"That's right, the Keystone Plane. Do you remember the first question you asked my female colleague after the interrogation started?" Hu Wenjun asked, crossing his legs and sipping his beer.
Pei Yan squinted, thought for a moment, and then suddenly realized, "The first question? Oh, I remember, I asked if the Spiritual Qi in this world had revived. Is that true?"
Hu Wenjun shook his head, put the beer can on the table, sat up straight, and pushed his chair forward. "Strictly speaking, the existence of our organization is to prevent the so-called revival of Spiritual Qi from happening."
"Why?" Pei Yan asked, puzzled.
Hu Wenjun didn't answer directly. Instead, he picked up a pen from the table, drew a big circle on the paper, wrote "Keystone Plane" inside it, looked at Pei Yan, and said, "This is the world we live in."
Then he drew two long strips resembling passages on the left and right sides of the circle, each ending in another circle: "These represent two other planes of existence. You can simply understand them as the Magic World and the Daoist World." He wrote the corresponding words in the circles and then drew two more strips above and below with circles: "These are the Spirit Monster World and the Hell Realm."
After he finished writing, Hu Wenjun tossed the pen back onto the table, sat back in his chair, picked up his beer again, and left Pei Yan staring blankly at the flamboyantly marked paper.
After a long time, Pei Yan stood there holding the paper, alternately looking at it and back at Hu Wenjun, finally asking, "Are you saying that the worlds you marked on this paper actually exist?"
"Of course, but in reality, the planes aren't like this. I drew them this way for your understanding. In truth, many parts of the planes overlap. Also, how do you think myths and supernatural events came about worldwide?"
Pei Yan gaped, incredulous, and asked, "Are you saying those myths are real people?"
"I never said that. Most mythological stories indeed come from the imagination of our ancestors, but some imaginations aren't entirely baseless. They're effects caused by beings from different planes infiltrating into our world."
"Wait, wait! This doesn't make sense. If they can infiltrate here, why haven't we known about their existence after all these years? Don't tell me this organization of yours has been around for thousands of years. And why don't they invade? Has their civilization developed to a point of nobility where they have no desire to invade and just let our world be?" Pei Yan continued to question, struggling to accept what Hu Wenjun said.
"As far as I know, they aren't much different from us in terms of human greed. The reason they haven't invaded on a large scale is due to various complex historical reasons too lengthy to explain quickly. But the main reason is the uniqueness of our world. In a way, these four plane worlds only exist because of ours."
"Exist because of?"
"Yes, exist because of. In their world, they have their own rules. As individuals, through cultivation or merely the inheritance of their bloodlines, they possess powers unimaginable to humans in our world, even the ability to cross planes, something our current technology cannot achieve. But nature is fair. The immense power they wield comes with enormous risks."
"The abundant energy makes the spaces in which they live extremely unstable. What maintains the balance of such unstable spatial worlds is our seemingly ordinary and boring world. Our stable plane serves as the center point for these four worlds, preventing them from collapsing and being destroyed."
At this point, Hu Wenjun finished the last mouthful of beer from the can, fiddled with the empty can, glanced at Pei Yan, who was trying to understand, and continued, "In ancient times, people from these planes did not lack the will to invade. When human civilization was still in its infancy, powerful beings from these different worlds reached into our world, using their might and miracles to expand their influence, hoping to control and impact the development of our civilization. From today's perspective, they indeed achieved this, but things did not unfold as they hoped."
"The infiltration of these strong minds caused our world to suffer from energy leakage, leading to intense chain reactions in the other four planes and even signs of collapse, resulting in catastrophic consequences for their worlds. In panic, they had to retreat to their respective planes and begin repairing the space rifts caused by their invasion. This repair took thousands of years. During this time, the higher authorities of each plane reached a consensus, which was to declare our world as a no-entry zone. The intricacies of this are beyond today's discussion, and you don't need to know all the details now."
"According to what you said, we are already a no-entry zone. So what is your department's role? Does the government know about this?" With his mind muddled, Pei Yan asked after organizing his thoughts for a long time.
"Every society has individuals who challenge the rules, just like how in our world, despite rules saying you should stop at a red light, some still choose to jaywalk. Even after that failed invasion, efforts were made to repair space rifts, leaving behind aftereffects, such as intermittent, random appearance of plane passages. Some people accidentally stumble into our world, while others come intentionally with various motives. Our job is to send these 'illegal immigrants' back to their worlds."
At this point, Hu Wenjun stood up, stretched, and moved his body, as sitting in that small chair was uncomfortable for a tall guy like him. After crushing the empty beer can, he continued, "As for your question about whether the government knows, of course, but it's limited to certain high-level individuals. Actually, there have been many organizations like ours throughout history. Most of the time, otherworldly people capture otherworldly people. However, this led to many unexpected incidents and unstable factors. So when the country restored peace and order, and the number of individuals like us mysteriously surged, it led to interactions and negotiations between higher authorities from the other worlds and the nation, ultimately giving rise to our department."
"Did you gain your superpowers from those beings? Can you cultivate immortality? Practice magic? And what about me? Is my ability from them too?" Pei Yan asked like a barrage, sitting back in the chair.
Hearing these questions, Hu Wenjun couldn't help but laugh, clapping his hands helplessly as he replied, "Although we're not exactly normal people, we're definitely not cultivators. Our powers originate from other planes but aren't quite as you imagine. We can discuss the specifics if we get the chance in the future."
"That leaves just one last question. How do you plan to deal with me?" Pei Yan clasped his hands together on the table, staring at Hu Wenjun anxiously.