The black thread was bounced back and snapped by an invisible "barrier," and with a yelp, Erin fell off Yu Sheng's shoulder. Fortunately, Yu Sheng's quick reflexes kicked in, and he reflexively lifted his leg to catch her as she was halfway down...

Well, at least she didn't fall directly to the ground—she hit the ground only after Yu Sheng inadvertently kicked her...

Erin swore loudly.

Yu Sheng fumbled to pick up the flailing puppet, not sure how many times he got bitten in the process, judging by the numerous teeth marks on his hand. But seeing Erin still full of energy to curse and bite, he felt somewhat relieved, knowing she was okay.

After Erin calmed down a bit, he immediately asked, "Are you alright? What just happened?"

"You're asking me? Who should I ask?" Erin glared with her crimson eyes. "This is the first time I've encountered this! I suddenly got bounced back by something..."

As she spoke, she grit her teeth angrily and then turned to Baili Qing, who looked serious beside her, and explained, "My thread isn't physical; it's never been blocked by anything... At least, not to my knowledge..."

Baili Qing's expression turned subtly, as if something else crossed her mind, but she lightly nodded, "I understand. The 'thread' of a puppet... it's one of the blessings bestowed by the ancient Holy Spirit, Alice. I've never heard of anything that can block it."

She spoke while her gaze returned to the "Mother Crystal" on the round platform.

The crystal had calmed down now, as if the loud humming from before was just an illusion.

Yu Sheng remained silent, frowning in thought. After a moment, something occurred to him, and he finally broke the silence, "Erin, test that 'secondary crystal' again."

Erin didn't understand but seeing the seriousness on Yu Sheng's face, she held back her urge to speak and slowly nodded.

After making thorough preparations, Erin once again summoned her black threads and attempted to touch the finger-sized "secondary crystal" with them.

A moment later, the puppet's thread was once again blocked by an invisible barrier—although not as violently as when it touched the Mother Crystal, the thread still seemed to encounter an invisible strong force field near the secondary crystal, immobilized in the air and unable to get any closer.

What was initially Yu Sheng's sudden whim to "give it a try" now revealed a new characteristic of these crystals. The researchers on site quickly began recording their observations and confirming the data recorded by various devices during the test. One of the researchers, while jotting down notes, casually remarked, "This seems like a protective effect. The Mother Crystal and secondary crystals derived from it both have this feature. But what exactly is it protecting against?"

He looked up through his thick protective visor, curiously watching the puppet on Yu Sheng's shoulder.

"Previously, we tested the regenerating 'secondary crystal' with lasers and physical impacts but didn't observe any similar phenomena. Even threats that could shatter the crystal didn't trigger its 'protection.' Madam Puppet, may I ask what properties your 'thread' has? From what I know, the puppets from Alice's Cottage possess various 'puppet threads.' Some excel in remote control, some in creating illusions, and some can interfere with souls... which type is yours?"

This researcher was exceptionally polite, and Erin immediately perked up, poking Yu Sheng's head, "Hey, hey, hey, did you hear that? He called me 'Madam Puppet!' Much more respectful than you!"

"Yes, yes, I heard," Yu Sheng replied helplessly, brushing away the puppet's little hand, "He asked you a question."

"Oh, right, ahem," Erin coughed lightly, turning with a serious expression, "My thread is very powerful. It can connect consciousness, guide dreams, create traps, and even control opponents—do you know the Wolf Grandmother? That huge thing that doesn't fall even after several cruise missile hits? I can control it for several minutes!"

The researcher listened intently, seemingly hearing about such a complex puppet thread for the first time, "That many abilities?"

"Yeah," Erin said proudly, extending her hand to weave the black threads in the air, "I can even play cat's cradle with it. It's a lot of fun, I know dozens of patterns..."

For someone interacting with the travel agency group for the first time, keeping up with such a highly erratic thought process in a short time was evidently challenging. The researcher in front of Erin took a few seconds to catch up, repeatedly switching between "we should seriously analyze this" and "is this puppet's head really alright" before finally settling into his analytical mode, "According to our previous tests, we can temporarily rule out physical forces. The remaining possibility... let's tentatively hypothesize that the crystal generates a protective response against 'mind' forces."

Erin didn't really understand but still nodded, "Uh-huh, is that so?"

