Yu Sheng's consciousness drifted in an endless darkness, familiar feelings of emptiness and oppression silently flowing at the edge of his senses, his thoughts slowed considerably in this solitary and well-known "afterworld," he even began to enjoy the quiet a bit.

How should I put it... The event unfolded quite predictably.

A massive Evil Wolf, larger than a house, pounced down, and Yu Sheng was gone in an instant, not lasting any longer than the squirrel had.

Of course, the main reason things ended so quickly was that Yu Sheng didn't even try to dodge; far from it, he actually delivered himself—his blood, his flesh, his spirit, his... everything that was pure and fervent joy and curiosity.

He quietly lay in this post-death darkness.

He quietly flowed within the Evil Wolf's spirit and flesh.

He quietly seeped into the Black Forest, in search of the tendrils of the "Fairy Tales."

Yu Sheng controlled his thoughts to avoid being affected by the bizarre ideas and fragments of memories in the darkness.

For him, each death was a "practice," from initially being reborn in total confusion to later being aware of the surrounding darkness, and eventually sensing his return to the mortal world. Now, not only could he maintain clear thoughts in the darkness, but he could also try to control his current, physical-less, and most purely "thought."

He actively tempered the strength of this thought, trying to calculate time in the darkness, even attempting to perceive what was happening "outside."

He knew his body was still asleep in the real world, with Erin and Hu Li by his side; only his soul had died this time—just like the previous time when he was devoured by the entity-Hunger.

But there was a clear difference this time.

This time, Yu Sheng could vaguely feel his torn soul fragments gradually disintegrating, gradually becoming a part of another being, like swallowed seeds sprouting, and the sprout turning into winding tendrils—he sensed one of these tendrils and thus tried in the darkness to extend his will, gently... "tinkering" with it.

He saw "himself" running wildly in the forest, blind with rage, clothed in endless night, casting a vast shadow.

He could even vaguely feel his own fur, feel the night wind of the Black Forest rustling past his ears, the howling of wolves rising around him, invisible wolves forever running in this night.

He could feel that these wolves fed on fear—that was the earliest and most fundamental purpose of Fairy Tales, to frighten, to intimidate, making use of many terrifying and menacing images, to make the children listening to stories fear the wilderness and unfamiliar environments, keeping them obediently at home.

This fear grew in the Black Forest, transforming into these fear-feeding Wolf Packs.

But they were now ravenous.

Because in their recent hunt they had received no nourishment—swallowing the flesh and blood of a strange invader, they felt only fearless emptiness, and a joy and curiosity that the wolves could not recognize and which puzzled them.

The gigantic Evil Wolf crossed a clearing in the forest, its befuddled mind unable to comprehend why such a thing was happening—eating should not be like this; whatever is eaten should exhibit fear, yet what it had just consumed showed no fear at all, it even seemed like the "food" was rather a jubilant eater.

Had it swallowed that "human," or had the "human" burrowed into its body, now devouring it from the inside-out?

The wolf did not understand; driven by instinct, it ran through the forest, inspecting every potential spot for Little Red Riding Hood, searching those hiding places, destroying them.

"Is this how you'll keep running?"

A voice suddenly appeared—Yu Sheng whispered alongside the wolf, using the wolf's low groan.

The giant wolf abruptly stopped, lifting its confused head, and looked around the Black Forest, which looked no different from its memory.

It could not understand where the voice had come from, nor could it connect it with the recent "feeding."

But it felt something... "appear," something vaguely familiar, like prey—yet also like a hunter.

The surrounding intermittent howling of wolves gradually quieted down, the invisible Wolf Pack uneasily prowled the forest, instinctively searching for that equally invisible invader.

Grasses shook, wind swept through the treetops, leaves spun past the giant wolf's face, between the spinning leaves, a pair of curious eyes stared at it.

"Are you... tasty?"

The leaves dispersed, and the giant wolf felt that strange "thing" disappear from its senses; it lowered its head, emitting a confused and murky growl, as the Wolf Pack around it started whining, their cries growing louder, filling the Black Forest with rising and falling howls.

In a distant bush, a pair of anxious eyes closely watched the scene, making a faint noise: "It's getting weird, it's getting weird..."

...

