Chapter 215

Chapter 215: The Leak Spreads

It took about thirty minutes to patrol all the corridors and classrooms in the east building, then the west building needed a pass too. Every floor in both buildings had a little booklet for check-ins hanging by the stairs. You had to record anything you found on the form to help the next duty “parent.” Little Red Riding Hood knew this routine well.

Yu Sheng walked beside her and watched her work. She was very serious, even carrying a near sense of mission as she passed each room and wrote each line.

He felt he understood her mood. Anka Aila was slowly waking, and tomorrow the Cursed Children would be moved to the Valley. Whatever happened after that, whether the “Fairy Tale” crisis ended or the Dark Angels broke free, this might be her last patrol of this place.

“Not long ago I was planning a full search of the orphanage and even patrol routes for the underground,” Little Red Riding Hood sighed, a bit self-mocking. “And now we might leave tomorrow. It’s pretty sudden.”

“Plans fall behind change,” Yu Sheng said gently. “That’s how it always goes.”

After a brief silence, she asked in a very small voice: “It will be fine, right?”

“Of course,” Yu Sheng said with a mild smile. “We’re ready. Whether Anka Aila attacks in reality or in dreams, we’ll block it.”

Little Red Riding Hood looked into his eyes. After a moment, a trace of a smile reached hers and she said: “Let’s check the underground. King should be finishing a patrol with his ‘bodyguards’ in the tunnels. We can see how things look.”

“Okay,” Yu Sheng said.

They went down to level B2. After entering the connecting passage and walking a short way toward the west building, they saw King sprawled lazily on a fire equipment box. Three figures in black leather armor with hooded masks stood guard nearby. When Little Red Riding Hood appeared, the trio tensed at once, then relaxed and gave stiff, small nods to Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood.

“You’re here, meow,” the lazy Tabby Cat said with a wave of his paw, paying little mind to Yu Sheng’s arrival. “Both underground levels are checked. Nothing. I was thinking about finding a place to nap.”

“Thanks for the hard work,” Little Red Riding Hood said as she scritched the fur along King’s back. “Did you give extra attention to the area near that air shaft?”

“Of course. I even crawled into the vent myself,” the Tabby Cat yawned. “Nothing’s going to happen exactly tonight, right, there’s no way we’re that unluck-”

A faint music, source unknown, cut him off.

The tunnel fell silent in an instant. King froze mid-stretch. Yu Sheng felt his Spiritual Intuition twang like a plucked string. The brief, soft notes, though very quiet, seemed to pierce something and echo in his senses.

He snapped his head toward Little Red Riding Hood and met her widening eyes.

Then the music came again, gentle, elegant, and soothing, clearer than before, as if it were playing just behind the wall.

The fur on King’s tail puffed at once, and his usual deep documentary narrator voice wobbled: “What the heck, seriously… I’m just an innocent little cat…”

“Quiet,” Little Red Riding Hood commanded. Shadows around her rippled, and many blurry Shadow Wolves rose from them. Each wolf pricked its ears, listening to every sound in the tunnel. After a few seconds, Little Red Riding Hood spoke, face grave: “A court dance. Bloodstained Court? At this hour it could be the Eternal Ball… no, dream time doesn’t match real time…”

The soft, elegant music suddenly broke with static, followed by the crack of something shattering, then the crackle of flames, and the tune warped into harsh, off-key noise.

Little Red Riding Hood finally pinned the source. The sound came from behind a wall on the left side of the passage.

“This way,” she shouted, then broke into a run with her Wolf Pack racing for the sound.

Yu Sheng sprinted after her. The three assassin-like figures rushed too. King leaped onto one assassin’s shoulder, flicked a paw at the empty air, and a handful of Retainers dressed as mages and warriors popped into being. They snapped into a battle formation, covering the flanks and rear while running with Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood.

Out of the corner of his eye Yu Sheng caught something else ahead. A blot of shadow bloomed on the ceiling, layered like rose thickets. Under the dim lights it suddenly spread, and thorns stabbed out of the shadow as if trying to break free and jab into reality. But before Yu Sheng could warn the others, the rose shadow vanished, leaving only old grime on the ceiling.

