Chapter 568 Average Quality of Hostels

The scene fell silent for a moment. Hu Li's big, furry ears twitched, and he looked up at Yu Sheng before continuing to suck on his chicken leg as if nothing had happened, seemingly unconcerned about what was happening around him.

Eileen placed her prized frying pan on the table, then sat cross-legged inside it, resting her chin on her hands and looking on with amusement.

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then looked at Baili Xue, who was pretending to be Baili Qing: "I remember your sister said that her horn would fade away after a short while..."

Bai Lixue said calmly, "Skills that are not used for a long time will deteriorate."

Yu Sheng instantly recalled the scene of the pure white dragon landing on its face, and all his questions vanished in an instant.

But he couldn't help being a little curious: "Doesn't your sister mind if you talk about her behind her back like that?"

“She wouldn’t know,” Baili Xue said calmly, and perhaps it was just her imagination, but there was a relaxed atmosphere around her. “I’ve blocked the surveillance cameras here.”

Yu Sheng blinked, and then his vision blurred, and the image of the tall grass in the Wilderness of Souls appeared in his mind, with the golden-haired female knight looking at him with a bright smile: "I recorded it all."

In the blink of an eye, he saw Luna, who was standing meticulously beside him, slightly turn her head and solemnly make a "V" sign.

Yu Sheng: "..."

Baili Xue was unaware that Yu Sheng and Luna had a communication interface in the soul world, and she also seemed oblivious to the subtle movements of the aloof and solemn artificial saintess beside her. After exchanging a few words with Yu Sheng, her gaze fell upon Eileen.

The little doll was sitting in her precious frying pan—which, from a certain angle, was actually a perfect size for her—when she noticed the other person's gaze, Eileen immediately realized: "What are you looking at?"

“I’m just here to greet…the guest who visited this world 3,700 years ago,” Baili Xue hesitated for a moment, a smile seemingly appearing on her face—Yu Sheng wasn’t too sure either, after all, Baili Qingxue in his vision was a blur, her expression was rich but her resolution was low, “Although we have met many times, considering this special event, I think it is necessary to have a new and formal greeting.”

Eileen thought for a moment, then turned to look at Yu Sheng: "What does she mean?"

“She was afraid that you still had the corrupting influence of the Goddess of Ominous Signs on you, so she came to check on you,” Yu Sheng said casually, then turned his gaze to Baili Xue, “Is that what she meant?”

Baili Xue: "...Yes, but we can be more tactful."

“If I were to be tactful, she wouldn’t understand,” Yu Sheng pointed at Eileen, but then changed the subject, “Of course, I understand you too. If she understood, she would scold you.”

Baili Xue: "...That's not what I meant..."

“I know,” Yu Sheng waved his hand before the other party could finish speaking, “After all, unlike the previous two ‘Angel Falls,’ this ominous sign-border bridge incident is very special, and you have to be responsible for the safety of the border area.”

He paused at this point, and his expression suddenly became somewhat serious.

“She is not a bad omen, you can rest assured—even if she is, you should still rest assured.”

Baili Xue was silent for two seconds, her eyes, hidden in the illusion, lowered slightly: "Okay, I understand."

Eileen sat in the frying pan, propping her chin up as she looked at Yu Sheng, then at Baili Xue, before suddenly realizing what was happening. She pointed at the latter and said, "You bastard..."

Yu Sheng pressed down on the little doll's arm with two fingers: "This part is over, this part is over."

"Yes, really?"

Baili Xue watched this scene silently from the side. After a while, a smile appeared on her face. Then she bowed slightly and got up from her seat.

“Then I won’t bother you any longer,” she said, taking a half step back. “By the way, the Secret Service just received a pass request from the embassy district at the border, and I have granted it a temporary special permit. Ms. ‘Maris’ will be waiting for you in the Secret Service headquarters parking lot.”

Baili Xue left.

Hu Li carefully finished sucking on the chicken leg in her hand, then casually threw the clean chicken bone into her mouth and chewed it (mainly to emphasize a sense of ritual). Then she grabbed a tail behind her to wipe her mouth, looked up at Yu Sheng, and said with bright eyes: "My benefactor, just now she spent a third of the time looking at Eileen, but actually spent two-thirds of the time looking at you."

Yu Sheng stroked his chin and pondered for a moment: "Why is she looking at me like that..."

"I don't know," Hu Li said, her ears twitching and suddenly perking up. "Ah, the fried meatballs are ready!"

Yu Sheng laughed: "Eat up, eat up. Maris came from the border, and even if she takes a 'shortcut' after entering the city, it will still take her a while."

...

In a high-end apartment in the central area of ​​Jiecheng, the city's night view is reflected in the wide floor-to-ceiling windows.

The world of ordinary people remains peaceful and tranquil. The citizens living on the "surface" are completely unaware of the crisis unfolding beneath their daily lives. People are busy living and working, and the city under the night sky is still bustling with traffic and thriving. Except for the occasional conversation about the strange dreams they had during their daytime naps or the bizarre thoughts that flashed through their minds when they were daytime, everything in Boundary City seems to have returned to normal.

