Chapter 36: People Who Stayed Awake All Night

Chapter 36: People Who Stayed Awake All Night

Whether he was comfortable interacting with him or not, Li Lin had to admit that Xu Jiali was the finest Deep Diver he had ever met. Having such a formidable person come to reinforce him at a time like this at least showed that the Bureau took reasonably good care of newcomers.

That was assuming he could tolerate the giant’s big mouth and boastful personality.

Especially after every mission he completed.

“I’m telling you, I really ran into something bizarre on this mission,” the burly man said casually from the sofa, grabbing a bottle of water from the coffee table and unscrewing the cap. “I tracked down that Angel Cultist who’d infiltrated Aimein. After a lot of effort, I cornered him in an uninhabited zone. We were fighting, and then I looked up. Guess what I saw?”

Li Lin rolled his eyes.

“You loudmouth, is that the kind of thing you should be talking about out here?”

“Sure it is. I’ve already filed my report at headquarters. This portion of the intelligence has been cleared for disclosure to you.” Xu Jiali waved his hand dismissively and continued regardless of whether Li Lin wanted to hear it. “I looked up and, holy hell, there was a person standing nearby! You know what he looked like? Just a shirt and a pair of pants, standing in the toxic hot winds of Aimein-IX. Oh, and there was a doorframe beside him. I was completely stunned. I could’ve killed that Angel Cultist in the next second, but getting startled gave him a chance to catch his breath. Fortunately, I was ultimately the more skilled one...”

Li Lin waved him off impatiently while walking toward the monitoring equipment by the window.

“Enough already. Every one of your stories ends with you being the more skilled one. Can’t you come up with a more creative twist?”

“But I really was the more skilled one,” the giant replied, eyes wide. Then he noticed Li Lin’s reaction. “Wait, you’re not surprised? I saw a person standing in the toxic hot winds of Aimein-IX! Not even wearing powered armor! Even the captain isn’t that tough!”

“The last time, you also saw someone suddenly appear in the acid rain of Tata-V without protective gear. It turned out to be a professor from the Academy collecting field research materials.” Li Lin did not even turn around. “This world isn’t lacking in strange people. Not to mention that spending too much time deep diving causes all sorts of hallucinations. I’ve heard eight hundred versions of this kind of spooky story from you already. At this point, I don’t believe a single punctuation mark of it. Come back and tell me when you’re riding a shuttle launching from Star Harbor orbit and see a person standing outside the observation window flying alongside you. At least that would sound original.”

“I’ve seen that too,” the giant grinned broadly and plopped himself down on Li Lin’s bed. “It was a Daoist priest from Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain. Damn it, I was just about to accelerate when he started waving a mirror at my cameras and saying he was going to overtake me... Overtake my ass. If he’s so capable, let him enter hyperspace in the flesh.”

Li Lin’s hands finally stopped moving.

He turned and stared at Xu Jiali, or rather Xu the Giant.

After a long silence, he sighed.

“You special field operations people really do lead colorful lives.”

“Why don’t you get a Deep Diver certification too? Maybe next time you can join me on special operations.” The giant encouraged him. “What’s so great about staying in the Boundary Zone? It’s dangerous, troublesome, and everything you do comes with enormous responsibility.”

After thinking it over, Li Lin still shook his head.

“The Boundary Zone is always short-handed. Somebody has to guard the biggest hub there is. And honestly, I don’t think wearing powered armor and fighting Angel Cultists to the death on wasteland planets is any safer than handling Other Domains in the Boundary Zone. Besides... don’t you still deal with Other Domains on special operations anyway?”

“That’s different. The density of Other Domains out there isn’t nearly this high. The Boundary Zone’s ridiculous. Half the bus stops are Other Domains. Damn it, twenty stops on a route and seven of them are Other Domains...”

Li Lin glanced back at Xu Jiali.

He wanted to point out that 99.99% of ordinary people could only see the other thirteen normal stops.

But then he remembered what Xu Jiali’s file said. At the age of twelve, he had accidentally entered an Other Domain station platform and survived there alone for six full years. Later, unable to escape the pursuit of that Other Domain, he had become a Deep Diver after completing psychological rehabilitation.

In the end, Li Lin kept his thoughts to himself.

There were two kinds of frontline combat personnel in the Special Operations Bureau.

Those who came through the standard training and assessment system.

And those who had been fished out of Other Domains.

Never show off your knowledge in front of someone with traumatic experiences.

Even if they don’t care.

Li Lin lowered his head and focused on examining the parameters recorded by the equipment.

The giant beside him appeared somewhat bored.

He was a pure combat specialist. His primary purpose here was to supplement combat strength. He had little interest in surveillance work.

