Upon entering the Black Forest, Yu Sheng did not rush about but stood cautiously on the spot, first taking a few seconds to carefully perceive the surrounding... "aura".

"Wolves" had not yet appeared, the forest was very calm, with occasional light sounds of the wind rustling leaves or birds and beasts scurrying in the distance. A few rays of twilight still lingered in the sky, the dusk was not yet over, and no malice was gathering in the shadows of the forest.

It seemed that the Black Forest had not yet reacted to the sudden "intruder" like himself.

But what about the child who had already sunk deep into the forest? The girl named "Xiao Xiao," what was her surrounding environment like now? Would the Black Forest present different phases to each "Little Red Riding Hood" that entered here, or was it inherently "sectional"?

Yu Sheng's mind was momentarily flooded with questions; then, he heard light footsteps beside him, and a flash of red entered his field of vision – a girl in a deep red coat.

Several pitch-black wolves emerged from the surrounding shadows, constantly prowling and sniffing around the girl in the red coat. Perhaps influenced by the Black Forest, these Shadow Wolves seemed more restless than in the real world, with even the edges of their forms trembling rapidly, looking very unstable.

Even around Little Red Riding Hood's own body, it seemed as if a persistent shadow loomed, her dark red coat indistinct against the shadow as if another body, or another "pose," was superimposed upon her.

Yu Sheng couldn't help but take a few more glances at her: "…Just by looking at you, I can tell you don't seem to be doing too well."

Then he saw the girl's body shudder in an instant, violently turning her head as if seeing a ghost to look this way.

Yu Sheng was taken aback by the reaction: "Eh, I know I spoke quite suddenly, but there's no need for that…"

"Ah, sorry," Little Red Riding Hood finally reacted sluggishly, turning her face away with an awkward expression, "I usually can't hear any 'human' voices in the Black Forest, except for squirrels; I completely forgot you had come in too."

Yu Sheng: "…Well, reasonable."

"You seriously came in, huh?!" Little Red Riding Hood couldn't help but size up the "adult" before her. Although she had realized now, a look of disbelief emerged in her eyes, followed by an addition, "This is the first time I've seen someone other than myself here."

"Of course, I didn't lie to you," Yu Sheng was not surprised by the girl's reaction, he just waved his hand and silently called out Erin's name at the bottom of his heart, "Erin, we have 'entered' successfully—how are things on your end? Can you follow in?"

"It's best for me to stay 'outside' to keep watch," Erin's voice quickly resounded in Yu Sheng's mind, it seemed that after the last experience, she had become familiar with the insidious "Spiritual Cage" communication channel of the "Black Forest," "I need to observe the status of all three of you in the real world, and also communicate with others left outside—last time I directly went in to find you because it was a special circumstance, this time we better be a bit more cautious."

"Okay, having you stay outside will also put Hu Li at ease a bit," Yu Sheng nodded, but then he remembered something, "Speaking of Hu Li… Can you bring her in, too?"

"…What are you planning?"

"Something like Cyber Fox Deity sweeping through children's literature…"

"I knew it!" Erin's voice sounded as if she had anticipated this, but she quickly sighed, "Don't even think about it. The last time I went to the Black Forest to find you, I tried once and couldn't bring anyone in—It's a very special place, entry requires a special 'adaptation.' Either you've already established a connection with the Black Forest like you and Little Red Riding Hood, or like me, having the ability to traverse the Dream Realm—and I still needed you to perform a corresponding 'Summoning Ritual' from within, no one else can enter."

Pausing for a moment, she added, "Think about it, if silly fox could really come in with me, would you have been eaten by the wolf last time? She would've stormed in and bombarded the entire Black Forest immediately."

Erin's response did not surprise Yu Sheng.

After initially understanding some of the rules of the Black Forest and the "Fairy Tales," he had guessed this outcome—the thing had a strong selective mechanism, and this kind of "selection" was even one of the underlying laws of the entire "Exotic Realm."

He and Erin could only enter this forest by exploiting a bug or performing a miracle, as they were not "Little Red Riding Hoods" themselves.

However…

Yu Sheng temporarily suspended communication with Erin while thoughtfully extending his hand towards the air.

A phantom door slowly materialized before him, the door cracked open slightly, but the space beyond the crack was not any definite "location," but an impenetrable darkness.

Since finding loopholes or conjuring up miracles worked in the Black Forest as well, it meant that the "Fairy Tales" "selection mechanism" wasn't completely infallible. Plus, since I can indeed open a "door" in the Black Forest, that means... there's still a way to forcibly establish a passage between the Black Forest and the real world, bypassing the "selection mechanism."

