Mi Beibei was a little surprised. She hadn’t expected the distance to be so short.
Yesterday, she had been so overwhelmed with excitement that she hadn’t even noticed how close the two places were.
After getting out of the car, she returned to her former home. She knocked on the door, greeted the special operations officer who answered it, then went inside and opened the dimensional passage.
When she came out of the storage room, she discovered that the house had changed completely.
The sofa in the living room had been replaced with a conference table and chairs, and a huge display screen now hung on the wall.
The kitchen was no longer filled with the cookware and tableware she had used. Instead, it now contained a water dispenser, a coffee machine, and all kinds of cups.
Once again, she marveled at how quickly everything had been transformed.
“Do I need to stay here from now on?” she asked.
“Not for the time being, Comrade Mi. We’ll take turns standing guard here. If anything comes up, we’ll notify you.”
“Alright. Thank you for your hard work. I’ll head back then.”
After retrieving her electric scooter, Mi Beibei rode toward the bureau.
On the way, she stopped at a supermarket and bought rice, flour, eggs, meat, bowls, and chopsticks.
When she returned to the Jiadi Famous Villas neighborhood, she found two large cardboard boxes at her front door.
Inside were all the cookware and tableware she had previously used.
She carried everything into the kitchen and put it away before heading to the Special Events Management Bureau.
When she arrived, Liu Jiajia was sitting in front of a computer processing documents.
Seeing Mi Beibei enter, she said,
“Keep yourself occupied for a little while. I’m almost finished.”
“Okay. Go ahead and finish your work.”
Mi Beibei turned on her computer and began reading information about the bureau.
After a while, Liu Jiajia finished what she was doing.
“Come on, Beibei! Let’s go have a big meal!”
The two of them went to a nearby seafood restaurant that specialized in shrimp.
After ordering several signature dishes, they began eating enthusiastically.
The shrimp glistened with an inviting color, and the tender meat gently quivered in the rich sauce, giving off a mouthwatering aroma.
Picking up a shrimp, Mi Beibei asked curiously,
“Did the bureau already exist before? How come I’ve never heard of it?”
Using the serving chopsticks, Liu Jiajia placed another shrimp into Mi Beibei’s bowl.
She picked one up for herself and began peeling it while explaining,
“Our branch here was only established a couple of days ago, mainly because of the dimensional passage.
“The headquarters is in the capital.
“Our branch has only a handful of people, and they’re often away on assignments.”
After a brief pause, she continued,
“Besides, our bureau is a classified government department.
“Unless someone reaches a certain level of clearance, they wouldn’t even know we exist.”
After hearing the explanation, Mi Beibei nodded gently and didn’t ask any further questions, choosing instead to focus on the delicious food before her.
…
Several days passed.
Mi Beibei had completely organized Villa No. 17.
She also gradually settled into her new work routine.
Every morning after breakfast, she would ride through the morning sunlight to Xingcheng Residential Community, open the dimensional passage, and then return to the bureau.
If there was work to do, she helped Liu Jiajia process it.
When things were quiet, she spent her free time reading the archives on the third floor.
Those records completely broadened her horizons.
She had always believed that the worlds described in myths and legends existed only in stories.
Yet everything recorded in those documents proved otherwise.
The ghosts and gods she had once dismissed as fantasy actually existed.
There were people with unimaginable supernatural abilities.
There were also demons and spirits that had cultivated intelligence after years of training.
They came in countless forms and possessed all kinds of extraordinary powers.
Mi Beibei devoured the documents as though starving for knowledge.
Every page astonished her.
It felt as though she had opened a hidden door into an entirely secret world, and she simply couldn’t stop reading.
…
During this period, Baby the robot had been returned to Mi Beibei.
Baby kept the villa spotless every day.
It even took excellent care of the small yard outside.
Liu Jiajia adored Baby so much that she frequently came over and begged to borrow it.
…
One day, as usual, Mi Beibei went to Xingcheng Residential Community to open the dimensional passage.
Just as she was about to leave, the special operations officer on duty stopped her.
“Comrade Mi, Director Shi instructed us to ask you to wait here when you arrived. He has something he wants to discuss with you.”
Mi Beibei paused briefly before nodding.
“Alright. I understand.”
She walked over to the conference table and sat down to wait.
Soon, Director Shi and Comrade Su entered the room.
Mi Beibei immediately stood up to greet them.
“Director Shi, Political Commissar Su.”
Only after joining the bureau had she learned that Deputy Director Shi was actually the highest-ranking official in the branch office.
Comrade Su, meanwhile, came from the military.
The two always worked together seamlessly.
Director Shi smiled kindly.
“Comrade Xiao Mi, we have something we’d like your assistance with.”
Feeling slightly nervous, Mi Beibei nodded.
