Accompanied by an earth-shattering explosion, a huge firework rose into the sky above the Black Forest, its light and heat quickly engulfed by the endless darkness of the forest. However, the impact of the explosion was enough to silence the intermittent howling of wolves for a moment.

Yu Sheng knew that after that, the howling would quickly resume, the forest would heal rapidly, and the Black Forest would continue operating according to its script, its rules. The "source" that hid behind the stage and wove dreams would continue to whisper in the nightmares it crafted—let it whisper, he didn't care about that now.

Yu Sheng had already taken Hu Li through that door, back to the valley.

"I just saw a huge commotion through the door!" Erin immediately ran over, grabbed Yu Sheng's pants, and started climbing up, muttering as she climbed, "You guys didn't start a forest fire, did you?"

"It would be better if it did catch fire, but unfortunately, that bit of pyrotechnics is far from enough to ignite the Black Forest," said Yu Sheng, assisting the little doll while speaking offhand, "Don't worry, it's not time yet to launch a full assault on that forest. I haven't dragged out that thing hiding behind the stage... But soon, it will be soon."

Then Hu Li came over and tugged on Yu Sheng's sleeve, looking a bit embarrassed: "Savior, I'm a bit hungry, when are we going home to eat?"

Yu Sheng, who had been immersed in his plan to deliver a "Cyber Fox Deity's thrashing to children's literature" focussed on the Black Forest, was reminded by Hu Li and quickly checked his phone: "Ah, it's almost mealtime indeed, this place doesn't have any change in the sky, one can easily forget the time..."

"Ah, you're not running any other experiments?" Sitting on Yu Sheng's shoulder, Erin asked curiously, "Didn't you say that opening the door to the Black Forest was just the first test?"

Yu Sheng hesitated for a moment, rubbing his forehead, and then sighed after a while: "I did want to try constructing a gate that didn't require my constant upkeep to stay open, but I really should leave that for next time—trying and failing to open the gate to the Black Forest those few times left me dizzy and disoriented. No more experiments for today."

Erin was immediately impressed: "It's rare to see you too tired to continue."

Yu Sheng didn't respond to the doll on his shoulder but took out his phone to call Baili Qing: "...Yes, it's me. I'm done with my experiments for now. Thanks to the duty officers for their hard work... Uh-huh, I'll let you know in advance next time we do this. There might be one or two more signals later, those are just me opening the door to head home. No more issues, I'll hang up now, bye."

Erin looked at him, a bit dumbfounded: "You're getting more and more skilled now, not even giving the people on the other end a chance to curse you out in their minds?"

Yu Sheng casually ruffled the complaining doll's head and then turned to look at the fox girl: "Let's eat something fresh tonight—you first let that big grey wolf out of your tail, I'll take care of it. That thing is too big, there's no room for it in the kitchen at home..."

Upon hearing this, Hu Li's mouth almost watered. She immediately followed Yu Sheng's instructions and took out a colossal wolf carcass from her tail, and also took out a kitchen knife, a cleaver, a frying pan, two soup pots, two spatulas, a cutting board, cooking wine, soy sauce, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and a bucket of peanut oil...

Yu Sheng, who was about to take a trip home to fetch some things, was astounded by what Hu Li pulled out, and after a moment, he reacted: "When did you start carrying all these around?!"

Hu Li bashfully looked down: "Just on my way out, I took it with me on impulse."

Yu Sheng: "...You took your impulsive grab at the entire kitchen?!"

"No, I didn't!" Hu Li quickly waved her hands to explain, "I didn't take the gas stove..."

"Rubbish! It's attached to the pipes! You'd have to want to take it!" Yu Sheng found that when humans reach their limit of speechlessness, indeed they may end up laughing, and he quickly realized something else, "Wait a minute, so every time you go out with me, you actually take the kitchen with you?!"

Hu Li nodded again and again: "Yes, yes."

"So every time you return home, you rush to the kitchen before me to put everything back?"

Hu Li continued: "Yes, yes."

Yu Sheng had a stupefied expression: "...Why?"

"I thought... just in case it's needed," the fox girl stuck out her tongue, murmuring softly, "What if we need to cook outside, like a picnic or something... And look, this time it came in handy, didn't it?"

Yu Sheng thought about it, wanting to remind the fox girl that "picnics" weren't typically this wild, this was a bit too extreme, but after careful consideration, he suddenly felt it wasn't a bad idea.

Look at this place, blue sky and greenery, mountains and clear waters; while the outside real world was fast descending into darkness, it was bright and sunny here, in a place where a light breeze stirred the lush green grass in a vast land... How could they not roast a Wolf Grandmother to liven things up?

As an encore to the exploration of the Black Forest, it was only fitting to have his team dismember the Wolf Grandmother at their main camp.

