Chapter 133 – Deep in the Forest

Chapter 133 – Deep in the Forest

The moment he entered the Dark Forest, Yu Sheng didn’t rush to wander about. Instead, he stood cautiously in place, first spending a few seconds carefully sensing the surrounding… “aura.”

The “wolves” hadn’t appeared yet. The forest was perfectly tranquil, with only the occasional faint sounds of wind rustling through leaves or birds and beasts stirring in the distance. The sky still retained some traces of sunset glow—dusk hadn’t yet ended—and no malice was coalescing within the forest’s shadows.

It seemed the Dark Forest hadn’t yet reacted to his sudden appearance as an “intruder.”

But what about the child already trapped deep within the forest? The girl named “Xiaoxiao”—what were her surroundings like right now? Did the Dark Forest present different stages of itself to each “Little Red Riding Hood” who entered? Or was it inherently “zoned”?

A flurry of questions flashed through Yu Sheng’s mind, and then he heard light footsteps beside him. A flash of red entered his vision—it was the girl in the deep crimson coat.

Several pitch-black wolves emerged from the surrounding shadows, constantly circling and sniffing around the Red-Clothed Girl. Perhaps influenced by the Dark Forest, these Shadow Wolves seemed far more agitated than they were in the Real World. Even the edges of their forms were trembling rapidly, looking deeply unsettled.

Even around Little Red Riding Hood herself, a layer of lingering shadow seemed to cling to her body. Her dark red coat appeared indistinct within the shadow, as though another body—or another “form”—was superimposed upon her.

Yu Sheng couldn’t help staring at her for an extra moment. “…I can tell just from one look that you’re not in great shape.”

Then he watched the girl’s body shudder violently for an instant as she whipped her head around and stared at him as if she’d seen a ghost.

Yu Sheng was startled by her reaction. “Uh, I know speaking up was a bit sudden, but you don’t have to—”

“Oh, sorry,” Little Red Riding Hood belatedly came to her senses, her expression embarrassed as she turned her face away. “Normally when I’m in the Dark Forest, I never hear any ‘human’ voice apart from the squirrel’s. I momentarily forgot you came in too.”

Yu Sheng: “…Fair enough.”

“Wait, you actually came in?!” Little Red Riding Hood couldn’t help looking the “adult” before her up and down. Though she’d just realized it, her eyes were now filled with even more disbelief. She quickly added, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen another person here besides myself.”

“Of course I did. I wasn’t going to lie to you,” Yu Sheng wasn’t particularly surprised by her reaction. He simply waved his hand dismissively while calling out to Eileen in his mind. “Eileen, we made it ‘inside’—how’s the situation on your end? Can you follow us in?”

“I’d better stay ‘outside’ and keep watch,” Eileen’s voice responded quickly in Yu Sheng’s mind this time. It seemed that after last time’s experience, she had already familiarized herself with the communication pathways of this eerie “mental prison” known as the Dark Forest. “I need to simultaneously monitor all three of your states in the Real World, and relay information to the others who stayed outside. Last time I dove in after you was a special circumstance—this time, let’s play it safe.”

“Alright, staying outside will also put Hu Li more at ease,” Yu Sheng nodded, but then something else occurred to him. “Oh right, speaking of Hu Li… can you send her in too?”

“…What are you trying to do?”

“Cyber Fox Spirit sweeping through children’s literature and all that…”

“I knew it!” Eileen’s tone conveyed she’d fully expected this, but she quickly sighed. “Forget it. I already tried once last time when I went into the Dark Forest to find you—I couldn’t bring her in. That place is special. Getting in requires a specific ‘compatibility.’ Either you’re like you and Little Red Riding Hood, having already established a connection with the Dark Forest, or you’re like me, inherently possessing the ability to traverse dreams—and even then, I still need you to perform a matching ‘summoning ritual’ from inside. Other people simply can’t get in.”

She paused for a moment, then added, “Think about it—if that silly fox could’ve come in with me, would you have gotten eaten by the wolf last time? She’d have charged in immediately and carpet-bombed the entire Dark Forest.”

Eileen’s answer was within Yu Sheng’s expectations.

After gaining a preliminary understanding of the Dark Forest and some of the Fairy Tale’s rules, he had already guessed this outcome—the thing had an extremely strong filtering mechanism, and this kind of “filtering” was in fact one of the fundamental laws underlying the entire Fairy Tale Otherworld.

He and Eileen had only managed to enter this forest despite not being “Little Red Riding Hood” by exploiting a bug or through sheer brute force miracles.

However…

Yu Sheng temporarily suspended his communication with Eileen and extended his hand into the air, seemingly lost in thought.

A spectral door slowly materialized before him. It opened a crack, but beyond the gap lay no definite “location”—only impenetrable darkness.

