Brushing Past

He opened the supermarket door, then walked inside.

It was such a simple and ordinary process, yet Yu Sheng found it almost unbelievable at that moment. The shock from opening the door several times just now had been too much, leaving him with a lingering door-opening trauma. Even when he saw the familiar shelves and the shopkeeper before him, all sorts of outrageous thoughts involuntarily surfaced in his mind—

Could this be an extradimensional lair that looked exactly like the small supermarket in his memories but was actually some sinister entity's mimicry? The shelves looked normal enough, but perhaps every bottle and jar on them contained eyeballs soaking in formaldehyde. Maybe the shopkeeper would suddenly pull a chainsaw sword from his pocket after greeting him, charge over, and chop him to pieces beneath the checkout counter...

Fortunately, those ridiculous thoughts only flitted through his mind. Yu Sheng quickly calmed down, first confirming that he had truly entered a normal supermarket and roughly figuring out under what circumstances he could "open a door normally and correctly." He then nodded at the young shopkeeper across from him. "I'm here to buy some things—do you have instant noodles and compressed biscuits by the case?"

"We have instant noodles. The unopened cases are stacked under the stairs to the second floor. Take a look and see which kind you want." Although the young shopkeeper found Yu Sheng's dazed look upon entering a little strange, he quickly ignored it and pointed at the metal staircase in the distance. "We're out of cases of compressed biscuits. They're on the middle shelf to the left. See them? That's all of them. Not many people usually buy these, so I don't stock much."

"Okay. Pack all the biscuits for me. I'll go move a case of noodles... And get me two packs of ham sausages, the large ones."

"Sure."

The young shopkeeper answered, then turned around, took a large shopping bag, and began loading things from the shelves. As he worked, he casually asked, "Buying so many instant noodles and compressed biscuits all of a sudden? It's not good to eat only those. My wife complains about it every day."

"I'm stocking up at home," Yu Sheng answered perfunctorily.

The shopkeeper said nothing more. He packed a large bag of things as Yu Sheng had requested and carried it toward the checkout counter. Just then, the supermarket's glass doors were pushed open again—both doors at once, with one of their hinges letting out a teeth-grating squeak.

The shopkeeper, who was counting the compressed biscuits, hurriedly looked up. "Hey, that door's broken. There's a notice stuck on it."

"Uh, I didn't notice." The person who entered was a young man with black hair, dressed casually and possessing unremarkable features. He awkwardly glanced back at the half of the glass door that seemed unable to swing shut on its own, then turned around. "Do you have instant noodles by the case?"

Yu Sheng was carrying a case of instant noodles between two rows of shelves. Hearing the commotion from the checkout counter, he looked up, then quickly shifted his gaze away.

"Oh, those will do." The young man with short black hair pointed at the case in Yu Sheng's arms. "I'll take a case too."

The shopkeeper did not even look up. "Under the stairs on the right ahead. Get one yourself. I'm counting up this order first."

Yu Sheng brushed past the young man. After paying at the checkout counter, he carried a large shopping bag in one hand and hoisted the case of instant noodles onto his shoulder with the other, walking into the deepening night outside the supermarket.

Li Lin found the instant noodles he wanted beneath the stairs mentioned by the shopkeeper. Just as he bent down to move them, he felt his pocket vibrate. He took out his phone and saw a message from his captain.

He glanced toward the checkout counter, then lowered his head to look at the screen and casually replied, "I'm settled in. I just came out to buy some things."

His phone buzzed twice, and a new message appeared on the screen. "Did you find anything unusual?"

Li Lin typed, "No. Tomorrow I'll look around the streets and interact with some of the residents here."

After sending the message, the young Special Operations Bureau agent hesitated for a while before editing another one. "About when will the team's 'deep diver' arrive? Who are you sending over?"

This time, quite a while passed before his phone vibrated again. "Xu Jiali. He'll report tomorrow."

Li Lin stared blankly at the message on the screen. He was just about to ask something when another message from his superior appeared. "He just returned from Ameine-IX. Something happened there, so his mission ended early. He's currently at headquarters giving a debriefing and undergoing a full examination. We'll send him to you tomorrow."

After reading the message, the corner of Li Lin's mouth twitched. He quickly typed, "You're sending him on duty right after an assignment? You're not even giving him half a day off?"

"Xu Jiali requested it himself. The situation he encountered was somewhat special, and he's suffering from some aftereffects of deep diving. He needs to wear a stabilizer constantly for the next few days, so we simply moved his post-mission leave to next week. There probably won't be any trouble on your end in the short term, so he can treat staying with you as rest. We'll discuss the specifics when you meet tomorrow."

