Wolf Grandmother lay on the bed in the cottage, hiding her claws, ears, and tail. She swallowed Little Red Riding Hood in one gulp and then...

The Hunter did not appear.

Instead, a cook came.

Yu Sheng felt something struggling in an instant. In the air, the invisible Wolf Grandmother suddenly let out a piercing howl. Fresh blood appeared out of thin air where the small knife had passed, as fur, fat, and muscle were torn open, materializing in mid-air along the direction of the knife blade. A gust of wind and a sense of threat emerged beside him—those were the Wolf's raised forepaws and head—

Unfortunately, it wasn't the Evil Wolf that Little Red Riding Hood feared deep down, the one that had grown larger than a house.

It was merely the image of the big bad wolf from a six-year-old girl's imagination—its strength was great but not as great as Yu Sheng's, its speed was fast but not as fast as an adult's, it was fierce... but Yu Sheng had dealt with uglier flesh.

Yu Sheng suddenly reached out, grabbed the head of the invisible Wolf, and then pressed down hard on its neck with his arm, pinning it to the small bed. The small knife in his other hand continued to slice open the beast's skin and flesh. Amid the spreading blood and increasingly piercing howls, the Wolf's form became visible—a much larger than ordinary wolves, big enough to swallow a child, its body lean and long, wearing a ridiculous apron and a floppy hat, with a ferocious and twisted head, and a swollen abdomen.

Now it was dying, its fierce eyes slowly dimming, issuing a gurgling resonance in its throat, its limbs twitching, approaching the end of its resistance.

"Quiet, quiet, it's almost over..." Yu Sheng leaned down, watching the eyes of the Evil Wolf, his gaze filled with joy, his words gentle and expectant, "I need to be slow with the knife—after all, I must be careful not to harm the child, but you can't struggle too much. If your muscles tense up too much, it will greatly affect your use later on... Okay, here's the cut."

The belly of the big grey wolf was completely opened up, and a small girl rolled out from its stomach as a layer of bizarre membranous structure was neatly sliced by the blade of the knife in its second pass.

The girl's eyes were tightly closed, not a speck of blood on her, as if she was just asleep on this small bed, trapped in a dream from which she couldn't wake.

Little Red Riding Hood immediately stepped forward, catching the girl who almost rolled onto the floor with both hands, while unconsciously widening her eyes. She stared at the big grey wolf lying on the bed with its abdomen open and limbs still twitching, and at Yu Sheng who was putting away the small knife: "How... how can you see it? Why couldn't I see it before?"

"It's hard to explain—I now have some extra 'perspectives' that allow me to observe things only known to the Wolf Pack in the forest," Yu Sheng wiped the blood off the small knife on the Wolf's fur and turned to Little Red Riding Hood, "As for why you couldn't see... maybe because this is not your Wolf Grandmother?"

Little Red Riding Hood was taken aback, a trace of contemplation on her face.

Just as she was about to say something more, a succession of howling suddenly came from outside the cottage, interrupting her train of thought.

Seven or eight shadows formed of wolves appeared suddenly around her, confronting the howls outside the cottage with equally hoarse and horrifying howls, protecting their "Lord."

"The Wolf Pack has been alerted, and they don't seem happy," Yu Sheng immediately lifted his head and glanced at Little Red Riding Hood, who was tensing up, "You'd better hurry and take her away from here—we've already taken her out of Wolf Grandmother's belly, and as long as you bring her back to the real world, this child will awaken."

"But it's not time yet!" Little Red Riding Hood was anxious, speaking quickly, "To leave the Black Forest, one needs to stay for a certain amount of time..."

Yu Sheng frowned and immediately called out in his mind to the doll: "Erin, pull them out forcibly—use that thing you are best at."

"Okay," Erin promptly responded, "But what about you? Aren't you leaving?"

"I'm going to observe a little longer and see what other changes happen here; don't worry about me."

"Oh... let me know in advance if you're going to die on your way out."

"Can't you say something pleasant!"

Little Red Riding Hood didn't know what Yu Sheng was doing, but she instinctively felt some kind of... interference in her connection with the Black Forest. An external force was swiftly peeling her away from this place, and the unknown change made her say subconsciously: "What did yo..."

"Erin will take you out," Yu Sheng nodded at her, "But it might be quite stimulating—the process, that is. Don't throw up on me later."

