Chapter 36: The Person Who Stayed Up All Night (Not Yu Sheng)

Regardless of whether he adapted well to working with him or not, Li Lin had to admit that Xu Jiali was indeed the most outstanding Diver he had ever met—having such a heavy hitter available for support at a time like this at least proved that the Bureau was looking out for him as a newcomer.

That was, provided he could endure the big man's big mouth and boastful personality, especially every time he returned from a mission.

"I'm telling you, I ran into something truly supernatural during this mission," the burly man on the sofa said to himself, grabbing a bottle of water from the coffee table and unscrewing it while talking casually. "I caught that Angel Cultist who had been slumming it in Aimein. I finally cornered him in the No-Man's Land, and just as we were fighting, I looked up, and guess what?"

Li Lin rolled his eyes. "You loudmouth, is that something you can talk about out in the open?"

"Of course I can. I've already reported it to the Bureau, and this part of the intel has been cleared for public disclosure to you," Xu Jiali waved a hand, continuing regardless of whether Li Lin wanted to hear it. "I looked up, and holy shit! A person was just standing right there! Do you know what they looked like? Just wearing a shirt and trousers, standing in the toxic heatwinds of Aimein-IX. Oh, and there was a doorframe standing right next to them. I was fucking stunned—I was a second away from killing that cultist, but the shock made me lose my opening. Luckily, I was one step ahead in the end..."

Li Lin waved his hand impatiently, walking toward his monitoring equipment by the window as he muttered, "Alright, alright. Every story ends with 'luckily I was one step ahead.' Can't you come up with a more original twist?"

"But I *was* one step ahead," the burly man said, eyes widening as he watched Li Lin's movements. "Hey, wait, aren't you surprised? I saw a person in the toxic heatwinds of Aimein-IX! Without even wearing a power suit! Even the Captain isn't that hardcore!"

"Last time you saw someone suddenly appear without protective gear in the acid rain of Tata-V, it was a professor from the 'Academy' out collecting research material," Li Lin said without looking back. "The world isn't lacking for strange characters, not to mention that frequent diving causes all sorts of hallucinations. I've heard similar horror stories from you eight hundred times; I don't believe a single punctuation mark of them now. Come talk to me when you see someone standing outside your shuttle window flying alongside you as you launch from the starport orbit—at least that would sound somewhat innovative."

"I have seen that!" The burly man grinned and plopped down directly onto Li Lin's bed. "It was a Taoist priest from Qianfeng Spirit Mountain. My god, just as I was about to accelerate, he held a mirror up to my monitor and waved it around, saying he was going to overtake me... Overtake my ass. If he's so tough, he should try entering warp with his physical body..."

Li Lin's movements finally came to a halt. He turned his head, looking at the seated Xu (Burly) Jiali, and after a long silence, sighed, "Your lives during special field operations are certainly colorful."

"Why don't you go get your Diver certification too? Maybe next time you can run special ops with me," the burly man prodded. "What's so great about the Boundary? It's dangerous, it's a hassle, and everything you do carries heavy responsibility."

Li Lin thought about it and shook his head. "The Boundary will always be short-handed; someone has to guard this massive 'hub.' And honestly, I don't think risking your life against Angel Cultists on wasteland planets in a power suit is much better than staying in the Boundary to handle extra-dimensional security. Besides... even when you're on special ops, aren't you still dealing with the 'Extra-dimensions' anyway?"

"That's different. The density of the Extra-dimensions out there isn't this high. It's nothing like the Boundary. Dammit, in a twenty-stop bus route, seven of them are Extra-dimensions..."

Li Lin glanced back at Xu Jiali, wanting to say that 99.99% of people would only see the seven normal stations under normal circumstances, but remembering that this man's file stated he had accidentally wandered into an Extra-dimensional "platform" at the age of twelve and survived there alone for six whole years—only becoming a Diver after psychological correction because he couldn't escape the pursuit of the Extra-dimensions—the words remained unsaid.

There were two types of frontline combat personnel in the Special Affairs Bureau: those who rose through the standard training and assessment process, and those who were fished out of the Extra-dimensions.

Do not flaunt your erudition in front of people with traumatic experiences—even if they don't care about it at all.

Li Lin lowered his head, focusing on checking the various parameters recorded by the equipment.

The burly man beside him seemed a bit bored. He was a pure combatant, sent here primarily as combat reinforcement; he had little interest in "surveillance" type work.