"Then we have our next testing idea," the researcher smiled slightly, "Sometimes, that's what research is missing—a new thought process. Thank you very much for your help, Madam."

Erin (poking Yu Sheng's head): "Hey hey, he called me lady!"

Yu Sheng: "..."

He's already getting tired of dealing with this puppet.

After that, it was more highly technical communication—the head of the laboratory reported to Baili Qing various test results of the "samples" and some subsequent research plans, also the current protection state of the laboratory and so on. Yu Sheng couldn't understand it and didn't dare to interrupt, fearing it would show his lack of knowledge. This place was still a "critical area," and he didn't dare to touch anything for fear of breaking something. You couldn't imagine how uncomfortable this was.

He couldn't help but envy Hu Li, who was still chowing down in the cafeteria—how happy that girl must be right now...

As he was lost in thought, he finally heard the nearby conversation coming to an end. The head of the laboratory finally spoke: "Director, do you think it's necessary to give these crystals a name? Currently, we are still filing them under sample numbers, but these are so unique..."

"Just call them Ankaela Crystals," Yu Sheng casually suggested, "The smaller ones are secondary Ankaela Crystals—if there are ever even smaller synthesized ones in the future, we'll call them Ankaela Crystals Youth Edition."

Lab Head: "..."

"Let's go with what he said," Baili Qing gave Yu Sheng a silent glance, then nodded to the head, "He should have the naming rights anyway."

"...Understood, I got it."

...

After coming out from the containment facility, Yu Sheng let out a long breath.

Staying too long in that enormous cubic "container," people can't help but feel an "oppressive atmosphere" piling up in their hearts, despite the surroundings being bright, clean, and spacious. This feeling just keeps accumulating.

He didn't really feel it while he was inside, but the moment he stepped out, the feeling became particularly pronounced.

Baili Qing didn't seem surprised at Yu Sheng's reaction.

"It's normal," she said, "Everyone who enters the 'container' for the first time feels this way, even some trained Special Service Bureau Officers are affected—the 'container' is designed as one of the 'suppression conditions' for many dangerous items, it's not supposed to be comfortable. Therefore, those working in such high-level containment facilities must be meticulously selected, being well-trained is not enough, they must endure the 'environmental contamination' within the container and maintain mental stability for a long term in that atmosphere. This does require some talent."

"I didn't feel anything affecting my mind, I just didn't like the... atmosphere," Yu Sheng waved his hand and then changed the subject, "By the way, is there still no clue about the runaway angel fragment?"

"None," Baili Qing shook her head, "But we can be quite sure it wasn't taken by anyone in Boundary City, and it hasn't entered Boundary City. It's likely still hidden somewhere in the 'suburbs,' or worse... it's already been secretly transferred outside the Boundary Stele."

At this point, her expression turned noticeably somber.

"Although I don't want to admit it, there's little hope of retrieving it—the fragment's impact point was near the edge of Boundary Land's most remote settlement, and recently Temporal Turbulences have been drifting along the winds all over the suburbs. These turbulences severely interfere with our monitoring facilities outside the city, and appointed personnel at the Gathering Points can't keep constant watch on what's outside the settlement walls. All unfavorable conditions have gathered."

Yu Sheng heard another unfamiliar term: "...Temporal Turbulence? What is that thing?"

"An occasional chaotic phenomenon at the outer edge of Boundary Land," Baili Qing explained casually, "You should know that the wilderness outside the city is not as stable as Boundary City. Temporal Turbulence is the embodiment of this chaos—areas disturbed by these turbulences have time randomly speeding up and slowing down, communication with disturbed regions and the outside world is severely interfered with or even completely cut off. It usually appears as a sudden wind—you get swept into it, feeling like you've spent a few seconds or a few days in the air stream, and then the wind suddenly disappears. If you're lucky, you just lose touch with the real world briefly; if you're unlucky, your missing report might nearly be expired."

Then she paused for a moment before continuing: "Fortunately, Temporal Turbulence does not endanger life. In fact, it even 'preserves' your life. People inside the turbulence won't age, starve, or die. Based on our current information, people in it are in a state of 'material stasis,' only their Consciousness experiences the passage of time. But in any case, this phenomenon causes nothing but trouble for us, just like this time."

Yu Sheng listened intently, absorbing this new knowledge, and then silently sighed again—

What more could be said? Boundary Land... really is a place of extraordinary qualities.

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