Dimensional Hotel

The small room fell into an uneasy silence. Yu Sheng and Bai Li Qing both seemed lost in thought, piecing together fragments of information. Foxy and Irene, though still unclear about the full picture, could sense the tension from Yu Sheng’s reaction. Neither dared to speak.

After a while, Yu Sheng raised his head. His gaze fell on the image of the reconstructed “ID card” displayed on the screen. He stared at it for a few seconds, then turned his attention back to the “operational record” in front of him.

“Can we figure out which one of them it belonged to?” he asked.

“The name and key identification numbers have been erased. It’s impossible to recover them,” Bai Li Qing replied evenly. “We don’t know if this was done deliberately or not. All we can say for sure is that it belonged to one of the twelve deep divers from seventy years ago… though we could probably rule out the two who returned to the real world?”

She paused, her expression thoughtful. Then, with a slight frown, she shook her head. “No… According to the records, the two who returned likely only brought back their bodies. Their souls were probably still trapped in the Fairy Tale subset… just like the other ten.”

Yu Sheng didn’t respond immediately. His mind was a storm of scattered thoughts and incomplete theories. Every time he latched onto a possible explanation, glaring contradictions or unanswered questions forced him to abandon it.

After a long pause, he furrowed his brow deeply and hesitated before speaking. “Remember what we discussed earlier? The twelve deep divers… They likely didn’t land in the Black Forest. But I found this ‘ID card’ in the Black Forest, and the ‘Hunter’ is an entity that wanders its depths.”

“That’s what puzzles me too,” Bai Li Qing admitted. “The long-standing conclusion of the Special Affairs Bureau has been that ‘the twelve divers from seventy years ago never entered any known subset of the Fairy Tale.’ Even if they left behind relics in the subset, those relics shouldn’t have ended up in the Black Forest. Unless…”

Yu Sheng leaned forward. “Unless?”

Yu Sheng’s eyes sharpened as he quietly murmured, “And then, either all of them, or just one of them, became the ‘Hunter’ of the Black Forest…”

At that moment, Irene, who had been silent until now, tugged on Yu Sheng’s sleeve. The little doll hesitated before speaking. “Um, not to ruin the moment, but… the ‘Hunter’ doesn’t have to be one of the divers. Maybe the divers didn’t survive, and that ID card is just a trophy. I mean, the Hunter is a Black Forest entity, right?”

Both Yu Sheng and Bai Li Qing turned to look at Irene. She instinctively shrank back, muttering, “I told you not to blame me for ruining the mood. It’s just a theory.”

Bai Li Qing remained silent for a moment, then spoke softly. “That’s true. We can’t rule out that possibility.”

Yu Sheng didn’t respond immediately. Instead, his thoughts drifted back to his experiences in the Black Forest—specifically, to the time he encountered the eerie figure in the shadowy wooden house draped with red cloaks.

The Hunter had no face, no voice. Its movements were stiff, its actions strange and mechanical. Everything about it seemed more like a creation of the subset than a living being with human traits.

But when Yu Sheng told it that the child swallowed by Wolf Granny had been safely returned to reality, the empty hood of the cloak had tilted ever so slightly, as if nodding.

Was that faint motion a trace of humanity?

“Do you have more detailed information about them?” Yu Sheng asked suddenly, pointing to the list of names in the file.

“Yes,” Bai Li Qing replied promptly. “I’ll have it sent over right away.”

She picked up the phone and issued a brief instruction. Then they settled into another short wait.

While waiting, Yu Sheng glanced toward the large observation window. The lab on the other side was still bustling. The technicians had successfully reconstructed the ID card and confirmed its origins, but there was still more to analyze—chemical changes in the material, stains on the surface, microscopic traces of soil. Any of these tiny clues could become tools in humanity’s ongoing struggle against the subsets.

In another section of the observation window, the mysterious metal object from Wutong Road No. 66 was undergoing yet another round of scans. Compared to the progress on the ID card, the analysis of the metal object seemed to be hitting roadblocks. So far, the technicians hadn’t reported any significant findings.

