He opened the supermarket door and walked inside.
It was such a simple and normal procedure, yet at this moment, Yu Sheng felt it unbelievable. The multiple door openings had made such a strong impact that he now even suffered from a kind of side effect from opening doors, and even looking at the shelves and the owner in front of him, some absurd ideas would come to mind—
Could it be that this small supermarket identical to the one in his memory was actually some bizarre thing mimicking an alternate dimension lair? The shelves looked normal, but perhaps all the bottles and jars on them contained eyeballs preserved in formalin, and the owner across might suddenly pull a chainsaw sword from his pocket after greeting him, and charge forward to chop him under the cashier counter…
Fortunately, these absurd thoughts were just fleeting in his mind, and Yu Sheng quickly calmed down. He first confirmed that he had indeed entered a normal supermarket and roughly understood under what conditions he could "open doors normally and correctly." Then he nodded at the young owner opposite him: "I'm here to buy some stuff—do you have boxes of instant noodles and compressed biscuits?"
"There are instant noodles, unopened boxes are all stacked under the staircase to the second floor, take whatever type you want," the young owner found Yu Sheng's dazed entrance a bit odd, but quickly dismissed it and pointed his hand towards a nearby iron ladder, "We don't have boxes of compressed biscuits anymore, they're on the shelves to the left, in the middle row, see there, that's all we have. Not many people buy those, and I stock them sparingly."
"Okay, pack me all those biscuits, and I'll move the boxes of noodles... also get two packs of large sausages."
"Alright."
The young owner responded, then turned to grab a large shopping bag and began filling it from the shelves, casually asking in the process, "Buying all this instant noodles and compressed biscuits all of a sudden? It's not good to eat only these, my wife nags me about this every day."
"Just stocking up at home," Yu Sheng casually replied.
The supermarket owner didn't say anything more, filled a big bag according to Yu Sheng's request and moved towards the cash register. Just then, the supermarket glass door was pushed open again—the two doors were opened together, one of the door hinges making a grating squeaky noise.
The owner, who was busy counting the compressed biscuits at the cash register, quickly looked up: "Hey, that door is broken, there's a sign on it."
"Uh, I didn't notice," said a young man with black hair and dressed in casual clothes who had just pushed the door, looking somewhat embarrassed as he turned back to look at the half of the glass door that couldn't automatically swing back, then turned his face, "Do you have boxes of instant noodles?"
Yu Sheng was carrying a box of instant noodles walking between two rows of shelves when he heard the noise from the cash register and glanced up, but quickly looked away.
"Oh, that type is fine," the young man with short black hair pointed to the box of instant noodles Yu Sheng was holding, "I'll also take a box."
The supermarket owner didn't look up: "Just in front, under the staircase on your right hand side, get it yourself, I'll check out first."
Yu Sheng passed by the young man, paid at the cash register, then holding a large shopping bag in one hand and carrying the box of noodles on his shoulder, he walked into the gradually darkening night outside the supermarket.
Li Lin, at the location described by the supermarket owner under the stairs, found the instant noodles he wanted to buy and was about to bend down to pick them up when he felt his pocket vibrate. Pulling out his cellphone, he found a message from the team leader.
He turned to look towards the cashier, bowed his head to read the cellphone screen, and absentmindedly replied: "I've just settled in and am out buying some stuff."
The phone buzzed twice, a new message popped up from the screen: "Did you notice any abnormalities?"
Li Lin typed: "No, I'll go around the streets tomorrow and interact with the locals here."
After sending the message, the young Special Service Bureau Officer hesitated for a moment before composing another message: "When will the 'deep diver' from headquarters arrive? Who is being dispatched?"
A bit later, the phone vibrated again: "Xu Jiali, arrives tomorrow."
Li Lin stared at the message on the screen, was about to ask something, but then saw the leader had sent another new message: "He just returned from Amein-IX. There was a situation there, his mission ended earlier, and he's currently reporting and undergoing a full checkup at headquarters, will be dispatched to your area tomorrow."
After reading the message on the screen, Li Lin's mouth twitched, quickly typing: "Just finished fieldwork and you're sending him here to be on duty? Doesn't he get half a day off?"
