Chapter 119: Path
The wolf is coming.
However, Yu Sheng could not see the exact appearance of the wolf - he could only hear the sounds of branches being trampled and grass being brushed coming from behind him, and the occasional suppressed whimpering. For a few moments, he could even smell the rotten and stench mixed with the smell of blood in the air. A cold breath spread in the forest, like the cold winter that was chasing and approaching, gradually depriving him of vitality and heat.
The howling of wolves began again, one after another, coming from every tree, every bush, and every shadow around. The wolves were right beside them, surrounding their prey and constantly narrowing the encirclement.
"Run! Don't stop! Run!"
The squirrel had climbed from Yu Sheng's neck to the top of his head. The small rodent waved its claws forward vigorously and made a shrill cry.
"Run to the path! Run to where there's light! Run to where the wolves don't dare to go!"
Yu Sheng couldn't help but look back, but he could only see shadows in the dim forest. He vaguely saw something chasing him in the shadows of the forest, but he still couldn't see any wolf.
But that breath was right behind him, and he could even begin to feel the airflow generated by those smelly bloody mouths breathing around him.
"Where are the wolves?" he cried. "I can't see them!"
"It's good that you can't see them. It means they can't catch up with you!" the squirrel screamed. "It's bad if you can see them. They will keep chasing you, and chasing you, and chasing you, until you can't run anymore, until you become a tired adult... an adult... wait! You are an adult!"
The squirrel seemed to have discovered something suddenly. It looked down at Yu Sheng who was running in astonishment. It grabbed Yu Sheng's hair and yelled, "So how the hell did you get in here?"
Yu Sheng had no time to respond to the squirrel because he suddenly saw several bleeding wounds on his arms.
Those were the marks left by the scratches of invisible claws.
He began to see those hazy shapes, those thin, hungry predators that seemed endless among the dense trees.
Yu Sheng suddenly exerted force on his feet, stepped on the thick fallen leaves and rotten soil, and continued to rush in the direction pointed by the squirrel.
He was not afraid of death, nor was he worried about being trapped in this place, but he had not yet figured out what was going on here, nor what had happened to "Little Red Riding Hood" - he couldn't just be eaten by the wolf here in vain.
At this moment, he suddenly saw a light out of the corner of his eye.
Deep in the dense forest, in the boundless darkness, some warm lights suddenly appeared, and under the light, a path could be vaguely seen.
"Run, run, run! It's right in front! Aha! You, an adult, can actually run faster than a child!" The squirrel shouted excitedly, "Great, great! Adults always have heavy steps, but you run just like they did when they first came in - they can't catch up with you, they can't catch up with you!"
Amid the squirrel's neurotic screams, Yu Sheng rushed out of the shadows surrounding the forest and rushed towards the warm light. Almost at the moment the light shone on his body, the cold air chasing him instantly dissipated as if melting in the light.
The wolf disappeared, disappearing along the path in the woods.
Yu Sheng was panting, holding onto a dead tree stump by the side of the road. After a long while, he raised his head and looked at the path that passed through the dense forest.
It suddenly appeared in the forest, covered with mud and stones. The winding path seemed to have no end, extending into the depths of darkness between the big trees, and on both sides of the road were bright street lamps - Yu Sheng didn't understand how those lights were illuminated, they looked like some round balls hanging on curved branches, with no wires and no flames inside, but there was a soft light shining down, illuminating the path in the forest.
The squirrel jumped down from his head and landed on the rough and curved wooden railing beside the road. It squatted down and took a long breath: "Huh - it almost became a delicious meal."
"Are those the 'wolves' that have been chasing Little Red Riding Hood?" Yu Sheng took a deep breath, and after regaining his composure, he came to the squirrel and looked seriously at this "little animal" that seemed to know a lot of things. "Is the biggest and strongest 'evil wolf' among them?"
"Evil wolf? Don't mention evil wolf!" The squirrel seemed to be frightened all of a sudden. It jumped up and stretched out its claws as if to cover Yu Sheng's mouth. "The hunter hasn't shown up yet. We can't attract the worst and biggest wolf. You don't have a gun in your hand. It can swallow you up in one bite! Swallow you whole!"
Yu Sheng listened and continued to stare at the other person: "Where exactly is this place? I know it's a forest, but I want to ask, is this Little Red Riding Hood's dream? Or is it some kind of... foreign land?"