“Headquarters is in complete chaos right now,” he suddenly said after being bored for a while. “The captains of several action teams have all been dragged out of bed to work overtime. I heard even the Director showed up.”

“I know,” Li Lin replied without looking up. “This is the Boundary Zone after all.”

“Does this sort of thing happen often in the Boundary Zone?” The giant scratched his head. “Have there been similar anomalous phenomena before? I’ve spent so much time on special operations that I don’t really know...”

“If you’re talking about tonight’s spatial displacement phenomenon, no, nothing like this has happened before. But if you’re talking about anomalous phenomena in general, the Boundary Zone has never lacked them. This place... is the Boundary Zone after all.”

“Right. Charming Boundary Zone. I absolutely love this place.” The giant stretched his arms and shoulders before throwing himself backward onto Li Lin’s bed. The poor single bed let out a protesting Creak. under his weight. “Everyone who wants to destroy the world and everyone who wants to save the world loves this place. Good thing I don’t have to work shifts at headquarters. I hear the captain and the others work overtime every day.”

Li Lin did not answer.

He continued carrying out his monitoring and recording duties with complete concentration.

Then suddenly, the ringing of a phone broke the silence in the room.

Li Lin glanced at the screen and immediately answered.

“This is Li Lin... Mm. Mm? Ah, alright. I understand.”

The giant sat upright on the bed and looked curiously at Li Lin’s unusual expression.

“What’s going on?”

Li Lin looked strange as he raised his head and stared out at the tranquil night beyond the window.

“Headquarters just called. The rift phenomenon... has stopped.”

The giant froze.

“Stopped?” His eyes widened. “Just stopped? No follow-up attack? No Angel Cultists? Not even an Other Domain appearing?”

“No. It just stopped. Every monitoring node throughout the Boundary Zone has gone quiet.”

“Then didn’t I stay up all night for nothing?”

“Not for nothing. And you’re still staying up,” Li Lin replied, waving his phone. “Nobody at headquarters is resting either. Everyone continues monitoring in case whatever caused the rift phenomenon has further plans. Go sleep in the next room for now. I’ll wake you in six hours to take over.”

“Alright.”

The giant immediately stood up.

For once, he did not waste a single word.

“If anything happens, wake me immediately.”

Li Lin nodded and turned his gaze back to the night outside.

“Another sleepless night...” he muttered softly.

Yu Sheng slept exceptionally well during the latter half of the night.

After successfully reproducing a door leading to a distant region of space-time, he had firmly memorized the sensation. He now understood how to control the so-called guidance of spiritual nature and how to imbue the door with a particular frequency when opening it, allowing it to reliably connect to a designated destination.

He felt that most things in this world followed the principle that the second time was always easier than the first.

Afterward, he spent the entire night practicing and reinforcing the process of opening doors, successfully reproducing all sorts of passages until he was utterly exhausted.

Sleep after exhaustion was always especially restful.

He felt as though he had not slept this soundly in many years.

Yet he also felt a trace of regret.

During that peaceful night’s sleep, he had not dreamed of the fox.

In fact, he had not dreamed at all.

Apparently, the dream containing Hu Li was not something that appeared consistently.

That left Yu Sheng feeling a little uneasy and somewhat anxious.

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

“It’s fine. Don’t overthink it. That fox has survived in an Other Domain for so many years already. Nothing’s likely to happen to her in just a day or two.” This time, Irene surprisingly refrained from her usual nonsense and instead comforted Yu Sheng quite seriously. “Dreams are unstable by nature. Maybe the next time you dream, you’ll see her again.”

“I hope so.”

Yu Sheng replied casually as he picked up a slice of meat from the table and placed it into his bowl.

It was still meat cut from that local specialty.

He had already eaten it for three consecutive meals and still had not finished it.

Nor had he grown tired of it.

The only difference was that he could no longer feel any physical strengthening from consuming it.

Apparently, whatever effect it had on him had already reached its limit.

Still, regardless of everything else, it tasted good.

“What are your plans after breakfast?” Irene’s voice came from nearby. “More practice opening doors? Or are you going to try reproducing the passage leading to the Valley?”

“I need to go out and buy a few things first. Once I get back, I’ll start trying to construct a route to the Valley. It might take a long time. I don’t remember the original feeling very clearly anymore.” As he spoke, Yu Sheng noticed the hesitant expression on Irene’s face. “Hm? Do you have an idea?”

Irene stared directly at him.

Miss Doll seemed hesitant.

Several seconds passed before she finally spoke.

“...Set aside half a day for me first.”

Yu Sheng paused.

He rarely saw such seriousness on the doll’s face.

“Set aside half a day for you... What for?”

“Make me a body.”

Irene spoke calmly, yet with absolute determination.