Chapter 229

Chapter 229: Crossed

Seven Thunder Titans—each clad in seven kinds of armor—fell from the shattered sky. They hurled heavy bombs, thunder and lightning, and dazzling rings of fire into the black forest. White phosphorus bombs streaked overhead like meteors, setting the trees ablaze. Smoke boiled up through the firelight, scorching the dusk itself.

Then a tin man V-2 dive bomber tore open a split between the clouds and began bombing the densest part of the wolf pack, tail gun raking the ground with wild fire.

The sky was torn open—literally torn open.

Little Red Riding Hood watched the dusk above the black forest fracture like broken glass. The once-whole light was cut into countless irregular shards, and each shard reflected a different scene—dark spires reaching into the void, blood-soaked courts, brilliantly lit ballrooms, wild fields where flutes played, great ships returning at night, thorn-choked ancient castles…

It was as if every subset was collapsing toward the black forest.

At the same time, all kinds of things began falling from those mirrors into the trees—dragons, giants, soldiers, burning wreckage and sails, castles, demons.

The barriers between subsets had been forced open. The black forest—the first stage in the fairy tale collection—had thrown open its door to every story.

A solemn giant in iron armor strode forward with heavy steps. Ordinary Big Bad Wolves couldn’t withstand it at all—even if the giant would be considered a “dwarf” among Titans. The wolves retreated before it, and a familiar voice rang out from the giant’s shoulder, bright with excitement and joy.

“Red Hood sis! I’m here to help you! Aren’t you happy?!”

Little Red Riding Hood stared up in shock.

Princess Snow White stood on the Titan’s pauldron. Even under the strain of summoning seven giants at once, her face was lit with wild excitement—the thrill of finally raising hell without restraint, of not having to worry about rules, of not having to count every day of her life, of being allowed to be reckless just once.

Little Red Riding Hood pointed at the distant sky. “Your ‘mom’ is coming!”

The next second, a powerful voice thundered across the battlefield. “Come! Come! Come!! Even if it’s this nonsense place, I’ll still blast all of you—”

The crazy old woman’s roar only made it halfway before a flash of fire shot up from the earth.

A heavily armored knight stepped on air and arrived in an instant, sword slamming down at the evil queen in her ornate court gown.

“For the glory of King!”

The knight fell within a few exchanges, but immediately after, another army formed in the burning woods. Ground troops led by Scarecrow opened fire wildly at everything in the sky that didn’t look like an ally. The Thunder Titans joined the fight after a brief pause.

A chubby tabby cat burst out of the smoke. The instant the knight was defeated, it lifted a paw and summoned again. In a blink, several figures appeared in the air—a cleric from a small town, a down-and-out wandering swordsman, a traveling mage, and a hero who looked like he’d just left his village.

“King” tossed an old sword to the stunned hero, slapped his arm hard with its paw, and pointed at the sky where the enemy tangled with the Thunder Titans.

“Go fight her!” the cat ordered. “Remember, you have to yell about bonds, friendship, everyone in the village, all that stuff. Charge in and slash—remember! You have to yell! Once you yell, you’ll definitely hit! Go!”

Dorothy, gripping a saber and wearing a commander’s uniform, stumbled out of a nearby crater. Blood smeared her face, but her smile was dazzling.

“Everyone, get in there!” she shouted. “Hit the ones marked by signal flares first!”

A mermaid’s song rose over the battlefield, echoing across the burning chaos. The sound carried the roar of tides, and damp, gentle air seeped through the smoke.

Princess Rapunzel, golden hair dragging along the ground, pulled a golden awl from the chest of a dying demon and fused it back into her hair. Half her body was soaked in blood. She inhaled as if bathing in sea wind, then narrowed her eyes.

“Ha… this is what the mermaid song gives you… huh?”

She looked at the fish-tailed girl singing from a boulder nearby. Confusion crossed her face. “…You sing and I didn’t get any buffs?”

The mermaid stopped and stared blankly at her. “When did I say my singing gives buffs?”

“Then what are you singing for?”

“Because it sounds good!”

Little Red Riding Hood stood in the middle of this madness, staring at everything around her in a daze.

The way things were developing had gone far beyond what she expected.

