After sending out the message, Yu Sheng went downstairs and started cooking in the kitchen while patiently waiting—Little Red Riding Hood was always online, even if she were in class, her wolves would keep her phone on them to receive new messages.

However, the other party did not reply for a long time.

Yu Sheng wasn't in a hurry; he knew that the girl would definitely get back to him.

He skillfully fried up some meat sauce, then took advantage of the time it took to boil water to cut a large plate of cucumber strips—making fried sauce noodles was simple and quick, a dish Hu Li also quite enjoyed.

The kitchen door was carefully pushed open, a pair of fluffy white ears peeking in first, fluttering smartly in the air. Yu Sheng turned his head and saw the fox girl sniffing around with a sparkle in her eyes.

"It'll be ready soon; we're having fried sauce noodles for dinner," Yu Sheng said offhand, then glanced at the nearly blurry stack of tails behind the Nine-Tailed Fox, "Getting greedy?"

As he spoke, he couldn't help his curiosity—how did the girl manage to fling nine tails in all directions without tangling them up?

Hu Li immediately nodded vigorously, her tails behind her turning into a backdrop of silvery white.

From afar, Erin's exclamation could be heard faintly: "Holy shit, why's a wind blowing in the restaurant?!"

Yu Sheng casually served a small half-bowl of fried sauce, grabbed a cucumber, and handed it to the golden-eyed demon fox girl: "Take this and eat—no need to bring the bowl back later, just use it to hold your meal."

Hu Li joyfully left with the fried sauce and cucumber.

At nearly the same time, Yu Sheng felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, followed by the pleasant sound of an incoming call ringing.

He took it out to look, unsurprisingly seeing Little Red Riding Hood's name—she didn't send a message but directly called him.

Yu Sheng answered the phone, barely having time to place it against his ear before the girl's urgent and anxious voice came through from the other side: "I just wrote a really long message but I think it's clearer to talk over the phone. What on earth is going on?! The things you said earlier, are they all true..."

"Those things can't just be made up, as you know," Yu Sheng anticipated Little Red Riding Hood's reaction, interrupting her with a calm and steady tone, "Don't panic, and listen to me. Do you remember what happened at the Museum before? An Evil Wolf jumped out of your shadow and bit me—remember?"

There was a pause from Little Red Riding Hood on the other end, and quickly she said: "Yes, of course, I remember."

"It touched my blood—ate it," Yu Sheng wedged the phone between his chin and neck, dropping a handful of noodles into the boiling pot, and while cleaning up the chopping board and knife he had used to cut the cucumber, he casually went on, "The amount might not have been too much, plus it was indirect absorption, so you're not reacting yet. But in my experience, it'll 'take effect later' on you too. As for the current stage… it seems that I've established a connection with the 'curse' on you first, or in other words..."

Yu Sheng paused, pondered for a moment, then continued: "In other words, I've established a connection with the 'wolf' part of you first."

Little Red Riding Hood didn't speak for a while on the other end, only heavy, rushed breathing could be heard.

With her intelligence and experience as a Spirit Realm detective, she should be able to understand what Yu Sheng meant, though she obviously still seemed a bit confused.

"You see, you've been 'bitten', albeit unexpectedly," Yu Sheng stirred the noodles in the pot, waiting by the stove, and continued speaking, "Just relax, I know you must be a bit nervous right now, but don't be afraid, there will be no harm—for now, I'd like to talk to you about that Black Forest."

Little Red Riding Hood was silent, and it took her a long time to speak: "What do you want to know?"

There was a resigned helplessness in her tone.

"That squirrel, do you know what its origins are?"

"I…don't know, it was already there when I first fell into the forest, but I was very confused at the time and don't remember how it appeared," Little Red Riding Hood spoke, "It has told me a lot about the Black Forest, and from what I gather, it should also be a special entity generated by the forest, another manifestation of the 'Fairy Tales' rules."

She paused for a while, seemingly organizing her thoughts, then continued: "There have to be villains that harm children, and friends that help children, that's what Fairy Tales are like, you... understand, right?"

"It's easy to understand, although I haven't stayed in the Black Forest for long, I can kind of figure out its rules," Yu Sheng said, suddenly hesitating a bit, "Also, the squirrel... it got eaten by a wolf—uh, things were chaotic at the time, I couldn't stop it. If it is also an entity generated by the Black Forest, there should be no problem, right?"

