Chapter 167

Chapter 167: Cyber Fox Immortal Beats Children’s Literature

After the two shots, the Deep Forest fell silent.

No wolf howls. No more gunfire. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath, as if the whole forest was waiting for the path-walkers to respond.

Right now, those two gunshots felt like a kind of guide, like the hidden Hunter was trying to speak to Yu Sheng’s group and point out the right direction.

Irene glanced at the Squirrel curled in Little Red Riding Hood’s hood and asked: “The rules say not to get lured off the path into the Deep Forest. Do the rules say what to do when gunshots ring out off the path?”

The Squirrel stared blankly for a while, then snapped out of it. Hearing Irene’s question, it spoke fast in a rush: “This never happened. This never happened… the Hunter only shows himself when Wolf Granny appears… I, I don’t know. I’m just a Squirrel!”

Yu Sheng frowned and slid the nasty Tetanus Staff off his shoulder, tapped it against the ground, and said in a low voice: “Still a lure outside the path.”

Little Red Riding Hood blinked, not getting it at first: “What do you mean?”

“We came to find the Hunter,” Yu Sheng breathed out. After the first doubt and pause, his mind cleared quickly: “What could tempt goal-driven explorers off the path better than ‘the Hunter’s gunshots’?”

Little Red Riding Hood froze. When she understood, shock flashed in her eyes.

“Ignore the shots. We keep moving,” Yu Sheng said, then took the lead.

As he expected, the moment they went on, another gunshot sounded from the shadows of the Black Forest. Bang. It even seemed closer.

These shots were like the Illusion Arts, the “flowers and mushrooms” outside the path.

A chill of fear rose in Little Red Riding Hood’s chest, because she knew that “leaving the path due to temptation” was the first and deadliest taboo in the Black Forest. And in those few seconds, she had actually wavered a little. For someone like her, who had “awakened” and was a seasoned Little Red Riding Hood, that should not have happened. She had fallen into a blind spot in her thinking. She had not expected that even the “Hunter” could be used by the Black Forest to confuse people, and she had not expected the forest to find, so fast, the best lure that could almost mislead everyone present. [I nearly stepped off the path.]

“The Black Forest feels ‘smart,’” Irene whispered: “Its tricks are pretty strong.”

“It may not be ‘thinking,’” Little Red Riding Hood shook her head: “A higher kind of blind pattern can look like ‘wisdom,’ even more efficient than what humans call ‘thinking.’ Things that run on rules… don’t care about reason.”

“No matter. Its lure won’t work on us,” Yu Sheng slowed and listened: “Hear that? The shots stopped. Nothing showed up.”

“I thought that ‘Hunter’ would appear nearby next and invite us over to talk,” Irene pouted: “Looks like the Black Forest has limits. If the Hunter had really shown up, we might have fallen for it.”

Yu Sheng thought for a moment and said: “Maybe it’s the forest’s limits. Or maybe… it’s because of the Hunter’s own special nature.”

He fell quiet and led them on.

After a while, the lamps along the path started to fade. Just as the rules said, all shelter in the Black Forest is only for a time. Light dies out, roads vanish, the fire in the hearth dwindles, and even the Little Houses get swallowed by the Deep Forest.

As the lights faded, the path grew fuzzy. The line between trail and forest blurred. The howls that had pulled back began to rise again, closer and closer.

Yu Sheng finally felt the gaze, the one the Evil Wolf was turning on him. [It is watching me.]

“The wolves are coming, the wolves are coming,” the Squirrel started to mutter in fear: “Where’s the Little House… why aren’t we there yet…”

Yu Sheng lifted his head and saw a small glow far off in the Deep Forest, but it was still far away, and many vague, shapeless shadows were already forming in the Dense Forest nearby.

The Wolf Pack was coming, faster than last time, and it was forming up quick.

“This is bad, this is the worst! The cabin isn’t linked to the path, and the Wolf Pack cut the road!” The Squirrel saw the Shadow Wolves gathering in the Dense Forest and all the fur on its tail stood up. It looked at Yu Sheng and babbled in a high, scared voice: “We have to run soon! Run fast! Don’t stop, you must not get caught by the Wolf Pack… what are you doing?”

The Squirrel gaped as Yu Sheng weighed the brutal iron stick in his hand, then pointed to a spot.

“Foxy,” Yu Sheng pointed toward the Deep Forest where he felt the watching gaze, and said: “See over there? Distance three thousand five hundred. Spread one hundred twenty. Sixteen rounds, rapid.”

