The squirrel's nervous chatter caused Yu Sheng to subconsciously prick up his ears and listen to the sounds outside the cottage, but he could only make out some faint and distant wind.

The flames in the fireplace crackled, and the wind outside the doors and windows was too weak to hear clearly. These soft, delicate sounds made everything seem exceptionally quiet, creating an atmosphere of peace and tranquility in the glow of the candles.

The layout of the room was immediately clear upon entering—you could see a simple square table covered with a blue checkered tablecloth and two chairs beside it. Against the wall opposite the door was a wooden shelf cluttered with various items and a tall wooden wardrobe. In the corner was a single bed, covered with thick blankets, which looked quite comfortable.

To the left of the entrance, on the wall, was a window reflecting the light from the fireplace and candlesticks as well as the silhouette of the squirrel as it hopped about.

Yu Sheng walked toward the window and peered cautiously outside. The old wooden floor creaked beneath his feet. Outside the window, there was only the dense and boundless night scenery of the forest. The time should be just after dusk and shortly into the night. The sky still held a bit of daylight, but the dense canopy blocked the limited light, leaving everything under the trees shrouded in shadows like the night sky itself.

Whether it was psychological or not, Yu Sheng always felt that countless cold, menacing eyes were hidden in those shadows. Countless predators seemed to be lurking in the night, circling the cottage and waiting for an opportunity.

"Stop looking, stop looking. The more you look, the more you'll be afraid. In the dark, everything you can imagine will come out, and all you can think of here are wolves," the squirrel walked back and forth on the wooden table, carrying its paws, "Oh, nuts!"

It suddenly noticed a plate of acorns on the table and happily jumped over, picked one up with its paws, and looked back at Yu Sheng: "Want one? Good stuff!"

"No, thank you," Yu Sheng waved his hand, his attention still more focused on observing the cottage—he noticed those red strips of cloth and strings in the room, like some sort of protective decoration. Red strings and cloth strips were tied around the doors and windows, hanging under the roof, with some torn and broken cloth and threads messily piled in the corner.

The squirrel suddenly jumped down from the table and ran to the corner, rummaging around—it found a long red cloth strip and then haphazardly wrapped it around itself.

"Good omen, good omen!" it squeaked shrilly.

Yu Sheng was curious: "What are you doing?"

"Doing something lucky," the squirrel, wrapped in the red cloth strip, looked both ridiculous and proud, "Red is lucky, and a squirrel needs its own lucky color—especially one as cute as me that could burst with cuteness. Damn it, there's not even any wine in this house... I'm getting a bit thirsty."

It ran back to the table, picked up an acorn, and knocked it forcefully on the table surface before starting to gnaw on it.

Yu Sheng pondered for a moment and then took a seat at the table. He sat on the chair, watching the squirrel nibble the acorn: "Can you tell me something about Little Red Riding Hood?"

"Which one? Which one are you talking about?" the squirrel looked up, its eyes reflecting the candlelight, "Oh, I guess you mean the recent one, the one that's still alive... But why should I tell you? You, a stranger who just barged in."

"…I am her friend, I want to know about her," Yu Sheng knew this squirrel was a bit neurotic and trouble, but he was patient, "You just helped me, and I think you should be a good squirrel, you might be willing to continue helping me and my friend."

"Good squirrel—right to the point, I am a good squirrel," the squirrel looked satisfied, pacing two steps on the table. "But I don't know where to start telling you... What's there to say? I don't understand how she lives outside, and I don't quite understand what she thinks. Anyway, I just remember when she first came she was only about..."

The squirrel glanced quickly around the room and then raised its paw to point to the nearby chair: "About so tall, just a bit taller than the chair's backrest. Crying in the dark forest, not knowing how to find the way or hide. When I came out to talk to her, she just kept saying she wouldn't run around anymore—and then? And then she was quickly eaten by the wolf, in the blink of an eye, wolves are fast, and the more afraid you are, the bigger they loom."

The squirrel waved its paw as if dissatisfied with what had happened then but quickly changed its tone.

"She started off poorly, but gradually she got better. She was caught by the wolf many times and cried more often, but soon she could cry while following me to the light, and later, she learned to cry without making a sound, and then she stopped crying. After that, she said she found the 'organization.' I didn't remember exactly what she said, but anyway... She seemed to have learned a lot."

The squirrel slowly stopped, as if lost in thought.

