Creatures with small brains really do have a limited capacity for understanding—seeing Yu Sheng and his group, the neurotic squirrel instantly went berserk. It threw an acorn and began scurrying and leaping through the bushes, screaming and causing a commotion. Despite its palm-sized body, it made almost as much noise as Erin did, incessantly blurting out phrases like "What's all this weirdness," "Where the hell did they all come from," and "Is this still Little Red Riding Hood or what?"

Finally, Little Red Riding Hood couldn't take it anymore. She stepped forward, grabbed the squirrel that was about to leap from a thin branch, and pulled it close, threatening fiercely, "Quiet! Or I'll throw you into the thorn bush!"

The squirrel, with eyes wide and body tense, stared at Little Red Riding Hood and then glanced towards Yu Sheng and the others. It stretched its neck, tilted its head, and with a "cluck," fainted.

Yu Sheng: "..."

Erin was taken aback by the sight: "What the heck... Is it that useless... It scared itself to death?"

But no sooner had she spoken than the squirrel slowly regained consciousness. It struggled fiercely in Little Red Riding Hood's grasp, and after making sure of what was happening, it seemed to calm down a bit, but couldn't help mumbling, "Is something big going to happen... Is this still Black Forest? Where did such a big group of people pop up from... None of you look like a new Little Red Riding Hood?"

"Uh... Hello there," Hu Li, plucking up the courage, approached and politely greeted the squirrel, "My name is Hu Li."

"And this one on my shoulder is Erin," Yu Sheng also walked over carrying Erin, flashing a brilliant, sunny smile at the squirrel, "We meet again, little squirrel."

"Yes, we meet again, of course, the squirrel remembers you, 'adult' who doesn't know how he barged in... You've brought in even more weird folk, I'm confused, so confused," the squirrel wriggled out of Little Red Riding Hood's hand, nervously murmuring as it climbed onto her shoulder, "The Black Forest won't be happy, Black Forest doesn't like troublemakers... You lot are disobedient, just looking at you, you're disobedient, you're gonna have terrible luck, you should run, you really ought to run fast..."

"How coincidental," Yu Sheng, hearing the squirrel's mutterings, instead showed a pleased smile, "We're indeed here to 'upset' the Black Forest."

The squirrel looked dazedly at Yu Sheng, seemingly unable to comprehend what he meant.

Yu Sheng did not bother to explain, but slightly softened the smile on his face and began walking toward the faint light deep within the forest, speaking calmly, "Do you know where to find 'the Hunter'?"

The squirrel let out a thin, puzzled squeak: "The Hunter? What do you want with the Hunter?"

"I need to ask him a few things," Yu Sheng replied casually, then quickly added, "You don't need to ask about the rest, just tell me how to find him."

"It's unsafe, seeking the Hunter like this is unsafe..." the squirrel looked anxious, "The Hunter has a gun and shoots at anything that looks like a wolf, and Little Red Riding Hood already looks a lot like a wolf... If you're not careful, you could become the prey, especially tonight, this night..."

Yu Sheng's steps slowed for a moment, his gaze changing slightly: "Tonight? What about tonight?"

The squirrel clutched Little Red Riding Hood's cloak hood nervously, hesitating but finally shrinking back under Yu Sheng's intense gaze, "Since yesterday, there's been unrest in the Black Forest, some wolves have gone mad, parts of the forest are vanishing, there was even a big explosion... Things may get worse tonight... The Hunter becomes erratic when the Black Forest is unstable, wandering around furious, very dangerous, sometimes even more dangerous than the wolves..."

Yu Sheng was momentarily silent.

Erin poked the back of his head: "Why do I feel like this has something to do with you?"

Yu Sheng stiffly said, "... It's all part of the plan."

"What are you talking about?" the squirrel perked up, looking confused at Yu Sheng and Erin.

"Nothing," Yu Sheng said with a tight face, shaking his head before quickly diverting the topic, "You don't need to worry about anything else, just lead me to 'the Hunter.' Whether I can deal with him is my own matter—if worse comes to worst, you can just take off, just like last time."

"You never listen to advice!" The squirrel flailed its paws irritably, but soon its tail drooped, and it half-burrowed into Little Red Riding Hood's hood, "Alright, alright, you asked for it... Go find the Hunter then. Wherever Wolf Grandmother appears, the Hunter is sure to follow, no matter where he's been roaming before."

"Good, that's enough information, just as I expected," Yu Sheng nodded and continued his walk toward the distant lights.

Erin, however, was a bit confused—she wasn't familiar with the rules of the Black Forest and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Do you guys know where to find that 'Wolf Grandmother'?"

"The cabin," Little Red Riding Hood, walking alongside, replied, "In the Black Forest, there are paths lit by street lamps, and at the end of these paths, you can usually find a wooden cabin. There are usually two scenarios inside the cabin—one is a safe vacant room, and the other, houses 'Wolf Grandmother.' By the way, under normal circumstances, I should be avoiding cabins with 'Wolf Grandmother'."

Erin listened carefully to Little Red Riding Hood's narration, then noticed a particular word she used, "'Usually,' there are two scenarios? What about 'unusually'?"

"...There is also a situation where there isn't a Wolf Grandmother in the cottage, but when you enter to take refuge, Wolf Grandmother will come knocking," Little Red Riding Hood paused mid-step, her tone remained calm but a hint of fear surfaced in her eyes, "This is the most dangerous scenario. The moment to flee lasts only an instant. There have been several times... when I was captured exactly when Wolf Grandmother started knocking."

She stopped there, took a light breath after a moment: "And, the 'fourth situation' that Yu Sheng and I have recently encountered: a cottage standing alone deep in the forest, unconnected to any path and without any lights, with red cloaks hanging all over inside."

Erin immediately caught on: "Ah, I know that one, it's what you encountered last time."

Whereas Yu Sheng noticed the squirrel hiding inside Little Red Riding Hood's hood shrink back instantaneously upon hearing "a cottage without lights" and "full of red cloaks," and even when it peeked its head out moments later, its small, round eyes were still filled with terror.

He walked over, looking directly into the eyes of the squirrel: "Why are you so afraid of that cottage without lights?"

The squirrel's body shook visibly, uttering a pleading shriek: "I don't know! Squirrel knows nothing!"

Yu Sheng furrowed his brows tightly.

"Don't pressure it," Little Red Riding Hood sighed, interrupting Yu Sheng's forthcoming interrogation, "If it's reacting like this, then it's certain that we won't get anything out of it—under too much stress, it might even faint again."

"Right, right, right," the squirrel immediately started chattering, "Little Red Riding Hood and squirrel are friends! Best friends!"

"Yes, and not very reliable friends at that," Yu Sheng muttered with a frown, but he didn't press any further. Instead, he continued walking forward while keeping a part of his attention on the squirrel's every move.

The path appeared in the line of sight of the group.

Curving and meandering trails in the forest, lit by fantasy-like lamps, led deep into the woods with the end shrouded in darkness—the limited reach of the streetlights clearly defined a "boundary" on both sides of the path, with the malice of the Black Forest receding where the light touched, infusing the path with a sense of stability.

The moment they set foot on the path, the omnipresent malice and prying sensation momentarily receded, and even the occasional wolf howls that surrounded them seemed to suddenly grow distant.

"Wow... quite interesting," Erin instantly noticed the change in "aura" around them, her eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the "light orbs" floating in the air, "But this doesn't seem like the 'designated safe zones' found in the ordinary Exotic Realms... Is the stability of this path maintained by these lights?"

"Is there a difference?" Yu Sheng didn't catch on immediately, "Aren't they all safe zones?"

"Not the same," Erin shook her head, "The 'designated safe zones' in ordinary Exotic Realms refer to an area that is inherently stable, even if it moves, even if it fades over time, as long as it's within the set time and boundaries, you won't be affected by any dangers like physical entities. But this place seems more like 'Mysterious Objects' have formed a temporary safety Barrier; with these lights, the path is safe, without them, it would probably become unsafe again—in other words, the path itself isn't safe, it's the streetlights, this isn't a safe zone, it's a safe object."

Yu Sheng listened earnestly, easily following the train of thought of the little puppet.

He realized that when exploring the Exotic Realm, it was indeed necessary to have this puppet with him—although not very reliable at many times, in the realm of mystery, her perspective of observation and sporadically accurate intuition and experiences could indeed prove useful.

However, it was at this moment that his train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a sound from outside the path.

"Bang!"

That was the sound of a gunshot.

Muffled, abrupt, the noise of a shotgun being fired.

The few people walking on the path stopped in their tracks abruptly as the sound echoed, exchanging glances at the instant the noise reached them.

The squirrel squeezed out of Little Red Riding Hood's hood, rubbing its paws neurotically: "The Hunter fired a shot... The Hunter fired a shot..."

"Savior, the sound came from this direction," Hu Li tugged on Yu Sheng's sleeve, pointing towards a certain direction off the path, her ears twitching sensitively in the air, adjusting the angles of her large ears, "About a hundred or two hundred meters away."

Just as Hu Li's voice faded, another gunshot was heard.

"Bang!"

Again from the same direction, the second gunshot sounded.

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