Chapter 197: The Story of Squirrel
(This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.)
“You… which Little Red Riding Hood are you?”
Yu Sheng stared intently into Squirrel’s eyes, his tone more serious than ever before.
Squirrel began to fidget nervously, shifting her weight from one back leg to another, then quickly scratching the fur on her face. “I… I’m Squirrel…”
Yu Sheng remained unmoved. “Good. Then which Little Red Riding Hood is Squirrel?”
Squirrel: “…”
“Answer my question,” Yu Sheng said calmly but firmly, “You must have noticed by now, I am bringing ‘change’ to this Black Forest. If you truly want to help Little Red Riding Hood, this may be your closest chance to succeed.”
The tiny creature, no larger than a palm, finally stopped shifting. She stared at Yu Sheng, and after a long pause, it seemed as if she had made a decision—or perhaps had no other choice but to comply. With resignation, she lowered her head. “The Zero One.”
Yu Sheng immediately furrowed his brows. “What does that mean?”
“You’ve already seen it. The first Little Red Riding Hood brought the first warmth and light to this Black Forest—this forest has gradually evolved and taken on its current form,” Squirrel twisted her paws nervously, her head still lowered. “But have you ever thought about what happened before that? Before the Black Forest even existed? Perhaps… everything had a beginning.”
Yu Sheng did not speak, but his gaze urged Squirrel to continue.
“I… I am the first mistake, everything started with me,” Squirrel murmured slowly, her resistance evident in her voice. It seemed like every word caused her great inner turmoil. “I am the Squirrel of the Black Forest, the first living thing on the stage. I was… the bad child who handed the Fairy Tale Book out… I… I didn’t know it would turn out like this.”
Yu Sheng’s eyes widened suddenly, as if a lightning bolt had struck through his heart. Upon realizing the weight of the information Squirrel had just disclosed, he immediately demanded, “You handed out the Fairy Tale Book? To whom?”
“I don’t know what ‘ta’ is, or where ‘ta’ came from. I… I can’t remember the situation clearly,” Squirrel was startled by the sudden rise in Yu Sheng’s voice. But this time, she didn’t try to run away. It was as though she had made a decision. “I only remember, I saw something fall from the sky. It was after the lights at the Welfare Home had gone out. Everyone was asleep, and I was supposed to be asleep too, but I couldn’t sleep. ‘Ta’… ‘ta’ fell into the yard without making a sound, like it melted into the ground…
“I was scared, too scared to make a sound, so I hid under the bed, then a glowing thing floated over from the windowsill, swaying in front of me. ‘Ta’ said ‘ta’ needed help, that ‘ta’s’ child was in trouble and needed comforting. ‘Ta’ came to this place, full of children, to look for someone who could help… I was terrified, didn’t know what to do, so I gave ‘ta’ the Fairy Tale Book from beside my bed…
“I told ‘ta’ to read the stories. When the Cursed Children in the yard can’t sleep, Teacher reads us stories…”
“I should have been sleeping. I shouldn’t have been looking out the window. I… I should have just gone to sleep. I should have just slept…”
Squirrel muttered softly, her voice growing more and more muddled. In the end, it was as if she became less coherent, repeatedly lamenting that she should have just gone to sleep—like a child trapped in the shadows of their childhood, unable to grow up for decades, still clinging to the belief that if she had only eaten on time, slept on time, and learned how to dress herself, she could have lived the “happy life” that was supposed to be.
Yu Sheng was now certain.
This Squirrel was once a child from the “Orphanage”—a long, long time ago, even before the Deep Dive operation seventy years ago, long before the first outbreak of the Fairy Tale. She had once lived in that Orphanage.
There were many more clues hidden within Squirrel’s words, things Yu Sheng could only begin to hypothesize.
Yu Sheng steadied himself, setting aside the many unverified theories for now. He reached out and gently touched Squirrel’s body, bringing the small creature back to a more aware state, rousing her from her trance.
“I have more questions,” he said seriously. “What did the thing that ‘fell from the sky’ look like?”
Squirrel’s body jolted, snapping her out of the “loop” she had fallen into. After hearing Yu Sheng’s question, she sank into a difficult recollection. It was a long while before she spoke again.
“…It was hard to see clearly. It was glowing. I… I only remember an oval-shaped outline in the glow, like an ‘egg’ with strange markings. At first, it was huge, as if it could crush half of the Welfare Home when it fell, but then it shrank, and by the time it hit the yard, it was only as big as a small iron shed.
“It just dove into the ground without making any dust, no sound at all. At first, I thought I was imagining things.”
Yu Sheng listened intently, his expression thoughtful.
A glowing, strange-marked object that looked like an “egg”…
Squirrel mentioned the ‘shrinking and growing’ phenomenon, though its cause remains unknown. However, the shape described by the other party seemed familiar to him.
‘What did the voice that spoke with you say its name was?’
Squirrel scratched at the fuzz on its cheek.