Yu Sheng patiently waited for a while, and after a good few seconds, he softly urged, "And then what happened?"

"Don't rush, don't rush, I'm just a squirrel, I need to think carefully... The previous Little Red Riding Hood seemed to do things pretty much the same, all very similar, ah, right, she learned many things, like making traps when hiding, and how to quickly regain her humanity after being eaten by wolves, and how to lie low and observe the patterns of the Wolf Pack, until one day she successfully caught one wolf, followed by the second, the third...

"The wolves caught her; she caught the wolves. Sometimes she succeeded, and sometimes she got eaten. Gradually, she became a part of this forest. Later on, she could spend most of the nights here in peace, but she also became more and more bound to this place, and sometimes, she even started to resemble a wolf, growing claws and a tail, running through the darkness outside—Now the Hunter would occasionally appear on the path outside, startling her awake with his gunshots, and as he appeared more and more, she sometimes also felt like she was a Hunter..."

The squirrel spoke slower and slower, a somber atmosphere enveloping the little animal, and then it suddenly pulled at the red cloth strip haphazardly wrapped around itself, lifting its head and staring straight into Yu Sheng's eyes.

In those eyes reflecting the candlelight, there was a glimmer of human-like brightness.

"You have to help her, she... her condition is actually starting to worsen, the same goes for the other Little Red Riding Hoods, gradually they got accustomed to this forest, becoming a part of it, the more she transformed into a wolf, the harder it became for her to go back, and the most vicious and evil wolf is getting closer and closer, but for her, the moment the wolf opens its mouth is never the most dangerous; it's when she herself starts to grow fangs... You're her friend, right, you're her friend—you have to help her!"

Yu Sheng quickly understood every word the squirrel was saying to him, and he vaguely guessed many things. At this moment, he suddenly asked, "What exactly should I do? How can I help her?"

However, the squirrel suddenly became despondent, stepping back twice, its paws awkwardly intertwining, "I don't know, I... I'm just a TMD squirrel..."

Yu Sheng did not give up: "Will killing the 'Evil Wolf' work?"

"It's no use, no use, it will always come back," the squirrel sadly shook its head, "When Little Red Riding Hood comes, the Evil Wolf also comes, it's like that with everything in this forest, as long as there is a Little Red Riding Hood, there will definitely be wolves, grandmothers, Hunters, and a long path, at the end of the path is a cottage that may be safe or unsafe, everything is set like this, killing them any number of times is useless... Only when Little Red Riding Hood disappears, does the forest become quiet for a short time...

"Quiet for a while, until a new Little Red Riding Hood appears."

"Were there many Little Red Riding Hoods before?" Yu Sheng finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask, "When one Little Red Riding Hood dies, a new 'victim' comes in, right? Which one is this now? And when did the first one come?"

"Always new ones, always new ones, because the forest needs Little Red Riding Hood," the squirrel said, then suddenly shivered, "I, I can't remember the exact number, don't ask me anymore, stop asking, I'm just a squirrel... Speaking too much will attract the wolves."

Yu Sheng felt the squirrel's reaction was somewhat strange, as if it wasn't just scared of "wolves" but also fearful of something else, but the neurotic little animal had already begun to refuse to answer his questions—it was just continuously circling the table, as if it had entered some kind of stress response.

Just then, Yu Sheng suddenly felt a stir within him.

Subsequently, he heard a faint calling sound.

The voice was very blurry, very distant, but when he focused his attention, the sound suddenly became clear—Erin was calling out from the bottom of his heart.

"Yu Sheng! Yu Sheng, where did you nod off to sleep! Respond if you hear this!"

"Erin?" Yu Sheng was startled and immediately responded in his heart, "I go, I finally heard your voice... I was calling out to you just now, and you didn't respond either."

"Oh, heard you, heard you! Finally found you!" The doll's voice suddenly carried a tone of surprise, a rapid torrent of words ensued, "I heard it just now, then I immediately looked for you but couldn't find you, couldn't find you in your Dream Realm either, it felt like you were dreaming but I just couldn't reach your Consciousness, like a dream got lost... Hey Hu Li stop shaking, I've found your 'Savior'—Hu Li's right here, she's been puffing up her fur, making me dizzy, now I'm seeing you lying there looking so serene... ow ow ow, silly fox bit me!"

Yu Sheng's mouth twitched a couple of times, listening to the doll's chatter mixed with various feelings in his heart.

This irritating tone was as familiar as a thunderous sky.

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