Chapter 131 A childhood that came to an abrupt end?
From Little Red Riding Hood's reaction and the expression on the girl's face who had just come in, Yu Sheng quickly guessed what had happened.
His brows furrowed instantly, but before he could speak, Little Red Riding Hood had already waved her hand hurriedly: "Wait here for a moment, I... will be back soon."
"No, I'll go with you." Yu Sheng stood up without saying a word. Hu Li beside him also reached out and hugged Irene in his arms, then stood up.
"This is an internal matter of Fairy Tale, and we have gone through similar procedures...many times." Little Red Riding Hood's face was dark and heavy. "Thank you for your concern, but..."
"No buts, I know what you mean - but your wolf bit me," Yu Sheng interrupted her directly. He knew what to say to make this stubborn girl give in, so he brought up the past without hesitation, "I have been drawn into the 'fairy tale'. Maybe next time I dream I will be in that dark forest again, so I must know more about it."
Faced with such a statement, Little Red Riding Hood lost the confidence to continue insisting. She could only look at Yu Sheng with a complicated expression, and then nodded slightly.
"Long Hair" looked at Yu Sheng and his group with some confusion, as if he had many questions in his mind, but after noticing Little Red Riding Hood's eyes, he swallowed his words and turned around to open the door.
As soon as he came out of the reception room, Yu Sheng saw many children gathered in the corridor.
Some of them looked to be only six or seven years old, or even younger; there were also children who looked to be twelve or thirteen years old. They gathered in small groups in the corridor. They were at an age when they were most noisy and chattering, but at this moment they seemed particularly quiet.
A little girl in a blue skirt saw Little Red Riding Hood coming out, walked over hesitantly, and carefully grabbed the latter's clothes: "Teacher Su said... Xiaoxiao graduated today, is it true?"
Little Red Riding Hood pursed her lips, bent down and touched the top of the little girl's head: "Well, she left today and moved to another place."
"Will she come to the classroom this afternoon? I made her a gift..."
"Just give the gift to Teacher Su, she will pass it on to you - the graduating students will leave soon and probably won't have time to say goodbye to you, but... I will send it to her for you."
"oh……"
Little Red Riding Hood stood up and hurriedly walked down the corridor with Yu Sheng and his party.
After leaving the sight of the group of children, Yu Sheng frowned and asked in a low voice: "You just said that this kind of thing happened many times?"
"Many times," Little Red Riding Hood nodded gently, "some children are already very unstable when they come here, and some... suffer from mental illnesses themselves, and 'fairy tales' will aggravate their conditions. We don't only face the crisis of death when we are 'adults'. There are obstacles everywhere in the entire childhood process."
Irene raised her head from Hu Li's arms: "They don't know the truth?"
"The youngest children don't know because the extra tension and fear of the unknown and confusion will intensify the impact of the 'fairy tale' on them. But when they are about thirteen or fourteen years old, they will gradually understand what will happen next from the 'dream' and begin to master the power brought to them by the 'fairy tale' - we call this node 'awakening', after which they will become 'parents'... We have a mature guidance process."
Irene buried her head in Hu Li's arms again, her voice sounding muffled: "...This is the first time I feel that the term "mature XX process" sounds so uncomfortable."
Yu Sheng did not speak, but just pursed his lips tightly, his expression seemed particularly gloomy, as if he was filled with anger, as well as some strong and persistent thoughts brewing.
Irene noticed something. She quickly looked up at Yu Sheng but said nothing.
They quickly passed through the East Building, and then, led by Little Red Riding Hood, walked through the corridor between the two buildings and entered the building called the "West Building".
As soon as he stepped into the building, Yu Sheng quickly felt the change in the surrounding environment, or the atmosphere.
A vague... "suppression" feeling seemed to fill the entire building. The corridor was so quiet that it was a little unnerving. The lights were obviously bright, but he always felt that there were dim corners everywhere around him - it was a kind of psychological "darkness", as if there were many things lurking in this west building that could not be dispelled by the lights, dividing the entire building into countless fragmented parts.
"There are many seals and isolation measures in this building," Little Red Riding Hood seemed to have noticed the change in Yu Sheng's expression and explained softly, "This can be considered as our containment and research facility - children who get into trouble must first receive a certain degree of 'safety treatment' here before being sent outside."
Yu Sheng didn't say anything, just nodded silently.
