Chapter 493: First Exploration of the Dark Alley
In the eastern part of Jiecheng, Qinghe District, next to the entrance of an unremarkable old street.
Little Red Riding Hood walked out from the shadow of a nearby building and saw Yu Sheng waiting at the intersection.
"Are you alone today?" The girl looked around and found that Yu Sheng was the only one standing at the intersection. She asked with some surprise.
"They stayed behind to look after the house. After all, we're just here to check out the situation in this 'dark alley' today, so I can do it alone," Yu Sheng said casually. "Besides, if there's an emergency, I can always open the door and call someone over."
He paused at this point and looked at Little Red Riding Hood: "How's the progress over there? Have you contacted the person who posted it?"
"We've found out the person involved is an independent investigator named 'Sun Chen', unaffiliated with any spiritual detective organization. He lives in Beishimen District, but we haven't been able to contact him yet," Little Red Riding Hood said. "But we should have results soon—it won't affect our operations today."
Yu Sheng nodded.
Little Red Riding Hood has recently been investigating the person who posted on the Border Newsletter three years ago that he had witnessed a strange tower. The progress has been smooth, but even so, Yu Sheng was unwilling to wait at home, so he decided to go to Qinghe District in Dongcheng today to find out the details of the "dark alley" mentioned in the post. For this purpose, he also called on the experienced Little Red Riding Hood - after all, exploring foreign lands is different from fighting dark angels. The latter usually relies on rushing in (dragging the corpse across also counts as going through), but the former is a meticulous job that requires experience and skills.
At this moment, the sky is gradually getting dark and dusk is coming soon.
Yu Sheng looked up at the sky, recalling the public information he had obtained from research before leaving.
The "Dark Alley" is a typical time-limited alien world, and can be classified as a "country" in terms of scale. Although it is just an infinitely repeated alley, it meets the characteristics of a "civilized settlement containing multiple orderly buildings." The entrance to the dark alley is located between two buildings near the entrance to the old street in Qinghe District, and it is open every day at dusk.
This "dusk period" is not a precise moment, but as long as the sky meets the "dusk" state, the alien entrance will be activated, and as the sky gets darker, the activity of the entrance and the "passing probability" will increase accordingly, and reach its peak when the sky is darkest. The peak will last from a few minutes to more than ten minutes, and will suddenly close when night falls.
According to the information, the darker the sky, the better your "luck" will be after entering the dark alley, and the easier it will be to determine the "safe exit" at the intersection at the end of the alley. However, if the sky is too dark, it may cause physical "cats" to spawn in the dark alley prematurely, which will increase the danger of activities in foreign lands. The trade-offs here require careful judgment.
Yu Sheng himself didn't have any criteria for judgment. He just had to go back before those clowns at home demolished the house.
"Shall we go in now?" He turned to look at the girl beside him, seeking the expert's opinion.
"Wait a minute, I called a helper this time," Little Red Riding Hood was swiping on her phone, "They'll be here soon."
"Help?" Yu Sheng was stunned for a moment, and just when he was about to ask, a swift shadow passed across the roof at the edge of his vision and landed lightly on the ground not far away.
It's a tabby cat.
The kitten pranced over to Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood. Seeing no one was around, it scratched its neck with its paw and complained in a voice as deep and steady as a documentary narrator: "It took a little longer to process the last commission—the client provided too many cat strips."
"So the 'helper' you're talking about is the king?" Yu Sheng looked at Little Red Riding Hood in surprise, then quickly realized, "Uh, to deal with the 'cat' in the alley?"
"That's right," Little Red Riding Hood said, looking quite proud. "Usually, if a ghost detective wants to explore the 'Dark Alley', he has to find a cat can first. But our 'Fairy Tale' is not an ordinary organization. The King is very good at dealing with the 'Dark Alley'."
"The entities in the Dark Alley—the cats—possess the characteristics of living creatures," the king shook his head, a feline expression of unexpected human pride emerging on his face. "Entities possessing both living and animal characteristics will mimic the habits of their 'originals' to a certain extent. This is why canned cat food generated in the Dark Alley can be used to bribe the physical cats—if it can bribe, it can also, of course, allow for a certain degree of communication and intimidation."
Yu Sheng: “…Is this even possible?!”
"Humans, exploring foreign lands requires flexibility," the tabby cat said proudly, raising its head. Then, it strode toward the old street. "You're an expert at fighting 'angels,' but you'll have a lot to learn as a spirit detective..."
Yu Sheng couldn't help but blinking when he saw the arrogant look of the tabby cat, but he quickly shook his head in relief - that's how cats are.
He followed the King and Little Red Riding Hood.
There were actually quite a few pedestrians near the entrance of the old street, but after walking a short distance inside, the number of passers-by in a certain direction began to become sparse. Yu Sheng could clearly feel that the flow of people in front was being "guided" by an invisible force, bypassing several old buildings.
