Yu Sheng was awakened at dawn by a headbutt from the little Puppet.

He instantly opened his eyes and sat up, just to see Erin nearby, with her head pressed against his pillow. Despite having just headbutted him, the little thing hadn't opened her eyes and, after a few random movements, had fallen into a deep sleep again, her snores small and even.

Yu Sheng, however, couldn't fall back asleep.

He sat on the bed in a daze for a while, leaned back against the pillow, and his mind still lingered with the faint impressions from the dream before being woken by Erin's headbutt. He felt he'd been dreaming all night about a jumble of bizarre dreams, with all sorts of strange scenes cycling through his mind like a slideshow, and even now, they hadn't completely faded away —

It started with walking Hu Li along the riverbank, where a bunch of Mermaids and Snake Princesses were floundering about. Xuan Che was undergoing a lightning tribulation on the riverbank, electrifying the Mermaids and Snake Princesses in the river, making them jump around. Suddenly, it turned into helping the locals dig rocks in Shuji, with Mo Ran erecting a statue over eighty meters tall for him in the city center, with Hu Li eating tribute fruits under his statue, claiming to be a Pure Altar Envoy. Next, it changed to accompanying the doll heads on a valley picnic. Everyone went to the Black Forest to pick mushrooms, and halfway through, a squirrel came over saying a giant spider was dismantling the King's cat tree. That spider was enormous, 666 meters tall...

Yu Sheng had such bizarre dreams one scene after another, and the last scene he remembered was returning for some reason to that "Dark Alley," back into a collapsing old bookstore. The books and shelves in the store seemed alive, scrambling to escape, with a dense sea of words running around on the walls and ceiling, emitting small, sharp screams.

Next, the old bookstore began to deform, the walls elongated, the roof rose, spiral and fractured stairs stretched out from behind the bookshelves, and cracks swiftly spread across the entire room — a crimson glow flashed through the frightening fissures, revealing the illusion of a spider.

And then, it was the little Puppet's headbutt.

Yu Sheng rubbed the spot on his forehead where Erin had hit him with her head, only feeling a bit dizzy. He blinked, and as his eyelids closed, he seemed to still see that touch of crimson gaze.

The little Puppet rolled off the pillow, wrapped herself up in a corner of the quilt, muttering something inexplicable.

With the morning light filtering through the curtains, Yu Sheng watched the Puppet quietly for a while before his gaze drifted to the bedside cabinet.

The Omen Wandering Star sat quietly there, leaning against the frame of an oil painting.

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, picked up the ash-gray stone orb and slowly rubbed its pitted, rough surface, then calmed his mind and attempted to establish contact with it again.

Since acquiring it at the Taixu Spirit Hub, Yu Sheng had performed "Blood Transfer" to the stone orb multiple times, and attempted to establish "contact" like this more than once.

To this day, he still couldn't directly control the orb through Blood Transfer like with other "common items." Sometimes, in the process of attempting contact, he would inexplicably disturb Erin, but given the lengthy endeavor, he wasn't without some gain.

As his spirit concentrated and his mind settled, that familiar sense of "emptiness" and a faint whistling static once again seeped in from the edge of perception.

Yu Sheng squinted slightly; in his perception, everything in the bedroom seemed to grow distant and blurred, while the Omen Wandering Star in his hand became increasingly vivid. As his spirit focused further, the "small orb" seemed to become the only tangible object in the world, quietly floating in a dark void.

Yu Sheng's perception wandered around this "sole existence," but as in previous attempts, he still couldn't penetrate the outer shell of the Omen Wandering Star, unable to see what lay within.

Only empty static noises constantly emanated from the orb, like millions of chaotic whispers overlapping.

Yu Sheng "lifted his head" again in the darkness, observing around the Omen Wandering Star.

After pondering for a long time, he suddenly attempted to break the silence towards the ash-gray "lone star" —

"'The mass isn't enough,' what does that mean?"

The only response remained empty whistling.

Yu Sheng abruptly opened his eyes, finding Erin cross-legged beside him, the little Puppet staring at him with wide eyes, motionless.

Outside the window, daylight had fully arrived.

"Wow!" The little thing exclaimed exaggeratively, then pointed at the Omen Wandering Star in Yu Sheng's hand, "You secretly played with my orb!"

"I got woken up by your headbutt and couldn't sleep, so I'm casually researching this thing," Yu Sheng said casually, placing the stone orb on the track beside the Puppet's head, "Though I still haven't figured anything out."

"Really, really?" The little Puppet blinked, then raised her hand to point at the bedside cabinet, "Oh yeah, your phone was ringing just now, I think someone sent you a message!"

Yu Sheng raised his eyebrows and gestured to Erin to comb her hair and freshen up by herself, while curiously picking up his phone. Upon checking, he indeed found several unread messages — all sent by Little Red Riding Hood.

