Little Red Riding Hood knew that people living in an Exotic Realm must definitely be odd, but she found that she had still underestimated the strangeness of the "family of three" here at Yu Sheng's place.

Especially when they began to eat.

A person-like doll that didn't need to eat was sitting straight at the dining table, with a special set of bowl and chopsticks placed in front, looking as if it was for a ritual;

A demon fox with numerous tails, continuously pulling all kinds of snacks from its tails while eating, with an extremely chaotic diet combination including but not limited to flatbreads wrapped around steamed buns, chili paired with bananas, simply stuffing anything into its mouth;

But the strangest was Yu Sheng—he actually ate human food.

Unbelievable.jpg.

Yu Sheng noticed Little Red Riding Hood zoning out and thought she was a bit reserved since it was her first time visiting, and warmly beckoned, "Eat up, eat up, I tell you, I'm pretty confident in my cooking skills..."

He had only gotten that far when he suddenly remembered something, pointing at a dish on the table he added, "Ah right, you better not eat this."

Little Red Riding Hood was momentarily stunned upon hearing that, seeing that it was just a dish of seemingly ordinary stir-fried pork with chili, she asked confusedly, "Why?"

"This is made with a 'local specialty' from the Exotic Realm, I'm not sure if ordinary people can eat it," Yu Sheng casually explained, "Anyway, Erin and Hu Li both quite resist it."

Little Red Riding Hood looked blankly, "Exotic Realm's... local specialty?"

"It's the meat sliced off from a physical 'Hunger', I fancy this— but ordinary people don't eat this," Yu Sheng explained naturally, then didn't forget to add, "I'm pretty sensible about this."

Then he saw the girl sitting across the table completely freeze, as if petrified.

Several seconds passed before Little Red Riding Hood suddenly blinked her eyes, her expression stiffly turned to Erin who was sniffing the scent on the table: "Truly... niche language..."

"First time, huh?" Erin stretched out her hand patting Little Red Riding Hood's arm, wearing an experienced look, "I had the same reaction as you the first time I heard it—don't doubt it, it's exactly that stuff. And you've seen how the physical entities are eliminated in that valley with us, don't make such a big deal—it's at least cooked after all."

"This one is suitable to be eaten cooked," Yu Sheng nodded while taking a slice of the stir-fried pork into his mouth, "I've tried sashimi, no good, too tough."

Little Red Riding Hood suddenly looked horrifyingly at the other dishes on the table, and started regretting why she accepted Yu Sheng's invitation today—she originally just thought it could be an opportunity to interact with this strange "person" and the peculiar No. 66 Wutong Road, perhaps getting some fresh information related to this Exotic Realm that might sell for a good price at the Special Service Bureau, but now she realized something:

If an entity appears harmless, then they must be bizarre in other ways, if an Exotic Realm looks particularly safe, then it must possess extremely creative mental pollution...

Little Red Riding Hood swallowed nervously, watching Yu Sheng enjoying his meal, suddenly really wanting to ask—afer you finishing this, you shouldn't be eating me right?

But after hesitating for a long time, she still felt embarrassed to say it out loud.

"Not to your taste?" Yu Sheng noticed the girl across not moving her chopsticks for quite some time, felt a bit odd, "Uh, I have a heavy taste, but you can try this plate of vegetables, it's good."

Being stared at, Little Red Riding Hood couldn't run nor dare to shake her head, just hesitantly stretched out her chopsticks and took a bite, while murmuring in her mind "this stuff can be eaten" and swallowed it like medicine, only to surprisingly discover—it was delicious.

Just very normal stir-fried vegetables.

"Savior is a good cook, isn't he?" Hu Li grinned happily beside her.

Little Red Riding Hood nodded with a nuanced expression, seeing Hu Li keep eating non-stop, remembering that since the moment he entered, his mouth seemed never to stop, finally couldn't hold back her curiosity, "Don't you feel full eating this much?"

"I won't," Hu Li's tail swayed behind him, "Eating more, storing some in my tail, to help Savior in a fight."

Little Red Riding Hood: "...?"

What's all this mess!?

She suddenly doubted whether there was a problem with her own comprehension, even felt like No. 66 Wutong Road seemed to operate under a set of "worldviews" completely different from the normal world, looking at what seems normal but listening to what's spoken, how does this give off a creepy vibe?

And just then, Yu Sheng's voice rose again from beside her, breaking Little Red Riding Hood's wild thoughts, "By the way, inviting you over today, actually there's something else, I wanted to consult you about."

"Ah... Ah?" Little Red Riding Hood was slow on the uptake before realizing, looking bewildered at Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng didn't know why she was reacting this way, didn't think much and directly asked: "As a 'Spirit Realm detective' like you, how do you usually work? Or say, is there anything to watch out for being a Spirit Realm detective?"

