Chapter 124: The Taste of Yu Sheng
Yu Sheng’s consciousness drifted in an endless, boundless darkness. That familiar void and oppressive sensation silently seeped at the edges of his awareness. His thoughts moved very, very slowly. In this lonely yet familiar “afterlife,” he even began to enjoy the silence.
How to put it… things had unfolded with little suspense.
An Evil Wolf larger than a house pounced down, and Yu Sheng perished instantly, not lasting any longer than the Squirrel.
Of course, the main reason things ended so quickly was because Yu Sheng didn’t dodge. Not only did he not dodge, he had actively offered himself up—his blood, his flesh, his spirit, and his… all-consuming joy and curiosity.
He lay quietly in this post-death darkness.
He flowed silently within the soul and flesh of the Evil Wolf.
He seeped quietly into the Black Forest, searching within it for the tendrils of the Fairy Tale.
Yu Sheng controlled his thoughts, keeping himself from being influenced by the bizarre notions and fragments of memory that drifted in the darkness.
To him, each death was a form of “practice.” From his initial, muddled resurrections, to recognizing the existence of this darkness, to eventually sensing his return to the living world—and now, he could not only think clearly in the dark but also attempt to control this purest state of mind, unburdened by flesh.
He actively honed this mental strength, trying to count time in the dark, even attempting to perceive what was happening “outside.”
He knew his body remained asleep in the real world. Irene and Miss Foxy were by his side. This time, only his soul had died—much like when he had previously been devoured by Entity-Hunger.
But this time was distinctly different.
This time, Yu Sheng could vaguely sense that the shattered fragments of his soul were dissolving, becoming part of another being—like a seed sprouting, its shoots becoming tendrils that twisted and grew. He sensed one such tendril and tried to extend his will through the darkness to gently… “pluck” it.
He saw “himself” running through the Forest, blind and furious, cloaked in the endless night, casting a colossal shadow.
He could even faintly feel his own fur, the night wind brushing his ears in the Black Forest, the howls of Wolves around him. The unseen Wolf Pack ran with him, endlessly within the veil of night.
He could feel these Wolves fed on fear—that was the most primitive and essential function of the Fairy Tale from its inception: to terrify, to intimidate, to present many dreadful and malevolent figures to scare children into fearing the Wilderness and the unknown, so they’d stay obediently at home.
That fear had festered in the Black Forest, transforming into these Wolves that fed on it.
But now they were starving.
Because in the recent hunt, they had gained no nourishment—they devoured the flesh and blood of a strange Intruder, only to taste emptiness devoid of fear, along with emotions the Wolves could not comprehend: joy and curiosity.
The Giant Evil Wolf crossed a clearing in the woods, its dazed mind unable to understand what had happened. Eating wasn’t supposed to be like this. Anything swallowed should have brought fear. But this time, the thing it ate felt no fear—if anything, that “food” seemed more like a euphoric predator.
Had it consumed that Human, or had the Human invaded its body, devouring it from the inside out?
The Wolf didn’t understand. The Wolf only followed instinct, running through the Forest, patrolling places where Little Red Riding Hood might appear, searching for hiding spots, and destroying them.
“Are you just going to keep running like this?”
A voice suddenly emerged—Yu Sheng whispered beside the Wolf, his words a low whimper echoing in its ears.
The Giant Wolf halted abruptly, lifting its dazed head and looking around the Black Forest, which seemed no different than it remembered.
It couldn’t yet comprehend where the voice had come from, nor could it link it to the “meal” it had just consumed.
But it could feel… something had “appeared.”
That thing felt vaguely familiar—like prey, yet also like a hunter.
The surrounding howls of the Wolves gradually quieted. The invisible pack began to patrol restlessly through the Forest, instinctively searching for that equally invisible Intruder.
Grass and trees rustled. Wind swept over the treetops. A leaf spiraled down before the Giant Wolf, and between its fluttering turns, a curious eye stared at it.
“You… tasty?”
The leaves dissolved into nothingness, and the Giant Wolf sensed that the strange “thing” had also vanished from its awareness. Lowering its head, it let out a confused, guttural growl. Around it, the Wolf Pack whimpered uneasily, their cries gradually rising into a chorus of howls that echoed throughout the shadowed expanse of the Black Forest.
