Li Lin looked at the empty corner in a daze, holding a scraper for sampling in his hand, feeling so bewildered as if he had forgotten what he was doing.
The middle-aged man known as "Captain Song" - Song Cheng, the leader of the second team of the Special Service Bureau, knit his brow tightly at the moment the bloodstains disappeared.
Something had vanished from his memory and thoughts, but the lingering impression remained, stimulating his "spirituality" and making him aware that something wasn't quite right.
A chaotic light flickered in the depths of Song Cheng's eyes, and he immediately tried to control his mind, attempting to "solidify" the last bit of lingering impression in his heart to prevent it from dissipating along with certain memories. Years of professional training kicked in at this moment. Holding the scraper, Li Lin raised his head after a moment of hesitation: "Leader, I suddenly feel like I've forgotten what I was doing. Was there something here just now?"
"Cognitive interference!" Song Cheng quickly realized, and urgently reminded, "Check the 'depth' of this place immediately!"
Upon hearing this, Li Lin said nothing more and put down the sampling tool in his hand. He quickly took out a palm-sized black box from his belt, pressing a few buttons on the surface and then pulling out a thin "hose" from the side, directly connecting the sharp tip of the hose, resembling a needle, to his eyeball. Having done all this, he lifted his head and slowly looked around with the eye attached to the hose.
A faint buzzing sound came from the dark iron box, and it seemed as if liquid was flowing slowly inside the tube. Li Lin's eyes gradually took on a layer of pitch black, and through his spiritually altered vision, everything on this old street was cast in monochrome.
"Depth L-0, no reaction from the Exotic Realm," Li Lin reported while observing, "and I don't see anything or any residue that has come out from the 'Exotic Realm'."
Captain Song, frowning, glanced at the box in Li Lin's hand - it was a portable Deep Probe, whose sensing range and sensitivity couldn't compare to the standard equipment the size of a briefcase. However, even a portable one should be able to detect changes in 'depth' within the area.
He was certain that his memory and thoughts had been influenced by something just now. That lingering "impression" was now forcibly solidified in his heart. There had to be some sinister thing exerting its effect on him here, but... the device detected nothing.
Just as he was about to tell Li Lin to adjust the sensing mode of the Deep Probe, the latter seemed to have suddenly discovered something.
Li Lin stared intently at a certain spot at the end of the alley.
The eye connected to the hose was dark as ink, reflecting a different field of vision within its profound blackness. Within the black-and-white overlay of the street and buildings, he could vaguely discern a hint of color - the color was very faint and blurry, indistinguishable, yet it was large. After struggling to discern for a while, he roughly determined the outline, which was almost transparent. He estimated its size to be about that of a house.
"Captain Song, there's something up ahead, but it's very vague, looks like a house," he spoke while cautiously moving forward, "The depth reading is still 0, no contamination response... I'm getting closer to it, do you feel anything?"
Captain Song followed behind Li Lin, pinching a badge in his pocket, ready to intervene if anything went awry, and shook his head with a frown: "My spirituality senses no alarm."
Li Lin stopped at a certain point, feeling as though he had arrived in front of the vague color. Then he hesitated and slowly reached out his hand -
Suddenly, a sharp buzzing noise erupted from the black iron box, followed by several snapping sounds, along with a whiff of blue smoke, and the Deep Probe ceased operations.
The hose connected to the eyeball fell off instantly, and a black, sludge-like substance flowed out of it, rapidly evaporating into the air upon contact.
The sudden soreness and sting in his eyes made Li Lin curse out loud, and he threw down the now-hot black box, instinctively wanting to rub the eye that had established the connection. Captain Song immediately stepped forward, pressing his hand near Li Lin's temple: "Don't rub it! It'll be fine in a bit!"
Li Lin froze in place, feeling a burning sensation near his temple, but the discomfort in his eye quickly faded. Moments later, he regained his composure and saw the still-smoking remnants of the Deep Probe on the ground.
"...Will the Bureau cover this?"
"It's covered."
"Good, that scared me," Li Lin let out a sigh of relief, turning his head with a puzzled look towards the direction he had just extended his hand.
However, there was only a small empty space, at the end of which was a wall - the wall was randomly graffitied by someone, using colorful spray paint to outline doors, windows, houses, trees, and rocks.
He waved his hand forward, touching nothing.
