Chapter 061

Chapter 61: Assessment

Yu Sheng and Irene led Foxy downstairs.

The priority now was to give the fox maiden a place to sleep.

“There’s an empty room on the second floor and one on the first,” Yu Sheng said in the second floor hall, pointing to the Door across from his room. “This one is opposite mine. No one has used it, so it’s full of storage, but it’s fairly clean. The first floor room has no clutter, but it doesn’t have any furniture, and it hasn’t been cleaned in a while. There’s also a basement. It’s big, but damp. Not fit for living.”

“Whatever Benefactor decides is fine,” Foxy said with a nod, casually pulling a cookie from her tails and nibbling it in small bites. “No matter what, it’s better than the valley.”

Yu Sheng’s eyes drifted to that whole plume of fluffy tails. He still couldn’t figure out how she hid things in there. He also couldn’t figure out how her tails came out through her clothes. They looked like phantoms passing right through the fabric, no openings in her pants, yet when they swished around and knocked into things, they were obviously physical. [Demon foxes are really something.]

“What’s that room for?” Foxy asked, pointing to the Door at the end of the hall as if she had discovered something new.

“That? In theory it’s Irene’s room,” Yu Sheng said, glancing that way with a strange look. “But that room has a small problem now.”

“A small problem?” Foxy asked, taking out half a pack of instant noodles from her tails. She cracked the block and chewed while she listened.

“After a Door Opening, the room isn’t very stable. I have to watch it for a while,” Yu Sheng said, then finally couldn’t help twitching at the eye as Foxy kept pulling things from her tails. “How much did you stuff in there?”

“I finished bathing, passed the living room, and packed all the food Benefactor gave me inside,” Foxy said, hugging the noodles with a satisfied smile. “I didn’t touch anything else.”

Looking again at the Door at the end of the hall, she sighed with real feeling: “Benefactor’s cave abode is amazing.”

Yu Sheng stared at her bundle of tails and thought: [Your tails are way more amazing than my so-called cave abode… How did you cram all that inside? Is this the blue robot cat’s pocket?]

He mulled it over forever, then put the questions aside for now and pointed at the room across from his: “Then stay here first. It’s cluttered, but it has furniture. In a bit, help me carry the junk down to the basement. I’ll find you a clean set of bedding.”

Foxy nodded at once, bright with joy: “Okay!”

Irene crowded in too and chirped: “Okay! Moving time! I love tidying!”

“Don’t butt in,” Yu Sheng said, glancing down at the little doll, all of 66.6 cm tall. “You’re not as tall as a box. If you try to carry stuff you’ll tumble down the stairs, snap an arm or a leg, and I’ll have to fix you again.”

Irene exploded and sprang forward, kicking Yu Sheng hard in the knee: “Yu Sheng, you jerk!”

Yu Sheng yowled and jumped even higher than she had.

Foxy watched, confused for a second, then realized this was just friendly daily banter between Benefactor and Irene. Her brief worry turned into a happy smile. Then she pulled a sausage from her tails.

…

Deep in the old city, inside a plain-looking private clinic, Dr. Lin Yi, a woman with dark brown shoulder-length hair under a white coat, frowned as she examined the right arm of the girl in front of her.

Little Red Riding Hood sat across from Dr. Lin in a sleeveless T-shirt, her forearm on the table. A dark red jacket with one sleeve missing hung on the coat rack by the Door.

“Dr. Lin, is it bad?” After the doctor stayed silent for a long time, Little Red Riding Hood couldn’t help asking.

“This time it isn’t bad, but your overall condition is,” Lin Yi looked up, annoyed. “How many times has it been? You never stop getting hurt. If you keep this up, the aftereffects of your alteration won’t have any gaps. Your body and mind won’t have time to recover. You’re fine this time, but one day you won’t be.”

“I know, but it was really urgent,” Little Red Riding Hood said, eyes dodging. “We were chased by an entity above danger level three, with mental pollution. Making it out in one piece was a miracle.”

