Yu Sheng suddenly realized how quiet it was around the little house.
The invisible wolf pack had faded away, slipping into the Black Forest without a sound. The silence was absolute. Yet the most dangerous wolf—the one bound to “this generation’s Little Red Riding Hood”—still hadn’t appeared. Even so, Yu Sheng could feel its eyes on him.
That wolf, the one that had devoured him before, was watching from a distance. It knew he was here, yet it made no move. Why?
What was it studying? Waiting for? Could it be… was it scared of something?
Yu Sheng cautiously stretched out his senses, trying to figure out the wolf’s intentions through that watchful stare. The moment he concentrated, he “saw” a shadow through the wolf’s gaze.
Outside, on a patch of ground near the house, a figure appeared—human-shaped.
Yu Sheng’s nerves went on high alert. Almost right away, he heard footsteps in the yard.
They were human footsteps, steady but unhurried, rustling the leaves and the soft, decaying earth. They were heading straight for the door.
His heart clenched with alarm. Something clicked in his thoughts, and he ducked into a corner to hide.
A tall figure stood there. Under the dim starlight, Yu Sheng could see that the stranger wore green-brown hunting gear and a thick hood that hid their face. They carried a long hunting rifle and leaned forward, stepping inside with an odd, unsteady gait.
But the big, bad wolf here—Wolf Granny—was already dead, taken down before the hunter arrived.
Not even two steps into the house, the tall figure stopped. They must have spotted the wolf’s gutted body on the floor.
The usual “story,” in which the hunter arrives just in time to save Little Red Riding Hood, had fallen apart. This “character,” also spawned by the Black Forest, looked stuck, as if a program had crashed.
The hunter didn’t move. Yu Sheng, crouched in his hiding place, didn’t move either. The silence felt uncomfortably tense, almost… embarrassing.
Then Irene’s voice rang in Yu Sheng’s head.
“Hey, Yu Sheng! Still alive? What’s going on? Why aren’t you back yet?”
“I’m fine, but there’s a complication,” he answered quickly, keeping his eyes on the motionless hunter. “What about your side? Did Little Red and the kid return all right?”
“No problem here,” Irene replied, sounding casual. “Little Red is next door puking her guts out, and the kid woke up and joined her. Honestly, I’m stunned! That kid was totally gone—no heartbeat, no breath—and now she’s breathing again! How did you do that? But anyway, you killed that ‘Wolf Granny,’ right? So…?”
“Yeah, I killed Wolf Granny. That’s why the hunter’s stuck,” Yu Sheng said, cutting her off. “You know how the hunter is supposed to show up at the last second to rescue Little Red? Well, I stole its scene.”
Irene went quiet, probably trying to make sense of it all.
After a few seconds, she said, “Wait—did you say ‘stuck’? That’s possible?”
“What else do you call it?” Yu Sheng groaned. “They’re standing there like a statue. I’m hiding behind them, and neither of us knows what to do. If this thing’s part of the Black Forest, there might be all sorts of weird rules.”
“So you’re both just… standing there? Why not leave? I can yank you out anytime!”
“No, don’t,” Yu Sheng said sharply, imagining how disorienting it would be if Irene pulled him out unexpectedly. He remembered how jarring “waking up” had felt. “I want to see what the hunter really is.”
With that, Yu Sheng moved out from his corner, stepping slowly toward the tall figure in hunting gear.
The hunter showed no reaction. They stayed completely still, stuck in place next to the dead wolf.
Growing bolder, Yu Sheng approached until he was almost face-to-hood. He leaned forward to see beneath it.
“Hey, can you see anything? You didn’t get smacked in the face, right?” Irene teased in his mind.
Yu Sheng stared for a second before responding. “…There’s nothing inside these clothes.”
Under the hood, the hunter was just emptiness—a hollow outfit. No head, no body, only shadowy emptiness.
And yet Yu Sheng felt a prickling sense of being watched. Some invisible gaze followed his every move.
He slid to the side. The hunter stayed still, but that unseen stare shifted with him.
“Uh… hi,” Yu Sheng said awkwardly, “I’m Yu Sheng. Just, you know, passing through.”
Irene snickered. “Great introduction.”
“Shut it,” he muttered.
The hunter remained silent, though Yu Sheng still felt it watching him.
Feeling a bit foolish, he gestured at the wolf’s corpse. “I, uh, killed it. Sorry for taking your part in the story.”
He noticed a slight shift in the hunter’s hood folds—almost like a nod.
Yu Sheng took this as a good sign, though he kept himself calm. Softly, he said, “The kid who got swallowed by the wolf is safe now. Rescued.”
“So… you’re not here to fight, right?” he asked with a cautious smile. He extended a hand. “We’re both on the same team against the wolves, I guess?”
At that, the hunter suddenly backed away.
Yu Sheng froze, startled. The hunter kept retreating with that strange, awkward stride, moving faster and faster until it reached the door.
Then, in a single instant, it disappeared into the night.
“Wait—” Yu Sheng called, stepping forward. But it was already gone.
Irene’s voice piped up. “What happened?”
“The hunter took off the second I tried to shake its hand,” Yu Sheng said, bewildered. “I don’t think I offended it.”
As he spoke, he noticed a scrap of paper on the floor, right where the hunter had stood.
He bent down, picking up the worn piece. It was small and yellowed, with layers of stains—ink, oil, maybe even blood—so thick that any words were unreadable. ŘâNƟＢĘȘ
“A scrap of paper left behind by the hunter. But it’s basically impossible to read.”
“Think you can bring it back?” Irene asked. “I only pulled your consciousness out before. Want me to drop in and check? I’m no artifact expert, so don’t hold your breath.”
Yu Sheng snorted, amused at her honesty. Carefully, he slipped the brittle paper into his pocket, then looked down at the wolf’s remains.
“I’ll try opening a door here to carry it all back. Never tried this from the Black Forest, so who knows how it’ll go. Let Little Red and the kid wait outside, okay? You and Foxy keep watch.”
After double-checking with Irene, Yu Sheng inhaled slowly.
He pulled out his phone, noticing it had no signal.
Of course there wouldn’t be. He tucked the phone away, grabbed the wolf’s hind leg, and raised his other hand.
A bright, shimmering door began to form at his touch.
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation