CHAPTER 478: CHAPTER 478: SHADOW OF THE OMEN

In the depths of the Special Service Bureau building, within the spacious director’s office, Yu Sheng pushed the door open and walked in: "Just happened to be free—and I also have quite a few things I want to ask you about."

Sitting behind the office desk, Baili Qing was evidently accustomed to Yu Sheng’s unannounced entry. She didn’t even move, just looked up as he found a chair in the room on his own accord, then watched him drag it over to sit across the desk. Only after a while did she speak: "What do you want to ask?"

Yu Sheng settled into the chair and was about to speak when he seemed to notice something, giving Baili Qing’s desk a glance: "Got a new desk, huh?"

Baili Qing’s tone was subtle: "...Is that one of your questions?"

"Uh, not really, just asked offhand," Yu Sheng coughed lightly, then organized his thoughts. After reflecting on the many recent events, he started, "The ’Omen Goddess’, I want to know if the Special Service Bureau has any information on this name—or any intel on the word ’omen’."

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Baili Qing shook her head: "No."

"...So sure?" Yu Sheng was a bit surprised, "Shouldn’t you check?"

"I already checked before you came," Baili Qing said flatly, "I have contacts with True Man Yuanling, so I know something about the happenings in the Feiyu Star Domain—you’re asking for that puppet named ’Erin’, right?"

"Well, that saves me from explaining the whole story," Yu Sheng sighed and leaned back in his chair, "It’s not just the issue with Erin now; it seems there’s something off with my house too..."

He had barely finished speaking when he suddenly looked up, fixing his gaze on the giant floor-to-ceiling window behind Baili Qing, his lips twitching: "Do you have to roll your eyes that dramatically..."

Baili Xue’s voice reached their ears: "I think your house is more than just ’a bit off’."

"Alright, I admit No. 66 Wutong Road is indeed a little special," Yu Sheng tugged at the corners of his lips, feeling somewhat guilty in the face of the massive eye roll that was at least two or three square meters. "But the things happening recently are getting increasingly bizarre. You know that special room at the end of the corridor on the second floor, right? A few days ago, I fell into the mirror—there’s a temple of the Omen Goddess beneath it..."

In front of Baili Qing, someone he had long cooperated with and who was well-acquainted with all kinds of occurrences at the travel agency, Yu Sheng didn’t hold back and candidly shared his experiences in that "mirror darkness".

After Yu Sheng finished speaking, Baili Qing, whose face typically revealed little change in expression, clearly showed a trace of seriousness. After careful consideration, she looked into Yu Sheng’s eyes: "Mind if I ’take a look’?"

Yu Sheng was momentarily stunned, quickly recalling their first meeting and her special abilities, hesitating slightly: "...I don’t mind, but the scene is quite bizarre. I suspect there might be some contamination or something. Are you sure you want to see it?"

"We’ve seen stranger things," Baili Xue said calmly, "You can trust our professionalism."

Yu Sheng was quite curious about what kind of bizarre scenarios the other party referred to as "stranger things", but after thinking about it, he didn’t ask and instead leaned forward: "Alright, take a look, but be prepared."

Baili Qing stood up from behind the desk, leaned forward, and reached out to Yu Sheng.

But she couldn’t reach.

The two of them, separated by the wide office desk, lay prone on the desktop, staring at each other for two or three seconds before Yu Sheng couldn’t hold back: "...Isn’t your desk a bit too wide?"

If you had to point out the advantage of being the director, it was this—Baili Qing didn’t even get embarrassed, simply stood up, walked halfway around the desk, and came to Yu Sheng’s side, pressing her hand against his temple.

A slight cool touch, accompanied by a faint scent of perfume.

Yu Sheng felt a momentary blur in his mind, as if a "gaze" swept across the shallow memories he deliberately released. Then that slightly cool touch left.

Baili Qing placed her gaze on the floor-to-ceiling window not far away. The huge, faded eyes floating on the window quickly faded away, as the dense fog outside began to churn like it was boiling, rapidly taking on a pitch-black, muddy texture—within seconds, enormous stone pillars neatly aligned appeared in the black fog, along with an ancient temple of bizarre and ominous style, shadowy black figures twisted and crawling on the stone plaza, and... a half-human, semi-spider gigantic illusion located deep within the temple.

As the scene continued to change, Yu Sheng instantly noticed that half-human, semi-spider illusion in the temple, his eyes widening in shock: "Wait a minute! I didn’t see this at the time!"

"You did see it," Baili Qing’s calm voice came from the side, "But you ignored it—this figure lurked at the edge of your subconscious, imperceptible yet still within your vision."

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing, simply slowly approaching the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the illusion reflected in the fog from his memory.

The scene of the temple expanded and drew closer again, his gaze passing over the grand door supported by four colossal pillars, observing the figure his subconscious had disregarded.

