Chapter 62: The Ghost Living in the Boundary Zone

Chapter 62: The Ghost Living in the Boundary Zone

This was the first time Li Lin had seen the usually steady and dependable Captain Song wear such a deeply furrowed, grave expression.

“So... in the end, that eyeball-form Dim Angel simply left the Other Domain it had been parasitizing without a sound? It didn’t attempt to contaminate or control anyone, and it didn’t leave behind any ‘offspring bodies’?” After listening to the reports from the two Special Operations Bureau agents before him, Song Cheng finally spoke after a long silence. “And throughout the entire process, neither of you heard anything like ‘higher-dimensional whispers’ in your minds?”

“No,” Xu Jiali replied, shaking her head, her voice low. “But that thing definitely noticed us. For a brief moment, I could clearly feel that kind of ‘gaze.’ Its focus landed on the place where we were hiding. It was as if...”

Song Cheng frowned.

“As if what?”

Xu Jiali thought back for a moment and answered uncertainly:

“As if it were looking for something.”

Song Cheng tapped his fingers irritably against the tabletop and remained silent.

More than ten seconds passed before he finally let out a long breath and turned to Li Lin.

“When you interacted with the person calling himself Yu Sheng, did you sense any aura of heterogenization from him? Based on intuition alone, would you say he seemed more human, or more like... something else?”

“Human. At least in terms of speech, behavior, and basic social common sense, he seemed human. If he was an entity disguised as a human, then that disguise was simply too perfect. Perfect enough that he could be treated as an actual human being.”

Li Lin answered with certainty.

“But he has been ‘living’ for years at Wutong Road 66, a place that doesn’t even exist in the real world. It’s an Other Domain that has never appeared in any official records,” Song Cheng sighed. “Other Domains only generate entities. They don’t generate... humans.”

Xu Jiali fell silent for a moment before speaking.

“There are indeed some entities in this world that possess intelligence and can communicate. Some especially friendly entities, or those seeking something from the real world, can even cooperate with humans. Examples include Storyteller and Passenger 22. They even possess certain human characteristics in appearance...”

“But compared with the Yu Sheng you’ve described, they’re concepts on entirely different levels, at least in terms of being human-like.” Song Cheng shook his head and looked at Xu Jiali. “Can you confirm that he was the same Door Opener you saw on Aimein-IX?”

“I can confirm it, but he didn’t recognize me at all,” Xu Jiali nodded. “At the time, I was equipped with a full set of powered armor and a mental shield. It appears that his perceptive abilities cannot penetrate that equipment.”

“Limited perceptive abilities, highly developed personality traits, capable of opening doors at will, able to fight a hunger entity that had been greatly strengthened by the influence of the Dim Angel, but the exact method of the kill remains a mystery... He also seems to be deliberately concealing the way he fights...” Song Cheng slowly summarized the intelligence they had gathered so far, thinking aloud as he spoke. “And there’s another point...”

“He’s very friendly toward humans,” Li Lin said from the side.

“That’s right. Very friendly toward humans. He was even willing to initiate contact with Special Operations Bureau personnel.” Song Cheng nodded slightly.

He seemed about to continue when a sound of footsteps suddenly came from the corridor outside, interrupting him.

A knock sounded at the door.

Then a short-haired young woman pushed the door open and entered carrying a file folder.

“Captain Song, the Archives Department has sent over the information.”

Song Cheng’s eyes widened slightly.

“...There really is information on this Yu Sheng!?”

“There is, but if you search for him directly in the system, it’ll show that his records were cancelled. The cancellation date is the very day the current Boundary Zone population archive system was established. In other words, from the very beginning this person technically ‘ceased to exist,’ even before the birth date listed in his file. Yet after the cancellation date, his identity records somehow remained active. The word ‘cancelled’ is practically just an insignificant watermark in the system display.” The short-haired woman placed the folder on Song Cheng’s desk, her face filled with disbelief. “We can even find recent shopping transactions, social registrations, and transportation records associated with his ID card. All of them were processed normally despite the system showing the identity as cancelled.”

As Song Cheng picked up the folder, he looked up in surprise.

“A bug this serious, and the system never raised an alert?”

“No. The Information Center is already arranging overtime work for tonight. When I passed by, I saw Director Wu emitting sharp screams...”

“...Let him keep screaming. He does that a few times every month anyway.”

Song Cheng shook his head and lowered his gaze to the documents.

From beginning to end, it appeared to be an entirely ordinary resident file, accompanied by equally ordinary records of daily spending.