Little Red Riding Hood moved like the wind. In a blink she slipped around a junction, and two Shadow Wolves burst from the air at her back and slammed open a metal door marked “Storage.”

Bright light spilled out, and a vivid red carpet rolled like a flood of blood into the tunnel, spreading and creeping along the floor. Inside that “Storage” room was now a vast, splendid hall. Countless twisted, ecstatic bodies danced there. They wore shining court gowns and suits, all exquisitely made, but their faces were absurd, as if painted on. Bright colors drew their features into wild grins. Over the increasingly warped music, a voice shouted: “The Prince wants that Glass Slipper, cut off her foot!”

A thunderous boom ripped the scene. The hall began to collapse. The real “storage room” and the Illusion Arts “ballroom” seemed to overlap. Yu Sheng saw a corner of the real ceiling break and fall. Through a hole in the roof, he glimpsed a Pumpkin Carriage rising on smoke and thunder into the sky.

In the next second, huge pillars of light stabbed up into the night. The orphanage’s east and west buildings turned into towers ringed with barbed wire and heavy concrete fortifications. Anti-air guns roared from their tops. Tongues of fire swept the sky. The moment those batteries raked the Pumpkin Carriage, it struck an invisible The Door and vanished into the night.

At once, all the Illusion Arts were gone, including the two anti-air towers, the broken roof, and the “ballroom” overlaying the storage room. Yu Sheng swayed for an instant, then the tunnel looked “normal” again.

As if nothing had happened.

But Yu Sheng already knew what it meant.

“The leak is spreading,” he shouted, and he smacked a slightly stunned Little Red Riding Hood on the arm. “Move. Wake the Cursed Children now. Anyone you can wake, wake them, and gather everyone on the first floor to wait for my Door Opening.”

“Got it,” Little Red Riding Hood snapped back, then frowned as another thought hit. “What about the ones trapped in their subsets?”

“Leave them for now. You saw it. If they get into real danger, their minds will slip into the Wasteland to take shelter,” Yu Sheng said quickly. “We’ll evacuate in batches. First priority is to keep the youngest Cursed Children safe from the nightmare leak.”

He thought fast and added: “I’ll have Irene head to the Wasteland right now to brief the ones who already ‘fell’ in.”

“Understood,” Little Red Riding Hood said with a firm nod. She looked to the Tabby Cat and ordered: “King, summon your guard Knights. Protect those still in their subsets. Do not let their real bodies get hurt.”

King said nothing. He slashed his paw through the air. The Adventurers around him vanished, and a fully armed heavy Knight Order strode into the tunnel. Each Knight was nearly two meters tall, wearing Adamantine Armor that glowed with magic, blades in hand, visors casting deep shadow over their faces, pressure rolling off them like a storm.

Silent and steady, the “guard Knights” marched. At King’s single “meow,” they shot down the corridor at tremendous speed and were gone from Yu Sheng’s sight.

Little Red Riding Hood gave Yu Sheng a quick nod, then sank into the shadows with her Wolf Pack and disappeared as well.

“One by one, all so cool,” Yu Sheng muttered. He took a breath, oriented himself, started forward, and called inward: “Irene, answer.”

The little doll’s voice popped up at once: “Heard you, heard you, what’s up?”

“Split your focus and head to the Wasteland right now,” Yu Sheng said in a rush. “Some Fairy Tale members who lost have probably gone there to take shelter. Tell them their nightmares are leaking into reality. The Cursed Children are being moved early. Tell them not to panic. Once their own subsets settle, return to reality and go straight to the first floor of the east building to gather. I’ll open The Door there and send everyone to the Valley to shelter. Clear?”

“Clear, clear, why do emergencies always break out around you I’m going right now you be careful if anything really comes out get people out first don’t try to hold the line if you die that’s one thing but if others can’t run that would be really bad oh no I bit my tongue…”