Chapter 56: Going Home

Chapter 56: Going Home

Hu Li firmly told everyone that she had buried her father and mother beneath this forest, and buried them very, very deep. No matter how many pits and gullies now covered the ground, the place where she had buried them still had to be there.

Now, she began digging.

With the strength of a demon fox, and no longer affected by Hunger, she dug quickly even with her bare hands.

Loose soil was continuously thrown out of the pit. Yu Sheng and Irene stood quietly nearby watching, while not far away stood Li Lin’s group of three, who did not know the full story but had already begun to vaguely understand what was happening.

Sitting on Yu Sheng’s shoulder and watching Hu Li dig below, Irene could not help speaking again.

“Um... how about coming back another time? It’s already been quite a while. Maybe the Hunger entities will show up again soon, and then we’ll have to fight them all over again...”

“No. I can feel it... when it appears. I’ve been here for many years,” Hu Li said, looking up from inside the pit. “Not in this pit. It should be... beside it.”

With that, the demon fox girl climbed out of the pit. After standing in the middle of the wasteland to determine the direction, she quickly moved to a nearby spot and resumed digging energetically.

Irene opened her mouth as if she wanted to say more, but Yu Sheng gently patted her arm.

“Stop talking. Let her dig. If she doesn’t find them, she’ll remain trapped in this place forever even after she leaves.”

Irene pursed her lips, but her voice sounded in Yu Sheng’s mind.

It’s not that I’m afraid she’ll dig something up. I’m afraid she’ll end up digging up nothing at all.

I know, Yu Sheng replied inwardly.

Then why...

Because I believe she’ll find them.

Irene fell silent for a moment.

But you’ve seen it too. Her mental state before, when Hunger’s influence was at its worst. She could barely think coherently. And considering what we saw in the depths of that dream...

Yu Sheng merely shook his head.

Then he walked over to Hu Li.

“Need any help?”

While digging furiously downward, Hu Li stubbornly shook her head.

“No. I’ll dig myself. It’s here. I saw... the cloth strips I buried before. Just a little deeper.”

Yu Sheng nodded and stepped back.

“All right. Then I’ll wait here.”

He and Irene retreated to the side, somewhere they could not see the bottom of the pit, and quietly waited for the demon fox girl to finish what she needed to do.

Yu Sheng himself did not know how long he waited.

He remained calm and patient, yet gradually felt that every passing second was as long as a year.

He could not resist wanting to look into the pit, yet his legs felt as though they had become rooted to the ground.

He did not know whether Irene felt the same way, but he could sense that the doll’s body had remained tense ever since earlier.

“When we get back, I’ll fix your body first,” Yu Sheng said, breaking the silence and trying to distract Irene.

“Okay. Okay, sure.”

The doll sounded absentminded.

“But I might not have enough clay at home. I’ll probably have to use some flour or something. You don’t mind, right?”

“I don’t mind.”

“What about using two sections of lotus root?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Are you sure? I said two sections of lotus root.”

“I don’t mi... wait, I do mind!”

Irene immediately reacted and glared fiercely, at least in her own opinion, at Yu Sheng.

Just then, she suddenly noticed that the sound of digging had stopped.

The pit below had become very quiet.

No more dirt was being thrown out, but there was no sign of Hu Li either.

Irene froze.

Then she suddenly exchanged a glance with Yu Sheng.

“Oh no! What if there’s really nothing down there?!”

Without saying a word, Yu Sheng sprinted toward the pit.

He saw Hu Li.

The demon fox girl was curled up quietly at the bottom.

Her body was bent inward, two fluffy tails held in her arms while the rest wrapped around her like a blanket.

Beside her lay two neatly arranged skeletons.

She lay curled between them, her body rising and falling slightly, like a young beast sleeping beside its mother.

Yu Sheng let out a breath and sat down among the gravel and stone fragments beside the pit.

Irene let out a breath as well and flopped directly onto his head.

Several minutes later, the fox curled at the bottom of the pit slowly rose.

She looked at the two skeletons beside her, then looked up at Yu Sheng sitting above.

A faint smile gradually appeared on her face.

Yu Sheng looked at Hu Li.

“Ready to go?”

“Mm. Let’s go.”

The demon fox nodded.

Then she bent down and carefully broke off one sharp, distinctly non-human canine tooth from each skeleton before standing and walking over.

Yu Sheng extended a hand into the deep pit, grabbed Hu Li’s arm, and pulled her out.

“Just taking those is enough?” Irene curiously looked at the two canine teeth clenched tightly in Hu Li’s hand. “What about the rest...”

Hu Li shook her head.

“Only the teeth. That’s enough. Father and Mother said... it’s a fox rule. If the teeth return home, then they’ve returned home.”

“Then that’s good enough.” Yu Sheng nodded.