‘I… I can’t remember. But I think it did say something, it’s been so long… so long, and Squirrel’s memory isn’t great. I can’t even remember what Teacher taught… But, there’s one syllable, it starts with ‘An’… something like ‘An…’
‘Anka Aila,’ Yu Sheng said slowly. As the words left his mouth, he felt a brief moment of tension, but soon realized that there was no movement from the Forest, and the small box in his hand was still calm. He sighed in relief before continuing, ‘Is this the name?’
Squirrel froze, then suddenly leapt to its feet. ‘…Yes! Yes! That’s the pronunciation! But… but how do you know?’
‘I’ve already uncovered this part recently,’ Yu Sheng gently placed his hand on Squirrel’s body, feeling it trembling. He sensed that if he didn’t act quickly to calm it down, the ‘small creature’ might spiral into a stress response. ‘Relax, take a breath. I have more questions.’
Squirrel instinctively pulled back, but seemed afraid to move too far away. ‘But Squirrel doesn’t want to answer anymore. Squirrel is tired.’
‘Just one last question.’
‘…Fine.’
‘The voice you spoke to—what did it say about its ‘child’? Have you seen it? Or did it describe it to you?’
‘No,’ Squirrel responded quickly this time. ‘Squirrel can be sure of this. Never seen it, nor did it describe it.’
Yu Sheng stared intently into Squirrel’s eyes. After several seconds, he nodded slowly.
‘Alright, I understand.’
Finally, Squirrel appeared to relax.
It sighed deeply and paced slowly across the windowsill before sitting down again, producing a thin stick from somewhere. Using the tip of its tail, it sparked a flame and sucked hard on the end.
This wasn’t the first time Squirrel had smoked in front of Yu Sheng, and he had long grown accustomed to it.
Squirrel was no longer the child that once lived in the Orphanage. It was now the mischievous, almost adorably absurd Squirrel of the Black Forest.
Yu Sheng sighed but didn’t say anything more. He instead opened the wooden box containing the ‘Angel Umbilical Cord’ and checked its condition again.
It still lay quietly on the red velvet cloth, with no signs of further ‘awakening.’
Yu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. But just as he was about to close the lid, he suddenly felt the shocked gaze coming from beside him.
Looking up, he saw that Squirrel’s eyes were wide with astonishment, staring at the box in his hands.
The cigarette had dropped to the floor, but Squirrel didn’t seem to notice.
‘You… how do you have this?” Squirrel gasped in surprise.
‘You know what this is?’ Yu Sheng was also startled. ‘Do you know what it is?’
‘Umbilical Cord!’ Squirrel shouted, but quickly lowered its voice, seemingly worried about disturbing something. ‘I’ve seen this, but I don’t remember when… It was a long time ago, when the Black Forest first appeared. Afterward… Anka Aila lost it. It was always searching, but couldn’t find it… Then, it stopped showing up. It hid deep, deep away…’
Yu Sheng frowned at this. He didn’t doubt Squirrel’s words, but a question began to rise in his mind—Anka Aila lost the Umbilical Cord? Then why did Old Zheng receive it during the ritual to honor Anka Aila?
At this moment, Squirrel, brimming with courage, took two steps forward, peering closely at the Umbilical Cord in the box.
After a brief hesitation, it let out a puzzled sound, ‘Hmm? No, this doesn’t seem right… This one looks similar, but it’s more like a fake.’
‘A fake?’ Yu Sheng was taken aback. ‘Are you sure?’
‘It feels that way,’ Squirrel quickly corrected itself, speaking more cautiously, ‘I’m just a Squirrel… I don’t remember everything clearly…’
Yu Sheng frowned but remained silent, glancing over at Irene and Foxy.
The two had been quiet since the start, not wanting to interrupt and risk triggering a stress reaction in the already nervous Squirrel.
‘Old Zheng prayed to the ‘Dark Angels,’ and they gave him a ‘fake’ Umbilical Cord…’ Irene furrowed her brow, her expression growing subtle. ‘This feels so strange, doesn’t it? What’s the purpose?’
Foxy followed with a thoughtful frown, after a moment, she spoke uncertainly, ‘Maybe it’s just a sample to see if Old Zheng can help find the real one?’
Irene stared blankly, ‘…Are you serious?’
‘Of course,’ Foxy responded matter-of-factly. ‘If I lost something, I’d have someone help look for it too.’
Then she turned to Yu Sheng. ‘Right, Benefactor?’
Yu Sheng thought for a moment and nodded, ‘That seems reasonable.’
Irene blinked, confused.
‘Anyway,’ Yu Sheng said, not dwelling on the topic further, ‘even a fake has its own power.’ He gazed thoughtfully at the ‘fake’ Angel Umbilical Cord in the wooden box, then looked around the little room illuminated by the flickering flame of the hearth. ‘Perhaps it’s because we have this that we can witness the phantom of Little Red Riding Hood left behind in the Black Forest.’