Morning, the sun is bright, and the sky is clear with scattered clouds.

The boring urban variety show on the living room TV caught Erin's attention as she hugged the remote control, engrossed in the program. Meanwhile, Hu Li was licking a bowl clean in the dining room, using her bushy tails to tidy up the dishes, bowls, and chopsticks on the table.

Yu Sheng had placed his laptop on the dining table, staring at it intently since finishing his meal.

Curious as to what her "Savior" was doing, Hu Li, seeing Yu Sheng's serious demeanor, didn't dare to interrupt; she just occasionally tilted her head to peek while clearing the table, then turned around to continue her tasks after realizing she couldn't understand his activities.

Even after Hu Li had finished washing the dishes in the kitchen, Yu Sheng remained fixed on his screen, while Erin drifted casually from the living room over to where he was—unlike Hu Li, she wasn't so polite. Upon spotting Yu Sheng absorbed with his computer, she immediately scurried over, clambering up his pants as she tugged at them: "Hey, hey, what are you busy with? Can I see?"

Yu Sheng effortlessly lifted Erin by the collar and placed her on the table: "Don't mess around, I need to write."

"...Write?" Erin was momentarily baffled, "Why?"

"...It's my job, I'm a writer," Yu Sheng replied without lifting his head, merely glancing at the doll from the corner of his eye, "You don't think I'm some idle bum, do you? I have a proper livelihood."

Erin listened in a daze, a look of surprise slowly spreading across the puppet's face, probably never having considered the complex issue of Yu Sheng needing to work or where the household money came from. She looked as if she was discovering a whole new world.

Yu Sheng paid no mind to Erin's reaction, continuing, "Lately, the expenses have been high; the house has a lot of new stuff, and I still owe someone two articles for over half a month. I need to catch up—don't disturb me, go watch TV like a good girl."

Erin stood with her mouth open in a daze, then suddenly snapped out of it, shuffling over to under Yu Sheng's arm, peering at the screen, "But you're obviously scrolling through a video site..."

Yu Sheng kept a straight face: "...This is a necessary prelude to clear the mind before writing."

The little doll pointed at the screen: "But there's also a forum tab open behind your video site."

Yu Sheng continued to attempt a poker face, albeit a bit awkwardly: "Reading others' articles is beneficial as well—such forums often present creative ideas that can spark inspiration for my work, isn't that okay?"

Erin looked up: "But you haven't even opened a document..."

"What's with all the nonsense!" Yu Sheng could no longer contain himself, setting Erin down on the floor, "Have you ever written before? This thing requires professionalism, the pre-writing contemplation and accumulation are the most important parts..."

Erin stood beside the table leg, hands on hips, head tilted back defiantly: "Then when will you start writing?"

Yu Sheng glared: "I'll start writing once you stop pestering me."

Miss Puppet snorted and turned to head back to the living room, muttering, "Sheesh, a procrastinator sure has a lot of excuses..."

Yu Sheng thought it over and concurred that the little one had a point—and then withdrew his gaze, continuing to stare blankly at the videos on the computer screen.

He's a writer—of course, that's a generous description. To put it plainly, he's a second-tier author.

This was one of the few similarities between his so-called "hometown life" and living in Boundary City; he has always pursued this career, from the tranquil seaside town to this immense and unfamiliar city. His means of subsistence hadn't changed much, which could be considered extremely fortunate.

But too many unexpected things have happened recently, and he found himself utterly unable to settle down to write—not because he lacked ideas, but rather because the absurd abundance of ideas made it unclear which could be included in stories and which could be dangerously connected to the Exotic Realm, drawing in unsafe elements.

After actual encounters with many surreal things, a writer who used to compose bizarre fantasy felt unusually at a loss.

Sitting in front of the computer, mind blank, Yu Sheng eventually took a deep breath and swiftly closed both the video site and forum tabs.

Yu Sheng, oh Yu Sheng, it's time to pull yourself together. Think about Hu Li's appetite, think about Hu Li's new clothes, think about the materials for creating Erin's body—and then the new TV that Miss Puppet is so eager for.

How much savings can a writer have to splurge? If you don't start writing, you're really going to be completely broke! Forget being a Spirit Realm detective, you need to figure out how to feed everyone in this house first!

So, Yu Sheng smacked his face to focus, flicked the mouse—and opened a game.

