Chapter 121

Chapter 121: Little House

The squirrel’s jittery nagging made Yu Sheng tilt his head and listen outside the Little House, but he heard only distant, thin wind.

The fire snapped and popped in the hearth. The wind beyond the door and window was so faint it was hard to catch. Those soft sounds made everything feel even quieter, a peaceful calm filling the candlelight of the Little House.

The layout was simple. Right inside the door stood a square table covered with a blue plaid cloth and two chairs beside it. A wooden shelf full of odds and ends rested against the far wall, with a wardrobe as tall as a person next to it. In the corner stood a single bed with a thick quilt that looked very comfortable.

On the left wall just inside the door was a window. In its glass, the fire and candle flames flickered, along with the hopping silhouette of the squirrel.

Yu Sheng walked to the window and looked outside carefully. The old wood floor creaked under his feet. Beyond the glass lay only the heavy night of the Forest. It should be just after dusk. A trace of daylight still clung to the sky, but the thick canopy blocked what little light there was. Under the branches, everything was shadow.

[Maybe it was just in his head, but he felt countless cold eyes hiding in those shadows. Predators seemed to crouch in the night, circling the Little House and waiting for a chance.]

“Stop looking, stop looking,” the squirrel said as it paced the tabletop with its paws behind its back. “The more you look, the more scared you get. In the dark, the things you imagine crawl out. And here, you can only imagine wolves. Oh, nuts!”

It suddenly spotted a plate of acorns. It bounced over, grabbed one, then turned and asked: “Want one? Good stuff!”

“No, thanks,” Yu Sheng said, waving it off. He put more of his attention into the Little House itself. He noticed the same red scraps and strings inside, like a protective charm. Red Talisman Strings and cloth were tied to the door and window, and hung under the roof beams. Torn bits and loose threads lay in a messy heap in a corner.

The squirrel hopped down, scurried to that corner, and rummaged until it found a long red strip. It wrapped it around itself in a clumsy loop and chirped: “Good luck, good luck!”

“What are you doing?” Yu Sheng asked, curious.

“Doing something lucky,” said the squirrel, swaddled in red, looking silly yet proud. “Red is a lucky color. A squirrel needs a lucky color, especially a squirrel as cute as me. Ugh, how does this house not even have wine… I’m a little thirsty.”

It scampered back onto the table, tapped an acorn hard against the wood, and bent to nibble.

Thinking a moment, Yu Sheng sat down in a chair and looked at the squirrel: “Can you tell me about Little Red Riding Hood?”

“Which one? Which one do you mean?” the squirrel asked, raising its head. Candlelight shone in its eyes. “Oh, I guess you mean the recent one, the one who’s still alive. But why should I tell you, you random lord?”

“I’m her friend, and I want to know about her,” he said patiently. He knew the squirrel was touchy and hard to handle, but he could wait. “You helped me just now. I think you’re a good squirrel. Maybe you’ll keep helping me and my friend.”

“Good squirrel-now you’re talking,” the squirrel said, pleased, and paced a couple of steps. “But I don’t know where to start. What is there to say? I don’t know how she lives outside, and I don’t really get what she thinks. I only remember that when she first came, she was about…”

It glanced around the room, then pointed a paw at the chair: “About this tall. A little higher than the chair back. She cried in the pitch-black Forest, didn’t know how to find the path, didn’t know how to hide. I came out to talk to her, and all she could say was that she’d never run off again. Then? Then a wolf ate her in a blink. Wolves are fast. The more you fear them, the bigger they get.”

It waved a paw, unhappy with the memory, then changed tone and went on: “She was awful at first, but later she got better. The wolves grabbed her many times. She cried even more. But soon she could cry while running after me toward the light. Later, she learned to cry without making a sound. Later still, she learned not to cry. Then she said she found an Organization. I didn’t remember exactly what she called it. Anyway… she seemed to learn a lot.”

The squirrel slowed and fell into thought.