Little Red Riding Hood looked at Yu Sheng, who sometimes blanked out, sometimes seemed deep in thought, and sometimes tried opening a door, and finally couldn't help breaking the silence with curiosity: "What are you doing?"

"Prepping for future crackdowns on toxic children's literature," Yu Sheng said casually, waving his hand to disperse the illusory door, "but that will require some complicated preparation. Let's not fuss over it—let's get to the real work, finding that kid named 'Xiao Xiao.'"

While speaking, he looked around with a slight frown: "This path is completely unfamiliar—where do you think that child could be right now? From the perspective of an 'experienced veteran.'"

"An 'experienced veteran' doesn't have that kind of experience either," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, "this is the first time two Little Red Riding Hoods may have entered the Black Forest at the same time, and one of them is accompanied by a 'friend'—you should know how it's written in the story, 'she walked alone on the path.'"

"Alone, huh... That squirrel also kept stressing that phrase," Yu Sheng murmured thoughtfully, his gaze wandering to the surrounding bushes, "Speaking of the squirrel, where did it go?"

"I'm also looking," Little Red Riding Hood scanned the surroundings, even the Wolf Pack around her was peering around, "usually, it shows up very quickly."

"Could it be with 'Xiao Xiao'?" Yu Sheng pondered, saying, "She entered before us, so in theory, the squirrel would have made contact with her first, and should be leading the way for her now."

Little Red Riding Hood's brow furrowed slightly, and she nodded lightly, seemingly agreeing with Yu Sheng's reasoning, but just as she was about to speak, a rustling noise from the bushes abruptly interrupted her.

The next second, a small and fluffy figure appeared in the view of Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood.

The squirrel climbed up the bushes and stared blankly at the two figures in front of it, as if it had crashed the moment it showed itself.

Two seconds later, it let out a high-pitched "Ga-oh" and suddenly fell down from the thin branches, tumbling into a pile of rotten leaves.

Yu Sheng jumped in shock: "Woah! It crashed just by showing up?!"

But the squirrel immediately leaped up from the pile of leaves, screaming: "The squirrel is going crazy! The squirrel is going crazy! Seeing impossible things! When did the Black Forest become so lively—One, two, and three! Little Red Riding Hood, and friends! All appearing together! You've scared the squirrel, you've scared the squirrel!"

The rodent frantically zipped around the bushes, moving as fast as lightning. It shrieked in a chaotic and neurotic way for two minutes before abruptly stopping, then dashed straight towards Yu Sheng, stared at him for two seconds, and rushed towards Little Red Riding Hood's feet, looking up: "Ah—"

Little Red Riding Hood kicked out at it: "Calm down!"

The squirrel screamed "zhi" and vanished into the opposite bushes.

Yu Sheng was dumbfounded, staring since the squirrel had begun its frantic shouting; when he saw Little Red Riding Hood's kick, he was utterly astonished and turned to the girl in red beside him: "Isn't that a bit too rough?"

"It's most effective this way—when it gets stressed, it goes hysterical, and it's usually very neurotic. Without a significant shock, it might carry on for a while."

No sooner had she finished speaking than rustling noises emerged from the opposite bushes, and the squirrel crawled out looking unscathed, and with a freshly lit thin stick in its claws. It leaned against a small stone, put the stick in its mouth, and took a third of it in with a "hiss-hiss—suck-suck," then blurted out: "Too thrilling..."

Little Red Riding Hood glanced at Yu Sheng: "You see, I told you it's effective."

Yu Sheng: "..."

Regardless of whether the red-dressed JK's actions were a bit rough, the squirrel did indeed calm down. After finishing its "squirrel's special super-thin cigarette," it quickly accepted the fact that "Little Red Riding Hood and a friend appeared together in the Black Forest" and started communicating normally with Yu Sheng.

"We came to find someone," Yu Sheng explained the situation, "a child around six years old who entered before us, about this tall..."

"She might be 'the next one,'" Little Red Riding Hood said outright, "but it's very likely that she has already lost her way in the forest—we need your help."

The squirrel listened with its beady eyes, chewed the remaining end of the burnt-out cigarette, crunched it in its mouth, and after a while sighed: "You might be a step too late, she has already reached the deepest part of the Black Forest, where even the lights of the path's lamps and the glow from the cottages can't reach—she walked in there by herself."

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