"Ever offended someone?"

Suddenly, Yu Sheng blurted out a question that left Little Red Riding Hood slightly stunned. After a few seconds, she understood why he was asking and furrowed her brow: "You mean to say, the museum incident was a trap targeted at me?"

"Don't blame me for being paranoid, but this whole thing is very suspicious. The most suspicious part is why it happened to you—remember the 'sacrifice' event that took place? If it hadn't been for Hu Li, Erin, and I delaying that Evil Wolf that crawled out of the shadows, you would have really lost control," Yu Sheng said gravely, "and the reason you went to the museum, the reason you entered the white exhibition hall at that time, was because you accepted a task to retrieve a collectible, and moreover, it was a time-sensitive task. But now, it turns out this task was a fake... which makes this 'coincidence' very suspicious indeed."

"The orchestrators of the sacrifice event were two believers of the Angel Sect," replied Little Red Riding Hood, her expression turning foul. She always avoided dealings with those fanatics, "You mean those followers of the Dark Angel specifically set me up? Why? It doesn't make sense..."

"That's why I'm asking if you've ever wronged anyone."

"...How does one offend people to the extent that they catch the attention of those maniacs?" Little Red Riding Hood's brows knitted tightly, "As you know, I never deal with anything related to the Dark Angel. Normally, I only take moderately sized tasks through official channels, most of which come from the Special Service Bureau. Our dealings as the 'Fairy Tales' organization are also very cautious. We might have competitors in the Spirit Realm detective field, but definitely not to the extent of having 'enemies'."

"That brings us to another possibility. You haven't wronged the believers of the Angel Sect, but you possess some 'value' that caught their eye," Yu Sheng concluded after a moment's thought, "After all, you said it yourself, they are a bunch of maniacs. Maniacs don't follow normal logic; perhaps they see you as beneficial to their 'cause' and decided to take action."

Little Red Riding Hood fell silent, seemingly immersed in thoughts and doubts.

Yu Sheng knew he had branched out quite far in his thinking and understanding the motives of the Angel Sect wasn't something one could simply ponder and figure out here, so he quickly cleared his throat to steer the conversation back.

"Ahem, let's talk about the task itself then. What have you gathered so far?"

"I was in direct contact with the commissioner. Thinking back, because I was very familiar with the other party, I indeed didn't meticulously verify the details of the task's issuance," Little Red Riding Hood sighed lightly, her demeanor serious, "The digital copy of the task file I received indeed had the Curious Object Association's logo and a one-time serial number, but it wasn't directly issued by the matching department of the Curious Object Association. Instead, it was forwarded to me via the commissioner's personal account—We've done it this way before, so I didn't think much of it this time."

Yu Sheng frowned: "Would a large organization allow such a loophole in operation?"

"In principle, of course not, but in practice, it's hard to prevent. It's the end of the year, and for a large organization like the Curious Object Association, the deadlines for contracting out tasks are very tight. That's why those responsible for outsourcing try to dispatch the tasks before the deadline to push their timestamp ahead during settlement, since everyone is under pressure to meet their KPIs..."

Yu Sheng: "...Is that really the realistic reason?!"

Little Red Riding Hood was silent for two seconds, then pointed at the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox whose tail was dragging on the ground as it walked.

"Isn't your fox walking with a tail dragging on the ground for a very realistic reason too?"

"...Fair point," Yu Sheng instantly came to terms with reality, but couldn't help leaning back on the sofa and remarked, "The world is indeed a huge farce, that statement really holds true."

He rubbed his temples, thought for a couple more seconds, then lifted his head: "So, you mean to say, we can't confirm whether the initial task was personally fabricated by the contact person, or if there's a higher-level 'Inside Agent' in the Curious Object Association who issued it and then deleted the records?"

Little Red Riding Hood shook her head: "There's no way to confirm, but the Special Service Bureau would definitely investigate this matter. Regardless, such an operation with loopholes stays under the radar until something actually happens. Now that there's been an incident, it will be scrutinized from top to bottom."

"Then we need to check in with the Special Service Bureau," muttered Yu Sheng before asking, "What about the contact person involved in the incident? What's his situation, what exactly happened?"

"Not much is clear yet, but from what I've heard, it seems he fell from a high place, unfortunately hit his head, and died on the spot," said Little Red Riding Hood, "I've already arranged it; I'm going to his house tonight—he lived alone, and now a nephew is there handling the aftermath."

"I'll go with you," Yu Sheng immediately said.

Little Red Riding Hood hesitated for a moment, looking at him: "You mean to…"

"Maybe we can 'ask' something out of it?" Yu Sheng said seriously, "Like that time at the museum. Although I'm not sure what the limitations are with 'Dead Person Communication', we can still try our luck."

