Chapter 167

Chapter 167: The Cyber Fox Immortal Beats Up Children’s Literature

After the two gunshots, the depths of the forest went still.

No wolf howls. No more shots. Even the wind seemed to stop. The whole Black Forest sank into silence, as if it were waiting for the group on the path to respond.

Those two gunshots felt like a guide—like the hidden Hunter was trying to communicate, pointing them toward the “right” direction.

Irene glanced at Squirrel huddled in Little Red Riding Hood’s hood. “The rules say not to be lured off the path by temptations and walk into the forest. Do the rules say what to do when there are gunshots outside the path?”

Squirrel stared blankly for a long time before it snapped back to itself. The moment it could speak, it babbled in panic.

“That’s never happened before, never… Hunter only shows up when Wolf Granny appears… I-I don’t know. I’m just a Squirrel!”

Yu Sheng’s frown deepened. He took the vicious-looking tetanus staff off his shoulder and tapped it against the ground.

“It’s still temptation from outside the path.”

Little Red Riding Hood blinked. “What do you mean?”

“We came to find Hunter.” Yu Sheng exhaled quietly. After that initial moment of confusion and hesitation, his thinking sharpened fast. “What’s more likely to lure a goal-driven group off the path than ‘Hunter’s gunshots’?”

Little Red Riding Hood froze. Understanding hit her all at once, and shock flashed in her eyes.

“Don’t react,” Yu Sheng said, voice low. “We keep moving.”

He led the way.

And just as he expected, the instant they continued forward, another shot cracked out of the shadows—

Bang—

and it sounded closer.

Like an illusion, the gunshots were the “wildflowers and mushrooms” outside the path.

A chill of belated fear crawled up Little Red Riding Hood’s chest. She knew “being lured off the path” was the first and most dangerous taboo in the Black Forest. And in those few seconds, she had almost wavered.

That shouldn’t have happened to her. She was a veteran, someone who had already “awakened.” But she’d walked straight into a blind spot.

She hadn’t considered that even “Hunter” could be part of the Black Forest’s tricks. And she hadn’t expected the forest could find the best bait for almost everyone present, that quickly.

“The Black Forest seems pretty ‘smart,’” Irene whispered.

“It might not ‘think,’” Little Red Riding Hood replied as she walked. “A higher form of blindness can look like wisdom. It may even be more efficient than human thinking. Rule-based things… never care about reason.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Yu Sheng said. He slowed and looked ahead. “Its bait won’t work on us. Listen. The gunshots stopped. Nothing showed up.”

“I thought Hunter would just appear nearby and invite us to chat.” Irene clicked her tongue. “Looks like this Black Forest still has limits. If Hunter actually showed up, we might really fall for it.”

Yu Sheng thought for a moment. “It might be the Black Forest’s limit. Or it might be… because Hunter is special.”

He didn’t say anything else. They kept moving.

After a while, the streetlamps along the path began to dim. Just like the rules dictated, everything that offered shelter in the Black Forest was temporary. Light faded. Roads disappeared. A hearth’s fire died down. Even the little houses were eventually swallowed by the forest.

As the glow receded, the path blurred. The boundary between road and forest thinned to nothing. The wolf howls that had drifted away returned, rising and falling, drawing closer.

Yu Sheng finally felt it—the gaze.

The gaze of the Big Bad Wolf.

“The wolves are coming, the wolves are coming…” Squirrel muttered, panicked. “Where’s the little house… why isn’t the little house here yet…”

Yu Sheng looked up. Deep in the forest, he could faintly see a line of light, but it was still far. And vague, formless shadowspawn were already beginning to appear between the trees nearby.

The wolf pack was coming—faster than last time—and it was taking shape.

“We’re done, we’re done!” Squirrel squealed. “The worst case! The little house and the path aren’t connected. The road got cut off by the wolf pack!”

It spotted the shadow wolves immediately. The fur on its tail exploded. It whipped around to Yu Sheng, words pouring out in a terrified rush.

“We have to run! Run fast! You can’t stop, understand? Don’t get tangled up with the wolf pack—what are you doing?!”

Squirrel stared in disbelief as Yu Sheng simply hefted the horrible club in his hand and pointed into the trees.

