In fact, as soon as he learned that there was such a dangerous and widespread phenomenon as "Otherworlds" in this world, and that this huge "Boundary City" was a special place called a "Boundary," Yu Sheng had already thought that there must be groups of people who specialized in dealing with such phenomena—not the kind of lone wolves who fought alone (although such people certainly existed), but large-scale, and even professionalized and regularized organizations.
There were official ones, and there were probably private ones as well.
But as Irene said, these people would not normally come into contact with ordinary people.
Otherworlds were beyond common sense, at the end of reason, like countless small and dangerous holes in the seemingly stable mountain of reality. Ordinary people might never have dealings with the scenes hidden deep within these holes in their entire lives, but if a hapless person accidentally glimpsed the fleeting images that escaped from the holes, they could never turn back.
This was the "knowledge" that Irene had told him from the beginning. Just from these descriptions, Yu Sheng could judge that those who specialized in dealing with Otherworlds would definitely try to prevent ordinary people from coming into contact with any information related to Otherworlds, including their own existence.
But if something really happened, they should have their own reaction mechanism…
Yu Sheng looked up again, at the cold and deserted street outside the window.
"Seriously, how long does it usually take for those 'professionals' you mentioned to react?" he asked worriedly.
"I don't know, I don't remember… but my impression is that it's very fast," Irene said, hugging her teddy bear and rocking back and forth in her chair, looking a little smug. "They have a whole bunch of ways to sense abnormal situations. The entire Boundary should be full of their surveillance. It was like that before I was sealed, and it's definitely even more powerful now."
Yu Sheng didn't say anything, just looked at the doll in the oil painting.
"Of, of course, professionals are also people, and people have their own incompetent side. Occasionally, they might react a little slower?" Irene suddenly looked guilty. "It's also possible that they didn't notice the abnormal situation on your side… although the commotion on your side has been quite big…"
"It doesn't sound very reliable," Yu Sheng frowned, then sighed. "According to you, this entire house of mine is an 'Otherworld,' but no one has come to my door yet. I seriously doubt the professionalism of the 'professionals' you mentioned… alas, I think I'll have to rely on myself in the end."
Irene blinked. "Is, is that so?"
Then she asked curiously, "What are you going to do? From what you said… you're still planning to deal with that valley and the entity in the valley?"
"It's not that I want to deal with it, but that it will come to me sooner or later. I have this feeling," Yu Sheng said, twitching the corner of his mouth. He thought of that strange freezing rain and the frog in the freezing rain. "And didn't you say? Once you've dealt with an Otherworld, there's no turning back—I've been in contact with 'Otherworlds' for longer than you think."
"This… well, you have a point. It's true that many people who specialize in dealing with Otherworlds were just unlucky ordinary people who were dragged into events at the beginning," Irene mumbled. "I seem to remember that about one-tenth of ordinary people who have come into contact with Otherworlds have either actively or passively become 'Otherworld' experts. After all, it's considered being entangled by something dirty…"
Hearing Irene's words, Yu Sheng couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Only one-tenth? What about the other nine-tenths? Did they successfully return to normal life?"
Irene tilted her head back. "They died."
Yu Sheng: "…"
"Well… some of them survived. A lot of people are rescued every year," Irene, noticing Yu Sheng's expression, quickly explained, but then she added, "Of course, it seems that more people die."
"…Irene," Yu Sheng looked at the doll in the oil painting.
"Hey, hey?"
"If you don't know how to talk, you don't have to."
"Is, is that so?"
Yu Sheng sighed and slowly got up from the dining table.
"Dying or not doesn't really have much of an impact on me, but I do need to find a way to learn more about Otherworlds. Those 'professionals' you mentioned… if they can't come, then I'll have to take the initiative to find them," he said as he thought. "After all, your memory and experience are really a bit unreliable."
"Take the initiative to find them?" Irene didn't seem to care about the second half of Yu Sheng's words, and still looked happy. "Then… why don't you really go to the nearby telephone poles and see if there are any small ads posted by some Otherworld security companies?"
Yu Sheng had a helpless expression on his face. "…I'm being serious."
"I'm being serious too," Irene blinked. "They really do leave similar contact information to help ordinary people like you who have encountered an Otherworld once and were lucky enough to return. It's just that ordinary people usually can't see this kind of contact information. It's been processed with 'technical means'—but it's different for people who have come into contact with an Otherworld. They will more or less have some kind of 'spiritual awakening' change, and there's a high probability that they will notice those 'secret symbols' that are usually hidden."
