"Basically, that's the situation now."In the Special Service Bureau Headquarters Building, Director's office, Yu Sheng sat casually on a chair he pulled over. On his left was the fox girl, dozing off after having her fill, and on his right was the Little Puppet attempting to open an online shopping platform with a smartwatch. Across the desk sat Baili Qing, whose expression showed subtle fluctuations detectable to the pixel.
"...Now the entire kingdom's time-space structure should have evaporated completely, and any leftover fragments are likely to dissipate soon as well.
"As I understand it, the entire 'kingdom' should be akin to a Sanctuary like the Endless Sea, just on a smaller scale and entirely simulated by a supercomputer named 'Rosaline'. Even the Knight, or rather, the 'King' of the kingdom, is a product of Rosaline's simulation...
"Currently, I have transferred both Rosaline and the Knight, which are the core of the kingdom, to the Soul Wilderness, and set them up with a local collective account under the World Bridge's umbrella. As per the current observations, the situation is quite stable. If more Dark Angels come over, we can handle it this way as a standard procedure..."
Beside him, Erin couldn't help but turn and mutter, "Hey, hey, seriously, couldn't the registration step be revised? Although that 'data scrubbing' step can't be bypassed, we could at least let Apiao wrap it up a bit... design some ritual or something..."
Yu Sheng also murmured softly, "Tried that, but if the steps exceed two, Freyia wouldn't cooperate..."
The Little Puppet thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "Alright, anyhow, the Dark Angels brought in front of the Crystal Tree for registration were already beaten to kneeling before this point, they wouldn't escape..."
Then Yu Sheng looked up at the Special Service Director sitting across the desk.
The white-haired Dragon Lady, appearing both tired and exhausted, was tearing open two packs of instant coffee and drinking them with warm water.
Noticing Yu Sheng's gaze, Baili Qing raised her weary eyelids and said, "I'm listening, but I can't provide any reference opinion—this matter has already exceeded the Bureau's scope of work, so just proceed as you see fit."
Yu Sheng immediately felt he could sense a hint of 'life is meaningless' from Baili Qing's tone, so he cautiously asked, "What time did you go to sleep last night?"
"I didn't sleep..."
Baili Qing suppressed a yawn and sighed, while the corner of her eye glanced at Hu Li, who was already snoring on the floor beside Yu Sheng, with a hint of envy appearing in her eyes.
Erin swiftly climbed near Yu Sheng's ear and whispered, "Hey, hey, did you notice? Expressionless people look more expressive when drowsy!"
Yu Sheng quickly gave two dry coughs but noticed that Baili Qing had no reaction—perhaps too tired to hear Erin's sarcasm, or the lack of complete keywords didn't trigger an automatic response, anyway, he swiftly changed the subject: "Are the aftereffects of this incident severe? From how you look, it seems like the cleanup operation is tough..."
"...Although I'd love to say everything is under control and order will soon be restored, unfortunately, that's not the case," Baili Qing acknowledged with a candid look meeting Yu Sheng's eyes. "In the final stage of the invasion, at least three-digit Exotic Realms were fused or collided due to the Space Rift's influence. Although the rift has receded, those affected Exotic Realms... are unlikely to recover anytime soon.
"Physical roaming or loss of control is still only a secondary issue; the distortions caused by different rules of Exotic Realms interacting are more troublesome. Almost all affected Exotic Realms have shown alterations in entry-exit rules or internal time shifts, requiring a reevaluation of their danger levels accordingly.
"Additionally, there's the problem of decreased space-time stability across the entire Boundary Land. Some 'shortcut' networks have been damaged by invading entities, and it seems a portion of citizens with high spiritual vision have been affected by the incident. Since this morning, alerts from psychological assistance centers have been increasing..."
Yu Sheng waved his hand vigorously, interrupting before she could finish: "Alright, enough, I'm already getting a headache."
As he spoke, he suddenly frowned slightly, as if something had come to mind.
Baili Qing didn't miss this.
"What are you thinking?" Baili Qing asked, looking at Yu Sheng.
"...Something major just came to mind," Yu Sheng quickly replied, "Considering the current state of the Boundary Land, doesn't that mean the 'Calibrator' project can't proceed for the time being?"
Baili Qing visibly paused for a moment, then blinked twice in surprise before Yu Sheng saw her reach into a drawer and pull out four more packs of instant coffee...
"Using this stuff as a stress relief drink won't work either," Yu Sheng commented seriously, "The Captain's Void Engine is still waiting for the Calibrator's data, this really messes things up..."
