Dimensional Hotel

Chapter 116: The Battle with Them

(.)

The invaders from another realm were known as the Dark Angels.

Long ago, there were those who, after receiving the “guidance” of these Dark Angels, completely abandoned their humanity. Driven by their fanatical beliefs, these cultists followed the Angels without question, losing all capacity for rational thought.

The Angels themselves defied common logic. Their forms and abilities appeared strange, constantly shifting, and they brought corruption wherever they went. No technology could effectively fight them, and even studying them posed a dangerous risk of falling under their influence. Yet, without understanding them, humanity would have no hope of defeating these invaders.

Yu Sheng tried to form an image in his mind of the Dark Angels and their devoted followers. He imagined what their true shapes might be and wondered about their nature.

Next to him, Song Cheng stood quietly, allowing Yu Sheng to think in peace. Finally, after a long silence, Yu Sheng looked up and spoke. “So, from what you’re saying, no one has managed to kill a single Dark Angel so far?”

Song Cheng sighed and spread his hands in a helpless gesture. Standing beside him, Xu Jiali nodded, his voice low and grim. “We’ve tried everything, and every faction out there has tried too. But the Dark Angels… they’re just so odd. It’s almost like they aren’t entirely here, even when we see them. Whenever we aim an attack at one, something always goes wrong. Even on the rare occasion that we do land a hit, it doesn’t do much damage. Some of them don’t even have solid forms. Tell me—how do you kill a shadow or a beam of light?”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The towering man, nearly two meters tall, clicked his tongue in frustration. Then he continued, “The closest we ever got was about ten years ago, during the Angel Fall Operation near the Alglade Region border.”

“We spent ages preparing and, by some miracle, we managed to detect a signal from an Angel called the ‘Goddess of Beauty’ before she arrived. We assembled an entire army, every soldier injected with a rational blocker and equipped with heavy protective gear. We stationed them on the plains and rained bombardments down on the area where the Angel was supposed to appear. We even deployed a gravitational bomb, hoping to disrupt the bizarre ‘shift’ effect that always occurs around Angels.”

“From the surveillance footage, it looked like the gravitational bomb worked. Our firepower actually made contact with the ‘Goddess of Beauty’ and her throne. It was the first time we collected data on the Angels’ physical strength. In the beginning, she endured all our attacks. But after a while, her form started to crack and fade… and then she vanished.”

“Once she took enough damage, she disappeared right off the plains. The traps and restraints we’d set up didn’t affect her at all. Then, a few years later, she showed up again, good as new.”

Yu Sheng listened in stunned silence. Xu Jiali’s account went far beyond what the Special Affairs Bureau usually handled—it was an all-out war, with an entire civilization called Alglade trying to fight off a single Angel. Even with overwhelming firepower, the best humanity could do was force the Angel to withdraw.

“That’s the limit of what humanity can do against a Dark Angel,” Song Cheng said after a moment. “We can injure them, maybe make them leave. But considering we can rarely predict exactly where they’ll appear, even a temporary banishment is mostly luck.” He paused and sighed. “And according to our records, despite all those precautions, about a thousand soldiers were affected during the Angel Fall Operation. Hundreds of them turned into devoted worshippers of the ‘Goddess of Beauty’ and had to receive psychological treatment for the rest of their lives.”

Irene, who had been listening intently, couldn’t hold back any longer. “It sounds like there’s no chance at all to win.”

“No,” Xu Jiali said at once, shaking his head. “The Angel Fall Operation didn’t end the way we wanted, but it gave us hope. It proved that we can hurt them. They might not bleed, but they aren’t the ‘gods’ their followers believe them to be. Human firepower can wound them, can drive them away. One day, we’ll develop the technology to destroy them. Actually, we might already have that firepower. Now we just need to figure out how they enter our world, so we can predict when they’ll show up and trap them. Then we’ll defeat them.”

Irene’s eyes widened at Xu Jiali’s firm declaration. Eventually, she managed to say, “You humans… your optimism and resilience really are remarkable.”

