Dimensional Hotel-Chapter 620: Seeking Without a Trace

Not long after Li Lin contacted the Special Service Bureau, several black luxury cars arrived at the nearby intersection, clearly having taken the "shortcut" from the closest point.

As the car doors opened, the first figure to emerge was Song Cheng, captain of the second squad, and from the second car came a figure that surprised Yu Sheng a bit: a white dress suit, white ponytail, cool and composed, struggling to maintain an expression despite being sleep-deprived—Baili Qing.

She actually came in person.

Seeing the director come over personally, Li Lin became extremely nervous, while Zheng Zhi beside him appeared quite calm—like an intern who had spent a few months on field assignments and didn't recognize his direct superior, still chuckling stupidly as Baili Qing approached, only realizing to be nervous a few seconds late.

However, the director sister obviously didn't care about the tense demeanor of the two rookie agents; she simply nodded to Li Lin and Zheng Zhi, her gaze lingered on the latter for two to three seconds before turning to Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng spoke first, "You actually came in person, huh."

"...There's an anomalous Artificial Saintess active in the city; it's hard for me to continue sitting in the office," Baili Qing said quietly, the cold wind in the alley ruffling her hair, seeming to twitch slightly at the corner of her eyes, "So, what exactly happened?"

Yu Sheng immediately explained the current situation to her, including Zheng Zhi's encounter, as well as what he saw as "memory illusions" in the dark alley.

"We initially suspect that the Artificial Saintess broke free from the control of the Hidden Monastery, but it's unclear how exactly the loss of control happened; it could be a malfunction, a third-party intervention—or perhaps it's simply a trap," Yu Sheng said seriously, "The thing is, Luna has never seen such a situation either, which makes it difficult."

Baili Qing slightly frowned, and in the next moment, Yu Sheng saw a pair of illusory eyes float up into the air behind her—Baili Xue's eyes quickly rose to the sky, the invisible gaze began scanning the entire city, seemingly tracking clues.

"Hu Li and Luna both already scanned once using their methods before you came, but neither Divine Sense nor radar found any traces," Yu Sheng hurriedly said when he saw this, "The Artificial Saintess has the ability to teleport through space and does so quickly, at this point, it's possible she's already left the city."

Baili Qing said nothing, merely shifting her gaze back to Zheng Zhi.

"Did she give you something before leaving?"

"Oh, oh right, she gave me this," Zheng Zhi suddenly realized, quickly nodding while pulling out a pile of Game Coins, "It seems she used this as money..."

Baili Qing silently took a Game Coin from Zheng Zhi, examining it under the sunlight.

A gleam appeared in her eyes, subtle to others, and the next second, Yu Sheng noticed the coin's surface suddenly seemed somewhat illusory, as though... it was being "decomposed" by some force.

Baili Qing stood still, using her power to retrospect the "information" related to the coin, while Erin, nestled in Hu Li's arms, couldn't hold back anymore and whispered to Yu Sheng, "Hey, hey, Yu Sheng, why do I feel like she's a bit metal fatigued today?"

Even Yu Sheng, at times, couldn't follow this little thing's train of thought, not understanding, "What metal fatigue?"

Erin said earnestly, "Isn't she the Ironclad Expression? But today she's so drowsy her double eyelids are showing, isn't that metal fatigue?"

Yu Sheng was amazed by this little thing's logic—feeling that his years of writing might have been in vain.

The next moment, he heard Baili Qing, in a state of activating her ability, squeeze out a few words from between her teeth, "I'm not Ironclad Expression..."

Erin was startled, "Wow—"

Baili Qing exhaled, the light in her eyes gradually fading, first turning her head to look at the little puppet calmly, then handing the Game Coin to Song Cheng beside her.

"This thing comes from the mall next to Sun City Square that's temporarily closed for remodeling. The target briefly stayed there, but specific details are hard to retrospect... too few effective information connection points. Send someone to check it out first."

"Yes, Director!"

"Also, send more people, focusing on searching the old alleys and empty houses along the line from the Old City to the East District... I suspect the target's activities have some 'tendency', she likely stays at similar locations. Additionally, inform the Information Security Department to monitor all possible eyewitness reports related to the 'Artificial Saintess' online; if the target is cognitively confused, she might unwittingly contact ordinary people and similar eyewitness reports will eventually surface."

Song Cheng immediately accepted the task and began arranging the director's orders, and at the same time, Baili Xue's illusory eyes gradually descended from the air, stopping behind Baili Qing.

The eyes visible only to Yu Sheng and Baili Qing blinked several times, mumbling, "The wind up there is so strong..."

"Any findings?" Baili Qing asked softly.

