Chapter 223

Chapter 223: Damage

Yu Sheng jolted awake from endless darkness and fractured vision. He opened his eyes in the dim bedroom and tried to sit up.

He couldn’t.

Two Irenes sat on his arms—one on each side. Another rebar-and-stone Irene sat squarely on his chest. Nearby, Foxy lay on the bed with her big eyes wide open, staring straight at him. Those eyes glowed gold-red in the darkness, giving her a faintly wicked look.

Yu Sheng nearly couldn’t breathe. He flailed a hand, trying to shove them off. “You said you wouldn’t climb onto the bed again! Why are you up here? Do you have any idea how heavy this body is—”

Little Doll stared at him with scarlet eyes. “I didn’t suddenly jump up. I climbed up slowly.”

Yu Sheng struggled for a long time before he finally managed to sit up. His head was still foggy, and the first thing he blurted was, “What are you all doing surrounding me like you’re viewing a corpse?”

Before he could finish, Irene nodded. “Yep. We were paying our respects.”

Yu Sheng blinked. “…Huh?”

Foxy nodded solemnly too. “Benefactor, you had no breath at all for half an hour. I assumed you died. Then Irene and I discussed how Benefactor died. Irene said humans are fragile, and if they stay up too much, they suddenly die, so you died of sudden death. But I think you were crushed to death by her sitting on your chest. We waited here to see when you’d come back, so we could ask you—”

Yu Sheng rubbed his face. “…Can you learn something reliable from Irene for once?!”

Another wave of dizziness rolled through him. He didn’t know if it was a side effect of resurrection or simply because a rebar-and-stone doll had almost killed him a second time. As he slowly steadied, the memories slammed back into place:

Squirrel. The little house. Hunter. The flickering black forest. Anka Aila’s patrol-like gaze. The wolf pack.

And death.

A pair of gold-red eyes crept closer. Yu Sheng looked up instinctively and found Foxy’s face less than ten centimeters from his. She looked worried. “Benefactor… what’s wrong?”

Yu Sheng swallowed. “I became Hunter and saw the rift behind the black forest—and then I was ambushed and killed by a wolf pack.”

Then something struck him. He sprang up and looked toward the window. “Wait. What time is it?!”

Foxy flinched at his sudden movement. “It’s already dark. Benefactor, you slept for a long time. Irene and I went to the valley this afternoon. Everything was fine there…”

“No, no—something’s going to happen.” Yu Sheng’s unease surged. He swung out of bed and started pulling on his coat. “It’s almost night again.”

The three Irenes glanced at one another.

“Anka Aila’s activity is still rising,” Yu Sheng said fast. “It’s preparing something bigger. We overlooked something. We must have.”

One Irene jumped onto the bedside table, staring up at him. “Wait—what do you mean something’s going to happen? Didn’t the most dangerous night already pass? Foxy and I just confirmed the valley. The children are all—”

“But Anka Aila’s activity didn’t drop. It’s climbing,” Yu Sheng cut in. His voice was urgent, his eyes locked on the doll in the dim light. “The shelter effect from the blood bestowal ceremony—and the valley’s own shielding—weakened its control. But its waking speed is increasing.”

All three Irenes froze. “…What?”

Yu Sheng was already grabbing his phone. He fired off a notice to the Special Operations Bureau, then reached into the air as he spoke. “I saw it in the black forest. Those dark angels are scanning every subset. I think it’s searching for Fairy Tale members that have been interfered with. In Anka Aila’s eyes, my shelter measures for those kids are like… kidnapping. It’s noticed the stage slipping. I don’t know how much that connects to its faster waking speed, but—”

Irene listened, dazed, then hopped down. “Hey. Where are you going?”

“To the valley.” Yu Sheng’s hand didn’t pause. “You and Foxy are coming with me.”

A phantom door opened out of thin air.

Yu Sheng stepped through and appeared directly in the temporary camp. The bright daylight threw him off for a split second after the dim room. Then he saw Little Red Riding Hood nearby, staring at him in surprise.

She walked over with a small smile. “Why are you here? Irene told me you were exhausted, went home, and crashed. We’re getting ready to make dinner. Want to join us?”

