After a short while, two people entered Bai Li Qing's office.
One was the robust Song Cheng, and the other had graying hair that suggested he was in his fifties.
The latter wore narrow-framed glasses, was of modest height, and had a slight belly, looking like an ordinary office middle manager who was already starting to drift toward retirement.
Bai Li Qing glanced up at the two newcomers and nodded slightly. “You arrived quickly.”
“Have you met that person named ‘Yu Sheng’?” Song Cheng asked first. “By your expression, it seems like you discovered something.”
“I had a long conversation with him, and it turned out very different from what I anticipated. ‘Yu Sheng’ might be the most unusual ‘non-natural’ individual I’ve encountered, but before we discuss further, I want you both to see something.”
As she spoke, Bai Li Qing directed her gaze toward the gray-haired man—Luo Zheng, the head of the Secret Management Office. “Luo Zheng, close the door.”
Luo Zheng nodded immediately and turned to shut the office door.
As he closed it, an invisible pressure instantly filled the room, as if a gentle breeze swept through, stopping even the floating dust in mid-air.
Seeing this, Song Cheng’s heart tightened, and with a thought of “so much for getting off work on time,” he quickly gave up on his plans for the rest of the day.
After sealing the room, Bai Li Qing quietly stood and walked to the large floor-to-ceiling window.
Outside the window was a vast expanse, always shrouded in a thin mist, through which various shifting landscapes could be seen.
But this scenery clearly did not belong to the Realm City—sometimes it showed towering mountain ranges, sometimes endless forests, but most of the time, it revealed a calm lake that seemed to have no ripples, with a small cabin quietly standing in the distance, surrounded by mist, hazy and dreamlike.
As Bai Li Qing approached the window, the flowing mist quickly stopped, and the ever-changing scenery began to slowly fade.
Song Cheng and Luo Zheng stared solemnly at the mist, and after a few seconds of suspension, something else began to appear within it.
Buildings, rooftops arranged in a disordered manner, a strange city—along with a spreading red dawn.
“What is this?” Song Cheng instinctively asked.
“This is what ‘Yu Sheng’ showed me. He said it’s another ‘Realm City,’” Bai Li Qing softly replied, her colorless eyes calmly gazing out at the mist, while the scenes stored in her memory kept surfacing and reshaping within the fog. “He is fixated on this place and claims to have seen it.”
A layer of shock flashed in Luo Zheng's eyes.
He took off his narrow-frame glasses and wiped them on his shirt before staring out at the floating lights and shadows. “Another ‘Realm City’?!”
“Yes, another one. Moreover, I vaguely sensed his emotions; he seems to believe… this is what a Realm City should be like—‘normal.’”
Both Song Cheng and Luo Zheng fell silent, their unease rising as they looked out at this so-called “normal” landscape.
Buildings, darkened to mere outlines, lined the ground.
Odd, towering spires stood in the distance, sketching a grand outline.
Mist swirled, and those rooftops and towers resembled tombstones arranged in the fog, while crimson light broke through the mist, casting an odd and gloomy quality over the entire sky.
As for the sunlight…
Blood-red “sunlight” flowed like water through the city, swirling between buildings and pouring down from rooftops, dripping continuously with a soft patter, like rain falling steadily.
Bai Li Qing’s words reached Song Cheng and Luo Zheng's ears, seeming somewhat ethereal: “He said this is a tranquil seaside town, with beautiful sunsets, and the red light spills like water across the sky, flowing along the roofs…”
“…It sounds like a poetic description.” Song Cheng spoke softly.
“Yes, I thought so too when I first heard it,” Bai Li Qing gently shook her head. “Until I realized—it’s realistic.”
“This cannot possibly be a ‘location’ that exists in reality,” Luo Zheng asserted seriously.
He had shaken off the unease and tension that came from witnessing something strange and quickly regained his composure. “There may be many strange celestial bodies in the universe, but this scene does not resemble any natural landscape. The lights and shadows around the buildings, along with the ‘sunlight,’ defy the laws of physics; they… look as if they are melting.”
“If I had to say, it’s somewhat like when the graphics card fails while gaming, causing display issues,” Song Cheng scratched his chin in analysis, then added, “I’ve seen that happen when my daughter plays games.”
