Alien Hotel.

Chapter 514 Retreat
Baili Qing raised her eyes and looked in the direction from which the aged voice came.

Surrounded by countless enormous bookshelves, a broken stone platform floats among many large and small stone slabs. The platform is shaped like an altar, with its edges covered in reliefs and weathered cracks. A huge crystal skull, clearly not of human origin, is placed in the center of the platform. The crystal skull is crystal clear, with a long and narrow face and sunken eye sockets, sharp and ferocious teeth, and features of some large reptile. It lies quietly on the stone platform, and the size of the skull alone is similar to that of an adult human.

A faint glow flickered in the eye sockets of the crystal skull. As Baili Qing approached, the glow brightened slightly, and a hoarse voice came from the bone cavity: "Speak, what do you want to know today?"

"It's still information from the 'Classical Era,' about the Boundary Bridge, the Dark Star, and the descending alien god named 'Ominous Sign,'" Baili Qing said calmly, gazing into the eye sockets of the crystal skull.

“…Don’t blame me for not warning you, digging for information from the ‘deep’ is a risky business, and the results are rare,” the light in the crystal skull’s eye sockets flickered. “You won’t find anything new no matter how many times you search, colorless descendant—this is a dead library. Everything that should be here is already here, and what is not here will never be here again.”

“I’ve brought a more effective ‘medium’ this time,” Baili Qing pointed to her head, “which may be able to ‘draw out’ something deeper.”

The crystal skull remained silent for a moment: "...Display."

Baili Qing nodded slightly, then half-closed her eyes.

A misty fog had somehow enveloped her, and within it flashed a pair of faded, enormous eyes. Then, a series of illusions, both real and unreal, appeared in the fog—a sanatorium in the forest, the director's office submerged in water, the director lying on the ground after the attacker smashed the fish tank, and the attacker monster wielding a dagger, its head swollen and deformed…

Scenes flashed by quickly in the mist, recorded from Baili Qing's first-person perspective, interspersed with scenes that the "Dean" had shown her through bubbles. After a dozen seconds, the recording showed the moment when the attacker was about to disappear and leave the Dean's office.

The illusion in the fog froze at this moment, and then the main perspective of the screen slowly began to shift to the attacker—the scene was as if it were moving in a holographic scene that had been paused. Baili Qing's "perspective" finally locked onto the attacker's swollen and deformed brain, and then the scene flashed, and her perspective suddenly pierced into a pair of eyeballs embedded in the surface of the brain...

Immediately afterward, the illusion in the fog flickered again, and the scene of the morgue of Jinglin Sanatorium reappeared deep within the mist. "Sun Chen's" headless corpse lay quietly in the containment container. Baili Qing stared at the corpse, and in her gaze, "Sun Chen's" body seemed to rewind time, its head rapidly reconstructing, then slowly opening its eyelids, its empty, bewildered pupils reflecting Baili Qing's faded eyes...

The victims who died from headshots, the attackers born from distortion... No matter which "Sun Chen" it was, they all had been active in Jinglin Sanatorium and left traces of their existence within a specific time and space.

Since traces have been left, they cannot escape the Secret Service director's notice.

All the illusions gradually dissipated, leaving only a broken tower floating in the darkness amidst the mist—a scene that was particularly vivid in the memories of both "Sun Chen".

Although it was merely an illusion, this illusion was a "medium" that Baili Qing had directly extracted from Sun Chen's memories. The unstable knowledge contained in this medium, though scarce, was still vivid and restless. Even under the oppressive environment of the archives, the illusion of the broken tower trembled and throbbed as if it were alive, like a vibrant heart.

The light in the eye sockets of the crystal skull flickered violently.

“The colorless descendant…” it said in a low voice, pausing for two seconds before continuing, “If you keep acting so recklessly, you’ll die.”

Bai Liqing sighed, "Because I'm so busy."

As the mist dissipated, the crystal skull on the stone platform sighed: "Go, thirty minutes. What you 'salvage' depends entirely on your ability—remember the rules: don't be misled by knowledge, don't listen to or look around randomly, only focus on what you want, only take what's within the agreed scope, and ignore everything else that reaches out to you begging you to take them out."

"I see."

Baili Qing nodded gently, then stepped forward and placed her hand on the surface of the crystal skull.

The next second, the entire shattered library began to tremble silently. The huge pure white bookshelves surrounding the stone platform swayed and broke. Countless white fragments and scrolls fell from the sky like a torrential downpour after the sky collapsed, completely covering Baili Qing and the entire stone platform beneath her feet.

Baili Qing raised her head, neither flinching nor dodging, letting herself be submerged layer by layer by the fragmented and chaotic remnants of history at the border...

……

Dusk is approaching.

In the vacant lot where no one was allowed to go, a phantom door suddenly appeared near the "node" set up by the Special Operations Bureau. The door was pushed open, and Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood were back at the entrance of the "dark alley" in the Qinghe District of Dongcheng.

This time, he not only brought along the king, who was skilled at dealing with "cats," but also several other people.

Huli, Luna, Eileen, and most importantly—my nephew.

As dusk fell and a cool evening breeze blew, the area around the node was deserted. Occasionally, pedestrians would pass by from a distant intersection but would not give this place a second glance. Zheng Zhi subconsciously shivered in the slightly chilly and gloomy environment, rubbed his arms, and looked around.