Yu Sheng ignored the invitation. “Is everything normal in the camp? Did any child suddenly fall into a deep sleep, or hear or see anything strange?”

Little Red Riding Hood caught the weight in his voice immediately. Her posture tightened. “No. Everything’s normal. What happened?”

Yu Sheng told her what he’d run into, then said, “Next I need to get back into the black forest as soon as possible and find a way to get close to that rift. But Anka Aila’s activity is a problem. Taking you away seems to have provoked it. A big provocation.”

Little Red Riding Hood listened, serious and anxious. She opened her mouth a few times, like she couldn’t find the right place to speak. Finally she asked, hesitant, “So… was that shelter too rushed? We shouldn’t have provoked those dark angels like that?”

“Don’t think that.” Yu Sheng’s answer came without hesitation. “We weren’t the only ones acting. Those angel cultists have been doing everything they can to push Anka Aila toward waking up. When we did the blood bestowal, we didn’t have the luxury to hesitate. Yes, shelter might provoke Anka Aila—but even if we didn’t shelter anyone, it would still wake early. Those cultists are insane enough to do mass self-sacrifice just to provoke their lord. So we race for time. At least if we move first, we keep the initiative.”

Little Red Riding Hood exhaled hard and nodded. “You’re right. I panicked.”

“So what do we do now?” she asked quickly. “It’s waking further, and it’s scanning every subset. After this, the nightmares will be even more dangerous.”

“That’s why I rushed over to confirm things.” Yu Sheng’s face stayed stern. “It’s already dark in the real world. We’re entering the active cycle for the Fairy Tale stage. Tonight matters.”

He looked past her toward the little houses. “As long as the Sanctuary Wasteland is still in effect, surviving the nightmares isn’t the issue. No matter how high its activity gets, it’s still trapped in Fairy Tale, this otherworld. In theory, its link to the real world has already been cut off by your evacuation.”

“I get it,” Little Red Riding Hood said at once. “Tonight I’ll increase patrols. The King is ready too. Their court wizard will monitor the entire camp nonstop.”

Yu Sheng nodded.

But the unease in his chest didn’t loosen. Even after confirming the kids were fine, even after arranging patrols and monitoring, it still felt like something was wrong—like something was about to slip.

He was just trying to seize the thread of that feeling when his phone rang again.

Yu Sheng frowned, answered, and Bai Li Qing’s clipped voice came through. “We found the book.”

She paused for less than half a second before adding, “The book Zhao Le Le handed to Anka Aila back then. We found material from the same batch and edition. There are a few scanned images. I’ve sent them to you on Border Comms. Take a look.”

Yu Sheng hung up. Even with his thoughts buzzing, he opened Border Comms at once and checked Bai Li Qing’s private messages.

Irene and Little Red Riding Hood leaned in immediately. Even Foxy—who still couldn’t really read—crowded close to look.

Yu Sheng found the image files and opened the first scan.

It was a low-resolution archive image of a brightly colored, cheaply made fairy tale book cover, worn at the edges.

A graffiti-style forest. A crooked path. And a red-brown squirrel sitting on a stump by the road.

The squirrel was drawn in an exaggerated, ridiculous style. It held up a pine needle like a pointer, aiming at the title:

“Squirrelknight Reads Stories with You”

Yu Sheng’s eyes snagged on the squirrel. He stared for a long moment, then let out a quiet breath and opened the next page.

A scan of the table of contents.

The first story: “Little Red Riding Hood.”

The second: “Princess Snow White.”

The third: “Sleeping Beauty”…

Little Red Riding Hood stared at the screen without blinking. After a beat, she muttered, almost to herself, “Oh. So I’m the first story…”

Yu Sheng held the contents for another moment, then opened the next scan.

On yellowed, torn paper, cheap printed text told the first story, accompanied by simple illustrations and a few pinyin notes. The whole thing—pictures included—took only two pages. It had been heavily simplified, clearly made for kids who had just learned to read on their own.

Yu Sheng scrolled through the rest of the scans.

Messy printed text.

And, here and there, blank spaces.