Dimensional Interlayer

"Ding-a-ling-"

The door to the Cafe swung open, and a young man and woman walked in. They first ordered drinks from old Philip, then headed toward Ushas's table.

"Hi, everyone!" Xia Xiu gave the three of them a radiant smile.

At the sight of his smile, Traveling Frog Muji and the ghost Lifenel both shuddered involuntarily. They sat bolt upright as the blond, golden-eyed boy took a seat beside them.

"What's wrong with you two?" Three-Eyed Girl Ushas looked at their odd expressions in puzzlement.

"N-nothing." The frog and the ghost smiled and shook their heads to show that they were fine.

How strange.

Ushas gave the two of them a bewildered glance, but soon turned her attention to Camille beside her. Brimming with resentment, she said to Camille:

"You took forever! You're so slow yourself, yet you made me..."

"Last week's math homework." Camille calmly cut off Ushas's complaint.

"Wow, club activities are so much fun!" Ushas instantly changed her tune.

Three-Eyed Girl Ushas had once again been brought to heel.

"All right, let's get straight to the point today."

Camille opened the shoulder bag she carried and took out a crystal-clear card. Its design depicted a deer's head with multicolored antlers.

"Our clubroom has been assigned. This is the key." Camille waved the card in her hand at everyone present.

"Let me see!" Ushas excitedly snatched the card from Camille's hand and examined it closely.

"The clubroom is in the [Wonderful Science District]. It's where alchemists, the Meme Research Lab, live-subject modification, and the Super Science Lab are concentrated," Camille continued, retrieving the card from Ushas as she spoke.

"Cool!" Ushas exclaimed, all three eyes sparkling.

"Ribbit, so we're officially a club now. Has the club been listed in the think tank?" Muji asked Camille.

"Yes. I listed it as soon as the application was approved," Camille replied.

After a club was founded, its name had to be uploaded to the Deer College Think Tank. Only then could the think tank analyze its data and assign tasks the club might be able to complete.

"Then let's head to the [Wonderful Science District] and check out our clubroom," Xia Xiu said.

"Yes, yes, let's go! I can't wait to see our research club's very own turf!" Ushas said excitedly.

"Then let's all go take a look," Camille said with a smile.

Deer College · Wonderful Science District.

[For science!]

Camille led her club members through the futuristic metal gates at the entrance to the science district. The first thing they saw was an enormous holographic projection bearing a single line of text-For science.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-

"Huh? What's this?" Ushas curiously looked up and down at the red lines rapidly scanning her body, then asked in surprise.

"An All-Seeing Domain Scan. It checks whether anyone entering has been infected with meme contamination and whether they're a living organism in the conventional sense," Xia Xiu answered beside her.

Xia Xiu was very familiar with All-Seeing Domain Scan devices. They were mandatory equipment for every [Containment Room] established by the Sanctum. Everyone entering or leaving a [Containment Room], no matter how high their rank, had to be scanned by one.

[No abnormalities-]

[Hello, welcome to the [Wonderful Science District]!]

[Sir, an available branch connection has been detected-Community Service]

[Connect?]

Jarvis brought up a pop-up, and Xia Xiu casually tapped yes.

[Connection complete!]

[Community Map unlocked!]

A miniature map floated on the right side of Xia Xiu's field of vision. It had a zoom slider and a red X in its upper corner.

"Has everyone connected to the branch app?" Camille asked the club members.

"I'm connected. It even comes with a map. Hmm, why are so many areas marked off-limits?" Ushas kept gesturing at empty air, pouting and muttering in disappointment as she did.

"That's normal. Let me see where our clubroom is first... Navigation, here it is." Camille also worked with the map on the Lineage interface in front of her.

[Wand People Navigation, at your service!]

An image of a penguin appeared before Camille, bowing with a dress cane in its left hand and a top hat in its right.

"The Wand People have their fingers in this many pies? They even have a presence at Deer College!" Camille exclaimed in surprise.

"That's normal. Quite a few senior executives among the Wand People came from Deer College. Their highest-ranking True-Named also studied here. [Cartographers] are relatively rare among them.

"The Wand People's [Cartographers] map the many dimensions surrounding us and explore or clear routes between them. That job takes considerable knowledge of thaumaturgy, as well as certain... additional transformations that many people find distasteful."

"The maps and navigation used by many Lineages throughout Terra are provided by the Wand People."

Xia Xiu explained all this to Camille from beside her.

"Are all the Wand People penguins?" Camille took the opportunity to ask what she was most curious about.

"No. Their appearance comes from a unique application of memetics-[Cognitive Distortion]."

"To the Wand People, names are extremely important. Most weaker Wand People distort their appearance when moving through the world to avoid revealing their names. As for why they all look like penguins afterward, that's probably their corporate image," Xia Xiu said, rubbing his chin. He was actually rather curious himself about why the Wand People liked penguins so much.

"I see." Camille nodded in understanding.

While the two talked, they had already followed the navigation to their destination.

"Why is there nothing here?" Ushas looked down at the navigation on her interface, then up at the dead end ahead, and asked in confusion.

"Th-this should be a dimensional interlayer. You need a token to open the interlayer space..." the ghost Lifenel said timidly from beside her.

[Haunted Spirit Street] was essentially an enormous, even infinitely vast pocket dimension. Its entire structure had two layers, which was why it had not been completely destroyed under Heaven's deranged assault.

"A token, a token..." At his words, Camille immediately rummaged through her bag and found the card.

As soon as she took it out, the card began to emit a gentle glow. Holding it, Camille stepped forward, then raised her hand.

Ripples appeared in the space before the dead end. Camille tentatively reached out, and her arm passed through successfully.

"It's right in here."

(End of chapter)

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