"Forest, this is the forest. I don't understand what you mean - dream? Little Red Riding Hood hasn't started dreaming yet. Good children should go to sleep at night. She is still outside doing her own thing...what's her name? Oh, she said she was going to school," the squirrel moved his steps on the wooden railing, mumbling, "If she had started dreaming, she would have come in now..."
The squirrel spoke in a very strange way, giving people a feeling that it was talking to itself and the information was fragmented, but it was not difficult for Yu Sheng to understand. He quickly understood what the other party meant and deduced the connection between this and "Little Red Riding Hood".
This should really be some kind of "foreign" place, not just Little Red Riding Hood's dream. It has always existed, and when Little Red Riding Hood fell asleep... she fell into this forest.
Here you will be hunted endlessly by wolves.
Thinking of this, Yu Sheng frowned quickly: "How can I completely get rid of the wolf's pursuit?"
"Get rid of? What are you thinking! The wolf won't give up, and the forest has no end." The squirrel rubbed his face with his paws and looked at Yu Sheng as if he was a fool. "Run, just keep running, from a safe path to another safe path, run into a warm house, and then run to another house before it gets dark in the house. As long as you can still run, there will always be a place to hide temporarily in the forest - this is good, this is good..."
What the squirrel is talking about are the rules for acting in this "forest"?
Yu Sheng thought quickly in his mind, and then calmed down: "This forest... is it the curse created by the 'fairy tale'? Do you know about the curse?"
He didn't know the origin of the squirrel in front of him, nor did he know why such a rational and intelligent "object" would appear in the dark forest that seemed to be from a foreign land. But since it had just provided help, it meant that it was at least not in the same group as the "curse" that Little Red Riding Hood had mentioned.
However, the squirrel was stunned when he heard his words, and then paced on the railing for two steps: "How should I know, I'm just a fucking squirrel."
Then it raised its paw again, quickly scratched the fur on its face, and raised its face proudly: "A damn cute squirrel."
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
Yu Sheng's expression was a little dull.
The squirrel suddenly rummaged around on its body with its claws and took out a thin stick from somewhere. It held the stick in its mouth and rubbed its big tail on the railing next to it. A small flame suddenly popped up from the tip of its tail. It used the flame to light the stick in its mouth, took a deep breath, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"Would you like a bite?" The squirrel raised his head and grabbed the stick with his claws. "This thing will make you feel better, but you have to hold it with the tip of your nails."
Yu Sheng’s expression became even more dull.
"Oh, you're not interested, that's good - although you're an adult, this is not a good habit," the squirrel said, holding the stick in his mouth again, "Ah, I'm really not used to it. This is the first time I've seen an adult - normally the first ones to come here are the little ones. They will cry for a long time, and few of them can escape the first hunt. They will be swallowed by the wolf. To be honest, I'm a little nervous. You're putting a squirrel under pressure that it shouldn't... Suck, suck, suck - hiss, huh -"
Yu Sheng didn't know how to respond to this guy for a moment. To be honest, the style of this squirrel was a bit beyond his scope.
Although he has a living puppet that can curse in the streets, a nine-tailed fox that can shoot its tail, and a building called "No. 66 Wutong Road" that cannot be observed by ordinary people, he has always been a good young man with normal values and mental health - a squirrel smoking and cursing in the streets was not within his expectations.
“Why don’t you say anything?” The squirrel finished the rest of the stick in one gulp, then casually threw the smoking tail into his mouth and chewed it, looking up at Yu Sheng, “Oh, are you scared? That’s normal. Adults will also be scared by the forest. After a few times, you will get used to it - get used to their hunting, get used to their predation.
"Then you connect with some of the wolves here, you connect with the whole forest, and when you are the lost person here, the hungry wolf here, the forest, the hunter and the grandmother, you will be completely in tune.
"Then you will have your own red cloak, and you can run around every night. Ah ha, it will be very fulfilling... But I am curious about what kind of cloak you will get? After all, you are not a child, and you are a boy..."
"I'm not the new Little Red Riding Hood," Yu Sheng interrupted the squirrel's chatter and emphasized again with a serious face, "I'm her friend."
The squirrel was stunned. It stared at Yu Sheng blankly, as if trying to find a hint of lying on his face. After a long while, it seemed to have finally confirmed something. Its upper body stood upright, and its thick tail swept restlessly on the wooden railing.
"Are you serious? You can't lie to a squirrel as adorable as me!"
"I mean it."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com