Chapter 192

Chapter 192: Smoothly Entering the Dream

In the end, Snow White turned down Yu Sheng’s offer to get her a straw or a paper cup and just went straight in for a sip.

Irene watched the scene and made a face: “To be honest, this looks wrong. It’s three parts freaky and seven parts pervy, and the other ninety parts look like some evil ritual for invisible people. Snow White, if you drop to one knee like you’re swearing loyalty and we light a few candles around you, I could take a picture and report you to the Special Affairs Bureau…”

Yu Sheng shot the chatterbox a look, then, after two or three seconds of hesitation, still couldn’t help reminding the girl who was drinking hard: “Hey, take it easy. You don’t have to drink like you’re filling up. My arm’s getting a little cold…”

Only then did Snow White snap out of it. She let go of Yu Sheng’s arm, wiped the “dragon fruit juice” from the corner of her mouth, and said with an awkward look: “Sorry. You didn’t tell me how much you needed. I was worried the ritual wouldn’t work.”

Yu Sheng raised his arm and blew on the wound, thinking: [She looks small, but she really has a lot of strength.] Foxy reached out beside him and began to heal the little cut.

The Fox Maiden seemed pretty happy, since she finally had a chance to cast a healing spell on her benefactor.

“And then?” Snow White smacked her lips, slowly getting used to the bloody taste in her mouth, and asked curiously: “What else do I need to do?”

“That’s it. Now we just wait. Go do whatever you were doing,” Yu Sheng said with a wave. “The ritual is that simple.”

Snow White listened, half trusting and half doubtful, with a little frown: “So if I fall into trouble in a nightmare tonight, I’ll enter that ‘wasteland’ you mentioned?”

“In theory, yes.”

“Oh.”

The thin girl asked a few more questions about the details of the wasteland, checked the steps with Little Red Riding Hood several times, and finally seemed to relax. She turned and left the room.

After she was gone, Little Red Riding Hood looked back at Yu Sheng and his group: “What’s next? Any plans?”

“When does your Orphanage turn off the lights?” Yu Sheng asked casually.

“In an hour and a half,” Little Red Riding Hood said. “Tonight Snow White and I don’t have night duty, so we’ll sleep with the other kids after lights-out.”

“An hour and a half,” Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then decided: “Alright, I’ll go home and sleep. Let’s see what happens tonight.”

As he spoke, he took out his phone and filed a quick notice with the Special Affairs Bureau, then opened a Door to No. 66 Wutong Road: “Good night in advance. Have a good dream.”

…

The wavering curtain of unreality faded fast. The feel of solid ground followed. Yu Sheng opened his eyes in the dream and saw the endless gray wasteland stretching out ahead. The sky hung heavy and misty as always. The whole world was calm and still.

After steadying himself a little, he turned to look beside him.

Foxy’s figure appeared next, and then Irene floated into view in her Painting form.

“Honestly, your ‘dream-guiding’ power is really useful,” Yu Sheng said, looking at the floating Miss Doll and giving sincere praise, “and you even brought Foxy here with me.”

Irene puffed out her chest, showing off as she drifted, but tried to sound modest: “It’s nothing special. We’re just entering a dream. Easy.”

Foxy reached out in curiosity and poked the Doll in her Painting form.

“Sealing someone in a painting is a fun trick. Irene, can’t you really climb out like this?”

“Stop poking. Stop poking! Why are your hands so fidgety?” Irene spun in the air from Foxy’s pokes and yelled, “I already told you I’m a painting while I’m in the dream. You still have to bring it up!”

“It’s just us here,” Yu Sheng said, ignoring their friendly back-and-forth, and looked to the distance. “Looks like Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White haven’t fallen into nightmares yet.”

“Or maybe they’re lucky tonight and finally get a good sleep,” Irene said, propping her chin with one hand.

Yu Sheng nodded lightly: “I hope so.”

His eyes stayed on the far horizon, watching the scenery of the wasteland.

“What are you looking at, benefactor?” Foxy asked curiously.

“I’ve always cared about this place,” Yu Sheng said. “I’m curious what it really is, what its nature is, and what it has to do with me. To be honest, I know very little about it, so using it as a safe zone for Fairy Tale Cursed Children feels a bit reckless. [It’s not like I had a choice.] If I did, I would’ve spent more time investigating this place.”

