Chapter 21: First time a stranger, second time a friend

In fact, as early as when he first learned of the existence of the "Otherworld"—that dangerous and pervasive phenomenon—and realized that this massive "Boundary City" was a special place known as the "Borderlands," Yu Sheng had thought that there must be a group of people dedicated to dealing with such phenomena. Not the kind of lone wolves or scattered stragglers (though such people certainly existed), but organized, professional, and even formalized entities.

There were official ones, and there were likely civilian ones as well.

But just as Irene said, under normal circumstances, these people would not come into contact with ordinary people.

The Otherworld exists beyond common sense, at the edge of reason; it is the countless tiny and dangerous holes in the seemingly stable mountain of reality. An ordinary person might go their entire life without ever encountering the scenery hidden deep within those holes, but once an unlucky person accidentally catches a glimpse of the fleeting shadows escaping from them, there is no turning back.

This was the "knowledge" Irene had told him from the very beginning. Based solely on these descriptions, Yu Sheng could judge that those who specialized in dealing with the Otherworld would surely find ways to prevent ordinary people from accessing any information related to it, including their own existence.

But if something truly happened, they should have their own response mechanisms...

Yu Sheng looked up again, staring at the desolate streets outside the window.

"Seriously, how long does it usually take for those 'professionals' you mentioned to react?" he asked uneasily.

"I don't know, I can't quite remember... but my impression is that they're very fast," Irene said, hugging her teddy bear and rocking back and forth in her chair, looking somewhat provocative. "They have a whole bunch of ways to perceive anomalies. The entire Borderlands should be covered in their surveillance—at least it was before I was sealed. It must be even more advanced now."

Yu Sheng said nothing, merely staring at the doll in the oil painting.

"Of—of course, professionals are human too. Everyone has their clumsy side; maybe they're occasionally a bit slow to react?" Irene suddenly sounded guilty. "Or maybe they just didn't notice the anomaly on your end... even though the commotion over here has been quite large..."

"Sounds pretty unreliable," Yu Sheng frowned, then sighed. "According to you, this entire house of mine is an 'Otherworld,' yet no one has come knocking so far. I seriously doubt the professionalism of these 'professionals' you speak of... Sigh, I feel like in the end, I'll have to rely on myself."

Irene blinked. "O-oh, really?"

Then she asked curiously, "What do you plan to do? From what you're saying... you still intend to deal with that valley, and the entity inside it?"

"It's not that I want to deal with it, it's that it will inevitably come looking for me again. I have a feeling," Yu Sheng said, his lips twitching. He thought of that eerie freezing rain and the frog within it. "And didn't you say? Once you've dealt with the Otherworld, there's no turning back—I've likely been in contact with the 'Otherworld' longer than you think."

"That... well, you're right. Indeed, quite a few people who specialize in the Otherworld started out as ordinary people who were just unlucky enough to be caught up in an incident," Irene mumbled. "In my memory, it seems about one-tenth of ordinary people, either actively or passively, become 'Otherworld experts' after contact. After all, it counts as being haunted by something dirty..."

Hearing Irene's words, Yu Sheng couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Only one-tenth? Then what about the other nine-tenths? Did they successfully return to their normal lives?"

Irene looked up. "They died."

Yu Sheng: "..."

"There... there are also survivors. Quite a few people are rescued every year," Irene noticed Yu Sheng's expression and hurriedly explained, though she added a follow-up: "Of course, it seems more people die."

"...Irene." Yu Sheng looked at the doll in the painting.

"Eh, eh?"

"If you don't know how to speak, you don't have to."

"O-oh, okay?"

Yu Sheng sighed and slowly rose from the dining table.

"Whether I die or not doesn't actually have much impact on me, but I do need to find a way to gather more intelligence regarding the Otherworld. Those 'professionals' you mentioned... if they won't come to me, then I'll have to go looking for them," he said while thinking. "After all, your memory and experience are quite unreliable."

"Go looking for them?" Irene didn't seem to care about the second half of Yu Sheng's sentence; she still looked quite cheerful. "Then... then why don't you go check the nearby telephone poles to see if there are any small advertisements posted by certain Otherworld security companies?"

Yu Sheng looked helpless. "...I'm being serious."

"I'm being serious too," Irene blinked. "They really do leave contact information behind, to make it easy for ordinary people like you who have encountered the Otherworld once and luckily returned to seek help. It's just that normal people usually can't see these contact methods; they've all been processed with 'technical means.' But people who have been in contact with the Otherworld are different. They undergo some sort of 'spiritual awakening' change, which gives them a high chance of noticing those 'hidden sigils' that are normally concealed."

