Chapter 120

Chapter 120: The Temptation of the Forest

Squirrel looked shaken. The tiny rodent froze on the railing as if it had been turned to stone, glossy black eyes fixed on Yu Sheng, unmoving for a long time.

Being stared at by a talking squirrel was unsettling.

Yu Sheng couldn’t help feeling curious. What was this thing’s background, really?

If this black forest was the “fairy tale otherworld” Little Red Riding Hood had mentioned—the one that had cursed her—then was Squirrel an entity born from that otherworld?

[An entity with emotions and reason that rich?]

[Were those wolves entities from the otherworld too?]

[In the same otherworld, could there really be beings with completely opposite stances?]

Yu Sheng realized he still understood far too little about this place.

Squirrel finally snapped out of its daze and paced along the railing, its thick tail sweeping restlessly. “Weird. Weird! This has never happened—never!

“Only Little Red Riding Hood can come here. I’ve never heard of anything like a ‘friend’… Too weird—something unprecedented is happening in the forest! Something’s going to happen, I can feel it… How did you get in? How did you get in, exactly?”

Squirrel suddenly jumped onto Yu Sheng’s arm and clutched his sleeve with its claws, nearly frantic. “How did you get in? How did you get in?”

“…I don’t know.” Yu Sheng shook his head.

He didn’t tell Squirrel the truth. Once he realized this seemingly rational, friendly creature might also be nothing more than an “entity” spawned by the black forest, he had to keep part of his guard up.

He still didn’t understand the rules of this forest. Who knew whether Squirrel’s stance came from real reason, or was only a convincing “simulation” created by the black forest?

Squirrel scrambled up to Yu Sheng’s shoulder. “You don’t know… Fine. You don’t know. Then tell me—did you ever listen to bedtime stories? Did you ever have a dream with a forest, little flowers, and candy? Did you?”

Yu Sheng’s thoughts stirred. [So Little Red Riding Hood entered this forest after hearing a bedtime story and having that kind of dream?]

Squirrel looked even more restless. “It’s always like that. Always. But only kids do that. Grown-ups don’t. Grown-ups shouldn’t…”

Yu Sheng frowned. “Why do you say that?”

“How would I know? I’m just a damn squirrel!” Squirrel grew more agitated, rubbing its face with its paws as it spoke rapidly. “No time to chat—the lights are dimming. This road is about to disappear. We have to reach the next safe place… Go, go, hurry, before they catch up…”

As soon as Squirrel said it, Yu Sheng noticed the fantastical streetlights on both sides of the path were fading at a visible rate. With every lamp that dimmed, the forest trail it outlined blurred right along with it, as if the forest’s own darkness was slowly swallowing it whole. A cold, sticky malice seeped into the little road, and danger spread in from every direction.

Yu Sheng started walking on instinct, asking quickly as he moved, “Which way? Where are we going?”

Squirrel’s voice went thin and tense. “Just follow the road. Keep walking along the path, and you’ll see other trails with streetlights, or you’ll see the light from a little house. The little house is sometimes dangerous, but sometimes it lets you catch your breath.

“But you have to be careful. Be careful of the things that tempt you from both sides of the path. When the lights dim, those things will lure you off the road and into the depths of the forest. That’s a trap the wolves set…”

Yu Sheng immediately remembered Squirrel’s earlier warning: don’t let the pretty little flowers and mushrooms steal your attention.

“Don’t worry. I won’t get distracted by wildflowers and mushrooms,” he said, quickening his pace. “I’m not a kid.”

Even as he said it, Yu Sheng couldn’t help thinking, [If a child were trapped in this endless black forest, what would happen?

When had Little Red Riding Hood first fallen into this forest? How old was she then?

Had she ever been lured by roadside wildflowers and mushrooms, and stepped off the path?

Squirrel made it sound like being hunted by the wolf pack could happen more than once. A child trapped in this forest would sink deeper under Big Bad Wolf’s repeated hunts. Even someone like me struggles to avoid those wolves. A panicked kid might have to be swallowed countless times before gaining power like Little Red Riding Hood’s…]

Squirrel muttered, “I just hope you don’t get tempted. In the dark, there’s always something that confuses you. The forest has a way. It always has a way…”

Yu Sheng kept walking, eyes forward, but his peripheral vision stayed alert.