"Don't worry, it's been eaten by the wolf more than once," Little Red Riding Hood's response confirmed Yu Sheng's guess, "Me too, I've been chased down by the wolf many times—the squirrel will be fine, it will appear again near the little path."

Yu Sheng hummed in acknowledgment, then after a slight hesitation, still asked directly: "Tell me the truth, are you about to face a 'major problem'?"

"...The squirrel told you all that?"

"It spoke in a jumbled way, but it wasn't hard to understand," Yu Sheng turned off the stove, scooped out the noodles and rinsed them with cool water, then leaned against the kitchen cabinet, "The Black Forest is gradually consuming you, and you're not the first Little Red Riding Hood... Is this the curse you mentioned? What happens next? Are the other Fairy Tale members in the same situation?"

Little Red Riding Hood did not speak for a moment.

But Yu Sheng didn't mind, and after waiting for two or three seconds, he calmly asked, "How much time do you have left?"

Little Red Riding Hood remained silent, but this time she finally spoke: "...next month is my 18th birthday."

Yu Sheng took a slight breath in an instant.

This answer left him a bit dazed—he had thought that Little Red Riding Hood's situation might be grim, but he hadn't expected it to be this grim!

"I might not necessarily die, Doctor Lin said that my case is the best one," Little Red Riding Hood quickly added, "The chances of me successfully reaching adulthood are high, and I've been hiding very well. The number of times that wolf caught me…"

"The squirrel said that the most dangerous thing isn't getting caught by the wolf, but becoming a member of the Wolf Pack." Yu Sheng interrupted her, his expression and tone becoming particularly serious, "We need to meet and talk, I need to know everything related to that forest—not just that forest, but also about 'Fairy Tales'. As I understand, 'Fairy Tales' doesn't only include the Black Forest, right?"

The other side of the phone was quiet, and after a few seconds, the girl's voice came through the receiver, "Why do you care so much? This matter originally had nothing to do with you... I don't mean anything else by that, I'm just a bit curious."

Yu Sheng thought for a while: "Do we kind of count as friends?"

"We only met a few days ago, not counting that time in the valley, we've only acted together once," Little Red Riding Hood's tone was very serious, "I don't think that counts as any relationship—at least not worth caring about to this extent."

"...Don't be so rigid at such a young age, I'm an adult and I'm livelier than you," Yu Sheng said casually, "I always do what I feel like doing; who needs so many reasons? Besides, you've helped me out quite a bit. Moreover, that wolf from your shadow even came out and bit me once—now I'm tied to that Black Forest too. What can I do? I can't run away."

Obviously, Yu Sheng's last sentence carried a high degree of persuasive power.

After a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, the girl sighed, "That's true, let's meet tomorrow then. I'll give you an address; it's our home, you can... come see us."

"Alright."

The phone call ended.

Yu Sheng stood beside the stove, slightly dazedly staring ahead for a few seconds, then he sighed and picked up the stainless-steel bowl filled with noodles.

"Dinner's ready—Hu Li, come over and help me carry some stuff."

"Okay!"

Dinner was ready.

Little Red Riding Hood put down her phone, standing there a bit dazed for a while, feeling someone patting her from behind.

"What are you dazing out for?" a girl with short hair cut to her ears and a petite figure said to her, "It's dinner time—come help."

Only then did Little Red Riding Hood snap out of it, looking up at the long dining table ahead of her.

The youngest children were already seated in a row on the opposite side of the table, and the older children were helping to serve the food. At the end of the table, beside a steaming pot of soup, Cinderella and Dorothy were serving soup to the children. They wore smiles on their faces while making sure no overly mischievous brother or sister crawled under the table.

Now it was nighttime, according to the rules, the employees sent by the Council to help had left early before sunset—for after nightfall, 'Fairy Tales' becomes most active. Although the employees who come here are also trained, in unnecessary situations, they are not obliged to take risks in the orphanage after nightfall.

Little Red Riding Hood exhaled, walked over to help the smallest children correct their chopstick hold, paying a few extra bits of attention, especially to that somewhat nervous, silent girl sitting at the end of the table.

That child looked only six or seven years old, with a cute appearance and slightly curly black hair. She wore an old dress, pursed her lips, and sat amidst a group of similarly aged children, restrained and wary.

In fact, Little Red Riding Hood had not attended school that afternoon—she had taken half a day off.

Because a new child joined the family today, as a 'parent', she had to come back to host the welcome party.

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