Snow White was the first to spot Yu Sheng's figure. She immediately waved and called out cheerfully, which prompted numerous children to look over. At this moment, they finally acted like normal kids, showing surprise and curiosity, chattering away, or asking the older kids beside them heaps of questions. Some children who had met Yu Sheng before called out excitedly, appearing happy and thrilled.

Yu Sheng quickly walked over, paying no mind to Snow White calling him "Door-opening Brother." He bypassed the group of little kids' heads and directly came to Little Red Riding Hood, his face serious as he scrutinized her up and down.

Little Red Riding Hood was stunned by his gaze and subconsciously asked, "What's wrong?"

"Where's Xiao Xiao?" Yu Sheng asked quickly.

"She's in that queue," Little Red Riding Hood pointed towards the line of children, "the one at the very end."

Yu Sheng immediately turned back to look and saw the skinny, small girl standing in a queue with a group of five or six-year-olds, carrying a small backpack, and a pink water bottle hanging around her neck, waving energetically towards them.

"I just entered the illusion of the Black Forest," Yu Sheng waved at Xiao Xiao with a smile, then turned to Little Red Riding Hood with a somber expression, "I thought you or Xiao Xiao had accidentally entered the 'Subset'..."

Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth in surprise but didn't manage to say anything.

"It seems the leakage conditions are changing. Even if the 'main characters' haven't entered the Dream Realm, their corresponding Subsets are starting to leak into reality," Yu Sheng said urgently, glancing around the hall, "Is everyone here?"

"Those who could be woken are already up, but those trapped in 'nightmares' cannot be forcibly awakened—counting the 'parents,' there are twenty-two people," Little Red Riding Hood replied, "The King's Near Guard Knight Order is guarding those rooms. If necessary… we'll just have to carry them out directly."

"Will it be dangerous?" Yu Sheng noticed the gravity in Little Red Riding Hood's expression and immediately asked.

"Forcibly moving or overstimulating someone in a nightmare state can destabilize them. The erosion from 'Fairy Tales' will accelerate, and the probability of encountering powerful enemies within the Subset will greatly increase—this process is somewhat like stimuli in the real world transforming into fear within the nightmare," Little Red Riding Hood explained, "But given the urgent situation, we probably can't afford to consider these factors."

She pursed her lips, seemingly weighing the options swiftly, then took a deep breath: "Anyway, we now have your 'Protection.' In the nightmare, encountering powerful enemies can be mitigated by retreating into the wilderness. Administering a dose of Sanity Blocker to temporarily suppress the erosion and forcibly taking them away… Comparatively, the side effects of the blocker are minor issues."

Yu Sheng frowned but quickly nodded: "Alright, you arrange it."

In this matter, he decided to trust Little Red Riding Hood as the "professional."

Afterwards, he headed straight to the large door in the hall on the first floor.

The children stared at him with curiosity, dozens of gazes mixed with nerves, confusion, expectation, excitement, and unease.

Yu Sheng took a light breath and placed his hand on the door handle.

"Erin." He called the Puppet inwardly.

"Oh, here I am! How's your situation over there?"

"Are you at the mountain valley construction site now?"

"You wanted me to go to the wilderness… Erin paused, then quickly reacted, "Ah right, I'm at the site! I have a body over here! The person in charge freaked out when they heard the kids would be transferred early, so they're setting up a temporary kitchen and tents. The water purifier and generator are connected; we'll have instant noodles if we're hungry…"

"No need, the children have snacks with them," Yu Sheng interrupted the Puppet, "I'm about to open the door here; you be ready to receive them and take the kids to the platform first—just be careful they don't get hurt. The real world is midnight now, while it's daytime in the valley. The children might get excited when they get there; don't let them run around."

"Oh, okay! I'm ready here!"

Yu Sheng finally breathed a sigh of relief, then calmed his mind.

He felt the door in his hand establish a temporary connection with the valley.

The next second, he gently pushed open the door that usually led to the orphanage's outdoor activity area—

Bright, sunny skies, an endless grassland, distant mountains, a river flowing at the mountain's base, and a cheerful Puppet lady waving at the door appeared before everyone's eyes.

The children exclaimed, followed by a cacophony of chatter.

There was quite a commotion, but this was the most normal sound for a group of five or six-year-olds to teenagers gathered together—the quiet assembly and orderly line-up earlier was not appropriate for their age group.

But the noisy scene only lasted for a moment. They soon quieted down, forming several teams centered around the older kids. The teams quickly reorganized themselves and turned their eyes to their closest "parents."

Now it was an "emergency state," and they knew they had to wait for the next instructions.

"It's just like a field trip," Yu Sheng broke the silence, smiling at the children, "Go ahead, it's a good place."

"Come on, everyone follow me—those behind, follow the brothers and sisters in front!" The long-haired princess spoke, leading the first group as they headed towards the gate leading to the valley. "Everyone listen to the instructions, don't run around after passing through, follow the brothers and sisters to the gathering place!"

The children started lining up to walk through the gate. For each group of children that passed, there would be a "parent" in the middle as a node. The kids around the age of fourteen walked on both sides, responsible for counting and checking the status of each younger sibling as they passed through the gate.

A few minutes later, the near guard knights summoned by the King also arrived in the hall—these tall and burly knights carried the still-sleeping children silently and quickly towards the valley on the other side of the gate.

Meanwhile, Yu Sheng could occasionally hear various strange sounds coming from the underground corridor, outside the walls of the East Building, and from certain areas upstairs.

Off-key music, knights shouting, singing, and the sounds of gunfire.

Outside a nearby window, lights were shining as if a banquet was being held. A prince was about to marry a mysterious princess who was said to have been asleep in the ruins for a hundred years. They would hold a party in the square in front of the castle, with bonfires burning, until the entire city turned to ashes;

Bells rang, and a large ship was docking in the night sky. The sailors whispered secrets of the sea, where a half-human, half-fish creature was said to be lurking among them. The smell of the ocean was spreading under the deck. Soldiers on the shore lit fire pits fueled with whale oil, and the hunt would begin as soon as the ship docked;

A group of soldiers lined up, walking across the ceiling of the hall, wearing strange tabards that looked like playing cards, and then disappeared into the corners of the rooftop;

Children with small backpacks, holding small water bottles, hand in hand, lined up in the hall. The older kids started singing nursery rhymes with the little ones singing along. Their variegated, off-key songs mixed with court music, horns, whistles, and gunfire as they walked through the illusory ballroom, past sailors, soldiers, talking lions, and the fire and sea water that began spreading on the floor, heading towards the bright valley—

Walking, walking, little hands holding big hands.

"Don't look to the sides! Don't let go of each other's hands! Follow the brothers and sisters—let go after passing through the gate!"

Walking, walking, big hands holding little hands.

"The last group—'Jack,' you go over with the long-haired princess to help maintain order, and follow Erin's arrangements over there."

The illusions faded once more, and all the sounds that shouldn't be in the real world also started to fade.

"King, take the knights and check all the floors again, be quick."

With Little Red Riding Hood's final instructions, the surroundings gradually quieted down. The youngest children had all passed through the gate, leaving only a few "parents" in the hall. As most of the people left, Yu Sheng noticed that a certain "atmosphere" in the orphanage that had always been turbulent finally settled down.

He didn't know how to describe this feeling; he only knew that his spiritual intuition was calming down.

It seemed that tonight's "leak" had finally stopped.

"It's quiet..." Snow White Princess looked around, carefully listening to the orphanage. "It seems to have stopped?"

Yu Sheng also relaxed slightly, then asked in his mind, "Erin, how's the situation on your side? Are there any abnormal phenomena in the valley? What about the wilderness?"

"Everything is normal here. The kids' mental state is good after coming over, and no 'leaks' were found in the valley. Those still sleeping children and 'parents' have been moved to several temporary tents," Erin replied, pausing slightly before continuing. "Nothing unusual on the wilderness side either. According to their responses, each 'subset' seems to be calming down quickly."

Yu Sheng's always tense expression finally relaxed a bit. He turned to the still tense Little Red Riding Hood and showed a smile. "Good news, the 'valley' isolation is effective."

Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White Princess both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Should we prepare to retreat as well?" Snow White Princess asked. "Lest something happens if we delay."

"We checked upstairs and downstairs," the King's voice came from the stairway. "Everything is normal, no one left behind."

Little Red Riding Hood then nodded, "Alright, let's retreat."

The two humans and a cat quickly passed through the gate to the valley.

Of course, Yu Sheng stayed last—after all, he was responsible for opening the door.

After Little Red Riding Hood also left, he breathed a little sigh of relief and took one last look at the now quiet hall before passing through the gate.

In that instant, he suddenly froze.

A hollow figure clad in hunter's clothes was standing there silently.

Yu Sheng blinked.

The "Hunter" disappeared in that blink of an eye.

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