"Brother Yu, I feel a little cold..."

“It’s normal for autumn to arrive,” Yu Sheng said without looking up. “The temperature has dropped these past few days.”

Zheng Zhi paused, then said, "Brother Yu, what you're saying sounds familiar..."

"Hey, don't be so nervous," Little Red Riding Hood stepped forward and patted Zheng Zhi on the shoulder. "There are so many of us with you this time, and Yu Sheng even gave you a 'portable card for No. 66 Wutong Road' beforehand, so even if you really fall into another dimension alone again, you can run back by yourself - relax, relax."

“Then…then I’ll relax,” Zheng Zhi’s expression was subtle, but he was someone who had survived countless alien crises (don’t ask how those crises came about yet), so he quickly adjusted his mindset, muttering to himself while calming his emotions, “But then again, is this really reliable? My constitution is a bit special, but I always feel like this is like hitting the jackpot, how can it happen every time…”

Before Zheng Zhi could finish speaking, the king jumped onto his shoulder and said, "Young man, this is where your inexperience comes in—it's only natural for us spirit detectives and investigators to have teammates with high spiritual vision lead the way."

Zheng Zhi was dumbfounded: "...Do people in your line of work really do it like this?" Little Red Riding Hood: "The methods used by outsiders are wild. It's normal that someone like you, who went straight into the Secret Service as soon as you entered the industry, wouldn't know."

Zheng Zhi: "...?"

Seeing that this honest young man was about to be completely fooled, Yu Sheng quickly coughed twice to interrupt them, then pointed to the entrance of the dark alley not far away: "Stop talking for now, it's about time, let's start preparing."

As they spoke, the group arrived at the narrow entrance between the two buildings. Zheng Zhi peeked inside and muttered, "It's a bit narrow; it would be difficult for the three of us to get in together..."

“So we’ll go in in batches. The two of us will take Eileen and the King in first—they don’t take up much space and can sit on our shoulders,” Yu Sheng said casually. “Then Little Red Riding Hood, Luna, and Huli will come in.”

Zheng Zhi nodded repeatedly: "Oh, oh."

“Alright, let’s start preparing for the ‘enchantment’ before entering,” Eileen, sitting on Yu Sheng’s shoulders, raised her hand and pointed at Zheng Zhi, “Stretch out your arms.”

"...Enchantment?" Zheng Zhi was a little confused for a moment, but he still subconsciously raised his arm. "What are you going to do?"

The next second, a thin black thread appeared out of thin air, accompanied by a bone-chilling coldness. The thread wrapped around his hand and even penetrated his skin and flesh, entering his body.

Zheng Zhi exclaimed "Oh my god!" and almost jumped up on the spot, then started rubbing his arms vigorously.

“Of course, it’s to strengthen your connection with ‘that thing’,” the little puppet said smugly as it withdrew its hand. “It also leaves a ‘connection point’ on you, so if you really get entangled with something, I can pull you back in time.”

"Hiss..." Zheng Zhi rubbed his arms vigorously while grimacing. Hearing the little doll's words, his lips twitched, and he almost gritted his teeth. "Then I'll thank you."

Eileen: "You're welcome! By the way, do you have a girlfriend?"

Zheng Zhi looked puzzled: "No... Why are you asking that?"

“If you have one, call your girlfriend now and tell her you're going on a business trip and you'll marry her when you get back—that will further increase the chances of something going wrong,” Eileen said matter-of-factly. “That's how it's portrayed on TV, but of course, if you don't have one, then forget it…”

Zheng Zhi was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Yu Sheng: "Brother Yu, what have I done to offend you..."

“She’s not targeting you,” Yu Sheng sighed, “She just has this blessed mouth.”

Eileen thought for a moment, then started tugging at Yu Sheng's hair: "Was that a compliment?"

Yu Sheng sighed again, ignoring the little paws pawing at his head, and turned to stand in front of the wall leading to the dark alley.

Having done his homework beforehand and understood the mechanism of the alley, Zheng Zhi quickly adjusted his state and came to the wall together.

In the dim light of dusk, the surroundings seemed even more silent.

Time passed by minute by minute.

After a long while, Zheng Zhi finally couldn't hold back any longer and looked up at his side: "Brother Yu, don't you feel any wind blowing from the other side?"

Yu Sheng finally realized something was wrong, looked up, then turned to Little Red Riding Hood: "...Why isn't she reacting?"

What he saw was the same bewildered expression on Little Red Riding Hood's face.

The fox girl standing next to Little Red Riding Hood tilted her head: "Is the 'Dark Alley' closed today?"

“I’ve never heard of any businesses closing down in other realms,” Little Red Riding Hood said immediately. “Perhaps the timing was wrong. Try logging out and back in again. Sometimes things like this can fail…”

So Yu Sheng and Zheng Zhi tried again.

The entrance to the dark alley remained closed, the wall standing still and silent, not a breath of wind blowing.

Yu Sheng refused to believe it and tried again after exiting, then stared intently at the mottled old wall.

This time, the entrance to the otherworld finally responded—

The wall... receded half an inch in front of him.

Yu Sheng: "...?"

(End of this chapter)