In the reception room of the East Building, Little Red Riding Hood fell into prolonged contemplation after listening to the information brought by Yu Sheng.

A few minutes later, she sighed deeply: "It's possible a Dark Angel is hidden deep within the 'Fairy Tales', this is the worst news I've heard these days—that is to say, the 'trap' aimed at me in the white gallery was actually the attempt of those cultists to free their 'Lord'?"

"It was a test, but it's hard to say what form the next attempt will take," Yu Sheng slowly nodded, "Thinking back, their methods in the 'Museum' were actually quite crude. There were too many uncertainties in the sacrificial ritual process designed to induce your loss of control. What if you had retreated before reaching the white gallery? What if you suddenly changed your mind that night? And those activated, roaming 'Security Guards'—they stood in your way, which I guess wasn't what those cultists wanted to see either."

"So they might just be collecting some 'data', trying to see if inducing the loss of control in a subset can shift the structure of the 'Fairy Tales'," Little Red Riding Hood furrowed her brow, "Success would be good, but failing would lead to clues breaking off with Old Zheng—if not for your bizarre 'Dead Communication' ability, the Special Service Bureau would have had a hard time tracing things back to the Angel Sect."

Yu Sheng nodded: "In fact, the Special Service Bureau is facing new trouble now. They've only caught those two exposed Angel Sect members. According to reports, the capture team in South City had been monitoring for a long time without spotting any other members—it seems those cultists knew their plan had failed the day after you came out of the museum alive, and everyone went into hiding on their own. Those two exposed were probably surprised their information got leaked so thoroughly and hence couldn't escape."

"…You didn't find any clues about his accomplices when you got into that cultist's head?"

"No, that guy protected his mind very well. Even Erin who penetrated his subconscious defense couldn't decipher his accomplices in the Dream Realm," Yu Sheng pursed his lips, clearly displeased, "Honestly, if his ritual in the dream hadn't had issues, I might have discovered something after staying hidden a while longer. But he woke up suddenly... Seems the botched ritual with fake and shoddy materials left a deep impression on him."

As soon as Yu Sheng finished speaking, Erin, who had been sitting quietly on the sofa, immediately stood up: "I have a deep impression of this kind of stuff too, alright! You bought materials from a five-yuan shop and rubbed them on me. I even suspect you got the identical brand from them…"

Yu Sheng immediately pulled a long face and kept quiet, holding back the words he wasn't brave enough to say aloud—truth is, the 'alchemy materials' he bought for Erin were even worse than the shoddy products bought by those cultists, and the latter cost several yuan more than what he paid.

He feared Erin might fly up and bite him if he said it out loud—the guy's body today was made of rebar, and one bite could exert a force of 1.5 kN...

At this point, Little Red Riding Hood spoke again: "Those Angel Sect members will definitely act again, but now that the Special Service Bureau is alerted, the cultists will be more secretive and won't directly use easy-to-trace fake commissions to attack our members like last time. But given their inherently abnormal minds, they might adopt even crazier measures…"

"So during this period, you must stay vigilant," Yu Sheng said in a deep voice, "Whether members go out for activities or stay at the orphanage, everyone must be careful and watch out for suspicious people or objects nearby. Verify the identity of everyone entering the orphanage, even familiar faces. If there's something suspicious in commissions taken by members, it's best to communicate more. If necessary, call me for help; we don't have many cases anyway…"

Yu Sheng stopped talking as he noticed the girl opposite him looking at him with a half-smile, feeling a bit awkward while scratching his nose: "Why are you looking at me?"

"Nagging adult," Little Red Riding Hood laughed, "You used to say I was always nagging."

Without waiting for Yu Sheng to respond, she waved her hand: "Don't worry, although 'Fairy Tales' consists of 'kids', it's also an established organization in the Boundary Land for many years. We know how to deal with those ill-intentioned folks.

"Besides, you mentioned 'suspicious'... I did encounter something suspicious today."

Yu Sheng immediately perked up: "What did you find?"

"A strange shadow, like a thorn bush, appearing on the outer wall of the building in the outdoor activity area, flashing before disappearing. But I confirmed I really saw it."

Little Red Riding Hood spoke seriously, not ignoring the matter due to its small size or insufficient information—sharing all perceived odd clues during ally cooperation is an unwritten 'rule' in the special occupational field of Spirit Realm detectives and investigators.

Many people have lost their lives for neglecting even the tiniest bit of information while dealing with the Exotic Realm or entities.

Yu Sheng felt puzzled about the shadow described by Little Red Riding Hood.

As a 'Beginner', he certainly couldn't figure out what it might be.

Breaking the silence, Erin asked: "Had similar things been seen within the orphanage before?"

"If you're talking about phenomena resembling 'illusions', that's not uncommon. Numerous nightmares and entities attempting to interfere with reality are active here. Voices coming from a classroom at night or a locked room lighting up with people dancing have happened. But a shadow identical to that thorn bush, this is the first time," Little Red Riding Hood pondered, "Especially happening at such sensitive times."

Yu Sheng remained silent, thinking deeply before breaking the silence after a long pause: "Well then, let's discuss another matter I need to mention to you."

Little Red Riding Hood looked at him curiously.

"I have a plan that might temporarily 'protect' all the children at the orphanage," Yu Sheng raised his head, looking solemnly at the girl, "But it would require your cooperation, and… the process might be a bit peculiar."

Little Red Riding Hood's eyes widened immediately: "Huh? You're serious?! Is there really a way?"

"Remember that 'wilderness' both you and Xiao Xiao have been to?" Yu Sheng didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "You both escaped an attack in the Black Forest there."

Little Red Riding Hood blinked: "…Are you saying this process can be 'replicated' in bulk?"

"It should be possible. Just repeat what you and Xiao Xiao went through with everyone else," Yu Sheng said, holding up a finger, "In simple terms… just take a bite."

Little Red Riding Hood's initially excited expression suddenly turned blank: "…"

She realized what he meant.

"Let me confirm," the girl looked at Yu Sheng face full of conflict, "There are over seventy people in this orphanage. You plan to give each of us a 'bite'?"

"Yes."

"…Do you have enough blood?"

"The amount needed shouldn't be much," Yu Sheng said seriously, "Back then, Hu Li just scraped a small wound on my hand with her teeth, and it worked—plus if it's not enough, I can do it in two rounds."

Little Red Riding Hood still found this topic quite odd: "So how do you plan to execute it? Directly having the kids do a 'blood receiving' ritual isn't a good idea, we're a proper organization first and foremost…"

"Currently, the main ideas are: blood soup, cold mixed blood sausage, blood tofu, my blood noodle soup, and mixing it with water so they can use water guns to play a blood war… but I dismissed this last plan before heading out, mainly because it's winter now."

Little Red Riding Hood was stunned by this string of plans. The expression on her face looked like her sanity had evaporated. It took her nearly two minutes to process what she heard, her eyes almost staring into Yu Sheng's face: "You need to pay me a listening fee for these 'plans'—I'll need at least two doses of Sanity Blocker to sleep tonight!"

Hearing that the other party was still in the mood to joke, Yu Sheng knew that even though his plans were shocking, they were still being considered. He couldn't help but smile.

But his smile froze halfway when Hu Li, who had been silent until now, spoke: "Savior, I've always wanted to ask, does cooked blood still work?"

Yu Sheng's smile froze along with Little Red Riding Hood's dumbfounded expression.

Then Yu Sheng thought for a moment and discussed with Hu Li: "But raw blood has a fishy smell. Young kids can't handle it… applying it to the body works too slow, and the effect is unstable."

"How about some cilantro? I love cilantro."

"Not really—most kids don't like cilantro."

Little Red Riding Hood's eyes darted between Yu Sheng and Hu Li back and forth at least a dozen times and finally couldn't help but speak up: "Really, can you guys discuss such a strange topic so casually?"

"You'll get used to it," Erin sighed pretentiously, "They've always been like this. Yu Sheng dares to think about anything and Hu Li dares to accept anything."

Fortunately, this bizarre discussion didn't last too long.

"I think we can start by testing the effects in batches," Yu Sheng turned to Little Red Riding Hood with a serious face, regardless of whether she was mentally prepared, and said, "Let's have 'guardians' like you try first. You're already in an unstable state, considered high-risk individuals, so establishing your 'protection mechanism' first will be most effective. As for the kids… most of them are in the initial stages of the nightmare, we can take it slow. What do you think?"

Little Red Riding Hood sat there dazed, her mind wandering for quite some time before her eyes suddenly rolled, and she hesitantly spoke: "…So how do I explain it to them? What reason should I use to gather everyone?"

"…Just tell them you've ordered takeout."

Little Red Riding Hood: "…?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.