Chapter 195

Chapter 195: A Strange Little Red Riding Hood

The Doll jumped very high, but Yu Sheng was serious.

His confidence came from the time he ate the Hunger Entity, and from the feeling of devouring and fusing when he touched the Hunger Entity’s deeper true form.

He knew that anything he “eats” gets absorbed in essence. That’s faster and more effective than any seal or transfer. If the Angel’s Umbilical Cord really triggers the early activation of “Anka Aila,” throwing it away through Door Opening might fail to sever its link to the “true body,” but eating it would work.

Of course, there was risk. The Angel’s Umbilical Cord wasn’t the same as the Hunger Entity. The Hunger Entity was heavily strengthened by the Dark Angels’ influence, but it was still only “influence.” The Umbilical Cord was clearly tied much more closely to the Dark Angel named “Anka Aila.” If he really ate it…

He might get indigestion.

Still, Yu Sheng figured he could handle it. He always trusted his gut. If his hunch failed, well, that would just be courting death, and he trusted his talent for courting death too.

Irene saw the look on his face and knew she couldn’t stop the wild idea. Once this guy had a spark, he had to act on it. She sighed and tipped her chin up: “Fine. People with good appetites usually have decent luck. When do we leave? Now?”

“Now,” Yu Sheng said with a nod. He turned to Foxy: “Get ready. You’re coming with me to the Black Forest.”

Then he glanced toward the balcony, remembering something, and frowned: “Uh… your tails are still drying…”

Before he finished, he saw a new set of spares sprout behind Foxy with a loud buzz. The Fox Maiden laughed: “I have plenty more.”

“Right, I almost forgot,” Yu Sheng said, patting his own forehead. “Alright, we’re heading out. Irene, do the Door Opening.”

A Phantom Door formed in midair. Black threads grew like thorns and twined together. A Door to the Black Forest opened.

Holding the Wooden Box with the Angel’s Umbilical Cord in one hand and his scary Tetanus Staff in the other, Yu Sheng stepped through. That familiar chill and the faint howling of wolves washed over him. He steadied himself, then looked up at the Black Forest sky. Dusk light slipped through the gaps between the treetops and cast wide patches of dappled shadow on the ground.

The Black Forest was always cycling between two times: either a long dusk, or the dimness of early night when a bit of light still lingered. From experience, the dusk phase was calmer. After nightfall the Wolf Pack grew very active, and the Evil Wolf basically only showed up at night.

Foxy’s big ears twitched, turning toward every small sound. She sniffed, testing the faint currents in the air. She whispered, “No wolf scent nearby for now. The sound is messy and keeps shifting near and far.”

“Before the Wolf Pack fully forms, those ‘sounds’ are basically the Black Forest’s ‘background noise,’” Yu Sheng said casually.

Irene stared nervously at the thing in Yu Sheng’s hand: “Hey, is that thing doing anything?”

Yu Sheng glanced at the Wooden Box holding the “Angel’s Umbilical Cord” and cracked the lid a sliver.

The Umbilical Cord still lay on the red velvet lining, shriveled and dead.

“No reaction so far,” he said, shaking his head. “If anything… I keep hearing a baby crying. Very faint, like from deep underground. But that shouldn’t be from the ‘Umbilical Cord’ itself. I’ve heard it ever since we fought that giant Wolf Granny last time.”

“Baby crying?” Irene frowned. “Well, Foxy and I can’t hear it.”

Yu Sheng closed the box with care, leaned the Tetanus Staff nearby for a moment, and reached into his other pocket.

He took out a bullet with a strange spiral tip.

“This bullet isn’t reacting either,” he said softly. “Let’s head toward the Deep Forest and see if we can find the Little House. But since Little Red Riding Hood hasn’t entered the Black Forest yet, Wolf Granny might not show up, and the Hunter probably won’t either. Still, we’ll go check.”

They moved with caution toward the Deep Forest, searching in the dappled dusk for the lamplight of the “path.”

Foxy volunteered to lead. She couldn’t use her Storage Tail, so she released the other eight. The tails drifted around the group, wrapped in a dim ring of Fox Fire, humming softly. Now and then they pointed at some shadowy corner of the Forest, ready to open fire the moment anything went wrong.

