Chapter 126 Night and Childhood
The night is dark.
The light from the street lamps outside the courtyard shone through the windows on the side wall into the corridor of the orphanage. The dim corridor was very quiet, and the noise during the day seemed to have never happened. There was a reassuring calmness in the night tonight.
Little Red Riding Hood walked slowly through the corridor, passing one door after another. She stopped briefly in front of each door, looked at the situation in the room through the observation window on the door, and only after confirming that there was nothing unusual in the room would she feel relieved and continue to move forward.
The "parent" on duty in the first half of the night should patrol twice, and the "parent" on duty in the second half of the night should patrol three times, until the sun rises and the night fades.
Footsteps came from the opposite side. Little Red Riding Hood raised her head and saw a petite figure slowly approaching in the night. The other person was short, with short hair, and looked two years younger than her - it was the girl who talked to her at dinner.
"Snow White?" Little Red Riding Hood was a little surprised. "It's not your turn to be on duty today. Why aren't you sleeping?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I got up and walked around," the thin girl with short hair said casually, "and then I remembered that you should be patrolling in the East Building, so I came to visit."
"Yeah." Little Red Riding Hood nodded and didn't say much. She just continued to walk forward silently with Snow White.
According to the organization's rules, everyone must go back to their rooms to sleep after 10 o'clock in the evening, but this restriction only applies to children under the age of fourteen or who have not yet "awakened". Snow White is already the "parent" of the "Fairy Tale" organization. She knows what she should do, and Little Red Riding Hood will not say too much.
"You rarely sleep now, do you?" Snow White suddenly broke the silence.
Little Red Riding Hood just hummed softly.
"As you approach adulthood, your sleep will decrease significantly. Sometimes you only need two to three hours of rest a day. But correspondingly, those two to three hours of sleep will become particularly dangerous... Peaceful dreams almost disappear, and the chance of entering a 'fairy tale' after falling asleep is almost 100%... Every night is a challenge," Snow White said softly. "I heard from the 'King' that you didn't have this problem last month, but it started this month..."
Little Red Riding Hood said calmly: "My birthday is next month, this is normal."
Snow White pursed her lips, and after a moment she whispered, "Are you scared?"
"A little bit, but fortunately, my wolf is with me," Little Red Riding Hood said, looking into the eyes of the girl beside her in the night. "But you, why are you suddenly telling me all this? Don't you usually pay little attention to these things?"
The corridor fell silent. After several seconds, Snow White slowly spoke: "Did you notice the new kid today?"
"I noticed. She doesn't talk much to people and looks very nervous." Little Red Riding Hood nodded. "The handover officer said that she originally lived in a public orphanage in the northern part of the city. She was sent here because she had nightmares continuously and caused some 'abnormal phenomena'. She attracted the attention of the Secret Service. Is there anything wrong with her?"
"'Match' is in charge of accompanying the new child today. She said... although the child cannot accurately recall what she saw in her dream, when reading the storybook, she obviously resists all images and words related to 'wolf'."
Little Red Riding Hood suddenly stopped, but only after a second or two, she continued walking forward as usual.
Snow White walked with her, and after they were both silent for a long time, she spoke again: "...that child might be the new 'Little Red Riding Hood'."
"Then you must take good care of her in the future, just like I took care of you." Little Red Riding Hood said seriously.
Snow White immediately frowned and acted unconvinced: "You are only two and a half years older than me!"
"I have been your 'parent' for two and a half years," Little Red Riding Hood glanced at the thin girl beside her, "You should eat more meals on a regular basis. You are still as thin as last year. If you continue like this, no child will listen to you."
"I eat, but I can't gain weight. What can I do?"
They were chatting like usual, but suddenly they fell silent at the same time.
Finally, it was Snow White who broke the silence first: "...There have been more than one adult records in the organization. Don't be afraid. For example, the 'King' is over 40 years old if converted into a human being. And the previous Cinderella is said to have even celebrated her 26th birthday. I think it's not surprising that there are two Little Red Riding Hoods at the same time..."
Little Red Riding Hood listened quietly. In fact, she had often thought about these things these days. Snow White had said these words to her, and Dr. Lin had also said them to her, and she had even said them to herself, but...what else could she do? Every member of "Fairy Tale" who is about to become an adult has heard similar words.