Since exploiting bugs or brute-force miracles worked on this Dark Forest, that meant the Fairy Tale’s “filtering mechanism” wasn’t truly impregnable. Combined with the fact that he could indeed open a “Door” inside the Dark Forest, it meant… there was still a way to forcibly establish a passage between the Dark Forest and the Real World while bypassing the “filtering mechanism” entirely.

Little Red Riding Hood watched in bewilderment as Yu Sheng alternated between spacing out, looking contemplative, and experimentally opening a door. Finally, unable to contain her curiosity, she broke the silence. “What are you doing?”

“Making some preparations for the future crackdown on poisonous children’s literature,” Yu Sheng said offhandedly, waving away the spectral door. “But that still requires some complex preparations. Let’s shelve it for now—first things first, we find the kid called ‘Xiaoxiao.'”

As he spoke, he surveyed their surroundings, brows furrowing slightly. “I don’t recognize any of these paths. Where do you think that child might be? Based on a ‘veteran’s’ experience.”

“This ‘veteran’ doesn’t have that kind of experience either,” Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. “This is the first time two Little Red Riding Hoods may have entered the Dark Forest simultaneously, and one of them even has a ‘friend’ with her. You should know how the story goes—’she walked alone along the small path.'”

“Alone, huh… That squirrel kept emphasizing the same line,” Yu Sheng murmured thoughtfully, his gaze drifting toward the surrounding bushes. “Speaking of the squirrel, where did it go?”

“I’m looking too,” Little Red Riding Hood was also scanning the area, and even the wolf pack at her side was glancing about in every direction. “Under normal circumstances, it shows up pretty quickly.”

“Could it be with ‘Xiaoxiao’?” Yu Sheng thought for a moment. “She entered before us, so theoretically the squirrel would have made contact with her first. It’s probably still ‘guiding her’ right now.”

Little Red Riding Hood’s brows furrowed slightly as she gave a soft nod, seemingly finding Yu Sheng’s reasoning sound. But just as she opened her mouth to say something more, a rustling sound from the bushes suddenly interrupted her.

The next second, a tiny, furry figure appeared in Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood’s field of vision.

The squirrel had climbed atop the bushes and was staring blankly at the two figures before it, as if it had frozen the instant it showed itself.

Two seconds later, it let out a shrill “GAOH,” and with a splat, dropped right off the twig, landing in a pile of rotting leaves.

Yu Sheng was startled on the spot. “What the—! It died the moment it appeared?!”

But the squirrel instantly leaped out of the leaf pile, shrieking, “The squirrel’s gone mad! The squirrel’s gone mad! It’s seeing impossible things! Since when did the Dark Forest get this crowded—one, two, and three! Little Red Riding Hood, and a friend! Appearing together! You scared the squirrel, you scared the squirrel!”

The little rodent screamed as it dashed about wildly around the bushes, its figure darting fast as lightning. It shrieked and squealed in chaotic, neurotic frenzy for two full minutes before suddenly stopping. It then shot straight up to Yu Sheng, stared for two seconds, then dashed to Little Red Riding Hood’s feet and looked up. “Aah—”

Little Red Riding Hood kicked it. “Calm down!”

The squirrel let out a “SQUEE” and vanished into the bushes on the other side.

Yu Sheng was dumbfounded. He’d already been in a daze since the squirrel started its screaming fit, and now, seeing Little Red Riding Hood’s kick, he was utterly slack-jawed. He turned to the red-clothed girl beside him. “Wasn’t that a bit rough?”

“It’s the most effective method. When it gets overstimulated it becomes hysterical, and it’s already neurotic to begin with. Without a big enough shock, it could go on like that for a long time.”

The moment she finished speaking, rustling sounds came from the bushes on the other side. The squirrel emerged, looking completely unscathed. Moreover, it was clutching a thin, freshly lit stick in its paws. Leaning against a small stone, it held the stick in its mouth, took a long “hiss-hiss-hiss-puff-puff” drag until a third of it was gone, and muttered, “That was too intense…”

Little Red Riding Hood glanced at Yu Sheng. “See? I told you it works.”

Yu Sheng: “…”

Regardless of whether the red-clothed JK’s methods were a bit rough, the squirrel had indeed calmed down. And after finishing its “squirrel-special ultra-thin hand-rolled cigarette,” it quickly accepted the reality of “Little Red Riding Hood and a friend appearing together in the Dark Forest” and began communicating normally with Yu Sheng.

“We’re here to find someone,” Yu Sheng explained the situation. “A child who entered before us, about six years old, roughly this tall…”

“She might be ‘the next one,'” Little Red Riding Hood said directly. “But she’s most likely already lost in the forest. We need your help.”

The squirrel listened with its beady little eyes wide open, tossed the burnt-out cigarette butt into its mouth, and crunched and chewed it down. After a long pause, it finally sighed. “Then you may be a step too late. She’s already reached the very deepest part of the Dark Forest—a place where neither the streetlights along the path nor the candlelight from the cottage can reach. She walked in there herself.”