His gaze drifted again to the small hill far away.

On this endless open wasteland, that little hill always in sight was the only thing you could call ‘scenery.’

“What I’m most curious about is that ‘mountain.’”

“That mountain?” Foxy shaded her eyes with her hand and looked into the distance. “What’s on it?”

“I don’t know,” Yu Sheng shook his head. “That’s the point. No matter what I do, I can’t reach it. Everywhere else in the wasteland I can move to with a thought, like traveling in a dream. But that mountain is the exception. It always stays where it is. Walking doesn’t work. Teleportation doesn’t work either.”

Foxy listened, thoughtful, then suddenly said: “Then I’ll run to it and try.”

“You?”

With a serious face, Foxy said: “You’re special here, benefactor. Maybe the ban only targets you. The mountain doesn’t let you near it, but I’m an outsider, so it might not affect me.”

Yu Sheng glanced at her, a little surprised, and realized she had a point.

“Go take a look, but be careful. If anything feels wrong, run back.”

“Okay!”

Foxy answered happily, then bolted toward the hill. After a few dozen meters she lowered her body and turned into a huge Nine Tailed Fox, picking up speed again and again. In a blink, she became a silver-white blur driven by nine streams of Fox Fire, roaring into the distance with thunderclaps.

Yu Sheng watched closely, and, as time passed, his brow slowly tightened.

Foxy’s figure got smaller and smaller until it was just a tiny spark far away, but the hill… it was still there, still far from her.

The distance between the Nine Tailed Fox and the hill seemed locked, even breaking the rule that things look smaller when farther away.

Foxy seemed to notice something wrong. She suddenly slowed down, her tails flipping to push against her speed. A bright flash came from far off, and she ran back fast.

Only when Foxy slowed in front of Yu Sheng, a little out of breath, and turned human again did the thunder and rumble from the distance finally reach his ears.

“No good, benefactor. You just can’t get to it,” Foxy said, racing over. “It always stayed that far. When I looked back, you two were almost out of sight!”

Yu Sheng frowned and kept quiet for a long time.

“Then let’s not try again,” he said at last, his face serious.

Foxy nodded quickly: “Got it.”

Just then, Yu Sheng caught a ripple twisting the air above the grass nearby.

Before he could see it clearly, a red-clad figure and several wolves made of shadow fell out of the air in a mess. The wolves hit the ground snarling and snapping as if they’d been fighting a strong enemy a second ago.

Yu Sheng’s group hurried over and pulled the dazed Little Red Riding Hood to her feet.

Irene floated up to her: “Didn’t expect you to arrive first… you lost?”

“Almost won!” Little Red Riding Hood was quick to realize she had entered the wasteland and immediately started grumbling. She complained about the enemy fighting dirty and launching a sneak attack, clearly annoyed.

Yu Sheng said offhand: “Want me to open The Door so you can go back and keep fighting?”

Little Red Riding Hood fell silent at once, sat down on the grass, and said: “I’m tired. I’m resting.”

Then she noticed Irene floating there and looked surprised: “How are you…”

Irene cut her off at once: “Don’t ask!”

“…I won’t, I won’t. No need to shout.”

Yu Sheng just smiled and said nothing. He sat on the grass with Little Red Riding Hood.

“Will Snow White come?” he asked.

“Very likely,” Little Red Riding Hood said softly. “Her situation has been bad. Her power has grown fast these two years, which made the Bloodstained Court subset she faces twist even more. She almost never gets a peaceful dream…”

Yu Sheng nodded without speaking.

After a short quiet, Little Red Riding Hood added: “By the way, she might show up like me, in the middle of a fight. Don’t be shocked.”

“Shocked?” Yu Sheng was puzzled. “What’s so shock-”

A shriek of warped space cut him off.

Yu Sheng froze, scrambled up from the grass, and looked toward the sound.

He saw huge shapes, one after another, appearing in the air.

They wore seven kinds of armor: gold, silver, copper, iron, rock, ice, and lightning. Each time one landed, the ground boomed.

A thin girl sat on the shoulder of one of them like a commander, but now she looked worn out.

Yu Sheng, Foxy, and Irene were all dumbfounded.

Little Red Riding Hood spoke from beside them: “There. Snow White… and her seven Thunder Titans.”