Sleepless Night (Not Yu Sheng)

Regardless of whether they got along well or not, Li Lin had to admit that Xu Jiali was the most outstanding deep diver he had ever met. At least it meant the Bureau was looking out for him as a newcomer, having someone so capable come to his aid.

That was, of course, if he could tolerate the big-mouthed, boastful personality of this strong man, especially after every mission he completed.

"Let me tell you, my mission this time was really messed up," the strong man on the sofa said casually as he grabbed a bottle of water from the coffee table beside him and unscrewed it. "I caught that Angel Cultist who infiltrated Ameine. I finally cornered him in the no-man's-land, and just as we were fighting, I looked up, and guess what?"

Li Lin rolled his eyes. "You big mouth, is that something you can say out in the open?"

"Yes, I reported it to the Bureau, and this part of the intelligence has been cleared for you," Xu Jiali waved his hand, continuing without regard for whether Li Lin wanted to hear it. "When I looked up, holy crap! Someone was standing right there! Do you know what they looked like? Just wearing a shirt and pants, standing in the toxic hot winds of Ameine-IX. Oh, and there was a door frame next to them. I was stunned at the time – I would have killed that Angel Cultist the next second, but my shock let the other party catch their breath. Fortunately, I was still superior in the end..."

Li Lin impatiently waved his hand, walking towards the monitoring equipment he had placed by the window, and said casually, "Alright, alright, every story ends with 'fortunately, I was still superior.' Can't you think of a more novel twist?"

"But I really was superior," the strong man glared, watching Li Lin's movements. "Hey, wait, aren't you surprised? I saw someone in the toxic hot winds of Ameine-IX! Without even wearing Power Armor! Even the captain isn't that fierce!"

"Last time, you saw someone suddenly appear in the acid rain of Tata-V without protective gear – it was a professor from the Academy collecting samples," Li Lin replied without looking back. "This world isn't short of strange guys, not to mention that the more you deep dive, the more various hallucinations you'll experience. I've heard these kinds of thrilling stories from you eight hundred times. I don't believe a single punctuation mark now. Wait until you're taking off in a shuttle in orbit and see someone standing outside the viewport flying with you, then come tell me. At least it sounds a bit innovative."

"I have seen that," the strong man grinned and walked directly to Li Lin's bunk, sitting down heavily. "It was a Daoist priest from Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain. Damn it, just as I was about to accelerate, he held up a mirror and flashed it at my monitor, saying he was going to overtake me... Overtake my ass. If he has the guts, he can enter warp drive in his physical body..."

Li Lin's hands finally stopped moving. He turned his head and looked at Xu (the Strong Man) Jiali sitting beside him, sighing after a long pause, "Your daily lives on special field assignments are truly rich and colorful."

"Why don't you get a deep diver's license too? Maybe you can join me on special field assignments next time," the strong man urged. "What's so good about The Crossroads? It's dangerous, troublesome, and you're held responsible for everything you do."

Li Lin thought about it, then shook his head. "The Crossroads is always short of personnel. Someone has to guard this biggest 'hub.' And honestly, I don't think playing chicken with Angel Cultists on wasteland planets in Power Armor is any safer than staying in The Crossroads to handle Otherworld security. Besides... don't you still have to deal with 'Otherworld' on your special field assignments?"

"That's different. The density of Otherworlds outside isn't this high. It's not like The Crossroads, where seven out of twenty bus stops are Otherworlds..."

Li Lin glanced back at Xu Jiali, wanting to say that 99.99% of people under normal circumstances could only see the thirteen normal stations. But then he remembered that the information on the strong man in front of him stated that he had accidentally entered an Otherworld "platform" at the age of twelve, survived alone on the "platform" for a full six years, and only after completing psychological correction did he become a deep diver due to his inability to escape the pursuit of Otherworlds. The words he wanted to say ultimately remained unspoken.

There were two types of frontline combat personnel in the Special Operations Bureau: one group came through the normal training and assessment process, and the other group was fished out of Otherworlds.

Don't flaunt your extensive knowledge in front of people with traumatic experiences – even if they don't care about it at all.

Li Lin lowered his head, focusing on checking the various parameters recorded by the equipment.

The strong man beside him seemed a bit bored. He was a pure combat personnel, here mainly as a combat force supplement. He wasn't very interested in tasks like "stakeouts."

"The Bureau is in chaos right now," he suddenly said after a period of boredom. "The captains of several action teams have been called in for overtime. I heard even the Director has gone."

