There are two underground levels in the West Building of the orphanage. The first basement is a semi-underground storage room, mechanical room, and general classroom. The second basement has underground passageways leading to the East Building and many disused old structures. The history of this orphanage is so long that even the buildings considered "new" have been around for decades. The deepest, oldest parts of these two buildings are rarely visited even by the "parents" of the orphanage.

Little Red Riding Hood only remembers being brought to the underground levels of the West Building for an "adventure" by a few older kids twice when she was very young. Even back then, it was already dirty, old, and forgotten. Now, more than a decade later, it seems unchanged. The dirty concrete floors and peeling walls give the impression of having always been this way, from the time it was built to when it might collapse.

But Little Red Riding Hood knows that every part of this building actually receives at least minimum maintenance, including these seemingly forgotten corners. Volunteers sent by the Council regularly inspect all facilities, repairing the power, water, and drainage systems. The adults care for the children within their abilities. Therefore if there were any eerie changes in these old passages beneath the West Building, it would surely have caught the staff's attention.

After all, the "volunteers" sent here must have undergone specialized training.

Since there are no reports, it suggests the changes happened recently—at least everything was normal during the routine inspection not long ago.

"Mice... cockroaches... Oh, not even an ant," the King squatted on the shoulder of the Heavy Armor Mercenary, looking lazy, but his feline vertical pupils seemed to scan the entire place repeatedly. "Use your good nose, Little Red Riding Hood. The air here smells moldy, but other than that... all other scents are too 'clean'."

Shadowy wolves appeared in the shadows beside Little Red Riding Hood. She frowned slightly, her gaze sweeping over the moldy corners of the underground passage: "Were there mice here before?"

"What a stupid question—of course there were," the King looked up at Little Red Riding Hood, his gaze like he was looking at a fool. "Mice and cockroaches are the best at survival in this world. Even if all humans die out, they wouldn't go extinct—I've been here many times before; it used to be very 'lively'."

Little Red Riding Hood didn't say anything, only looked solemnly at this place that seemed outwardly normal. The wolves' shadows roamed around her in the air, occasionally letting out anxious whimpers.

"Let's keep moving forward," she suddenly said to the King, "to the connecting passage between the East Building and the West Building."

"Alright."

…

A fully armed action squad silently moved through the shadows between the buildings, gradually approaching the seemingly ordinary structure ahead.

This place is located at the edge of the old factory district in the Southern Old City. Nearby are mostly old residential buildings built three to four decades ago. At this time of day, the residential area is usually bustling with people outdoors, but today it's eerily quiet—

It's as if an invisible force has driven people away from the streets. Even if someone occasionally looks this way from a distant intersection, they quickly and naturally shift their gaze away after seeing the vehicles parked at the residential entrance and the strange devices standing in the clearing. It's as if this entire area has "disappeared" from people's "attention".

A Special Service Bureau Commander in a black uniform stood beside a mobile "node" device at the residential entrance, looking up at the target building not far away—a six-story old building with white walls and a blue roof standing out under the blue sky. Several seemingly unremarkable "small birds" were circling around the exterior walls, occasionally approaching a window on the third floor. The action squad that had moved forward had already entered the building, reporting the situation ahead through the intercom.

"This is 'Hunter', we have reached the designated floor. The surrounding environment is stable, awaiting further orders."

As the action squad's report came through the headset, the on-site commander ordered them to stand by, then turned to look beside him.

A young Special Service Bureau Officer was slightly lowering his head, perceiving the field of vision transmitted by those "birds".

"Can you determine the situation inside the room?" the on-site commander asked.

A small bird lightly landed on the windowsill of the target building's third floor, peering inside.

"I can't see the interior, but I can sense residual spiritual waves. The target room indeed contains extraordinary power," the young officer quickly said. "... further perception is blocked, so I can't determine the exact location of personnel—there must be interference set up."

"A classic cult trick," the on-site commander smirked. "Knowing they're inside is enough... 'Hunter', prepare to breach the door."

"Yes!"

…

The urgent phone ringing abruptly interrupted Song Cheng's work. He reached out and picked up the receiver, glancing at the caller ID. His expression instantly turned serious.

"Hello, it's me—what's the situation?"