From a distant thicket, a pair of anxious eyes watched intently, accompanied by a faint mutter: “Now it’s getting weird… it’s getting weird…”
…
Yu Sheng plummeted through darkness, and then came that familiar sensation of crossing some unseen “threshold.” As he neared the end of his fall, his awareness of his body returned, followed by the soft impact of bedding beneath him. He suddenly opened his eyes.
Two crimson-eyed Irenes stared back, their foreheads almost touching, faces mere inches from his.
Yu Sheng, freshly resurrected, nearly passed out again from shock at the sight of the little dolls. “Holy crap! You nearly scared me to death!”
Yet the Irenes responded even louder. The moment Yu Sheng’s eyes flew open, the twin Dolls yelped in unison and jumped back—only to simultaneously tumble off the bed with two resounding thuds.
The sound alone was enough to make one wince.
“You startled me!”
“You’re one to talk! Who the hell leans in that close to stare at someone like that? Good thing I opened my eyes before sitting up, or I’d have two bumps on my head by now!” Yu Sheng grumbled at the Irenes, who were clambering back onto the bed. Then he noticed the Fox Girl standing obediently at the bedside, greeting him with a gentle smile.
“See? Miss Foxy knows how to behave. Quiet, respectful, and smiling politely…”
Irene had just climbed back up when she put her hands on her hips and retorted, “She’s only smiling because she’s guilty!”
“…Huh?”
“She ate all the meat filling! No Steamed Buns for dinner now!”
Yu Sheng blinked in confusion and turned to the Demon Fox Maiden. Her warm smile stiffened noticeably. She lowered her head, ears and tail drooping together.
“I just wanted to taste if it was salty enough…”
“And then one bite was salty so you drank water, and that made it bland again, so you had another bite, huh? A whole bowl, Miss Foxy! You ate it all!” Irene stood triumphantly at the bed’s edge.
Yu Sheng, bombarded by nonsense the moment he woke up, took a few seconds to collect himself. Then he turned to Irene. “And what were you doing while she was stealing the meat?”
“I was getting her water, of course! Didn’t want her to choke.”
Yu Sheng smacked his forehead.
He must’ve owed karmic debt to these two in his past life.
“Benefactor… I’m sorry…” Miss Foxy edged closer nervously, thinking his silence meant he was angry. “I won’t eat it all next time.”
As she spoke, a fluffy silver-white tail flopped into Yu Sheng’s lap.
“You can pet my tail. Don’t be mad.”
Yu Sheng glanced at it, mouth twitching.
“Okay, that’s very sweet of you… but you don’t need to pull it off and hand it to me. That’s just creepy.”
“Oh.”
“Forget it, I’m not mad. Just freshly ‘revived’ and my brain’s still rebooting. You all stirred up too much noise for me to process.” He sighed and passed the still-warm tail back to Miss Foxy. “I’ll go cook some noodles later. I bet you’re still hungry. Head downstairs and wait for me, I need a minute.”
Foxy responded with a soft “Okay” and moved toward the door. Irene reached the bed’s edge but then spun around with a curious expression.
“By the way, what happened to you back there? Judging by how long you were out… did you really get ‘killed’ again?”
Yu Sheng smiled faintly. “That thing’s fang was thicker than my thigh. What do you think?”
Irene raised an eyebrow. “…You seem oddly cheerful about it.”
Yu Sheng pondered for a moment, as if savoring something. Finally, a peculiar smile crept onto his lips.
“Yeah. It was pretty good. Didn’t get to taste it, but… seems worth looking forward to.”
Irene blinked, then recoiled slightly. “Whoa. Classic you.”
She leapt off the bed and ran off with quick footsteps, shouting as she chased after Miss Foxy:
“Hey! Silly Fox! I think we might get to add something new to the menu soon!”
“Huh? What are we adding?”
“Maybe… Wolf meat!”
Listening to their voices fade into the corridor, Yu Sheng couldn’t help but smile. He let out a long sigh, leaned back against the headboard, and relaxed.
After a moment, he reached out and picked up his phone from the nightstand.
Opening the Border Communication Platform, he found Little Red Riding Hood’s avatar. As a High School Student, she should still be in class at this hour.
Though Yu Sheng still found it odd that a Spirit Realm Detective like her was dutifully attending school, he’d gotten used to it after several encounters.
In Boundary City, strange folks were nothing new.
He quickly typed and sent a message to the girl who ran with the Wolves:
“I entered the Black Forest. Saw the invisible and visible Wolves. Saw the path, the Little House, and that Squirrel. Got time to talk?”