"Just found some shadow 'trails' starting to dissipate, but they can't be tracked anymore," Baili Xue responded, "Overall, she seems to still be avoiding people... maybe she's already realized she's not quite like the 'normal people'? Just a guess... after all, I don't know what it feels like to be interfered with by the 'cognitive mask'. Ugh, those bastards from the Hidden Monastery..."

Yu Sheng looked up, seeing Luna standing quietly beside, fully cloaked with only her eyes exposed to the wind, noticing the gaze upon her, she slightly turned her head, a light voice coming from beneath her mask, "She might be very scared—waking up, is the biggest nightmare."

"... It's okay, the Special Service Bureau is on it, they'll find her for sure."

"Mm, okay."

...

All day long, the Special Service Bureau was searching the city for the Artificial Saintess who might have already lost control, but the search was almost fruitless.

The target seemed to have vanished from this vast city, and apart from finding some signs of destruction in an old mall that was closed for business, the agents found nothing.

However, considering that the target was a special unit capable of space teleportation, leaving no biological traces or scent, able to move swiftly and stealthily, this outcome seemed predictable.

Unless the target appeared voluntarily again, relying solely on "searching," it seemed almost impossible to find her in this enormous Boundary City.

The night deepened.

The faint sound of the wind howling came from outside, and the weather forecast predicted a significant temperature drop within 24 hours.

Yu Sheng sat on the sofa, absent-mindedly combed the fur on Hu Li's tail, while Erin sat cross-legged on the coffee table, pressing the remote button with pa-da pa-da sounds. Luna was in standby mode at the staircase, as for Hu Li—she sat cross-legged on the floor with her upper body leaning on the sofa, making a soft snoring sound.

After a while, Erin suddenly threw the remote onto the coffee table—almost simultaneously, Yu Sheng tossed the comb onto the sofa, and both said in unison, "Let's go out and search too!"

The drowsy fox was startled awake instantly (it might also be because her tail got pulled and hurt), and she jumped onto the sofa, looking around like she was facing a great enemy.

Another Erin crawled out from underneath a nearby table, glanced at Hu Li, "… Did you have a hungry dream?"

Hu Li, still in a daze, said, "No, I just suddenly heard a bang next to me..."

"Oh, that was the sound of me throwing the remote," Erin on the coffee table stood up, "Yu Sheng and I both feel we should just go out and look for ourselves—waiting for the Special Service Bureau feels unreliable, who knows how long it'll take for them to get any news."

"Find...? Oh, I got it, find that Artificial Saintess, right," Hu Li finally came fully awake, but after frowning and thinking, she tilted her head in confusion, "But where should we even start looking, there's not a single clue."

Listening to this, Yu Sheng started to suck on his teeth, "True enough, we can't just run around like headless chickens—even considering just the old city and East District, the area is overwhelmingly large, we need a starting point."

One Erin scrambled to the back of the sofa and sat cross-legged there, Omen Wandering Star circled above her head, after a moment, the star suddenly stopped mid-air, the little puppet's eyes lit up, "Hey, let's bring the 'big nephew' out..."

Yu Sheng had thought this little creature had a good idea based on her quick thinking, never expecting that after much pondering this was all she came up with, his look became a bit peculiar, "... Does this count as a plan?"

The little puppet confidently said, "Why wouldn't it count? Not using the big nephew's Spiritual Vision to open the map is such a waste, in a game it'd be an ultra-rare account with doubled hidden drop rates, and besides, hasn't that Artificial Saintess appeared right in front of him twice already, I suspect there's some destiny between them..."

Well, although Yu Sheng initially complained about Erin's idea, he actually found it reasonable, and was quickly convinced.

Not to mention, bringing the big nephew along really increases the chance of running into uncanny stuff, even if they can't find the Artificial Saintess, stumbling upon something else would still be a worthwhile wild hunt.

Thinking this, Yu Sheng pulled out his phone from his pocket, but hesitated just before dialing, "It's so late, he might be asleep."

Erin's eyes suddenly widened, "… You weren't this polite when calling that Ironclad Expression! You were messaging him at midnight when he was already metal-fatigued!"

Yu Sheng thought the same, and still dialed Zheng Zhi's number.

The call barely rang once before being swiftly answered on the other end.

It seemed that the daily schedule of young humans was different from hibernating giant dragons.

Yu Sheng picked up the phone and, without waiting for a response, said directly, "We've decided to go out and search..."

Before he could finish, Zheng Zhi bluntly replied, "Okay, I'm changing clothes now."

Yu Sheng hung up the phone and looked up at Hu Li and the little puppet.

Erin crossed her arms and nodded, "I must say, this map-opening artifact is quite proactive..."