Chapter 168 – Safe, For Now

The forest trembled amid the roar of artillery fire. The dark, twisted fairy tale blazed furiously in demonic flames. Wolves spawning from the shadows were torn apart and struck down one after another. The entire area was ripped open by sheer, unadulterated violence, and the dense woodland fell like fragile stalks of grain, mowed down in the blink of an eye to carve out a wide road.

The Squirrel stared blankly at all of this. It hid inside Little Red Riding Hood’s hood, its body trembling, the towering flames from the forest reflected in its small, glossy black eyes — a sight that seemed to melt the entire sky.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. It was never like this —

Scouting, evading, relocating, hiding, then evading again, moving on to the next safe house — for many years, this had been the only way for Little Red Riding Hood to survive after falling into the Dark Forest. This malice-filled woodland never allowed its prey to do anything beyond the “rules,” and those unfortunate prey had never possessed the strength to defy those rules.

Nothing like this had ever happened before — prey tearing apart wolf packs with blood and fire, forcing a path through the forest.

The Squirrel stopped screaming. It simply stared in a daze, as if its tiny brain had been overwhelmed, the events unfolding before its eyes stripping it of the ability to think or judge.

Little Red Riding Hood, on the other hand, was laughing — an unprecedented, joyful, carefree laugh. When the wolf howls rang out, fear still sprouted from the depths of her heart, but the Fox Fire barrage sweeping across her field of vision, the fox-tail missiles streaking through the sky, and the spiked club being savagely swung at the corner of her eye brought her a different emotion entirely. A strange, unbridled, reckless excitement and elation crashed against that fear again and again, merging into a thrilling sensation she couldn’t quite name.

She didn’t know if she was afraid, happy, or simply venting. She only knew that this felt good — even if it happened just once in her life, that was enough.

She despised this place. She wanted nothing more than to watch it burn.

Yu Sheng tilted his head slightly and caught the smile on the Red-Clothed Girl’s face and the gleam in her eyes.

Good. Kids should get to go a little wild once in a while. She wasn’t even eighteen yet — no need to start second-guessing everything like an adult so early.

The second-guessing could be left to the actual adults.

He flexed his wrist, spinning the rebar spiked club welded with blades, iron nails, and jagged steel stubs, working out the numbness and sting in his muscles.

The thing worked wonderfully. A full-force swing could easily smash the wolves’ skulls. Those monsters emerging from the shadows gained physical form when they lunged — which gave Yu Sheng an excellent opportunity to perform. By now, many wolves had become corpses with shattered skulls, lying along that blazing forest road.

Some of those corpses had already staggered back to their feet and were now wandering blindly through the forest, seizing opportunities to gnaw at other wolves emerging from the shadows.

Yu Sheng shared a blood bond with them.

And it was through this spreading blood that Yu Sheng could clearly sense the changes in the Dark Forest.

The forest couldn’t truly be called ablaze — compared to this endless, boundless forest, the flames ignited by Fox Fire amounted to nothing more than an insignificant flicker at best.

Countless wolves were spawning from the deeper darkness, their numbers infinite, the malice intensifying by the moment. The rate of destruction fell far short of the rate at which they multiplied.

The greatest wolf had not been destroyed. Although when those sixteen Foxtail Missiles had landed, Yu Sheng had momentarily sensed the evil wolf’s gaze dissipate, barely a moment later he detected its presence rapidly regenerating. That monster born from the deepest recesses of Little Red Riding Hood’s cognition and fear could unconditionally, infinitely reappear in the Dark Forest — and now, reborn, it was slowly drawing closer.

This nightmare was simply too vast. So vast that even a conflagration couldn’t burn it clean.

Little Red Riding Hood didn’t know any of this. Perhaps she would think of these things once she calmed down, but right now she was clearly still immersed in the joy of watching the Dark Forest burn.

Then let her keep being happy. Children should be happy.

Yu Sheng exhaled softly, but the excited, cheerful expression on his face didn’t fade in the slightest.

He could keep this up for a while longer, and with all this commotion… the Hunter hidden who-knows-where must have noticed by now. If they still possessed even a shred of “rationality,” they should be sufficiently intrigued by this group of lawless intruders.

A small wooden cottage with lit windows appeared at the far end of his vision.

“Look! A cottage!” Yu Sheng raised the blood-soaked Tetanus Staff and pointed toward that fantastical little cottage in the distance. “Let’s go check it out!”

He strode forward with great steps.

Spectral blue demonic fire extended beneath his feet. Tall, twisted trees crashed down on either side of him. The shriek of fox-tail missiles slicing through the air pierced the sky. Dusk had retreated at some unknown point, and the night sky was lit by towering flames. Wolves surged from the darkness wave after wave, only to be driven back again and again by Hu Li’s dense barrage.

“Benefactor! They’re becoming a bit endless!” Hu Li was starting to feel the strain. Something felt wrong. She shouted to Yu Sheng, “And the new wolves are harder to kill than before — it takes several hits to bring one down!”

