Chapter 135

Chapter 135: Found It

The moment Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood moved toward the dead, unlit Little House, Squirrel went “ack” and fainted, tumbling straight off her shoulder. Yu Sheng reacted in time and snagged its tail in midair.

His quick reflexes came from daily battles of wits with Irene, a little Doll whose snapping jump was as fast as lightning.

Squirrel’s eyes flew open and it thrashed in Yu Sheng’s grip as it said: “If you’re going to die, don’t take me with you. I’m just a Squirrel! You’re making it too hard-”

Little Red Riding Hood lowered her voice with real menace and said: “Be quiet, if you truly don’t want to die.”

Squirrel fell silent at once.

By then Yu Sheng had come within a few meters of the Little House.

Even in the gloom, he clearly saw it. It was exactly like the “shelter Little House” he had seen last time: dark plank walls and a dark red roof, a narrow wooden Door, tiny windows, and two steps at The Door that were mottled and rotting.

But there was no light inside. Its details looked even older, as if it had been abandoned for many years, stuck in a state of decay without collapsing. The Door frame, window frames, and eaves were wrapped with red rags and strings. Those strips were more tattered now, their color even deeper, so deep it was unsettling.

That dark red looked like blood soaked through and dried.

Yu Sheng turned to Little Red Riding Hood and asked: “Have you seen a Little House like this?”

She shook her head and added: “It’s my first time coming this deep.”

Yu Sheng looked to Squirrel and asked: “Is there any story about a Little House like this?”

Squirrel did not answer. The nervous little rodent trembled, eyes full of fear and resistance. As Yu Sheng drew nearer to the Little House, its tension grew worse, like an outright stress reaction.

It made a tiny sound and said: “Get away from here. Squirrel doesn’t like this place. Squirrel doesn’t like this place.”

Yu Sheng felt its reaction was wrong and quickly tried to soothe it as he said: “Calm down. We’ll be okay. I can shift us out of the Forest anytime and send you to a safe area. We’ll just take a quick look and go.”

He paused, noticing something, then stared into Squirrel’s eyes and asked: “Do you know something?”

Squirrel writhed and said: “Know? No. Squirrel doesn’t know. Squirrel knows nothing. Never seen this Little House. Nobody has ever seen this Little House. You two also-”

It suddenly froze, stretching its neck in Yu Sheng’s hand as if listening hard. Then it said: “Do you hear it? Do you hear something?”

Yu Sheng frowned and asked: “Hear what?”

A sharp pain pricked his finger.

Squirrel had bent down and bitten him. As Yu Sheng reflexively loosened his grip, the panicked creature shot away, shrieking as it flew into the dark: “Run! Run! The wolves are here! They’re all here! Run with me!”

Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood did not move. They watched Squirrel go wild, then vanish almost at once into the distance.

Little Red Riding Hood stared and said: “It actually ran.” Even she had never seen that.

Yu Sheng was a bit stunned too, then looked back at the silent Little House and said: “It still remembered to tell us to run. When we first saw the house it wasn’t that bad. It only went crazy when we got close. Any ideas?”

Little Red Riding Hood shook her head and said: “No. Squirrel is mysterious and neurotic. I don’t know it much better than you.” Her eyes grew more cautious as she looked at the black windows and drew a breath. Then she said: “Let’s go in and take a look.”

Even now, she did not intend to back down.

Yu Sheng moved ahead and said: “I’ll go first. Judging by Squirrel’s reaction, this Little House may be more dangerous and strange than the rest of the Black Forest. You’re not stable. Don’t rush in.”

As he spoke, his hand closed over the handle of The Door.

Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth as if to say something, then swallowed it and only nodded.

Yu Sheng drew a deep breath, steadied himself, kept watch on the auras around them, and pushed the wooden Door.

With a creak, The Door swung open easily.

But the stale smell and drifting dust he expected did not appear.

He waited at The Door for two seconds, confirmed nothing moved inside and the Forest itself did not change, then leaned in for a look.

His sharper-than-normal eyes could see in the dimness.

Little Red Riding Hood saw him take a quick look and snap back, a startled, complicated look on his face as he stood in the doorway. She stepped up and asked: “Inside…?”

Yu Sheng blinked, shook off his brief daze, looked at the girl in red, hesitated for a heartbeat, then nodded and said: “Come in with me. See for yourself.”

They went into the Little House.

In the dark, Little Red Riding Hood finally saw what Yu Sheng had seen.

Red Cloaks.

So many Red Cloaks hung on the walls, lay scattered across the floor, and dangled from the rafters.

How many? A dozen? Dozens? Maybe more. In the gloom, the red looked as if stained with fresh blood. The cloaks came in all shapes, all in rags. Some were so torn they were only scraps. They were strewn about so messily it was impossible to tell their number at a glance.

Footsteps on the rotten floor broke the stillness. Yu Sheng took two steps, then looked back at the girl standing in the doorway and said: “Come. Don’t stay too far from me.”

She nodded a little slowly and followed. Without noticing, she moved closer to him. After a moment she spoke in a low voice and said: “This place…”

Yu Sheng sighed and said: “Maybe this explains why Squirrel reacted so strongly. Don’t be afraid.”

She hesitated and said: “Okay, I am a little scared, but I’m okay.” She stepped carefully, crossed a pile of Red Cloaks on the floor, glanced at the shredded red cloth on the nearby wall, and, without thinking, tugged her own jacket as she said: “This is probably how everything looks after it ends. No wonder it’s in the deepest place of the Forest.”

Yu Sheng glanced at her jacket, a practical question popping into his head, and said: “I suddenly have a question. In the real world, you choose your clothes yourself, right? Why must it be a red jacket too? Just to match the ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ label?”

She answered softly: “To keep my state stable. After getting the Red Cloak in the Black Forest, you have to make sure you don’t stray too far from the Little Red Riding Hood role.”

Yu Sheng asked: “Why?”

She sighed and said: “Just like the Fairy Tale doesn’t like lords, the Fairy Tale also doesn’t like disobedient children.”

Yu Sheng frowned hard.

“This thing is strict to the point of being unpleasant,” he muttered, then forced the gloom off his face and said, worried, “Are you okay? If this place is too much, you can wait outside.”

She shook her head and said: “I’m fine. This place makes me tense, but honestly, it’s a lot better than the pitch black Forest outside.”

He nodded.

They searched the Little House, careful among the ruined Red Cloaks, but did not find the child named Xiao Xiao.

Yu Sheng frowned at the small house and said: “She isn’t here?” His impatience grew. “This should be the most likely place.”

Little Red Riding Hood said quietly: “There are places deeper than this. The farther from light, the blacker it is, the deeper it is.”

Yu Sheng said nothing and scanned the room again.

No. He thought the child was here.

Wolves prowled in the surrounding dark. They were still coveting some new, fresh food.

A faint feeling flowed along a link established by blood. Yu Sheng drew his brows tight, tried to seize that sense that was not his own, and tried to watch and think as a wolf, as a shadow, even as the Black Forest itself.

All at once he seemed to see, or to understand, something.

Little Red Riding Hood watched Yu Sheng stride to the single bed in the corner. He reached out and felt through the air above the bedding, groping for something that could not be seen.

She asked without thinking: “What are you doing?”

He did not answer. He took a small pocketknife from his pocket.

The knife was sharp.

With a calm, serious face, he studied and sensed the spot, then sliced without hesitation.

The blade cut the air, yet it felt like it slit flesh. The smell of blood spread through the room.

Yu Sheng smiled and said, light and precise as he cut: “Ah, there you are. You hid yourself well, Wolf Granny.”