Li Lin curled his lip, replied with "Okay," then stood up and carried the case of noodles toward the checkout counter.

The supermarket shopkeeper raised his eyelids and glanced at him. As he took out the scanner, he muttered again, "It's not good to eat only this. My wife complains about it every day..."

Li Lin grinned. "Then should I not buy them?"

"That'll be 62.8 yuan."

Eileen heard a commotion coming from the front door—the door had been opened from outside. However, when she poked her head around the edge of the picture frame and looked toward the entryway, she could not see any sign of Yu Sheng for quite some time.

After a while longer, she finally saw Yu Sheng sneak his head in through the doorway, muttering to himself. He looked around inside for a long while before cautiously stepping into the house like a thief. After setting down the huge pile of things he had bought, he turned around and closed the door.

Eileen quietly watched the whole scene. Only after Yu Sheng had closed the door did she finally speak. "Yu Sheng, what are you doing? Why do you look like a thief coming home?"

Yu Sheng sighed as he changed his shoes and muttered, "Don't ask. I've developed a serious psychological trauma over 'opening doors.' I don't dare take a step forward without checking three times."

As Eileen listened, her gaze fell back onto the pile of things by the entrance.

"You bought quite a lot." The doll girl sounded impressed. "You should've taken a little cart, like one of those camping wagons. They're incredibly useful."

Yu Sheng said nothing for a moment. He merely looked down at the instant noodles, ham, and compressed biscuits piled by the door. Then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, he slapped his forehead hard. "I should've bought some liquid food! She's been hungry for too long and can't eat this right away... No, I'll go buy a case of Eight-Treasure Porridge tomorrow morning... Or should I go now?"

Eileen listened silently. When she saw that Yu Sheng was actually about to open the door and make another trip outside, she suddenly spoke. "Tomorrow is fine."

Yu Sheng had already changed his shoes again. He looked back while holding the doorknob. "She's still hungry..."

"Even if you bought it now, would you have any way to deliver it to that fox immediately?" Eileen stared straight at Yu Sheng. "Besides... I'm serious. I wanted to say this earlier. Even if you delivered all this food, it would only temporarily ease her condition. The biggest problem over there isn't the lack of food, but that entity called 'Hunger.'"

Yu Sheng stopped what he was doing.

After thinking for a moment, he changed his shoes back, walked to the dining table, and sat down opposite Eileen.

"You're right. The biggest problem is 'Hunger.' Although it would still be good to fill her stomach temporarily... let's wait until tomorrow. There's no need to rush it right now. We also need to figure out a way to enter that valley steadily first."

Eileen noticed the serious, contemplative look on Yu Sheng's face as he said the latter half. Combining that with the few words he had let slip when contacting her earlier, she immediately sensed that something was going on.

"...What exactly happened?" she asked tentatively. "You... don't tell me you've come up with a way to enter that valley?"

"Strictly speaking, it's not a way to enter that valley, but rather..."

As Yu Sheng spoke, he raised his hand and grabbed at the air in front of Eileen.

He grasped a doorknob. A door suddenly materialized in midair. Its form was utterly ordinary, but its edges trembled and quivered like an illusion. Then, under Eileen's stunned gaze, Yu Sheng yanked the door open.

The illusory door suddenly opened. Yu Sheng saw a female elf standing on the other side. She had a large number of mechanical limbs and a wheel-like lower body behind her, while her upper body was clad in a silver-white robe and skirt, making her look like a mechanic.

She was standing before some kind of large-scale machining apparatus, turning toward them in shock.

The mechanical limbs behind Elf mechanic were still rapidly and precisely adjusting the large apparatus on the platform, which continuously emitted streams of light. Her eyes bulged as though they might pop out. After staring at Yu Sheng for two seconds, she shouted, "So what the hell are you, exactly—"

Yu Sheng slammed the door shut.

"...I didn't expect to be able to connect to the same place twice in a row." Yu Sheng's face held a trace of surprise and a trace of thoughtfulness. "Wait, this might be... I'll try reproducing it later..."

He had only just muttered halfway through when Eileen across the table finally lost her patience. The doll girl looked as though she was about to fly out of the oil painting and bite someone. "What the hell was that just now!? What was it?! Huh?!"

"As you can see," Yu Sheng said, exhaling, "it was a door."

"I know it was a door, but the important thing is—" Eileen drew a deep breath and bounced right out of her chair. "What the hell was that?!"