Chapter 160 – The Past

Chapter 160 – The Past

Wolf howls?

Yu Sheng’s first reaction was confusion, but immediately after, that single wolf howl made him think of everything he’d been through recently. He didn’t question whether he was hearing things—because barely a few seconds later, another unsettling howl carried over from the distance, clearer than the last.

Besides, he figured that “auditory hallucinations” weren’t really a thing inside dreams.

Yu Sheng furrowed his brow and immediately headed toward the source of the howling. In this lucid dream, he took only a few steps before his will carried him across a vast distance, and in the blink of an eye he arrived at the place that felt “wrong.”

He saw the howling wolf.

It was a rigid, phantasmal shadow floating above the grass, flickering every few seconds like a projector with a bad connection. With each flicker, the rigid shadow would shift into a different pose, giving the impression of severely lagging surveillance footage refreshing its target’s image on a cycle of several seconds.

Yu Sheng watched this projection in his dream with surprise and curiosity. He saw it flicker again, and in the next “refreshed” pose, the wolf had turned its head. It seemed to have noticed the uninvited guest’s approach and cast its gaze in his direction.

But it was only a “shadow.” Beyond directing its gaze, the wolf didn’t seem capable of any further action.

The initial tension in Yu Sheng’s heart gradually faded, and he began examining the “wolf” before him with curiosity. For some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this wolf’s eyes looked… familiar.

And then, a strange thought surfaced in his mind—this wolf was not one that could be eaten.

Because there was humanity in its eyes.

Humanity?

Yu Sheng suddenly shivered, recalling the source of that familiar feeling. He hesitantly reached out his hand, wanting to touch the projection floating above the grass.

A slightly cool sensation traveled from his fingertips. He felt as though he’d touched a layer of illusory fog. The wolf still watched him quietly, but then, in the next “flicker,” it vanished.

And a flood of chaotic, fragmented memories that didn’t belong to him surged into Yu Sheng’s mind.

He saw yellowed, faded scenes—a rapid sequence of flashbacks. He saw a blurry shadow standing among a group of equally blurry figures. They were gathered around a small bed, as if silently seeing someone off.

The next second, he saw that shadow seemingly arguing with someone—a slightly taller figure. Though the face was equally indistinct, Yu Sheng felt an inexplicable warmth and nostalgia from the “memory.” That seemed to be a very important person—yet now, the owner of these memories was arguing with her, the words coming through in fragments:

“…Why do I have to go to school! It’s not like I’ll ever grow up anyway!”

“…You need to live like a normal child… go to school, make friends, study, play, worry, be happy… no matter how short, you need to experience it…”

Within the brief memory fragments, Yu Sheng unconsciously took a few steps forward, but suddenly, new images surfaced before his eyes.

He saw the shadow standing together with many other shadows again, everyone forming a circle, apparently clapping under someone’s lead. A voice came from nearby: “…Welcome Teacher Su, she’ll be teaching the younger ones from now on… Teacher Zhang is sick and won’t be coming anymore…”

All the shadows vanished. That figure stood alone in a patch of bushes. She looked even smaller now. Suddenly, an even more blurry wolf appeared before her. The wolf lowered its head and let out a muffled whimper. The small figure bent down and reached out her hand, looking both scared and nervous, but still mustered the courage to pat the wolf’s head: “From now on… you have to behave…”

The wolf disappeared, and Yu Sheng saw the figure walking alone along a small path.

Now she had become even smaller—so small she looked like a child of only five or six. She walked along the path, crying as she went. Dim streetlights flickered on both sides of the road, and beyond the reach of their light lay dense forest shrouded in shadow. Rising and falling howls and omnipresent malice filled the Dark Forest, as if countless starving predators were waiting for their prey.

The small figure suddenly stopped on the path and raised her head to look into the darkness beyond—as if something had appeared in that darkness, drawing her gaze.

Don’t go—

The thought leapt unbidden into Yu Sheng’s mind, but in the next second, he watched as the figure left the path almost without hesitation, walking straight into the malice-ridden depths of the Dark Forest.

Yu Sheng knew this was merely a vision of the past, and one that didn’t belong to him at that, but he still instinctively tried to stop it. He appeared beside the small figure almost instantly, reaching out to block her path—but the shadow passed straight through Yu Sheng and continued walking into the darkness.

Yu Sheng turned back in shock, watching her run faster and faster, throwing herself toward two figures with blurred faces.

“Mommy! Daddy!”

Yu Sheng stood frozen in place.

He finally understood what Little Red Riding Hood had seen on that path all those years ago.

Perhaps no matter how many times it happened, the six-year-old her would always throw herself toward that darkness without hesitation.

Every child would.

The sound of chewing came from the darkness. A splash of crimson spread through the shadows, vivid as a glaring red cloak.

All the visions vanished—both the small figure and the boundless dark forest dissolved into an empty wind. Yu Sheng instinctively took two steps back and found himself standing on that gray, endless wilderness once more. But this time, the flickering wolf projection was gone from the wilderness. In its place stood a girl in a red jacket, looking somewhat dazed not far away.

Yu Sheng paused for a moment, then walked toward her. She, too, seemed to suddenly “wake up,” and turned to look in his direction with uncertainty.

After a moment, the red-clothed girl spoke: “You saw everything?”

Yu Sheng was taken aback. He’d assumed what he saw was just another vision, but he hadn’t expected her to actually “be here.” He quickly recovered, though, and gave a small nod: “I didn’t mean to look.”

“Ugh…” Little Red Riding Hood scratched furiously at her hair, looking both helpless and annoyed. “This is exactly what you adults are like—always snooping into other people’s private stuff! What were you being so nosy for!”

“I told you it wasn’t on purpose…” Yu Sheng scratched his cheek, not quite sure how to ease the awkwardness. “And it’s not like I’m the one who pulled you in here.”

Little Red Riding Hood suddenly stopped scratching her hair and lifted her head slightly, peering through the gaps in her bangs with a gaze that carried no real menace: “That’s exactly what I was going to ask! Where is this?”

Yu Sheng hesitated for a moment: “Uh, it’s my dream.”

The instant those words left his mouth, he realized the second half of what he’d said earlier had just lost all credibility.

Sure enough, Little Red Riding Hood immediately widened her eyes: “And you still say you didn’t do it on purpose!”

“It’s instinctive…” Yu Sheng explained without much conviction. “Hu Li ended up here before too. It seems like anyone who’s established a blood connection with me might fall in. But I don’t know what’s actually behind it.”

Little Red Riding Hood eyed him suspiciously, looking him up and down several times as if trying to determine whether he was lying, before finally confirming one more time: “Really?”

Yu Sheng nodded with utmost sincerity, his expression the picture of conviction.

The red-clothed girl finally withdrew her gaze, half-convinced, apparently deciding not to press the matter for now.

But only a few seconds passed before she suddenly turned back: “Hey, I gotta say though—what kind of normal person dreams like this! You’ve got a whole fixed space that can pull people in, and once they’re in you can actually chat with them!”

“I don’t know either,” Yu Sheng looked even more helpless than Little Red Riding Hood. “It’s not like you don’t know about my situation. I can’t even figure out my own stuff…”

Little Red Riding Hood stared at him wide-eyed for a long while before finally waving her hand dismissively, letting out a long sigh, and turning to sit down on the grass.

Yu Sheng walked over as well. After a moment’s hesitation, he sat down beside her.

“It’s the middle of the day—why are you dreaming?” he asked curiously.

“Chemistry class. Fell asleep,” the girl said in a muffled voice.

Then, two seconds later, she suddenly added: “I don’t usually sleep in class, and I haven’t been getting much sleep lately either. But for some reason, I was especially drowsy today. My mind wandered for a second and I was out.”

“Sleeping in class is a perfectly normal part of student life,” Yu Sheng spouted nonsense casually, not even sure what he was saying. “You’re at the age where you’re still growing. Getting more sleep is good for you.”

“I’m almost eighteen, not eight,” Little Red Riding Hood glanced up at him. The eyes beneath her bangs seemed to carry a hint of a smile. “…Hey, honestly though, was I pretty stupid as a kid? I’d never even seen what my parents looked like, but back then I just felt like I was seeing my mom and dad…”

Yu Sheng said nothing. After a while, he suddenly spoke in a calm voice: “I’m going to destroy the Dark Forest, and whatever’s behind it.”

“…You suddenly have a lead?”

“I went to the Special Operations Bureau today and found some clues,” Yu Sheng said slowly. “The first step is to find the ‘Hunter’ in the Dark Forest… they might know where the path leading to what’s behind the forest is.”

“Why do you say that?”

“The ‘Hunter’ might be one of the members of the deep-dive squad that entered the depths of the Fairy Tale seventy years ago and never returned. Or it might be all of them.”

Little Red Riding Hood suddenly froze. She maintained her stunned gaze at Yu Sheng for a long time before finally blinking.

But just as she was about to say something, Yu Sheng spoke first to cut her off: “Now you know. Don’t go making contact with the ‘Hunter’ on your own.”

“Why not?”

“…They’ve been in the Dark Forest for far too long.”

(End of Chapter)