Chapter 139: The Confusing Scrap of Paper
The dream recounted by the Young Lady made both Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood, who had only just returned from the depths of the Black Forest and the Little House, simultaneously furrow their brows, their expressions turning solemn as they fell into deep thought.
Several seconds passed before Yu Sheng broke the silence. “Could you see the faces of those people? Besides telling you to run, did the ones in Red Cloaks say anything else to you?”
Xiao Xiao only shook her head, visibly tense once more.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. If you can’t remember, don’t worry about it,” Yu Sheng quickly waved his hand, trying to soothe the frightened Young Lady. “Tell us when something comes back to you.”
Xiao Xiao blinked, hesitated, then nodded. It was unclear how much she had truly processed.
“Take her to the East Building classroom first,” Little Red Riding Hood said to the Long Haired Princess beside her. “Let Teacher Su know what happened. But cancel her classes this afternoon. Let her rest in her room.”
“Understood.”
The Long Haired Princess took Xiao Xiao’s hand. One tall figure and one small slowly exited the room.
Silence returned. Little Red Riding Hood watched the direction they left in, her lips pursed, lost in thought. After a long while, she spoke quietly, “She’s the first to enter that room and come out alive.”
She raised her gaze to Yu Sheng.
“Thank you. The Fairy Tale Organization owes you a great favor. From this day forth, I will be your staunchest ally.”
“This is just the beginning. My goal is to dismantle the entire Fairy Tale Otherworld. First step—wipe out that Black Forest,” Yu Sheng said seriously.
“Is that really possible?” Little Red Riding Hood finally voiced her doubts, though there was a hint of wavering in her tone. Yu Sheng’s act of pulling a ‘dead’ child back from the Black Forest had clearly shaken her worldview. Her beliefs about the Otherworld were no longer so firm.
Yu Sheng didn’t answer immediately. He locked eyes with her and, after a moment, said, “Instead of explaining, it’s better if I show you. Once we’re sure the child’s stable, I’ll take you somewhere.”
Little Red Riding Hood nodded, both curious and doubtful. Then Yu Sheng reached into his pocket and pulled out a filthy, timeworn scrap of paper.
“This fell off that Hunter. Do you know what it is?”
Hearing this, Little Red Riding Hood’s expression turned grim. She cautiously took the paper, examined it closely for a long time, then frowned. “…I’m no expert in artifact identification, and I’ve never seen anything like this in the Black Forest.”
Yu Sheng didn’t seem disappointed. He carefully stowed the scrap away and asked with curiosity, “How much interaction have you had with the Hunter?”
“Not much. The Black Forest usually has Wolves, followed by the Little House and paths. The Hunter only appears when Wolf Granny shows up, and only for a very short time each time,” Little Red Riding Hood explained thoughtfully. “And even ‘interaction’ is not the right word… Truth is, every time I ‘act’ in the Black Forest, it’s not like today.”
“Not like today?” Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow. “Then how is it normally?”
“Disjointed. Like fragmented dreams. Often, I can’t control myself, and my identity isn’t always ‘Little Red Riding Hood’,” she said with a sigh, her voice low. “When it gets bad, I run through the Forest as a Wolf. Sometimes, when the Hunter appears, I see from their perspective, observing the Wolf Pack. It’s like I carry many roles at once—a Human, a Wolf, a Grandmother, a Hunter. My self-perception jumps between these roles. Lately, I’ve been spending more time as a Wolf, and the Hunter’s appearances have increased with it.”
It was her first time explaining her experience in the Black Forest so thoroughly.
Yu Sheng frowned. From her description, one word echoed in his mind—falling.
Through those fractured dreams and chaotic perspective shifts, with her identity and self-perception repeatedly shaken and replaced, Little Red Riding Hood was clearly losing her true self.
She was being devoured—not only by the Wolves but by the entire Black Forest. Becoming a Wolf was merely the visible part of that process.
“Sounds like a mess,” Irene remarked bluntly.
“Exactly. And that chaotic experience is the norm for those trapped in the Black Forest,” Little Red Riding Hood said with a bitter smile. “A day like today—walking through the Forest lucidly, leaving it clear-headed, and waking up with a firm Human sense of self—is astonishing to me. The only other time I had an experience like this was when I was very young, before the Black Forest affected me so deeply.”
As she spoke, she shook her head again and looked at Yu Sheng.
