The night had deepened.

In a high-rise apartment in the central district of Boundary City, Baili Qing, clad in a nightgown, poured herself a strong drink and strolled to the large floor-to-ceiling window.

There were no lights turned on in the room, only a dim yellow glow from a nightlight in the corner casting outlines of the furniture. Outside the large window, the spectacular night view hit her face; the vast city was lit by neon, its magnificent colors shimmering like some breathing entity among the staggered layers and sequences of buildings, flowing endlessly, the land seemingly boundless. The lights and shadows of the city's buildings stretched infinitely into the distance until they vanished into the hazy night, making Baili Qing's reflection in the glass appear especially frail.

Fog started to form outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

The thin fog seemed to generate spontaneously in the air, quickly and evenly covering the night, gradually turning into a surging curtain of gray-white. The scenery of Boundary City became blurred and surreal in the fog. Then, a pair of indifferent eyes appeared outside the window, calmly gazing at Baili Qing standing before it.

Those eyes had human-like contours but lacked color severely. Their pale pupil structure was almost identical to Baili Qing's. They seemed to float in the fog outside the window, yet also seemed directly imprinted on the glass of the window, filling the entire window pane.

"Drinking at night isn't a good habit, sister,"

A voice directly entered Baili Qing's mind, mechanical and flat, yet in the same tone as her own.

"It calms me down," replied Baili Qing casually, swaying the glass in her hand, "especially after a phone call woke me from a nightmare."

"A nightmare?"

"I dreamt that I finally became you."

"Oh, that is indeed a nightmare," the faded eyes blinked outside the window, "be careful not to be beguiled and controlled by me—although you've been doing quite well so far. So, what do you want by calling me out now?"

"I just woke up suddenly and thought I'd ask you about something—about that 'One-eyed' that appeared in Nightfall Valley. Have you found anything?"

The eyes squinted slightly, then the voice followed into Baili Qing's mind, "I have traversed every place I have ever watched, including those Exotic Realms and the 'Death Voids' pierced by Dark Angels in deep space we both experienced, and found no information related to that giant eye. It has never appeared in any of the aforementioned locations."

"Is that so, even you couldn't find it..." Baili Qing seemed a bit disappointed, "well, that was expected."

"Your mood seems worse, sister," the pair of eyes spoke, "and more worried."

"...Because more and more clues indicate that the giant eye entered this world without anyone noticing, and considering the 'trails' left by another unknown Angel found by the Algredians in deep space several months ago, it is likely that more Dark Angels have already pierced through our world—more voids undiscovered and possibly still increasing right this moment."

Baili Qing spoke, then swayed her glass, her gaze lost in the swirls created by the liquor, and asked softly, "Do you know what I am most worried about?"

"That more Dark Angels are already hidden within the real universe?"

"No, that's a common worry for everyone. My greater fear is what exactly is behind the Dark Angels—are they a race? Do they have organizational structure? Do they possess learning capabilities? Have they already gradually learned the rules of our world and mastered more efficient methods to pierce through the voids, and... learned to actively conceal themselves?"

"It does sound quite worrisome."

Baili Qing downed the strong liquor, feeling the intense burning spread gradually in her mouth, then casually placed the glass on the floor beside her.

"Also, I asked you to scan the old district for the hidden No. 66 Wutong Road. Did you find anything?"

"I found some distorted traces, but I couldn't see clearly," said the eyes, their mechanical flat voice carrying a hint of disappointment.

Baili Qing's face finally showed a trace of surprise: "Even you can't see clearly?!"

"Yes," blinked the eyes in the mist, "Whenever I try to focus my vision, it feels like something suddenly... absorbs it, and by the time I realize it, I find that I've been distracted all along. However... I have a guess."

"What guess?"

"That so-called 'No. 66 Wutong Road' might not actually be there; it's just an entrance..."