Song Cheng spoke up. “The good news is, Dark Angels don’t come into our world that often. They don’t seem eager to attack or invade heavily populated places. Most of the time, they appear randomly in remote areas, so the damage is contained.”

“On the other hand,” he continued, “when they enter the Otherworld, it’s another story. If an Angel appears in the Otherworld, the danger level goes way up. Safe areas can suddenly become deadly traps. Sometimes, the Angels alter the fundamental rules of the Otherworld. There have even been times when Angels caused Otherworld creatures to briefly cross over into our reality. And for the Special Affairs Bureau, that’s the worst kind of disaster.”

As he spoke, Yu Sheng’s gaze drifted toward the documents on the table.

Then, as if coming out of deep thought, he said, “Let’s talk about what happened in Boundary City. Those two Angel cultists in the museum—what were they trying to do?”

“Summon their ‘master’ into this world,” Song Cheng answered gravely.

Irene’s eyes went round with shock. “They’re completely insane!”

“Well, obviously,” Xu Jiali said, shaking his head. “Any sane person wouldn’t become an Angel cultist in the first place. They’re obsessed with summoning rituals—‘sacrifices’ performed in the Otherworld. Dark Angels are more likely to notice them there, so the cultists believe that corrupting the Otherworld with certain rituals will draw in their ‘master.’”

“Does that ever work?” Yu Sheng asked, genuinely curious.

“Nine times out of ten, it fails. All it does is create more victims,” Song Cheng replied, waving a hand as though dismissing the whole idea. “The Dark Angels don’t usually respond to the cultists’ calls. But there’s always a tiny risk. Sometimes, those twisted ceremonies do catch an Angel’s attention. History has records of such successful ‘summonings’—it’s not just once or twice.”

“That’s why it’s crucial to destroy any Angel cultists the moment they show up,” Song Cheng continued. “We may not be able to kill an Angel, but if we take care of the cultists, it’s much less likely that an Angel will appear. It also helps stop the spread of the Angels’ influence.”

He paused for a moment, then added, “Tonight, our teams will enter the museum to deal with the sacrificial site. We’ll confirm the identities of any victims and thoroughly search the museum, including the theater outside, to make sure the cultists haven’t left any more threats behind.”

“They broke into the Otherworld without raising any alarms from the node monitoring system,” Yu Sheng reminded him. “Have you found out how they managed that?”

“We’re still investigating,” Song Cheng admitted, shaking his head. “The node network was working perfectly. Logically, there’s no way the cultists could’ve bypassed our Director’s ‘eyes’ and done this in Boundary City. We suspect they discovered another ‘entrance,’ something not logged in our system. A hidden opening in the museum, perhaps.”

Yu Sheng looked surprised. “Another entrance?”

“It’s unlikely,” Song Cheng said, “but not impossible. The Otherworld has its own set of rules that overlap with our reality. In theory, as long as those rules align, any location could become a gateway to the Otherworld. Usually, we keep an eye on any potential sites here in Boundary City, but like I mentioned, nothing is ever foolproof.”

Yu Sheng rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Unexpected events… no matter how prepared you are, there’s always something.”

Li Lin, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up. He fixed his gaze on Yu Sheng and said, “To us, you’re exactly one of those ‘unexpected events.’”

Yu Sheng straightened immediately, as though he had never made any casual remarks in the first place.

“Anyway,” Song Cheng said, clearing his throat as if he hadn’t noticed the tension, “we wanted to tell you all this because you’ve had direct contact with a Dark Angel. That makes it more likely you’ll run into one again, so having this knowledge might help you. If you need the Bureau’s help with anything—Spirit Realm Detective cases, trouble with the Otherworld, or anything else—just get in touch. The Bureau values our ‘partners.’”

Yu Sheng nodded, then seemed to remember something just as Song Cheng was about to stand. “Actually,” he said, looking somewhat awkward, “there is one thing I could use some help with. The delivery drivers can’t seem to bring packages to Wutong Road No. 66. Can you do anything about that?”

Song Cheng blinked in confusion. “…Huh?”