The night was deep.

Outside the orphanage, the light from street lamps penetrated the windows on the side walls, sprinkling into the corridors. The dim corridor was very quiet, as if the hustle and bustle of the day had never happened. There was a reassuring calmness in tonight's air.

Little Red Riding Hood slowly walked through this corridor, pausing briefly in front of each door, peering through the observation window to check the room for any abnormalities before moving forward with reassurance.

The "parent" on duty in the first half of the night would patrol twice, while the "parent" in the latter half would patrol three times, until the sun rose and the darkness faded.

Footsteps came from the opposite direction. Little Red Riding Hood looked up, seeing a petite figure slowly approaching in the darkness. The person had a small stature and short hair that reached the ears, looking even younger than her by two years—it was the girl who had chatted with her at dinner.

"Snow White?" Little Red Riding Hood was surprised. "It's not your duty today—why aren't you sleeping?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I got up for a walk," the skinny girl with short hair said casually. "Then I remembered you should be patrolling on this side of the East Building, so I came over to check on you."

"Mhm." Little Red Riding Hood nodded and did not say much, simply continuing to walk silently alongside Snow White.

According to the organization's rules, after ten o'clock at night, it's mandatory to return to your room to sleep, but this restriction only applies to children under fourteen or those who haven't "awakened" yet. Snow White was already considered a "parent" in the Fairy Tales organization; she knew what she was supposed to do, so Little Red Riding Hood did not interfere.

"You hardly sleep nowadays, right?" Snow White suddenly broke the silence.

Little Red Riding Hood just quietly hummed in response.

"As adulthood approaches, sleep noticeably decreases, sometimes only needing two to three hours per day. However, those two to three hours of sleep become exceptionally dangerous... Peaceful dreams almost disappear, and the chances of entering the 'Fairy Tales' right after falling asleep nearly reach 100%... Each night is a challenge," Snow White said softly. "I heard from the 'King' that you didn't have this issue last month; it only started this month..."

Little Red Riding Hood spoke calmly, "My birthday is next month, it's quite normal."

Snow White pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, then softly asked, "Are you scared?"

"A bit, but it's okay, my wolf is with me," Little Red Riding Hood said, looking into the eyes of the girl beside her in the night. "But why are you suddenly talking about this? You usually don't pay much attention to these things, do you?"

The corridor fell silent again. After several seconds, Snow White slowly spoke again, "Did you notice the new kid who arrived today?"

"I noticed. She doesn't talk much, looks quite nervous," Little Red Riding Hood nodded. "The staff who handed her over mentioned that she originally lived in a public orphanage in North District. She was transferred here after experiencing continuous nightmares that triggered some 'Abnormal Phenomenon', drawing the attention of the Special Service Bureau—Does she have any issues?"

"'Fire Stick' was responsible for accompanying the new kid today, and she said... Although the kid can't accurately recall what she saw in her dreams, she clearly resists any pictures and text related to 'wolves' when reading storybooks."

Little Red Riding Hood suddenly stopped walking, but after only a second or two, she resumed walking as if nothing happened.

Walking together, Snow White spoke again after a long silence, "...The kid might be the new 'Little Red Riding Hood.'"

"In that case, you should take good care of her in the future, just like I took care of you back then," Little Red Riding Hood said earnestly.

Snow White immediately frowned and looked unconvinced, "You're only two and a half years older than me!"

"Well, I've still been your 'parent' for two and a half years," Little Red Riding Hood glanced at the skinny girl beside her. "Try to eat more, you're still as thin as last year. If this continues, no kid will listen to you."

"I do eat, it's just that I can't gain weight. What can I do?"

As they chatted casually like any other day, they suddenly fell silent together.

Finally, Snow White was the first to break the silence, "...There have been more than one record of adulthood in the organization. Don't be afraid, just like the 'King', who is over forty in human years, and the previous Cinderella, who even lived past her twenty-sixth birthday—I don't think having two Little Red Riding Hoods at the same time is that strange..."

Little Red Riding Hood listened quietly; these days, she often thought about these matters herself. The words Snow White said to her had also been spoken by Doctor Lin, and even she had told herself these things, but... what else could be done?

Every member of 'Fairy Tales' nearing adulthood had heard similar words.

