Chapter 221

Chapter 221: Hunter’s Invitation

After falling asleep and opening his eyes to the black forest, Yu Sheng wasn’t all that surprised.

The “Fairy Tale” otherworld had never disappeared, and Anka Aila’s activity hadn’t stopped. The orphanage children had only made it safely through that dangerous night. At any moment, any subset inside Fairy Tale could reopen—and whether it was the Sanctuary Wasteland or the valley, those places were basically safety nets, meant to keep children who fell into nightmares from suffering mental trauma or being directly parasitized by Anka Aila.

In other words, the nightmare would come when it came.

That didn’t stop Yu Sheng from thinking the whole thing was complete bullshit. Lately, he’d also developed a very strong suspicion that the black forest was targeting him on purpose.

He took a slow breath. Once he forced himself to calm down, the feeling only sharpened.

The black forest was after him—or rather, something in the forest was after him.

Faint wolf howls rose in the distance. The endless crying of a baby made his nerves itch. Wind sighed through nearby bushes, and now and then a strange, buzzing hum drifted through the air.

The buzz made Yu Sheng wonder if he’d developed tinnitus. He smacked his forehead and dug at his ears, but it didn’t fade at all. It mixed with the baby’s cries until the whole soundscape became unbearable.

He muttered out loud, as if his own voice could drown it out. “Is this damn place adding new noises now? It sounds like an alarm.”

Something rustled in a clump of grass nearby. The next second, a small red-brown fluffball popped out of the dry, rotting weeds and hopped straight toward him.

“You’re okay! You’re okay! Little Red Riding Hood is okay too! Squirrel is okay too!”

Squirrel bounced around Yu Sheng’s boots, chirping sharply with excitement.

Yu Sheng bent down, lifted her, and rubbed her head with one finger. “Yeah. We’re all fine. We got through the night with a scare, but we made it.”

Squirrel hugged his finger happily—then snapped her head up and glanced around, instantly alert. She crouched low and spoke in a whisper. “Shh, don’t talk too loud… Anka Aila is still wandering in the forest. Its gaze just swept over this area again… Squirrel thinks it’s really unhappy. It’s going to make trouble again…”

Yu Sheng lowered his voice too. “I know. But I’m here to find it this time—”

Squirrel suddenly interrupted him, like she hadn’t heard a word. “Hunter!”

Yu Sheng froze. “Hunter? What happened to Hunter?”

“Hunter!”

Squirrel repeated it, jittery and nervous. That confused, twitchy state seemed to wash back over her for a second, but she forced it down. While wiping her face at speed, she muttered, “Squirrel is thinking… Squirrel is thinking… Hunter, Hunter…”

She stopped dead, straightened, and stared into the depths of the forest. Two seconds later, she slapped her tail hard. “Hunter is by the house! Right—Hunter is by the house. They’re waiting for you!”

“They’re waiting for me?”

This time, Yu Sheng was genuinely stunned. He suddenly remembered what he’d seen during the orphanage evacuation—the phantom figure that had appeared in the hallway and vanished in an instant. A sharp sense of something imminent surged through him.

He didn’t even stop to ask for details. “Take me there.”

Squirrel raised a paw and pointed into the distance. “This way. This way.”

Yu Sheng followed her gesture. It was the darker part of the forest—no streetlights, no path, not even the faint candle-glow from the shelter house.

Still, he trusted her. He could feel the blood connection between himself and the tiny creature in his palm. This wasn’t a trap the black forest had laid.

He hurried deeper into the trees. Only then did he find the breath to ask, “How do you know Hunter is waiting by the house? Did they show themselves? Did they talk to you?”

“Yeah.” Squirrel nodded hard. “Hunter just appeared. Wolf Granny wasn’t there—Hunter walked out of the forest on their own. They stayed out of Anka Aila’s sight and made no sound, but Squirrel heard what they said directly. They said the person who touched the umbilical cord and the bullet should come, and go to the first little house. They said there wasn’t much time. Angel was going to wake up, but because someone interfered with Angel’s connection to the outside, there’s now a brief…”

Squirrel stopped abruptly, as if she’d run headfirst into words too complicated to remember. She struggled for a moment, then gave up with a frustrated shake. “Squirrel can’t remember exactly. Anyway… Hunter said they finally got a chance to speak. Angel’s control over them is weakening. They told the person who touched the umbilical cord and the bullet to hurry. Squirrel saw you holding the umbilical cord, but Squirrel doesn’t know what a bullet is… Squirrel didn’t pass it wrong, right?”