“It’s fine, we’re here.”

Yu Sheng said without looking back, and before his words had fully landed, he had already stepped into the warm lamplight radiating from the cottage window.

In the blink of an eye, the wolf howls around them weakened.

The wolf pack began to scatter rapidly. Even the wolves that had already materialized and charged close dissolved back into shadows upon entering the cottage’s perimeter, then melted away in the lamplight.

Hu Li panted lightly, hugging one of her big tails under each arm, with many detached Fox Fires still orbiting behind her. She watched the scene with amazement.

The Squirrel poked its head out from Little Red Riding Hood’s shoulder. It stared wide-eyed back the way they had come, then turned to look at the little cottage standing quietly at the end of the trail of fire, letting out a sound of mournful, anxious terror: “What’s going to happen next — “

Yu Sheng came to the cottage door, peered inside, then smiled and knocked on the wooden door. “Is Grandmother Wolf home?”

The cottage was silent. No response.

Yu Sheng knocked again.

“You’ve got visitors —”

Still not a sound from inside.

“Looks like Grandmother Wolf really isn’t home.” Yu Sheng shook his head and said to Hu Li and Eileen, then pushed the door open in one motion.

The wooden door opened with a creak, and warm lamplight from inside washed over them. Along with it came an incredible sense of ease and tranquility, as though they were being sheltered by some protective force.

Yu Sheng held the still-dripping Tetanus Staff in one hand and stepped inside — cautious, but without excess.

He heard a “bang” from above.

“What was that?!” Yu Sheng’s nerves instantly went taut. He whipped around with his “war club” at the ready.

Then he heard the Little Doll’s exasperated voice from his shoulder: “I hit my head on the door frame! Couldn’t you have looked before walking in?!”

Only then did Yu Sheng belatedly turn to look, and saw Eileen clutching her forehead and grumbling: “Sss… damn, this door frame is way too low… I even ducked ahead of time and still didn’t clear it… Yu Sheng, you jerk…”

The doll’s misfortune quickly dispelled the lingering tension in the group. Everyone soon broke into knowing smiles. Hu Li was the worst offender — she laughed out loud.

Eileen’s cursing was truly something awful.

“Let’s rest here for a bit.” Yu Sheng casually leaned the “war club” against the doorway and turned to Hu Li.

Hu Li gave a small “oh,” finally letting her taut nerves relax slightly. She walked to the dining table in the center of the room and sat down, then produced a large handful of jerky from her tail and stuffed it into her mouth, crunching away noisily.

The Foxtail Smart Auto-launch System was replenishing her ammunition.

Little Red Riding Hood followed them inside and sat on the empty little bed, looking somewhat dazed.

The Squirrel crawled out from her hood and stood on her shoulder, spacing out right alongside her.

Yu Sheng glanced at the items arranged on the wooden dining table, rummaged through a wooden bowl, and fished out an acorn. He carried it over to the spacing-out Squirrel. “Here. You dropped your acorn earlier, right? Here’s a new one.”

The Squirrel hesitantly accepted the acorn but showed no intention of eating it. It simply stared blankly up at Yu Sheng, and after a long pause finally managed: “Thank you…”

Yu Sheng found its reaction amusing and deliberately teased it. “Where’s that classic line of yours?”

The Squirrel blinked vacantly. “What line?”

“You know, the one that goes ‘XX is a squirrel’s best friend’ — I gave you an acorn, so doesn’t that make me your best friend?”

The Squirrel froze, motionless for the longest time, as if it had crashed.

Yu Sheng didn’t mind its reaction. He’d only been teasing the odd little creature anyway. He withdrew his gaze and looked up through the window at the night sky, which seemed to have calmed.

The wolf pack had retreated. Silence returned to the Dark Forest. Only the stubborn, spectral blue demonic fire still burned slowly among the trees, though it too was gradually being swallowed and extinguished by the surrounding darkness.

The areas scorched by flames and torn apart by explosions were slowly restoring themselves to their original state.

“That evil wolf is circling the area,” Yu Sheng said suddenly, “but it doesn’t seem inclined to approach for now.”

Little Red Riding Hood looked up, staring at him in a daze.

“It didn’t die. We just raised some hell — we’re nowhere near destroying this place,” Yu Sheng said to the girl with a smile, but then immediately shook his head. “Don’t worry. If it comes, I’ll fight it. You don’t need to be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid.” Little Red Riding Hood lowered her head, her voice slightly muffled.

After she spoke, as if afraid he’d see through the anxiety in her heart, she quickly changed the subject, pointing at Hu Li who was happily munching on jerky. “What is she eating? It looks pretty good.”

“…Tasty meat.” Yu Sheng walked over, took a strip of jerky from Hu Li, and placed it in Little Red Riding Hood’s hand. “Want to try some?”

(End of Chapter)