But for some reason, although Little Red Riding Hood thought she was fully prepared, upon hearing Snow White's reassurance, she suddenly felt something else—a "thought" surging within.

She suddenly remembered the phone call with Yu Sheng today, recalling the things he had told her.

"Perhaps..." she suddenly whispered, breaking the silence.

Snow White, who had been struggling to think of light topics, hardly heard Little Red Riding Hood speak and rambled on for a while before she belatedly realized, "Huh? What did you say just now?"

Little Red Riding Hood steadied herself and looked into Snow White's eyes: "Maybe, the situation might not be so bad. I mean, something good might happen."

Snow White looked a bit puzzled, but she noticed that within Little Red Riding Hood's always calm eyes, there seemed to appear some... luster different from these past days.

She didn't know why, but she still nodded subconsciously: "Well, it's good that you think that way."

"Tomorrow a friend is coming over, I've invited him to visit my home." Little Red Riding Hood said earnestly.

"Ah, what?" Snow White widened her eyes in surprise, but quickly recovered, "Oh, that's fine, but it's really rare, I thought only Long Hair would do that— Is it a classmate? You guys will just stay in the East Building, right?"

"It's an adult."

Snow White was stunned.

"He's coming at noon," Little Red Riding Hood continued, "to avoid the most unstable times in the morning and evening. He... knows some of my stuff, and since there are no classes tomorrow, I'll probably take him around the orphanage."

"...You should have told everyone at dinner time," Snow White finally digested the news after a long pause and said somewhat reproachfully, "Now we have to make arrangements tomorrow morning and send some of the unstable kids to the West Building..."

"No need, he is also a Spirit Realm detective, and he has worked with me before, and also knows about some 'Fairy Tales' stuff," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, "I've mentioned him to you, it's that 'Yu Sheng'."

"... The one who eats living beings?!"

Little Red Riding Hood nodded: "Yes, the one who eats living beings— but most of the time he eats them cooked."

Snow White suddenly fell silent as if she had frozen.

Little Red Riding Hood kept walking forward.

After a few seconds, Snow White came back to her senses, hurriedly took a few steps to catch up with Little Red Riding Hood who had walked several meters ahead, and then bombarded her with a series of questions:

"How did he know about the 'Fairy Tales' stuff? Did you tell him? You usually hardly talk about these things with outsiders, right?"

"What is he coming for? Just to visit our orphanage?"

"You're not thinking of getting him involved, right? That wouldn't be good, it's very dangerous..."

"Does Doctor Lin know about this? Should we discuss it with Doctor Lin?"

Snow White asked all the way, while Little Red Riding Hood just casually dealt with her, and soon Snow White stopped asking. She just looked at Little Red Riding Hood walking beside her, and it was only after a while that she muttered one last remark: "Although we don't have many rules, remember, those who tried to help before... they all ended up dead."

This time, Little Red Riding Hood finally stopped walking and responded seriously to her, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Snow White pursed her lips and eventually said no more but just joined Little Red Riding Hood in looking ahead.

Unconsciously, they had walked past the residential area and the cafeteria, and in front was a large "classroom."

Lights were on in the classroom.

"The lights in the activity room are left on again," Snow White frowned, "That's going to cost a lot of electricity."

Little Red Riding Hood pushed open the door of the activity room and peeked inside.

This place was for smaller children to play and "attend class," divided into several areas within the spacious classroom. The northeast corner had some old desks and chairs, the northwest corner held a small bookshelf filled with picture books and some indoor toys, and near the door stood a small blackboard, still covered with children's doodles not yet wiped off. There were also many little notes sticking around the edges of the blackboard, bearing some naive handwriting of the younger children.

Those were wish cards written during the class today by the teachers with the children.

The cards had everything—wanting a piece of cake, new toys, new clothes, wanting to go out, wanting to watch cartoons all day.

The text was mixed with Pinyin, some even crudely drawn with simple shapes.

Children's wishes and ways of expression are indeed quirky and diverse.

Little Red Riding Hood couldn't help but smile, but just then, she caught a glimpse something from the corner of her eye—a note being taken off, stuffed in the corner of a nearby teaching toolbox.

She reached out, pulled it out, and carefully smoothed it.

"wo xiang grow up."

That's what was written.

"Turn off the lights, huh." Snow White's voice came from the side.

With a click, the note's wish was plunged into darkness.

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