You don't say, but getting back in touch with Erin did indeed relieve Yu Sheng—he also had to admit, even though this little doll sometimes spoke offensively, this time she really did reveal some very useful information.

In the real world, he was indeed still "dreaming," but it was clearly different from the normal dream entrance; Erin thought his consciousness was "lost," which meant...

Yu Sheng lifted his head and looked around the cozy little cottage, and through the window, at the vast night sky beyond.

This "forest"... is an existing "Spirit Space" somewhere, complete and enclosed, like a trap, pulling the dream walker's spirit into it while cutting off any contact with the outside world.

Thinking of it that way, Erin seemed pretty impressive—how did she manage to find him under these circumstances?

Various thoughts rapidly flickered through Yu Sheng's mind, and at the same time, Erin also finally got to the main point after chattering non-stop: "What exactly is going on with you, Yu Sheng? How can your consciousness suddenly get 'lost' after just falling asleep? Where is it right now?"

"...I'm in the Black Forest, if I'm not mistaken, this should be 'Little Red Riding Hood's' Black Forest."

Erin was a bit confused: "...What do you mean 'Little Red Riding Hood's Black Forest'?"

"It's a bit complicated to explain, but in short, remember when I was at the Museum and got bitten by the Evil Wolf that came out from the shadow of Little Red Riding Hood? It seems I've established a connection with it," Yu Sheng tried to explain as clearly as possible while he gathered his thoughts, "Little Red Riding Hood once said that 'Fairy Tales' are an Exotic Realm, and her power is a curse; this place I'm in is probably what traps her..."

Yu Sheng recounted to Erin exactly what had happened on his side, including being chased by an invisible Evil Wolf, as well as meeting a talking squirrel—of course, he omitted the details of the "lures" he saw along the way.

"You mean to say... you're with a squirrel right now?" Erin listened incredulously, Ms. Doll couldn't have imagined Yu Sheng going to sleep and finding himself in such a thrilling situation, "What's the situation outside your cottage now? Is it safe there? Can you get out on your own?"

"It's quiet outside now, but I can feel the gazes, those wolves are gathered in the Black Forest," Yu Sheng glanced outside the window, "But I don't think it's too big of a problem, the cottage seems pretty safe, and if things do get tough, I should be able to run out... Although I'm not sure about the principles, I can still 'open the door' normally even in this 'Dream Realm.'"

Erin responded with an "oh," and then after a few seconds, her voice once again reached Yu Sheng's mind: "Do you have anything like a frame or a drawing board there?"

Yu Sheng instinctively looked around: "No... Why do you ask?"

"I'm trying to see if I can 'travel' to where you are," Erin said, "You're not in your own Dream Realm right now, so I can't come directly; I need a medium, like the 'coordinates' you use when you open doors. If there aren't frames or drawing boards there, do you have anything to draw on? A pen, a piece of paper, anything at all will do."

Yu Sheng got up and looked around the cottage, eventually finding a few pieces of black charcoal by the fireplace.

The squirrel stood on the table, holding a giant acorn, looking at Yu Sheng bewilderingly as he moved around the room, finally unable to resist asking: "What are you doing?"

Yu Sheng didn't look up: "I have a friend who wants to come over and see."

The squirrel was flabbergasted: "...What?"

Yu Sheng didn't explain to it but instead told Erin about the situation: "There's nothing much here, just found some charcoal..."

To his surprise, the doll immediately replied: "That's fine, draw a frame on the floor..."

Yu Sheng: "How come every time you settle for less it's this much less?!"

"That's just adapting to urgent needs!" Erin seemed pretty relaxed about it, "With rituals, what's important is the process, especially in Dream Realm rituals, it's mainly about sincerity bringing about spirit connection. You don't even need sincerity, just some symbolic meaning can produce directionality..."

"...God damn sincerity brings about spirit connection, don't need sincerity as well!" Yu Sheng wanted to make a retort but couldn't, so he picked up a piece of charcoal and went to the middle of the open space in the cottage, drawing a frame on the floor as Erin instructed: "Okay, I've drawn a frame, what's next?"

"Then draw an invincibly beautiful, cute, elegant, mature lady—just make her look like me."

Yu Sheng remained silent, standing without a response.

Erin's voice immediately dropped eight octaves: "...If she's not that pretty, that's fine too, just make her look like me."

Yu Sheng continued to remain silent.

The doll resigned itself: "Human form, write my name at the bottom using the alphabet I taught you."

"Okay, that works," Yu Sheng finally bent down and began sketching Erin's outline and true name within the charcoal-drawn frame, all the while grumbling in his mind, "You know my crafting skills, you shouldn't have made such unreasonable demands from the start..."

