Chapter 134

Chapter 134: Little House in the Darkness

Once it calmed down, Squirrel began telling Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood what had happened.

“She came in a few hours ago. At first I didn’t even notice—she didn’t cry or fuss, nothing like the other kids who come in,” Squirrel said from Yu Sheng’s shoulder, sounding almost offended by the child’s composure. “This might be the first time she’s truly entered the Black Forest, but before today, she’s probably been having nightmares about the Black Forest for a long time…”

“Which way did she go?” Little Red Riding Hood cut in. “Take us there.”

“This way.” Squirrel raised a paw and pointed. Then it shook its head, ears flattening. “But I don’t think there’s any point. It’s too deep over there. No path, no little house lights. No shelter in the dark. You’ll just get swallowed by wolves for nothing…”

Little Red Riding Hood was already moving. “We’ll decide that ourselves.”

“Hey—hey—you…” Squirrel shouted, bouncing on Yu Sheng’s shoulder. Then it lowered its voice, anxious. “You don’t actually not know your own situation, do you?”

Little Red Riding Hood stopped and glanced back. “I know.”

They walked toward the deeper forest. Squirrel hopped from Yu Sheng’s shoulder to Little Red Riding Hood’s and kept chattering the whole way, tight with nerves.

“You’re taking a risk!”

“Walking toward a place with no light will definitely run into a wolf pack!”

“Even Big Bad Wolf will find you soon!”

“At least rest on the path or in a little house for a few minutes! Get your state back—especially you, Little Red Riding Hood! You need to stabilize!”

“You there, lord—aren’t you her friend?! Talk her out of it!”

“I swear you’re all bullying one tiny Squirrel!”

“Nobody cares what a Squirrel thinks!”

“Why is this world so cruel to Squirrel—especially a Squirrel as cute as me!”

Little Red Riding Hood grabbed the noisy rodent without breaking stride. “You’re loud. If you keep this up, I’ll throw you into the bushes—the thorny kind.”

Squirrel shut up instantly.

A few seconds later, it muttered, sulky, “You can’t go down the road of giving up on yourself.”

“I’m not giving up,” Little Red Riding Hood said. Her lips pressed tight, voice steady. “I mean it. I’m calmer than I’ve ever been. Calmer than any dream entry in recent times.”

Squirrel stared at her like it didn’t recognize her, then glanced at Yu Sheng beside her with a confused, uneasy look.

Yu Sheng barely spoke. He kept pace at her side, mind sharpened to a point.

He listened for the movement of wind and grass, for any blood-born connection, for the shifting of the wolf pack—and for the biggest, most vicious presence of all.

Faint howls rose from deeper in the darkness, one after another, from all directions.

The last trace of dusk vanished without anyone noticing. Night settled over the forest. It wasn’t pitch-black, but a colder, more sinister dimness filled the trees, threaded with watching eyes.

“The wolves noticed us… the wolves noticed us…” Squirrel whispered, trembling. It produced a stiff pine needle from nowhere and gripped it like a weapon. “We’re going to get eaten in a place with no light. Terrifying. Terrifying.”

Yu Sheng narrowed his eyes. Beneath the howls, he sensed something else—a faint flow.

A gaze swept the area. For a moment, he felt as if he could see his own reflection inside it.

But the owner of that gaze still hadn’t appeared. Big Bad Wolf hid in the forest, waiting.

Yu Sheng kept his attention locked on that gaze—and noticed Little Red Riding Hood had slowed beside him.

Her body trembled, small and involuntary.

“Are you okay?” Yu Sheng asked at once.

“I’m fine,” Little Red Riding Hood said, face calm. “Just stay alert once we reach the deep forest.”

Yu Sheng studied her steady expression.

That gaze from the deep forest was watching her too.

A sweet, poisonous fear rooted deep in childhood began to grow in the dark, amplified by memory and spread through the trees like fog.

Yu Sheng stepped forward and took Little Red Riding Hood’s hand.

She startled. “What—”

“Don’t be afraid.”

