Chapter 131 – A Childhood Cut Short?

Chapter 131 – A Childhood Cut Short?

From Little Red Riding Hood’s reaction and the expression on the face of the girl who had just entered, Yu Sheng quickly guessed what had happened.

His brow furrowed instantly, but before he could speak, Little Red Riding Hood was already waving her hand in haste: “Wait here for a moment, I’ll… be right back.”

“No, I’m coming with you.” Yu Sheng stood up without room for argument, and beside him, Hu Li scooped Eileen into her arms and rose to her feet as well.

“This is an internal Fairy Tale matter, and we’ve already… been through this process many times,” Little Red Riding Hood said, her expression dark and heavy. “I appreciate your concern, but…”

“No buts. I know what you mean — but your Wolf bit me,” Yu Sheng cut her off directly. He knew exactly what to say to make this somewhat stubborn girl relent, so he didn’t hesitate to bring up old business. “I’ve already been dragged into Fairy Tale. For all I know, the next time I dream I’ll end up in that Dark Forest again, so I need to understand more about what’s going on.”

Faced with this argument, Little Red Riding Hood predictably lost the will to keep insisting. She could only give Yu Sheng a complicated look before nodding slightly.

Rapunzel glanced at Yu Sheng’s group with some confusion, seemingly full of questions, but after catching Little Red Riding Hood’s gaze, she swallowed them all back and turned to open the door.

The moment they stepped out of the reception room, Yu Sheng saw many children gathered in the Corridor.

Some looked only six or seven years old, or even younger, while others appeared to be twelve or thirteen — half-grown children. They clustered in small groups along the Corridor. At an age that would normally be the noisiest and most rambunctious, they were now extraordinarily quiet.

A little girl in a blue dress spotted Little Red Riding Hood emerging and hesitantly approached, timidly tugging at the hem of her clothes: “Teacher Su said… Xiaoxiao graduated today. Is that true?”

Little Red Riding Hood pressed her lips together, bent down, and gently patted the top of the little girl’s head: “Mm, she’s leaving today. Transferring somewhere else.”

“Will she still come to class this afternoon? I made her a gift…”

“Just give the gift to Teacher Su. She’ll pass it along for you — children who graduate leave very quickly. She probably won’t have time to say goodbye to you all, but… I’ll go see her off on your behalf.”

“Oh…”

Little Red Riding Hood straightened up and led Yu Sheng’s group briskly down the Corridor.

Only after they had left the children’s line of sight did Yu Sheng frown and ask in a low voice: “You just said this kind of thing has happened many times?”

“Many times,” Little Red Riding Hood nodded gently. “Some children are already in very unstable condition by the time they arrive here, and others… already suffer from mental illnesses. Fairy Tale worsens their conditions. We don’t only face the crisis of death at ‘adulthood’ — throughout the entire childhood, there are pitfalls everywhere.”

Eileen lifted her head from Hu Li’s arms: “They don’t know the truth?”

“The youngest group of children don’t, because the extra anxiety and the fear and confusion of the unknown would intensify Fairy Tale’s influence on them. But around thirteen or fourteen, they gradually come to understand from their Dreams what will happen next, and at the same time begin to master the powers that Fairy Tale has given them — we call this turning point ‘Awakening.’ After that, they become ‘guardians’… We have a mature guidance process in place.”

Eileen buried her face back into Hu Li’s arms, her voice coming out muffled: “…This is the first time the phrase ‘mature XX process’ has sounded so unsettling to me.”

Yu Sheng, however, said nothing. He just pressed his lips tightly together, his expression unusually grim, as though carrying a smoldering anger and something brewing within — intense and resolute thoughts taking shape.

Eileen sensed something. She quickly glanced up at Yu Sheng but said nothing.

They swiftly crossed through the East Building, then followed Little Red Riding Hood across the connecting corridor between the two buildings and entered the structure known as the West Building.

The moment he stepped inside this building, Yu Sheng immediately sensed the change in the surrounding environment — or rather, the atmosphere.

A faint sense of… “suppression” seemed to permeate the entire building. The Corridor was so quiet it was almost unnerving. The lights were clearly bright, yet he kept feeling as though dark corners lurked everywhere around him — a psychological “darkness,” as if something that couldn’t be dispelled by light was entrenched throughout the West Building, carving the entire structure into countless fragmented pieces.

“This building has many seals and containment measures,” Little Red Riding Hood explained softly, apparently having noticed the change in Yu Sheng’s expression. “You could say this is our containment and research facility — children who’ve had incidents must first undergo a certain ‘safety processing’ here before they can be sent outside.”

Yu Sheng didn’t speak, only nodded silently.