Gathering his thoughts was too exhausting; he'd play a round against the computer to unwind...

But before he could start, he felt something bump against his calf—Erin had somehow made her way from the living room and was now head-butting his leg: "Yu Sheng, you're playing a game!"

"Hey, how come you're involved in everything!" Yu Sheng's face showed his embarrassment; he bent down intending to send the doll away, but before he could reach out, he felt a vibration in his pocket, followed by the ringing of his phone.

Pulling out his cellphone, Yu Sheng saw yet another call from an unknown number.

After hesitating for a moment, he answered, "Hello?"

A young woman's voice, tinged with hesitance and panic, came from the receiver, "Hello! Is this Mr. Yu? I've been sent by Director Baili Qing! To... to bring you the registration forms."

Yu Sheng was taken aback for a moment but then realized— it was about the matter he had discussed with that "Director." He had almost forgotten!

"Yes, yes, that's me. Indeed, there is such a matter," Yu Sheng quickly got up, setting Erin's issue aside for now and looked out the window while still on the phone, "I'm at home. Where are you now?"

"I should be right next to your house, but I can't see it," the voice on the phone sounded very tense, "The Director told me to call you before I came, but I forgot. I only remembered when I got here..."

"Wait for me, I'll come and open the door for you."

As Yu Sheng spoke, he headed towards the door. Erin hurriedly called out from behind, "Hey, who is it? Do I need a disguise?"

Hu Li also stepped out feeling somewhat anxious, "Do I need to change my appearance?"

"No need, no need," Yu Sheng waved his hand, "It's the person handling your ID cards."

Before he finished speaking, he had already reached the door and through the peephole, saw a girl nearby holding a cellphone—dressed in a black suit, with short hair, looking around the empty space, completely clueless.

She looked especially like a clear-headed temp worker who had been screwed over by her superior and sent out on a task.

Yu Sheng casually opened the door.

The short-haired girl outside, who had been looking around, jumped with a start, then turned her head blankly to stare at the door that had suddenly appeared not too far away, and at Yu Sheng, who was standing at the doorway.

"Mr. Yu!" She reacted, quickly taking a few steps to the door, still clutching a document bag, "Hello, I'm from Squad Two of the Special Service Bureau, just call me Ren Wenwen—may I come in? I still need to take photos of the registrants and such... oh right, this is my ID, please take a look."

While she talked, the girl hurriedly dug out a black booklet from her pocket and spread it open.

Yu Sheng glanced at it and saw it looked much like the ID cards that Li Lin, Xu Jiali and the others had shown before.

Actually, he didn't need to check the authenticity of her ID at all—after all, the only people who currently knew both his phone number and "No. 66 Wutong Road" were those from the Special Service Bureau and "Little Red Riding Hood."

Oh, and the three locksmiths from before.

"Please, come in." Yu Sheng stepped aside to let her in, and at the same time, felt a bit strange: perhaps it was just his imagination, but he always felt that this girl, claiming to be "Ren Wenwen," seemed particularly nervous, not like Li Lin and Xu Jiali's kind of nervousness when they first entered No. 66 Wutong Road, but...

It was just indescribable.

Ren Wenwen entered the house, and Yu Sheng peeked outside to find the usual vast emptiness in front of the door, and casually closed it.

Erin and Hu Li curiously watched the short-haired girl who had suddenly appeared in their house.

Ren Wenwen also curiously looked over the doll and demon fox.

"What's the process?" Yu Sheng walked over, seeing the three looking bewildered in the living room, and took the initiative to ask, "Do we register them first, or start with my team registration?"

"First... first, we register their Legal Identities," Ren Wenwen finally replied, hurriedly pulling out forms from her document bag and a portable device from her backpack, "You are registering for an independent team, right? This requires sorting out the identity issues for each member first. Fill in these two forms, and then I'll take their photos for the ID cards—I've brought the equipment, and the office colleagues connected on the other end are also ready, able to create the IDs and record into the system on-site."

Yu Sheng could see her quickly setting up a pile of devices on the table, and she took out two pens, then looked up at the little doll standing on the table (66.6 cm), and the demon fox beside her.

"Will you be filling these out yourselves?"

Hu Li blinked, glanced at the forms on the table, and looked up helplessly at Yu Sheng.

She couldn't decipher these characters...

Yu Sheng sighed and stepped forward to take a pen: "I'll fill it out for her."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.