He followed Little Red Riding Hood and Long Hair through the uncomfortable corridor. The sunlight coming in from the window left intermittent and mottled shadows on the wall. Finally, they came to a large iron door that looked very heavy. A young woman in her twenties, wearing a light gray coat and with a tired look on her face, stood at the door, leaning against the wall in a daze.
Is an adult.
Yu Sheng was stunned for a moment when he saw the other person, but soon he remembered what Little Red Riding Hood had told him.
Is she an "employee" sent by the board of directors? "This is 'Teacher Su', she is responsible for taking care of children under seven years old," the "long-haired" girl said in a low voice, "She is sent by the board of directors, and the children like her very much."
The young woman called "Teacher Su" finally woke up from her daze at this time. She noticed the person coming, but didn't seem to care about Yu Sheng. Instead, her eyes fell on Little Red Riding Hood.
"It was during class..." She whispered. She was an adult, but in front of Little Red Riding Hood she looked like a child who had made a mistake. "I... should have noticed it earlier..."
"It's no use noticing it earlier. It might be too late before we're sent here," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, "We need to go in and take a look at the situation."
"...Okay," the young woman bit her lip and nodded, but at this moment, she seemed to finally notice the existence of Yu Sheng, Irene, and Hu Li, "Wait, who are they?"
"My friend too," Little Red Riding Hood said, having already pushed open the heavy iron door.
The woman was startled. Yu Sheng had already walked past her. Before entering the room, he turned around and nodded to her: "Hello, my name is Yu Sheng, Yu Sheng from the 'Hotel'."
Hu Li followed suit: "My name is Hu Li, Hu Li from the 'hotel'."
"My name is Irene, Irene from 'The Inn'!"
Before the woman could react, several figures had already walked into the door. The iron door closed, leaving her standing in the corridor in a daze.
The room was brightly lit.
But the "darkness" that seemed to spread directly from the psychological level was even more serious than in the corridor.
Yu Sheng saw that there was nothing furnished in this huge room, only a small single bed in the middle.
A thin figure covered with a thin quilt was lying on the bed, seemingly sleeping soundly.
An inexplicable resistance was stirring in his heart, but Yu Sheng still took a step forward.
The child lay there, sleeping peacefully.
But there was no breathing, and there was no rise or fall of the chest.
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Fine, disturbing red lines covered her neck, arms, and calves, with traces of blood between them, as if those areas had been shattered and then barely mended together.
Yu Sheng instantly recalled the changes in Little Red Riding Hood's arm that he had seen in the valley before.
"It was handled in time, and no other children saw it," Rapunzel whispered, "She turned into a wolf briefly in her nightmare, but it was only for a moment, and it was too late."
"...Fortunately, she finally returned to her human form at the last moment," Little Red Riding Hood sighed softly, "At least we can send her off in a 'human' way."
"Wait, a wolf?" Yu Sheng finally confirmed something and looked at Little Red Riding Hood in astonishment. "Her 'symptom' is also turning into a wolf? So..."
"Don't you know?" It was Rapunzel on the other side who spoke. She pointed at the child lying on the bed and said, "She could be the next Little Red Riding Hood."
At this point, she shook her head again with a gloomy expression: "But there is no point in talking about this now."
"You have seen it," Little Red Riding Hood took a long breath and said to her son, "This is the end of the story - her childhood is over."
"Will you be like this then?"
"Yes, I will be like this in the future - if I'm lucky, I'll look like a human being, if I'm unlucky... I'll look like something else."
Yu Sheng did not say anything. He stared at the girl in red in front of him for a long time, then looked at the child lying on the bed. He did not move for a long time, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Several minutes passed like this, and just when Little Red Riding Hood was about to speak, Yu Sheng suddenly moved.
He reached out and touched the bloodstain near the child's neck on the bed.
Rapunzel's eyes widened instantly and she took a step forward: "What are you doing?"
Yu Sheng said without even raising his head: "I want to know what she saw in her last moments. If possible, maybe I can say a few more words to her."
Rapunzel was stunned, but just as she was about to speak, Little Red Riding Hood reached out to stop her.
At almost the same time, Yu Sheng also asked in confusion, "Huh?"
"What's wrong?" Irene asked subconsciously.
Yu Sheng did not respond. He just kept his hand touching the bloodstain and stood there for more than ten seconds, as if he observed or felt some unusual information. After a while, he suddenly blinked and exhaled sharply.
“…She’s not dead.”
He spoke softly, with hesitation and confusion in his tone, and then, as if to emphasize, he raised his head and looked around at everyone present, and nodded vigorously again.
"I don't think she's dead."
(End of this chapter)
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