Little Red Riding Hood: "Ah?"

Then her figure, along with the girl "Xiao Xiao", disappeared from the cottage.

Together with Little Red Riding Hood, the seven or eight wolves condensed from shadows also vanished.

However, the howling from outside the cottage didn't cease with the departure of Little Red Riding Hood. Instead, it became denser, closer, and more... filled with hostility.

"Indeed, it's directed at me," Yu Sheng frowned, not at all surprised. He knew he was a "destroyer of the story" here, and according to the "rules" manifested by Fairy Tales, those who destroy stories are definitely unwelcome here.

Not to mention he was an adult who destroyed the story, and Fairy Tales despise adults the most.

But after being alert for several seconds, Yu Sheng noticed although the howling outside the cottage had gotten much closer, it ultimately stopped at a certain distance. The invisible Wolf Pack was just prowling out there, seemingly without any intention to "attack" the cottage directly.

Yu Sheng slightly furrowed his brows and scanned the cottage again, which was hung with red cloaks and where the hearthfire and candlelight felt like they had extinguished many years ago.

He still remembered the words the squirrel had said before, remembered the circumstances of the cabin he last took refuge in—after the candlelight and stove flames were extinguished, the cabin would be engulfed by the forest, just like those trails that could be devoured by the forest at any moment, the nature of this "sanctuary" seemed to be just some kind of "illusion" temporarily illuminated by firelight.

But what about this cabin?

Is it really, as Little Red Riding Hood said, "the final place of the story"? So it wouldn't be engulfed, but would be forever lost deep in the forest, becoming the burial ground for all Little Red Riding Hoods?

The howling of the wolves outside was somewhat irritating, but Yu Sheng still forced himself to ignore their disturbance. After rescuing the person, he felt much more settled, and now he decided to properly study this place.

He carefully searched every corner of the cabin, even lifting every red cloak, making sure there wasn't something hidden underneath.

He also found a stick and started scraping at the icy cold fireplace, diligently inspecting its ashes.

In the end, he simply pushed the already dead Great Grey Wolf off the bed and overturned the entire bed.

Yu Sheng suddenly narrowed his eyes.

After lifting the bed, he discovered something.

On the floor beneath the bed, there were many fine and winding grooves, like inscriptions.

Yu Sheng lay down, his eyes nearly touching the floor, closely examining those grooves.

The light inside the cabin was dim, but his eyes shone with a wolf-like glint, he saw that the marks were crooked and distorted text, but it was extremely chaotic and twisted, almost indecipherable.

After struggling to read for a while, he made out only a little scattered and fragmentary information—

"...is alive...it's dreaming...hidden in all...collective..."

Yu Sheng furrowed his brow, the information in the text was too fragmented, and it was not possible to discern anything meaningful, so he did not make any senseless assumptions. He just stretched out his finger and gently felt over the surface of those grooves, guessing how these words were "carved" out.

It seems they were scratched out bit by bit with very sharp nails.

Human fingers, but those nails must have been very hard, very sharp, just like a wolf's.

He continued to feel lower, noticing that the carvings further back became finer and more superficial.

"Very tired, very cold, very hungry...

"Can't remember...how long...

"The wolves are outside.

"I am..."

The chaotic and shattered words were mixed with those grooves that had become nearly unreadable, the last of the marks was so faint that there were only very thin lines, seemingly meaning that the person who had been carving these words had finally run out of strength. And after writing the last words "I am," there was no more movement.

Yu Sheng's eyebrows tightly knotted, he slowly rose to his feet.

He thought that this must have been left by a Little Red Riding Hood from the past—on this matter, he didn't have many alternative answers.

But which one? Why would she leave these? Why stay here?

If this really is the final "ending" place for all Little Red Riding Hoods, then the Little Red Riding Hood who left these messages here, how did she maintain her sanity to write down these things at the last moment? What did she discover?

Yu Sheng's eyes once again fell on the beginning of the text.

"...is alive..."

The meaning here should be indicating that "something" is alive, but what exactly? What is alive? What is dreaming?

Yu Sheng looked up.

The carcass of the Great Grey Wolf had completely stopped twitching, its belly's blood was almost drained, and next, it should become very good meat.

And not far away, a faint indifference of starlight had somewhen spilled through the window of the cabin.

The wolves' howling around the house had disappeared without notice, now the outside was a dead silence.

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