“Foxy,” Yu Sheng said, indicating the direction where he felt that gaze gathering, “see that? Range 3500, spread 120. Sixteen rounds, rapid fire.”

“Roger!” Foxy’s grin turned suddenly sharp with excitement.

Under Squirrel’s stunned stare, she threw her arms wide.

Silver-white tails burst open in the dusk. A hazy radiance flared behind her. Then fox fire detonated with a roar—

Silver-white cones shot skyward through blue flames, adjusted their angles midair, then surged again, exploding into flashes so bright they nearly lit the entire woods. A banshee-like scream tore through the air as the first eight fox carrot missiles streaked into the distance.

As the first volley left, Foxy adjusted her breathing fast. With a mechanical-sounding “vmm,” a second batch of tails formed, and another rapid volley launched.

The blue exhaust crossing above the Black Forest looked like meteors flying backward, dragging death down from the sky.

With another “vmm,” Foxy’s tails refilled again. This time she held her fire, each tail-tip cradling a cluster of blazing light as she stared into the shadows around them.

A deafening boom rolled in from far away.

The earth trembled. The air howled. Trees shook violently from the shockwave, toppling as if the entire forest had been punched.

The wolf howls paused for only a breath, then erupted again—angrier, more chaotic, like something had been thoroughly provoked.

The wolf pack solidified from shadow into flesh. Countless giant wolves burst out of the trees, charging the “uninvited guests” who dared trample the Black Forest’s rules.

Foxy’s fox fire turned dense, violent, and merciless. Seven or eight waterfall-like storms of flame raked through the pack, shredding wolves into pieces, blowing massive trees in half, and setting dead leaves and branches everywhere alight. Vivid blue fox fire and red wildfire twisted together and surged upward.

“D-d-d-d-d-d—” Foxy happily supplied sound effects for her fox carrot gatling, eyes blazing gold-red, face full of pure delight.

Yu Sheng raised the blood-soaked spiked club and brought it down hard on the first wolf that lunged at him. The beast gave a short, sharp howl and burst into a bloody mess, collapsing in a heap.

He swept the iron rod sideways and knocked away another wolf trying to sneak up on Foxy from behind.

Irene clutched Yu Sheng’s hair with one hand. She started to lift her other hand, silk threads gathering—

“Not yet!” Yu Sheng cut her off. “These are ordinary wolf pack. If we run into something Foxy and I can’t handle, then you step in.”

“Got it!” Irene snapped back.

Yu Sheng smashed another wolf, then pointed at the distant lights ahead.

“This way. Foxy, clear a path.”

“Okay!”

Foxy shouted and hugged two tails close as she sprayed fire in the direction Yu Sheng indicated. Three more fox carrot missiles screamed up into the air and slammed into the deeper forest.

Under the bombardment and the spreading demonic fire, the gathered wolf pack—and the trees themselves—were ripped open by force, leaving a path.

“Yes!” Yu Sheng grinned, thrilled like a kid finally getting the toy he’d wanted forever. “This! This is exactly what I wanted to see! The cyber fox immortal beats up children’s literature! Keep hitting them. Keep clearing the road. We’re going to find Wolf Granny!”

He swung that terrifying club and strode down the road of flame and thunder.

More wolves kept spawning from the shadows. Acting purely by rules and knowing nothing of fear or pain, they came in wave after wave. More than half were mowed down by Foxy’s sweeping barrage. The rest couldn’t escape Yu Sheng’s club. Now and then, one slipped through—only to be torn apart by the shadow wolves Little Red Riding Hood had summoned.

Squirrel stared, mouth hanging open.

It stared, shivering all over.

It screamed, fainted, woke up again, and looked like it had fallen from one absurd nightmare into another even worse one. The Black Forest echoed with thunder. Something deep within roared—its order challenged, trampled, mocked—and the forest struck back. The stronger the intruders, the more wolf pack gathered.

“No, no, this isn’t how it goes!” Squirrel shrieked, voice nearly drowned out by explosions and howls. “It’s not like this!”

“But I think it’s wonderful,” Little Red Riding Hood said softly, so only Squirrel heard.

She turned her head slightly. On her face was a kind of joy and ease she’d never shown before, like something suppressed since childhood had finally cracked.

“Even if it’s only once,” she said, eyes bright, “I think it’s wonderful.”