The squirrel had been curiously watching Yu Sheng's actions since earlier, and now it saw him drawing pictures on the ground and writing some strange symbols; the creature was utterly bewildered and suddenly let out a shriek, "Hey hey you... what exactly are you doing?! Is this some kind of witchcraft?! I'm warning you, don't mess around, there's already plenty of deadly stuff in the Black Forest..."

"I told you I have a friend coming over," Yu Sheng replied without even lifting his head, "Don't worry, it's not some sinister witchcraft; it's just that my friend happens to be sealed in a cursed oil painting and I need a special method to summon her."

Upon hearing this, the squirrel almost choked, its tail thumping excitedly on the table as it jumped around, but it clearly didn't dare to interfere.

Just at that moment, Yu Sheng had completed all the steps of the crude "painting."

The squirrel, which had been hopping around on the table, suddenly became still.

Its beady eyes shot a glance at what Yu Sheng had drawn and surprisingly a relaxed, almost human-like expression spread across its face.

"You scared me, I thought you were a wizard who practices evil magic, but it turns out you're into abstract art— with something that ugly, what could you possibly summon..."

The surface of the crude "painting" on the floor suddenly shimmered with light.

The squirrel couldn't even finish its sentence before biting its own tongue.

An ancient and solemn oil painting rose from the shimmer, accompanied by the swift dissolution and vaporization of the charcoal lines on the floor, revealing the complete image of the painting in the air.

It floated in front of Yu Sheng and the squirrel, and Erin, with her hands on her hips, declared proudly from within the frame: "Yu Sheng! I'm here to help you!"

The squirrel on the table flipped over with a "gah", paws up in the air, tail twitching.

Yu Sheng rushed forward to shake the squirrel awake: "Hey, hey, what's the matter with you?"

The squirrel gradually came to its senses, and upon seeing the oil painting still floating unsteadily behind Yu Sheng, with the Gothic doll's head poking out and looking curiously toward them, it shuddered once again, with its tail tightly coiled: "...Have witches of this era become so undiscriminating that even something that looks like a Wild Goblin could be summoned..."

"Is this the squirrel you mentioned?" Erin eyed the "little animal" with curiosity and then turned to Yu Sheng, "It looks quite interesting hey, and it even has a red cloth strip on. By the way, what did it mean by 'Wild Goblin'?"

"Cough cough, probably some local specialty of the Black Forest... Let's not talk about that, let me introduce," Yu Sheng hastily coughed twice to change the subject, then lifted his hand to point to the doll lady in the frame while introducing her to the squirrel, "This is my friend, her name is Erin—she's also a friend of Little Red Riding Hood."

"Hello," Erin greeted the squirrel politely, then quickly added, "Actually, we also have a fox, who's also a friend of Little Red Riding Hood, but she can't come in; she can only wait outside."

The squirrel, in a daze, listened, then suddenly started frantically scratching its own face with its paws and began nervously pacing in circles on the table: "What's going on, what's going on? It wasn't like this before... This kind of thing has never happened in the Black Forest. It's strange, really strange..."

"Uh..." Erin, upon seeing this, couldn't help but lean towards Yu Sheng's ear and whisper, "Doesn't this squirrel seem a bit... off?"

"It's always been like this, it was neurotic from the moment we met, and it smokes, too," Yu Sheng whispered back, "But think about it, if a squirrel can talk, how normal can you expect it to be..."

The squirrel, which had been circling the table, suddenly stopped, and whether it had heard the whispers between Yu Sheng and Erin or not, it suddenly raised its head and pointed at itself: "I am a squirrel."

Erin jumped, then nodded dumbly, "Er, I can see, you're a squirrel."

"Does Little Red Riding Hood have many friends?" the squirrel pressed on, eyes glued to the doll inside the frame, "Lots of... strange and capable 'friends' like you who can make it into the Black Forest?"

"That... I'm not too sure, we haven't known each other long, and I haven't had the chance to meet her other friends," Erin hesitated, but then quickly boasted, "But if you're talking about abilities, we're certainly amazing! I come from Alice's Cottage, and we also have a fox who can launch her tail—when she shows her real form, she takes up two parking spaces..."

But the squirrel didn't seem to be listening to what Erin said next; it suddenly became excited, scurrying quickly across the table while muttering to itself, "The important thing is that you can make it into the Black Forest, you can come in... then she won't have to walk alone on the path... this is something that's never happened in the Black Forest... Yes, never happened, it's outside of the rules; it's an 'accident', and where there's an accident, there's opportunity, maybe..."

Yu Sheng, hearing this, furrowed his brows and exchanged an incredulous look with Erin.

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