It felt like watching a war—many fairy tale stories colliding, triggered in the most absurd way possible. Dorothy’s resistance army and the hero appointed by King were attacking a vicious queen. The little match girl was summoning white phosphorus bombs to bombard the wolf pack. A dragon slayer fell from the sky. A wicked witch died in the shockwave of a crashing red dragon. Jack’s beanstalk slowly strangled the red queen. Giants guarding the golden goose had their skulls cracked by a pumpkin carriage and tumbled from the sky.

And through it all, the mermaid sang—sometimes ballads, sometimes rock. When the mood struck, she even threw in beatboxing. Completely useless, but it sounded great, like she was providing background music for an insane farce.

Then Little Red Riding Hood heard a harsh noise from above.

She looked up.

The sky-piercing shadow projected by Anka Aila convulsed like something in agony. Fine cracks spread across its surface. As it twitched violently, those frightening eyes went out one by one.

And in the center of the black forest, she could finally see it clearly—the rift. It stood like it had always been there, only now revealing its true form.

She turned and saw Yu Sheng looking back with a pleased smile.

“What did you do?!” she shouted, disbelief punching through the noise.

“Anka Aila made you all have so many nightmares,” Yu Sheng said, grin bright and almost boyish. “Now it’s its turn to have one. I waited until its gaze was focused here, then I tore up every story script. It probably doesn’t have time to stop me anymore.”

Shells and bombs roared, and Little Red Riding Hood had to shout at the top of her lungs. “You’ve wanted to do this for a long time?!”

Yu Sheng laughed out loud. “Of course!”

Then he turned and strode toward the rift. “I’m going to see what’s behind the stage.”

Little Red Riding Hood shouted on reflex, “Then we—”

Yu Sheng waved without looking back. “Keep making a scene. Make it as big as you can until the forest collapses and everything burns to ash. Then you’ll meet again in the wasteland and can rest for a bit. If all goes well, the next time you open your eyes, you’ll be back at the valley camp.”

Little Red Riding Hood stood there, stunned, watching Yu Sheng, Foxy, and Irene disappear into the chaos. After a few seconds, she muttered to herself, repeating what she’d heard.

“…Meet again in the wilds after death, celebrate to your heart’s content, until you return to the living world in sanctuary… Why does that sound so mystical?”

Yu Sheng couldn’t hear her anymore.

He led Foxy and Irene through the center of the battlefield, across the scorched ground still choked with wolves. With the madness around them pulling Anka Aila’s attention, the last stretch was almost easy.

The rift was finally within reach.

Only up close did Yu Sheng realize how enormous it was.

It was like a wall stretching from heaven to earth, filling his vision.

A faint buzzing sound drifted from within it now and then.

At some point, the baby’s crying—and all the piercing noises—had vanished.

“We’re really going in…” Irene’s voice went tight. “This is scary.”

Yu Sheng didn’t answer. He looked at Irene’s arms.

The tiny squirrel was curled in the doll’s embrace.

“You can stay in the black forest,” Yu Sheng told her. “We don’t know what the place we’re going next will be like. It might be dangerous. It might be terrifying—or it might be something completely unexpected.”

“Squirrel Knight…” The squirrel pushed herself up, blurted the words, then hesitated. Two seconds later, she waved her paws hard. “I’m going with you!”

“Why?”

“I…” The squirrel shrank her neck but still met Yu Sheng’s eyes. “I want to… I want to see what Anka Aila is really like…”

Yu Sheng studied her for a moment. Then he nodded. “Alright. Come with us. Stay in Irene’s arms, and don’t run off.”

Then he stepped into the rift without hesitation.

There was a brief fall. Twisted perception. Dizziness. Darkness filled with illusion.

He felt himself drop into a crisscrossing network. Countless root-like structures spread through the dark, supporting platforms of every size. It was like being shot through a tube at high speed, like cargo in transit.

He wasn’t sure how long the fall lasted—seconds, or an eternity—and then his feet hit solid ground.

Yu Sheng hesitated, then opened his eyes.

Foxy, Irene, Yu Sheng, and the tiny squirrel all stared ahead in shock.

They were standing in a white corridor.

The walls and floor had a metallic sheen.

Yu Sheng’s gaze swept across it, then fixed on a plaque mounted on the wall.

The writing was unfamiliar. And yet, for some reason, he could read it.

“Anka Aila — Maintenance Corridor”