Chapter 169

Chapter 169: Facing Fear Head-On

Good meat.

Yu Sheng held the jerky out, smiling at Little Red Riding Hood in a way that felt almost hypnotic. The strip was an enticing dark red. The smell drifting off it was… genuinely delicious.

But Little Red Riding Hood’s instincts snapped up a warning anyway. Something in Yu Sheng’s smile put her on edge. She frowned. “Wait. What is this, exactly…?”

“The previous Wolf Granny,” Yu Sheng said, not hiding a thing. He nodded as if he were talking about leftovers. “The one we killed last time in that unlit little house. I brought it back and processed it a few different ways. Turns out it tastes fine.”

Little Red Riding Hood’s eyes went wide. Even her breathing stalled for a beat.

Yu Sheng continued, unbothered. “The rib meat is good pan-fried or stewed. The leg meat is tough, so it needs a long boil. The fatty parts under the skin are great roasted—super fragrant. Some organs are good for hotpot, but if you don’t handle them right, they get gamey.”

He nudged the jerky closer, still smiling. “Also, Wolf Granny is just too big. If you eat it for a few meals in a row, you get sick of it fast. So I turned most of the rest into jerky. Rubbed in spices and salt, then smoked it with fox fire. It’s tough to chew, but the edges have a great crunch, and the flavor’s solid. You can eat it like this, or throw it into soup.”

Little Red Riding Hood stared at the strip of meat like it might jump.

Then she snapped her gaze up at him, a mix of confusion, tension, and outright horror twisting in her face. “Y-You… you ate Wolf Granny?!”

“We’re eating it,” Yu Sheng corrected casually. “We’re not done yet.”

He tilted his head. “Do you have to be that shocked? You already saw that plate of garlic scapes stir-fried with hunger before.”

Little Red Riding Hood’s eyelid twitched. She clearly remembered other horrifying things this man had done, and somehow, turning Wolf Granny into jerky didn’t feel as impossible as it should have.

Still, as she stared at the dark red meat, the strangeness—and the faint fear—didn’t lessen.

Squirrel, perched on her shoulder, finally understood what the jerky was.

Its eyes rolled back. Without making a sound, it toppled straight down.

Foxy looked up from the table, still chewing. Her tails swayed behind her. “Try it,” she said simply. “It’s really good.”

Try it. Just one bite.

The words seemed to echo in Little Red Riding Hood’s head. The smell was so good. Too good.

Her breathing quickened.

It was as if multiple voices rose inside her all at once—unhurried, relentless, whispering at the same steady pace. Yu Sheng’s voice. Her own. Even… the wolf’s.

Try it.

Just one bite.

Urged forward and held back at the same time, she finally reached out. Expectation and resistance knotted together in her chest as she took the strip of meat.

Yu Sheng’s smile brightened, and the jerky’s strange fragrance rolled into her nose in waves.

“Fear is hard to erase,” Yu Sheng said softly, “especially fear that’s taken root in you since childhood.”

Little Red Riding Hood’s fingers tightened around the jerky.

“But starting today,” Yu Sheng continued, “you’ll always remember that fear born from wolves… tastes like five-spice pepper-salt.”

Little Red Riding Hood froze and stared at him, expression baffled. “What kind of cursed logic is that…?”

“Compared to facing fear head-on,” Yu Sheng said, smile steady, “a better way to fight it is to give it texture and flavor.”

He lifted his brows. “Don’t you think that’s perfectly reasonable?”

“Perfectly reasonable,” Little Red Riding Hood echoed flatly.

Then, like she was completing a life-or-death task, she stuffed the jerky into her mouth, squeezed her eyes shut, and bit down hard.

It was tough—really tough—but…

It was meat.

Just meat.

Far away, deep in the forest, a faint, blurry wolf howl drifted in again.

Little Red Riding Hood couldn’t tell if it came from outside, or if it was only a hallucination rising from somewhere inside her mind.

She chewed with fierce determination. She swallowed, feeling the rough texture scrape down her throat.

Yu Sheng looked out the window. He felt the Big Bad Wolf’s gaze locked onto the cabin.

It had been circling before. Now, at this exact moment, it stopped.

Only for a few seconds.

Squirrel, lying on the bed, slowly woke up. The unlucky little rodent—frightened half to death multiple times tonight—lifted its head just long enough to see Little Red Riding Hood tearing into Wolf Granny’s meat.

“Ga.”

It fainted again.

Yu Sheng picked it up, shook it a few times in the air, and forced it awake. “Wake up, Squirrel. I have a question.”

