Chapter 198

Chapter 198: The Unwilling Prisoner

Yu Sheng felt that it was because he carried the Angel’s Umbilical Cord that, this time in the Black Forest, he saw those strange scenes: the missing path, the phantom of the first Little Red Riding Hood, and the first sparks of hearth and candlelight. It was like seeing the Black Forest’s early memories, things that should have stayed sealed deep in that subset, but the Umbilical Cord had somehow awakened them.

He also considered another guess: maybe those memories were recorded inside the Angel’s Umbilical Cord itself, and entering the Black Forest had released them.

Either way, the reason he could see all that today was clearly tied to the Angel’s Umbilical Cord.

[If Squirrel is right and this one is only a fake, then what power would the real Angel’s Umbilical Cord have? If I truly find it, what will happen?] He tightened his expression and drifted into thought, going over every clue he had about Fairy Tale and trying to find anything linked to the true Umbilical Cord, but he found nothing.

After a while, he came back to himself and noticed Squirrel still crouched on the windowsill, head drooped, mumbling softly.

When he leaned closer, he heard what it was repeating: it kept saying it should have gone to bed earlier that night and should never have handed the Fairy Tale book to that voice. It sounded trapped in a repeating nightmare, jumping from one loop to another, sinking back into madness inside that endless cycle.

Yu Sheng frowned a little.

He knew why Squirrel felt so guilty and fully understood it, but based on the information he had gathered and his thoughts on the Fairy Tale Otherworld, he had a different view.

He looked Squirrel in the eyes and asked: “You think the Fairy Tale Otherworld appeared because you gave that book to the ‘voice,’ right? You think it is all your fault?”

Squirrel rubbed its paws sadly and scratched the fur on its cheek as it answered: “Who else would be to blame? I’m not a likable kid, not smart, not obedient, and I lost the Fairy Tale book. The worst thing was that.”

Yu Sheng spoke with steady seriousness and said: “Have you thought about this instead? Maybe your Fairy Tale book sealed a Dark Angels being that was already weak. Maybe your book kept it from fully entering our reality.”

Squirrel’s paws froze, and it stared at Yu Sheng in shock.

Yu Sheng continued at an even pace and said: “There is a group of lunatics called the Angel Cultists. They’ve been very active lately. They call themselves the servants of Anka Aila and have done a lot of things with one goal: to free their ‘lord.’ Their ‘lord’ is imprisoned inside Fairy Tale.”

Squirrel stood still for a long time, and only after its tail slowly drooped did it whisper: “Is… is that true?”

Yu Sheng kept his tone calm and said: “I don’t know if the book you handed over that night is directly tied to today’s situation. But if you believe a single Fairy Tale book could lead to the birth of the Fairy Tale Otherworld, then the fact that Anka Aila is imprisoned inside Fairy Tale can also be traced back to that book. There are countless choices in this world, but after facts happen, every fork becomes a must. We just can’t help looking back from the result and asking if some things could have been changed.”

He paused for a second, then went on and said: “I don’t know if you’ve heard the term Dark Angels. I want to tell you this: what you saw that night was the moment an Angel pierced the world, the instant of Descent into reality. Every coincidence focused on that point in time. You, that Fairy Tale book, that minute, the Angel, the exchange, all of it mattered.”

He held Squirrel’s gaze and said: “From your description, that window lasted less than a minute. In that one minute, you were the only child in the Borderland who witnessed an Angel’s Descent and had the chance to choose. You chose to hand over the only Fairy Tale book you had. Do you know what might have happened if you hadn’t?”

Squirrel hesitated, then shook its head and said: “I… I don’t know. I don’t even know what ‘Dark Angels’ are. I’m just a…”

Yu Sheng cut in and said: “In the worst case, there might not be a Borderland at all. Even in the best lucky case, Boundary City’s order would have been broken by the Piercing. The people who died in that instant would outnumber all the names you might hear in your whole life.”

Squirrel went blank, mouth open, tail trembling. Yu Sheng’s words had scared it badly.