“Roger!” Foxy’s face lit with a happy grin, and in the Squirrel’s shocked stare she flung her arms wide.

Silver-white tails burst into bloom behind her in the dusk-dark Dense Forest. Hazy light rose behind the Demon Fox, then the Fox Fire flared and boomed.

One silver-white cone after another shot up as eerie blue flames flashed. They swung in the air and fixed their angles, the flames kicked again and brightened, and they turned into light so strong it almost lit the whole forest. A chain of shrieks tore the air like banshees. The first batch of eight Fox Carrot Missiles sped into the distance.

The instant the first Fox Tail Missiles dropped away, Foxy drew a breath, and with a soft hum a second set of tails grew out. She launched another rapid volley.

The ghost-blue exhaust that streaked over the Black Forest looked like meteors flying backward, falling from the sky wrapped in death.

With another soft hum, more tails grew behind Foxy. This time she did not fire. She held a burning spark on the tip of each tail and aimed into the nearby shadows.

Thunder rolled from far off. The ground shivered. The air roared. Trees shook and toppled under the shock waves. It felt like the whole forest had been slapped awake. The howls in the shadows paused for a heartbeat, then swelled into a mad chorus, like the Black Forest had been enraged.

The Wolf Pack turned from faint to solid. Countless vicious Giant Wolves lunged out of the Dense Forest and charged the uninvited guests who dared to challenge the forest’s rules.

The Fox Fire snapped into tight streams. Seven or eight thick, waterfall-like barrages lashed the Wolf Pack, sweeping everything in their way. Entities shaped from the Wolf Pack were ripped apart. Towering trees were snapped in half. Flames caught on the dry leaves everywhere. Dazzling blue Fox Fire tangled with red wildfire and climbed into the sky.

“Dada-dada-dada-dada!” Foxy happily made sound effects for her Fox Carrot Gatling. Gold-red light danced in her eyes and her face shone with pure joy.

Yu Sheng raised high the Spiked Mace soaked in his own blood and smashed it down on a Giant Wolf that rushed him. The savage thing let out a short sharp howl and hit the ground as a mess of blood and meat.

He swept the iron rod sideways and knocked away another Giant Wolf that tried to sneak up behind Foxy.

Irene grabbed a fistful of Yu Sheng’s hair with one hand and was about to lift her other hand to start Summoning her threads, but Yu Sheng cut in: “Hold your fire. These are regular Wolf Pack. If something shows up that Foxy and I can’t handle, that’s when you jump in.”

“Got it!” Irene answered fast.

Yu Sheng clubbed down another Giant Wolf, then pointed toward the faraway light.

“This way, Foxy. Open a road.”

“Okay!”

Foxy shouted, hugged two tails to her chest, and raked fire in the direction Yu Sheng had pointed. Then three more Fox Carrot Missiles arced up and slammed into the Deep Forest.

Under the pounding blasts and the racing blue blaze, the gathering Wolf Pack and the forest itself were torn open into a path.

“Yes! This is what I wanted to see!” Yu Sheng grinned, bright and thrilled, like he had finally gotten to play with a toy he had wanted for a long time: “This is it! Cyber Fox Immortal beats children’s literature! Keep hitting, keep clearing, we’re going to find Wolf Granny!”

He strode into the flaming, smoking avenue ripped through the woods, swinging that awful club. More wolves kept surging from the shadows. Most were cut down at once by the tight storm of Foxy’s fire. The rest fell to Yu Sheng’s stick. Now and then one slipped through, but Little Red Riding Hood’s Summoned Shadow Wolves pounced as a pack and tore it to shreds.

The Squirrel stared with wide eyes.

It shook all over as it watched.

It shrieked like a nervous wreck, fainted, then jerked awake, like it had fallen from one strange nightmare into an even stranger one. It heard the Black Forest echo with terrible thunder. It heard something in the Deep Forest scream. The forest’s order had been challenged, mocked, and trampled, and then the forest struck back. The stronger the intruders were, the more wolves gathered.

“No, no, this isn’t right,” the Squirrel screamed, its voice almost lost in the blasts and howls: “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!”

“But I think it’s great,” only Little Red Riding Hood heard that thin voice. She turned her head a little, and on her face was a joy and ease she had never shown, like something held down since childhood had finally been let out: “Even if it’s only once, I still think it’s great!”