Seeing the strange girl in red rush into the cabin, Yu Sheng paused for a moment before following her inside.

At the moment he crossed the wooden door, he felt as if he had passed through something thin and icy, like mist. Instantly, many of the surrounding sounds disappeared. The howling of wolves that had been incessantly circling around him, seemingly closing in, abruptly vanished along with the sound of the wind. All that remained was the eerie baby crying sound, which persistently echoed whenever one entered the Black Forest, though now it seemed muffled, as if behind a thick barrier.

Cautiously holding his weapon, Yu Sheng scanned the surroundings, frowning slightly without realizing it.

He did not see any of the hanging red cloaks.

There was not a single red cloak on the walls or the floor.

The only touch of red in the room was the girl in red, sitting on the ground, panting heavily.

Yu Sheng and Hu Li walked over and stood before the girl; Yu Sheng waved his hand in front of her eyes, but she did not respond at all.

Just then, Hu Li seemed to notice something. She wrinkled her nose and said softly, "Savior, there's no scent."

Yu Sheng didn't understand: "What?"

"She has no scent," Hu Li explained.

Yu Sheng frowned, his expression thoughtful. Suddenly, as if sensing something, he immediately opened the wooden box containing the Angel Umbilical Cord.

The umbilical cord lay quietly at the bottom of the box, but somehow, a part of it had started to fill up, as if reanimated with blood and life. Although the "revived" section was less than a fifth of the entire umbilical cord, it looked extraordinarily striking.

Erin noticed the change in the umbilical cord immediately and gasped. She grabbed Yu Sheng's hair and quickly turned to Hu Li, "Quick, quick... get the seasoning you hid in your tail..."

"Stop fooling around," Yu Sheng instantly interrupted the little puppet's mischief, "it hasn't come to that."

He then saw the chili powder and barbecue seasoning Hu Li had taken out from her tail and his eyebrow twitched, "Put those back."

The girl in red sitting on the floor was completely unaware of what was happening "beside" her. She seemed like a projection from another time, merely reenacting events that had once happened before Yu Sheng and the others.

After Yu Sheng confirmed that the Angel Umbilical Cord wasn't showing further signs of revival, the girl seemed to have rested enough. She began to struggle to her feet, as if wanting to check out various parts of the cabin.

From the look in her eyes, Yu Sheng deduced that she was quite unfamiliar and wary of the cabin.

In the next second, Yu Sheng noticed something abnormal with the girl.

As she struggled to stand, her legs and arms bent at strange angles, unable to straighten. She seemed to be muttering something, but only raspy, bizarre growls emerged from her throat. She wobbly took two steps forward, then involuntarily started to crouch down. Fine fur began sprouting from her cheeks and wrists, her ears lengthened and sharpened, and her eyes turned wolf-like, followed by the emergence of sharp fangs and claws.

It was as if a long accumulation had finally reached a critical point, causing her to transform into a wolf at an alarming speed.

Even her thoughts seemed affected. The girl only noticed the changes to her body at that moment, looking down in horror at her twisted and misshapen form. When she opened her mouth, instead of a human scream, a sorrowful whimper came from her throat.

"What the hell..." Yu Sheng could no longer hold back. Even though he had guessed the girl might just be an illusion, not truly in the same time and space as himself, he instinctively set his Wolf Fang Club aside and rushed forward to help her.

But his arm passed straight through her body.

The girl in red fell, completely transforming into a grotesque, half-human, half-wolf monstrosity before Yu Sheng's eyes.

Yet she didn't seem to have lost all reason. After a long time of labored breathing, she struggled to get up again and crawled on all fours towards a corner of the cabin.

The sound of claws scratching the floor broke the silence in the cabin.

She was carving words with her sharp nails.

"This forest is alive.

"The chaotic noises have turned into clear whispers.

"There's a massive entity dreaming, hidden in the shared dreams of all the children at the orphanage. I can't see what it is, but it has already entered my mind.

"I can't go back. Now I am very tired, very cold, very hungry, and I can't remember how long I've been here...

"I found a cabin, but it's cold here too. A fire would be nice...

"The wolves are outside, waiting for me...

"I am... 'Little Red Riding Hood,' the first, but likely not the last. I have seen, 'It' is selecting new targets. To those who come after me, good luck..."

She began to convulse.

The words scratched by her nails became increasingly shallow, increasingly thin, eventually unable to continue.