After a while, Squirrel moved again and mumbled without thinking: “But… but Little Red Riding Hood…”

Yu Sheng stayed steady and said: “Yes. Many Little Red Riding Hoods, and their friends. Children who cannot live past eighteen. They are the price of all this, thanks to Fairy Tale. Suffering is still suffering. We cannot call them lucky just because they avoided the mass deaths the Descent shock might have caused. They themselves may choose to think that way, but you and I do not have the right to say it for them.”

He looked at Squirrel and said: “But this is no longer a problem you can solve, and not even one you should carry.”

He tapped his chest and said: “This is mine to handle.”

Squirrel stared at him, its small mind spinning with countless thoughts, its expression slowly turning lost again.

Irene patted Yu Sheng’s head and said: “Hey, count me and Foxy too!”

Yu Sheng quickly nodded and said: “Right, count the two of you.”

Foxy thought for a moment and reminded him and said: “We should count Little Red Riding Hood and the others too. Their orphanage is trying as well.”

Yu Sheng agreed and said: “Right, count the Fairy Tale Organization.”

Irene started ticking off names on her fingers and said: “And count the Special Affairs Bureau. Li Lin, Xu Jiali, Song Cheng, and that Bai Li Qing. They’ve helped a lot. Plus the team from seventy years ago that had an incident. They might still be holding on, and also…”

Yu Sheng hurried to stop her and said: “That’s enough. We’ve got plenty of people.”

He felt that if he didn’t stop the little doll on his shoulder, she could list a hundred more helpers. He had only said that to set the mood.

Squirrel finally seemed to catch up to the conversation. Whatever it had thought during that brief blank stare, it suddenly clawed at its face and muttered: “…Thank you.”

It quickly added in a small voice and said: “I’ve never dared tell anyone these secrets.”

Yu Sheng nodded lightly and said: “I understand. But after today, we will tell these secrets to many people. To fix the threat buried deep in Fairy Tale, we must first face Anka Aila, and that will take the help of many.”

Squirrel fell silent for two or three seconds, then slowly nodded.

Yu Sheng lifted his head and looked out the window.

Dusk above the Black Forest was ending, and night was slowly descending. He had planned to wait here until the Hunter appeared, but he changed his mind.

[Send out the new intel on Anka Aila first. Ask the Special Affairs Bureau to dig up earlier records on that orphanage. Maybe the resourceful Director Bai Li Qing can even pick up traces left by that Dark Angels Descent.]

[Then share the intel with the Fairy Tale Organization. Have Little Red Riding Hood and the others search the orphanage. It has been many years, and the building has been repaired or rebuilt more than once, but maybe there is still a clue.]

He turned to Squirrel and asked: “What was your original name?”

Such a simple question made Squirrel freeze. After a long time, it answered slowly and said: “…Name?”

It looked confused, as if facing a brand new idea it had never met before.

After sitting there a while, Squirrel mumbled with hesitation and said: “I am… Squirrel.”

It stood on the windowsill and began rubbing its face hard again, pulling at the fur on its cheeks over and over.

It kept murmuring and said: “I am Squirrel, I am Squirrel, I am…” Then it suddenly stopped, looked up at Yu Sheng, and said: “Sorry, I forgot. I had a name, but I forgot. Squirrel has bad memory. I… I am only a Squirrel. Sorry… waaah.”

The palm-sized little animal finally burst into loud sobs.

Only in the moment it understood that it once had a name and had now forgotten it did it realize that it was only a Squirrel, and that so much had happened to it. It realized how long it had already lived in the Black Forest.

Yu Sheng hesitated, then slowly reached out and gently cupped Squirrel, letting it rest in his palm.

It cried and curled up into a tiny ball. Warmth came from all sides, seeped through its fur, and sank into a dream it could not wake from.

It thought to itself and felt relief and said: [It’s so nice. Someone is holding me again.]

Ever since it lost that Fairy Tale book, the teacher had never hugged it again. Ever since it turned into a Squirrel in a dream, no one had held it.

She felt that same small comfort and said to herself: [It’s so nice. Someone is holding me again.]

Even if it was only a palm.