With a loud bang, the door of the small supermarket slammed shut, cutting off the intense heat from the scorched planet and the sudden murderous aura that burst forth from the two armored soldiers.
Yu Sheng stood at the entrance, somewhat dazed.
After several seconds of being lost in thought, he suddenly inhaled sharply and turned his head to look around.
The street was almost empty, with only a few passersby who seemed completely oblivious to the unusual scene.
Only Yu Sheng had faced the bizarre moment just moments ago and now stood there, feeling troubled by the sudden whirlwind of thoughts in his mind.
After gathering his thoughts for a while, Yu Sheng slowly turned back to glance at the supermarket.
He had been here many times over the past two months.
Located in the old city area, this small supermarket didn't stock much, but it had the basic daily necessities like rice and oil.
The owners were a young couple, and Yu Sheng was now somewhat familiar with them.
The supermarket’s exterior was nothing special, just an ordinary ground-level shop.
The street-facing side had a large glass window, filled with promotional signs and little products crammed against the glass.
The glass door had a broken hinge on one side, with an A4 paper taped on it saying "This door is broken."
Through the door, one could see some crowded shelves and the shop owner busy near the shelves.
Everything appeared perfectly normal; there was nothing more ordinary than this.
But Yu Sheng would never dismiss what he had just witnessed as an “illusion.” Even now, he could still feel the hot, faintly sulfuric scent lingering in his nostrils.
He almost stepped forward, but thankfully, the aftereffects of his strange experience in another realm left him overly sensitive—not just to the door to his home, but to any door.
He always hesitated a moment before opening, and another reason for his hesitation at that moment was a feeling of… “a shiver” deep inside when opening a door.
Standing at the entrance of the supermarket, Yu Sheng steadied himself.
After pondering for a moment, he reached out and grasped the door handle, then pushed the door open slightly, leaning in to take a look inside.
The supermarket seemed completely normal.
There weren’t many people at that hour; the owner was still busy behind the shelves, apparently unaware of the commotion at the door.
After retreating, Yu Sheng closed the door again, then firmly gripped the handle, taking a deep breath as if trying to garner the courage to face himself.
With a firm determination, he pushed the door open wide.
A tall woman with long golden hair wearing a silver-white robe stood on a platform across from him.
She turned in surprise, looking at Yu Sheng.
She was quite beautiful, but her ears were not human; they were long and elegant, with several glowing wires and data cables extending from behind them.
However, what Yu Sheng was more concerned about was the circular contraption extending from beneath her silver robe, along with the mechanical limbs flailing about behind her with various tools in hand.
A voice called out from somewhere behind the golden-haired woman: “... Boss! The customer is asking if the ultra-light core delivered last week has been fixed.”
But the woman didn’t respond.
Instead, she stared fixedly at Yu Sheng, as if struggling to find her words, until finally, she shouted, “How the hell did you get in here?!”
Yu Sheng slammed the door shut.
But in the next moment, he abruptly pushed the door open again—because he had not clearly seen before.
Was that a fairy on the other side? This was the first time in his life he had ever seen a fairy! Was that actually a fairy?! Was something about this scene completely off?!
As the door opened, a young boy dressed in a brown coarse robe stared at Yu Sheng, their eyes wide in shock.
The area around the door frame was scorched, and the boy was half-fanning himself with a fan, his eyes bulging as if about to pop out.
Before Yu Sheng could say anything, the young boy threw the fan in the air as if he had seen a ghost.
He jumped and ran out, shouting, “Master! Master! The senior brother has become! A person popped out of the furnace! It has a nose and eyes! And it breathes!”
“What the hell...”
Yu Sheng gasped in alarm, shutting the door with all his might and stepping back several paces before steadying himself.
Looking back on the street, he noticed a few passersby were staring, puzzled, at his erratic behavior—but they seemed only to have seen his strange actions, not the quick closure of the door itself.
Yu Sheng hurried to adjust his expression, acting as if nothing unusual had happened, then stepped aside to catch his breath.
He stood momentarily in thought at the street corner, feeling utterly bewildered.
Everything was too chaotic and bizarre—it left him uncertain whether he was simply frightened or his understanding of the world had been radically altered, or if he had survived some catastrophe.