She gasped and stopped, turned over, her deformed and twisted body lying on its side on the floor, her gaze passed over Yu Sheng, fixed on a corner of the cabin.

"So cold... if only there was a fire..."

Yu Sheng sat down beside her, placed his hand on her already bent and deformed arm, but could not transfer any warmth to her. Hu Li also came over, she stacked several of her tails beside the girl who had turned into a wolf, but likewise, could give her no warmth.

But suddenly, the girl's eyes brightened for an instant, as if she really felt some warmth being transferred. A smile appeared on her face, and with her last sigh, she said, "It's warming up..."

Then she turned into a flowing shadow, gradually dissipating.

A faint "crackling" sound abruptly broke the dead silence in the cabin.

Yu Sheng looked up in surprise, towards the direction of the sound, only to see a spark bursting out from the dark fireplace in the corner of the cabin.

Then came a second crackling sound, the spark turned into a flame.

The warm fireplace ignited, the blazing and bright flames leaped within the hearth, and somehow a candlestick appeared on the table in the middle of the cabin. The candlelight was silently lit from nowhere, the cold retreated from the room, and warmth filled the small cabin like a swiftly descending miracle.

Yu Sheng watched this scene in astonishment, suddenly, he seemed to understand something.

Almost simultaneously with that thought, he heard a slight sound coming from the window sill, followed by the familiar voice of the squirrel entering his ears—

"The first Little Red Riding Hood died, bringing the initial fire and candlelight to the Black Forest."

Yu Sheng abruptly looked up, seeing the squirrel standing on the window sill. It was unclear when it had slipped in—or maybe it had been there all along.

"As I thought... The original Black Forest had none of these 'protections', right?" Yu Sheng looked thoughtfully at the squirrel before him, "What I am seeing now, is a 'record' from long ago?"

The squirrel wiped its face with its paws, but unlike its usual jittery and neurotic behavior, today it seemed inexplicably quiet, as if it too were burdened by heavy thoughts.

"Yes, the Black Forest originally had nothing, at the very beginning, there was only the forest and wolves, and also, the pitch-black cabin..."

Yu Sheng slowly furrowed his brows, "Then, as the 'protagonist' of the story, Little Red Riding Hood appeared. The stage of 'Little Red Riding Hood' finally began to become complete?"

The squirrel raised its upper body, but its gaze wasn't on Yu Sheng, rather it seemed to be looking at some distant place.

It spoke slowly—

"...The second Little Red Riding Hood died, bringing those red threads and strips of cloth that are wrapped around many places, they can slow the process of turning into a wolf.

"After the third Little Red Riding Hood died, food and water began to appear in the cabin to replenish strength.

"After the fourth Little Red Riding Hood died, paths finally appeared in the forest. When walking on the paths, the chance of encountering wolves is very low, and the sheltering cabins will always appear at the end of the paths.

"The fifth Little Red Riding Hood lit the lamps along the sides of the paths—now, unless the lamps are extinguished, the wolf pack won't approach the paths.

"After the sixth Little Red Riding Hood died, no new things were added, but after that, all 'Wolf Grandmothers' must first 'knock on the door'—although this may only delay for a moment, before that, the Wolf Grandmother would actually be directly generated inside the cabin.

"Now, all Little Red Riding Hoods have about a tenth increased chance of escape after the Wolf Grandmother 'knocks on the door'.

"The seventh Little Red Riding Hood... she stayed here for a very short time, but she was very powerful. After she left, the 'Evil Wolf' no longer appears at dusk, all the dangerous periods are now compressed into the night..."

The squirrel spoke slowly, as if talking to Yu Sheng, yet also as if it were merely reminiscing to itself. Finally, it tugged at the red strips of cloth wrapped around itself, and looked up at the three people in front of it: "So I've always been curious, which Little Red Riding Hood brought 'you'? You... don't belong to this forest."

"Sorry, we are uninvited adults," Yu Sheng stepped forward, calmly looking into the squirrel's eyes, "Just like the 'Hunter' who was also uninvited—you deliberately ignored him just now, didn't you?"

The squirrel tugged again at the strips of cloth on itself, remaining silent.

Yu Sheng did not pursue the question. He was silent for a few seconds before suddenly asking, "And what about you?"

"...What do you mean?"

Yu Sheng looked into the squirrel's eyes, enunciating each word clearly: "Which Little Red Riding Hood are you?"

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