Chapter 47

Chapter 47: The Road Splits in Two

“We’re on solid ground!”

Irene stood on a dark boulder, struggling to hold the cleaver with both hands. Facing the empty valley floor, she struck what she clearly believed was an imposing pose against the night wind and shouted at the top of her lungs.

Yu Sheng poked her forehead with one finger, nearly knocking her off the rock. “Stop yelling. We haven’t found Foxy yet. Don’t draw Hunger’s attention over early.”

“That thing doesn’t sense by hearing,” Irene muttered as she hopped down and tightened the straps of the picture frame on her back. Then she looked around. “…It really is desolate. And like you said, it’s creepy as hell. The sky looks like it’s covered by something.”

“Be careful,” Yu Sheng said. He glanced at Irene. She was so small she barely looked capable of fighting. Even knowing she had strange abilities, he couldn’t help reminding her. “If something happens, protect yourself first. I’m not afraid of dying, but you’re different. We can’t be sure that if this temporary body gets destroyed, your soul will survive.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect myself.” Irene lifted her chin. “And honestly, Hunger is less of a threat to me. A doll usually won’t be affected mentally, and more importantly—I don’t get hungry.”

“Right.” Yu Sheng grumbled. “You don’t get hungry, but you sure know how to crave. I can’t even take a sip of water without holding it in front of you so you can stare at it twice.”

He looked down.

The big plastic bags he’d brought were all still there. Relief loosened his chest. Being careful during the door-opening had been the right call. He’d sent all the load through first, and at least the start had gone smoothly.

Yu Sheng bent down and lifted the food with ease. He looked into the distance.

The collapsed, crumbling temple ruins stood quietly under the night sky, not much different from when he’d left.

“We’ll go there first,” he said softly. “Foxy should be nearby. I can feel it.”

He stepped into the night.

He’d taken two steps when Irene yelled behind him, “Hey, wait! Slow down! I can’t keep up!”

Yu Sheng turned.

The 66.6 cm-tall little doll dragged the cleaver with one hand and used the other to balance herself, weaving around boulders like she was crossing mountains. She trudged across the rubble-strewn stone beach of the valley floor, stumbling every other step.

Obstacles an ordinary person could step over in a stride, she had to climb—or detour around.

Yu Sheng stared for a second, speechless, then sighed and walked back. He crouched in front of her. “Just sit on my shoulder—and don’t say ‘giddyup.’”

Irene lit up immediately and sprinted toward him, cleaver raised. “Hey! You’re so nice!”

Yu Sheng yelped. “Put that thing away first! At least turn the blade the other direction!”

Seriously. A living doll with blood-red eyes charging at his neck with a cleaver in the dark was far too horrifying.

Yu Sheng wasn’t afraid of dying.

But he was afraid of that.

…

“Where the hell did this drop us?” Li Lin shivered as the cold forest wind cut through him. Unease coiled in his chest. “Is this still the borderland…?”

“Otherworld. Night valley.” Xu Jiali’s voice came from the side, clipped and fast, as if reciting from a manual. The nearly two-meter-tall man had already connected a portable depth probe to his eyeball. He scanned the area while speaking. “Current depth L-3, gradually sinking toward L-4. Danger evaluation… based on records, above level three.”

Li Lin’s eyes widened. With Xu Jiali’s warning, the training materials he’d once studied slammed back into his mind.

A wilderness-type Otherworld was huge, with no clear boundary and no clear exit. You could only leave by meeting specific conditions, or by finding the right time and direction.

Depth L-3 meant the place was effectively cut off from reality and ran on rules that defied reason. Stay too long, and the odds of mental and cognitive erosion skyrocketed.

Danger level three meant obvious malice. Something was entrenched here—something that would actively attack intruders. It was lethal, and you couldn’t avoid it just by “following rules.”

To operate in an Otherworld like this, you usually needed at least a full squad of Special Operations Bureau agents—more than a dozen people, fully armed, carrying heavy equipment.

And even then, only for investigation. The goal was intel and withdrawal, not fighting whatever lived here. That required more people—or more veterans.

Li Lin looked around. Including Xu Jiali, there were only two Bureau agents on site. One was a deep diver—a special operator meant to fight entities—but this had happened too suddenly, and the big guy hadn’t brought much gear.

And there was also a minor spirit realm detective doing contract work, supposedly scout-type.

They were so screwed.

“Give what you’re holding to that young lady over there,” Xu Jiali said, breaking the silence with command in his voice. “Li Lin—you and I use this.”

Li Lin snapped out of his doom spiral and obeyed without hesitation. He handed the two bowls of instant noodles to the still-dazed Little Red Riding Hood, then took what Xu Jiali passed him.

A needleless injector.

The pale green liquid inside glowed faintly in the night.

A sanity-blocking agent.

Li Lin looked up in shock as Xu Jiali pressed the injector to his own arm.

“The entity formed here is Hunger, and it tends to attack the mind,” the big man said calmly. “Just from the name, you should know what that means. Take a shot first. The aftereffects are worse than a nebulizer, but for at least forty-eight hours, it’ll keep your judgment intact.”

Li Lin nodded. With a soft hiss, the sanity-blocking agent injected into his body.

At the word Hunger, Little Red Riding Hood reacted instantly. She stepped forward. “Wait—then you should hurry and eat. Your bodies are still ordinary. I can handle more than you, and I’ve got snacks on me…”

“Listen to me,” Xu Jiali cut her off.

He stood in the night, almost two heads taller than her, and looked down with an unusually stern expression. “I know your situation.”

Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth, but in the end she said nothing.

Xu Jiali patted her shoulder. His low voice carried a steady weight that somehow made the air feel calmer. “This is for us too. Your wolf pack is our biggest hope against the entity. You need to keep your fighting strength.”

Li Lin watched Little Red Riding Hood squat beside a rock and eat the now-cold instant noodles in silence. He glanced at his colleague, confusion in his eyes.

Xu Jiali shook his head slightly and lowered his voice. “If she falls into hunger, her wolves will eat her.”

In the night, the wolf pack let out an uneasy whine in the forest.

In the cold wind, a malicious gaze began to spread through the valley.

In the ruined temple, Yu Sheng and Irene searched carefully.

The stench everywhere grew thicker, as if it had a will of its own—drilling into their nostrils and turning their stomachs.

Irene simply stopped breathing.

Yu Sheng envied that.

“Are you sure that fox is here?” Irene asked. Perched on his shoulder, she held the cleaver in one hand and grabbed a fistful of his hair with the other to steady herself. She craned her neck, scanning the ruins. “I can’t see anything…”

“I’m sure,” Yu Sheng said, casual. “There’s a weak link between me and her, built through blood. And there’s one with you too—though you might not notice it.”

“Y-yeah? Is that so?” Irene eyed him skeptically, then looked down at her own hands as if she could find the answer there.

A soft rustling rose in the quiet ruins, cutting off her thoughts.

Both of them turned toward the sound.

A white figure slipped cautiously out from behind a collapsed wall. A silver-white fox tail swayed in the wind. Furry ears trembled as the demon fox girl emerged from the rubble, staring with wide eyes.

When she finally recognized who it was, delight lit her face.

“Benefactor!”

Foxy burst forward, sweeping over broken bricks like a gust of wind. She ran quick circles around Yu Sheng, then stopped in front of him, her expression bright with pure happiness—and disbelief.

“You… you really came! Benefactor, really?”

“It’s me. It’s real.” Yu Sheng smiled just as widely. Then he set everything he was carrying down. “I brought you a lot of good food. Starting today, you won’t have to go hungry.”