All he knew was his mind felt like a storm had erupted within it—like two hundred voices were clamoring chaotically, and he remained lost in thought for seven or eight minutes without gathering himself.
Yet, one thing he soon confirmed.
The place on the other side of the door… was not another realm.
At least the place with the mechanical fairy beauty and the young boy with the fan was definitely not another realm, while regarding the two clearly powerful soldiers clad in battle armor—who had been engaged in a fierce fight… their surroundings were harsh and unclear if it was another realm.
After a long while, Yu Sheng's chaotic thoughts finally calmed down, and he forced himself to organize and suppress the wild speculations.
He lowered his gaze and glanced at his hands.
After some hesitation, he slowly stretched out a hand, reaching to the side—he was currently standing at the corner of a street, right next to a bare concrete wall.
He rubbed the rough surface of the wall and imagined… there was a door there.
Just as he had found the hidden door handle at the end of the corridor at home, or the time he instinctively reached out to grab the air while getting thrown into the sky by a monster, pulling open a doorway back to the real world—
He felt it there, a door.
He couldn’t see it, but it appeared; he held the handle, and slowly, the door began to materialize, aligning into view.
He turned his head slowly, his expression stiffening—there, in his line of sight, the door shimmered with a faint light, as if it could be opened with the slightest touch.
“Damn it!” Yu Sheng gasped in shock, and in his sudden panic, he instinctively let go of the “door,” which instantly vanished silently against the wall.
His heart raced wildly, as if it might leap straight out of his chest.
He took several deep breaths to calm down and recalled the feeling of grasping the door handle moments before, forcing a smile.
“Aileen,” he called in his heart, holding onto a complex blend of emotions he couldn’t articulate.
“Hey?” Aileen’s voice chimed in energetically, “I was just about to contact you. You’ve been out for a while. Did you overbuy at the supermarket or something?”
Yu Sheng replied, “... I haven’t even entered the supermarket.”
Aileen asked, “Did you get lost?”
“I just wanted to tell you that I’m not going to consider moving anymore,” Yu Sheng said, brushing off Aileen’s nonchalant guess.
“Aha?! Really?” Aileen sounded a bit happy but also curious, “Why? Didn’t you say this place feels off? Especially with the door that could throw you anywhere…”
“It’s nothing. I just suddenly realized… that the real issue isn’t the house,” Yu Sheng sighed, “I think the one who’s actually off is me.”
Aileen: “...?”
She didn’t reply, but Yu Sheng could almost visualize her bewildered expression filled with question marks.
“It’s a bit complicated to explain. Just know that you don’t need to worry about me moving anymore,” Yu Sheng leaned against the wall, rubbing his forehead, “Maybe I’ll explain it to you later when I have the chance.”
Aileen’s curiosity was piqued, but sensing Yu Sheng didn’t wish to delve deeper, she simply responded with an “oh.”
Thus, Yu Sheng ended the conversation with Aileen.
He didn’t reveal the specific details of what had happened when he “opened the door.” It wasn’t due to any other concerns; mostly, his thoughts were still tangled and muddled.
He had overlooked many details of the “door opening” experience due to chaos—he needed to take time to sort through the memories later.
Yu Sheng decided to return home and think it through before discussing everything with Aileen.
Of course, he knew that even if he told Aileen, she would likely be just as perplexed, but it was better to have someone to think with rather than puzzle it out alone.
After all, Aileen had some knowledge of the supernatural field—even if it wasn’t much.
A few minutes later, Yu Sheng stepped out from the alley, shook off the eerie sensation in the now cooling night breeze, and glanced toward the small supermarket not far away.
After hesitating, he took a step forward, walking toward the supermarket.
He decided to complete the shopping plan for the day—though the “door” incident was unsettling, he couldn’t just avoid opening every door from now on.
However, this time, he opened the supermarket door with more caution than ever before.
He concentrated deeply, sensing every tiny detail during the act of opening— from the feeling in his hand, to the thoughts within, the intuitive warnings, even the sound of the wind around him, the shadow reflected in the glass door…
If anyone were there, they would likely think Yu Sheng was opening the door in slow motion.
Then, the supermarket door opened.
Among the slightly crowded shelves, the young shop owner looked up.
Upon seeing Yu Sheng, he smiled and asked, “Oh, what do you want to buy?”
(End of Chapter)