After falling asleep and opening his eyes to see the Black Forest, Yu Sheng was not too surprised.

After all, the "Fairy Tales" Exotic Realm never really disappeared, Anka Aela's activity didn't stop, and the children at the orphanage merely made it through that dangerous night safely. At any moment afterward, subsets from the fairy tales could reappear. Both the Sanctuary Wilderness and the valley were essentially just safety nets, preventing the children from suffering severe mental trauma or becoming directly parasitized by Anka Aela.

In other words, nightmares were inevitable.

Still, Yu Sheng couldn't help but feel that this whole thing was just too absurd, and he had an uncanny feeling that the Black Forest was targeting him specifically.

He took a deep breath, and as he calmed down, his intuition only became stronger.

The Black Forest was targeting him—or rather, something in the forest was.

In the distance, faint howls of wolves resonated, a persistent cry of an infant grated on the nerves, the wind rustled through the nearby bushes, and occasionally, a vague, buzzing noise could be heard in the air.

The strange, buzzing noise made Yu Sheng doubt whether he was experiencing tinnitus. He smacked his forehead and dug at his ears, but the noise did not diminish; instead, it merged with the infant's wails, becoming more aggravating.

"Is it me, or are these weird noises getting more and more frequent in this damned place…" Yu Sheng muttered to himself, as if the sound of his own voice could somehow counteract the annoying racket. "It's like an alarm is going off."

Suddenly, a rustling came from a nearby pile of grass. In the next second, a small, fluffy red-brown shadow emerged from the withered grass, hopping towards Yu Sheng.

"You're okay! You're okay! Little Red Riding Hood's okay! The squirrel's okay too!"

The squirrel jumped around excitedly at Yu Sheng's feet, producing sharp, small cries, seemingly in high spirits.

Yu Sheng bent down and picked up the little creature, stroking her head with a smile on his face. "Yes, we are all okay. We made it through the night safely, without any real danger."

The squirrel gleefully hugged Yu Sheng's finger, then suddenly became alert, looking around cautiously. She lowered her body and whispered, "Shh, we still can't speak too loudly... Anka Aela is still wandering in the forest. It just scanned the area again... Squirrel thinks it's very upset and will cause more trouble..."

"I know," Yu Sheng instinctively lowered his voice, "but I'm here to find it, this time..."

But the squirrel seemed not to hear him and instead interrupted Yu Sheng abruptly, with no preamble, "The Hunter!"

Yu Sheng was taken aback. "The Hunter? What about the Hunter?"

"The Hunter!" The squirrel repeated anxiously. She seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but then swiftly regained clarity, muttering while wiping her face quickly, "Squirrel is thinking, Squirrel is thinking... The Hunter, the Hunter?"

She suddenly stopped, straightened up to look at the deeper part of the forest, and after a couple of seconds, she slapped her tail hard. "The Hunter is over by the house! Yes, the Hunter is by the house—ta is waiting for you!"

"The Hunter is waiting for me?" Yu Sheng was genuinely shocked. He suddenly recalled the scene he had witnessed while evacuating the orphanage, that fleeting apparition that had vanished in the blink of an eye. A strong premonition surged through him, and without pausing to ask for details, he immediately said, "Take me there!"

The squirrel raised her paw, pointing into the distance. "This way, this way."

Yu Sheng looked in the direction the squirrel was pointing, seeing the dark part of the forest, with neither streetlights nor paths, not even the candlelight of the shelter hut.

Nonetheless, he decided to trust the squirrel—because he could feel the bond between them through their shared blood. This was no trap set by the Black Forest.

Yu Sheng hurried into the depths of the forest. Along the way, he finally had time to ask, "How do you know the Hunter is waiting for me by the cabin? Did ta reveal ta self to you? Did ta communicate with you?"

"Yes," the squirrel nodded vigorously. "The Hunter suddenly appeared, without Wolf Grandmother. The Hunter just walked out of the forest alone, avoiding Anka Aela's gaze, making no sound—but Squirrel directly heard ta's words...

"Ta said, let the one who touched the umbilical cord and the bullet come to the first cabin. Ta also said there's not much time left, the Angel is about to wake up, but because someone disrupted the connection between the Angel and the 'outside,' there's now a brief..."

The squirrel suddenly stopped, as if she was struggling with some complex words that were hard for her to comprehend or recall. After being stuck for a while, she just brushed it off, "Squirrel can't remember what it was, anyway... The Hunter said ta finally had a chance to speak, the Angel's control over ta is weakening, and ta wants the one who touched the umbilical cord and the bullet to hurry over—Squirrel saw you had the umbilical cord, but I don't know what the bullet is... Squirrel didn't relay the message wrong, did Squirrel?"

"No, it's me." Yu Sheng nodded. He responded to the squirrel while simultaneously making sense of her somewhat jumbled and incomplete account and thinking rapidly.

The Hunter, as an "entity," had always strictly adhered to the Black Forest's "rules." Ta would only appear when Wolf Grandmother did, and ta's only action was to shoot and kill Wolf Grandmother, or any completely "wolf-ified" Little Red Riding Hood. In all the cases so far, there had never been any record of the Hunter speaking—not in the memories of the squirrels or any of the previous Little Red Riding Hoods.

But now, the Hunter had proactively communicated with the squirrel and even took independent action in the real world without the presence of Wolf Grandmother.

——Because someone disrupted the connection between the Angel and the "outside."

Yu Sheng lowered his head and looked at his own hands.

In order to include all the children in the protection, he had shed quite a bit of blood during this period.

"...This really is an unexpected outcome." Yu Sheng slowly grinned, showing a joyful smile.

Although he couldn't fully understand the process, he was now almost certain that the Blood Transferring Ceremony he performed for all the children of "Fairy Tales" successfully interfered with the connection between Anka Aela and the real world. As it turned out, this interference not only provided protection to the members of "Fairy Tales" as expected but also inadvertently created an opportunity for the "Hunter".

It turned out ta had always been looking for a chance to move freely—underneath that Hunter's outfit, the light of humanity and rationality indeed still existed.

In the distant shadows of the forest, the outline of a small cottage finally appeared vaguely.

Yu Sheng took a gentle breath, slowed his steps near the cottage, and continued walking cautiously while paying close attention to the wind and grass around him.

The Hunter might not have malicious intentions, but the Black Forest itself was "alive". He had to be very careful to avoid any extreme reactions from the forest during his contact with the Hunter—after all, he had entered this place through a dream, without Erin, without Hu Li, and not even his "Reason". If something happened, he could easily drop dead on the spot.

Of course, dropping dead itself wasn't the problem—delaying the task would be the most troublesome.

The surroundings were quiet, with even the howling of wolves faintly diminishing. Only the indistinct sound of a baby's crying and the buzzing of abnormal noises continued, but Yu Sheng had almost grown accustomed to these weird disturbances.

He felt the squirrel in his palm trembling slightly.

She was afraid of this place, afraid of this symbol of the "ending" for all Little Red Riding Hoods.

"If you're afraid of this house, then don't follow," Yu Sheng gently patted the squirrel's head, intending to place her on a nearby tree stump, "Wait outside."

"No!" Surprisingly, the squirrel flipped over and grabbed his finger, hanging in midair while insisting, "Squirrel... The squirrel knight fears nothing!"

Her body was still shaking, but the fear had evidently lessened—the shadow that once caused her to collapse had become something she could try to resist.

Yu Sheng was stunned for a moment, then gradually smiled.

"Alright, then you can enter with me—but if you're still scared after going in, wait outside. A squirrel knight who knows how to retreat is still a brave squirrel knight."

"O...okay!"

Yu Sheng placed the squirrel on his shoulder, took a few steps forward, and pushed open the old, dark wooden door.

A faint creaking noise broke the silence as Yu Sheng peeked inside.

Dim light seeped through the window, illuminating the interior. He saw various red cloaks of all sizes hanging around, and in the midst of countless red cloaks, the figure clad in a hunter's outfit was indeed standing quietly in the center of the room.

ta slightly lowered ta's head, and the hollow hood still contained only a shadow. When Yu Sheng walked in, the hood gently moved.

An invisible gaze seemed to emanate from the hollow hood.

"Um, I'm here," Yu Sheng walked toward the Hunter, awkwardly greeting, "I heard from the squirrel that you were looking for me."

The Hunter nodded.

Such a simple gesture made Yu Sheng's breath involuntarily pause for a moment—ta really responded!

"What do you want from me? Do you have something to say to me?" Yu Sheng asked again.

The Hunter remained silent for a moment, then suddenly stepped forward twice.

ta stood in front of Yu Sheng, and in the latter's momentarily cautious gaze, the empty hunter's outfit raised a "hand" and pointed at itself.

"Put it on."

A hollow, indistinct voice directly echoed in Yu Sheng's mind.

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