Baili Qing frowned visibly, fiddling with several packets of instant coffee, before slowly speaking after a dozen seconds: "Theoretically, the current instability is temporary. The time-space order of Boundary Land will eventually be restored, but no one can say how long it will take, and whether previous Space Rifts would leave some indiscernible long-term impacts... It seems some plan adjustments will be necessary."
Yu Sheng also frowned, and after a quick thought, he spoke up: "What's the situation with the Fault now?"
"That storm has completely abated, but it's still very unstable below," Baili Qing nodded, "The Director-General personally went down this morning, and he said the path to the lower floor seems open, but it's not advisable to approach it temporarily."
"...Is that so," Yu Sheng pondered while stroking his chin, "Alright, I understand. In any case, the urgency can't solve anything now. I'll inform the Captain about the situation here and see if he has any ideas."
"As for your side... well, if you need any help, just let me know. If it's too complicated, we may not be able to handle it, but fighting or exploring is what the travel agency excels at—Erin's Puppet Army and Luna's Valhalla unit could lend a hand."
He spoke casually, not expecting Baili Qing to stand up immediately from behind the desk, her tone particularly earnest, "This is already a great help."
She then paused, and, with a mixture of seriousness and some hesitation, continued, "Honestly, you've helped us so much, just saying thank you now is already..."
Yu Sheng felt a bit uncomfortable with all this, quickly standing up and waving his hand, "Hey, don't be so serious, we're all friends; helping out is no big deal..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Erin, who was fiddling with her wristwatch phone, chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, it's not like we're outsiders. Anyway, it's Yu Sheng's own grave, consider it as him cleaning for himself... Hey, hey! Yu Sheng, you jerk, put me down! I'll bite you, do you believe it?"
The little puppet was grabbed by her clothes and dangled in mid-air by Yu Sheng, her small arms and legs flailing and cursing, finally thrown back through the door to No. 66 Wutong Road by Yu Sheng.
Then Yu Sheng woke up the deeply asleep Hu Li and bid farewell to Baili Qing, and left as well.
The office fell silent once more. Baili Qing stood in place for a while, gently sighed, and then sat back behind her desk.
She took out a coffee cup, thinking about things while slowly tearing open a few packets of instant coffee, pouring the powder into the cup.
A pair of illusory eyes immediately floated over from the edge of the desk, "Ah! Sister, you're finally making a normal..."
Then Baili Xue watched as her sister poured a little bit of water into the cup and then took a small spoon to stir vigorously, forming a big coffee dough...
Baili Qing used the spoon to lift that "coffee dough" and shoveled it into her mouth, chewing sleepily while looking at the pair of illusory eyes on the desk, "Huh? (chewing) What did you say (chewing)?"
Baili Xue: "Just pretend I didn't say anything..."
Meanwhile, in the living room at No. 66 Wutong Road.
Yu Sheng had just sat down on the sofa not long ago. The drowsy Hu Li was mumbling and snuggling her head onto his lap, while the little puppet had already forgotten about being thrown home earlier—she immediately lay in front of the laptop and immersed herself in a heated argument with netizens, typing furiously on the keyboard.
Yu Sheng was petting the fox's tail with one hand and massaging his temples with the other, replaying the events and the situation at Boundary Land in his mind, contemplating how to report the current situation to the Lost Home.
Just then, his phone suddenly rang.
He picked up the phone to see a call coming through "Border Communication," the caller's nickname was "Super Genius Beauty Scientist"...
Yu Sheng: "..."
Hu Li, drowsily hearing the phone, sat up to take a look, her ears twitching, "Who is it?"
"...Luo, her previous nickname was 'AAA Undertake Dangerous Star Region Armed Security Heavy Transport Customs Interference Chief Luo,' but I thought that name was affecting the righteous image of our travel agency team, so I asked her to change it. Never thought she'd change it to this."
As he explained, he put the phone to his ear, and before he could speak, an excited voice from a certain second-hand scientist came through the receiver, "Boss! Boss, it's done! It's human-like!"
Yu Sheng was dumbfounded on the spot, pondering for the first few seconds if he had offended that pointy-eared one recently, hence the daring scolding, but then he heard Luo's voice continue, "Ah, boss, let me explain, I wasn't talking about you..."
Yu Sheng couldn't hold back, "Just get to the point."
"Ah, okay, straight to the point... There's a breakthrough in the control of the artificial saintess's bodies! To some extent, they can restore human appearance in the real world now!"
Yu Sheng's eyes widened slightly, and before he could respond, a shadow flashed across the living room.
Luna rushed over directly.
"Is what you said true?!"
"Luna's over there too, right?" Luo's voice came through the receiver, "Boss, you can come to see directly, I'm here at the First Holy Hall on Pasture Star..."
Yu Sheng nodded without hesitation, "No problem, we'll head over immediately."