The girl in a red coat stood under the streetlight, with the light spilling over her slightly thin frame as shadows writhed at her feet and around her, hiding watchful, prying eyes within—among them, a pair that noticed the approaching "outsider," prompting Little Red Riding Hood to become immediately aware of Yu Sheng and his companions.

"Sorry, the cab was a bit slow," Yu Sheng waved to the girl, "Have you been waiting long?"

"Just a few minutes," Little Red Riding Hood said nonchalantly, looking aside, "I've already sent my wolves to scout around the area, and didn't notice any abnormal changes. Today, the 'Museum' should be quite stable, making it a good day for our operation. By the way, have you read all the materials I gave you?"

"I've gone through them." Yu Sheng nodded, following Little Red Riding Hood's gaze towards the large building silently standing amidst the night.

But it was not a "Museum" at all, rather an old theater that had been closed to the public for many years—except that the so-called "Museum" entrance was located within this theater.

"After the 'Museum Night' commences, do not touch any exhibits that breathe, do not maintain eye contact with portrait paintings for too long, do not enter any red rooms, and if you see plastic mannequins dressed as tour guides, pay attention to their hand signals and do not go through doors they point or hint at—actually, these are pretty much the only things to be mindful of," Little Red Riding Hood continued to instruct with a hint of concern, "The Museum is a relatively stable Exotic Realm, with its depth consistently around L-2, so as long as the rules are observed, the inherent dangers are manageable, hence it's rated with a Danger Level 2..."

Listening to the girl's persistent instructions, Yu Sheng couldn't help but be reminded of the "Beginner's Information" he saw in the encyclopedia when he first familiarized himself with "Border Communication."

Those were his biggest gains after registering with the Special Service Bureau—systematic foundational intelligence about the supernatural world, including knowledge about the Exotic Realm's "depth" and "Danger Level" which Li Lin and Xu Jiali had mentioned but which he hadn't fully understood before.

Depth, simply put, refers to the extent of deviation from the real world, with the real world rated as level zero and the depth increasing incrementally from zero to five; an L-1 Exotic Realm might just appear as a slightly odd place that ordinary people could even inadvertently wander out of, while an L-5 Exotic Realm, aside from extremely rare survival records that cannot be replicated, offers virtually no chance of survival, to the extent that even experts cannot be certain whether an L-5 Exotic Realm actually has an "exit".

Typically, the depth of an Exotic Realm is relatively stable, but it can fluctuate slightly over time or under certain conditions. It is advisable to explore when an Exotic Realm is at a lower depth, and sudden changes in depth are a major reason why many Spirit Realm detectives and investigators lose their lives.

Danger Level is another important parameter for gauging the threat of an Exotic Realm; in most cases, Danger Level is positively correlated with the depth of the Exotic Realm—the "shallower" it is, the safer, the "deeper," the more dangerous. However, this is not always the case, as some shallow Exotic Realms can spawn particularly terrifying supernatural entities, and there are even stable safe areas within some L-3 Exotic Realms, generally considered high risk.

Because of such exceptions, "Danger Level" and "Depth" have become two independent parameters.

At the same time, Danger Level is not only used to measure Exotic Realms but can also be applied to assess the threat posed by individual "entities."

The group walked toward the entrance of the old theater.

"Honestly, according to the rules, I shouldn't be taking 'newcomers' like you to Museums at L-2 Exotic Realms, as Spirit Realm detectives and investigators who are new to the job usually start from L-1—after all, shallower Exotic Realms are more stable and easier to evacuate," Little Red Riding Hood spoke as she walked, "But you guys can't be considered 'beginners' either—after all, having managed Nightfall Valley, your abilities are way beyond standard, except you're lacking in experience and knowledge."

"No problem, it's all about gaining experience, anyway," Yu Sheng said casually, yet he looked curiously at the young girl walking beside him, "Suddenly, I feel like... you seem quite used to taking care of others?"

"Why do you say that?"

"You usually seem mature and aloof, but once you start working, you nag a lot, especially when leading us 'novices,' like a team leader or a parent."

Little Red Riding Hood paused for a few seconds, her facial expression subtle.

But she said nothing, just pursed her lips and continued walking forward.

"You clear on the concepts of depth and Danger Level?" she broke the silence after a few steps.

"Got it. Put simply, depth refers to 'how bizarre this place is,' and Danger Level refers to 'how lethal this place or thing is,' right?" Yu Sheng gestured, "It's quite straightforward."

"That's a crude but apt way of putting it," Little Red Riding Hood nodded, "The Museum has a depth of L-2, a 'standard' Exotic Realm depth, already significantly different from the real world, with the environment itself starting to distort, highly dangerous to ordinary people, but overall, its internal space still adheres to 'common sense' that fits human perception and logical thinking, so nothing will go wrong if you play by the rules..."

