Chapter 135 – Found It

Honestly, the instant Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood took their first steps toward that dark, deathly silent cottage, the squirrel let out a sharp “gak” and passed out cold, toppling stiff as a board from Little Red Riding Hood’s shoulder—though it only fell halfway before Yu Sheng’s quick reflexes caught it by the tail and hoisted it up.

Yu Sheng’s reaction speed was mainly trained through his daily battle of wits with Eileen—the Little Doll’s lunging bite speed was practically lightning-fast.

“You can’t drag me along on your suicide mission!” The squirrel opened its eyes and began thrashing violently in Yu Sheng’s grip. “I’m just a goddamn squirrel! You’re asking too much—”

“Quiet,” Little Red Riding Hood said in a low, authoritative voice. “If you truly don’t want to die.”

The squirrel fell silent instantly.

By this time, Yu Sheng had already reached a spot only a few meters from the cottage.

Despite the dimness of the forest, he could clearly make out the cottage’s condition—it was indeed identical to the “shelter cottage” he remembered seeing before, with the same dark-colored wooden plank walls and dark red roof, a single narrow wooden door, tiny windows, and two crumbling, mottled steps at the entrance.

But this cottage had not a trace of light within, and its details appeared far more decrepit. It looked as though it had been abandoned for many years, maintaining a state of near-collapse that somehow never quite toppled over. Around its door, windows, and eaves, the same tangled red rags and string could be seen—but these strips and threads were even more tattered, their color deeper and darker, deep to a degree that was almost unsettling.

That dark red looked like bloodstains that had soaked through and dried.

“Have you ever seen a cottage like this?” Yu Sheng turned to look at Little Red Riding Hood.

“No,” the Red-Clothed Girl shook her head, then quickly added, “This is my first time coming somewhere this ‘deep’ as well.”

“Is there anything known about this kind of cottage?” Yu Sheng looked down at the squirrel in his hand.

But the squirrel didn’t answer. The neurotic rodent was trembling, its eyes full of terror and resistance, and its anxiety—even its stress response—seemed to intensify the closer Yu Sheng got to the cottage.

“Get away from here… the squirrel doesn’t like this place… the squirrel doesn’t like this place…”

It made tiny sounds, its claws beginning to struggle frantically.

“Calm down, calm down, we’ll be fine,” Yu Sheng sensed something was off about its reaction and quickly tried to soothe it. “I have a way to leave the forest at any time, and I can send you to a safe area too—we’ll just do a quick investigation and go…”

As he said this, he suddenly noticed something else, staring into the squirrel’s eyes. “Do you know something?”

“Know? No, the squirrel doesn’t know, the squirrel doesn’t know anything!” The squirrel thrashed violently, as if reason was rapidly draining from its mind. “Never seen this cottage! Nobody’s ever seen this cottage! You too should—”

It suddenly stopped, craning its neck as far as it could in Yu Sheng’s grip, as though straining to listen for something.

“Do you hear that? Do you hear any sounds?”

The squirrel muttered nervously, its body twisting and turning.

Yu Sheng frowned. “Hear what?”

But what answered him was a sharp sting at his fingertips.

The squirrel suddenly lunged down and bit him hard. The instant Yu Sheng reflexively loosened his fingers, the delirious little creature shot out like a bullet, shrieking a string of screams while still in midair: “Run! Run now! The wolves are here! They’re all here! Run with me!”

But neither Yu Sheng nor Little Red Riding Hood moved. They watched the squirrel go mad, watched it scream and dart into the distant darkness in its state of lost reason, vanishing from sight in practically the blink of an eye.

“It actually ran…” Little Red Riding Hood stared dumbfounded at the scene, clearly witnessing this for the first time herself.

“At least it remembered to tell us to run with it,” Yu Sheng said, also somewhat stunned. He turned back to look at the silent cottage. “Its reaction wasn’t this extreme when we first spotted the place—it only seemed to lose it when we got closer. Do you have any ideas?”

“No. That squirrel is mysterious and neurotic—I probably don’t know much more about it than you do,” Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, her eyes now carrying a measure of caution. She gazed at the cottage’s dark, gaping windows and took a light breath. “Let’s go inside and take a look.”

Even under these circumstances, she showed no intention of backing down.

“I’ll go first,” Yu Sheng stepped ahead. “Judging by that squirrel’s reaction, this cottage might be more dangerous and strange than anywhere else in the Dark Forest. Your condition is unstable—don’t rush in.”

As he spoke, his hand was already resting on the door handle.

Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth as if to say something, but ultimately swallowed the words, simply giving a calm nod.

Yu Sheng took a deep breath, steadying his nerves. He kept his attention on the shifts in the surrounding atmosphere while gently pushing the wooden door that didn’t look particularly sturdy.

With a creak, the door swung open with barely any effort.

But the stale smell and clouds of dust Yu Sheng had imagined never appeared.