At this point, Irene suddenly paused, looking Yu Sheng up and down with a quite serious expression. "Don't you feel like something... has changed in you?"

Changes occurring after contact with the Otherworld?!

Hearing the doll's words, Yu Sheng's heart stirred, and he quickly spoke up: "The changes you're talking about—is it becoming strong enough to crush stones, recovering from a slash with just a few breaths, being able to perceive others' memories and thoughts, and perhaps even being able to come back from the dead... things like that?"

Irene was stunned, staring at Yu Sheng as if he were an alien. "What?"

"...Is it not?"

"At most, you might see things you couldn't see before! Are the things you're describing even human? You've changed species—stop reading so many novels and watching so much anime, okay?"

Yu Sheng: "..."

Seeing the doll's reaction, Yu Sheng decisively decided not to pursue the topic.

His situation was indeed abnormal. Even within the realm of the "supernatural," it seemed a bit too supernatural.

Fortunately, Irene didn't seem to think much of it—perhaps it was truly because she had been sealed for too long; this doll's brain didn't seem to be very sharp.

Yu Sheng exhaled and looked toward the kitchen.

A faint trace of conflict and hesitation flashed across his face, then his lips twitched, and he stepped toward the kitchen.

The Irene in the oil painting immediately jumped off her chair. "Hey, are you making breakfast?"

He didn't know why this creature, who couldn't eat anything at all, got so excited every time mealtime arrived.

"I'm going to deal with the 'local specialty' I just brought back," Yu Sheng said without looking back.

Irene waved one hand while holding her teddy bear with the other. "Oh, go ahead then..."

The doll suddenly stopped.

Her brain, which wasn't very bright due to being sealed for so long, finally realized one thing.

...Where on earth would an "Otherworld specialty" come from?!

"Wait!" Irene suddenly let out a scream, the noise nearly startling Yu Sheng, who had already reached the kitchen door. "What kind of 'local specialty' is that?!"

Yu Sheng walked into the kitchen, stopped, turned around, and smiled slightly. "Guess?"

Irene's eyes widened as she watched Yu Sheng begin to tie on an apron. A hint of shock and a look of "is this man's brain finally breaking" gradually emerged in her crimson eyes. "Wait, wait, what are you doing? You're not planning to... no, did you really get that thing off that entity?! How did an ordinary person like you do it?! Hey, you're not actually going to..."

Yu Sheng decisively closed the kitchen door, shutting out Bipbi's babbling.

A moment later, Irene's faint shouting drifted from the dining room: "Hey, don't close the door! At least help me restart the TV first! I can't watch the TV!"

But Yu Sheng was no longer paying attention to her.

He went to the sink, removed the pot lid that was pressing down on the "meat," and saw that the severed tail in the sink seemed to have become completely still, with only the muscle ends occasionally twitching slightly.

He silently looked at this severed tail that had once burrowed into his stomach, and once again felt that "appetite" seeping out from his very bones.

But this time, the appetite was not as violent as it had been at the beginning; it merely pulsed slightly, carrying a certain pleasant anticipation and a well-timed sense of restlessness.

Is it really okay? Is this normal? Am I still normal?

Yu Sheng ran through all these questions, but his thoughts did not cause the slightest hesitation in his movements.

Preparing the scallions, ginger, and cooking wine, and taking out the cutting board and knife, Yu Sheng carefully washed the severed tail with fresh water, scraped off the scales, placed it on the board, and sliced it down.

It was easier to cut than expected—even though it had been as hard as stone when it was on that monster, the sensation of the knife cutting through it now was merely like firm beef.

And there were no bones inside.

Yu Sheng had thought about it; the first time he felt his body undergo "strengthening" was after gnawing on that monster.

And after that, during his second encounter with the monster, he had also torn at its flesh, and felt his strength increase further—though the margin was significantly smaller, there was indeed a change.

This had brewed a bold and... delicious idea.

What would happen if it were cooked?

Yu Sheng's hands and feet were nimble as he segmented the meat, his mood gradually improving.

Even the boisterous Irene outside became less noisy.

He didn't know if what he was doing was normal... it was most likely not, after all, even a doll sealed in an oil painting thought this was incredibly eerie.

But compared to coming back from the dead, a suspicious piece of meat was truly nothing much.

"I've eaten raw before," Yu Sheng whispered to himself as he sliced the meat, "the second time is always easier..."