Chapter 140 – Information That Cannot Be Passed On?

Baili Qing sat behind her desk, her gaze slightly unfocused—though perhaps it wasn’t just her gaze that had gone blank.

After quite a while, she murmured to herself in a low voice: “How does he always manage to pull off things that nobody could have expected?”

Song Cheng, sitting across the desk, had no idea how to respond, so he just kept his head down and pretended he hadn’t heard.

But two seconds later, Baili Qing repeated the same thing: “How does he always manage to pull off things that nobody could have expected?”

“Well… he’s always been an unexpected existence to begin with,” Song Cheng finally managed a strained smile and forced out a reply. “Anyway, regardless of everything else, we’ve found another cause for the anomalous spatiotemporal displacement, and the ‘characteristic parameters’ recorded by the technical department will be adjusted to be more accurate as a result. That’s a good thing, at least.”

“Yes, a good thing indeed—and on top of that, we now know he can even open passages within anomaly-type Otherworlds,” Baili Qing shook her head. “Let’s set that aside for now and get back to what we were discussing. What were the conclusions on the samples we sent for testing last time?”

Song Cheng immediately adjusted his posture and pushed the files he’d brought forward on the desk.

“This is the analysis report on those hair samples—we sent the ‘fox fur’ to three separate laboratories for independent analysis and forwarded the data to major organizations including the Academy. The conclusions… you should see for yourself.”

Baili Qing took the files and her eyes quickly scanned the key content, her expression growing progressively more serious.

“Within the known universe, no matching species was found?” She looked up, fixing her gaze on Song Cheng’s eyes.

“It’s not just that no matching species was found—we couldn’t even find any ‘biological tissue’ whose microstructure corresponds to those hairs. In other words, if we weren’t certain they came from a ‘humanoid creature’ capable of speech, movement, thought, and emotion, the analysts would have suspected these samples were someone’s idea of a nasty prank.”

Song Cheng pointed to a specific passage in the file as he spoke.

“The ‘material’ composing these hairs is not a metabolic or growth product that any known biological species can produce. Furthermore, while over ninety percent of the composition can be confirmed as organic matter, it also contains various inexplicable ‘inorganic impurities.’ The function of these impurities within a biological organism is unknown, and moreover…” Song Cheng hesitated at this point, but eventually continued with an odd expression, “to this day, we still haven’t been able to determine what elements they actually are.”

Baili Qing pressed her lips together and after a long pause, said softly: “How does he always manage to pull off things that nobody could have expected…”

Song Cheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: “Um, strictly speaking, this one isn’t really something he pulled off…”

“But he’s the one who brought her out,” Baili Qing said wearily, pressing her fingers against her temples. “What about the other front? Has there been any response from organizations like Qianfeng Numinous Mountain?”

Song Cheng nodded. “Yes. They coordinated with several influential sects to conduct a large-scale investigation, screening every fox-type spiritually awakened race. Because they considered the possibility that Hu Li’s history might involve ‘temporal tunneling,’ the scope of the investigation was extremely broad—they even checked anything tangentially related. To put it simply, they factored in both ‘those who were prominent centuries ago’ and ‘those who might become prominent centuries from now,’ not limiting it to those who’ve already entered the interstellar age.

“Their investigation sample list is here. Besides fox spirits and fox-type demihumans in the conventional sense, it also includes those with only partial bestial transformation traits—for instance, those with fox ears, those with fox tails, those with even a trace of fox-type fur. According to the envoy who came to hand over the materials, they were so thorough they practically wanted to pin down anyone with body odor and make them fill out the forms before leaving… The conclusion was still no match.”

Baili Qing’s hand stiffened mid-page-turn as she looked up at Song Cheng. “How did they end up making such a big deal out of this? They’ve never been this diligent when we’ve asked for their help before.”

“Simply put, when they heard that a fox had appeared whose entire clan could ascend to the heavens and traverse the earth, and whose homeland was teeming with immortals, everyone desperately wanted to know who had secretly achieved a collective ascension behind everyone else’s backs,” Song Cheng spread his hands. “As you know, competition in that domain is fierce on their end. While most seekers who’ve reached the stage of enlightenment wouldn’t start a fight over this nowadays, the picture Yu Sheng painted of Hu Li’s homeland… was quite a shock to them.”

“It was quite a shock to us too,” Baili Qing exhaled and set the files down. “I have a grasp of the situation now. Continue the follow-up investigation as a long-term task. If that ‘fox’ truly comes from ‘outside’…”

She paused, then gave Song Cheng a slight nod. “You understand what I mean.”

“Yes, I understand.”