Yu Sheng waited, then gently asked after a few seconds: “And then?”

“Don’t rush, don’t rush, I’m just a squirrel. Let me think… The earlier Little Red Riding Hoods were similar. Right, she learned a lot, like setting traps while hiding, like how to recover her humanity quickly after being eaten, like lying low to watch the Wolf Pack’s patterns. One day she caught a wolf. Then a second. Then a third,” it said. “Wolves caught her. She caught wolves. Sometimes she won, sometimes she got eaten. Little by little, she became part of this Forest. Later, she could spend most nights here safely, but she got bound to this place tighter and tighter. Sometimes she even got a bit like a wolf, grew claws and a tail, and ran in the dark outside. Now Hunters show up by the path and wake her with gunfire. With more Hunters around, sometimes she feels like a Hunter herself.”

The squirrel tugged the red strip on its body, then lifted its gaze to meet Yu Sheng’s eyes. In those candlelit pupils, a human glimmer flickered.

“You have to help her,” it said. “Her state is getting worse. The other Little Red Riding Hoods were the same. They get used to the Forest and slowly become it. The more she turns into a wolf, the harder it is to go back. The fiercest Big Bad Wolf is getting closer and closer to her, but for her the most dangerous moment is never when the Big Bad Wolf opens its mouth. It’s when she grows her own fangs. You’re her friend, right? You’re her friend. You have to help her!”

Yu Sheng took in every word and asked at once: “What should I do? How can I help her?”

“I don’t know,” the squirrel said, shrinking back with a frustrated whine as its paws twisted together. “I’m just a darn squirrel…”

“Would killing the ‘Evil Wolf’ work?” Yu Sheng asked, not giving up.

“It won’t,” the squirrel said sadly, shaking its head. “It always comes back. When Little Red Riding Hood arrives, the Evil Wolf arrives. That’s how things are in this Forest. As long as there’s Little Red Riding Hood, there will be wolves, there will be Grandma, there will be Hunters, there will be a long path. At the end of the road there’s a Little House that might be safe or might not. All of it is already set. Killing them again and again doesn’t work. Only when Little Red Riding Hood disappears does the Forest fall quiet for a while…

“Quiet for a while, until a new Little Red Riding Hood appears.”

“There have been many Little Red Riding Hoods, right?” Yu Sheng asked the question that had been on his mind. “When one dies, a new victim comes in. Which number is she? When did the first one appear?”

“There’s always a new one, always, because the Forest needs Little Red Riding Hood,” the squirrel said, and suddenly shivered. “I… I can’t remember the exact number. Don’t ask me. Don’t ask. I’m just a squirrel. Say too much, and the wolves will come.”

[Something about the squirrel’s reaction was strange.] [It wasn’t just afraid of wolves. It feared something else.] But the nervous little animal refused more questions. It just circled the tabletop again and again, like it had fallen into a stress loop.

Right then, Yu Sheng felt a tug in his chest.

Next came a faint call.

It was muffled and far away, but when he focused, it snapped into clarity. Irene was calling him from within.

“Yu Sheng! Yu Sheng, where did you fall asleep? Answer me!” the voice rang in his mind.

“Irene?” he answered at once inside. “Finally, I hear you. I called you earlier and you didn’t answer.”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you now! Finally found you!” the little Doll blurted, her voice bright with relief as words tumbled out: “I heard you and hurried to find you, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t find you in your dream, even though I could tell you were dreaming, but I couldn’t link to your mind. It was like your dream got lost… Hey, Foxy, stop shaking me, I found your ‘benefactor’ already-Foxy’s right here, fur all puffed up and making me dizzy. She wanted to do some Spirit Summoning Ritual for you. We’re next to your bed, and, uh, not gonna lie, it looks like a viewing. You look so peaceful lying there… Ow ow ow, Silly Fox bit me!”

Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched as he listened to the doll’s chatter, feeling a wave of mixed emotions.

[That familiar annoying tone felt weirdly comforting, like thunder right overhead.]