Chapter 221 Hunter's Invitation
Yu Sheng wasn't really surprised when he saw the black forest as soon as he opened his eyes after falling asleep.
After all, the "fairy tale" foreign land has never disappeared, and Ankaela's activities have not stopped. The children in the orphanage have just safely survived that dangerous night. At any time thereafter, the subset of the fairy tale may be opened again at any time - and whether it is the sheltering wasteland or the valley, they are essentially just a backup to prevent children who fall into nightmares from suffering severe mental damage or being directly parasitized by Ankaela.
In other words, the nightmare will come.
But this did not prevent Yu Sheng from feeling that this matter was too ridiculous. At the same time, he also vaguely felt that the Black Forest was specifically targeting him.
He took a deep breath, and after calming down, he felt more and more that his intuition was correct.
The Black Forest was coming for him—or rather, something in the forest was coming for him.
The faint howling of wolves could be heard in the distance, the incessant crying of a baby was somewhat disturbing, and the wind blew through the nearby bushes, and from time to time there was a strange, buzzing sound in the air.
The strange buzzing noise made Yu Sheng even wonder if he had tinnitus. He slapped his forehead and cleaned his ears, but the noise did not decrease at all. Instead, it mixed with the baby's crying, making it even more annoying.
"Are there more and more strange noises in this damn place..." Yu Sheng couldn't help but mutter, as if he wanted to use the sound of his own voice to offset the annoying noise, "It sounds like an alarm going off."
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound coming from the nearby haystack. The next second, a small reddish-brown furry figure emerged from the dry grass and ran towards Yu Sheng, skipping and jumping.
"You're okay! You're okay! Little Red Riding Hood is okay too! The squirrel is okay too!"
The squirrel was jumping happily at Yu Sheng's feet, making small sharp sounds and looking extremely excited.
Yu Sheng bent down, picked up the little girl, and stroked her head with his fingers, with a smile on his face: "Yes, we are all fine. Finally, we got through the night safely without any danger."
The squirrel happily hugged Yu Sheng's finger, then looked around alertly, carefully lowered his body, and whispered: "Shh, still can't speak too loudly... Ankaela is still wandering in the forest, and its sight just swept past here again... The squirrel thinks it is very unhappy, it will make trouble again..."
"I know," Yu Sheng couldn't help but lower his voice, "but I came here to find it, this time..."
However, the squirrel seemed not to hear it. She just lowered her head and shook it, then interrupted Yu Sheng without any context: "Hunter!"
Yu Sheng was stunned for a moment: "Hunter? What happened to Hunter?"
"Hunter!" Squirrel repeated nervously. The nervous and confused state seemed to reappear in her, but she soon came to her senses and began to wipe her face quickly while muttering, "Squirrel is thinking, Squirrel is thinking... Hunter, Hunter?"
She suddenly stopped, stood up and looked into the depths of the forest. After two seconds, she slapped her tail vigorously and said, "The hunter is over there at the house! That's right, the hunter is over there at the house—he's waiting for you!"
"The hunter is waiting for me?" Yu Sheng was really shocked this time. He suddenly remembered the scene he saw when he evacuated from the orphanage. He remembered the phantom that suddenly appeared in the hall but disappeared in the blink of an eye. He had a premonition that something was going to happen. He didn't bother to ask for details and immediately said, "Take me there!"
The squirrel raised its paw and pointed to the distance: "Here, here."
Yu Sheng looked in the direction the squirrel's paw was pointing and saw that it was a dark part of the forest. There were no street lights or paths, and he couldn't see the candlelight of the shelter hut.
However, he decided to trust the squirrel - because he could feel the blood connection between the tiny creature in his palm and himself, and this was not a trap set by the Black Forest.
Yu Sheng ran quickly towards the depths of the forest. Only on the way did he have time to ask about the situation: "How did you know the hunter was waiting for me at the cabin? Did he show up on his own initiative? Did he communicate with you?"
"Yes," the squirrel nodded vigorously, "the hunter suddenly appeared. Without Grandma Wolf, the hunter walked out of the forest by himself. He avoided Ankaela's sight and did not make any sound - but the squirrel heard what he said directly...
"They said to ask the person who touched the umbilical cord and the bullet to go to the first cabin. They also said that time is running out and the angel needs to wake up. But because someone has interfered with the angel's connection with the 'outside', there is a brief..."