Then he suddenly stopped short.

In the dim shadows by the path, Yu Sheng caught a glint. When he looked closer, he saw a brand-new model 090 graphics card lying quietly in the grass.

He blinked—and saw a brand-new laptop lying beside it, along with a co-branded elite sixth-gen smart feedback game controller with an RGB light kit and a carrying bag.

Yu Sheng rubbed his eyes, and then saw even more: hanging from a nearby tree was a limited-edition boxed eighteen-piece electric tool expert set, along with whole cases of wild ice red tea and a carbon fiber fishing rod set…

On the other side of the path came the rushing sound of water. Yu Sheng turned his head and saw an open pond. By the pond was a stone nook barely big enough to block wind and rain, set up with a folding chair, a tackle box, half a case of beer, a sun umbrella, and a fisherman packing up as if he was about to leave.

Squirrel stood on Yu Sheng’s shoulder and stared until it went slack-jawed, its glossy eyes almost bulging out. “What the hell is all this?!”

[An adult’s wildflowers and mushrooms,] Yu Sheng thought, and he almost had to slap himself to drag his gaze away. He lowered his head and ground his teeth as he forced himself forward. “Too dangerous. This forest is too damn dangerous…”

He walked for who knew how long, and who knew how many sinister, vicious temptation traps appeared along both sides of the path. Eventually the illusion tricks stopped showing up—only because the roadside lights had dimmed to the point of near extinction. A few hazy points of light, like fireflies, still floated in the air, barely outlining the path.

Deep in the dense forest ahead, Yu Sheng saw a faint light.

“There, there! A place to rest!” Squirrel instantly sprang up on his shoulder, letting out an excited shriek. “Hurry, hurry—I hope there’s a warm fire and a steaming bowl of vegetable soup.”

Yu Sheng unconsciously sped up.

The streetlights beside him had gone completely out. Darkness closed in again, the forest’s malice whispering in the wind, carrying a distant, muffled wolf howl.

The howls were drawing closer. Once the path vanished, the invisible Big Bad Wolves would catch the scent of prey again. A new encirclement slowly formed, tightening around the uninvited guests in the forest.

But Yu Sheng reached that warm patch of light—and he saw a little house.

A wooden cabin that looked old stood quietly in the depths of the forest.

Warm light spilled from its windows. In a forest this dark and cold, it felt impossibly cozy.

Yu Sheng came up to the door and saw a torn strip of red cloth hanging there, along with many red cords wrapped around the doorframe, the window lattice, and the timber under the eaves. He couldn’t tell whether they had some special meaning or were simply decorations.

Squirrel spoke fast, almost tripping over its own words. “Don’t rush in. Go to the door—there’s a crack, see it? Lean in. You’ll be able to see the bed inside. Check if anyone’s on it. If there’s no one, the little house is safe and we can go in and rest. But if Grandmother is inside, we’ll have to keep going deeper into the forest.”

Yu Sheng frowned and followed Squirrel’s instructions. He peered through the crack.

A warm fire burned in the fireplace. On a plain wooden table sat bread, a bouquet of flowers, and candles. The bed was deeper inside the room, and there was no one on it.

“No one’s inside,” Yu Sheng said.

Squirrel brightened at once. “That’s great, we can go in. How lucky—we can rest in there for a long time, maybe even until you wake up!”

Yu Sheng nodded. As the wolf howls in the distance grew clearer and closer, he reached out and pushed open the wooden door.

The howls almost vanished in an instant.

Yu Sheng and Squirrel walked into the little house and shut the door behind them.

The light and heat from the fireplace drove away the anxiety and oppression the forest brought, as if by some impossible force. The crackling fire gave off a warmth that felt almost unreal, and Yu Sheng’s tightly wound nerves loosened without him noticing.

Squirrel noticed the change on Yu Sheng’s face and lightly hopped onto the nearby table. “Relax. Relax a little. A little house without Grandmother is the only place in the forest where you can completely let your guard down… I just hope we don’t suddenly hear footsteps, or a knock…”