But Yu Sheng’s attention wasn’t on the metal anymore. His mind was fully focused on the Fairy Tale subset.

About ten minutes later, the requested files arrived.

It was a slim stack of freshly printed personnel records. The pages contained basic information about the twelve deep divers—names, ages, photographs, service histories, and more.

Yu Sheng flipped through the pages one by one, matching the names to the operational record and studying each black-and-white portrait.

The group was diverse, with men and women of various ages. Some looked like seasoned veterans in their forties or fifties, while others appeared to be no older than Yu Sheng himself. ℞ᴀΝỗ𐌱Еȿ

At the end of the stack was a group photograph. The twelve divers stood in front of a building, clad in bulky protective gear that had a distinctly “retro sci-fi” aesthetic. They stood at attention, their helmets held by their sides. There were no smiles, no casual poses—just a solemn, disciplined team ready for their mission.

“This was taken before their deployment,” Bai Li Qing explained. “It’s a tradition in the Special Affairs Bureau. Every deep-dive team takes a group photo before their mission.”

Yu Sheng nodded slowly, his eyes lingering on the photo. After a long moment, he suddenly spoke. “Can I take this with me? Just the photo. I won’t take anything else.”

“What for?” Bai Li Qing asked curiously.@@novelbin@@

“To show it to the ‘Hunter,’” Yu Sheng said. “If I get the chance.”

Bai Li Qing was silent for a moment, weighing the decision.

“Technically, none of these records can leave this room—not even a single page,” she said finally.

Yu Sheng sighed. “Fair enough…”

“But I have discretion over the rules,” she added, sliding the photo across the table toward him. “Take it. Just don’t share it, and when this is over, destroy it at the right time.”

Yu Sheng blinked in surprise. “…Really?”

Bai Li Qing’s expression remained calm. “Any objections?”

Shaking his head, Yu Sheng carefully folded the photo and slipped it into his pocket. His tone was half-amused as he muttered, “I didn’t think you had a sense of humor.”

“I’m not a statue.”

“I never said that…”

“I simply prefer to be serious,” Bai Li Qing replied, her tone unchanging. Then, without missing a beat, she shifted the conversation. “What’s your plan? How do you intend to deal with the Fairy Tale? Beyond these reports, what else do you need from us? The Bureau will help however we can.”

Yu Sheng hesitated, feeling a bit awkward. “Honestly, you’ve already done so much…”

“The Fairy Tale is a loose end for the Special Affairs Bureau,” Bai Li Qing interrupted, her voice firm. “And you’re the only adult we’ve encountered who can enter its subsets without falling victim to its influence. You’ve already succeeded in rescuing a child from the Black Forest. We have every reason to support you further.”

Her steady gaze was calm but resolute. After a moment, Yu Sheng sighed and nodded.

“I’m trying to find the storyteller behind the Black Forest,” he said. “From what I’ve observed, each subset of the Fairy Tale is controlled by a ‘story source.’ These sources drive the subsets. I suspect the source is the same thing the original deep-dive team encountered. But my problem is that while I can enter the Black Forest, I can’t find a way to the ‘backstage.’ That’s where the divers likely ended up.”

He paused, meeting Bai Li Qing’s gaze. “I think they landed directly backstage.”

Bai Li Qing’s eyes widened slightly as she understood. “So if the Hunter really is one of the divers…”

“Then they might know how to get to the backstage,” Yu Sheng finished. “That team may have already broken through the deeper layers of the Fairy Tale. But when they did, they lost all contact with reality.”

“But the Hunter can’t communicate. They’ve lost their humanity.”

“That’s why I need this,” Yu Sheng said, patting his pocket. “This photo might be the key.”

“To use a group photo to restore the humanity of a spirit-turned-entity?” Bai Li Qing’s expression was skeptical. “Do you really think something so… theatrical could work?”

“If it doesn’t, I’ll figure out something else,” Yu Sheng replied with a shrug and a grin. “But it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?”