"Xu Jiali requested it himself. The situation he encountered there was rather unusual, he's experiencing some deep dive side effects now, and needs to wear a stabilizer constantly these days, so he simply rescheduled his post-mission leave for next week. There shouldn't be any situations on your side in the short term, so he's just resting at your place. We'll discuss details when you meet tomorrow."
Li Lin curled his lip, replied "Alright," then stood up holding the box of noodles and approached the cash register.
The supermarket owner behind the cash register lifted his eyes, and while grabbing a barcode scanner, muttered again: "Constantly eating these isn't good, my wife nags me about this all the time…"
Li Lin chuckled: "Then should I not buy them?"
"Total 62.8."
...
Erin heard noises coming from the door—it was opened from the outside, but as she peered around the edge of the picture frame towards the entrance, she didn't see Yu Sheng's figure for a long time.
After a while, she finally saw Yu Sheng absentmindedly stick his head through the door. He first looked around inside for a while before cautiously stepping into the house like a thief, putting down a pile of purchased goods on the ground, and then turning around to close the door.
Erin quietly watched this scene, and only after Yu Sheng had closed the door did she finally speak up, "Yu Sheng, what are you doing? Why are you sneaking around like a thief when coming home?"
Yu Sheng sighed and muttered as he changed his shoes, "Don't even mention it, I now have a severe psychological shadow about 'opening doors.' I can't even step forward without checking three times."
Erin listened and her gaze fell on the pile of goods at the door.
"You bought quite a lot," the doll lady remarked somewhat in surprise, "You should have brought a small cart, like those camping carts, very useful."
Yu Sheng didn't speak for a moment but looked down at the instant noodles, ham, and compressed biscuits piled at the door. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he slapped his forehead, "I should've bought some liquid food! She's been starving too long to eat these directly... Not good, I'll go buy some congee tomorrow morning... Or should I go now?"
Erin silently listened, and just as Yu Sheng was about to open the door and head out again, she suddenly spoke up, "Better tomorrow."
By this time, Yu Sheng had already changed his shoes again, holding the doorknob and turning back, "She's still hungry..."
"Even if you buy it now, do you have a way to immediately deliver it to that fox?" Erin looked straight at Yu Sheng, "And... seriously, I've been wanting to say this, even if you deliver these, it would only temporarily alleviate her condition. The biggest problem there isn't the lack of food, but the entity called 'Hunger.'"
Yu Sheng paused his movements.
After a moment of thought, he changed back into his shoes and walked to the dining table, sitting opposite Erin.
"You're right, the biggest problem is 'Hunger', and although filling the stomach temporarily is good... but let's talk about it tomorrow, there's no rush at this moment. We still need to find a way to steadily enter that valley."
Erin noticed the serious contemplative expression on Yu Sheng's face as he spoke the latter half of his statement and quickly sensed something based on the fragments of information he had shared with her earlier.
"...What exactly happened?" She tried to ask, "You... do you have a way to enter that valley now?"
"Strictly speaking, it's not a way to enter that valley, but..."
Yu Sheng said, and in front of Erin, he reached his hand into the air.
He grabbed a doorknob, and a door abruptly materialized in the air, its form ordinary but its edges trembling and fluttering like a phantom. Immediately after that, under Erin's shocked gaze, Yu Sheng yanked the door open.
The ethereal door suddenly opened, and Yu Sheng saw a Female Elf standing opposite him, resembling a mechanic with an array of mechanical limbs and wheeled lower body, yet wearing a silver white robe dress.
She was standing in front of a large piece of machinery, turning her head in shock towards this side.
The Elf Mechanic's mechanical limbs were still swiftly and precisely adjusting the large device emitting flowing lights on the platform, her eyes wide as if they were about to pop out, staring at Yu Sheng for two seconds before yelling, "So you TM are..."
Yu Sheng slammed the door shut.
"...I actually didn't expect to connect to the same place twice in a row," Yu Sheng said with a mix of surprise and reflection on his face, "Wait, this might be... Let's recreate it and try again..."
He was muttering halfway when Erin across the table couldn't hold back anymore, the doll lady almost seemed like she was about to leap out of a painting to bite someone: "What was that just now!? What was it!? Ah?!"
"As you saw," Yu Sheng exhaled, "It was a door."
"I obviously know it was a door, but the key point is—" Erin took a deep breath, suddenly jumping up from her chair, "What·was·that·exactly?!