Little Red Riding Hood looked awkward, like she didn’t know what to do with the contact. “…I’m not afraid.”

“Acting calm won’t fool that wolf,” Yu Sheng said, meeting her eyes evenly. “It can see your fear directly. It’s watching you.”

Her eyes widened. Confusion flickered across her face. “How do you know?”

But her fear eased, just a little.

In the deep dark, Big Bad Wolf kept waiting, cautious now.

Yu Sheng blinked. He could feel it still watching, but he was watching it too.

“That wolf has my blood on it,” he said simply. “You don’t need to be afraid anymore. Sooner or later, it’ll become my prey.”

Little Red Riding Hood didn’t speak. She just stared at him, dazed.

She doubted him. She hesitated. She didn’t understand him.

But her fear continued to fade.

That was enough.

Yu Sheng let go.

He couldn’t blame her fear—it had gone beyond reason. In the Black Forest, for Little Red Riding Hood, fear wasn’t just an emotion anymore. It was part of the place, part of the rules.

She might enter otherworld without flinching. She might face grotesque entities and never blink. She might even look death in the eye.

But her fear of Big Bad Wolf had taken root years ago. It had become part of her childhood, growing with her like poison. That house-sized monster was the shadow of that fear.

No wonder the children of ‘fairy tale’ could never escape its curse.

Squirrel stood on Little Red Riding Hood’s shoulder, shiny eyes flicking between them. No one knew what it was thinking. Then it broke the silence.

“She used to run into the deep forest too,” it said quietly. “Most Little Red Riding Hood do. At least once or twice… at the beginning.”

“Most of the earliest fear comes from that.”

“Don’t say anything extra,” Little Red Riding Hood said, voice dull.

“Was it because of the lures off the path?” Yu Sheng asked, unable to hide his curiosity.

Little Red Riding Hood kept walking, head down. She didn’t answer.

“What else could it be?” Squirrel sighed in a very human way. “The little flowers and mushrooms along the road. And some shiny things.”

“Those things always look so tempting, and in the end it’s Big Bad Wolf’s teeth and claws…”

“I really will throw you into the bushes,” Little Red Riding Hood snapped.

Yu Sheng looked at her for a moment, then said gently, “I got lured too. There’s nothing shameful about that. Last time I came in, I almost lost control. If Squirrel hadn’t warned me, I might’ve walked into the dark as well.”

Little Red Riding Hood looked up, startled.

“…You were tempted too?” she asked hesitantly. “There’s something in here that can tempt you?”

Her disbelief was almost offended, like she’d just discovered Yu Sheng also ate normal food.

Yu Sheng had a strong feeling she was thinking something rude, but he didn’t have proof.

“That’s normal,” he said, waving it off. “Everyone gets tempted sometimes.”

Then, more carefully, “What about you? What tempted you to walk into the deep forest back then?”

He meant it only as a way to shift her focus—and to learn something that might help him loosen the Black Forest’s grip on her.

But Little Red Riding Hood’s lips pressed tight. Her silence was an answer.

Even Squirrel shut up for once.

“All right,” Yu Sheng said quietly. “If you don’t want to say it, then don’t.”

He stopped mid-sentence.

Little Red Riding Hood stopped too.

Ahead, in the dense forest, a hazy outline appeared through the trees.

It wasn’t Xiao Xiao.

It was a small wooden house.

“Don’t get close yet!” Squirrel tensed instantly, tail trembling. “Something’s wrong. Squirrel feels like this isn’t right…”

“It looks like the little house I saw last time,” Yu Sheng murmured. “The shape’s exactly the same.”

“It looks the same, but it’s not!” Squirrel hissed, gripping its pine needle. “See it? There’s no light!”

“This little house isn’t lit!”

“No light, deep in the dark forest, and it still hasn’t been swallowed by the dark. Weird. This is weird. A little house should fall apart and vanish once the light goes out… Is Grandmother inside?”

It shook its head fast. “No, no, no. The little house with Grandmother is always lit…”

Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood exchanged a look.

Then, carefully, they stepped toward the little house standing silent in the darkness.