Chapter 179: Secret Letter
The Young Man, bearing the weight of fatigue, pushed the Door open and left. The living room fell into silence for a moment.
After a few seconds, Yu Sheng was the first to break the quiet, ‘Clearly, he’s left us an easy way in… Where do we start?’
Little Red Riding Hood did not respond with words. Instead, she stood and walked over to the low cabinet, carefully picking up the urn of ashes placed atop it. ‘Let’s try this.’
This time, Yu Sheng hesitated before the word ‘try.’ ‘Are we really going to try it?’
‘For Old Zheng,’ Little Red Riding Hood said calmly. ‘If there’s anything he couldn’t say, this might be his last chance to tell us.’
Seeing the serious expression on the young girl’s face, Yu Sheng finally let out a soft breath, dismissing his lingering doubts, and reached for the urn…
A moment later, he gently shook his head.
‘It’s no use…’ Little Red Riding Hood blinked, her tone tinged with regret, though she quickly sighed and let it go. ‘But then again, not everything in this world is simple.’
She turned, carefully returning the urn to the cabinet, then solemnly bowed to it before turning back to Yu Sheng. ‘But what surprises me is you. Normally, you never seem to think about the consequences of your actions. You don’t even care much about your own life. So why are you being so cautious and serious now?’
‘This is different,’ Yu Sheng replied seriously. ‘The death of an ordinary person only happens once—this one life, this one moment of life and death, is a serious matter.’
Little Red Riding Hood stared at him for a few seconds, as if seeing the ‘man’ before her anew. After a long while, she withdrew her gaze and pointed toward the bedroom. ‘Let’s go see what’s there.’
They entered the room and quickly found the items the Young Man had mentioned—on the desk by the window sat a stack of old books, several notebooks, and a collection of miscellaneous tags, letters, and notes.
Yu Sheng flipped through one of the notebooks. The handwriting was clear and neat, as though it subtly revealed the writer’s personality and habits.
He looked up and saw a row of neatly arranged wooden shelves along the wall. The shelves held many ornaments—ceramic vessels, metal figurines… and even two anime figurines.
Little Red Riding Hood noticed Yu Sheng’s gaze and turned to look as well. She waved her hand dismissively. ‘Don’t bother. Artifacts like the ‘Weeping One’ statue surely wouldn’t be kept here. In fact, that statue is currently missing. The Association of Strange Objects is looking for it. It’s either stored in one of Old Zheng’s secret places or might have already been sold on the Black Market.’
‘I was just remarking on how wide Old Brother’s interests are,’ Yu Sheng shook his head. ‘Those figurines don’t look cheap.’
‘…Not sure I get it.’ Little Red Riding Hood muttered, focusing her attention entirely on the books and notebooks before them.
Yu Sheng patiently joined her in flipping through the materials.
Most of the books were about art collection, with the two most frequently read ones filled with notes. ‘Old Zheng’ had added his own thoughts on various entries, and the notes were chaotic, ranging from mundane life matters to work reminders. They mostly seemed unremarkable.
Yu Sheng’s attention shifted to the notes and letters.
He was surprised that, in this day and age, someone still used paper letters to communicate. Among them, some were very new, clearly received recently.
Yu Sheng picked up one of these letters, particularly the last one dated three days ago. He quickly glanced at it.
The edges of the paper were slightly wrinkled, as if someone had gripped it tightly. Yet, the contents were simply everyday greetings and some discussions about certain collectibles. The signature was clearly a fake name.
‘Is there anything unusual about this letter?’ Little Red Riding Hood glanced over and asked, curious.
‘The content seems fine…’ Yu Sheng frowned, muttering. Yet, for some reason, the letter felt peculiar. He flipped it over and over but couldn’t figure out what was off.
However, his Spiritual Intuition was buzzing, urging him not to ignore the subtle dissonance he felt.
‘Should we try burning it? Or soaking it in water?’ Little Red Riding Hood suggested, thinking aloud. ‘Though, it’s a pretty clichéd method for letter encryption…’
‘No,’ Yu Sheng shook his head, ‘If this really is a specially treated secret letter, we might destroy some clue by doing that.’ His brows furrowed. ‘Actually, we should’ve brought Irene along when we left. She always seems to have some strange talents in Mysticism.’
Little Red Riding Hood thought for a moment, then hesitantly suggested, ‘Should we go get her now? There’s no one else around, and your Door is quite convenient, right?’
Being reminded by her, Yu Sheng had a realization. ‘Ah, you’re right.’
