About the favor Little Red Riding Hood wanted to handle herself, Yu Sheng guessed several possibilities, all of which were probably related to the Supernatural Realm—after all, although she looked like just a seventeen-eighteen-year-old girl, she was also a professional "Spirit Realm detective." Whatever she needed to do must be professional, and to be honest, Yu Sheng was quite looking forward to it. Since he had to deal with the Exotic Realm himself, taking this opportunity to gain experience by following a "junior" wasn't a bad idea...

He was just a little nervous, not knowing whether he could handle the task Little Red Riding Hood needed to do. If it was too difficult, he'd have to think of a way to muddle through without losing face...

Then, he sat in a roadside cafe, dumbfounded by what the girl took out.

It was helping a high school girl copy a math workbook.

Such a thick one!

Yu Sheng looked at the math workbook in front of him and then raised his head to gaze at the short-haired girl sitting across from him, his eyes shuttling back and forth several times, fully expressing his confusion.

Indeed, it was very difficult—if there weren't answers at the back of the workbook, it would be harder than fighting monsters in the Exotic Realm. After all, no matter how tough a physical entity is, you could just die a few times and drag your corpse through, but math isn't something you can do if you really don't know it. Even if you die on the spot and come back to life, you still wouldn't know...

Hu Li stood aside holding Erin, also not understanding what was happening.

"Just copy this workbook for me here; the answers are all at the back. You can scribble a bit, just fill it up, and that's fine," Little Red Riding Hood said indifferently. "Then, I'll take Hu Li to the mall next door to buy clothes—oh right, you need to lend me some cash first. I didn't bring much money with me, and after the shopping, I'll settle up with the receipt, we can refund the excess or make up the shortfall."

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, finally organizing his words: "So... helping out means doing your homework for you? Is this really... appropriate?"

"Appropriate, of course. I had already completed my homework, but it got torn up by an entity—and the teacher didn't believe it," Little Red Riding Hood said with a sulky face, but there was a glint of amusement in her eyes when she looked at Yu Sheng, as if she was relieved to have been saved. "I came here today to buy a new workbook. I was thinking about staying up all night, but didn't expect to run into you guys."

Yu Sheng said with a pained expression, "My handwriting is different from yours; even if I try to imitate, it will probably be noticeable."

"No problem, they won't look at it closely when they collect it," Little Red Riding Hood waved her hand nonchalantly. "I'm still relatively conscientious. At least the first time I did it, I really wrote it myself. Some of my classmates just find someone to help them directly..."

"Alright then," Yu Sheng finally sighed, accepting the fact that many things in the world do not unfold as he expected. He stood up, took out his wallet, and handed it over to the girl in front of him. Then, he turned his head to Hu Li, "You follow her. If you don't understand anything, just ask her. Also, take Erin with you, and if something happens, contact me through Erin."

Hu Li looked at Little Red Riding Hood, seeming a bit uneasy, but upon hearing Yu Sheng's instructions, she nodded gently.

Little Red Riding Hood, after receiving the wallet, paused for a moment, then looked up jokingly, "So, you're handing me both people and money—aren't you afraid I'll run away?"

By now, Yu Sheng was already looking down at the workbook. At her words, he lifted his eyes slightly, "Are you never going to approach any door for the rest of your life?"

Little Red Riding Hood's face tightened instantly, and the corners of her mouth twitched, "That's kind of scary..."

"Your workbook is scarier," Yu Sheng sighed. "Hey... I really didn't expect that one day, under these circumstances, I would face high school homework again. Back when I was in school, I didn't have this much..."

Little Red Riding Hood then took Hu Li's hand and started to back away while waving, "Then we're off to buy clothes!"

Hu Li caught off guard, hesitantly grabbed Erin and waved at Yu Sheng—she would have waved with the other hand, but that one was being pulled by Little Red Riding Hood.

Even from several meters away, Yu Sheng could see Erin stealthily baring her teeth and grimacing.

...

Passing through layer upon layer of isolation doors and safety compartments, Song Cheng felt as if he were burrowing into the belly of a gigantic beast constructed of reinforced concrete. After passing through several checkpoints consecutively, he finally reached his destination.

At the end of the brightly lit underground corridor stood a heavy alloy gate, guarded by fully armed Special Service Bureau guards on both sides. The door was covered with dense, intricate patterns that made one dizzy at a glance. The lamp above the gate shone a reassuring green, with the words "Deep Diver Area-D2 Submerge Port" displayed.

Song Cheng took out his identity verification card and swiped it at the card reader marked "Customs Verification" next to the gate. As the gate opened, the view on the other side came into sight.