A massive female body, a horrifying spider-like lower half, with what seemed to be a gigantic web stretching behind it, extending endlessly into the darkness, appearing to surpass even the physical structure of the temple itself, sprawling in a way that defied geometric spatial laws.

A pair of faded eyes quietly floated in the black fog, those belonging to Baili Xue.

She cautiously "entered" the temple, gradually approaching the giant half-human, semi-spider illusion, apparently intending to closely observe the other party.

But just as she crossed the threshold of the temple, the enormous figure, extracted merely from Yu Sheng’s shallow memory and theoretically only a shadow, even merely an "impression", suddenly lifted its head—scarlet eyes abruptly fixed on the entrance, and those faded eyes, just about to sneak in, seemed to be struck by an invisible force, swiftly evaporating.

A second later, those faded eyes reappeared in a coffee cup on the desk, with Baili Xue’s voice emanating from it, sounding filled with lingering fear: "That scared me to death."

Yu Sheng turned to glance at it, then returned his gaze to the temple, only to see the "illusion" had returned to its original position, as if nothing had happened just now.

Baili Qing raised her hand and gently clenched her fist towards the direction of the floor-to-ceiling window. The thick mist outside immediately churned and boiled once more, retreating the darkness. The gray-white mist rapidly devoured the illusion of the divine temple.

"Are you okay?" She glanced at her younger sister.

"I’m fine," Baili Xue’s voice sounded, her eyes returning to the floor-to-ceiling window, "just got startled."

Baili Qing nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, then looked at Yu Sheng: "...Has there been anything unusual about the puppet named Erin lately?"

"Has she been more noisy since acquiring the ’Omen Wandering Star?’ Does that count?" Yu Sheng spread his hands, "Besides that, she’s the same as before, just picked up the habit of going out every day to walk a ball."

"I’ll contact Terra’s ’Academy’ to see if they have any information on the ’Omen Goddess,’ but don’t hold your hopes too high. Besides..." Baili Qing said, but the latter half of her sentence suddenly stopped, and she shook her head, "No, it’s nothing."

Yu Sheng, of course, noticed the momentary hesitation of the female director, but understanding her, he didn’t ask further. Instead, he brought up another matter: "Also, there’s a peculiar celestial body known as ’Black Star’... or perhaps it’s an astronomical phenomenon, I’d like you to keep an eye on it."

"Black Star?"

"Yes, an anomaly that is entirely pitch-black, surrounded by a large-scale faint light background. Yuan Hao encountered it, and it seems deep within is connected to an Alternate Dimension, suspected also to have a connection with the strange empty room at my house... The name ’Black Star’ was given by him."

Yu Sheng spoke to the Baili Qing sisters about many things.

About the Black Star, about the Inference Star Body, about the current state of the Feiyu Star Domain and "Shuji," and even about the peculiar experience of being a living planet.

Initially, he intended to exchange information with the Special Service Bureau, but later, he completely immersed himself in the narration—after all, it’s not often you can make an ironclad expression dazed.

After much time had passed, Yu Sheng left.

The spacious office returned to silence, and Baili Qing stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, pondering for a while, then went back behind her desk, rubbing her brow and sighing softly.

"...Eye-opening," Baili Xue’s voice echoed in her heart.

Baili Qing lifted her eyelids, glancing at those eyes floating around various places in the room.

"You’ve been too ’eye-opening’ today," she said with a hint of reproach in her tone, "Could you stop doing these adventurous things suddenly from now on? Even if they’re illusions extracted from memory, they can sometimes be dangerous."

The eyes drooped: "Oh."

Baili Qing exhaled, then glanced at the phone on the desk.

"Perhaps, it’s time to contact Ms. Marin."

"The ’messenger’ sent from Alice’s Cottage?"

"Yes... Professional matters ultimately need to be handled by professionals."

...

In the area marked "Idle People Keep Away" at the entrance of No. 66 Wutong Road, Erin was squatting on the ground, using both hands to laboriously grind the Omen Wandering Star.

Halfway through the grinding, the puppet suddenly lifted her head, tucking her neck.

Hu Li, who was beside her enjoying his meal with a lunchbox, turned his head in confusion: "What’s wrong?"

"Chilly," Erin muttered, continuing to grind her stone ball on the ground, "Probably someone talking bad about me behind my back... Let me find out and they’re finished."

"Oh," Hu Li continued to shovel food into his mouth, but suddenly turned his head again, "By the way, why are you grinding it so hard?"

"It’s rough and uncomfortable to the hand," Erin said seriously, "I want to smooth it out a bit."

"...Don’t understand, but respect."

Erin thought for a moment, her scarlet eyes staring at Hu Li: "Silly fox, I suspect you’re also talking bad about me in your mind!"

"I’m not," Hu Li shook his head, then shook the lunchbox in his hand, "Braised pork rice is very delicious."

"Is it, is it oh?"