He followed Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel through that deeply unsettling Corridor. Sunlight streaming in from Outside the Window left broken, mottled shadows on the walls. Finally, they arrived before a heavy-looking iron door, where a young woman in a light gray coat — appearing to be in her twenties with a weary look in her eyes — stood at the entrance, seemingly lost in thought as she leaned against the wall.

An adult.

Yu Sheng was momentarily startled when he saw her, but he quickly recalled what Little Red Riding Hood had told him.

An “employee” sent by the Council?

“This is ‘Teacher Su.’ She’s in charge of caring for children under seven,” Rapunzel introduced in a low voice, confirming his guess. “She was sent by the Council. The children all like her very much.”

The young woman called Teacher Su finally snapped out of her daze at that moment. She noticed the arrivals but didn’t seem to pay attention to Yu Sheng — her gaze fell on Little Red Riding Hood instead.

“It happened during class…” she said quietly. Despite being an adult, she looked like a child who had made a mistake in front of Little Red Riding Hood. “I… should have noticed sooner…”

“Noticing sooner wouldn’t have helped. It was probably already too late before she was even brought here,” Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. “We need to go in and see the situation.”

“…Alright,” the young woman bit her lip and nodded. But just then, she seemed to finally notice the presence of Yu Sheng, Eileen, and Hu Li. “Wait, who are they?”

“Colleagues,” Little Red Riding Hood said as she pushed open the heavy iron door. “And my friends.”

The woman froze. Yu Sheng had already walked past her, turning his head to nod at her before entering: “Hello, my name is Yu Sheng. Yu Sheng from the ‘Inn.'”

Hu Li followed suit: “I’m Hu Li. Hu Li from the ‘Inn.'”

“I’m Eileen! Eileen from the ‘Inn’!”

Before the woman could react, the figures had already passed through the door. The iron door closed, leaving her standing somewhat dazedly in the Corridor.

The room was brightly lit.

But that sense of “dimness” that seemed to creep up from a psychological level was even worse than in the Corridor.

Yu Sheng saw that this large room was completely bare of furnishings, with only a small single bed placed in the center.

A thin, small figure lay on the bed beneath a light blanket, apparently in deep sleep.

An inexplicable resistance stirred in his heart, but Yu Sheng still stepped forward.

The child lay there, her sleeping face peaceful.

But there was no breath, and her chest showed not the slightest rise or fall.

Fine, unsettling red Patterns covered her neck, Arms, and lower legs. Between the Patterns, traces of blood still remained, as though those areas had once shattered apart and then been barely pieced back together.

Yu Sheng instantly recalled what he had seen in the Valley — the transformation of Little Red Riding Hood’s arm.

“The response was timely. No other children saw it,” Rapunzel said quietly from the side. “She briefly transformed into a Wolf in her nightmare. Just an instant, and it was already too late.”

“…At least in the end she returned to human form,” Little Red Riding Hood let out a soft sigh. “At least we can send her off in a ‘human’ way.”

“Wait — a Wolf?” Yu Sheng finally confirmed what he’d suspected, looking at Little Red Riding Hood with shock. “Her ‘symptom’ was also transforming into a Wolf? So…”

“You didn’t know?” It was Rapunzel who spoke up, pointing at the child lying on the bed. “She was likely the next Little Red Riding Hood.”

At this, she shook her head with a somber expression: “But there’s no point in talking about that now.”

“You’ve seen it,” Little Red Riding Hood said to Yu Sheng with a long exhale. “This is how the story ends — her childhood is over.”

“Will this happen to you too?”

“Yes, eventually this will happen to me too — if I’m lucky, in human form. If not… it’ll be a different sight altogether.”

Yu Sheng said nothing. He stared at the Red-Clothed Girl before him for a long time, then looked at the child lying on the bed, remaining completely still for an extended moment, his thoughts unreadable.

Several full minutes passed this way. Just as Little Red Riding Hood was finally about to break the silence, Yu Sheng suddenly moved.

He reached out and touched the blood traces near the child’s neck.

Rapunzel’s eyes went wide instantly, and she stepped forward: “What are you doing?”

Yu Sheng didn’t look up: “I want to know what she saw in her final moments. And if possible, maybe I can still say a few words to her.”

Rapunzel froze, but just as she was about to speak again, Little Red Riding Hood reached out and stopped her.

And almost at the same moment, Yu Sheng let out a puzzled “Huh?”

“What is it?” Eileen asked instinctively.

But Yu Sheng didn’t respond. He simply maintained his posture with his hand touching the blood traces, standing perfectly still for over ten Seconds, as though he had observed or sensed some unusual information. After another moment, he suddenly blinked and let out a sharp breath.

“…She’s not dead.”

He said softly, his tone laced with hesitation and bewilderment. Then, as if to emphasize, he raised his head and looked around at everyone present before nodding firmly once more.

“I believe she’s not dead.”

(End of Chapter)