Chapter 61: Evaluation
Yu Sheng and Irene descended the stairs with Foxy in tow.
The next step was to arrange a place for the Demon-Fox Maiden to sleep.
“Right now, there’s an empty room on both the second and first floors,” Yu Sheng said as he stood in the second-floor corridor, pointing at the door opposite his own room. “This one across from mine has been vacant for a while, so I’ve been using it for storage. It’s still relatively clean, though. The room on the first floor is empty but unfurnished, and it hasn’t been cleaned in ages. There’s also a basement—it’s spacious but damp, not suitable for living.”
“Anywhere Benefactor arranges is fine,” Foxy nodded, pulling a biscuit from her fluffy tails and nibbling on it contentedly. “Anywhere is better than the Valley.”
Yu Sheng couldn’t help but stare at the mass of fluffy tails trailing behind the Demon-Fox Maiden. He still hadn’t figured out how this Young Lady managed to stash so many things in them. It was just as baffling as how her tails seemed to phase through her clothes without needing any holes—they looked like illusions but felt solid enough to brush against objects. Truly, demon foxes were miraculous beings.
“What’s that room for?” Foxy suddenly asked, pointing toward the door at the end of the corridor.
“That… theoretically, it’s Irene’s room,” Yu Sheng replied, glancing in that direction with a slightly strange expression. “But there’s a bit of a problem with it right now.”
“Problem?” Foxy asked, extracting a half-eaten packet of instant noodles from her tail, crunching on the dry noodle cake with curiosity.
“When you open the door, the interior isn’t exactly stable. I still need to monitor it for a while,” Yu Sheng said, his eye twitching at Foxy’s casual display of extracting things from her tails. “…How much stuff did you put in there?”
“After I took a bath and passed through the living room, I packed away all the snacks Benefactor gave me,” Foxy replied, happily munching on her noodles. “Didn’t touch anything else.”
Then she looked toward the far end of the corridor and earnestly murmured, “Benefactor’s domain… truly miraculous.”
Yu Sheng stared dumbfounded at her tails, pondering how this Young Lady’s tails were even more magical than his so-called domain. How did she manage to cram so much stuff inside? Was it some sort of mystical bottomless bag like that round blue robot’s pouch?
After internally marveling for a while, he finally set his thoughts aside and pointed to the room across his own. “You can stay here for now. It’s got some basic furniture, though cluttered with random things. We’ll move the junk to the basement later… I’ll find you some clean bedding.”
Foxy immediately brightened, nodding eagerly. “Okay!”
Irene chimed in enthusiastically, “Yay! Moving stuff! I love cleaning up!”
“You don’t need to get involved,” Yu Sheng remarked, glancing down at the little doll, just 66.6 centimeters tall. “You’re not even taller than a crate. You might end up tumbling down the stairs and breaking something. Then I’ll have to fix you.”
Furious, Irene leapt up and kicked Yu Sheng’s knee with surprising force. “Yu Sheng, you bastard!”
Yu Sheng howled in pain, jumping higher than Irene had.
Foxy watched the scene in confusion before realizing it was just the usual friendly exchange between Benefactor and Irene. Her brief worry dissolved into a cheerful smile as she pulled a ham sausage from her tail.
…
In the depths of the Old City, within an unassuming private clinic, Dr. Lin, a woman with long chestnut hair wearing a white coat, frowned deeply as she examined a young girl’s right arm.
Little Red Riding Hood sat across from Dr. Lin, her right arm resting on the table. She wore a sleeveless T-shirt, her dark red jacket missing a sleeve, hanging on the coat rack near the door.
“Dr. Lin, is it serious?” Little Red Riding Hood couldn’t help but ask after a long silence.
“This time, it’s not severe—but your condition itself is problematic,” Dr. Lin replied, sounding frustrated. “How many times has it been now? Your injuries never stop. If this continues, your mutation aftereffects will become constant, leaving no time for physical and mental recovery. This time is fine, but someday it’s going to end badly.”
“I know, but the situation was critical back then,” Little Red Riding Hood murmured, avoiding eye contact. “We were being hunted by a Level 3 Dangerous Entity with mental pollution. Surviving intact was a miracle…”
Dr. Lin looked at her intently, sighed, and picked up a sharp scalpel, slicing a shallow cut on her own arm without hesitation.