After walking a little further, he saw, not surprisingly, the "node" device set up by the Secret Service - a high-tech obelisk with a style that was obviously different from the surroundings, standing abruptly in an open space. Everyone around subconsciously ignored this entire area.
Little Red Riding Hood walked forward with ease and completed the entrance registration on the node device. The king then jumped onto the obelisk and pressed it with his paw.
The obelisk then made a sound of approval.
Yu Sheng no longer wanted to complain about anything. After all, this was such a place with outstanding people and beautiful scenery...
Led by Little Red Riding Hood, he came to the entrance of the "dark alley".
Between two old, mottled two-story buildings, there is a narrow space that can only accommodate two people side by side. It is only a few meters deep and ends at a mossy concrete wall. Some graffiti that seems to have seeped into the cement covers the wall. The messy and dirty lines seem to outline twisted and crooked shops and abstract and hideous cats.
Among those graffiti, a line of words emitting faint light stood out:
"Remember the safe exploration rules and avoid reckless casualties – Secret Service announcement."
It looks very formal at first glance.
"Walk near that wall and stay there for at least fifteen seconds," Little Red Riding Hood reminded them. "When you feel the wind blowing through the concrete wall, don't look back. Just back away and walk out of here..."
Yu Sheng followed Little Red Riding Hood's instructions. The two of them and the cat came to the wall, and then retreated at the same time when the wind blew, keeping their faces facing the wall until they retreated outside.
The wall suddenly enlarged in Yu Sheng's eyes, as if it was "running" out from between the two buildings, and then expanded to both sides until it blocked his entire field of vision.
"We've entered the 'dark alley'."
Little Red Riding Hood's voice came from the side.
Yu Sheng turned his head.
The old street is gone, and the originally spacious street and the small square at the intersection have become an alley only four or five meters wide. On both sides of the alley are closed doors, and some of the doors are hung with old signs that look extremely old, with rough printing, mottled and faded. The words on the signs are blurred, and illuminated by the dim light that comes from nowhere, making them look even more... weird and gloomy.
The sky was gloomy, and the dusk light seemed to be solidified above the two rows of old houses. The alley was filled with a damp and cold atmosphere. The ground paved with multicolored bricks was wet, and shallow puddles could be seen everywhere, reflecting the crooked shapes of the houses on both sides.
A sense of alienation, unlike the real world, permeated his heart. In this oppressively dark alley, Yu Sheng took a deep breath, shook his head, and muttered, "If I stay in this place for too long, I'll easily get rheumatism."
"That's quite healthy," said Little Red Riding Hood, glancing at him. "Most people here never get rheumatism."
While the two were talking, the king looked around at the situation in the dark alley, then jumped to a relatively dry ground in a few steps and raised his claws to wave.
A team of four adventurers walked out of thin air, wearing professional costumes that fit the stereotypes very well. This time the combination was a young swordsman from the countryside (holding the best sword in the village), a village priestess from the village, a wandering wizard sister who seemed to be carrying many stories, and a stealth assassin wrapped in a black cloak.
By the way, the young swordsman holding the village sword and the village priest in a white robe holding a wooden stick are childhood sweethearts. After completing this adventure, they will return to the village to get married - but because the cat is very willful, their adventure has never ended and is still continuing to this day.
The "King" jumped lightly onto the wandering wizard and sat on his shoulders.
Now the wandering wizard not only carries a lot of stories, but also cats.
"Let's not rush to the crossroads yet," Little Red Riding Hood said. "Let's check the entire 'dark alley' first to confirm whether there are any changes here that are different from the information, such as other exits. If there are no results, we can deliberately choose the 'dangerous path' at the crossroads and enter the next loop of the dark alley. According to the post, the person entered the tower space while being chased by the 'cat'. Let's reconstruct this process as best as possible..."
"I have a question," Yu Sheng raised his hand. "Aren't intersections random? What if you accidentally enter the emergency exit? How can you guarantee that you will enter the dangerous path?"
"The wolf can make a rough assessment," Little Red Riding Hood said, stroking the air as a giant shadow wolf slowly emerged from her hand. "If the wolf can't make an accurate assessment, have the magician summoned by the king perform the Great Divination Spell, which has an accuracy rate of over 90%. In short, try to explore using methods that adhere to the rules of the alleys. Unless there are special circumstances, avoid using 'doors' to travel between different levels of alleys. We must try to replicate the 'process' mentioned in that post as closely as possible. This will increase the probability of appearing in the tower space."
Yu Sheng was just about to say that he had a new idea, but when he heard Little Red Riding Hood's last reminder, he suddenly felt awkward and smiled awkwardly: "I didn't say to open the door."
"Should I wait for you to tell me?" The girl put her hands on her hips. "You always make a portal for every distance longer than five steps. Last time, I heard from Irene that you opened a door between the bedroom and the living room to watch TV, and you even used the portal to steal her remote control..."
Yu Sheng: "Ahem..."
(End of this chapter)
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