Chapter 118

Chapter 118: Inside the Forest

This time, Yu Sheng fell asleep very fast. He had burned up too much energy, and once the rush faded, he hit the bed and slipped into sleep almost at once.

He drifted through a string of strange, shallow dreams with details he could barely recall.

Half-awake, he felt like his mind was floating above a misty sheet of water. Looking down through it, he saw himself lying on the bed. He saw Wutong Road 66. He saw Irene fiddling with the TV remote. He saw Foxy by the sink scrubbing her tails, then hanging them out one by one on the balcony clothesline in a neat row.

Yu Sheng slowly lost track of what was real and what was not. He could not tell if he was just dreaming, or if he had actually “seen” those scenes. His mind drifted for a long time, then in the deepening fog he suddenly felt something solid press against his back.

He snapped his eyes open.

The first thing he saw was a ring of towering trees.

An endless Forest. Trees without number. The thick canopy wove together overhead, blocking a muddled sky. Under the leaves, it was dim like dusk. Dark vines twisted through the Dense Forest. Shrubs ran wild across the Open Ground. Unknown flowers and grasses grew thick, yet all wore a grayish film. They crawled over the Open Ground between huge trunks.

Confused, Yu Sheng sat up. Beneath him was a deep layer of fallen leaves and soft rot.

As he moved, the boundless Dense Forest seemed to wake up. He heard the calls of birds and beasts he could not name. Something dashed through the Open Ground. Wings beat in the canopy. Far away, a howl rose and fell. It was a wolf’s howl, but there was something off about it, almost like a human voice.

Yu Sheng paused as his head cleared. A thought popped up: [Good grief, where did I end up after this nap?]

Was this a dream? Or had he slipped into another strange Otherworld? He pinched his thigh and felt a numb, dull pain. He tried calling to Irene in his mind, but only a hollow whoosh answered him, like wind blowing through a Valley.

All the odd signs put him on high alert.

He reached into the air. A moment later, a faintly glowing, ghostly Door shimmered into view.

Good. The Door still worked.

He let out a breath, waved the Door away, pulled himself together, and walked forward with care.

First, he needed to figure out where he was.

He could tell this was not the same as Night Valley. He was probably still dreaming, but this was not any normal dream. He could not say how it connected to the Otherworld, yet he was sure this Forest did not belong in his own dreams.

His boots sank into the thick rot with a soft rustle. Step after careful step, he went a long way. He crossed a small patch of Open Ground and climbed over two fallen trunks, but the view never changed. The Forest felt endless. Walking on two legs seemed useless here.

Just then, a faint rustling reached his ears.

He tensed at once and spun toward the sound.

A big, fluffy Squirrel stood on a dry, broken stump nearby, staring at him with shiny black eyes.

It looked like a small forest animal, curious enough to leave its hiding place and check out the uninvited guest.

The mood around him was eerie, but the harmless, cute Squirrel still made Yu Sheng breathe out in relief. He even smiled at it.

The Squirrel flicked its big tail across the stump and squeaked in a thin voice: “Do not leave the path…”

Yu Sheng’s smile froze. A second later his eyes went wide: “Whoa! It talked!”

“I was not done,” the Squirrel smacked the stump with its tail and stood up straight as it said: “What was the next line… oh, do not let the pretty flowers and mushrooms distract you, hurry back to the path so you can get home safe before dark. There, you need a cute little sing-song at the end too. Way too cute.”

“…”

The Squirrel hugged its front paws and stared at him with pride. Yu Sheng pinched his thigh hard again, like he needed to confirm he had not imagined that voice. What did that adorable little creature just say?

The Squirrel grew impatient. Seeing Yu Sheng still standing there, it thumped the stump a few more times with its tail and snapped: “Move. Do not just stand there and die in the Black Forest on your first step.”

Yu Sheng was sure he had not misheard. But instead of doing what the Squirrel said and getting back on the path, he walked over, curious and full of questions: “Who are you? What is this place?”

“Are you blind? I am a Squirrel,” it said, not scared at all, locking eyes with him as it added: “And you cannot tell what this is? The Forest. The Black Forest. A big Black Forest without an edge. Why do you look so clueless.”

While it talked, the tough-mouthed but cute Squirrel scooted a few steps and glanced around, like it was searching for something. It muttered: “So weird… the current one is not dead yet, so why did a new one show up… is the current one about to die? But why is this new one a man…”

Something in Yu Sheng’s chest gave a little jolt. He blurted out: “Die? Who is about to die?”

“Little Red Riding Hood,” the Squirrel said as it wiped its face with a paw, like it was nothing, “not sure which one… the eighteenth? Or the twenty eighth Little Red Riding Hood…?”

Yu Sheng’s eyes flew open. His heartbeat kicked into a faster rhythm. His mind leaped ahead. He looked up at the endless Forest and tilted his head, listening to that blurred, strange howl.

A familiar nursery tune hummed in his head. A small figure in a Red Cloak. A child walking along a path in the woods. Flowers and mushrooms deep in the Dense Forest, tempting her onward. And the Evil Wolf.

A sharp sting and a bit of heat pricked his shoulder. He glanced down to see fresh blood seeping through his shirt. The bright red spread slowly, a jarring color in this dim gray Forest.

That was where the Evil Wolf had bitten him when it crawled out of Little Red Riding Hood’s shadow during Night at the Museum.

The blood faded again, but Yu Sheng now understood what had happened.

His blood had formed a link with Little Red Riding Hood. Maybe the wolf that hunted her counted as part of her too. So this place was actually her dream?

His thoughts raced, but the Squirrel suddenly yelped and cut him off: “No. No no.”

Yu Sheng jumped: “What is wrong?”

“The current Little Red Riding Hood is not dead. It is not even close,” the Squirrel cried, hopping on the stump in a small panic: “The wolf has not caught her. The wolf is still searching in the Forest. Who are you? How the heck did you get in here?”

The last line sounded oddly familiar to Yu Sheng, but he let it go and spoke fast: “I am her friend. What did you just say? You said Little Red Riding Hood will die. And you said which number. What do you mean?”

“Friend? From where? She walks alone on the path. In the Forest, Little Red Riding Hood has no friends,” the Squirrel burst out, springing up and down the stump as it said: “This is wrong. The Forest is not supposed to change. If it changes, it gets even harder to handle. Do not make things hard for a Squirrel. The Squirrel is already busy. This place…”

It stopped, head tilted, listening.

Yu Sheng started to ask: “What…”

“Shh,” the Squirrel lifted a paw very humanly and hushed him: “Listen. The wolves stopped howling.”

Silence fell over the Forest. The far-off howls had faded. Even the nearby birds and small animals went quiet.

A strange, heavy stillness pressed down on everything.

Yu Sheng’s nerves pulled tight. The next second, the Squirrel sprang off the stump, shot up onto his shoulder like lightning, and shrieked: “Run. The wolf is coming!”

The sudden move startled him, but his body had already reacted. He turned and sprinted. Only then did the chill catch up, seeping into his bones like ice. A crushing wave of malice and the promise of death rolled over him, battering his mind. It mingled with the wind that roared in his ears and chased his pounding steps.

The wolf was here.