A rapid report came through the receiver. The next moment, Song Cheng stood up directly from behind his desk.

"What do you mean 'all dead'? Explain—are you saying all the sacrificial victims captured by Angel Sect are dead? Were innocent people sacrificed at the scene? Or the original residents of the building..."

The voice from the other end of the phone was hurried, and Song Cheng's expression gradually hardened.

"...All those damn cultists are dead?!"

...

Yu Sheng sat on the second-floor balcony of the East Building, watching through the window as the children played in the yard. He saw a group of youngsters running about, shouting and laughing under the guidance of older kids. A slight smile slowly appeared on his face.

It was a subtle feeling, but he could sense a faint "connection" forming between himself and these children. He could even vaguely feel the cheerful, carefree emotions emanating from the playground.

Just like the clear sky today.

"It's really nice," Erin climbed onto the windowsill next to him, looking out at the playground, her tone filled with emotion. "Children's happiness is so simple. It'd be even better if they stopped chasing me all over the yard."

"They really like you," Yu Sheng said merrily, looking at the grumbling little doll. "I saw in the classroom earlier; two little girls were even trying to help you comb your hair, weren't they?"

Erin nearly fell off the windowsill as soon as he mentioned it. "Damn it, don't talk about such horrifying things! I saw them pull the head off a doll to comb its hair with my own eyes! It scared the hell out of me!"

Hu Li was also standing nearby, with a contemplative expression on her face since a moment ago. She suddenly broke the silence, "So, all the children in this orphanage are now protected by Savior's Witch Blood Technique, right?"

"Yes," Erin said, swinging her legs on the windowsill. "All seventy-plus children in the orphanage are now in Yu Sheng's hands..."

Yu Sheng immediately glared at the doll. "Could you use a better phrase? What do you mean by 'in my hands'?!"

Hu Li ignored Erin's interruption and, after serious thought, continued, "But this is only a temporary measure. Savior has just protected the children currently influenced by the 'Fairy Tales.' There will always be new children affected. We need to find a fundamental solution moving forward."

"Exactly... we still need a way to solve this problem at its root," Yu Sheng sighed, speaking slowly. "I wonder if Little Red Riding Hood found any issues—I'm feeling a bit uneasy since earlier."

Erin's expression turned serious immediately. "This kind of thing can't be neglected—Is your Spiritual Intuition warning you?"

"Not that serious," Yu Sheng hesitated, carefully evaluating before shaking his head slowly. "It's just at the level of 'spiritual intuition wobbling,' not yet 'spiritual intuition jumping around frantically.'

Erin was dumbfounded for a moment before blurting out, "When are you going to stop using that crazy description? Who can understand what it means..."

Yu Sheng scratched his head, about to say something more, when hurried footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the corridor, interrupting him.

The three at the windowsill all turned to look and saw Little Red Riding Hood walking quickly towards them, followed by a plump tabby cat.

Seeing the look on the girl's face, Yu Sheng knew she must have found something unusual.

"What did you find?" he immediately asked.

Little Red Riding Hood gestured quickly and said, "The rats and cockroaches in the West Building's basement are all gone."

Yu Sheng was stunned for a moment and exchanged glances with Erin, not understanding right away. After a few seconds, he hesitated and spoke, "Um... congratulations?"

"Is this something to congratulate?" Little Red Riding Hood immediately glared at him. "This is clearly an anomaly! And I haven't finished. Then, 'King' and I checked along the West Building's basement passage and found some things near a ventilation shaft connecting the West and East Buildings."

As she spoke, she quickly pulled out her phone and showed a picture to Yu Sheng.

Curiously, Yu Sheng took the phone and saw a hurriedly taken photo from the underground passage on the screen.

The lighting in the photo wasn't great, and the lens seemed to be covered with a layer of blurry material, but he could still see numerous overlapping shadows on the corridor wall.

Yu Sheng frowned, trying to discern what those shadows on the wall were. After a while, he suddenly took a shallow breath.

"It's trees," Little Red Riding Hood said slowly from beside him. "Weak light passing through the forest casts tree shadows on the wall, forming such shadows—in the basement passage of the West Building, the wall reflected the appearance of the Black Forest."

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