"The situation is basically like this. The stranded citizens have been sent home, and the mall's lockdown will continue until tomorrow. During this time, the assessment team will ensure there are no residual risk factors within the blockade," Song Cheng reported in front of Baili Qing's desk. "The technical department is hastening to analyze the data sent back by the Deep Dive Team along with their audio and video recordings from the mission."

Baili Qing sat behind her exceptionally large desk, her expression calm and showing no emotion. Only after Song Cheng finished his report did she nod slightly, "Are there any conclusions yet?"

"It can be confirmed as an Exotic Realm that has never appeared before. The depth range recorded on the deep divers' sensors is from L-1 to L-2, and the scene is a fog-covered district. This district might be a 'reflection' of the real world, with its extent still undetermined. It is initially suspected that moving deeper into the fog increases its depth.

"This Exotic Realm randomly generates entities that should originally be in other realms. So far, only ink stains, the Carnival crowd, and Tree Granny have been identified. Therefore, the danger level of this realm is temporarily set to Level 3, but given the limited sample data, this rating is for reference only. It is not recommended for any Spirit Realm detective organizations or individual investigators, except for experienced teams like Fairy Tales and the travel agency, to actively venture in.

"Of course, there's no need to worry too much about the last point, as other freelance investigators probably won't be able to enter—we still haven't found a stable way to open this Exotic Realm. The current entry methods are only two: relying on Yu Sheng's 'Door-opening' ability, or using the locator set up by deep divers before withdrawing, to send them back in again."

Song Cheng spoke all this in one breath, then paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing, "Besides the opening conditions, the urgently needed confirmation about this Exotic Realm mainly focuses on its entity generation pattern. This is the first time we've encountered a realm capable of generating entities from other realms, and we must figure out how this mechanism works—how many entities can it generate? Can it generate entities of danger level 4 or higher? In the action report, ink stains, the Carnival crowd, and Tree Granny appeared independently, but we can't rule out the possibility of them appearing simultaneously in that fog…

"Based on the answers to these questions, the danger level of this Exotic Realm might be extremely high; Level 3…might just be its lower limit."

After finishing, Song Cheng waited as Baili Qing remained silent for a long while, seemingly lost in thought, before finally raising her head, "Song, do you also feel that, besides the entity generation mechanism, the anomalies before and after the opening of this new 'Exotic Realm' are also very suspicious?"

"You mean…?"

Baili Qing slowly tapped her fingers on the table, "The hundreds of brief tremors that were almost ignored by the equipment, with an opening time as short as one second, and the traces that were scrubbed clean afterward."

Song Cheng's eyes widened suddenly, "Are you saying the traces were 'cleaned up'?"

"A human-caused event," Baili Qing stopped tapping, her expression becoming serious, "Doesn't it look like it? Those brief tremors seem very much like some kind of experiment, with the experiment's goal being to open this Exotic Realm."

"And the stranded citizens…"

"Could also be part of the experiment, randomly selected as test subjects," Baili Qing said gravely, "used to confirm whether the entrance truly opened."

Song Cheng furrowed his brow deeply, "Who would have the audacity to do such things in the Boundary Land?! And who would have the capability to…"

He suddenly stopped, exchanging an awkward glance with Baili Qing.

Then the two tacitly averted their gazes.

Baili Qing: "Of course, it couldn't be him."

Song Cheng: "I never said it was him…"

The two again unanimously fell silent for a few seconds.

"In any case, consider 'someone deliberately sabotaging' as a possible angle," Baili Qing said lightly, "We have many enemies, and the anomalies on the night of Angel Fall attracted many eyes. We can't rule out some fool having bold ideas—at times like these, it's crucial to stay vigilant."

"Yes, Director."

After completing his report, Song Cheng left, while Baili Qing continued to sit behind her desk, seemingly still contemplating something.

After a while, she turned on the computer on the desk and brought up a series of video materials.

Fog-drenched streets, scenes of intense crossfire, and the destruction of the Revelers cluster…

These were primary data captured by the deep divers' recording equipment, sourced from dozens of videos from different perspectives.

After casually glancing at them, Baili Qing rose from behind her desk and tapped a certain spot on the corner of the table.

A faint buzzing sound came from the ceiling.

The next moment, the room's lights went out, and the projection devices initially hidden in the ceiling and floor quickly unfolded. The dazzling holographic lights played on the walls and various furnishings, enveloping the room's scenery in an instant. In another instant, dozens of videos were projected throughout the room, and they split again, fragmenting into hundreds of frames according to different time periods, saturating every inch of space around Baili Qing.

All the footage began to play at once, fast-forwarding at high speed.

Baili Qing casually poured herself a glass of water and drank slowly while analyzing every moment and every perspective recorded by the deep divers frame by frame.

Meanwhile, just outside the large floor-to-ceiling window behind her, the mist rolled violently, rapidly reorganizing and presenting a restored scene of the fog-covered district.

A pair of illusory eyes hovered in the street scene rendered by Baili Qing's ability, swiftly traversing the constantly changing scenery.

"Stop," said Baili Xue suddenly.