"Has Yu Sheng woken up yet?" "The Spirit Realm detective named 'Sun Chen' has been found, but the situation is a bit complicated." "Let me know when he wakes up, I'll come and find you directly."

Yu Sheng looked at the message on the screen, then turned his head to glance outside where the daylight was already bright. He was a bit confused for a moment—did he really spend that much time trying to communicate with the Omen Wandering Star, just as usual?

He quickly suppressed his doubts, replied to the message, then got up to wash and tidy himself, and even managed to wipe the faces of the little Puppets lined up by the pool. When he ran downstairs, he saw Hu Li waiting eagerly in the dining room...

"Savior, you're up late today," the demon fox girl sighed, lying on the table, her ears drooping, "I'm hungry."

Yu Sheng looked helpless: "Hey, if you're hungry, go buy some buns or fritters at the crossroads first."

Hu Li continued lying on the table: "No way, breakfast has to be eaten together..."

The fox girl seemed to have all sorts of strange obsessions when it comes to eating, and Yu Sheng was quite used to it, so he didn't say much. Instead, he quickly opened a door beside the dining table, leaned in and rattled off an order: "Five bowls of fried sauce noodles, ten braised eggs, twenty chicken legs, three baskets of buns, a bowl of seaweed egg soup, two plates of fried tofu, six grilled sausages with cumin, no chili."

Not long after he finished speaking, trays started sliding over from the other side of the door—that was the serving window of the Special Service Bureau's dining hall, exclusively for Hu Li.

The fox girl, who had been waiting eagerly all morning, instantly became energized and started devouring the food, and almost at the same time, Yu Sheng heard footsteps coming from the direction of the staircase.

He turned to see the red-clothed girl emerging from the basement.

"Have you eaten?" Yu Sheng raised his hand in greeting, "If not, come over for some food—and by the way, tell me what's going on with the Spirit Realm detective who posted."

Little Red Riding Hood didn't hesitate, as an eighteen-year-old girl she's at an age with a big appetite, she sat down beside the dining table and picked up a bun for herself—Hu Li only glanced up, though she usually had a habit of protecting her food, seeing it was her good friend who came to eat, she just grumbled and even pushed the plate of braised eggs a little closer.

"In simple terms, the Spirit Realm detective named 'Sun Chen' is now staying in 'Jinglin Sanatorium'," Little Red Riding Hood said, "He moved in months ago, which is why there hasn't been any updates on Border Communication from him lately."

She bit into a bun and immediately burned her tongue, blowing on it while she saw Hu Li already starting on the second basket.

Yu Sheng slightly frowned: "Jinglin Sanatorium?"

Little Red Riding Hood: "...You can understand it as a mental hospital."

Yu Sheng was taken aback for a moment, then reacted: "...Has he gone insane?!"

"Not entirely sure, the information I found states he voluntarily processed his stay paperwork—and he was mentally clear at the time," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, "This situation is quite uncommon, because most Spirit Realm detectives, if they reach the point of needing a mental hospital, are usually already far gone in terms of mental state, they typically have to be tied up by the Special Service Bureau or specialized 'Recyclers' to the dedicated Containment Facility."

She paused, then added: "Moreover, 'Jinglin Sanatorium' is a rather special place."

Yu Sheng was somewhat curious: "Rather special?"

"You know, Spirit Realm detectives and investigators are a 'high-risk profession'," Little Red Riding Hood looked up, "Those in this line of work typically encounter all sorts of bizarre things, so when a Spirit Realm detective or investigator develops mental issues, their 'mental issue' is likely the least of their problems—do you think such people would be sent to a 'normal' mental hospital?"

Yu Sheng appeared thoughtful.

Little Red Riding Hood continued: "Therefore, the Special Service Bureau has established many specialized treatment and containment facilities—where, as the name suggests, they are both treatment institutions and containment units. They use 'professional methods' to deal with patients' 'special mental issues,' and have measures to prevent patients' 'mental issues' from escaping the wards—and the 'Jinglin Sanatorium' I mentioned earlier is one of those Special Service Bureau's treatment and containment facilities, and... also the most special one.

"That place is an Exotic Realm with an average depth of L-1."

Yu Sheng almost choked on his noodles.

This time, Little Red Riding Hood got to tease him: "Why so surprised—after all, we live in a valley that's an Exotic Realm too."

"That's different—my valley is at least serene and tranquil with a stable environment, and it doesn't house mental patients," Yu Sheng coughed twice, his expression peculiar, "Concentrating a group of 'special individuals' whose Minds have gone awry due to Exotic Realm exposure within an Exotic Realm, there must be a rationale for it?"

The girl eating buns across the table smiled slightly: "It's simple, because one of the characteristics of 'Jinglin Sanatorium' is that the 'patients' inside are influenced by the sanatorium's rules, and only influenced by the sanatorium's rules."

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