This was the first time Li Lin saw Captain Song, usually steady and reliable, with such a frown, as if facing a formidable enemy.
"So… that last dark angel in its eyeball form just vanished into the other realm without making any attempt to contaminate or control anyone, and didn’t leave behind any 'offspring'?" After listening to the reports from the two special agents, Song Cheng remained silent for a long while before finally speaking.
"Did you hear anything in your minds during the entire process, like 'higher-dimensional whispers'?"
"No," Xu Jiali shook her head, her voice low.
"But that thing definitely noticed us. For a brief moment, I could clearly feel its 'gaze' focused on our hiding place. It was as if…"
Song Cheng frowned.
"As if what?"
Xu Jiali recalled for a moment, somewhat uncertain.
"It was as if it were searching for something."
Growing agitated, Song Cheng tapped his fingers on the table, momentarily at a loss for words.
After a long sigh, he turned to Li Lin.
"When you interacted with that person who calls himself 'Yusheng', did you sense any 'alien' aura from him? Intuitively, does he seem more human, or more like… something else?"
"More human. At least in terms of speech, behavior, and common sense, he seems human. If he were a disguise masquerading as a human, then that disguise is exceptionally perfect—perfect enough to be regarded as a person," Li Lin replied confidently.
"But he has been 'living' in a place that doesn’t exist in the real world, '66 Wutong Road', an entity that never appeared in any official records," Song Cheng sighed.
"Entities are generated in those realms, but they don’t create… humans."
Xu Jiali was silent for a moment before speaking up.
"There are indeed some 'entities' in this world that possess intelligence and can communicate. Some, particularly those who are friendly or have motives, can even collaborate with humans, such as the 'Storyteller' or 'Passenger No. 22'. They even seem to possess some human characteristics…"
"But the 'Yusheng' you mentioned is on an entirely different level," Song Cheng shook his head, looking at Xu Jiali.
"Can you confirm that he is indeed the 'Gatekeeper' you saw on Aimein-IX?"
"I can confirm, but he didn’t recognize me at all," Xu Jiali nodded.
"At that time, I was wearing a full suit of powered armor and a mental shield, so it seems his perceptive ability wasn’t enough to penetrate that equipment."
"Limited perceptive ability, possesses highly developed personal traits, capable of opening any 'door', and can withstand the severely enhanced hunger entities influenced by the 'dark angel', yet the specifics of the elimination process remain a mystery… It seems he intentionally concealed his fighting style…" Song Cheng summarized the information he had gathered so far, pondering aloud.
"And there’s one more thing…"
"Very friendly towards humans," Li Lin interjected.
"Yes, very friendly, even willing to make contact with special agency agents," Song Cheng slightly nodded, as if wanting to say more when suddenly, footsteps echoed from the corridor outside, interrupting his next words.
A knock sounded, and then a short-haired girl walked in, carrying a folder.
"Captain Song, the documents from the archives have come."
Song Cheng’s eyes widened slightly. "…There really is information on 'Yusheng'?!"
"There is, but if you search it directly in the system, it shows as deregistered. The deregistration date was the day the current borderland population records were established, which means this person has been 'missing' from the very beginning, even before the recorded birthdate, yet his identity information remained 'active' after the deregistration. The word 'deregistered' appeared like an inconsequential watermark in the system," the short-haired girl placed the folder on Song Cheng’s desk, her expression incredulous.
"You can even find some recent shopping, social registrations, and transport records under this ID—these all occurred normally despite the system showing 'deregistered'."
While picking up the folder, Song Cheng looked up in astonishment.
"Such a serious bug, and the system didn’t raise any alarms?"
"No, the information center is already arranging for overtime tonight. When I passed by, I saw Director Wu issuing urgent alerts…"
"…Let him alert as he wants; it has to go off several times each month anyway."
Song Cheng shook his head, focusing on the documents in his hands.
At first glance, the files appeared to be just regular resident documents with ordinary living expense records, except for the glaring red 'DEREGISTERED' watermark on each page, along with '66 Wutong Road', an address that should not exist in the archive system.
