Chapter 133: Deep Within the Black Forest
The moment Yu Sheng stepped into the Black Forest, he didn’t rush ahead. Instead, he stood still, taking a few seconds to cautiously sense the surrounding… “presence.”
No Wolves yet. The Forest was unnaturally calm. From afar came the faint rustles of leaves and the occasional flutter of birds or beasts. The twilight sky still lingered with some glow, and within the Forest’s shadows, there was no malevolence coalescing.
It appeared the Black Forest had yet to react to this sudden “Intruder.”
But what about the child already deep inside? The girl named Xiao Xiao—what surrounded her now? Would the Black Forest present different phases to each “Little Red Riding Hood” that entered? Or was it… partitioned by nature?
Questions flooded Yu Sheng’s mind. Then, he heard light footsteps. A flicker of crimson entered his view—a girl in a deep red cloak.
Several pitch-black Shadow Wolves emerged from the surrounding darkness, circling and sniffing around the crimson-clad girl. Perhaps influenced by the Black Forest, these Shadow Wolves were more agitated than those in the real world. Their forms shimmered and twitched restlessly.
Even Little Red Riding Hood herself seemed to be cloaked in lingering shadows. Her dark red cloak shimmered strangely in the gloom, as if a second body—or another “form”—was overlapping with her own.
Yu Sheng couldn’t help but stare a moment longer. “…Just looking at you, I can tell you’re not in great shape.”
The girl visibly shuddered, whipping her head around as if she’d seen a ghost.
Yu Sheng blinked. “Uh, I know that was sudden, but that reaction’s a bit much…”
“Ah—sorry,” Little Red Riding Hood replied sheepishly, turning her face away. “I’m used to hearing no voices but the Squirrel’s in the Black Forest. Forgot you’d come in too.”
“…Fair enough,” Yu Sheng muttered.
“Wait, you really came in?!” she exclaimed, now scanning the adult before her with disbelief. Her expression twisted into astonishment. “You’re the first other person I’ve ever seen here.”
“Of course. I wasn’t lying,” Yu Sheng shrugged, then called out inwardly, Irene, we’re in—what’s your status? Can you follow?
Irene’s voice echoed quickly in his mind. She seemed well-acquainted now with the Black Forest’s bizarre psychic maze. Better if I stay outside. I need to monitor you three in the real world, and relay to the others. Last time was an emergency. This time, let’s not risk it.
“Alright. That’ll help keep Miss Foxy calm too,” Yu Sheng nodded, but then remembered something. “Speaking of which… can you send her in too?”
…What for?
“Cyber Fox Immortal takes on children’s literature…”
I knew it, Irene groaned, already anticipating this. She sighed. Forget it. I tried last time when I came looking for you—she can’t enter. The place needs special ‘adaptation’. Either you’re like you and Little Red Riding Hood, already linked to the Black Forest… or you’re me, someone who naturally traverses dreams. And even I need your internal ‘Summoning Ritual’ to sync. Others can’t pass through.
She paused, then added, Think about it. If that Silly Fox could come in with me last time, would you have gotten eaten by Wolves? She’d have blasted the entire Black Forest apart before that.
Yu Sheng wasn’t surprised by Irene’s answer.
After learning the basics of the Black Forest and the rules of the Fairy Tale Otherworld, he had expected this. The whole thing had a strict filtration mechanism, possibly a core law of the entire realm.
He and Irene had only managed to enter through loopholes—or brute-force miracles.
Still…
Yu Sheng suspended his link to Irene and thoughtfully reached into the air.
A Phantom Door began to manifest slowly before him. It cracked open slightly, revealing only a formless darkness beyond.
If bugs and brute force could bypass the Black Forest’s filters, then the Fairy Tale’s screening wasn’t perfect. And since he could open a Door inside the Black Forest… that meant there might be a way to forcibly bridge the Forest and reality.
Little Red Riding Hood watched Yu Sheng’s sudden zoning out, his thoughtful air, and his experimental summoning of a Door with increasing bewilderment. Finally, she couldn’t hold back.