Yu Sheng found the sight funny and asked, teasing: “I’ve been meaning to ask, is this move called a fox drone swarm?”

The Fox Maiden answered with full seriousness: “It’s called Fox Roaming Cannon. Irene named it.”

Irene lifted her chin in pride, though Yu Sheng had no idea what there was to be proud of.

They walked deeper for a long time. Suddenly, Yu Sheng stopped.

The Irene riding his shoulder asked, curious: “Huh? Why’d you stop?”

“Something’s off,” Yu Sheng said, brow slowly wrinkling. “How long have we been walking?”

“A… pretty long time, I think? I wasn’t counting,” Irene said, scrubbing her hair. “What’s wrong?”

“We haven’t seen the ‘path’ or the sheltered Little House,” Yu Sheng said in a low voice. “But by the Black Forest’s rules, we should see the first path not long after we enter.”

“Now that you say it… you’re right,” Foxy said, finally catching on. She looked around with sharp eyes, the gold in her gaze flickering as she scanned the Forest’s shadows. “And maybe it’s just me, but today’s Black Forest doesn’t feel the same as before. I can’t say how. Maybe it’s the mood.”

Yu Sheng’s heart tightened. He glanced down at the Wooden Box in his left hand. [Is it because of the ‘Angel’s Umbilical Cord’? Is it disrupting how the Black Forest runs? Or is it something else…]

“The Squirrel hasn’t appeared either. Normally, as our ‘guide,’ it should be the first to show.”

Muttering, Yu Sheng hefted the Tetanus Staff onto his shoulder.

Irene instantly clamped her arms around his neck and swung herself to his other shoulder in a big arc. She grumbled, “I knew you were about to pull that move. Good thing I reacted fast, or one of these days you’d clobber me with that stick.”

Yu Sheng shot her a surprised look, about to ask when she learned those acrobatics, when a soft rustle came from the bushes nearby.

Squirrel? All three looked toward the sound. But a moment later, it wasn’t the familiar Squirrel that appeared. It was a red cloaked girl, face tight with fear, like she was hiding from something.

She was small and slender, fifteen or sixteen, with an unfamiliar face. She was not the “Little Red Riding Hood” Yu Sheng knew.

They stopped dead.

Another Little Red Riding Hood? Yu Sheng stared at the girl who had slipped out from behind the bushes. After two seconds he stepped forward half a pace and tried to greet her: “Uh, hi, are you with the Fairy Tale organization…”

He stopped mid sentence, frowning.

The red cloaked girl wasn’t looking at him at all. It was like she couldn’t hear him.

She kept her body low, eyes scanning the Forest with sharp caution, as if she were hiding from an invisible Wolf Pack. But she didn’t notice the three strangers right in front of her.

Foxy tugged Yu Sheng’s sleeve and whispered, “Benefactor, she can’t see us.”

“Looks like it,” Yu Sheng said.

Just then, the unfamiliar Little Red Riding Hood moved again.

It was as if she suddenly sensed danger. She glanced a certain way, then bolted.

“Follow her,” Yu Sheng said at once, swinging Irene into a better grip and taking off.

The strange Little Red Riding Hood ran through the Forest. Yu Sheng, Irene, and Foxy chased close behind. Wolf howls rose and fell all around, filling every direction, as if they were very close. At the closest moments, Yu Sheng felt like he could smell the pack, feel those breaths thick with blood scent and malice, even sense fangs and claws skimming past him.

But when he looked around, he saw only the Forest’s shadows.

The Wolf Pack had gathered. They were hunting the strange Little Red Riding Hood ahead. Yu Sheng just couldn’t see them.

The girl’s pace faltered. She was running out of strength. Her steps turned wobbly.

Then, in the direction she was fleeing, an Open Ground appeared.

A small wooden house stood there, a little out of place against the surroundings.

The instant he saw it, Yu Sheng’s eyes tightened. There was no light inside the house.

The red cloaked girl had almost no strength left and no choice to make. She only hesitated for a heartbeat after seeing the house, then rushed straight in.