Without waiting for her to finish, Yu Sheng proactively continued, "A Danger Level of 2 means that it doesn't cause death actively, it doesn't have active or indiscriminate malice, but if rules are not adhered to, serious injuries or even death could still occur—right?"

"Not bad, you remembered it quite solidly, so I won't worry then."

Little Red Riding Hood spoke casually, and then stopped in her tracks.

They had entered the gates of the old theatre, and after passing through the slightly ajar rusty iron door, they were greeted by a large hall with dark green floor tiles. There were passages on both sides of the hall leading to the interior of the theatre, and directly facing the door were several dark ticket windows.

But what caught Yu Sheng's attention first was a strange device placed in the center of the hall.

It was a black-grey metal quadrangular prism, wider at the base and narrowing towards the top, about waist-high. There were several slowly flickering lights at the top of the pillar, and from its interior, a deep intermittent humming sound could be heard from time to time, clearly indicating it was operational.

"This is placed by the Special Service Bureau; we call it a 'node', officially a 'Constant Node Generator'," Little Red Riding Hood pointed at the metal quadrangular prism, "The low-frequency cognitive interference it emits can affect ordinary people, keeping them away from those danger zones within Boundary Land that have been identified. The effect is actually quite weak, but it's enough for those who haven't experienced a spiritual awakening."

"…Are there many of these things in the city?" Yu Sheng looked at the so-called "node" with surprise, "I've never noticed them before…"

Little Red Riding Hood glanced at Yu Sheng and instinctively wanted to say, "Because you were an ordinary person before, you wouldn't have come close to this thing," but she stopped short and swallowed her words.

Because she felt even that fox next to him had more presence than Yu Sheng...

"How effective is this thing? Can it really stop ordinary people?" Yu Sheng asked with curiosity.

"It's quite effective, but no safety measure can have a 100% interception rate. Even if you seal this place with steel and concrete, there will still be those who, in pursuit of death, will come with hydraulic cutters and impact drills," Little Red Riding Hood sighed, "There will always be stubborn or gifted individuals who insist on 'exploring' despite feeling dizzy and suffering leg cramps, or those who are just unlucky, born with high spirituality unaffected by the node. So, we often have to rescue unfortunate individuals who fall into the Exotic Realm—they end up either as payment for the Spirit Realm detectives and investigators or as the mournful cases in the internal bulletins of the Special Service Bureau. And in few cases... after screaming their heads off and undergoing psychiatric treatment, they become new detectives, investigators, or Special Service Bureau Officers."

"Why not just demolish this place?" Hu Li suddenly asked.

"Demolish? That would be quite the spectacle," Little Red Riding Hood knew Hu Li lacked common sense in this regard, so she just helplessly spread her hands, "What you would be demolishing is only an 'entrance' that has been investigated. The Exotic Realm itself isn't in our reality dimension. If you demolish its known and controllable entrance, then no one will know where it will open next time."

Listening to Little Red Riding Hood's explanation, Yu Sheng felt moved. Seeking death really is an inherent instinct in humans... It truly can't be stopped...

Meanwhile, Little Red Riding Hood took another step forward and approached the "node", swiping her ID card at the top.

"Registering entry and exit information," she turned back and waved her identity card at Yu Sheng, "In case one dies in there, the corpse collectors also need to know where to fish out the body—once you enter the Exotic Realm, external communication is basically cut off, and registering at the node is the last stop for Spirit Realm detectives and investigators to leave traces to the outside world."

Seeing this, Yu Sheng also advanced with Erin and Hu Li to register, operating the device while reflecting, "Luckily I got them both registered..."

A faint humming sound emerged from within the node.

Afterward, Little Red Riding Hood led Yu Sheng and the other two past the "node" to the end of the hall.

She stopped in front of those dark ticket windows.

The long-abandoned old theatre naturally meant that all ticket windows were defunct too. Of the four windows, two were sealed off with crossed plastic tapes, and from the remaining two, one was emptied with only a pile of unwanted clutter visible, while the other still housed a ticketing machine—covered in dust.

Little Red Riding Hood stopped in front of the window with the ticket machine, took out her phone to check the time.

After two or three minutes, she suddenly extended her hand and knocked on the glass of the ticket window.

"Night show, Museum Night, four tickets."

In the hollow and unattended ticket window, a light suddenly appeared—despite the broken light bulb, a warm and bright glow filled the dusty enclosure.

As if there was still an invisible ticket seller who had been lost to time and memory, sitting behind that window.

The old ticket machine creaked, the empty paper feeder revolving round and round, beginning to spit out entrance tickets.

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