Dimensional Hotel

Chapter 263: Crossing the Mirror


The display window glass only reflected the normal street scene. The avenue was empty after the emergency lockdown, seemingly without any anomalies.

Yu Sheng took out his phone and tried to call back the number he had received a call from earlier—unsurprisingly, it was out of the service area.

The communication isolation brought by the Exotic Realm wouldn't weaken just because one approached its "entrance." So far, except for special Exotic Realms like No. 66 Wutong Road and its affiliated space, there were no exceptions.

"What's up? Can you tell anything?" Yu Sheng turned his head and looked at Little Red Riding Hood beside him.

Little Red Riding Hood shook her head gravely.

"The entrance has already closed. The biggest problem now is identifying which Exotic Realm it is, and therefore, we can't determine the conditions for entry," she said slowly. "It's really strange... How could it leave no trace at all? Theoretically, there should be some residual aura that my wolves can detect..."

"What's the usual procedure when encountering incidents where people are swallowed by unknown Exotic Realms? Is there a rescue process?" Yu Sheng asked.

"First, of course, is to identify which specific Exotic Realm the victim fell into, and then determine the conditions for its entry and the current entrance location based on that," Little Red Riding Hood replied casually. "If it's a fixed entrance, like the museum we went to earlier, we can meet the conditions and enter directly. If it's a constantly changing entrance, we have to use some tracking methods—I have my wolves, but most Spirit Realm detectives and investigators aren't so lucky. In those cases, they really need some 'detection' and 'investigation' methods. As for the Special Service Bureau..."

She hesitated before Liu Bing, standing beside her, took over: "The Special Service Bureau's methods are actually similar. When encountering constantly changing Exotic Realms, the first step is also to track the entrance. However, we can use the monitoring equipment spread throughout the Boundary Land to find those unstable fissures faster. Also, the Deep Dive Team can use special technology to forcibly enter Exotic Realms that temporarily don't meet the entry conditions."

At this point, he frowned.

"But we've encountered a problem this time, just as Little Red Riding Hood said, 'no trace left at all.' We've already requested an all-domain scan from the higher-ups, but within the entire Boundary Land, all monitoring equipment failed to locate that entrance... It really only existed for a second before evaporating from this world."

Yu Sheng said nothing, only gazing seriously at the display window again.

The next second, his eyes suddenly narrowed.

In the street reflected by the window, he saw a fleeting figure—a young man, with a look of panic and anxiety, ran across the empty road and disappeared into the corner of the alley not reflected by the window in an instant.

The puppet on his shoulder almost immediately shouted: "Hey, hey, hey, Yu Sheng, Yu Sheng, someone just ran past here..."

"I saw it," Yu Sheng said in a deep voice. "It's him."

Little Red Riding Hood instinctively glanced back at the street behind them but quickly realized and frowned at the glass reflecting the street scene: "...He's trapped in the mirror image?"

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, but before he could speak, he heard the urgent ringing of his phone from his pocket!

Yu Sheng immediately answered the call and put it on speaker. At first, there was some crackling noise, then the anxious, gasping voice of the young man came through intermittently: "Brother Yu... ran out of the mall... thick fog outside! No one on the street... I couldn't get through on my phone..."

"Come back! Return to the mall entrance, at the large display window here!" Yu Sheng interrupted him quickly before the signal cut off. "Don't wander around there!"

"Come back...? Got it, I'll just...¥@#@static..."

The phone signal cut off again.

"He seems to be wandering near the L-1 depth?" Little Red Riding Hood frowned. "Is that Exotic Realm inside the mirror 'fluctuating'?"

After seeing this, Liu Bing quickly walked to the side, took out his walkie-talkie, and rapidly communicated with some support personnel, seemingly adjusting the scanning method of the monitoring equipment based on the recent situation.

Yu Sheng's gaze fell back on the large display window glass.

A few minutes later, he saw the figure once again.

The young man, looking somewhat exhausted, was panting heavily due to his frantic running. His clothes were a bit messy as he ran out from the other side of the street, running to the window while nervously glancing around, as if something dangerous might spring out of the air on his "side" at any moment.

Hu Li stepped forward and banged hard on the display window.

The young man in the mirror image didn't react, seemingly not hearing it.

Hu Li banged harder.

"Silly fox, be careful not to break it!" Erin couldn't help but caution.

