Yu Sheng admitted that he indeed couldn't hold it together.

He even considered Snow White leading the Forty Thieves appearing before him but had never thought of the combination of "Snow White and her seven Thunderbolt Titans." Seeing those silent giants that were as tall as two stories appear before him, he was struck dumb like he had been hit by lightning for two hours, struggling to utter, "I... this... she... what is all this?!"

"Every subset is a distorted story. Sometimes there will be situations where the distortion is severe," Little Red Riding Hood said nonchalantly, with a slightly amused expression on her face, "just like in the original story of Little Red Riding Hood, there weren't giant wolves four to five meters tall and the shadow wolf pack of the howling forest—within Snow White's 'Bloodstained Court', the hunt and chase between her and the 'Queen' is even more cruel than you could imagine."

Yu Sheng listened, completely stunned. His brain finally caught up with Little Red Riding Hood's narration but still showed a confused expression, raising a hand to point at the somewhat dazed Snow White due to the sudden unfamiliar environment: "She needs to be equipped like this to fight the 'Queen'?! Then what's the Queen opposite her—some kind of TM genetic prototype?!"

"...I don't really understand that reference, but the Queen of the Bloodstained Court can rotate the magnetic field."

Yu Sheng: "...?"

He suddenly fell silent, only quietly lifting his head to watch as the Thunderbolt Titan clad in steel armor slowly bent down, carefully placing the frail girl from his shoulder onto the ground. Then, one by one, the giants' figures disappeared into the air—after they vanished, the gloomy look on Snow White's face finally somewhat eased.

"I suddenly think your 'Black Forest' is quite mild and comfortable," Yu Sheng said to Little Red Riding Hood after a long silence, "Finding a breakthrough point from the 'Fairytales' in the Black Forest is definitely more feasible than Snow White's subsets."

"I think so too—her side is really kind of crazy."

While talking, Snow White had arrived in front of Yu Sheng and others. This slim and seemingly harmless short-haired girl looked around this place in amazement, seemingly still not fully believing she had really "jumped" from that terrifying Bloodstained Court to a safe zone: "Is this the 'wilderness' you mentioned?"

"Yes, a boring but very safe place," Yu Sheng quickly adjusted his expression and said with a smile, "It looks like our attempt was successful."

Snow White tilted her head, looking at the distant gray sky, and then suddenly lay down on the spot, right on the dark grass. Her body tensed momentarily before slowly relaxing.

The girl slightly narrowed her eyes and after a while softly spoke: "I don't want to move at all."

"I understand your feeling; I'm the same," Little Red Riding Hood lay down as well, staying side by side with her, "It's really exhausting—finally we can take a breather."

Yu Sheng originally wanted to mention the arrangements for tomorrow and ask if they could directly perform the formal "Blood Transfer" ritual for others, but seeing the two girls like this, he swallowed his words.

Let's talk about it later, it won't make much difference in a few minutes—they haven't relaxed like this in a nightmare for a long time.

...

Early the next morning, Yu Sheng went to the orphanage, this time he met all the "parents."

The Blood Transfer process needs no extra explanation; everything proceeded as planned. However, considering the number of people, letting everyone take a sip individually was clearly not suitable (mainly the scene was actually way too bizarre). So Yu Sheng preemptively drew his own blood, mixed it with a suitable amount of water, and distributed it to everyone.

He sat in the center of the room, watching a dozen teenagers (and a cat) holding bowls as if declaring blood-brotherhood. He couldn't shake the feeling that in the next second, they would smash the bowls to the ground and then hoist him up to Liang Mountain...

Luckily, the wild thoughts didn't affect his serious expression; he maintained a stern face until the ritual ended.

"With this, those among us with the highest risk of loss of control have all established 'Barriers,'" Little Red Riding Hood exhaled lightly, her heart's burden relieved, "For the younger kids, we'll arrange batch 'vaccination' for them these days."

"...I have a feeling that the 'wilderness' will become quite lively soon," Yu Sheng thought for a moment, somewhat pensively, "I wonder if we can develop that place, set up some entertainment facilities, so whoever goes there won't find it boring."

"We're not that picky," Little Red Riding Hood pouted, "Just being able to sleep soundly is enough; what more could we ask for?"

Yu Sheng laughed, but just as he was about to say something, an urgent phone ringtone interrupted his thoughts.

He took out his phone and saw it was an unfamiliar number.

After answering, a somewhat familiar young voice came from the receiver: "Uh, hello, is this Mr. Yu?"