The scene outside the window froze, and the images being projected by the hologram were also paused by Baili Qing.

The pair of eyes passed through the window, arriving behind Baili Qing, as the two "individuals" simultaneously focused on a specific frame nearby.

It was an utterly ordinary frame, showing an advertisement billboard beside the road after the Carnival entity shattered into colorful confetti scattered at the edge of the frame. The billboard clearly displayed the bright words "XX Fresh."

"...The text is correct," Baili Xue said softly.

Baili Qing nodded: "Exactly—if it were a mirror image, the text should be reversed."

"So, the essence of this Exotic Realm isn't as simple as 'a few streets reflected in a mirror', it's just that its entrance happens to be a 'mirror'," Baili Xue's voice had a hint of fluctuation, "it's more likely an independently existing space, a..."

Her voice suddenly hesitated.

Baili Qing continued for her: "A real-time copy of the Boundary City in reality—or to exaggerate a bit, 'another Boundary City'."

The sisters fell silent at the same time.

After several minutes, Baili Xue spoke cautiously, "Do you guess...how big it is?"

Baili Qing casually turned off the holographic projection in the room, sat down in a chair, and massaged her temples.

"Don't want to guess at all."

That pair of eyes then drifted over, sticking to the glass of the floor-to-ceiling window behind Baili Qing, and after a while, they simultaneously exclaimed—

"Why do such ridiculous things always happen when he's involved!?"

A knock on the door suddenly sounded.

Baili Qing immediately adjusted her posture, putting away the slightly lazy demeanor, restoring her usual cool and calm state, and said in a deep voice, "Come in."

The on-duty secretary came in and placed a stack of documents in front of Baili Qing.

"Director, these are the files sent by the technical department regarding those 'Ankaela Crystals'."

"Crystal test data?" Baili Qing raised her eyebrows and immediately took the files, quickly flipping through a few pages, and her expression became subtle.

"According to the test results, Ankaela Crystals—including the Mother Crystal and secondary crystals—did not show any special feedback against mental attacks," the secretary nodded seriously, reporting earnestly, "including but not limited to common hypnotism, Consciousness Guidance, higher-level Memory Manipulation, Spirit Control, or direct mental impact from physical 'Illusion Butterflies'. The testing department basically tested all the possible mental impacts that could be created in the lab on the crystals, and the conclusion is stated in the report...no protective effect."

Baili Qing slowly inhaled.

She reviewed the documents more thoroughly, noting that there was another point in the testing department's conclusion—

Besides mental attacks, so far, no special feedback has been found for crystal samples against any other types of "stimuli". In terms of "protective specialization", they have no particular specialty.

"So," Baili Xue's voice sounded in Baili Qing's mind, still mechanically stiff, yet with a hint of subtle sarcasm, "the crystal can only be used to fend off that Puppet...right? Other than that, it's useless?"

Baili Qing also struggled a bit: "Turns out it's specifically against her alone...?"

...

Erin was amused by the dumb comedy show on TV, laughing so hard that she fell off the coffee table with a thud, then complained as she struggled to climb back.

Yu Sheng watched this scene from the side, rolling his eyes: "You just keep watching, all these things, your brain isn't great to begin with. Keep watching and your brain cells will be gone!"

"Where would a Puppet like me get a brain!" The other Erin stood on the sofa, hands on her hips, righteously, then noticed the row of small knives in front of Yu Sheng, "Hey? What are you doing with so many fruit knives and box cutters here? You're waving them around...you're kinda giving off a creepy vibe here..."

Yu Sheng sighed helplessly, picked up a fruit knife, sliced his hand a couple of times, then put it down: "It's just that I thought the knife I carry for bleeding wasn't working well, wanted to change it, ended up trying all the ones I could find at home..."

"The final conclusion isn't that the knife is the problem, but you are the problem, right," Erin chuckled at this, holding a small knife with both hands, poking Yu Sheng's hand back a few times until the tip wasn't as sharp, "I've been telling you, your eating habits are a problem because of your reckless eating, and also that silly fox, cooking you recklessly... "

Yu Sheng snatched the small knife from the puppet's hands: "Can you call it a problem if the body gets sturdier by eating more?"

"You're ridiculously sturdy, so next time when you have appendicitis, the doctor at the hospital won't be able to cut you, then you won't be laughing!"

Yu Sheng blinked, finding the little puppet's imagination somewhat amusing, but quickly waved his hand: "If that situation you mentioned actually happens, it's no big deal, I'll just open a door to a volcano and jump in, thirty minutes later I'll be a good man with no appendicitis, faster than surgery..."

Erin was stunned: "...You're willing to die for appendicitis?!"

"What else can I do," Yu Sheng tossed the small knife onto the table, "If it continues like this, I'll have to carry a chainsaw, and even then, the small ones won't have enough power."

Just then, Yu Sheng's phone on the table suddenly rang, interrupting their conversation.

Erin glanced at the incoming call and handed the phone over: "Here you go, it's Baili Qing again."

Yu Sheng exhaled and took the phone, placing it to his ear.

"...What's 'Anti-Erin Crystal'?"

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