Just as Erin's words fell, Yu Sheng saw the young man reflected in the window suddenly turn his head. He seemed to have heard the faint knocking on the glass and, with a trace of nervousness on his face, cautiously walked over and stopped about half a meter away from the window, raising his hand to carefully touch the glass.

Hu Li knocked again.

The vibration transmitted through the mirror to the other side of the world.

The young man was startled and timidly withdrew his hand.

But immediately, he seemed to understand that this was a signal transmitted from the "real" side. With three parts caution and expectation, he reached out and knocked on the showcase.

Yu Sheng heard a faint knocking sound. It was muffled, like it was covered with something thick, but the vibration did pass through to this side.

However, just as he was thinking about how to use this faint connection to rescue the person from the "mirror," the young man in the mirror suddenly turned his head in terror and then bolted!

Erin was instantly anxious: "Hey! Hey, I said don't run around aimlessly!!"

Hu Li immediately retorted seriously, "He's not running aimlessly; there's something chasing him on that side."

"No kidding, I can see that!" Erin said as she grabbed Yu Sheng's hair, "Yu Sheng, think of something! The client is about to get caught!"

"Don't rush me, I'm thinking." Yu Sheng responded offhandedly, taking a step forward to the showcase and starting to feel around the glass.

Little Red Riding Hood was dumbfounded: "…What? You can open this thing?!"

"There's nothing he can't open." Erin said instantly, now brimming with pride, though it was unclear what she was so proud of.

Yu Sheng ignored the puppet's bragging as he focused on finding the door leading to the other side of the mirror.

He needed a "coordinate," a guide, or at the very least... a clue pointing to the "other side."

The only thing that could provide such a clue was the young man's act of knocking on the showcase from the mirror world.

He placed his hand where the other had knocked on the showcase, closed his eyes slightly, and imagined the heavy glass's recent vibration. He pictured the scene on the other side, a world mirrored in the glass – a vibration, dull, as if covered with something thick – and he imagined that vibration passing into his hand, transforming into an invisible handle.

There was a door there. When he turned the handle, it would open.

The handle turned.

Liu Bing watched in astonishment as Yu Sheng opened a door seemingly crafted from the mirror on the glass showcase, revealing a scene that looked like the street behind them.

Only that the street was shrouded in thick fog, with no one in sight.

"Alright, the door is open," Yu Sheng said, keeping his hand on the door handle while turning to smile at Little Red Riding Hood and Liu Bing, "I'll go in and check it out."

Hu Li immediately stepped forward: "Savior! I'm coming too!"

"I'll go with you," Little Red Riding Hood followed quickly with a line, "The Wolf Pack's reconnaissance skills are very useful in unfamiliar environments."

"Alright," Yu Sheng nodded, "Once we're through, everyone be extra cautious. While the 'depth' over there doesn't seem very deep, the situation is a bit odd."

As Yu Sheng and his team prepared to cross the threshold, Liu Bing suddenly stepped forward.

The tall Special Service Bureau officer pressed an item into Yu Sheng's hand.

"Take this."

Yu Sheng looked at it curiously and discovered it was a small "box," a palm-sized metal device with a black outer shell, no buttons or switches on its surface, and a few blinking indicator lights on the side.

"What is this thing?"

"A locator," Liu Bing explained, "My team needs to stay on this side of the street, so we can't go in directly with you. But time is of the essence; take the locator 'over there' – once you arrive, the Special Service Bureau's support team will trace the signal to find you."

Yu Sheng paused, puzzled, "But isn't there no signal beyond depth level L-1 in the Exotic Realm?"

"There's no communication signal; in other words, 'information' comprehensible by human intelligence can't be transmitted," Liu Bing smiled, "But this locator doesn't transmit 'signals' – it sends out a form of subspace oscillation called 'deep sea echo' — it's not for humans to hear, but for certain Mechanical Souls within the Special Service Bureau to 'hear.'

"…Even though I don't fully get it, I'll take it." Yu Sheng said seriously, then casually stuffed the palm-sized "locator" into his coat pocket.

He then took a deep breath, nodded to Little Red Riding Hood and Hu Li, "Let's go in."

Little Red Riding Hood and Hu Li stepped through the large door on the mirror, followed by Yu Sheng and Erin.

The door closed silently, the showcase returning to its untouched state, as if it had never been opened.

In front of Yu Sheng, the dense fog rolled in – within the fog was the mirrored reflection of Boundary City's streetscape.

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