In the eerie room shrouded in a dull gray hue, where sunlight could hardly penetrate, a mass of dense words slowly faded from the air. From a hole in the ceiling, a hideous and terrifying tentacle began extending downward, swelling and swaying in the air towards where Yu Sheng stood.

Yu Sheng's heart tightened instantly, and he quickly stepped back two paces. Recently, he had indeed encountered many bizarre or hideous things, yet the current scene still made his skin crawl. Primarily, the shape of that tentacle was truly unappealing; even with Yu Sheng's imagination, he couldn't fathom how to make it less repulsive.

This truly brought a tremendous shock to Yu Sheng.

The tentacle swayed sluggishly in the air for a few moments, seemingly having lost its "target" perception, then began swelling and swaying aimlessly in place.

This scene was reminiscent of blind sleepwalking.

Yu Sheng calmed his slightly tense nerves, cautiously keeping his distance from the thing as he slowly moved along the wall to another direction away from the tentacle.

Faint ripples appeared in the dim room, almost like Yu Sheng's footsteps disturbing a grotesque dream, with the ripples spreading out and faint glowing lines flaring on the surface of the tentacle.

So this is the object that "Old Zheng," the contact person, once touched? This is what he got by being tempted by those Angel Sect followers, summoning with a rudimentary Spirit Communication Technique—a kind of "high-dimensional projection"? This is... the "Envoy" those followers spoke of?

Yu Sheng hesitated for a moment, cautiously stepping half a pace closer to the tentacle. After ensuring the distance wouldn't disturb it, he began closely observing the surface of the tentacle and the eerie hole from which it emerged.

If the contents of that secret letter were true, if the Spirit Communication Technique told to Old Zheng by those Angel Sect followers was real, then this thing should be part of a "Dark Angel."

Though Little Red Riding Hood mentioned earlier that a True Dark Angel wouldn't respond to human calls, Baili Qing had also told Yu Sheng that those cultists could indeed "touch" an "Angel" under certain conditions—perhaps only touching a part of them, perhaps merely summoning a projection, or even just seeing a segment of a limb in an illusion, hearing a vague voice.

The thick darkness filled the hole in the ceiling, with the "main body" behind the tentacle completely hidden in the depths of the darkness. Yu Sheng could barely make out a small structure closest to the hole, confirming that the tentacle was connected to something much larger, dormant in the depths of rationality and perception.

The tentacle blindly twisted in the air once again, moving past Yu Sheng.

Should I try?

Touch it?

Yu Sheng debated the bold thought in his mind, even surprising himself—reason told him that such obviously sinister and dangerous things should be avoided at a glance. Little Red Riding Hood had warned more than once not to touch anything related to Dark Angels, and Baili Qing also said that the existence of Dark Angels is inherently the source of madness and loss of control.

But touching it might provide some intelligence, at least show what the "client" once saw.

Touch it; it might not be as dangerous as it looks. The tentacle had only been blindly writhing without showing any aggression.

Touch it; even if there are consequences, they might not be severe. After all, this is just a bizarre dream realm, and what's in front is just an illusion.

Touch it; an ordinary person had touched it, even perceived its kindness and sincerity. If anything felt off, just let go and step back...

Just touch it...

Just one touch...

Yu Sheng frowned, glancing around: "What's all this endless chattering..."

The tempting voice from nowhere suddenly vanished—much like those X090 graphics cards, co-branded handles, toolboxes, and prime fishing spots along the path in the Black Forest before, which ultimately served no purpose.

Yu Sheng blinked and instantly decided not to touch that eerie tentacle—in fact, if those continuous murmurs hadn't echoed in his mind, he might have already grabbed it...

Yet as he calmed down, ready to inspect other areas of the room, a chilling sensation suddenly emerged in his perception.

The next moment, Yu Sheng felt the familiar chilling sensation touching his limbs, piercing into his flesh, spreading within him, almost pulling him back. He instinctively stepped back half a pace, seeing dense black threads manifesting from the air around him, some already wrapping around his hands and feet.

Erin's voice sliced sharply into his mind like a blade: "Yu Sheng, what are you daydreaming about?"