Yu Sheng gave an apologetic shrug. “Sorry, I can’t help much. I barely know anything about the ‘Hunter’. Most of our interactions only lasted the span of a gunshot. But I do have a suggestion.”
“Let’s hear it,” said Little Red Riding Hood, leaning in with curiosity.
“You could ask the Identification Division over at the Special Affairs Bureau to take a look at that scrap of paper,” she said seriously. “They might not know about the ‘Hunter’ either, but with their specialized equipment, they could at least extract more details from the item. Also, didn’t you find a random ‘Metal Component’ at your place last time? Might be a good chance to get that identified too.”
“Good suggestion,” Yu Sheng nodded, finding it reasonable. “I’ll give Bai Li Qing a call and ask her to arrange something.”
Little Red Riding Hood’s expression twitched the moment he casually mentioned such a big name. She hesitated before gently cautioning, “Umm… are you sure you need to contact the Bureau Chief herself for this? Can’t you just reach out to Xu Jiali and the others?”
Yu Sheng paused. He remembered the last time he called Bai Li Qing in the dead of night, and the very next day Frontier Communications pushed a hot update that added a new ‘Door Declaration’ button. Yeah… maybe she had a point.
Just as that thought finished forming, his pocket buzzed with a vibration, followed by his ringtone chiming through the air.
He glanced at his phone — the name “Bai Li Qing” was displayed on the screen.
Little Red Riding Hood caught a glimpse and visibly froze, her expression subtly shifting in real time.
Yu Sheng forced a crooked smile, gave her an awkward look, and raised the phone to his ear. “Ahem. Good afternoon, Madam Director.”
“Just call me Bai Li Qing,” came the cold and familiar voice through the speaker. “The Monitoring Division just picked up an unusual temporal displacement from a Door. We couldn’t find the cause, so I figured I’d ask — was it on your end?”
Yu Sheng’s face tensed, his smile growing stiffer. “Uh… yeah, that was me. I opened a Door on my side. I was in the Otherworld at the time — no signal, couldn’t report it in.”
Two seconds of silence followed.
“…The signal this time was abnormal. Were you testing some kind of ‘new function’?” Bai Li Qing asked calmly.
[Abnormal signal?] Yu Sheng’s mind clicked. He immediately thought of the unique nature of the Otherworld known as “Fairy Tale.” He quickly replied, “Not exactly. I was in a unique location — just returned from a subset of the ‘Fairy Tale’ Otherworld. Specifically, the ‘Black Forest’.”
Another two seconds of silence.
Was it his imagination, or did every pause from Bai Li Qing seem crammed full of unspoken lectures — enough to fill entire volumes?
“I’m curious,” came her voice again, slightly more nuanced this time. “What were you doing inside ‘Fairy Tale’?”
Something short-circuited in Yu Sheng’s brain, and he blurted out without thinking, “Would you believe me if I said I accidentally crossed Doors?”
Bai Li Qing’s reply came even faster, “Ah, did someone you know happen to be—”
He cut her off. “No, no — a kid got lost in there. I went in to help find her.”
Silence.
The kind of silence that screamed at the eardrums. Yu Sheng could practically feel Bai Li Qing jamming hundreds of unsaid lines into those two seconds.
Then came the soft sound of her inhaling, followed by a calm, steady voice: “Did you find the child?”
“Uh, yeah, found her,” Yu Sheng mumbled, feeling a cold sweat form. “Wolf carried her off, but she’s alive.”
After a slight pause, he quickly added, “Oh, and since you called, I actually do have a favor to ask the Special Affairs Bureau.”
This time, her reply was prompt. “Alright, go ahead.”
“I brought something out from the ‘Black Forest’. It might belong to the Entity known as the ‘Hunter’. I’d like your people to identify it. Also, I have something else that popped out at Wutong Road No. 66. Can you have that looked at too?”
Another beat of silence.
But it didn’t last long. Her answer followed shortly: “No problem. As long as the samples aren’t exhibiting signs of self-collapse, give us a day. The comprehensive analysis lab needs some prep time.”
“That’s fine. I’ll wait to hear from you tomorrow.”
“Understood.”
With that, the call ended.
Yu Sheng looked up at Little Red Riding Hood and gave a sheepish grin. “Sooo… yeah. Ended up having the ‘Bureau Chief’ take care of it anyway.”
Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth, struggled for words, and finally muttered, “Right… us ‘ordinary folks’ can’t really give you advice, huh?”