Erin crawled out from Hu Li's arms and stood on the table, gazing out the window at the vacant lot together with Little Red Riding Hood, both seemingly lost in thought.

"The 'Fairy Tales' first erupted here, and the victims thereafter began treating this place as home... It feels rather strange," the little puppet murmured.

"Everyone needs a home," Little Red Riding Hood turned around, a faint smile on her face, "I don't know what the 'predecessors' from many years ago decided, but the children living here now all see the orphanage as home. For me, it's also a place where I can feel at peace... despite all that's happened here."

"Is it only orphans that are affected by the 'Fairy Tales'?" Yu Sheng furrowed his brow, "Or are ordinary children influenced by Fairy Tales also sent here?"

Little Red Riding Hood sighed: "Only orphans."

"Why? Any conclusions?"

"Because their hearts lack protection," said Little Red Riding Hood calmly, "Although there are still many unknowns regarding 'Fairy Tales,' based on what we currently know, it's clear that the impact of 'Fairy Tales' is related to the 'personality pattern' and 'social relations' of the victims. Orphans who lack the protection of parents or other relatives, who are long-term psychologically unstable, and who have weak social ties in the real world are its prime 'prey.' After all..."

She paused here for a moment, then gently shook her head: "After all, if reality is too cold, the warmth in fantasies becomes all the more tempting—when 'Fairy Tales' first began to have an impact, their power was actually very weak. Just a thin 'rope' would have been enough to firmly keep the affected children tied to reality, but for many orphans, even that slender 'rope' is non-existent."

Yu Sheng's brows were still knit tightly, and after a moment, he asked again: "What triggers the influence? I heard from that squirrel that... it is reading the corresponding fairy tale?"

Little Red Riding Hood nodded lightly: "That's a crucial part."

"Why not simply make those stories taboo?" Hu Li asked with curiosity, "Back in my hometown, there was a Demon Cultivator who fused himself into a legend before dying, and almost managed to materialize from sheer hearsay. Feels similar to this... just as terrifying."

Erin's eyes widened in astonishment upon hearing this, and she stared blankly at Hu Li: "Holy shit, your hometown really has some outrageous stuff... So, what happened after that? How did you deal with that 'Demon Cultivator'? By sealing off that tainted 'legend'?"

"Ah, not quite," Hu Li waved his hand, "While the initial attempt was to seal it, the contingencies left by the Demon Cultivator were too pervasive to be contained, but then the era of self-media arrived."

In an instant, Yu Sheng's expression turned blank: "Um... ah?"

"You know, the whole world was full of meme modifications, bizarre edits, and short video clips. That Demon Cultivator died a miserable death," explained Hu Li with gestures, "The last call for help he sent out was turned into ghostly video memes and reaction images. By the time the Immortal Alliance took notice, he was already vanquished amidst the laughter and cheers of the world's people..."

The room fell silent for a moment, with Little Red Riding Hood, Yu Sheng, and Erin frozen on the sofa, whereas Hu Li, still obliviously, went on: "So after that, even the great demon foxes in our clan didn't dare to readily refine themselves into legend stories anymore. If they did refine, they'd choose math problems and physics formulas, which, at least, are not so easily changed..."

Little Red Riding Hood listened blankly to Hu Li's explanation, and after a while blinked, then turned to Yu Sheng: "Um, I can't quite follow..."

"It's okay, I often can't keep up with what happens in her hometown either," Yu Sheng waved his hand, "Don't delve too deep into that, but Hu Li's question is also what I wanted to ask—if the corresponding fairy tales are a significant trigger for the 'Fairy Tales,' why not control the dissemination of these stories directly? Or like in her hometown, destroy those stories..."

Instead of directly answering, Little Red Riding Hood threw back a question: "Do you remember when we discussed why not to simply demolish that old theater to 'permanently close' the Exotic Realm-Museum?"

A realization flickered across Yu Sheng's face, and his expression became subtly complex.

He knew what was going on.

"Abnormal Type Exotic Realms... follow the same principle?"

"Yes, Abnormal Type Exotic Realms are still Exotic Realms, the underlying rules are the same," Little Red Riding Hood nodded, "'Fairy Tales' are essentially hidden 'information,' and those stories are just some of the 'entry points' it has to reality, like the 'Museum's entity is a distorted space, and the old theater's stage is just an entry point—destroying the entry point will only cause the Exotic Realm to lose control in even more bizarre and unpredictable ways, possibly even escalating the Danger Level. And furthermore..."