Yu Sheng reacted and suddenly remembered why the voice felt familiar—it was Old Zheng's nephew.

When he left after the last investigation, he had given his phone number to the guy.

"Yes, it's me," he immediately responded, "What's up?"

"I found something a bit strange while sorting through my uncle's belongings... I thought you might be interested."

Yu Sheng's expression instantly became serious. He looked up at Little Red Riding Hood while quickly replying on the phone: "Okay, we'll come right away; we'll be there soon."

"What's the matter?" Little Red Riding Hood couldn't help but ask curiously after Yu Sheng hung up the phone.

"It's Old Zheng's nephew. He seemed to have found something while sorting through Old Zheng's belongings," Yu Sheng said as he stood up. "I've finished here, so let's head over and check it out."

Little Red Riding Hood froze for a moment, then immediately stood up as well. "How do we get there?"

"Open the door directly."

When Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood arrived, Old Zheng's nephew looked visibly surprised.

He probably didn't expect that Yu Sheng's "we'll be there soon" over the phone would be so literal.

Compared to a couple of days ago, the young man looked less fatigued and his mental state seemed to have improved a bit. He quickly recovered from his surprise and, without questioning how these two "detectives" managed to arrive so quickly after the call, stepped aside to let them in.

Yu Sheng noticed that many things in the room were packed up. Some large pieces of furniture and appliances were gone, probably sold off as second-hand items or sent back to the old home over the past couple of days. The otherwise empty living room still had an old coffee table and a few stools, with a partly eaten takeout noodle box on the coffee table.

"Sorry, it's a bit messy here. There was more to sort than I expected, and it's taken me two days and I'm still not done," the young man said awkwardly, throwing the takeout packaging into the trash and quickly wiping the table with a tissue. "The Special Service Bureau came by these past two days. I told them about my uncle, and they said the matter has gained attention at the top. Those criminals will be arrested soon... Do you want something to drink?"

"No, thank you," Little Red Riding Hood waved her hand, speaking quickly. "Show us the 'strange thing' you found first."

"Here it is," the young man said as he opened a drawer under the coffee table and pulled out a small, ancient yet exquisite wooden box. "It was hidden in a secret compartment in the cabinet by my uncle. I think it was very important to him."

Yu Sheng took the box and opened it curiously.

Little Red Riding Hood also leaned in immediately.

But inside the box was just a wrinkled, black piece of something that looked like dried seaweed or some kind of ribbon-like object.

The unsightly dried object lay quietly on the red velvet cloth. Yu Sheng couldn't figure out what it was and thought it looked like one of those things middle-aged people used to soak in wine—kind of fitting for Old Zheng's age.

But as he was pondering, Little Red Riding Hood suddenly let out a soft gasp.

Yu Sheng quickly turned his head. "What's wrong?"

"I feel a bit dizzy..." Little Red Riding Hood frowned, cautiously looking away from the wooden box. "And I heard a strange noise. This thing... there's something wrong with it."

"Right? I got dizzy too, just from one glance. I quickly closed it back up," the young man said instantly, looking frightened. "So I suspect that this thing is one of my uncle's 'mysterious objects'. It's definitely not something an ordinary person like me can handle—"

Halfway through his sentence, Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood stared at him together.

"...I didn't know what it was before I opened it," the young man said, embarrassed. "My uncle hid it so carefully; I had to see if it was anything useful."

Little Red Riding Hood curled her lips. "…Good thing you're not in the Special Service Bureau, or you'd be a fixture on the annual typical accidents wall by now."

Meanwhile, Yu Sheng, after hesitating for a moment, cautiously reached out his finger towards the dried object in the box.

The young man was alarmed and quickly spoke without looking into the box, "Hey, I told you not to—"

Yu Sheng didn't lift his head. "This is different. We're professionals."

Before he could finish speaking, his finger had already touched the object.

The cry of a baby pierced into Yu Sheng's mind.

The sound seemed to emanate directly from the depths of his soul or from a distant place, transmitted into his consciousness via the object in the box. The clear yet unsettling cry echoed in his mind, causing a momentary daze.

In the next instant, he abruptly pulled back his finger.

In that brief contact, "knowledge" had been transferred. He knew what the object was.

Little Red Riding Hood's worried voice came from beside him, "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," Yu Sheng said, shaking his head slowly. He gradually regained his composure, looking at the box in his hand with a strange expression. "I know what this is."

"Huh?"

"...This is an umbilical cord."

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