……

On the way back from the orphanage’s West Building to the East Building, Yu Sheng gave Little Red Riding Hood a detailed account of his solo investigation in that dark room—including the scratch marks he’d found on the floor beneath the bed in the wooden house, and the full details of his encounter with the Huntsman.

The many details left Little Red Riding Hood quite astonished.

“I’ve dealt with that Dark Forest for many years, but I’ve never learned so much all at once like today,” she couldn’t help but sigh. “So many Little Red Riding Hoods before me were devoured by that ‘story’ while knowing nothing at all…”

“It’s possible that some of them did discover something in the end, but had no way to pass the message on to the Real World,” Eileen said, sitting on Yu Sheng’s shoulder and swaying back and forth. “Like those scratch marks under the bed—they were clearly left by some Little Red Riding Hood from long ago.”

“Those scratch marks are very concerning,” Yu Sheng said. “And I suspect similar traces might exist elsewhere in the Dark Forest, or even… not just in the Dark Forest.”

Little Red Riding Hood looked thoughtful. “You mean…”

“The other ‘subsets,'” Yu Sheng stopped walking. “The ones you mentioned—Cinderella’s ball, Rapunzel’s tower… Similar things are happening in those ‘subsets’ too, aren’t they? Perhaps other Cinderellas or Rapunzels also discovered something at the end of their dreams, but just like what happened in that cabin hung with red cloaks… those who finally uncovered the truth never got the chance to pass the message on to the Real World.”

Little Red Riding Hood fell into deep thought at his words. After a moment, Yu Sheng suddenly let out a sigh, somewhat moved. “When you think about it, that actually fits the pattern of childhood quite well.”

Little Red Riding Hood didn’t follow right away. “Why do you say that?”

“You write your childhood secrets in a diary, carefully lock it up, but after you grow up, you can never remember the password that once meant so much to you—childhood memories stay trapped at the end of childhood, unable to be passed on to the person you became as an adult. It happens to a lot of people.”

For the first time, Little Red Riding Hood’s expression went blank. “Is… that so?”

“It is,” Yu Sheng said with a smile. “That’s why you need a wicked, meddlesome, unreasonable adult to come along and crack open that diary by force—and often, you yourself become that wicked adult. But since it’s so hard for any of you to grow up, I’ll do it on your behalf.”

“…You make yourself sound like a villain.”

“To the Fairy Tale, I am the villain. After all, it doesn’t like me.”

Just then, a burst of commotion from the Corridor up ahead interrupted the conversation between Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood.

A group of small children was running through the Corridor, shouting and yelling, with a few older kids mixed in among them.

Yu Sheng and the others looked up, then quickly picked up their pace and headed in that direction.

Little Red Riding Hood, with quick reflexes, grabbed one of the older kids running past her and asked with the authority of a parent: “What happened?”

The girl she’d caught looked nervous, pointing in a certain direction. “Teacher Su fainted! She’s already been taken to the infirmary!”

Yu Sheng, listening from beside them, was a bit bewildered. “Teacher Su fainted? Why?”

“I don’t know, I only heard about it too,” the girl, who looked about thirteen or fourteen, said rapidly. “Apparently she was in the Activity Room playing with the other kids when Xiaoxiao suddenly opened the door and said hello, and then she just fainted on the spot…”

Yu Sheng: “…”

Little Red Riding Hood: “…”

Eileen: “Oh boy—”

“I… honestly didn’t think of that. I was too caught up in being happy at the time,” Little Red Riding Hood let go of the girl’s arm and turned her face away in embarrassment. “We should have sent someone to give Teacher Su a heads-up first.”

Yu Sheng didn’t know what to say either, and could only spread his hands with a mix of laughter and exasperation. “There’s no point talking about that now. Let’s go check on the situation.”

The group changed course and headed for the infirmary. By the time they arrived, Rapunzel had already half-coaxed, half-tricked the curious children into leaving.

The young Council employee lay on the sickbed, already awake by now. Apart from looking a bit pale, she seemed fine.

The girl named Xiaoxiao sat in a chair beside the bed, head drooping, neck hunched as if she’d committed some terrible mistake—and she appeared to have been crying, too.

Yu Sheng suspected she’d been scared into tears when the teacher fainted.

“Nothing serious. The doctor checked her over—just emotional agitation combined with excessive shock,” Rapunzel said, walking over from the side. “The recommendation is to lie down a bit longer. Everything’s been explained, nothing to worry about. I’m partly to blame for this too—I shouldn’t have let Xiaoxiao just push the door open and walk in.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Teacher Su, still lying in bed, waved her hands hurriedly. “I was startled at first, but now all that’s left is happiness…”

As she spoke, she sat up on the bed, her gaze falling on Yu Sheng.

“If I remember correctly… your name is Yu Sheng, right? There are some things I’d like to say to you.”

(End of Chapter)