Lin Yi held the girl’s gaze for a long moment, then said nothing more. She took a sharp scalpel from the tray and drew it across her own forearm without hesitation.

At once, a cut appeared at the same spot on Little Red Riding Hood’s right arm. Black-red blood surged out, then vanished as if an unseen force absorbed it. The black lines webbed across the girl’s arm quickly faded and disappeared.

“Thank you, Dr. Lin,” Little Red Riding Hood lowered her head and said it seriously. “I’ll have the Special Affairs Bureau settle the bill and transfer it to you.”

“Forget it. I’ll count this as doing you a favor. No fee,” Lin Yi sighed, helpless, eyeing the girl. She hesitated a few seconds, then added, “I know you’re their ‘guardian,’ but save some money for yourself. Look how thin you are.”

“Got it, got it,” Little Red Riding Hood muttered, putting on an impatient face.

“It’s always those three words,” Lin Yi shook her head, tossed the scalpel into a ceramic dish, and shifted in her chair. “Since you’re here, let’s do your assessment early. When did you last ‘dream’?”

Little Red Riding Hood straightened in her seat, face turning serious at once: “Three days ago.”

“Was the viewpoint human or wolf’s perspective?”

“Two thirds human. One third wolf. There was a moment as the hunter.”

“The hunter fired at whom?”

“The wolf.”

“Good. Still fairly stable,” Lin Yi said, opening a cabinet to take out a form. She grabbed a ballpoint pen from the cup on the desk and scribbled. No ink. She grabbed another. Still no ink. She scowled. “Those two new assistants must have done it. They press like they’re carving stone…”

She dug around in her lab coat pocket until she found a working pen, then wrote in brisk strokes while continuing: “Did you see ‘Grandmother’ at the end? Human or wolf?”

“…Wolf.”

“From your face… caught?”

“Caught. But that part of the memory is messy. The last clear image is running out of the forest with the wolf pack.”

Lin Yi stopped, frowning hard, tapping the desk with her pen, irritated: “There’s still some risk. Take one vial of Intervention Agent No. 2 when you leave. Inject it intravenously before bed tonight. I’ll put it on your tab.”

“Okay.”

Lin Yi kept going with several more questions, and Little Red Riding Hood answered all of them honestly.

This was her monthly “assessment.” Everyone in Fairy Tale had to do them on schedule.

In the Borderland, there were many “doctors” who could run these checks and offer matching “treatments,” but Dr. Lin was the one she knew best.

At last the long “questionnaire” ended. Dr. Lin wrote the conclusion at the bottom: “Stable for now; observe,” then let out a long breath.

Little Red Riding Hood saw the result. She kept her face straight, but relief still softened her smile.

“So you do worry,” Lin Yi glanced at her. “If you’re that cautious, protect yourself. Don’t end up like the last Little Red Riding Hood…”

She cut herself off and said no more.

Little Red Riding Hood fell silent too. The clinic sank into a heavy quiet.

After a long time, warmth touched her hand.

Dr. Lin had placed her palm over the girl’s.

“Little Red Riding Hood, you’re not like the others. At least not like the other Fairy Tale members I’ve worked with,” the young anomalous doctor said, eyes steady and voice grave. “Your wolves… the ones you first tamed… they’re close to you. I can’t sense them like you can, but I can tell. They want to protect you.

“Because of that, your odds of getting through adulthood, even of passing Metamorphosis, are higher than the rest. But for that very reason, you can’t waste this gift just because you’re more stable. You must live first. Live longer. Understand?”

Little Red Riding Hood was quiet for a long while, then finally nodded: “…Mm.”

From the shadows at her side, several pairs of green eyes surfaced. One pair drew close. A tongue reached out from the dark and gently licked her fingers.

Lin Yi felt the change in the shadows, but didn’t look over. She stood, walked to the fridge in the corner, and took out a vial that glowed faintly.

“Here. Intervention Agent No. 2. This happens to be the last one. I’ll give it to you at half price. Settle the bill when you get paid. You already owe me a few thousand.”

“Thank you, Dr. Lin.”