The squirrel suddenly stopped, as if she had encountered some complex words that were extremely difficult for her to understand and recall. After struggling for a long time, she still couldn't remember what to say, so she could only perfunctorily say: "The squirrel can't remember what it is, anyway... the hunter said that he finally had a chance to speak, and the angel's control over him was weakening. He asked those who touched the umbilical cord and the bullet to hurry over - the squirrel has seen you holding the umbilical cord, but I don't know what the bullet is... Did the squirrel pass on the wrong message?"
"Yes, it's me." Yu Sheng nodded and responded to the squirrel. At the same time, he was trying to understand the little guy's somewhat confusing and incomplete story while thinking quickly.
The hunter, as an "entity", has always acted strictly according to the "rules" of the Black Forest. He will only appear when the wolf grandmother appears. The only action he can do is to shoot and kill the wolf grandmother, or kill other Little Red Riding Hoods who have been completely "wolf-transformed". In all cases so far, there has been no record of the hunter speaking - including in the memories of the squirrel and previous Little Red Riding Hoods.
But now, the hunter took the initiative to communicate with the squirrel, and even took free actions when the forest did not spawn the wolf grandmother, and even ran into the real world at one point.
——Because someone interfered with the angels’ connection with the “outside world”.
Yu Sheng lowered his head and looked at his hands.
In order to protect all the children, he spent a lot of money during this period.
"...This is really an unexpected effect." Yu Sheng slowly opened his mouth and revealed a happy smile.
Even though he didn't understand the specific process, he was now almost certain that it was his operation of holding the "blood-giving ceremony" for all the children in "Fairy Tale" that successfully interfered with Ankaela's connection with the real world. Now it seems that this interference not only protected the members of "Fairy Tale" as expected, but also created an opportunity for the "hunter" by accident.
It turns out that he has been looking for an opportunity to move freely - underneath that hunting suit, there is indeed still a glimmer of humanity and reason.
Finally, the outline of a cabin began to vaguely emerge from the shadows of the forest in the distance.
Yu Sheng took a deep breath and slowed down his pace near the cabin. He continued walking forward while carefully paying attention to any movement around him.
The hunter may not have bad intentions, but the Black Forest itself is "alive", and he must be careful to prevent the forest from having any overreaction during his contact with the hunter - after all, he came here in a dream, without Irene or Hu Li, or even his "truth" with him, and if he really encountered a situation, he would easily die on the spot.
Of course, sudden death itself is not a problem - the most troublesome thing is the delay.
It was quiet all around, even the howling of wolves had faded away, only the vague crying of a baby and the strange buzzing noise continued, but Yu Sheng was almost accustomed to these strange noises.
He felt the squirrel in his palm trembling slightly.
She was afraid of this place, afraid of this place that symbolized the "ending" of all Little Red Riding Hoods.
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"If you are afraid of this house, then don't follow me." Yu Sheng gently touched the squirrel's head and wanted to put her on the tree stump next to him. "Wait outside."
“No!” Surprisingly, the squirrel turned over and grabbed his fingers, dangling in the air while stubbornly saying, “Squirrel… Squirrel Knight is fearless!”
Her body was still shaking, but the fear had obviously subsided - the shadow that once caused the squirrel to collapse and react to stress became something she could try to fight against.
Yu Sheng was stunned for a moment when he saw this, and then gradually smiled.
"Okay, then you can come in with me - but if you're still scared after you go in, then wait for me outside. A Squirrel Knight who knows how to retreat is still a brave Squirrel Knight."
"well!"
Yu Sheng put the squirrel on his shoulder, took a few steps forward, and pushed open the old, dark wooden door.
A slight creaking sound broke the silence, and Yu Sheng poked his head into the house.
Faint ambient light filtered into the room through the window, and he saw red cloaks of various sizes and shapes hanging everywhere. Among the countless red cloaks, the figure in hunting clothes was indeed standing quietly in the middle of the room.
He lowered his head slightly, and there was still only a dark shadow inside the empty hood. When Yu Sheng walked in, the hood obviously moved slightly.
There seemed to be invisible gazes coming from under the empty hood.
"Um, here I come," Yu Sheng walked towards the hunter and greeted him awkwardly, "I heard from the squirrel that you were looking for me."
The hunter nodded.
Such a simple action made Yu Sheng's breathing subconsciously pause for a beat - he really responded!
"What do you want to talk to me about? Do you have something to say to me?" Yu Sheng asked again.
The hunter was silent for a moment, then abruptly took two steps forward.
He came in front of Yu Sheng, and under the latter's instantly wary gaze, the man in the empty hunting suit raised his "hand" and pointed at himself.
"Put it on."
A hollow and vague voice sounded directly in Yu Sheng's mind.
(End of this chapter)
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