There's a slightly twisted light screen covering the inner side of the gate. Through the screen, one can see an extremely spacious hall beyond, brightly lit, with many large installations lined up neatly, similar to "water tanks." Each "water tank" is a container measuring three meters squared, with a complex black metal base at the bottom, while the container itself is filled with a pale blue liquid.

Many people in white uniforms are shuttling between these "water tanks," checking the operation of certain units.

Song Cheng strides into the gateway.

The moment he passes through the twisted light screen, he experiences a brief loss of gravity and dizziness, followed by a ringing in his ears that lasts for a few seconds. Once the ringing subsides, he hears a gentle system prompt from his headset: "Entered D2 submersion dock. The entire submersion zone is currently at Panin-III Station. Current average depth in the hall is L-1, Environment: Stable."

Song Cheng shakes his head to dispel any lingering dizziness, then walks straight toward several neatly arrayed "water tank" installations nearby.

He sees a figure in a white dress with grey-white hair tied back in a ponytail already standing there.

"Director!" Song Cheng hastens over to her, his tone quite surprised, "You've come in person?"

"After all, this is an unprecedented situation," Baili Qing turns around, her colorless eyes glancing at Song Cheng, "Your team is ready."

Song Cheng nods and looks at the six "water tanks" in front of him.

Six fully armed "deep divers" are being slowly inserted into the tanks with the aid of mechanical arms. They are dressed in pitch-black power armor, with full-face helmets that obscure their features, leaving only dark-red monitors flickering slightly on their faces. Each person also has an additional micro reactor backpack mounted on their back to provide power for their mental shields and special observation and recording equipment.

The divers are hung from above by mechanical arms and suspended in the pale blue liquid within the tanks. Moments later, a faint humming sound emanates from the black metal base of the tanks, gradually rising from low to high as the devices begin to operate.

A broadcast sounds in the surroundings: "Configuring the 'deep sea' environment, please prepare to submerge... 'Umbilical cord' ready, awaiting manual command."

A technician monitoring the "water tanks" watches the readings on their device intently and then orders loudly after a few seconds: "Connect the 'umbilical cords'!"

Several white-robed technicians immediately step forward and start entering commands into each "water tank" manually.

The pale blue liquid in the tanks begins to sway slightly, and at the same time, pipe-like structures made of black metal, resembling a spine, rise from the bottom of the tanks. The metal segments emit dark-red glimmers, moving and extending within the pale blue liquid as if alive, and then accurately connect to the chest of each deep diver.

The broadcast announces: "The 'umbilical cords' have been connected, inducer injected... Begin submerging."

Waves appear in the tanks, and the pale blue liquid seemingly transforms into "sea water" in the blink of an eye. Or rather, each water tank becomes like a small segment cut out from a larger sea, beginning to surge with a specific frequency.

And in the next second, all the deep divers disappear from Song Cheng's sight, leaving only their 'umbilical cords' connected to the power armor floating in their original positions, gently undulating in the liquid as if indicating that the divers are still inside the tanks—just invisible to those outside.

"Do you think this will work? What will they see?" asks Baili Qing, turning her head to look at Song Cheng.

"... The inducer will sink them into the Spirit Realm. It's very effective for certain types of exotic realms, especially those that use the spirit, Dream Realm, or emotions as their gateways. But honestly... Nightfall Valley is a bit different," Song Cheng shakes his head, "We have yet to find a stable way to enter and leave Nightfall Valley. Using inducers can only let the observers see its shadow in hallucinations. And now there's been a 'mutation' there; even Passenger 22 doesn't know the specifics. I suspect... the deep divers will return without achieving anything."

Baili Qing nods.

Song Cheng seems to want to say something more, but just at that moment, a sharp humming suddenly erupts!

"Holy shit! Contamination!" A technician leaps up almost instantly and rushes toward the emergency stop button like a gust of wind, "Pull them back!"

The emergency stop button is slammed down, and a piercing noise erupts from the base of each "water tank." Almost in the blink of an eye, the pale blue liquid is drained from the tanks, followed by a burst of blinding sparks along each "umbilical cord." Within a second, the figures of the six deep divers reappear in the real world—they clumsily fall into the tanks, curling up, with one tearing off their faceplate and beginning to vomit violently on the ground, while another struggles to stand, staggering to the edge of the tank and banging hard on the reinforced polymer container as if trying to shout something to the people outside.

Song Cheng and Baili Qing immediately walk over.

"We reached the end of the corridor!" the struggling diver yells out loud, his voice distorted and unreal through the "water tank's" safety barrier, "The end of the corridor! There's a beam of light! No Nightfall Valley, there's none! At the end of the corridor there's only... only mathematical problems! All math problems! Goddamn hardcore ones!!"

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