Yu Sheng felt a sharp pain in his head, followed by the rapid dissolution of the gray hue around him. Within mere breaths, normal colors of the world were restored before his eyes, and sunlight once again filled the room, driving away the cold from the depths of his consciousness.

He turned back, finding himself still standing by the dark red circle. Little Red Riding Hood was still in her previous spot, while Erin stretched her hands this way, with thin, black lines extending from her fingertips, connecting to him.

Yu Sheng was taken aback for a moment. The next second, he saw Erin storming over furiously: "Yu Sheng, you damn fool! Can you stop 'trying' every single time? What if trying gets you killed? At least give us a heads-up if you insist on trying!"

"Are you okay?" Little Red Riding Hood also walked over, "Just now, you suddenly froze and then your figure started to become transparent. Erin said your consciousness was being 'dragged away' by something..."

Yu Sheng clumsily caught Erin, his ears ringing with Beeper's rapid chatter. It took quite an effort to calm her down before he could speak: "I'm fine, I'm fine... Wait, I was almost 'dragged away' just now? Seriously?"

He spoke while hastily glancing down at his body — obviously, he didn't notice anything unusual, but looking at the tense expression on Little Red Riding Hood's face and Erin's frantic demeanor, he knew the situation just now might indeed have been dangerous.

Though he didn't feel enticed by that tentacle, just being in that bizarre, gloomy "room" seemed to almost cause him some kind of "loss"?

"Of course it was real," Erin grabbed at Yu Sheng's hair wildly, "If I hadn't pulled you out in time, you would've disappeared entirely — don't even mention dying and coming back or door-opening stuff, what would you do if you messed up in a ditch..."

"What did you see just now?" Little Red Riding Hood asked seriously, "That rudimentary spirit communication technique... did it really summon something?"

Yu Sheng steadied himself, his expression becoming serious: "I saw a tentacle and a different form of this room — it seems your 'contact' was indeed fooled badly."

Over the next period, he recounted everything he saw and experienced in that grotesque "illusion" to Erin and Little Red Riding Hood.

Including the tentacle's attempt to "seduce" him at the end.

Once he finished speaking, the room fell silent for a moment.

Erin stared directly at Yu Sheng, after a while, she opened her mouth incredulously: "...You weren't affected at all?"

Yu Sheng frowned: "What kind of question is that? Not being affected is a good thing, isn't it?"

"But usually, in stories at this point, you should immediately become distracted and almost get swallowed by some ancient god monster or something, then my power would descend like a divine weapon to save you from the tentacle just in time. After waking up, you'd bow to me and decide to serve me for life..."

Yu Sheng instantly ignored Beeper's continued babbling.

He turned his gaze to Little Red Riding Hood.

She had been standing there with a somewhat complex expression since earlier, not saying anything for a long time.

Yu Sheng didn't speak, and Erin finally quieted down gradually.

After some indefinite time passed, Little Red Riding Hood sighed.

"...Old Zheng has known us for a long time." She said softly.

Yu Sheng nodded: "Yeah, you mentioned that before you came."

"He's closely connected to the orphanage. It's said that a long time ago, he was also employed by the Council and volunteered at our orphanage for a while — back then, he hadn't joined the Curious Object Association or become an expert in the Exotic Realm and bizarre items," Little Red Riding Hood continued, "He helped us make contact for many assignments, the conditions he offered for the 'Fairy Tales' organization's handled tasks were always the best... But in reality, I've never truly understood him well. I only heard about his past from the occasional mention by seniors at the orphanage."

Yu Sheng didn't know what to say at this moment, so the room fell into a brief silence.

Then, they heard the sound of the door opening from the direction of the foyer.

Old Zheng's nephew had returned.

Yu Sheng looked at Erin, who instantly waved her hand in mutual understanding: "Open the door, I'm leaving first."

Yu Sheng nodded and let Little Red Riding Hood go to the living room while he quickly finished the report procedures, opening a small door leading to No. 66 Wutong Road.

Erin stood at the door, suddenly turning to glance at Yu Sheng.

"Those 'cultists' are really annoying."

"I think so too."

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