Chapter 125

Chapter 125: Dinner

After sending the message, Yu Sheng went downstairs and started cooking while he waited. Little Red Riding Hood was always online. Even in class, her wolf carried her phone so she could catch new messages the second they came in.

For a long while, there was no reply.

Yu Sheng wasn’t worried. That girl would get back to him.

He quickly fried the meat sauce, then used the time while the water heated to slice a big plate of shredded cucumber. Zhajiang noodles were simple and fast, and Foxy liked them, too.

The kitchen door creaked open. A pair of fluffy white ears poked in first, twitching twice in the air. Yu Sheng turned his head and saw the young fox girl sniffing around, eyes bright.

“It’ll be ready soon. We’re having zhajiang noodles tonight,” he said casually. Then he glanced at the nine-tailed fox behind her. Her tails were whipping so fast they practically left afterimages. “Hungry?”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help wondering how she managed to swing nine tails in every direction at once without tangling them into a knot.

Foxy nodded hard. Her tails fanned out into a silver-white wall behind her.

From the dining hall, Yu Sheng faintly heard Irene yelp, “What the hell—why is there wind in here?!”

Yu Sheng scooped a small bowl of sauce, grabbed a cucumber, and handed them to the demon fox girl, whose eyes were practically glowing. “Take these and eat. And don’t bring the bowl back later—use it to get your rice.”

Foxy bounced out happily with her prize.

Almost at the same time, Yu Sheng felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. A pleasant ringtone followed.

He pulled it out and, unsurprisingly, saw Little Red Riding Hood’s name. She hadn’t texted. She’d called.

Yu Sheng answered. He’d barely lifted the phone to his ear when a tense, urgent voice rushed through. “I wrote a really long message, but I figured I should call so I can explain it clearly. What is going on? Everything you said—was that real?”

“I didn’t make any of it up, and you know that,” Yu Sheng said, already expecting her reaction. His voice stayed calm. “Don’t panic. Listen to me. Do you remember what happened in the museum?”

On the other end, she froze for a beat, then said quickly, “Yes. Of course I remember.”

“Your shadowspawn had a Big Bad Wolf crawl out of it and bite me. Remember?” Yu Sheng tucked the phone between his neck and shoulder and tossed a handful of noodles into the boiling pot. As he rinsed the cutting board and knife, he spoke like he was talking about the weather. “It touched your blood—and swallowed it.”

Little Red Riding Hood didn’t speak.

“It probably wasn’t much, and it went in indirectly, so you haven’t reacted yet,” Yu Sheng continued. “But from my experience, it’s going to ‘take effect’ sooner or later. As for right now… it looks like I connected to the ‘curse’ on you first. Or, to put it another way…”

He paused, thinking, then said, “I connected to the part of you that belongs to the wolf.”

Silence. Only her suddenly faster breathing came through the speaker.

She was smart. As a spirit realm detective, she should have understood what he meant, but she still sounded shaken.

“Look, you ended up ‘taking a bite’ in the end, even if it was an accident,” Yu Sheng said, stirring the noodles and watching the clock. “Relax. It won’t hurt you. Before anything else, I want to talk about that black forest.”

After a long pause, she finally asked, “What do you want to know?”

Her voice carried the helplessness of someone resigning herself to the inevitable.

“That Squirrel,” Yu Sheng said. “Do you know where it came from?”

“I… don’t know. When I first fell into the forest, it was already there,” Little Red Riding Hood said. “I was a mess back then. I don’t remember how it appeared.” She hesitated, then added, “It told me a lot about the black forest. In my judgment, it’s probably a special entity produced by the forest itself—another expression of the ‘fairy tale’ rules.”

She took another breath, as if arranging her thoughts. “There have to be bad guys who hurt a child, and there have to be friends who help a child. That’s how fairy tales work. You… understand, right?”

“That part’s easy,” Yu Sheng said. “I didn’t stay in the black forest long, but I could feel its pattern.” He hesitated. “Also, the Squirrel got eaten by the wolf. Things were chaotic, and I didn’t stop it. If it’s something the forest generates, it’ll be fine… right?”

