fighting entities, a stable contact location and means of contact, and—the name must not contain words or special punctuation that violate public order and good morals. Beyond that, a declaration of lawful operation and of doing no harm to the boundary zone's order and security. That's all.”
Yu Sheng listened in a daze. “...That's it? No other requirements??” A faint smile seemed to surface on Baili Qing's face.
“This is a fight against foreign domains and entities—facing those things beyond what human reason can grasp and surviving is the only valid ‘standard,’” she said. “We don't need to set up any thresholds. ‘Survival’ is the greatest threshold of all.”
Yu Sheng said “oh” and rubbed his chin. “Then it sounds like that threshold is pretty low....”
Chapter 73