"There's definitely something here, the device had observed it, but I didn't get to confirm before the equipment broke," Li Lin muttered to himself, "Before the device broke, the depth reading was still L-0."
"...Let's head back to the Bureau," Captain Song made a decision after contemplating for two seconds, "I'll report to the Council once we're back. This place really needs to be monitored for a while. We can't rule out the possibility of some unregistered 'Exotic Realm'. Looks like we'll need large-scale equipment and specialized 'deep divers' to handle it. Also, your eye is okay?"
"...Would I get half a day off if it wasn't?"
"No, the Bureau is short-staffed."
"Then it's fine, I'll just use some eye drops when I get back."
Captain Song nodded, and Li Lin carefully picked up the no-longer-smoking wreckage of the Deep Probe. The two walked back to where they had parked their electric scooter.
Li Lin turned the key of the scooter; its LCD screen flashed once and then went dark.
He paused for a moment, looking up to meet Captain Song's gaze, which was just like his own.
"My car broke down... Yours too?"
Captain Song silently nodded.
"...Do you think it's a coincidence?"
Captain Song gently shook his head and said gravely, "The 'Academy' has a specific term to explain this phenomenon."
Li Lin was taken aback, then he recalled some information he had read before—
"Mechanical Soul is not happy." / "Mechanical Soul is cowed."
The two of them said in unison, though with different wording.
Then they each fell silent for a moment, and this time in unison: "You remembered it wrong."
"Let's talk about this later," Captain Song waved his hand and started pushing the electric scooter slowly back the way he came. "Let's leave this place first."
Li Lin followed Captain Song, pushing his scooter: "...Boss, we're just going to push them back like this?"
"What else? You don't want your car anymore?"
"Doesn't the Bureau have a van or something? If not, we could at least call over the electric tricycle from logistics downstairs... pushing them all the way back is going to kill us..."
"Less complaining. You're young; don't you have more energy than me?"
The two veteran Special Service Bureau officers pushed their scooters further and further away, their figures gradually disappearing at the entrance of Wutong Road.
...
Yu Sheng was already very familiar with the boundless deep darkness around him; he had been visiting more often lately and felt as much at home here as he did back in his own house.
Erin's screams still echoed in his ears.
He thought that the sight of him covered in blood, with a gaping hole in his stomach, entering the house and dying there must have startled the fox girl—It seems that even Erin, being a "cursed object," could only take so much psychologically.
And this made Yu Sheng start to look forward to what would happen when he "returned."
When he came back to life and appeared in front of Erin again... what reaction would the little doll lady have?
Would she... remember the scene of him dying after pushing the door open?
Yu Sheng floated in the darkness, "in front of" him the image of Hu Li appeared, recalling his experience in the Nightfall Valley. He remembered that when Hu Li first saw him in the ruined temple, she had completely forgotten the experience of accidentally killing someone with a headbutt—although she somehow remembered it later on, at first, Hu Li had indeed completely forgotten his "death."
Yu Sheng didn't understand what this "forgetting" was about, nor was he sure if it was his own issue or Hu Li's—after all, that fox girl's thought processes seemed quite chaotic, and it was normal for her to suddenly forget certain things.
But if later on Erin also didn't remember the scene of him dying after pushing the door open, then Yu Sheng could be pretty sure... the problem lay with himself.
It was impossible to determine how long one floated in the darkness, so after briefly organizing his experiences so far, Yu Sheng let go of his thoughts, allowing his tense consciousness to rest while he patiently waited for the moment the darkness would end.
Then, he felt that familiar sensation of falling, sensing that he was "returning" rapidly to the mortal world.
Prepared for this, Yu Sheng immediately focused his mind, trying to capture the sensation of crossing the "boundary" in that instant—
Scenes he recognized flashed "before his eyes," a vague guiding sense was driving him towards a specific direction to "fall," he struggled to discern among the fleeting images that surged, but before he could grasp anything, he "saw" one of the images quickly enlarging before him—
No. 66 Wutong Road, the living room just inside the door.
Yu Sheng abruptly opened his eyes.
The familiar furnishings of his home came into view, and in the dining area next to the living room, a quaint and exquisitely crafted oil painting quietly stood on the dining table.
Erin in the painting broke the silence.
"Yu Sheng! You're finally back!"