Little Red Riding Hood looked unusually cheerful. For anyone who truly knew her, this relaxed expression on her face would have been shocking—she hadn’t looked this way in a very long time.
Still, she couldn’t resist retorting to Yu Sheng. “I’m turning eighteen next month. You can’t treat me like a kid anymore.”
Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow, his tone teasing. “Under eighteen, you’re still a child. Once you’re eighteen, I’ll reconsider. Just don’t forget to save me a slice of cake.”
Before he even finished, Foxy, who had been intently watching a group of chicks, immediately perked up. “Me too!” she said eagerly.
Apparently, while Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood had been chatting for a while, this was the only part the fox girl had been paying attention to.
Little Red Riding Hood’s grin widened mischievously. She bared her teeth playfully at them, looking every bit like a mischievous wolf pup. “Fine, even if knives rain down from the sky, you’d better show up for my birthday. Whoever doesn’t come is a little puppy!”
Yu Sheng chuckled and pulled out his phone, casually hitting the one-touch report button. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he opened a shimmering, phantom-like door. The doorway revealed a quiet hallway in the west wing of the orphanage.
“Xiao Xiao! Long Hair! Time to go home!” Little Red Riding Hood called out, standing at the edge of the platform. She shouted to the two figures playing on the grassy field below, one big and one small. “It’s getting dark soon!”
The long-haired princess led Xiao Xiao back to the platform, though the younger girl looked reluctant to leave, her gaze lingering on the open field.
“Of course,” Yu Sheng replied with a nod. “I might even set up a permanent door at your orphanage one day.”
“Uh, there’s no need to be that serious about it,” the long-haired princess said, looking a bit awkward. “That sounds like a lot of trouble…”
“It’s no trouble at all. It’s actually part of a project I’m working on,” Yu Sheng replied casually. “If your orphanage ever wants to organize outings, whether for the little ones or the older kids to paint or sketch, feel free to reach out. This valley has plenty of space—those so-called parks in the city don’t even compare.”
Little Red Riding Hood thought about it for a moment. The idea of “outings” and “subsets” being mentioned in the same breath struck her as oddly unsettling. But she was used to it by now.
The visitors departed.
“I don’t like human kids,” Irene grumbled, stomping over in a huff. She adjusted her dress and started climbing up Yu Sheng’s pant leg as she muttered, “They’re noisy, always talking about boring things, doing boring stuff. I don’t see what’s so fun about running around on the grass.”
“But you seemed to enjoy yourself with them earlier,” Yu Sheng teased, glancing at Irene, who had already climbed onto his shoulder. “And you’re one to talk about being noisy.”
Irene paused, then started gnawing on Yu Sheng’s head, only to be swatted down with one hand.
“What’s next? Are we heading home?” Irene asked lazily, dangling by the collar as Yu Sheng held her in midair. She looked completely unfazed. “It’s not even dinner time yet.”
“Not yet. I’ve got some experiments to run first,” Yu Sheng replied. He pulled out his phone and, after a moment’s thought, dialed a familiar number.
The person on the other end picked up quickly. “Hello? Yu Sheng?”
“Cough, yes, it’s me,” Yu Sheng said, clearing his throat. “Sorry, things have been chaotic on my end today. I just remembered to call you.”
“No problem. What’s on your mind?”
Bai Li Qing’s tone was calm, as though she’d forgotten calling him a “steel-faced stoic” during their last conversation.
“Two things. First, I mentioned before that I needed the Special Affairs Bureau to help identify something. One of the items I found in the fairy tale Black Forest,” Yu Sheng said, recalling a suggestion from Teacher Su. “I’d also like to request access to some records—about fairy tales.”
The line went silent for a moment before Bai Li Qing’s voice returned. “You mean the early archives about the initial victims and the Bureau’s exploration of the fairy tale subset, correct?”
“You guessed it,” Yu Sheng admitted, exhaling. “Specifically, the records from around seventy years ago.”
“I had a feeling this would come up after your recent activities,” Bai Li Qing replied evenly. “Though I’m curious—what’s sparked your sudden interest in this? Is it because of the spirit realm detective known as Little Red Riding Hood?” ṟ𝐀ΝɵʙЕȿ
“She was the starting point, but the real reason is I want to take responsibility,” Yu Sheng said firmly. “I can’t let this subset remain as it is. It’s bothering me—badly. Is that reason good enough?”
