Chapter 216 – The Overflowing Nightmare

Yu Sheng nearly missed everything Little Doll had rattled off in that rapid-fire stream, standing frozen for two or three seconds before it registered. But by then, he had no time to complain about Ailin.

Because another strange sound suddenly echoed from deep within the underground passage.

It sounded like a string of lively flute notes, now distant, now near, as if the player were right there in the corridor.

Then the flute music vanished, replaced by a dense patter of footsteps. Yu Sheng saw many wet footprints suddenly appear on the ground ahead, as though a group of children were cheerfully running past—and then the footsteps transformed into the sound of a carriage rattling over cobblestones. The lights ahead dimmed in the blink of an eye, and the smell of gunpowder smoke drifted through the air.

But this lasted only a few seconds before layers upon layers of thick fog rose up all around. Within the fog, many overlapping figures emerged. The underground corridor seemed to transform in an instant into an unfamiliar street, flanked by tall, crooked houses. Pedestrians hurried through the night. A cold winter evening descended, and the temperature plummeted. Yu Sheng noticed that the breath he exhaled turned instantly into tiny ice crystals in the air, while the pedestrians on either side of the road froze almost instantaneously into lifeless ice sculptures.

And in the corner of his vision, he saw a bright flame igniting from the street corner—growing larger, taller, brighter, warmer.

Yu Sheng shook his head hard, struggling to make out the original contours of the underground corridor through the layers of fog. He lowered his head and pushed through the cold wind, through the pedestrians who had turned to ice sculptures and the crooked, twisted streets, hurrying through this nightmare that had leaked into reality. The winter wind cut nearly to his bones, but then warm firelight spread toward him. Within the firelight, a figure with long hair draped over her shoulders walked over, gazing at him with a mixture of bewilderment and wonder: “…How did you end up here, big bro?”

“Your nightmares are leaking into reality,” Yu Sheng said. Seeing her figure rapidly fading, he had no time for detailed explanations and could only speak as fast as possible. “Push forward with tonight’s ‘stage’ progress as quickly as you can, or just go straight to the Shelter Wasteland and find Ailin…”

Before he could finish, the “winter night” illusion in the underground passage began to shake and recede. Yu Sheng wasn’t even sure if Match had heard what he was saying. The last thing he saw was the sky of that deep winter night suddenly being lit up by something—the girl was raising her right hand high within the flames, as if summoning white phosphorus bombs…

The underground passage temporarily returned to normal. Yu Sheng sprinted toward the exit—Little Red Riding Hood might still need a bit more time to gather the children, but the Real World had the King’s knights standing guard, so nothing should go wrong there. The Shelter Wasteland had Ailin watching over it, and the Fairy Tale members who had been defeated in the “subsets” shouldn’t be too much cause for worry either. But for some reason, Yu Sheng kept feeling a sense of unease spreading from the pit of his stomach, as if he had unconsciously overlooked something—or… things were happening right under his nose, and he simply couldn’t see them.

Just as this feeling of unease grew more and more pronounced, a slight stinging pain shot through the back of his hand, making Yu Sheng instinctively turn around.

Thorny brambles had scratched the back of his hand. Low-hanging branches snagged his clothes. The tangled, chaotic trees of the Black Forest filled his vision—the corridor he had come from had been replaced, at some point, by dense trees and undergrowth.

He spun around again, looking in the direction he had been heading, only to find the entire corridor had vanished. Ahead lay nothing but the endless Black Forest, rows upon rows of trees stretching infinitely into the shadows. Dense canopies blocked the last remnants of twilight in the sky. The hollow sound of wind echoed in his ears, carrying with it the howling of wolves.

The corridor’s ceiling, floor, walls… all gone. Unlike before, this didn’t seem to be an illusion leaking into reality—he had truly stepped into the Black Forest.

After realizing he had apparently really “walked into” the Black Forest, Yu Sheng abruptly stopped, vigilantly watching every movement around him.

He heard the faint sound of a baby crying, seemingly coming from deep within the forest—intermittent and muffled, yet never ceasing.

Then he heard a tiny, small voice coming from behind a nearby bush, careful and cautious: “Over here, over here—hey, I’m right here—”

Yu Sheng immediately looked toward the source of the voice and spotted a flash of reddish-brown behind a low thicket not far away. It was Squirrel’s tail.

He walked over at once and crouched beside the bushes. He saw Squirrel hiding behind a pile of branches and leaves, comically holding two fallen leaves in front of herself to cover her body while peering cautiously outward.

“Squirrel, you…”

“Shh!” Squirrel immediately made a shushing gesture, then carefully inched over to Yu Sheng and lowered her voice. “An-Ka-Ai-La is here.”

Yu Sheng’s nerves instantly went taut. He drew a quiet breath and instinctively glanced around. “Where?!”