He waited at the doorway for two seconds, confirmed there was no movement inside and no changes in the forest itself, then leaned in and peered inside.

His vision, sharper and more powerful than an ordinary person’s, allowed him to see clearly in the dim interior.

Little Red Riding Hood saw Yu Sheng take just one glance inside, then quickly pull back, standing at the doorway with a look of startled complexity on his face. She instinctively stepped forward. “Inside…”

Yu Sheng blinked, snapping out of his brief daze. He looked at the Red-Clothed Girl before him, a flicker of hesitation crossing his face. But after a moment’s deliberation, he gave a gentle nod. “Come in with me. See for yourself.”

They walked into the cottage.

In the darkness, Little Red Riding Hood finally saw what Yu Sheng had seen.

Red cloaks.

Hanging on the walls, scattered across the floor, dangling from the ceiling—many, many… red cloaks.

How many? A dozen? Several dozen? Even more?

In the dimness, the red cloaks—looking as though they’d been steeped in blood—came in all shapes and sizes, ragged and torn. Some had deteriorated into unrecognizable scraps of fabric. They were strewn haphazardly across the ground, making it impossible to tell at a glance just how many there were.

The sound of footsteps on the decrepit floor broke the silence of the cottage. Yu Sheng took two steps forward, then turned back to look at Little Red Riding Hood, still standing frozen at the door.

“Come on. Don’t stray too far from me.”

Little Red Riding Hood gave a somewhat dazed nod and finally followed Yu Sheng’s steps, unconsciously drawing a little closer to him. After a moment, she spoke softly. “This place…”

“Perhaps this explains why that squirrel had such a strong reaction to this place,” Yu Sheng sighed lightly and turned to look at the girl beside him. “Don’t be afraid.”

“I… alright, I’m a little scared, but it’s okay,” Little Red Riding Hood hesitated, trying to force a smile but failing. She stepped carefully, stepping over a pile of red cloaks scattered on the ground, then looked at the chaotic, tattered red fabric on the nearby walls and unconsciously tugged at her own jacket. “This is probably… what it looks like after everything is over. No wonder it’s in the deepest part of the forest.”

“I suddenly have a question,” Yu Sheng said, looking at Little Red Riding Hood’s jacket. A reasonable and practical question surfaced in his mind—one he’d actually been wondering about for quite some time. “You always pick your own clothes in reality, right? Why does it always have to be a red jacket? Just to match the identity of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’?”

“To stabilize my condition,” Little Red Riding Hood said quietly. “After receiving the red cloak in the Dark Forest, you have to make sure you don’t stray too far from the identity of ‘Little Red Riding Hood.'”

“Why?”

Little Red Riding Hood sighed. “Just as the Fairy Tale doesn’t like adults, it doesn’t like ‘disobedient children’ either.”

Yu Sheng furrowed his brow deeply.

“This thing really is strict to an unpleasant degree,” he said, his mood clearly sour. But he quickly composed himself, suppressing the dark expression on his face, and glanced at Little Red Riding Hood with some concern. “Are you alright? If this place is putting too much pressure on you, you can go outside first.”

“I’m fine,” Little Red Riding Hood simply shook her head. “This place makes me a bit nervous, but honestly, it’s actually better than the pitch-black forest outside.”

“Mm.”

Yu Sheng nodded lightly and said nothing more.

They carefully searched the cottage draped in its tattered red cloaks, but found no sign of the child named Xiaoxiao.

“She’s not here?” Yu Sheng frowned, looking around the modest-sized room, growing increasingly restless. “By all reason, this should be the most likely place.”

“The forest goes deeper still,” Little Red Riding Hood said softly. “The farther from the light, the darker it gets—that’s where the deeper places are.”

Yu Sheng said nothing, merely surveying his surroundings once more.

No—he felt certain the child was here.

Because the wolves were prowling in the surrounding darkness, still coveting some kind of “fresh food.”

A faint “feeling” transmitted through the connection forged by blood reached him. Yu Sheng knit his brows tightly, striving to grasp that sense of perception that didn’t belong to him, trying to observe and think as a wolf would, as a shadow would, even as the Dark Forest itself would.

Suddenly, it was as though he saw—or perhaps simply knew—something.

Little Red Riding Hood watched in surprise as Yu Sheng suddenly strode to the single bed in the corner of the cottage and began groping at the empty air above the mattress.

“What are you doing?” she asked instinctively.

Yu Sheng didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled out the small knife he always carried with him.

The knife was very sharp.

With a serious, calm expression, he studied and sensed something carefully, then without hesitation drew the blade across a specific spot.

The blade cut through air, yet conveyed the tactile sensation of slicing through flesh. The scent of blood suddenly permeated the air.

“Ah, found you…” Only then did a smile finally appear on Yu Sheng’s face. Amidst his satisfaction, he carved with deft precision, his tone gentle. “Grandmother Wolf, hiding yourself so well…”

(End of Chapter)