Speaking of this, Irene suddenly paused, her expression quite serious as she looked Yu Sheng up and down. "You haven't felt any… changes in yourself?"
Changes after coming into contact with an Otherworld?!
Hearing the doll's words, Yu Sheng's heart suddenly moved. He quickly said, "The changes you mentioned, do they include becoming strong enough to crush stones, recovering after being stabbed with just a few breaths, being able to sense other people's memories and thoughts, and by the way, being able to die and come back to life…"
Irene was stunned as she listened, looking at Yu Sheng as if he were an alien. "What?"
"…No?"
"At most, you can see some things that you can't usually see! The things you mentioned, are they still human? You've changed species, right—don't read too many novels and watch too much anime usually."
Yu Sheng: "…"
Seeing the doll's reaction, Yu Sheng decisively did not continue on this topic.
His situation was indeed not right. Even in the realm of the "supernatural," it seemed a bit too supernatural.
Fortunately, Irene didn't seem to have thought too much about it—probably because she had been locked up for too long, this doll's brain didn't seem to be very good.
Yu Sheng let out a breath and looked up in the direction of the kitchen.
A faint look of entanglement and hesitation flashed across his face. Then he twitched the corner of his mouth and walked towards the kitchen.
Irene in the oil painting immediately jumped down from the chair. "Hey, are you going to make breakfast?"
He didn't know why this guy who couldn't eat at all was always so excited at mealtimes.
"I'm going to deal with the 'local specialty' I just brought back," Yu Sheng said without looking back.
Irene held the teddy bear in one hand and waved the other. "Oh, go ahead, go ahead…"
The doll suddenly stopped.
Her brain, which was not very sharp from being sealed for too long, finally realized something.
…What kind of local specialty could there be in an Otherworld?!
"Wait!" Irene suddenly let out a scream, the noise almost scaring Yu Sheng, who had already reached the kitchen door. "What kind of 'local specialty' is that?!"
Yu Sheng walked into the kitchen, stopped, and turned around with a slight smile. "Guess?"
Irene's eyes widened. She looked at Yu Sheng, who was already starting to tie his apron, and a look of shock and "is this person's brain starting to go crazy" gradually appeared in her scarlet eyes. "Wait, wait, what are you doing? You're not going to… no, did you really get that thing from that entity?! How did an ordinary person like you do it?! Hey, you're not really going to…"
Yu Sheng decisively closed the kitchen door, blocking out the sound of the blabbermouth.
A moment later, Irene's faint shouts came from the direction of the dining room. "Hey, don't close the door! At least help me restart the TV first! I can't watch TV anymore!"
But Yu Sheng no longer paid any attention to her.
He came to the sink, took off the pot lid that was pressing on the "meat," and saw that the severed tail in the sink seemed to have completely quieted down, with only the muscle at the cut occasionally twitching slightly.
He silently looked at this severed tail that had once been in his stomach, and once again felt that… "appetite" that seemed to seep out from his bones.
But this time, the appetite was not as violent as it was at the beginning, but just slightly leaping, with a pleasant anticipation and a just-right sense of restlessness.
Is it really okay? Is this normal? Am I still normal?
Yu Sheng thought about all these questions, but the thinking did not make his hands hesitate in the slightest.
He prepared the scallions, ginger, and cooking wine, and took out the cutting board and kitchen knife. Yu Sheng carefully washed the severed tail with clean water, scraped off the scales, and then placed it on the cutting board and cut it with a knife.
It was easier to cut than he had expected—although it was as hard as a rock when it was on the monster, at this moment, the feel of the knife cutting it was only like firm beef.
And there were no bones inside.
Yu Sheng had thought about it. The first time he felt his body "strengthened" was after he had bitten the monster.
And after that, he had also bitten the other party's flesh and blood in his second confrontation with the monster, and after that, he also felt that his strength had further improved—although the increase was obviously smaller, there was indeed a change.
This gave him a bold and… delicious idea.
What would happen if it was cooked?
Yu Sheng deftly cut the meat, and his mood gradually became very good.
The noisy Irene outside the door became less noisy.
He didn't know if what he was doing was normal… it probably wasn't right, after all, even a doll sealed in an oil painting thought this was very strange.
But compared to dying and coming back to life, a suspicious piece of meat was really no big deal.
"I've eaten it raw," Yu Sheng said to himself as he cut the meat. "First a stranger, then an acquaintance…"