“It’s sufficient,” Bai Li Qing answered without hesitation. “I’ll make the arrangements. Someone will meet you tomorrow. In the meantime, the lab and archives will be prepared.”
Yu Sheng had expected her to agree but was surprised at how quickly she did. “Ah, thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. What’s the second thing?”
“The second thing… well, it’s not difficult, just a bit of a hassle,” Yu Sheng admitted, feeling slightly awkward. “I’m planning to conduct some experiments.”
“Yes, door-opening experiments,” Yu Sheng said, clarifying. “There might be multiple attempts, unconventional methods, unpredictable scales, and uncertain durations. I figured the one-touch reporting feature on my phone might not suffice, so I thought I’d give you a heads-up.”
Irene, now perched on the ground, started muttering, “She’s definitely cursing at you in her head!”
“No problem,” Bai Li Qing said finally. Her voice remained steady, but thanks to Irene’s dramatic commentary, Yu Sheng couldn’t help imagining her gritting her teeth. “I’ll notify the monitoring team to disable the automatic alarms and switch to manual recording. Just call me when you’re done.”
The call ended, and Yu Sheng looked down at the tiny doll standing defiantly with her hands on her hips.
“She was totally cursing at you! My spiritual intuition told me so!”
Then, tilting her head curiously, she asked, “What are you experimenting on?”
Yu Sheng exhaled slowly, raising his hand. “First, I’ll see if I can open a door into the Black Forest from the outside.”
A phantom-like door shimmered into existence before him, glowing faintly. The plain, glowing portal trembled as Yu Sheng focused on the frequency he had recorded in the Black Forest, imprinting it onto the door.
Carefully, he pulled it open.
The next second, the door shattered silently into fragments.
Irene and Foxy gasped in unison.
Then, without warning, a wave of dizziness hit Yu Sheng. He clutched his head and staggered back a step.
“Benefactor!” Foxy rushed over, wrapping her tail around Yu Sheng for support. “Was it a backlash from your immortal technique?!”
“I’m fine, just a bit dizzy,” Yu Sheng assured her, steadying himself as the sensation began to fade. He waved off Foxy and Irene. “The experiment failed—my first time.”
“Doors can fail?” Irene exclaimed, wide-eyed with concern. “Are you really okay?”
“Really,” Yu Sheng said with a faint smile. He pulled himself free from Foxy’s tail and stared at the spot where the door had shattered, deep in thought.
“This doesn’t make sense,” he muttered. “You can open doors from the Black Forest to the outside world. Why can’t it work the other way around?”
Irene pondered for a moment, mumbling, “Because this door can’t be opened from this side?”
Yu Sheng shuddered. “Don’t say that! It gives me the creeps.”
“Could it be because this valley is part of your ‘immortal dwelling’?” Foxy suggested hesitantly. “This isn’t exactly part of the normal ‘mortal realm,’ is it?”
Irene’s eyes lit up. “Wow, Foxy, you actually had a good idea!”
“She might be onto something,” Yu Sheng agreed. “Let’s test it outside.”
With that, he opened another door, this time leading to an empty alley near Wutong Road No. 66.
Moments later, Yu Sheng sat on the curb, head spinning, seeing double of everything—including a slender shadow by the streetlight that appeared to have two heads.
It turned out the failure wasn’t due to the location. Any attempt to open a door from the outside into the Black Forest seemed doomed to fail.
Defeated, the group returned to the valley.
“It looks like it’s impossible,” Irene declared, sitting on Yu Sheng’s shoulder with her chin in her hands. “You can only open a door to leave the Black Forest, not enter it. To get in, you’ll have to use the ‘dream route.’ I think it’s because the Black Forest is fundamentally a ‘consciousness space.’ You can wake up from a dream, but physically walking into one? That’s just not realistic.”
Yu Sheng stayed silent, turning Irene’s analysis over in his mind. It made sense—but something about it didn’t sit right.
The Black Forest’s “one-way nature”… was it really because of this? Was it truly just a “consciousness space”?
If so, then how had he brought back Wolf Granny and that strange piece of paper from within?
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation