Yu Sheng belatedly noticed the dead silence around the cabin.

The invisible wolf pack had disappeared, retreating back into the shadows of the Black Forest at some unknown time, and a hush enveloped everything. Yet, the most ferocious wolf, the one belonging to "this generation's Little Red Riding Hood," never showed up—but Yu Sheng could feel its gaze.

That wolf, which had once devoured him, was now staring at this cabin from a far-off place. It had detected the presence of its prey, but for some reason, it took no action.

What was it observing? What was it waiting for? Or was it... that the wolf was on guard, vigilant against something?

Yu Sheng cautiously extended his senses, trying to analyze the wolf's behavioral pattern or logic from its gaze, but at that moment, he suddenly "saw" a shadow through that gaze.

A figure suddenly appeared on the clearing among the forest shrubs near the cabin—a human figure.

Yu Sheng instantly tensed his nerves, and almost at the same moment, he heard footsteps coming from outside.

Footsteps of a human, getting closer, stepping on the fallen leaves and rotting earth outside, not hurrying, almost at the door.

Yu Sheng's heart suddenly tightened, he thought of something, quickly looked around, and then swiftly hid in a corner.

Almost the instant he had hidden, the cabin's door was pushed open.

A tall figure appeared at the door—under the dim and cold starlight, Yu Sheng could only see the green and brown mixed hunter's clothes, and a thick hood that obscured the newcomer's face. He saw the figure holding a long shotgun, entering the cabin with a somewhat comical gait, half-bent over.

The Hunter had arrived.

But the Big Gray Wolf was already dead—dead before the Hunter had arrived.

Yu Sheng saw the tall figure in hunter's clothes walk forward two steps then suddenly freeze, clearly seeing the Big Gray Wolf lying on the ground, its belly ripped open.

The "script" that should have been completed by it had been altered, and thus this "entity" also generated by the Black Forest just abruptly came to a standstill in place, like a process that had gotten stuck.

The Hunter did not move, and Yu Sheng, hiding in the corner, also dared not move; thus, the cabin fell into a eerie silence.

Yu Sheng even felt the silence was a bit awkward.

And just then, Erin's voice suddenly resonated in his mind: "Hey! Yu Sheng! Still alive? How are things on your end? Why haven't you come back?"

"I'm fine, but there was a little situation," Yu Sheng said quickly in his mind, staring intently at the "Hunter" standing still, "How are things 'outside'? Have Little Red Riding Hood and that child 'returned'?"

"Things went really smoothly on my end. Little Red Riding Hood is now next door in the water room throwing up. The kid also woke up and went to throw up with Little Red Riding Hood. It looks like the 'Rude Awakening' had quite an impact on the both of them," Erin prattled, "Honestly, I was shocked too! That child actually 'came back to life'. A person who hadn't had a heartbeat or breathing for a long time actually came back to life! How on earth did you manage that… Hey, what exactly is going on over there? I heard from Little Red Riding Hood that you killed the 'Wolf Grandmother'? So now…"

"Yes, I killed the Wolf Grandmother, so the 'Hunter' is stuck here," Yu Sheng sighed, cutting off Erin's rambling, "You know the 'Hunter', right? The one who runs out at the last moment to save Little Red Riding Hood—I stole his job."

Erin on the other side fell silent, probably not having processed it immediately.

After two seconds, the puppet's voice rang out again: "Huh?! Stuck?! That can happen?"

"That's the only explanation, what else?" Yu Sheng's tone was also resigned, "Anyway, he's still standing out there, and I'm hiding behind a cabinet in the corner, not daring to come out—mainly because I'm not sure how this thing might react, since it's probably also an entity generated by the Black Forest, there might be some taboo."

"So you two are just having a standoff there? If not, why not just leave? I'll pull you out…"

"Don't!" As soon as Yu Sheng heard Erin was about to forcibly "pull" him out, he quickly interrupted, recalling the feeling after the "Rude Awakening", suddenly feeling it was better to up and risk death, "I'm going to check the reality first, at least see what this hunter really looks like."

As he spoke, he stealthily stood up from where he was hiding and slowly approached the tall figure in hunter's clothes.

The "Hunter" seemed not to hear the movement behind him, still standing like a statue next to the Big Gray Wolf.

Yu Sheng gradually grew bolder, no longer masking his footsteps. In a few strides, he was next to the Hunter, leaning over to take a look.

Erin's voice resonated in his mind: "Hey hey, how is it? Not killed yet? What does that hunter look like?"

Yu Sheng was silent for two seconds: "… Beneath the clothes, it's empty."

He looked at the "Hunter" in front of him, seeing only empty floating hunting clothes, with the hood revealing no face but only a few hollow shadows.

The entire "Hunter" was just a set of clothes floating there.

But whether it was an illusion or not, he always felt like there was a "gaze" under that empty hood, as if an invisible face with a pair of eyes was staring at him.

Yu Sheng shifted half a step to the side. The "Hunter" in front of him remained motionless, but he always felt that the "gaze" coming from under the hood seemed to have moved slightly with him.

"Hello," Yu Sheng hesitated for a moment before finally trying to greet the entity in front of him, "My name is Yu Sheng, uh, I just arrived."

Erin's voice immediately popped up in his mind: "Ah, that sounds so dumb."

Yu Sheng expressionless: "Shut up!"

The Hunter, however, did not react to his greeting, only that intangible sense of being watched persisted.

Yu Sheng felt a bit awkward, and again pointed at the wolf corpse on the ground: "This, I did it—sorry for taking your job."

At that instant, he keenly noticed a change in the fold of the Hunter's hood.

The "entity" was shifting its gaze in the direction his finger pointed, and... it might even have nodded.

It can communicate!

Yu Sheng's heart stirred, but he immediately controlled his expression while cautiously continuing to speak: "The child who was 'eaten' by the 'Wolf Grandmother' has been saved by me."

The Hunter's hood moved again, this time Yu Sheng saw clearly, it was truly nodding.

"It seems you bear no ill will towards me," Yu Sheng tried to look friendlier and extended his right hand slightly, "If we stand against the 'Evil Wolf,' we are on the same side."

Suddenly, the Hunter took a half step back.

Yu Sheng was startled by this sudden response, and right after, he saw the other continue quickly stepping back—as if it was rewinding his entrance, this invisible entity clad in Hunter's clothes and hood used a somewhat comical yet particularly strange step to retreat quickly, within a few steps reaching the cabin door, and then almost in the blink of an eye disappeared into the vast night outside.

"Hey—" Yu Sheng instinctively reached out his hand and called out, but couldn't stop this peculiar entity.

Erin's voice came from the depths of his mind: "What happened?"

"The Hunter suddenly ran off, just as I was about to shake hands with it," Yu Sheng himself was also bewildered, "I don't think I did anything to provoke it."

While speaking, he sighed, but just then, something caught the corner of his eye.

It seemed to be a piece of paper, which had fallen on the ground when the Hunter had left hastily.

Yu Sheng bent down to pick up the piece of paper, noticing it was yellowed and fragile, about the size of a palm, its surface originally might have had something written on it, but it was covered with layer upon layer of grime—ink stains, grease, and even possibly blood stains—such that the contents of the paper were completely illegible.

"I picked something up..."

After carefully examining and trying to discern the paper without success, Yu Sheng muttered in his mind.

"Ah? What did you pick up?"

"A piece of paper, it fell from that 'Hunter,' but it's too dirty to make out anything."

"Er, do you think you can bring it out?" Erin's tone sounded a bit tentative, "I should only be able to pull your 'consciousness' out... or should I go in now and take a look for you? My skills in Magic Object Study and relic assessment are not really anything to count on, so don't expect much from me."

Honestly, Yu Sheng didn't even notice anything wrong with this puppet's words at first, he was stunned for a moment before bursting out laughing: "At least you're honest!"

Saying that, he shook his head, carefully and tenderly stowed away the paper that seemed like it could crumble at any moment, and then stepped over to the wolf corpse.

"I'm going to try to open a door from here and see if I can bring the object out—but this is my first time opening a door from a 'Conscious World' like the 'Black Forest' to the real world, I'm not sure what might happen, tell Little Red Riding Hood and the others to move away first, it's best if they wait outside the room, just you and Hu Li stay by my side."

"Oh, okay!"

After receiving confirmation from Erin, Yu Sheng took a deep breath, and then... first took out his phone to glance at it.

He also didn't understand whether the "phone" he took out while his consciousness was in the Black Forest should be considered an actual existing item or just something he dreamed about in his dream, as the phone had no signal in this place.

It seems there's no way to report back, but maybe the Special Service Bureau is used to it... maybe?

Some jumbled thoughts flashed through his mind, Yu Sheng put away the phone, then bent down to grab a leg of the wolf corpse, while with his other hand he pulled in mid-air, and a surreal slightly glowing gate suddenly appeared beside him.

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