So, Yu Sheng immediately manipulated the rocks beneath his feet, setting up a temporary table and stove on the platform. He then instructed the fox girl to set up a makeshift kitchen, and he picked up the kitchen knife and bone cleaver, starting to try to dismember the huge wolf carcass, all the while muttering to himself with some reflection: "It's a pity, Little Red Riding Hood and Xiao Xiao have already gone back, otherwise I'd have dragged them to try this..."

Erin stood on the makeshift stove made of stones, hands on her hips: "You're not afraid of scaring people sick!"

"What do you know? The best way to overcome fear is to confront it directly, and what could be more direct than eating it down?" Yu Sheng lifted his eyelids to glance at the little doll, "As for you, stop showing off there, or you might drop into the pot later."

Erin made a face at him but stayed put, wandering about the stove while curiously observing how Yu Sheng went about dismantling the carcass that was two to three times the size of an ordinary wolf.

Yu Sheng realized mid-preparation that there was a problem.

"Wait, there's no fire here." He raised his head, looking around, but what met his eyes was a barren wasteland. The valley had some greenery now, but it was far too early for trees to be growing, let alone for finding any firewood—and thinking about things like gas was even more out of the question. At least for now, Yu Sheng had no idea how to connect the gas pipes from No. 66 Wutong Road to this Stardew Valley...

However, no sooner had he spoken than Hu Li approached: "No problem, Savior, I have fire."

As the demon fox girl spoke, she casually pulled out one of her tails and then, holding the silvery, fluffy object, struck it against the stove as one would a Fire Stick, and a burst of Fox Fire flared up from the tip.

"Here you go." She smiled radiantly and happily, handing over the flaming tail to Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng: "...Can this thing really be used for cooking?!"

"Yes, just control the intensity properly. With high power, it could be used for steelmaking, and with a gentle flame, it can be used for heating."

"...Then stuff it in the stove first, boil a pot of water."

"Oh," Hu Li nodded, holding onto the tail as she walked to the stove. However, halfway there, she turned back, "Savior, should I take Erin out of the pot first?"

On hearing this, Yu Sheng quickly turned to look, and there was the thoroughly soaking wet doll, clambering out of the large soup pot using her hands and feet, and he was dumbfounded: "What the heck, when did you fall in?!"

"Just now when Hu Li was lighting the fire, I got distracted and fell in... Don't laugh! Both of you, did you hear me? Don't laugh!"

…

It was a peaceful night—an absence long felt, a calm, a relaxation.

Little Red Riding Hood hadn't slept like this in a long time.

As she approached adulthood, her sleep had been steadily decreasing. By now, the hours she spent sleeping each day had dwindled to about two, and these brief two hours of sleep were almost always spent amidst the terror and malevolence of the Black Forest—it had been so long that she had lost track of the days. The Black Forest's Erosion clouded her judgment of time; while dreaming, she even felt that her life had always been this way.

But today, she fell into a deep slumber early, then rode the waves of light, peaceful Dream Realms.

She faintly knew she was dreaming, traveling between scenes she had previously witnessed, wandering through memories of her school years, through corridors and courtyards of the orphanage. In a light dream, she wandered aimlessly, without seeing the sky-obscuring trees or surrounded by howling; only occasionally did she see familiar, intimate wolf shapes walking relaxedly with her.

Then, in the Dream Realm, she entered an alley.

It was a lane in the old town, somewhat familiar—it seemed she had been there not long ago.

She didn't remember why she went there, only seeing herself passing quickly through the alley with the Wolf Pack.

She saw her wolves sensing something ahead, growling uneasily. She saw herself hurrying to the depths of the alley, saw a figure lying on the ground, blood everywhere, and a familiar face.

Deep within the Dream Realm, Little Red Riding Hood's eyes widened.

She saw Yu Sheng lying still in the alley, the dead Yu Sheng—with a huge gash in his chest from which Rain Frog had taken his heart.

A sudden shock and confusion seized the girl's mind; she stood bewildered in the dream, watching the familiar person who had died in front of her long ago, and then suddenly, she saw the Night Forest again, saw Yu Sheng falling under the impact of the corporeal Hunger.

She saw blood spreading, reaching onto herself.

Little Red Riding Hood abruptly opened her eyes, panting heavily.

Dawn had already lit up outside the window.

A head peeked out from the top bunk, and Long-Haired Princess looked at her with wide eyes, and after a long while, spoke incredulously: "You slept through the night last night! It's been a long time since you've had such a sound sleep!"

But Little Red Riding Hood didn't speak; she was still gasping for air, and it took her a long time to finally settle down, yet her gaze still seemed a little vacant.

The Long-Haired Princess noticed her odd behavior and became anxious: "What's wrong? Had a nightmare? Or... did you enter the Black Forest again?"

"...No," Little Red Riding Hood hesitated, then slowly shook her head, "I just... suddenly remembered some things, some things I can't believe. Long Hair, things are getting strange."

"Ah?"

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