Only those out of the public eye—Secret Service agents, Deep Dive Units, Council Security Groups, and hired detectives and investigators—will be busy for a long time to come.

Bai Liqing's figure, dressed in a nightgown, was reflected in the glass of the floor-to-ceiling window as she calmly looked outside.

The bedroom lights were off. In the darkness, a pair of crystal-clear and elegant dragon horns seemed to glow spontaneously, appearing somewhat unreal in their reflection in the glass.

"How is it going?" she asked herself.

Baili Xue's voice rang out from the bottom of her heart: "I didn't see any pollution—the doll in my field of vision is still basically the same as before, only a little more 'solid' than before, which is consistent with the characteristics of 'soul completion' and is in line with our judgment."

"Hmm..." Baili Qing pondered, "What about Yu Sheng's situation?"

“I still can’t see through it, but I can definitely feel a vague ‘connection,’ as if… a part of my ‘essence’ is being influenced by him—but he doesn’t seem to be aware of it.”

Bai Liqing didn't respond for a moment, but looked down at her arm.

She raised her arm and slowly rotated her palm. Her slender human wrist was suddenly covered with fine scales, transforming into the jagged claws of a dragon. Then, it quietly returned to the shape of a human hand. In these several transformations, tiny red lines could be faintly seen emerging from the gaps at the edges of the scales.

“Sister, I… I don’t understand,” Baili Xue’s voice suddenly rang in her mind again, “Regarding that so-called ‘blood-giving’ ritual, you were the one who came into contact with the blood, so why was I also ‘marked’? And it seems like you predicted this from the very beginning…”

“Xue,” Baili Qing interrupted, “you are my illusion.”

The voice in my mind suddenly went silent.

After several seconds, Baili Xue spoke again: "...I thought I had long since existed independently of you, after all, over the years, I have been constantly breaking free from your control."

“Now it’s proven that you didn’t,” Baili Qing said calmly. “You are my illusion, and ‘freedom’ is your illusion.”

“…Well, it’s not unacceptable,” Baili Xue’s reaction was calm. “And we also figured out something else along the way: Yu Sheng’s ‘blood transfusion’ is indeed not ‘contamination’ and ‘modification’ in the ordinary sense. It can not only affect real things, but it can even affect… ‘illusions’.”

“Hmm,” Baili Qing responded, then seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking, “Do you care that you’re just an ‘illusion’ about yourself?”

"It seems so."

"Then this 'care' is at least real—and belongs only to you."

"You really know how to comfort people."

Baili Qing ignored the teasing voice in her mind. She simply breathed a sigh of relief and turned away from the window.

"I'm going to sleep."

"You're resting so early today?"

“Dragon transformation is very tiring, especially having to fight against the voice of the ‘Dark Angel’—I get tired too,” Baili Qing said casually. “Besides, Yu Sheng took his family to see that ‘Ambassador Alice’ today, so he probably won’t have time to call me in the middle of the night.”

"Alright, alright, I've dumped the Secret Service work on my sister. 'Midnight Phone Maniac' has taken his noisy family to the border. This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch up on sleep. Even the head of the Secret Service has the right to rest... Goodnight, sister."

"Good night."

A faint smile seemed to appear on Baili Qing's lips, and then she let out a soft sigh of relief, lying down on the bed ahead of time with a long-lost sense of relaxation.

Half a minute later, the bureau chief sat up.

The corner of it was pressed against the bed.

With a slightly subtle expression, Baili Qing raised her hand to touch the dragon horns on her head, roughly judging their size and position, before lying down on her side.

This time, she got up again in less than half a minute.

After sitting on the bed in a daze for a few seconds, Baili Qing silently took down the pillow hanging in the corner, looked at the hole punched in it, and sighed.

Then she started trying various methods: lying flat would cause her to prop herself up on the bed, lying on her side would also cause this, lying on her stomach would make it impossible to sleep, and having her head sticking out of the edge of the bed would be even more uncomfortable. She even considered using a saw, but she couldn't saw it off—and it would hurt.

It might fall off naturally by tomorrow, and that's the best-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, it might not fall off for three days.

I can't remember how I slept at night when the dragon horns wouldn't disappear naturally... It seems like I didn't sleep at all?

Bai Liqing sat up again in her nightgown, her face tense and silent in the darkness.

A moment later, she sighed again and picked up her phone from the bedside table next to her.

If I can't sleep, so be it. At least I don't have to deal with official business. Lying in bed and scrolling through my phone is a way to relax.

The moment the phone was unlocked, a message notification sound rang out. Bai Liqing frowned, but breathed a sigh of relief after realizing it wasn't a message from the Secret Service work group or the council group.

However, the sender of this message was somewhat unfamiliar—the source of the information indicated it was from the "Otherworldly Travel Agency Database"...

(End of this chapter)