Yu Sheng suddenly plummeted in the darkness, and then that familiar feeling of crossing some "borderline" came over him; in the last moments of his fall, he regained sensation of his body, accompanied by the soft touch of a bed beneath him, he suddenly opened his eyes.

Upon opening his eyes, he saw two Erins, heads together, right in front of his face, four crimson eyes unblinkingly staring at him.

"Just revived, Yu Sheng almost lost consciousness again at the sight, and freaked out completely: "Holy shit! You scared the crap out of me!""

As a result, Erin reacted even more dramatically. The moment the two saw Yu Sheng suddenly open his eyes, they jumped with a yelp—then both fell off the bed to the ground with a couple of booming thuds.

It sounded painful.

"You scared me!"

"Have the nerve to say that? Who gets that close to stare? Lucky for me I opened my eyes before getting up, or I'd have at least two bumps on my head!" Yu Sheng said, glaring at Erin who was crawling back onto the bed, and then he saw the fox girl politely standing by the bed, offering a friendly smile, "Look at how sensible Hu Li is, just quietly standing there, even smiling and waving..."

Erin had just climbed onto the bed when she heard Yu Sheng's latter remark and immediately put her hands on her hips to complain: "That's because she feels guilty!"

"...Huh?"

"She ate all the meat filling! We don't have buns tonight!"

Yu Sheng listened dumbfounded, then turned to look at the demon fox girl, whose smile was starting to stiffen. She lowered her head, her tail and ears drooping too: "...I just wanted to taste a bit for the flavor..."

"So you tasted and it was too salty so you drank some water, and after the water it tasted bland so you went for more meat, right?" Erin indignantly stood at the bedside, "A whole basin! You ate it all!"

Yu Sheng, who had just awoken, found himself embroiled in a big mess and took a few seconds to clear his head before turning to Erin, "And what were you doing while Hu Li was sneaking the meat filling?"

Erin replied righteously, "I was pouring her water! I was worried she might choke."

Yu Sheng smacked his forehead.

He definitely owed these two troublemakers in his past life.

"Savior... I'm sorry..." Seeing Yu Sheng silent, Hu Li thought he was really angry and nervously leaned towards him, "I won't eat all of it next time."

As she spoke, a fluffy white tail appeared in front of Yu Sheng.

"Here, you can pet my tail, don't be mad."

Yu Sheng looked up and couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.

"Well, it's nice of you to let me pet your tail, but you didn't have to pluck it off... it looks kinda creepy."

"Oh."

"Forget it, I'm not mad, just got a bit overwhelmed coming 'back to life', and couldn't process all the commotion," Yu Sheng sighed, casually taking the still warm fox tail and handing it back to Hu Li, "I'll go cook some noodles later, I guess you're still hungry—go wait downstairs for me, I'll rest a bit more."

Hu Li acknowledged, then got up to leave, while Erin walked to the bedside but suddenly turned back, "Oh right, you haven't told us how things were on your side—seeing when you woke up, did you actually 'die' again?"

Yu Sheng smiled subtly, "That creature's fangs were thicker than my thigh, what do you think?"

Erin gave a weird look, "...and yet you seem in pretty good spirits."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, as if relishing something, and then a somewhat intriguing smile appeared on his face, "Yeah, pretty good actually, didn't get the taste, but seems... somewhat promising."

Erin blinked, then instinctively shrank her neck, "Damn, that's so you."

She then jumped off the bed and trotted after Hu Li, while yelling, "Hey! Silly fox let me tell you! We might need to add a dish in a few days!"

"Ah? What dish?"

"Might be wolf meat..."

As the voices of Hu Li and Erin gradually faded down the hallway, Yu Sheng's face unconsciously revealed a slight smile, then he took a deep breath, relaxed, and leaned back on the headboard.

After a while, he reached out, picked up the cellphone from the nightstand.

He opened Border Communication and found Little Red Riding Hood's profile—being a high school student, she should still be at school.

Although Yu Sheng always found it strange that a Spirit Realm detective like her had to attend school so dutifully, after a few interactions, he had gotten used to it.

Boundary City never lacked all sorts of quirky characters.

He quickly composed a message and sent it to the young girl who was with the wolves—

"I entered the Black Forest, saw those invisible and visible wolves, and also the small path, the cabin, and that squirrel—got time for a chat?"

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