“Squirrel doesn’t want to answer!” it shrieked, struggling.

“What’s the relationship between Big Bad Wolf and Wolf Granny?” Yu Sheng ignored the panic and asked calmly. “Are they the same thing?”

Squirrel stared at him with beady eyes. Yu Sheng stared back without blinking.

He could feel the frantic drumbeat of the little animal’s heart against his palm.

“…Wolf Granny is one side of Big Bad Wolf,” Squirrel finally blurted, voice thin and shaking. It was hard to tell whether it feared Yu Sheng more, or the wolf watching from outside. “When it goes into the little house, it’s Wolf Granny. When it eats you outside, it’s Big Bad Wolf. When it chases you, it’s the wolf pack… all wolves are one side of Big Bad Wolf, and Big Bad Wolf is one side of the Black Forest…”

It trembled, neck shrinking in on itself.

“Everything here is tangled together like that—like yarn, like blood vessels, like nerves. And then everything gets tangled around the Little Red Riding Hood trapped in this nightmare,” it babbled. “Hunter is part of this place too. Always has been, as long as I can remember. Squirrel doesn’t know why you’re looking for Hunter, but they won’t help you. They help no one. They only shoot at wolves…”

Yu Sheng listened, thinking.

Through the blood link, he could sense activity beyond the cabin’s shelter. He could feel the wolf pack shifting at the edges. He could feel that gaze sharpening.

Something was forming outside.

Wolf Granny was generating.

The Black Forest’s order kept running. The stage followed the script and arranged the next actor. The chaos Yu Sheng had caused didn’t seem to disrupt the overall performance at all.

Yu Sheng kept his expression steady, as if he hadn’t noticed. He tore off a small strip of jerky and held it out to Squirrel.

“Eat.”

Squirrel scrambled onto the bed and stared at it in terror. “I—I’m Squirrel! I’m just a Squirrel! No, no, no… Squirrel doesn’t want that…”

“You should fight the fear in your heart too,” Yu Sheng said seriously. “Little Red Riding Hood already ate it. Now it’s your turn.”

“Squirrel… Squirrel knight fears nothing!” Squirrel screamed. “Squirrel knight… please, don’t do this…”

Yu Sheng tossed the strip aside. “Fine. I won’t force you.”

Squirrel froze, like it couldn’t believe he’d let it go that easily.

Yu Sheng didn’t care. He looked at Little Red Riding Hood instead. “All right. You’ve rested enough. You should go back.”

Little Red Riding Hood lifted her head, startled. “Wait—”

Yu Sheng pointed at the door.

Outside, shadow was turning into flesh. Heavy breathing pressed close, as if something huge stood just beyond the threshold.

“Wolf Granny is here,” Yu Sheng said calmly. “If you stay, you’ll be in danger. I’ll have Irene send you out first.”

Little Red Riding Hood blurted, “Wait, you didn’t say—”

“Bringing you here was mainly to trigger a key plot point,” Yu Sheng said, raising an eyebrow. “This is far enough. Team play, right? Everyone has their own task.”

Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth, ready to argue—

But Irene was already reaching her palm out.

A cold presence seized Little Red Riding Hood’s consciousness—invisible fingers hooking in—and yanked hard outward.

The girl vanished from the cabin in a blink.

Yu Sheng fell silent for a beat, then turned his head toward his shoulder. “Seriously, can’t you make that a little more comfortable? Every time you wake someone up, it feels like they just died.”

“Nonsense,” Irene said, rolling her eyes. “If it doesn’t feel like sudden death, how can it wake someone unconditionally? She’s awake now and cursing. Want a broadcast?”

“No,” Yu Sheng said, waving it off. He stood, stretched, and picked up the tetanus staff leaning by the door. “Get ready.”

The next second, knocking reached everyone’s ears.

Thump thump thump. Thump thump thump.

It sounded like it was pounding straight into their hearts—urgent and wrong.

“Wolf Granny is here!” Squirrel shrieked, sprinting in circles on the bed. “Squirrel… Squirrel knight needs to prepare, needs to prepare!”

Thump thump thump.

The knocking grew more insistent.

Yu Sheng’s face split into a bright smile.

He strode to the door, gripped the vicious club, and yanked it open. “Coming!”

The cabin door swung wide.

A grotesque thing filled the doorway, wearing a soft cap, hunched and thin and twisted, its body covered in short black fur. It blocked every exit.

A long, strange claw—barely even a wolf’s paw anymore—reached in and grabbed for Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng swung the club and smashed down.

“So you’re the damn Wolf Granny, huh?”