"That's not surprising," Baili Qing shook her head before the other could finish, "The Special Service Bureau Officers who investigated also came to that conclusion. They think it might be a special space located in the cracks of the spatial structure of the border, just like the other 'fortress'-like Exotic Realms in Boundary City..."

"No," the pair of eyes suddenly interrupted her, "My meaning is, it might not even be in the Boundary Land—it hasn't drifted anywhere, it is just… too deep, too far away, such that the 'No. 66 Wutong Road' reflecting in Boundary Land is just a very thin shadow. When I feel my gaze being swallowed, it's actually because I'm looking somewhere too distant to see."

Baili Qing's expression became slightly stiff for a moment.

"Too deep, too far?" Her tone was unusually hesitant, "Do you realize what this means? Your gaze… can even perceive the Subspace."

"So, it's deeper and further than that. This is based on logical analysis, sister."

Baili Qing blinked.

Moments later, she heard that mechanical, monotonous voice in her mind speak again, "So, what exactly is that 'person' who lives at 'No. 66 Wutong Road'?"

"I don't know," Baili Qing said softly, "All the information I have so far indicates that his personality and self-awareness are infinitely close to a 'human', and just a moment ago, he even called me."

"Ah, so that call that woke you from your nightmare was from him—what does he want?"

"He said he was going to open a 'door' and report it to me. According to the information from the operations department a few hours ago, he must have gone to the 'Museum'."

"…Interesting."

The eyes gradually dissipated in the mist, and the fog outside the window also swiftly receded, filling the window once more with the boundless city night view.

…

Yu Sheng hardly slept the latter part of the night.

He lay in bed, tossing and turning, various thoughts, knowledge, and information crawling chaotically in his mind like numerous Erin's, scrambling, jumping, and shrieking…

Of course, describing it that way might be an exaggeration, because having numerous actual crawling Erin's would definitely be much more chaotic.

But Yu Sheng's mind was indeed a mess.

About the knowledge of Exotic Realm, about Little Red Riding Hood and her backing "Fairy Tales" organization, about Angel Sect and "Dark Angel", about that unfortunate sacrifice in the white exhibition hall, and... the moment the deceased spoke to him.

Yu Sheng opened his cellphone, searched in the "Border Communication" database for entries related to "Dead Communication", and indeed found some information.

It mentioned that some talented individuals from outside the Boundary Land indeed possess the power to communicate with the dead, and some called Necromancers even have the ability to temporarily anchor the soul of the deceased in the real world after performing a series of complex rituals, and engage in simple face-to-face conversations.

But no matter which piece of information, the described process of "Dead Communication" was clearly different from what he experienced in the white exhibition hall.

The "techniques" appearing in the data encyclopedia either required very complicated ritual processes, needed extremely advanced equipment as support, or were outright like "Holographic Reasoning," which attempts to recreate some pre-death scenarios using technology to gather massive amounts of information, and even those supposed direct "communications with the dead" only produced extremely vague and rudimentary outcomes, maybe only receiving yes or no feedback from the deceased's remaining brainwaves or so-called "soul."

None involved touching the blood at the scene and having the dead suddenly turn their head to perform a rap…

Yu Sheng put down his phone, sighed lightly in the dark room, and then heard rustling noises coming from the bed.

Turning his head, he saw Erin wriggling at the foot of the bed, tumbling, kicking into the air, then thudding down again.

Yu Sheng looked expressionless.

Another major reason he couldn't sleep was indeed because there was an Erin crawling all over his bed.

And kicking him in circles.

The next second, he saw Erin suddenly turn over, then the little figure sat up straight, extending her hand pointing forward, eyes still closed, "I! From Alice's Cottage! Pay up—or I'll hit you!"

Then she tilted and fell towards the edge of the bed, thudding onto the ground, then hazily grabbed the sheets and climbed back up, wriggling towards Yu Sheng while muttering, "Don't kick me… I fell down…"

Yu Sheng sighed.

He wasn't going back to sleep any time soon.

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