Chapter 123 – The Enormous Wolf

Chapter 123 – The Enormous Wolf

The squirrel’s neurotic muttering instantly made Yu Sheng think of many things — including the possible “loopholes” in this forest, including the possibility of helping Little Red Riding Hood break her curse. But before any of that, he found himself growing ever more curious about the squirrel itself.

“You… seem like you’ve always wanted to help Little Red Riding Hood escape the forest?” He couldn’t help but stare into the squirrel’s eyes, his curiosity tinged with seriousness. “Why?”

“What do you mean why?” The squirrel froze at his words. “Does there need to be a reason?”

“Aren’t you also an ‘entity’ born from this forest?” Yu Sheng frowned and asked bluntly. “You were even helping me earlier — why would you want to actively help the humans who ‘invaded’ this place?”

The squirrel stood there dumbly, scratching its face with a paw, hesitantly mumbling: “Yeah… why… why would I help…”

It suddenly went completely still, as if its brain had totally crashed.

Yu Sheng took one look and thought: this is bad. This little rodent clearly didn’t have enough brain capacity — entity or not, it was the same. His one question might have triggered a full-on bug in the thing.

But just as he was worrying that the squirrel would be permanently stuck on this question, the little creature suddenly twitched, as though it had violently rebooted. It raised both paws high and let out a shrill cry: “I’m a squirrel!”

Yu Sheng suspected it was still stuck in the bug: “Uh, I know you’re a squirrel…”

“A freaking adorable, bubbling-with-cuteness squirrel! A little forest animal!” The squirrel continued shrieking. “Stories have to have a little animal like this — a carefree little animal in the forest that helps the kids who are about to get eaten. Yes, there has to be one! Preferably one that can sing too. I can’t sing, but I still have to help the children who get lost in the forest, because — I’m a squirrel!”

It held its paws high, shouting excitedly, as though it had suddenly found — or rather, found once again — the meaning of its existence. It looked exceptionally happy.

Eileen couldn’t help but lean close to Yu Sheng’s ear again: “Is it actually crazy? It looks mentally unwell.”

“It’s an entity generated by the Dark Forest — what do you think?” Yu Sheng’s expression was thoughtful. “This is probably one of the forest’s rules, or rather, the rules of ‘Fairy Tale.'”

“Why do you say that?”

“The ‘threat’ that tries to kill the protagonist, and the ‘friend’ that tries to help the protagonist — fairy tales must have both of these elements. And in a forest, this ‘friend’ usually takes the form of a small animal. That’s how I understand it, at least.”

“Is… is that so?”

Just then, the squirrel that had been screaming on the table suddenly stopped. It stood upright, as if listening intently for something, then leaped onto Yu Sheng’s body and scrambled rapidly up to his shoulder.

Eileen blinked at the squirrel’s movement, then immediately reacted: “Hey! That spot is mine!”

“Shh!” The squirrel suddenly held up a paw. Its entire body was taut, and Yu Sheng could even feel it trembling slightly. “Listen outside — listen to what’s happening outside.”

Yu Sheng instantly caught on and motioned for Eileen beside him to be quiet. He carefully moved to the window and listened to the sounds coming from the forest.

Silence. A stillness like death itself. Even the distant, muffled wind and the faint wolf howls that had always surrounded the cabin had vanished at some unknown point.

Deathly silence enveloped the cabin, and then — abrupt knocking shattered the quiet night like a piercing shriek tearing through the silence.

Bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang, bang.

The knocking was unhurried, as if pounding directly on the heart.

“The wolf is here, the wolf is here, the fire in the cabin is almost out!” The squirrel trembled all over, speaking in a rapid, hushed voice. “How did it burn out so fast — it’s over, it’s over, it’s over…”

Yu Sheng’s peripheral vision drifted to the fireplace in the corner of the cabin, and he saw that the flames inside were indeed shrinking rapidly. Despite there still being plenty of fuel piled in the hearth, the fire was vanishing from the fireplace as though being drained away into thin air.

Yu Sheng turned to Eileen: “Can you fight in your current state?”

“Afraid not — I’m a projection that squeezed in through a loophole, remember? You summoned me here with a stick-figure drawing. How much power could I possibly have?” Eileen’s picture frame wobbled side to side. “At best I can cheer you on later… Try not to die too gruesomely, okay? I’ll have nightmares.”

Yu Sheng nearly choked on his own breath: this puppet was great in every way — why did she have to come with a mouth!

Bang, bang, bang —

The knocking came again, the sound gradually swelling into thunder-like booms. The entire cabin shook with each bang, walls creaking and groaning, the roof swaying back and forth. The squirrel let out a terrified shriek, then produced a dry, stiff pine needle from somewhere, gripping it in one paw like a one-handed sword. Its other paw clutched an acorn, held before it like a shield: “Squirrel is ready! Squirrel Knight is ready!”