Turning his chair, Song Cheng opened his office computer and entered '66 Wutong Road' into a certain internal application of the special agency, but after hitting enter, it directly returned an error.
"A ghost… a ghost living in the borderland, casting an indelible shadow in our complicated population management system. He isn’t new to this; according to 'Yusheng' himself, he has lived in this city for over twenty years, which matches the records," Song Cheng murmured softly, his expression grim—of course, this was mainly due to the overtime recently.
"No one ever noticed, not even the director’s keen eyes—until now, when he took the initiative to come forward and contact us."
Li Lin and Xu Jiali exchanged glances, each seeing a thread of gravity in the other's eyes.
—Luckily, this "ghost" didn’t seem interested in causing havoc and had always thought of himself as an "ordinary person."
At this moment, Song Cheng’s gaze fell upon another item in the documentation.
"…A writer?" he raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"This ghost has a job?"
"A freelance writer, providing contributions to some small magazines and online media accounts, writing horror stories or third-rate scripts, but without much fame, and he hasn’t really written much recently."
Song Cheng pondered for a moment. "…A flop?"
The short-haired girl replied seriously, "He can support himself; not really a flop."
"…What do his writings look like?"
"There’s a short story at the end of the documents; I found it in a magazine from last year—I figured you might be interested."
Song Cheng immediately flipped to the last page and skimmed through it quickly.
The short-haired girl watched him with a glimmer of expectation.
"What do you think?"
Song Cheng fell silent for a moment, looking troubled.
"I… don’t quite understand the tastes of the younger generation."
Afterward, he cleared his throat twice, discreetly closing the folder, his expression composed.
"But regardless, this is definitely a lead worth paying attention to—arrange for people to gather everything 'Yusheng' has written, perform psychological profiling and personality assessment, and keep close tabs on his future… er, 'creative' activities."
He paused for a moment, then added, "A being that believes itself to be human, capable of thinking like a human, and even creating like a human, its works will certainly reveal a deeper reflection of its genuine thoughts and emotions. This has never happened before and must be taken seriously—without letting him notice, of course."
"Understood, Captain Song."
The short-haired girl left the office with the folder, and Song Cheng’s gaze returned to Xu Jiali and Li Lin.
"Regarding the matter of creating 'spatial rifts' in the borderland, did you ask the other side about it?"
Upon hearing this, Li Lin glanced awkwardly at Xu Jiali, but seeing no indication from her to speak up, he steeled himself and said, "…I forgot to ask."
"You could forget that?!"
"I was overly tense at the time; it might have been the effect of witnessing the 'dark angel'," Xu Jiali finally chimed in, defending Li Lin as a seasoned agent.
"But although we didn’t ask directly, we did pick up some intel also while retreating to a safe spot with 'Yusheng's' two companions."
"You mean that puppet and that fox spirit?"
"Right, from their conversation, it seemed the so-called 'spatial rift' was merely… 'Yusheng' trying to open a door to rescue the fox spirit trapped in the other realm."
Song Cheng’s eyes widened. "…Just that?"
"Seems to be just that."
"…Just to find a way and open and close a few doors, creating chaos in the entire borderland?"
Xu Jiali pulled at her face in exasperation.
"Actually, it only shook the agency…"
Noticing the expression on the captain’s face, she immediately stopped.
Song Cheng sat behind his desk, eyes wide, taking a long moment before wearily waving his hand.
"Alright, you two can leave for now. This matter is quite significant; I need to discuss it further with higher-ups."
Li Lin and Xu Jiali exchanged glances, and Xu Jiali hesitated before speaking.
"Then will the formal contact with 'Yusheng' follow the regular procedures?"
"Don't worry about that for now; most likely it will also go through the director," Song Cheng sighed.
"If 'Yusheng' were truly an 'ordinary person', I'd send you two right away, but this situation is not that simple. Go rest for now—ah, don’t forget to stop by the 'treatment room' first, get your check-up and fill out the forms before leaving. You’ll have three days off starting tomorrow."
(End of Chapter)