"Usual work? Most of the time I accept outsourced jobs from the Special Service Bureau, sometimes there are also requests from other organizations or individuals, but those are unstable," Little Red Riding Hood spoke offhandedly, "Most of the tasks for Spirit Realm detectives actually come from the Special Service Bureau, or its subcontracting units, considering it's an official organization, they are well-informed, and many missions are directly summarized there—look at this."

While she was speaking, she took out her phone, fiddled with it for a bit, and then showed the screen to Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng curiously leaned in to look and saw a long string of chat interfaces on the screen.

Most of the chat avatars carried a uniform identifier, marked with the Special Service Bureau.

"This is a specialized platform built by the Special Service Bureau. Spirit Realm detectives and Independent Investigators use it to exchange information, chat, and even public commissions are posted here. Officially, it's called 'Border Communication', but many just call it 'DiDi Working'..."

Yu Sheng listened in amazement to her description and wanted to take another look at the content on the screen, but Little Red Riding Hood had already put her phone away.

"Strictly speaking, this shouldn't be shown to others, we need to keep it confidential from ordinary people, but although you're neither a Spirit Realm detective nor an investigator, you're not an ordinary person either, so I showed you. As for what to normally watch out for in our line of work..."

Little Red Riding Hood paused here, her expression tinged with a hint of teasing: "Everyone has their own work habits, but if we really talk about a common 'framework', there are two things: first, don't disrupt the order of the Boundary Land; second, try to stay alive—if you can't manage the second, at least die in a 'shallow' place, don't make it too tough for the corpse collectors."

She suddenly looked a bit puzzled, curiously peering into Yu Sheng's eyes, "Why are you suddenly asking this?"

Yu Sheng casually responded, "Oh, we might soon be colleagues."

Little Red Riding Hood: "...?"

...

After dinner, Little Red Riding Hood left.

"Why do I feel like her expression was weird when she left," Erin sat at the table, watching Yu Sheng clean up the dishes and muttered, "She seemed a bit distant..."

"High schoolers have a lot of pressure, it's completely normal, especially since she's also working during the holidays—look at the cracked screen of the phone she uses, her living conditions might not be that great," Yu Sheng commented while wiping the table, "That's why I thought of inviting her over for dinner, to help her relax a bit."

"Really?" Erin looked a bit skeptical, "I feel like she was even more nervous when leaving than when she arrived."

"That's just your imagination," Yu Sheng waved his hand, "Trust my judgment, humans understand humans—besides, I was a high school student myself, if we invite her over more often, it'll definitely get better, no mistake there."

"Really?"

While they chatted, Yu Sheng had already finished clearing the dinner table, and handed the dishes to the eager-to-help Hu Li before taking a deep breath, preparing to attend to serious matters.

"I'm going to open a portal."

Erin, who was about to climb down from the dining table to run to the living room to watch TV, turned her head back, "Huh? Where are you going?"

"Going to take another look at that valley."

Erin immediately fell from the leg of the table with a smack, sprawled on the floor.

"Have you finished all the meat in the fridge?" The little doll climbed up with difficulty, her face filled with horror as she looked at Yu Sheng, "Are you going to restock?!"

"No," Yu Sheng quickly waved his hand, "It's about that 'Director' who came to see me today, something she said caught my attention."

Continuing, he relayed to Erin what Baili Qing had specifically mentioned before she left.

The doll listened with furrowed brows, "Could it be a trap... luring you into a minefield or something? These sudden high officials who babble so much always do this, that's how it's shown on TV."

"Then you should watch less TV," Yu Sheng gave the doll a look, "Besides, even if she has other plans, I still need to go take a look in that valley."

Erin still frowned, "Why?"

"There's something, I want to investigate further, I left in too much of a hurry last time," Yu Sheng seriously explained, "Don't be so nervous, it's not like I can't come back, the portals are stable now, if anything goes wrong, I can retreat right away."

"Well... okay," Erin thought for a moment and reluctantly eased up, "Should we tell Hu Li then? She might worry."

"I'm just going to check the situation, shouldn't take too long. If she comes out looking for me, just tell her I'll be back soon," Yu Sheng said, already reaching out into the air where a phantom door opened in his hand, "But I suspect I'll be back before she's done washing the dishes, considering I'm just taking a look."

He suddenly paused, looking back at the door he had opened.

"… Should I have given a heads up to the Special Service Bureau?"

"You've already opened the portal and now you think of it? Hurry up and go, the complaint calls will start soon! Go, go, I'll wait for you here."

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