He raised his hand to open a door back to the real world, but just as he was about to do so, Hu Li suddenly seemed to remember something and tugged at his sleeve.

“Benefactor, wait. There’s also...”

Before she could finish, Yu Sheng suddenly understood and smacked his forehead.

“Ah, right! There is something I almost forgot. Wait for me a minute.”

The moment he finished speaking, he pulled open another door and slipped through it, leaving Li Lin’s group staring in confusion from a distance.

He was not gone long.

Just over ten seconds later, another door appeared out of thin air in the same spot.

Yu Sheng emerged carrying Irene on his shoulder, holding a somewhat damaged plastic bag.

Inside was the food that had been left behind in the ruins of the broken temple.

“Some of it got ruined by those monsters. I brought back everything that still had intact packaging.”

Only then did an even brighter smile appear on Hu Li’s face.

She immediately took the bag, then carefully counted everything inside. Only after counting twice did she finally relax.

“All right. Now nothing’s been left behind. Let’s go home.”

Yu Sheng smiled as well.

Then he reached into the air beside him and casually pulled.

A door leading to Wutong Road 66 appeared out of nowhere and swung open.

At the center of the shimmering distortion was a familiar living room.

“Li Lin, you three too. Come on over. Let’s head back together.”

“Oh... okay!” Li Lin hurriedly answered and quickly walked over with Little Red Riding Hood.

Behind them, Xu Jiali could not help casting a somewhat strange look at the door Yu Sheng had opened.

For a moment, nobody knew what he was thinking. Hesitation appeared in his eyes, but in the end he hurried forward and followed them.

Passing through the doorway, the cold wind from Hunger Valley was shut away on the Other Side.

The familiar atmosphere of home carried a reassuring feeling.

The moment he returned, Yu Sheng could not help taking several deep breaths.

Without realizing it, he had already come to regard this place as a true home.

Hu Li widened her eyes and looked around this place, which seemed strange in every possible way.

She had lived in that desolate valley for far too many years.

She was no longer accustomed to something like a house.

The intact enclosed roof and bright lighting left her somewhat at a loss.

After standing there stunned for several seconds, she set down the food she was carrying and sat directly on the floor nearby, carefully guarding the instant noodles, biscuits, and canned eight-treasure porridge. Every now and then she secretly looked around with curiosity or glanced toward Yu Sheng.

Li Lin, Xu Jiali, and Little Red Riding Hood were also cautiously observing the place.

Through the street-facing window in the living room, they immediately confirmed that this was somewhere deep within Wutong Road in the old district.

Yet judging from the viewing angle outside the window...

Not even Li Lin, a professionally trained Special Operations Bureau agent, could determine which building on Wutong Road this actually was.

At the same time, their spiritual intuition kept stirring faintly in the back of their minds, repeatedly reminding them of one thing.

This was not truly the stable real world.

It was still some sort of anomalous space whose Depth was not zero.

The three exchanged glances.

Each saw contemplation and gravity in the others’ eyes.

Something was not quite right about this place.

But they could hardly pull out a depth gauge and openly measure the environment.

The man called Yu Sheng appeared friendly enough, but the bizarre method he had used to destroy the Hunger entities, along with his uncanny ability to freely open portals between Other Domains and reality, pointed to one unmistakable conclusion:

He was powerful and dangerous.

Provoking such a mysterious and dangerous figure would not be wise.

If they truly angered this seemingly friendly “human,” none of the three might leave alive.

“Is this... your home?” After hesitating for a long time, Li Lin was the first to break the silence.

“Of course.” Yu Sheng nodded. “Go ahead and find somewhere to sit. I’ll get you some bottled water. Today’s circumstances were unexpected, so I wasn’t prepared to host guests. Don’t mind it.”

“Ah, no need to trouble yourself,” Li Lin quickly waved his hands.

The more friendly and ordinary Yu Sheng appeared, the less at ease he felt.

After all, the image of all the Hunger entities in the valley devouring themselves was far too unforgettable.

“We’ll be leaving soon. Soon.”

Then he paused and casually asked, “By the way, where exactly is this place? Is it still in Boundary City?”

“Of course it is,” Yu Sheng replied matter-of-factly. “One look outside should tell you. It’s Wutong Road. Weren’t you specifically staking me out here before?”

Cold sweat immediately broke out on Li Lin’s back.

“Uh... don’t take it personally. We didn’t have enough information at the time...”

“It’s not a big deal.” Yu Sheng waved a hand. He genuinely did not mind. “Actually, I’ve been trying to find you people too. I just couldn’t.”

Li Lin and Xu Jiali both froze.

“Huh?”

“You mean them, right?” Little Red Riding Hood reacted immediately and pointed at Xu Jiali and Li Lin. “I’m just a vacation worker...”

“No. I mean all of you.”

Yu Sheng’s expression became serious.

“Professionals like you.”