“This should be some sort of exotic realm,” Luo Zheng cautiously stated. “From the scene, it seems to be large-scale, but lacking any data or reference, it’s hard to classify it as ‘wilds’ or a ‘kingdom.’ In any case, it’s definitely not a ‘fortress.’ It could even be considered an ‘anomaly.’” Bai Li Qing said flatly.
“An ‘anomaly’ type of exotic realm?” Luo Zheng looked surprised, furrowing his brow. “Like a ‘fairy tale’ or ‘epic hero’ type? But it looks like a space that actually exists…”
“‘Anomaly’ type exotic realms can also form their own ‘actual existence’ in perception. What I saw was just the image Yu Sheng sketched in his mind, so we cannot exclude the possibility that this scene is merely a ‘memory’ or ‘story,’” Bai Li Qing shook her head. “The crucial point now is, regardless of what the ‘exotic realm’ truly is, Yu Sheng believes it to be another ‘Realm City.’”
Both Song Cheng and Luo Zheng fell silent, an unusually heavy atmosphere settled in the office.
Countless exotic realms exist in this world, and those that establish links with the border areas, or even overlap with them, are as many as the stars in the sky.
Yet, no matter what, an exotic realm is still just that; its overlap with the real world is exceedingly limited.
Since records began, no exotic realm has ever pointed toward “another border area” in such a manner.
Song Cheng stood at the floor-to-ceiling window, staring intently at the city bathed in red light outside.
To be fair, those dark city silhouettes bore little resemblance to the Realm City beneath his feet, at least not in his eyes.
He couldn’t understand why that person named “Yu Sheng” thought this was another Realm City, but there was one thing he did understand:
Different observational perspectives lead to different perceptions of the world.
To the people of Algreide, the starry sky is adorned with splendid and orderly connections and patterns; to the Balmosa, the world is illuminated by “light” and “magnetic fields”; Jiprolo can observe the contours of electric fields; and the ancient Senjin people embrace time in meditation and can even glimpse the future momentarily.
Humans are one of the races with the narrowest “vision” in this world.
In the eyes of those gifted races, humans are both deaf and blind, resulting in them only recognizing less than one percent of the vast world’s infinite information as “valid.” Yet at the same time, with suitable tools or methods, the human mind can process nearly all “knowledge.” Humans’ ability to endure and adapt to dangerous information beyond perception is shockingly high.
This is why humans are universally recognized by all races in this world as the “innate investigators.”
“The world in ‘his’ eyes is different from the world in ours,” Song Cheng suddenly said.
“Yes,” Bai Li Qing agreed without denial, only adding, “But ‘he’ can also survive in our world, adapting quite well aside from being a little awkward.”
“Simultaneously possessing the dual perspectives of a human and… ‘non-human’? Or perhaps, two distinct ‘cognitive systems’?” Luo Zheng frowned slightly, contemplating. “Having interacted with him, do you think he is ultimately an ‘entity’ or a ‘human’?”
“More like a human. At least, that’s how he sees himself now,” Bai Li Qing turned her head and lightly tapped on the glass of the floor-to-ceiling window.
As her words fell, the “scenery” outside suddenly collapsed and shrank back, returning to the previous state of thin mist with mountains and water alternately surfacing in calmness. “I believe it’s best not to disrupt this ‘status quo’—until we have clarity on what number 66 Wutong Road and ‘Yu Sheng’ actually are.”
“I understand,” Song Cheng took a gentle breath and nodded solemnly. “Then next…”
“Next, the second team should allocate some personnel and energy to handle affairs related to Wutong Road 66 and ‘Yu Sheng.’ The first task is to help him with some registrations.”
“Registration?”
“The two ‘people’ by his side need legal identities,” Bai Li Qing said leisurely. “Moreover, he seems intent on registering as a… ‘Spirit World Detective.’”
Song Cheng: “…Huh?”
“He said he wants to maintain order in the border area and confront exotic realms and entities.”
Song Cheng: “…Huh?”
“I know what you’re reacting to,” Bai Li Qing glanced at Song Cheng. “The Special Operations Bureau has always dealt with absurd matters, so go arrange it—choose a clever and reliable person for this. The two mentioned in the last report seemed quite good.”
Song Cheng’s expression was subtle. “I just gave them three days off…”
Bai Li Qing thought for a moment. “That’s true, they do need some rest in this situation—just figure it out, but don’t delay too long.”
(End of Chapter)