But for some reason, Little Red Riding Hood, who thought she was fully prepared, suddenly had some other thoughts in her heart when she heard Snow White comforting her.
She suddenly thought of the phone call she had with Yu Sheng today and what the other party had told her.
"Maybe..." She suddenly broke the silence softly.
Snow White, who was trying to think of something lighthearted, barely heard Little Red Riding Hood speak. She racked her brains to say a few more words before she realized, "Ah? What did you say?"
Little Red Riding Hood calmed herself down and looked into Snow White's eyes: "Maybe, things won't be that bad after all. I mean maybe...maybe something good will happen."
Snow White looked a little dazed, but she noticed that in the depths of Little Red Riding Hood's always calm eyes there seemed to be some... brilliance that was different from these days.
She didn't know why, but she nodded subconsciously: "Well, it's good that you think so."
"A friend is coming over tomorrow, and I invite him to my home." Little Red Riding Hood said seriously.
"Ah, ah?" Snow White opened her eyes wide in surprise, but she quickly reacted, "Oh, that's fine, but it's really strange that you actually invite friends to your home. I thought only long-haired people would do this - are they classmates? You guys are staying in the East Building, right?"
"He is an adult."
Snow White was stunned.
"He comes over at noon," Little Red Riding Hood continued, "to avoid the most unstable times in the morning and evening. He... knows something about me, and there is no class tomorrow, so I will probably take him around the orphanage."
"...You should have told everyone at dinner," Snow White was stunned for a long time, and finally digested the news. She said with some complaints, "Now we have to make arrangements tomorrow morning to let some unstable children go to the west building..."
"No, he is also a ghost detective and has worked with me before. He also knows some fairy tales." Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. "The one I mentioned to you is Yu Sheng."
"...The one that eats the entity alive?!"
Little Red Riding Hood nodded: "Yes, the one that is eaten raw - but most of the time people still eat it cooked."
Snow White suddenly stopped talking, as if she was stuck.
Little Red Riding Hood continued to move forward.
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Snow White was stunned for a few seconds before she reacted. She quickly took two steps to catch up with Little Red Riding Hood, who had already walked several meters. Then she asked a series of questions: "How did he know about the 'fairy tale'? Did you tell him? Don't you usually seldom tell these things to outsiders?"
"What is he here for? Just to visit our orphanage?"
"You don't want to involve him, do you? That's not possible. It's very dangerous..."
"Does Dr. Lin know? Do you want to discuss it with Dr. Lin?"
Snow White asked all the way, but Little Red Riding Hood just answered her casually. Soon, Snow White stopped asking. She just looked at Little Red Riding Hood walking beside her. After a long time, she said the last sentence: "Although we don't have any rules, you have to remember that those who wanted to help in the past... all died later."
This time, Little Red Riding Hood finally stopped and responded to her seriously: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
Snow White pursed her lips and finally said nothing more. Instead, she looked forward with Little Red Riding Hood.
Before they knew it, they had passed the dormitory area and the cafeteria, and in front of them was a large "classroom".
The lights are on in the classroom.
"I forgot to turn off the lights in the activity room again," Snow White frowned, "How much will this cost in electricity?"
Little Red Riding Hood pushed open the door of the activity room and took a look inside.
This is a place for younger children to play and "take classes". The spacious classroom is divided into several areas. There are some old tables and chairs in the northeast corner, and a small bookshelf full of picture books and some indoor toys in the northwest corner. There is also a small blackboard near the door. The graffiti left by the children on it has not been wiped off. There are also many small pieces of paper stuck on the edge of the blackboard, with the younger brothers and sisters' somewhat childish handwriting on the papers.
Those are the wish cards that the teacher gave to the children when she taught them today.
The card had everything on it - wanting a piece of cake, a new toy, a new dress, wanting to go out and play, wanting to watch cartoons all day.
The text is interspersed with pinyin, and some are simply drawn with simple graphics.
Children's wishes and ways of expressing themselves are really strange.
Little Red Riding Hood couldn't help but smile, but at this moment, out of the corner of her eye she saw a piece of paper being taken down and stuffed into the corner of the teaching box next to her.
She reached out and pulled it out, smoothing it out carefully.
"I want to grow up."
It says this on it.
"Turn off the lights." Snow White's voice came from the side.
After a snap, the wish on the paper fell into darkness.
(End of this chapter)
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