Little Red Riding Hood thought about it, then finally nodded: "Alright... Should we head out now?"

"Let's go now," Yu Sheng said, standing up from the sofa, then looked down at Erin, "You and Hu Li wait at home this time. I'll go alone."

Erin immediately stood up: "Ah? Why?"

Yu Sheng rolled his eyes: "…We're going to a deceased's home to inquire, do you think it's appropriate to bring a doll?"

Erin grinned, showing a displeased expression, but eventually had to agree with Yu Sheng's reasoning and sat back down: "Fine then, I'll stay home… but I'll play games on your computer!"

"Whatever—but you must use your own account, and don't touch my private files!"

"Got it."

After arranging the dolls, Yu Sheng turned his head and saw Hu Li standing nervously behind him: "Savior, are you sure you don't need to bring me along? I can help with the fighting."

Yu Sheng's eye twitched involuntarily, and he had to emphasize to Hu Li once again that this time he was going to a deceased's home for an investigation, there was no need for fighting—disrupting someone's mourning hall by getting into a fight with the deceased's family or the deceased themselves would be quite inappropriate…

Little Red Riding Hood, listening to the exchange between Yu Sheng and Hu Li, felt puzzled and gained a deeper understanding of the mental state of the people at the travel agency.

After instructing Hu Li that there were leftovers in the fridge to heat up if hungry, but to be careful not to burn down or dismantle the house, Yu Sheng finally changed into his outdoor clothes, and stepped out of No. 66 Wutong Road with Little Red Riding Hood.

From his front door to the street opposite, Yu Sheng looked back three or four times.

This made Little Red Riding Hood a bit puzzled: "Are you really that worried?"

"This is the first time I've left home alone, leaving both Hu Li and Erin at home," Yu Sheng's tone indeed carried some worry, "I'm even concerned that by the time I return, they might have dismantled the home."

"That's a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, not a nine-tailed Husky," Little Red Riding Hood sighed, "And Erin seems quite steady, maybe a bit abrupt in her speech at times."

"...You really think highly of her—if you knew what she's capable of, you wouldn't say that," Yu Sheng said with a look of astonishment, "There's no one watching her, she could stew herself! Plus, last time she almost set the house on fire, and the first thing she set ablaze was herself."

Little Red Riding Hood: "…?"

"Sooner or later, you will see it for yourself," Yu Sheng waved his hand, "Let's not talk about this anymore—how should we go?"

The "contact person" Little Red Riding Hood mentioned lived in another district a bit far from Wutong Road, closer to the city center, and it would take over forty minutes by taxi.

Plus, Yu Sheng had never been there—without recorded coordinates, he couldn't open a direct door.

Thus, to save time and avoid additional issues, Little Red Riding Hood made a special invitation to Yu Sheng.

To travel with her Wolf Pack.

In an unremarkable corner of a small alley, Yu Sheng looked uncertainly at the giant wolf in front of him, its shape fluctuating, seemingly composed of shadows.

"Seriously... this thing doesn't bite, right?" he said dubiously, "And can it really carry people?"

"Of course, it can carry people," Little Red Riding Hood looked helplessly at the nervous Yu Sheng, feeling even more helpless about the simple emotions coming from the Shadow Wolf, and spoke with complicated feelings, "And are you still worried about it biting you? It's worried about you biting it!"

"What kind of talk is that!" Yu Sheng glared, "Am I the type to be so indiscriminate about what I eat?"

Little Red Riding Hood: "…"

Seeing this girl's reaction and remembering that he had earlier persuaded her to eat the flesh of Wolf Grandmother, Yu Sheng finally felt embarrassed and gave up on arguing further, obediently learning from Little Red Riding Hood and mounted the wolf's back.

"Does it really work? This wolf is trembling; can it not carry heavy items?"

Little Red Riding Hood turned her head to look at Yu Sheng, slapped the wolf's head below Yu Sheng: "Coward."

Then she shook her head and decisively gave the command to the Wolf Pack: "Let's go."

Yu Sheng was about to ask how to control the wolf he was riding and how to jump and transfer between shadows like Little Red Riding Hood, but before he could speak, he suddenly felt a blur in front of his eyes.

The next second, his view of the world changed.

Colors transformed into various intense shades of black and white, the buildings in the city turned into mere silhouettes, the roads disappeared, replaced by discontinuous "bridges" among clusters of shadows, the orderly scenery from a second ago suddenly seemed like it was reflecting on a fragmented mirror — then, the city curled up, the fragmented floating buildings turned into a three-dimensional maze in this black and white world, resembling a chaotically mapped scroll, all distances and sizes of things were instantly reorganized.

The Wolf Pack started lightly, flying into that bizarre world of shadows.

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