I must say, even though the ride experience in Xu Jiali's car isn't great, it's still pretty interesting to listen to her spout obscure knowledge all the way.

It's much more vivid and lively than those dull and stiff entries in the "Border Communication" database.

The view out of the car window kept receding. The old Charade drove from the antiquated streets of the old town all the way to the main road in the city center, then along the main road through the bustling area crowded with high-rises and shopping malls. Hu Li propped herself against the car window, eyes wide with curiosity as she looked at the passing scenery. Although she had tucked away her ears and tail, the excited and happy look on her face still made Yu Sheng feel like there was a bunch of tails wagging behind her.

"How long does it take to get to your Special Service Bureau from here?" Yu Sheng asked out of curiosity. "Are we going to your headquarters... or should I say 'head bureau'?"

"We're going to the headquarters," Xu Jiali nodded and said, looking at Yu Sheng and the others through the rearview mirror, "It's very quick, we'll be there in half an hour."

"So close?!" Yu Sheng exclaimed upon hearing this. Thinking of the city's unbelievably vast scale, he was astonished that the headquarters were only half an hour's drive away, "Is your headquarters near the old town area?"

But Xu Jiali shook her head: "No, the Special Service Bureau headquarters is very far away—however, from any point in this city to the Special Service Bureau, the car ride is always within half an hour."

Yu Sheng was baffled: "...Huh?"

"Because we take a 'shortcut'," Xu Jiali smiled, her smile carried a hint of pride in finally catching him by surprise. Then she turned the steering wheel and veered off the main road, taking a side road around the edge of the business district to a secluded area behind a shopping mall, "Our Special Service Bureau also has some 'little tricks' of our own."

While they were talking, Yu Sheng saw the entrance of a parking lot appearing in front of them. Xu Jiali drove down the ramp into the parking lot, where the first level seemed to be just a normal parking lot with many private vehicles parked, and signs pointing towards the ground-floor shopping mall, supermarket, or nearby streets. However, right after that, Xu Jiali took several turns within its depths, and then veered into another ramp—

Yu Sheng couldn't even tell how that ramp came into being. Before drawing close, it looked merely like a patch of open space at the end of the parking lot, dotted with some mysterious puddles. But as soon as they approached, a road sloping downwards suddenly emerged from those puddles, and a dim light illuminated this somewhat oddly-shaped passage—the passage sloped downwards as if it could extend all the way to the underground.

As they went deeper, the color of the lights on both sides of the passage gradually changed, a cold bluish hue filled outside the car window, and everything became extremely quiet. Even the sound of the car's engine seemed muffled, as if separated by a thick curtain, making it distant and muffled—Yu Sheng suddenly felt his Spiritual Intuition start thumping vigorously, and while he was still pondering what this sensation meant, Erin reacted even faster than he did: "Wait, are we falling into an Exotic Realm?!"

"To be precise, we are 'passing through' an Exotic Realm," Xu Jiali looked back slightly, "Depth L-1, Exotic Realm 'shortcut', which overlays the entire Boundary Land without forming a physical entity, almost harmless except for a slight risk of getting lost. The Special Service Bureau is located on the general confluence point of the 'shortcut', and we've also borrowed a bit of this Exotic Realm's special Power—We've arrived."

As soon as Xu Jiali finished speaking, Yu Sheng felt a jolt beneath him and then the strange sensation of his spirituality thumping rapidly while descending into the Exotic Realm quickly vanished. He noticed that the car had exited the passage and entered a brightly lit parking lot after passing through a gate.

"Get out of the car," Xu Jiali parked in a spot and came around to open the door for Yu Sheng, "We'll take the central elevator straight up."

Yu Sheng casually hoisted Erin onto his shoulder, then followed Xu Jiali, playing the role of a "guide" with the curious and excited fox girl. They crossed the surprisingly large parking lot and navigated through a labyrinth-like underground space, going round several junctions before reaching the elevator lobby. Then they followed Xu Jiali who swiped her card to take the elevator.

Upon entering the elevator, Yu Sheng noticed the stickers and signs near the elevator cabin and buttons.

They were printed or written with many weird tips and warnings—

"The elevator does not stop on floors 1-3."

"Lighting control on floor 4, if you enter a brightly lit 4th floor, please return immediately to the parking lot or proceed to the 12th floor Security Layer."

"Elevator maintenance on Saturdays; if the screen inside the elevator displays "Maintenance" outside of these times, press the blue button and leave, you may transfer to Elevator 2 or 5."

"If you are an upper-level staff, you can only take this elevator to floors -1, -2, and above ground levels; if the elevator indicates arrival at level -3 or deeper floors, please greet the Deep Layer workers present but do not leave the cabin."