“What are you doing?”
“Just doing some prep work to combat Poisoned Sprout Children’s Literature in the future,” Yu Sheng muttered as he waved a hand, dismissing the phantom Door. “But that requires some complicated setup. Let’s shelve it for now—first things first, we find that child called ‘Xiao Xiao’.”
As he spoke, he glanced around, brows furrowed. “Completely unfamiliar terrain… where do you think she might be, with your ‘veteran’ experience?”
“Even a ‘veteran’ doesn’t have experience with this,” Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. “This is a first. Two Little Red Riding Hoods entering the Black Forest at once, and one of them has a ‘friend’ tagging along—you know how the story goes, ‘she walks the path alone.'”
“Alone, huh… That Squirrel kept emphasizing that too,” Yu Sheng mused, eyes scanning the surrounding underbrush. “Speaking of which, where is that Squirrel?”
“I’m looking too,” Little Red Riding Hood replied, scanning the area. Even her accompanying Wolf Pack was looking around. “It usually shows up quickly.”
“Maybe it’s with Xiao Xiao?” Yu Sheng suggested after a moment. “She entered before us—logically, the Squirrel would’ve met her first. Probably still leading her.”
Little Red Riding Hood frowned, nodding slightly as if that made sense, but before she could reply, a rustling in the brush cut her off.
The next second, a small, furry figure appeared in their line of sight.
The Squirrel climbed atop a bush, staring dumbfounded at the pair as though it had frozen at the moment it made eye contact.
Two seconds later, it let out a high-pitched screech—”Gao!”—then fell with a plop from the branch into a heap of rotting leaves.
Yu Sheng jumped. “What the hell?! It showed up just to drop dead?!”
But the Squirrel sprang up instantly, shrieking, “Squirrel’s gone mad! Squirrel’s gone mad! Saw something impossible! When did the Black Forest get this crowded—one, two, and even three! Little Red Riding Hood, with a friend! You scared Squirrel! Scared Squirrel!”
The frantic rodent darted wildly through the brush, zipping like lightning. It screamed in chaos for a full two minutes before abruptly stopping, then sprinted to Yu Sheng, stared at him for two seconds, and rushed to Little Red Riding Hood’s feet, head tilted up: “Ah—”
Little Red Riding Hood gave it a firm kick. “Calm down!”
With a sharp squeak, the Squirrel vanished into the opposite shrubbery.
Yu Sheng was stunned. He’d already been dazed by the Squirrel’s earlier hysteria, but now he was completely dumbfounded by the red-cloaked girl’s swift kick. He turned to her, incredulous: “Wasn’t that a bit rough?”
“It’s the most effective method—it gets hysterical when startled and is always a bit neurotic. If you don’t give it a hard jolt, it’ll keep spiraling.”
No sooner had she spoken than the Squirrel reemerged from the opposite bush, completely unscathed. Clutched in its tiny paw was a newly lit thin stick. Leaning against a small stone, it clamped the stick in its mouth, inhaled a third of it with a hiss and suck, and exhaled, “Too thrilling…”
Little Red Riding Hood gave Yu Sheng a look. “See? Told you it works.”
Yu Sheng: “…”
Regardless of her rather aggressive approach, the Squirrel had indeed calmed down. After finishing its ‘Squirrel-exclusive ultra-thin roll-up,’ it seemed to accept the presence of Little Red Riding Hood and her companion in the Black Forest, and began talking with Yu Sheng more sensibly.
“We’re looking for someone,” Yu Sheng explained, “A girl about six years old who entered before us—roughly this tall…”
“She may be ‘the next one,'” Little Red Riding Hood said bluntly. “But she’s likely already lost in the Forest—we need your help.”
The Squirrel’s beady eyes widened as it listened. It tossed the burned-out cigarette butt into its mouth, chewed it with a crunch, and swallowed. After a pause, it sighed. “Then you might be a step too late. She’s already in the deepest part of the Black Forest—where neither the path’s lamps nor the candlelight of the Little House can reach. She walked there all by herself.”