Dimensional Hotel

The giant eye had left, soundlessly and without revealing any of its secrets.

People in the cave looked at each other, seemingly unsure what to do next. The oppressive feeling the eerie eyeball brought was so astonishing that, even though it had disappeared, a trace of palpitation and disbelief still lingered in everyone's hearts.

"Did it really just leave like that?" Erin murmured to herself, obviously not reassured, "Could it be just hiding behind the clouds?"

But Yu Sheng shook his head: "It really 'left,' at least it's no longer in this Exotic Realm."

He was certain of it because he could clearly feel that the "gaze" that had always enveloped the valley had indeed vanished.

"Why though?" Erin continued to mutter, "What was the purpose of that thing? It hid here for so long, suddenly woke up to scare us, even affected the entities here, and now it's suddenly gone... What was it scheming?"

Yu Sheng thought for a moment: "Maybe it was just resting here, and now that it's rested enough, it left."

Erin appeared confused, looking at Yu Sheng with some doubt: "Really?"

This time it was Yu Sheng's turn to be shocked—she believed that?!

"No one knows the purpose of the Dark Angels," Xu Jiali's voice came next, interrupting the meaningless discussion between Yu Sheng and Erin, "In fact, we can't even be sure if they possess a concept of 'purpose.' Their appearances are always random. Sometimes it takes a great price to drive them away, and sometimes... they leave on their own quickly. Analyzing the actions of Dark Angels is meaningless. We should feel fortunate that this eye is not one of the more active individuals."

Yu Sheng uttered an "oh," stroking his chin as if thoughtful. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Li Lin observing the situation outside the cave entrance.

That inexplicable sense of familiarity welled up from the depths of his heart again, and Yu Sheng gradually furrowed his brow, memories undulating within him. Suddenly, a scene flashed through his mind—

"Wait a minute! Haven't we met?" Yu Sheng suddenly realized it and stared at Li Lin, "Recently, definitely met! Where was it… the little supermarket, right, the little supermarket!"

He took a couple of steps forward, scrutinizing Li Lin's face which, if not remembered hard enough, looked completely unremarkable in a crowd. This time, it finally matched completely with his memory: "You bought a box of instant noodles, right?"

Li Lin tugged at the corner of his mouth, knowing the instant Yu Sheng recognized him, but he wasn't flustered or surprised at all—because right when they first met in the ruins of the ruined temple, he had also recognized Yu Sheng's face.

Even though they had only brushed past each other once in the small supermarket, as a professionally trained Special Service Bureau Officer, his memory and observation skills were far superior to ordinary people's.

Recognizing each other was just a matter of time.

Seeing the reaction from the other side, Yu Sheng had already instantly made many connections, gradually understanding, his gaze then sweeping over Xu Jiali who was next to him, as well as Little Red Riding Hood who was resting not far away.

"What exactly is your background?" asked Yu Sheng, his brows slightly wrinkling.

"Let me introduce myself again," Li Lin sighed, stood straight, and pointed to himself, "Li Lin, Officer of the Special Service Bureau Second Action Team under the Boundary Council."

Xu Jiali also walked over, adjusted her posture, and spoke in a low voice: "Attached to the Second Action Team's special warfare unit, senior deep diver, Xu Jiali—and that is indeed my real name."

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, stunned, then turned to look at Little Red Riding Hood, who looked like a high school student: "So you're also part of that special…"

"I'm not," Little Red Riding Hood crossed her arms, lifting her chin and pointing towards Xu Jiali, "They employed me as a child laborer."

Yu Sheng was taken aback and looked at Xu Jiali: "Your organization hires child laborers?"

"Child what labor!" Xu Jiali immediately glared at Little Red Riding Hood, "Part-time work! Can't you at least say it's work-study?!"

Yu Sheng felt his mind was muddled. His first thought was whether the high school students from Boundary Land were all so hardcore that their work-study during the holidays involved battling monsters in the Exotic Realm. His second thought was that he had finally met those "professionals" Erin had mentioned, but these professionals had a vibe quite different from what he had imagined. As for the third thought…

"So you all came for me?" Yu Sheng looked at the three "professionals" in front of him, feeling he had finally figured out a lot, "All this way to this Exotic Realm just to find me?"

He didn't expect that just as this sentence came out, Xu Jiali and Li Lin simultaneously let out a long sigh, and even Little Red Riding Hood sighed, lowering her head, no longer crossing her arms but covering her face.