“You can’t see it. It probably hasn’t seen you yet either. What came here is only its gaze—I don’t know how to explain it to you, but I still remember this gaze. I remember… what it feels like to be watched by it,” Squirrel whispered, a slight tremor in her voice. “It seems to be searching for something. Just now, its gaze swept past here… the entire Black Forest went silent for a moment, but now the wolves are getting restless again.”

It wasn’t just the Black Forest.

An-Ka-Ai-La’s gaze was sweeping across every subset of the entire Fairy Tale—across every stage.

Yu Sheng realized this instantly, and his expression grew grave.

“What is it looking for? Is it still searching for that lost umbilical cord?”

“I don’t know, but… probably not,” Squirrel shrank further beneath her leaves. “It’s been searching for that umbilical cord for many years. There’s no reason for it to suddenly become this agitated… Oh, how did you end up here all of a sudden? And without any of your friends?” Squirrel cast a curious glance his way.

“…Part of the Black Forest ‘overflowed’ into the Real World. I walked in directly through the place where they ‘overlapped,'” Yu Sheng said with a serious expression. He wasn’t sure Squirrel could understand, but then he hesitated for a moment before gently reaching out, scooping Squirrel into the palm of his hand, and stroking her head. “What comes next… things might start to change. You need to find a place to hide—do you have somewhere to hide?”

Squirrel stared blankly at Yu Sheng, unconsciously dropping the two leaves from her paws. She stayed dazed for a good while before suddenly nodding vigorously. “Yes! Squirrel can hide! There are lots of tree hollows in the Black Forest—every tree hollow is a hiding place for Squirrel…”

“Good. Then hide in a tree hollow. No matter what happens, protect yourself first. Also…”

Yu Sheng paused, then without hesitation, sliced open his own finger.

Squirrel seemed startled, looking with some bewilderment at Yu Sheng who had “suddenly hurt himself,” staring at the bead of blood seeping from his fingertip.

“You’re bleeding!”

“Lick it,” Yu Sheng said.

“…Huh?!”

“Every child has had some,” Yu Sheng said, looking seriously into Squirrel’s eyes. “This is a new ‘rule’ at the Orphanage.”

Squirrel’s expression was clearly a bit dazed, but her walnut-sized brain obviously wasn’t suited for thinking about overly complicated problems right now. After a few seconds of failing to wrap her head around it, she simply gave up trying and muddledly licked Yu Sheng’s finger.

Then she seemed to vaguely grasp what “every child has had some” meant, and her expression shifted to one of nervous awkwardness—along with a trace of disbelief and… happiness.

Yu Sheng honestly didn’t know if this would serve any purpose. He didn’t know whether Squirrel, who had long since become part of the Black Forest, would receive the same “protection” within the nightmare as the other children after coming into contact with his blood—he just figured that helping a little was better than nothing. The situation was urgent. Every child at the Orphanage had somewhere to hide, but this squirrel… if he didn’t help, she would truly be all alone in this boundless Black Forest, hiding by herself.

Then Squirrel’s figure gradually faded in the palm of his hand.

The Black Forest scenery around him also began to fade, sinking gradually into darkness.

The dream began to temporarily recede once more. Yu Sheng stood up and saw the corridor’s walls and floor slowly reemerging between the shadowy trees.

He hurried toward the wavering exit, found the stairs leading to the upper level, and ran all the way from Underground Level Two to the first floor in one breath.

All manner of brief, bizarre illusions and strange sounds materialized and faded around him like set pieces and actors coming and going on a stage—half-real fairy tale scenes, grotesquely twisted story characters, short sharp blasts of horns, lilting whistles, the roar of lions, the songs of princesses and princes—as if countless hands were desperately trying to intercept him before the final few stairs. All of it surged out in the span of a few seconds, but was left behind entirely.

As a boring adult, Yu Sheng broke free of these illusions crawling out of stories without the slightest hesitation, and then saw that many figures had already gathered in the Great Hall on the first floor of the East Building.

Several of the older children were directing and coordinating. The middle-aged children were helping maintain order and assisting the younger ones in checking their belongings and putting on clothes. The little ones stood obediently in line—some still bleary-eyed, some clutching water bottles they had grabbed in haste, some looking nervous with a hint of fear—but not a single child made a sound. The vast space was packed with dozens of little heads, yet there wasn’t a single cry or shout.

The loudest sounds in the Great Hall were only Little Red Riding Hood and several other “Guardians” rapidly coordinating and giving instructions—

“Get your clothes on properly. Does everyone have their water bottle? There’s clean water over there—just bring your own bottles. Good, those who’ve been checked, wait over here.”

“Bring food, and blankets too. There might not be beds or cooking facilities over there for the time being—this is all too rushed…”

“Do a headcount. Count again—Rapunzel, watch the line! The littlest ones are about to fall asleep again, don’t leave anyone behind.”

“Big bro is here! Door Opening big bro!”

(End of Chapter)