“Don’t worry,” Little Red Riding Hood replied, confirming what Yu Sheng had suspected. “It’s been eaten by the wolf more than once. Including me—I’ve been caught plenty of times. The Squirrel will be fine. Next time, it’ll show up near the path again.”

Yu Sheng murmured an “Mm.” Then he asked bluntly, “Tell me the truth. Are you about to have a big problem?”

“…The Squirrel told you that?” she said after a beat.

“It talked in circles, but it wasn’t hard to understand,” Yu Sheng said. He turned off the fire, rinsed the noodles in cold water, and leaned against the cabinet. “The black forest is swallowing you little by little, and you’re not the first Little Red Riding Hood. That’s the curse you mentioned?”

He didn’t wait for her to answer. “What happens next? Is it the same for the other Fairy Tale members?”

Little Red Riding Hood stayed silent.

Yu Sheng didn’t push, not right away. After a few seconds, he asked quietly, “How much time do you have left?”

More silence. Then, at last, she said, “…Next month. My eighteenth birthday.”

Yu Sheng drew in a sharp breath.

He’d expected it to be bad. He hadn’t expected it to be this bad.

“I might not die,” Little Red Riding Hood hurried to add. “Dr. Lin said my case is the best one. The chances of me making it through adulthood are high. And I’ve been hiding well. The number of times I’ve been caught by that wolf—”

“The Squirrel said the most dangerous thing isn’t getting caught,” Yu Sheng cut in, his tone suddenly grave. “It’s becoming part of the pack.”

He steadied himself. “We need to meet and talk. I need to know everything about that forest—not just that forest, but Fairy Tale itself.”

“As I understand it, Fairy Tale includes more than one black forest, right?”

The line went quiet again. After a few seconds, her voice came back, softer. “Why do you care so much?”

She sounded conflicted, like she was choosing her words carefully. “This has nothing to do with you in the first place. I don’t mean anything else. I’m just… curious.”

Yu Sheng thought for a moment. “We’re sort of friends, aren’t we?”

“We’ve only known each other for a few days,” she said seriously. “If you don’t count what happened in the valley, we’ve worked together once. I don’t think that counts as a bond. Not enough for you to care this much.”

“You’re young. Don’t be so rigid,” Yu Sheng said, half-amused. “I’m an adult. I’m allowed to be more flexible. I do what I want. I don’t need that many reasons. Besides, you’ve helped me a lot.”

He added, dry, “And your wolf crawled out of your shadowspawn and bit me once. Now I’m tied up with that black forest too. What am I supposed to do—pretend it’s not my problem?”

That, at least, seemed to land.

After a brief silence, the girl sighed. “Fair. Then let’s meet tomorrow. I’ll send you an address. It’s our home. You can… come see us.”

“Okay,” Yu Sheng said.

The call ended.

Yu Sheng stood by the stove for a few seconds, staring at nothing. Then he sighed and picked up the basin of noodles.

“Dinner’s ready,” he called. “Foxy, come help carry things.”

“Yeah!”

Dinner time.

Little Red Riding Hood set her phone down and stood there in a daze. A moment later, someone patted her from behind.

“What are you spacing out for?” A short girl with ear-length hair looked up at her. “Dinner’s ready. Come help.”

Only then did Little Red Riding Hood snap back. She lifted her eyes to the long table.

The youngest kids were already seated neatly at the far end. The older children carried dishes back and forth. Beside the steaming soup pot, Cinderella and Dorothy ladled soup with easy smiles, all while keeping an eye out for any overly mischievous brother or sister trying to crawl under the table.

Night had already fallen. By the rules, the councilor’s office employee who helped during the day had left before sunset. After dark was when Fairy Tale was most active. Those “employees” had training, but unless it was necessary, they weren’t required to risk entering the orphanage after nightfall.

Little Red Riding Hood exhaled and went over to correct the chopstick grip of one of the youngest kids. At the same time, she kept part of her attention on the little girl sitting at the end of the table.

That child looked six or seven. Cute, with black hair that curled slightly on its own. She wore an old dress and sat tight-lipped among children her age, stiff and wary.

Little Red Riding Hood hadn’t gone to school that afternoon. She’d taken a half-day off.

A new child had arrived today, and as a “guardian,” she had to come back and oversee the welcome.