Xu Jiali took out a cigarette from her pocket, lit it while looking forlorn, and inhaled a third of it in one puff.

"If possible, we wouldn't want to either – our initial plan wasn't this…"

Yu Sheng: "?"

He felt that the burly man in front of him didn't seem happy, and after pondering for a moment, he didn't dare to ask more.

Fortunately, the matters here have finally been resolved—there were still many questions left, but they could all wait until everyone was safely back to the present world.

Erin returned from Hu Li's embrace to Yu Sheng's arms, and Yu Sheng, carefully holding the poor little doll, was the first to walk out of the cave where they had been hiding.

"It has become completely quiet," Erin, sitting on Yu Sheng's shoulders and using her broken arms to embrace his head, looked toward the depths of the valley with a face full of surprise and disbelief, "...Such a mess."

"Yes, a mess, but at least the Hunger Entity is gone," Yu Sheng nodded, looking at the valley where an entire layer of the ground had been "gnawed" away, "...By the way, will that thing reappear in the future?"

"It will, as long as the Exotic Realm exists, the Entity will reappear, and the Exotic Realm will never vanish, even if you bomb it a thousand times, it will recover," Erin said softly, hugging Yu Sheng's head, "It's just that... it'll probably take a very long time this time."

"It's time to leave this place," Yu Sheng sighed deeply, the air in the valley seemed much fresher after the temporary disappearance of the Hunger Entity, a biting wind blew from the distance, and bright daylight dispelled the eternal night here, despite the fragmented scene before him, he felt a wave of relief in his heart, "Hu Li, how are you feeling now?"

The demon fox girl had been following closely behind Yu Sheng, and she immediately lifted her head: "I'm fine, not cold, not hungry anymore, I ate a lot just now!"

Hu Li said, laughing happily, for the first time so unburdened, the sunshine was brilliant.

Yu Sheng also smiled back and reached out his hand: "Then let's go home."

However, just as he was about to open a door leading home, Hu Li unexpectedly stepped forward and gently tugged on his sleeve.

Yu Sheng stopped and looked at the demon fox girl in confusion.

"Are you worried about the food left in the ruins of the ruined temple? Most of it has probably been ruined by the Hunger Entity, do you still want to go back and retrieve it?"

Hu Li nodded slightly, but then shook her head right after.

"Savior, there's a place I want to go, I..."

She hesitated to speak, seemingly worried that her request was too much and her desired actions too whimsical, looking quite conflicted.

Yu Sheng looked at the demon fox girl who was hesitating, initially not understanding what she wanted to do, but suddenly, he remembered a scene he had seen deep in Hu Li's dream realm.

After a moment of silence and consideration, Yu Sheng nodded: "I understand, is it in that forest?"

Hu Li looked up in surprise, gazing into Yu Sheng's eyes.

Then she nodded slightly.

Li Lin and the other two didn't understand and looked at Yu Sheng questioningly, but Yu Sheng didn't explain in detail, just waved his hand at them: "Don't rush, I have a way to send everyone back later, but wait a bit, I'm going to accompany Hu Li somewhere—if you're worried, you can come along."

"Let's go together," Xu Jiali was the first to nod, "It seems this girl has been here for quite a long time, and she probably has some things to settle before leaving, I understand."

The group then left the back mountain, passed by the more dilapidated temple, which was nearly reduced to a few broken walls and segments, crossed the valley floor strewn with gorges and rifts, and finally arrived at the previously small forest.

The forest had already disappeared, those dark mutated plants had been devoured clean in the previous banquet, now only leaving behind a bleak black wasteland, which was covered with large and small pits and suspicious black fragments.

"Is it here?" Yu Sheng asked quietly, glancing at Hu Li walking beside him.

"Um," Hu Li nodded slowly, "My parents, right here."

Erin finally understood what Yu Sheng had come here for with Hu Li.

The little doll's eyes widened, remembering the scene from the depths of Hu Li's dream realm, recalling the deceptions, those indistinct true and false memories, and the phantoms amidst the cold hunger, she felt an unease, and the pits scattered everywhere only made this unease grow rapidly.

"But... Maybe it won't be found," she couldn't help but say loudly on purpose, "Chunks of ground have been gnawed away! Maybe everything has been already... by those tendrils that came out of the ground..."

However, Hu Li just shook her head, interrupting Erin.

"No, I buried them deep," she said firmly, "My parents told me to bury them deeper, and I buried them very deep."