The only unusual things were the glaring red CANCELLED watermark on every page and the address Wutong Road 66, which should never have appeared in the archive system at all.

Song Cheng turned his chair around, opened the computer on his desk, and entered Wutong Road 66 into an internal Special Operations Bureau application.

The system immediately returned an error.

“A ghost... a ghost living in the Boundary Zone. It has cast an indelible shadow into our complicated population management system. And he didn’t just appear recently. According to Yu Sheng himself, he has lived in this city for over twenty years, which matches the records in the file.” Song Cheng muttered quietly, his expression unpleasant. Of course, that was largely due to his recent schedule of constant overtime. “No one noticed. Even the Director’s eyes never saw him. Not until he voluntarily stepped forward and made contact with us.”

Li Lin and Xu Jiali exchanged glances.

Each could see a trace of gravity in the other’s eyes.

Fortunately, this “ghost” had no interest in causing destruction.

In fact, he had always believed himself to be an ordinary person.

At that moment, Song Cheng’s eyes landed on another item in the file.

“...A writer?” His eyebrows rose in surprise. “This ghost has a job too?”

“A freelance contributor. He submits material to small magazines and media accounts, writing horror stories and third-rate scripts. He isn’t famous, though, and hasn’t produced much recently.”

Song Cheng thought for a moment.

“...So he’s unsuccessful?”

The short-haired woman answered seriously.

“He can support himself, so that doesn’t count as unsuccessful.”

“...What’s his writing like?”

“There’s a short story attached at the end of the file. I found it in a magazine from last year. I thought you might be interested.”

Song Cheng immediately flipped to the final pages and skimmed through them quickly.

The short-haired woman looked at Captain Song with barely concealed anticipation.

“What do you think?”

Song Cheng remained silent for a moment, looking somewhat troubled.

“I... don’t really understand what young people like these days.”

After speaking, he immediately coughed twice, closed the folder without drawing attention to it, and straightened his expression.

“Regardless, this is a very important lead. Arrange for people to collect everything Yu Sheng has ever written. Conduct psychological profiling and personality analysis. Also keep a close watch on his future... uh... ‘creative work.’”

He paused before adding:

“A suspected entity that believes itself to be human, one that not only thinks like a human but can even create like a human. His works will certainly reveal his truest patterns of thought and emotion. Nothing like this has ever appeared before. It must be taken seriously. But don’t let him notice.”

“Understood, Captain Song.”

The short-haired woman left the office carrying the documents.

Song Cheng’s attention returned to Xu Jiali and Li Lin.

“Regarding the creation of that spatial rift in the Boundary Zone, did either of you ask him what exactly was going on?”

The moment he heard this, Li Lin looked somewhat embarrassedly at Xu Jiali beside him.

Seeing that she had no intention of speaking, he could only force himself to answer.

“...I forgot to ask.”

“You forgot?!”

“I was under excessive psychological stress at the time. It may have been an aftereffect from witnessing the Dim Angel.” Xu Jiali finally spoke up. The veteran immediately helped the rookie out of his predicament. “Although we didn’t ask directly, we did gather some information while retreating to the shelter with Yu Sheng’s two companions.”

“You mean the doll and the demon fox?”

“Yes. According to things they mentioned during their conversation, the so-called spatial rift was apparently just... Yu Sheng attempting to open a door in order to rescue the demon fox trapped inside the Other Domain.”

Song Cheng stared at her.

“...That was all?”

“That was probably all.”

“...Just to find a path, he opened and closed a few doors and shook the entire Boundary Zone into chaos?!”

Xu Jiali twitched the muscles in her face.

“Actually, it only shook the Bureau...”

The moment she noticed the expression on the captain’s face, she stopped talking.

Song Cheng sat behind his desk, eyes wide, silently trying to calm himself.

After quite a while, he finally waved a hand in exhaustion.

“Alright. You two can go. This matter is too significant. I need to discuss it further with higher authorities.”

Li Lin and Xu Jiali exchanged glances.

After hesitating, Xu Jiali spoke.

“When the time comes to establish formal contact with Yu Sheng... do we still follow standard procedure?”

“You two don’t need to worry about that for now. This matter will probably have to go through the Director as well.” Song Cheng sighed. “If Yu Sheng really were an ordinary person, I’d send the two of you directly. But the current situation isn’t that simple. Go back and get some rest. Oh, and don’t forget to visit the Treatment Room first. Complete the examination and fill out the forms before you leave. Starting tomorrow, you both have three days off.”