"I know," Li Lin replied without looking up. "This is The Crossroads, after all."

"Are things like this common in The Crossroads?" the strong man scratched his head. "Have there been similar 'anomalous phenomena' before? I'm always on special field assignments, so I don't know much..."

"If you're talking about the spatial displacement phenomenon tonight, it hasn't happened before. But if you're talking about 'anomalous phenomena' itself, then The Crossroads has never been short of them. This place... is The Crossroads, after all."

"Alright, charming The Crossroads, I love this place to death," the strong man stretched his arms and shoulders, leaned back, and lay down on Li Lin's bunk. His heavy body made the poor single bed creak. "People who want to destroy this world and people who want to protect this world love this place to death – fortunately, I don't have to be on duty at the Bureau. I heard the captains are working overtime every day."

Li Lin didn't answer him, just diligently carried out the monitoring and recording tasks.

And at that moment, a suddenly ringing mobile phone broke the silence in the room.

Li Lin glanced at his phone screen, immediately picked it up, and answered, "This is Li Lin... Mm, mm? Ah, okay, I understand."

The strong man sat up from the bed, looking curiously at Li Lin, whose expression had changed. "What's wrong?"

Li Lin's expression was strange as he looked up at the calm night sky outside the window.

"I just got a call from the Bureau. The rift phenomenon... has stopped."

The strong man was stunned by the news.

"It stopped?" he widened his eyes. "Just like that? No follow-up attacks, no Angel Cultists or anything? Not even an Otherworld appeared?"

"No, it just stopped. All the monitoring nodes in The Crossroads are quiet now."

"So I stayed on night shift for nothing?"

"Not for nothing – and we still have to continue. Those in the Bureau aren't resting either," Li Lin shook his phone. "Everyone, keep monitoring to see if the force that created the rift phenomenon has any follow-up actions. You go sleep in the next room for now. I'll wake you up to relieve me in six hours."

"Okay," the strong man got up immediately, not a single wasted word this time. "If anything happens, just wake me up."

Li Lin nodded, his gaze returning to the night sky outside the window.

"Another sleepless night..." he muttered softly.

Yu Sheng slept very soundly in the latter half of the night.

After successfully replicating a "great door" leading to a distant time and space, he firmly remembered that feeling, knowing how to control the so-called "spiritual guidance," and how to imbue it with a specific "frequency" when opening the door, thus making the door stably lead to the designated location.

He felt that most things in the world could be attributed to "first time is strange, second time is familiar."

After that, he kept practicing and strengthening the process of opening the door, successfully replicating various kinds of passages until he was exhausted.

Sleep after exhaustion was always particularly sound. He felt like he hadn't slept this soundly in many years.

However, he also felt a bit regretful. During this good night's sleep, he hadn't dreamed of that fox – he hadn't dreamed at all.

It seemed that the dream with Huli was not stably generated.

This made Yu Sheng feel a bit uneasy and anxious again.

After waking up in the morning, he told Eileen about the situation.

"It's okay, don't overthink it. That fox has survived in Otherworld for so many years, she won't be in trouble in just a day or two," Eileen didn't spout any trash talk this time. Instead, she very seriously comforted Yu Sheng. "Dreams are inherently unstable. Maybe you'll see her again in your next dream?"

"I hope so," Yu Sheng said casually, picking up a slice of meat from the table and putting it into his bowl.

This was meat cut from that "local specialty." He had eaten it for three consecutive meals, hadn't finished it yet, and wasn't tired of it.

However, he could no longer feel his body strengthening from this "feeding." It seemed the effect of this thing on him had reached its limit.

But regardless, it still tasted good.

"What are your plans after eating?" Eileen's voice came from the side. "Continue practicing 'Opening the Door'? Or try to recreate the passage to the 'Valley'?"

"I need to go out and buy some things first. After I get back, I'll start trying to construct the path to the valley. This might take a long time to attempt, as I can't quite remember the 'feeling' from back then," Yu Sheng said, suddenly noticing the hesitant expression on Eileen's face. "Hmm? Do you have something on your mind?"

Eileen stared intently at him. The doll seemed to be hesitating, and after several seconds, she spoke, "...Set aside half a day for me."

Yu Sheng was taken aback. He rarely saw such a serious expression on this doll's face.

"Set aside half a day for me... what for?"

"To make me a body," Eileen said calmly and firmly.