Chapter 133

Chapter 133: Deep in the Forest

The moment he entered the Black Forest, Yu Sheng didn’t rush forward. He stayed still, cautious, taking a few seconds to feel the air around him.

The wolf hadn’t appeared yet. The forest was calm. Somewhere in the distance came faint wind through leaves, the movement of birds and animals. The sky still held a trace of sunset glow. Dusk hadn’t fully died. No malice pooled in the shadows.

It looked like the Black Forest hadn’t reacted yet to an intruder like him.

But what about the child who was already deeper in?

That girl named Xiao Xiao—what did her surroundings look like right now?

Would the Black Forest show each Little Red Riding Hood a different stage? Or was it divided into zones?

Questions flickered through Yu Sheng’s mind—and then he heard light footsteps beside him.

A red figure appeared: a girl in a deep red coat.

Several black wolves emerged from the shadows around her, circling and sniffing. Perhaps influenced by the Black Forest, these wolves seemed more restless than in the real world. Even the edges of their bodies trembled, unstable.

And around Little Red Riding Hood herself, it was as if a thin layer of shadow clung to her and refused to disperse. Her dark red coat looked faintly shifting in the gloom, as if another body—or another stance—was overlapping her.

Yu Sheng stared for a moment. “Just looking at you, I can tell you’re not in a great state.”

Little Red Riding Hood jerked and snapped her head around like she’d seen a ghost.

Yu Sheng jumped too. “Uh. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Sorry.” Little Red Riding Hood exhaled, awkward, then looked away. “Normally, in the Black Forest, besides Squirrel, I don’t hear any human voices. I forgot for a second that you came in too.”

“…Okay,” Yu Sheng said. “That makes sense.”

“So you really came in?!” She looked him up and down again, disbelief written all over her face. “This is the first time I’ve seen anyone in here besides myself.”

“Of course I did,” Yu Sheng said. “I’m not lying.”

He lifted his gaze slightly and called Irene’s name in his mind. Irene, we’re inside. How are things on your side?

Her voice answered almost immediately, clear in his head. It sounded like she’d gotten used to this strange line of contact. It’s better if I stay outside and watch things. I have to monitor all three of you in the real world, and pass updates to the others outside. Last time I jumped in to find you because it was special. This time we should play it safe.

“All right.” Yu Sheng nodded faintly. Then he remembered something. Right—speaking of Foxy. Can you bring her in too?

…What are you trying to do?

Yu Sheng’s thoughts turned half-serious, half ridiculous. Like, cyber fox immortal sweeping through children’s literature or something.

Irene sighed as if she’d been expecting it. Stop dreaming. I tried once when I went in to find you last time. I can’t bring her in. That place is special. To enter, you need a specific fit. Either you’re like you and Little Red Riding Hood—already linked to the Black Forest—or you’re like me, someone who can travel through dreams, and even then I still need you inside to run the matching summoning route. Other people can’t get in.

She paused, then added dryly. Think about it. If Silly Fox could come in with me, do you think you would’ve gotten eaten by wolves last time? She would’ve rushed in and carpet-bombed the whole Black Forest.

Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched despite himself.

He cut off contact for now and reached into the air thoughtfully.

A phantom door formed in front of him. It opened a thin crack, but on the other side there wasn’t any real place—only darkness he couldn’t see through.

If brute force could work even here, then the Black Forest’s filtering mechanism wasn’t flawless. And if he could open a door inside the Black Forest at all, then—

There was still a way to force a channel between the Black Forest and the real world, even while ignoring the filter.

Little Red Riding Hood watched him go blank, then thoughtful, then open a door just to test it. At last she couldn’t take the silence anymore. “What are you doing?”

“Prepping for crushing poisonous children’s literature someday,” Yu Sheng said casually, and waved the phantom door away. “But that’s complicated. Not now.”

He looked around, frowning. “Real work first. We need to find the child named Xiao Xiao. I don’t recognize this place—where do you think she might be?”

“From an old hand’s experience?” Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. “Even an old hand doesn’t have that kind of experience. This is the first time. Two Little Red Riding Hood entering at the same time, and one of them even brought a friend.”

She kept walking, eyes scanning the trees. “You should know how the story is written. She walks alone down the path.”

“Alone,” Yu Sheng murmured. “Squirrel kept stressing that line too.”

He glanced around. “Speaking of Squirrel—where is it?”

“I’m looking,” Little Red Riding Hood said. Even the wolf pack around her shifted and sniffed, uneasy. “Normally it shows up quickly.”

“Could it be with Xiao Xiao?” Yu Sheng thought. “She came in before us. In theory, Squirrel would contact her first. It should still be guiding her.”

Little Red Riding Hood frowned and nodded like the logic made sense.

Then a sudden rustle cut through the quiet.

A small, fluffy shape climbed out of the bushes and stared straight at them.

Two seconds later, it let out a sharp, squealing “Gao!” and dropped off a thin branch with a plop, landing in a heap of rotten leaves.

Yu Sheng jolted. “What the hell—did it die the moment it showed up?!”

Squirrel sprang out immediately, completely unharmed, and began shrieking at the top of its lungs. “Squirrel is crazy! Squirrel is crazy! I saw something impossible!”

“When did the Black Forest get this lively—one, two, even three!”

“Little Red Riding Hood, and friend!”

“Together! You scared Squirrel! You scared Squirrel!”

It sprinted in frantic circles through the underbrush for a full two minutes, then suddenly stopped. It dashed up to Yu Sheng, stared at him for two seconds, then ran to Little Red Riding Hood’s feet and looked up with a dramatic little gasp.

Little Red Riding Hood kicked it without hesitation. “Calm down!”

Squirrel let out a high squeak and vanished into the bushes.

Yu Sheng just stared, dumbfounded. He’d barely processed the screaming, and now the kick.

He turned to Little Red Riding Hood. “Wasn’t that a bit rough?”

“It’s the most effective way,” she said flatly. “If it gets overstimulated, it goes hysterical. If you don’t hit it with something big, it’ll keep going forever.”

As if to prove her point, the bushes rustled again. Squirrel crawled back out, looking perfectly fine. In its paws was a thin stick already lit. It leaned against a small rock, stuck the stick into its mouth, took a long drag with dramatic little hisses, and finally sighed.

“That was intense…”

Little Red Riding Hood glanced at Yu Sheng. “See?”

Yu Sheng had no words.

Squirrel, now visibly calmer, finished its ultra-thin cigarette in record time. Then it looked up at Yu Sheng as if nothing had happened and started talking normally.

“We’re looking for someone,” Yu Sheng said. “A child who came in before us. Around six years old, about this tall—”

“She might be the next one,” Little Red Riding Hood cut in. “But she’s very likely already lost in the forest. We need your help.”

Squirrel’s shiny black eyes stared up at them. It tossed the cigarette butt—burned down to the end—into its mouth, chewed, and swallowed. After a long moment, it sighed.

“Then you might be a step too late. She’s already at the deepest part of the Black Forest, where the path’s streetlights and the little house’s candlelight can’t reach.”

It looked between them, tail twitching.

“She walked in by herself.”