Instantly, a matching cut appeared on Little Red Riding Hood’s right arm, and dark, viscous blood welled up before vanishing as if absorbed by an unseen force. The black patterns on her arm rapidly faded and dispersed.
“Thank you, Dr. Lin…” Little Red Riding Hood lowered her head gratefully. “I’ll pay the bill once the Special Affairs Bureau settles it.”
Dr. Lin shook her head and sighed. “Forget it. I’ll do it as a favor this time. No charge. I know you’re their ‘Guardian,’ but you should save some money for yourself. You look thin.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Little Red Riding Hood grumbled, feigning irritation.
“You always say that,” Dr. Lin muttered, tossing the scalpel into a nearby porcelain tray and adjusting her posture. “Since you’re here, let’s do an evaluation ahead of time—when was your last ‘Dream’?”
Little Red Riding Hood immediately straightened, her face turning serious. “Three days ago.”
“Was it from a human perspective or the Wolf’s?”
“Two-thirds human, one-third Wolf—there was a brief moment as the ‘Hunter.’”
“Who did the Hunter shoot at?”
“The Wolf.”
“Alright, it seems stable enough.”
Dr. Lin rummaged through the nearby cabinet and pulled out a form, then grabbed a ballpoint pen from the pen holder on the desk. She scratched a few lines on the paper, but it didn’t write. Frowning, she picked another pen, but it too failed to write. She scowled, muttering under her breath, “…Must be those two new assistants. They write like they’re carving stone…”
After digging through the pockets of her white coat for a while, she finally found a functioning pen and started swiftly jotting down notes on the form. As she wrote, she continued questioning, “Did you see ‘Wolf Granny’ in the end? Was it human or Wolf?”
“…It was Wolf.”
Judging by the look on your face… Got caught?”
“Got caught, but the memory of it is chaotic. The last thing I remember is escaping from the Forest with a pack of Wolves.”
Dr. Lin paused, frowning deeply, tapping the desk irritably with the pen. “There’s still some risk. Take a No. 2 Intervention Agent with you when you leave. Inject it intravenously before sleeping tonight. I’ll put it on your tab.”
“Alright.”
Dr. Lin proceeded with several more questions, and Little Red Riding Hood answered honestly every time.
This was the monthly “evaluation” that every member of the Fairy Tale Organization underwent, including Little Red Riding Hood herself. In the Borderland, there were many “doctors” capable of performing such evaluations and providing corresponding “treatment,” but Dr. Lin was the one she was most familiar with.
After the long “questionnaire survey” finally concluded, Dr. Lin wrote “Temporarily Stable – Under Observation” at the bottom of the form and let out a long breath.
Little Red Riding Hood glanced at the conclusion at the bottom of the form. Though she tried to keep a straight face, a hint of relief slipped into her smile.
“You do know how to worry, huh?” Dr. Lin shot a glance at Little Red Riding Hood. “If you’re so timid, take better care of yourself. Don’t end up like the last Little Red Riding Hood…”
She suddenly stopped speaking. Silence fell over the clinic, a suffocating stillness hanging in the air.
After an uncertain amount of time, Little Red Riding Hood felt warmth on her hand. Dr. Lin had placed her hand over hers.
“Little Red Riding Hood, you’re different from the others—at least from the other Fairy Tale members I’ve met. Your Wolves… the few you first tamed… they’re close to you. I may not sense it the same way you do, but I can see it—they genuinely want to protect you.
That’s why your chances of surviving adulthood, even going through ‘Metamorphosis,’ are higher than others. But because of that, you can’t afford to waste this gift. Focus on staying alive—living longer than anyone else. Understand?”
Little Red Riding Hood remained silent for a long while before finally giving a slight nod. “…Yeah.”
From the shadows at her side, a few pairs of eerie green eyes appeared, one of them moving closer, extending a tongue from the darkness to gently lick her fingertips.
Dr. Lin sensed the shift in the shadow’s presence but didn’t look over. Instead, she rose from her chair and walked to the cold storage cabinet in the corner of the room, retrieving a vial emitting a faint glow.
“Here you go, No. 2 Intervention Agent. This is the last one left, so I’ll give it to you at half price—just make sure to settle your bill when you get paid. You owe me a few thousand already.”
“Thank you, Dr. Lin.”