There are several more hints like this.

Yu Sheng stared at the notes posted on the elevator wall for a few seconds before turning his head to Xu Jiali: "...Is your work environment particularly hazardous? Do you need to pass a round of rule checks before you can start work?"

"Actually, you get used to it," Xu Jiali said nonchalantly, "Mainly because the Special Service Bureau headquarters building has many 'nodes,' connecting to many places, and some floors are even set in alternate dimensions, where besides offices, you might encounter some bizarre 'indigenous people.' But it's not as dangerous as outsiders think, most of the places and rules here are non-fatal, and if you get lost, there are special devices for help or shortcuts to return. There's even a special 'Peaceful Work Division' in the building that works with the Security Department, specifically responsible for guiding colleagues who get lost back to their workstations..."

It was somewhat less worrying before he explained, but now even Erin couldn't help but grumble: "GodTM Peaceful Work Division... so here, even if you sneak off to a secluded corner to slack off, it's treated as a 'lost' incident, and a bunch of security guards will drag you back to your workstation?"

Xu Jiali shrugged, "Can't be helped. After all, our work nature and environment are special, especially near the special floors—if you leave your post for thirty minutes, nobody will know if you went to slack off or were swallowed by the office next door. But actually, it's not too bad, most of the floors here are stable, and for those in more stressful positions, the work hours are short. For staffers of the Special Service Bureau who have undergone special training, this environment is no different from ordinary people working in an office building."

"Do you also work in this building?" Yu Sheng asked curiously.

"No, most of the time I'm on field duty," Xu Jiali waved her hand, "When I come back, I'm mainly on standby in the annex building. Besides that, there are some 'Attendance Offices' and 'garrisons' for the regular operation forces to use. They are not directly connected to the headquarters building but can be accessed quickly through shortcut floors or special 'pathways.'"

During the conversation, the elevator stopped at a floor labeled 54-1/2, and as the elevator broadcast gently announced the doors opening, a brightly lit corridor appeared before them.

Yu Sheng and the others followed Xu Jiali into the corridor, noticing that it was rather deserted, with only a few uniformed individuals passing by hurriedly, looking serious.

On one side of the corridor were doors firmly shut, while the other side had a row of neat and large windows. Through the windows, they could see the external scenery—

The view outside was a thick and oppressive rock layer, with dark colored stone pillars and large stalagmite structures interweaving throughout the space, and at the far end of the rock layer was a massive rift, beyond which seemed to be a forest covered in snow, dazzlingly bright under the sunlight.

Yu Sheng: "... What the hell kind of scenery is this?!"

Yet Xu Jiali looked unphased and even cheery at the view, "Oh ho, it's a sunny day outside of the 54th half floor, the weather is pretty nice—this floor's rift has been snowing for half a year now."

Hu Li's eyes widened, and she couldn't help but speak out, "Does each floor of this building have its own world?"

"Not every floor," Xu Jiali waved her hand, "Like I said before, most of the floors here are quite stable, only about one-third of the floors have some strange sceneries, and they're not exactly their own worlds, they're just not in the Boundary Land, that's all."

Yu Sheng was dumbfounded—GodTM "only one-third of the floors" still "just not in the Boundary Land"! How bizarre is this place?

Xu Jiali seemed not to notice the amusing expressions on Yu Sheng and the others' faces, and continued to explain calmly: "The Special Service Bureau's headquarters building is like a massive 'Time-Space Rift Sampling Needle,' with each floor piercing through many 'special locations.' If the Boundary Land is the 'Space Hub' of this world, then the Special Service Bureau's headquarters building is established at the busiest intersection of this hub. Hence, our building even has two small customs offices and a Border Communication station. I can give you a tour sometime—it's quite interesting for first-timers here."

"I'm already finding it interesting enough as is," Yu Sheng's tone was numbed, "How on earth was this building constructed?!"

"Some magical civil engineering, how would I know the specifics," Xu Jiali shrugged, "But you should understand by now why when you simply 'opened a door,' our entire Special Service Bureau went into a frenzy, right?"

Yu Sheng's expression immediately stiffened.

"When a space-time displacement is detected, the alarm is triggered from top to bottom of the entire building," Xu Jiali sighed, with a sense of not wanting to revisit the past in her voice, "Even the annex building and several satellite facilities connected by floors with the main building went into alarm mode—although we later found out that no actual damage occurred, when the alarm went off, it was like the headquarters had been overrun, and on the busiest night, half the building was urgently evacuated..."

What more could Yu Sheng say but to keep stiffening: "..."

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