"The Bureau is in a total mess right now," he said suddenly after a period of boredom. "Several squad leaders have been called in for overtime. I heard even the Director went."

"I know," Li Lin said without looking up. "This is the Boundary, after all."

"Is this kind of thing common in the Boundary?" The burly man scratched his hair. "Have there been similar 'anomalies' before? I'm out on special ops all year round, so I don't know much about it..."

"If you're talking about the spatial displacement phenomenon tonight, it hasn't happened before. But if you're talking about 'anomalies' as a concept, the Boundary never lacks them. This is... the Boundary, after all."

"Fine, charming Boundary, I love this place to death," the burly man stretched his arms and shoulders, leaning back onto Li Lin's bed. His heavy frame made the poor single bed creak. "People who want to destroy this world and people who want to protect it both love this place to death. Luckily I don't have to pull shifts at the Bureau; I heard the Captain and the others are working overtime every day."

Li Lin did not answer him, focusing intently on his task of monitoring and recording.

Just then, the sudden ring of a mobile phone broke the silence in the room.

Li Lin glanced at the screen and immediately picked up. "This is Li Lin... Yes, hmm? Ah, okay, I understand."

The burly man sat up from the bed, looking curiously at Li Lin's strange expression. "What's up?"

Li Lin had a peculiar look on his face as he looked up at the calm night sky outside the window.

"The Bureau just called. The rift phenomenon... has stopped."

The burly man froze.

"Stopped?" He widened his eyes. "Just stopped? No follow-up attacks, no Angel Cultists or anything? Not even an Extra-dimension appeared?"

"No, it just stopped. Right now, all the monitoring nodes in the Boundary have gone quiet."

"Then wasn't my night shift for nothing?"

"It wasn't for nothing—and we have to keep working. The people at the Bureau aren't resting either," Li Lin shook his phone. "Everyone continue monitoring to see if the force creating the rift phenomenon makes any further moves. Go sleep in the next room for now; I'll wake you in six hours to take over for me."

"Alright," the burly man stood up immediately, without a single word of complaint this time. "Wake me up immediately if anything happens."

Li Lin nodded, his gaze returning to the night outside.

"Another sleepless night..." he murmured softly.

...

Yu Sheng slept very soundly in the middle of the night.

After successfully replicating a "door" leading to a certain distant space-time, he had firmly memorized that feeling. He knew how to control the so-called "spiritual guidance" and how to imbue the door with a specific "frequency" when opening it, thereby allowing the door to lead stably to a designated location.

He felt that most things in this world could be categorized as "easy the second time around."

After that, he had been constantly practicing and strengthening this process of opening the door, successfully replicating various kinds of passages until he was exhausted.

Sleep after exhaustion is always exceptionally sound; he felt he hadn't slept this well in many years.

However, he felt a slight regret: in this night of good sleep, he had not dreamed of that fox—he hadn't even dreamed at all.

It seemed that the dream involving the fox was not a stable generation.

This brought a sense of unease and a slight urgency to Yu Sheng's heart.

After waking up in the morning, he told Irene about the situation.

"It's fine, don't overthink it. That fox has survived in the Extra-dimensions for so many years; nothing is going to happen just because of a day or two," Irene didn't resort to trash talk this time, instead comforting Yu Sheng earnestly. "Dreams are inherently unstable. Maybe you'll see her again the next time you dream?"

"I hope so," Yu Sheng said casually, picking up a slice of meat from the table and putting it in his bowl.

This was meat sliced from that "local specialty." He had eaten it for three consecutive meals and still hadn't finished it, nor had he grown tired of it.

However, he could no longer feel any physical strengthening from this "consumption." It seemed the effect of this thing on him had reached its limit.

But regardless, the taste was still quite good.

"What are your plans after eating?" Irene's voice came from beside him. "Continue practicing 'opening the door'? Or try to replicate that passage to the 'Valley'?"

"I need to go out and buy some things first. After I get back, I'll start trying to construct the path to the Valley. This might take a long time; I don't remember the 'feeling' from back then very clearly," Yu Sheng said, suddenly noticing the hesitant expression on Irene's face. "Hmm? Do you have something in mind?"

Irene stared straight at him. The doll-lady seemed to be hesitating, only speaking after several seconds. "...Give me half a day first."

Yu Sheng was stunned. He rarely saw such a solemn expression on this doll's face.

"Give you half a day... to do what?"

"Make me a body," Irene said calmly and firmly.

(End of Chapter)