“That’s right,” Yu Sheng said. “It was me.”

He nodded as his mind raced, piecing together her jumbled report.

Hunter, as an “entity,” had always acted strictly according to the black forest’s rules. They only appeared when Wolf Granny showed up, and their only action was to shoot Wolf Granny—or shoot any Little Red Riding Hood who had fully undergone “wolfification.” In all the cases so far, there had never been any record of Hunter speaking, not in Squirrel’s memory and not in the memories of past Little Red Riding Hoods either.

But now Hunter had communicated with Squirrel on their own. They’d moved freely without Wolf Granny being generated. They’d even entered the real world once.

Because someone had interfered with Angel’s connection to the outside.

Yu Sheng lowered his gaze to his hands.

To bring every child under protection, he’d shed a lot of blood these past few days.

“…One hell of a side effect,” he murmured. And then, slowly, he grinned.

Even if he couldn’t explain the exact process, he felt almost certain: the blood bestowal ceremony he’d done for every child in Fairy Tale had successfully interfered with Anka Aila’s connection to the real world. And that interference hadn’t just protected the kids—it had also, by accident, created an opening for Hunter.

So Hunter had been waiting for a chance to act freely all along. Under that hunter’s garb, there was still a spark of humanity and reason.

Ahead, the outline of the little house finally emerged from the shadows.

Yu Sheng took a quiet breath and slowed as he approached, watching every stir of wind and grass around him.

Hunter might not mean harm, but the black forest itself was alive. Yu Sheng couldn’t afford to let his guard down. He was here in a dream—no Irene, no Foxy, not even that steady “reason” of his. If something went wrong, he’d be killed on the spot.

Dying wasn’t the problem.

Delaying things was.

The surroundings fell still. Even the wolf howls faded. Only the muffled baby cries and the irritating buzz remained. Yu Sheng had almost gotten used to it.

In his palm, Squirrel trembled faintly.

She was afraid of this place—afraid of the spot that represented every Little Red Riding Hood’s ending.

Yu Sheng gently patted her head and tried to set her on a stump beside him. “If you’re scared of this house, don’t come in. Wait outside.”

“No!”

Unexpectedly, Squirrel flipped and latched onto his finger, hanging there and swaying as she tried to sound brave. “Squirrel… Squirrelknight fears nothing!”

Her whole body still shook, but the panic in her eyes had eased. The shadow that used to make her break down had become something she could challenge.

Yu Sheng paused, then smiled.

“Alright. Come in with me. But if you’re still scared once we’re inside, you wait outside. A Squirrelknight who knows when to retreat is still a brave Squirrelknight.”

“O-okay!”

Yu Sheng settled her onto his shoulder, stepped forward, and pushed open the old wooden door.

It creaked softly in the silence.

Weak ambient light seeped through the windows. Red capes of every size and style hung all around the room. And among countless cloaks, the figure in the hunter’s garb stood silently at the center.

Their head was bowed slightly. Inside the hollow hood was still nothing but darkness. When Yu Sheng stepped in, the hood shifted—just a little.

From beneath that empty hood, it felt like an invisible gaze settled on him.

Yu Sheng walked closer and greeted them, awkward but earnest. “Uh. I’m here. Squirrel said you were looking for me.”

Hunter nodded.

Such a small motion made Yu Sheng’s breath catch for half a beat.

Hunter really responded.

“Why did you call for me?” Yu Sheng asked carefully. “Do you have something you want to tell me?”

Hunter went still for a moment—then took two steps forward.

They stopped right in front of him. Under Yu Sheng’s instantly wary stare, the empty garb lifted a “hand” and pointed at itself.

“Put it on.”

A hollow, blurred voice rang directly inside Yu Sheng’s mind.