“Please tell me, Director Shi. I’ll do my best.”
Director Shi motioned for her to sit before speaking seriously.
“We’ve been studying the dimensional passage for some time now, and we’ve made some progress.
“We’re planning to try enlarging it.”
Mi Beibei raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“It can actually be enlarged?”
Director Shi nodded.
“In theory, yes.
“Our first step is to transform the window into a doorway.
“We’ll need you to maintain the stability of the doorway.”
“No problem.”
The moment she finished speaking, members of the special police unit immediately arrived with cement, bricks, and various construction materials.
Once again, Mi Beibei couldn’t help admiring the team’s incredible efficiency.
In a very short time, they completely demolished the wall beneath the storage room window.
She tried opening the window.
Outside remained the familiar ruined landscape of the apocalypse world.
However, beneath the opening where the wall had been removed, the view of the real world shimmered with faint ripples.
Seeing this, Director Shi nodded and signaled for her to close the window.
After Mi Beibei shut it, the logistics staff quickly removed the window frame and installed a door in its place.
When she opened the new door, things didn’t go smoothly.
The first time, instead of the apocalypse, they saw children laughing and playing in the residential community outside.
Everyone’s hearts immediately tightened.
Fortunately, after several more attempts, the desolate ruins of the apocalypse world finally appeared once again.
Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
…
The next step was to test whether people could actually pass through the doorway into the apocalypse world.
Mi Beibei went first.
She slowly opened the door and cautiously stepped forward.
It worked.
She carefully walked through until her entire body stood on the ground of the apocalypse world.
Her heart pounded violently.
Without even taking time to observe her surroundings, she quickly retreated back into the real world.
Next, a fully armed special police officer stepped through the doorway.
He also successfully entered the apocalypse world.
One after another, several more officers crossed over without incident.
After entering, one of them turned back toward the others and gave a hand signal before quickly moving off to scout the surrounding area.
In the distance, nearby zombies became agitated.
Their hoarse roars echoed across the ruined streets.
…
After a while, the special operations officers began returning.
But when they tried to come back…
Something went wrong.
They couldn’t return.
Even though the door remained open, the moment they reached the doorway, it was as though an invisible barrier blocked their path.
No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t move another step forward.
Director Shi and Political Commissar Su immediately became serious.
Director Shi repeatedly adjusted the instruments in his hands while discussing the situation with the surrounding researchers.
“…Everything appears normal…”
“…No unusual readings…”
Mi Beibei’s heart tightened as well.
After thinking for a moment, she reached one hand through the doorway.
There was no resistance.
She then stepped one foot across while keeping her other foot firmly planted in the real world.
Half of her body extended into the apocalypse world.
Stretching out her hand toward the nearest special operations officer, she said,
“Try grabbing my hand.”
The officer looked at her, then at his captain.
Only after the captain nodded did he grasp Mi Beibei’s hand.
As she pulled him forward, he successfully stepped back into the real world.
It worked.
After that, Mi Beibei personally helped every remaining special operations officer return through the doorway.
While they organized the intelligence they had gathered during their reconnaissance, everyone else immediately resumed their discussion.
Suddenly, someone asked,
“Comrade Mi, when the officers crossed into the apocalypse world, were you touching the door?”
Mi Beibei blinked.
“Uh…”
She thought for a moment.
“When the first person went through, I was holding onto the door.
“For everyone afterward, I let go.”
The researcher asked another question.
“While they were unable to return, were you touching the door at all?”
“No.”
Mi Beibei shook her head.
“I was standing farther back then. I wasn’t touching it.”
“Good.”
He nodded.
“Let’s run another experiment.
“Comrade, please step back into the apocalypse world.”
After one special operations officer crossed over, he continued,
“Comrade Mi, hold onto the door.
“Comrade, try coming back now.”
The officer cautiously stepped forward.
This time, he successfully returned.
Everyone let out a long sigh of relief.
As long as they had confirmed the conditions for returning, they no longer had to worry about personnel becoming trapped in the apocalypse world.
…
“Alright.”
Director Shi finally spoke.
“That’s enough for today.
“We’ll continue tomorrow.
“Comrade Xiao Mi, you should head home as well.”
Mi Beibei agreed.
Only after leaving the apartment building did she realize it had already grown dark outside.
Without noticing, an entire day had passed.
She took out her phone and discovered that Liu Jiajia had called her twice and sent several text messages asking why she hadn’t returned to the bureau and whether she was coming back for dinner.
Mi Beibei called Liu Jiajia back before riding her electric scooter home to Villa No. 17.
The moment she walked through the front door, Baby came forward to greet her.
“Welcome home, Master.”
Mi Beibei gently patted Baby’s round head before walking into the kitchen.
She found that dinner had already been prepared and neatly arranged on the table.
“Thank you, Baby.”