As soon as his words fell, Yu Sheng took out his phone to report to the Special Affairs Bureau. Then, he raised his hand and grasped at the air next to him — with extraordinary caution, a smaller-than-usual Phantom Door appeared in his hand. Through the Door, the living room of Wutong Road No. 66 was clearly visible, with a sofa facing the doorway. Irene sat on the couch, dazed: ‘…Ah, what’s going on?’
‘Come over and help me with something,’ Yu Sheng said, reaching through the Door to pull Little Doll out.
‘Hey, what are you doing? I was watching TV!’ Little Doll protested halfway, already placed on the table. The abrupt scene change left her slightly stunned.
But after a brief moment, she snapped out of it, glaring at Yu Sheng: ‘Yu Sheng, you scoundrel! Who does this? I told you not to drag me into things! I was in the middle of watching a show, and now you yank me away right before a critical scene where two idiots are about to die!’
Yu Sheng quickly interrupted before Little Doll could protest further: ‘The two idiots you’re talking about will die together shortly, but in the next episode, an even more foolish villain will appear and continue causing chaos. I’ve seen it — it will drive you mad. In the end, the female lead dies with the male lead’s second cousin, and the male lead ends up with the female lead’s cousin. They both die in the extras.’
Irene froze, listening to this, before she finally exploded in anger: ‘Who the hell wrote this script…’
But just as she leapt to her feet, Yu Sheng pressed her back down: ‘This situation is really important, I can’t handle it. I need your help.’
With that one sentence, Irene’s fury was immediately extinguished. Her attitude shifted so quickly that even Yu Sheng didn’t react in time. She grinned: ‘I knew you couldn’t do without me. Alright, what’s the deal?’
Yu Sheng pointed to the table: ‘Look at these letters. I have a feeling something’s wrong with them, but I can’t tell what.’
Irene glanced at them, looking puzzled: ‘If you think something’s wrong, why don’t you just open them up and take a look?’
Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood were both confused, speaking in unison: ‘Open them?’
Yu Sheng picked up the letter that felt most unusual to him: ‘But this is already an unfolded letter. This is all the content it has…’
‘It’s rolled up! Can’t you tell?’ Irene looked at Yu Sheng as though he were an idiot. She grabbed the letter from him, holding both ends with her hands and gently tugging at it.
The sound of paper rustling filled the air.
Phantom flames rose from the surface of the letter.
The once-seemingly complete sheet of paper began to ‘unfold,’ revealing a hidden, invisible layer, slowly being drawn out. Yu Sheng widened his eyes in shock as lines of text began to appear between the originally normal handwriting…
However, before the full content appeared, the unfolding process abruptly halted.
Yu Sheng looked up in confusion: ‘Huh? Why did it stop?’
Irene sighed, looking pitiful: ‘…My arms aren’t long enough.’
Yu Sheng twitched: ‘Then I’ll pull another one over.’
‘No need! I’m in the middle of a team fight,’ Irene quickly stopped Yu Sheng, who was about to open another Door. ‘You hold it from this side. You don’t need any special skills, just slowly pull it open. Any normal person can do it. Yeah, slow down, this paper feels fragile. If you pull too fast, it might tear.’
Following Little Doll’s instructions, Yu Sheng slowly pulled the paper out from its strange ‘folded’ state. Finally, the hidden paragraphs fully emerged, clearly visible to both him and Little Red Riding Hood:
‘…Before X month X day, you must make her enter the White Exhibition Hall, where miracles and blessings await her. The curse upon her will be removed, and her body and mind will be set free…
‘We have already arranged the ceremony, so you need not worry about safety. Just as you care for those children, we too wish to use the safest and most effective means to remove the malicious curse of the Fairy Tale.
‘We know you’ve had doubts recently, but the world misunderstands us greatly. There are indeed misguided followers who, under the lure of power and their own ignorance, have misinterpreted the Messenger’s intent. Some have even followed the wrong, fake Messenger from the start. They’ve committed many atrocities, and their crimes have unjustly tarnished our reputation. This is tragic and unfair.
‘But you have witnessed, and seen with your own eyes, the purity and goodness of the Messenger. We have shown you His power and intent. You have heard with your own ears, seen with your own eyes — He is indeed harmless, and He protects the Cursed Children. He speaks to you in an unseen voice, and you acknowledge that you’ve heard it, so you can put all your worries to rest.
‘If you’ve made up your mind, light the blank piece of paper we left for you. Remember, use a rose-scented candle to light it.
‘Note: Do not buy from ‘Exquisite Pavilion.’ They are disgraceful counterfeiters and deceivers, and the Messenger’s wrath will soon fall upon such vile, deceitful merchants.
‘—Humbly and truthfully, Servant of the Angel.’