She lifted her head, her expression serious as she looked at Yu Sheng.

"Moreover, 'Fairy Tales' have an even more eerie property; their 'stories' do not even need to be told by someone. There was a record of a child who had never encountered a corresponding story fell into a 'Subset' crafted by Fairy Tales after a night's sleep. Further investigation revealed that the child had heard a voice telling stories from the void. This is also why, though the 'Fairy Tales' Exotic Realm doesn't directly cause death, its Danger Level is rated above three—there is a proactive malice in its existence."

Little Red Riding Hood's narrative came to a pause, and Yu Sheng sat on the sofa, his expression somewhat gloomy.

A nameless restlessness surged up, and he rose from the sofa, pacing the room, yet unsure of what to say.

"Shouldn't it be like this... Doesn't the Special Service Bureau have any solutions?" He suddenly turned his head, looking at the red-clothed young girl sitting beside him.

However, Little Red Riding Hood just sat there, lifting her head to gaze at him with calm eyes: "Have humans eradicated the common cold?"

Yu Sheng: "..."

"Would it be easier to understand and accept if you saw it as a chronic disease that targets only a minority of orphans?" Little Red Riding Hood continued, "You can't demand the eradication of a natural phenomenon from the world because you find us orphans 'pitiable,' nor can you demand the Special Service Bureau to do something beyond human capabilities—The Exotic Realm is not a malfunctioning factory that can be shut down to solve everything, it is a 'phenomenon' operating in this world. That it has fixed entrances is already its greatest act of mercy towards people."

Little Red Riding Hood's voice was calm yet forceful, but Yu Sheng still felt something was amiss.

No, there was an Exotic Realm… There was indeed one Exotic Realm that had been "eradicated."

That valley.

Yu Sheng thought rapidly, various ideas swirling like a storm in his mind—

Could what happened in Nightfall Valley be replicated in the Black Forest? Even if it could be replicated in the Black Forest… how could it influence the essence of "Fairy Tales"? After all, the Black Forest is just a subset of the Fairy Tales, a temporary "room" generated within the "Invisible Mansion," and based on Little Red Riding Hood's explanation, Yu Sheng could not think of any method to touch the essence of "Fairy Tales"...

How could he smear his own blood on a "collection of stories"?

Little Red Riding Hood watched with curiosity as Yu Sheng suddenly stopped in front of the window, intrigued by the constantly changing expressions on his face. She didn't know what this strange "adult" from No. 66 Wutong Road was thinking, but she could feel that this "weird entity" that even the Special Service Bureau was extremely nervous about truly wanted to help her.

"You want to do something very difficult," she said to Yu Sheng, "I know you want to help us—in fact, others have tried before, those deep divers, scholars, investigators, and even an astrologer from Algerde, those adults who wanted to help the children withstand the nightmares, but none of them succeeded. I... I don't mean anything else by this, just that I want to tell you in advance, this is a dangerous matter and so far, no one has any clues."

But Yu Sheng seemed as if he hadn't heard what Little Red Riding Hood was saying. He was still deep in thought, and after a long while, he suddenly looked up: "I might not have any leads on the essence of 'Fairy Tales', but we can start with the Black Forest."

Little Red Riding Hood was stunned: "Uh... did you not hear a word I said?"

"I heard you, and I don't think it's a big deal," Yu Sheng waved his hand, "There are a lot of things in this world that I don't have a clue about, I still don't have a clue about where my house's water and electrical pipes are connected to, and as for danger... to be honest, which Exotic Realm isn't dangerous?"

Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth, but for a moment she didn't know how to refute him.

But just as Yu Sheng was ready to ask the girl before him for more information about the Black Forest, a flurry of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the hallway, interrupting everyone's conversation.

The door to the Reception Room was pushed open, and a girl who looked a year or two younger than Little Red Riding Hood, with black long hair, hurried in.

Little Red Riding Hood immediately stood up: "Long Hair? What happened?"

The girl, called Long Hair, first glanced at the few "outsiders" in the room. After receiving a communicative expression from Little Red Riding Hood, she took a light breath and said in a low, rapid voice: "A child 'left,' it happened very quickly, there was no time to..."

Yu Sheng noticed Little Red Riding Hood's body shake slightly in an instant, and even her breathing stopped.

"... Which one?" she asked softly.

"The new one."

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