The knocking sounded a third time. The shelf and wooden wardrobe inside the cabin toppled over in the violent, earthquake-like shaking, crashing down with a loud bang before rapidly dissolving into thin air. The flames in the fireplace had dwindled to a faint glimmer. The entire house was shuddering, crack after crack appearing across the walls — and then, a massive hole suddenly opened in the roof.

Yu Sheng saw an eye. A wolf’s eye, glowing with an eerie, faint light. That eye pressed against the hole in the roof, and behind it was a long, narrow face covered in black fur.

The deafening banging resumed as the wolf outside violently pounded the entire cabin, like beating a drum that was on the verge of falling apart.

The last flame in the fireplace finally went out completely. The entire Wooden House shattered in an instant under the terrifying blows. The red strings and tattered cloth wrapped around the door and windows let out a piercing tearing sound — so shrill it almost sounded like a scream — and then the enormous figure of the big bad wolf appeared before Yu Sheng and Eileen.

It was far larger than the “big bad wolf” that had crawled out of Little Red Riding Hood’s shadow in the “museum.” Bigger than an entire house. It stood so close that its body nearly blocked out the entire sky in Yu Sheng’s field of vision. This towering, twisted creature slowly lowered its head, its savage, frenzied eyes coldly watching the prey that had tumbled out of the cabin, as though savoring the final step of this hunt.

“It got bigger again! It got bigger again!” The squirrel clutched its “Pine Needle Sword” and “Acorn Shield” tightly, craning its head upward and screaming. “Little Red Riding Hood must be getting more and more scared! The more afraid she is, the bigger this wolf gets!”

Yu Sheng whipped his head around: “You’re saying…”

But he never got the chance to finish his question. The neurotic squirrel seemed to have lost all reason amid its overwhelming terror and panic. It screamed, raised the pine needle high in its paw, and suddenly leaped into midair, charging toward the giant wolf as though running along invisible paths: “Squirrel Knight is ready! Squirrel Knight will protect you!”

Yu Sheng stared in disbelief: “Holy shit, you wait one goddamn second —”

But the squirrel didn’t respond at all. It had already shot toward that colossal shadow like a bolt of lightning, the tiny pine needle in its grip thrusting straight ahead —

“Squirrel Knight~ appeared on the~ little path through the forest,” the squirrel’s hoarse, off-key singing drifted through the air. The lyrics were bizarre, the melody atrocious. Just as it had said, a story had to have a little animal that helped the children, and it had to sing — but it couldn’t. Its singing was so terrible it was like another nightmare all on its own. “Ohhh~ it’s going to help~ lonely Little Red Riding Hood~~”

Screaming and singing wildly, its tiny figure vanished into the giant wolf’s mouth in the blink of an eye.

The wolf hadn’t even tilted its head. It had simply opened its mouth, making the squirrel look as though it had voluntarily jumped right in.

The piercing, terrible singing ceased. The wolf’s jaws opened and closed a few times, a faint chewing sound coming from between its teeth. Then it lowered its head and gazed at Yu Sheng with what seemed like a hint of confusion.

To the entire forest, both Yu Sheng and Eileen were “intruders who were never supposed to appear.”

“That squirrel died!” Eileen finally caught up to what had happened, letting out a gasp. “I thought it was going to have some kind of epic power-up at the critical moment… How did it just die like that?!”

A fierce gust of wind swept in as the giant wolf’s paw slammed down toward where Yu Sheng stood.

But Yu Sheng had already reacted before it hit. He stomped down, shattering the ground beneath his feet, and his body shot sideways. In the next instant he lunged beneath the giant wolf’s body, trying to find its blind spot: “Save the eulogies! I’ll be dead too in a second!”

Eileen’s picture frame flew toward Yu Sheng: “Any last words you’d like me to pass along?”

Yu Sheng rolled to dodge another lunging strike from the giant wolf, shouting at the top of his lungs: “Tell Hu Li! We’re having steamed buns tonight! Have her take the ground meat out of the fridge first!”

“Got it, noted,” Eileen’s picture frame passed through the gale swept up by the giant wolf’s tail, wobbling and tilting as it gradually turned transparent. “I’m pulling out then — this place is starting to not welcome me!”

“Bye bye, I’ll be right back!”

Yu Sheng waved his hand, and Eileen’s picture frame vanished from his sight almost at the same moment.

A violent gust erupted. The giant wolf had apparently grown furious at this annoying little prey scurrying around beneath its body. It leaped sharply to the side, its gaze locking onto the tiny figure on the ground, and lunged with its paw once more.

Yu Sheng didn’t dodge or evade. Instead, he suddenly grinned, a smile spreading across his face.

“Come on! Have a taste of something special! One bite of this, and you’re set for life!”

(End of Chapter)