Upon "hearing" the two words spoken by the Hunter, Yu Sheng was momentarily taken aback, but what surfaced in his mind next wasn't suspicion, wariness, or excitement, but rather a memory—

In one of his previous dreams, he had seen the "Hunter" appear silently before him. Driven by curiosity, he had reached out to touch the empty Hunter's clothes, only to see his hand pass straight through the sleeve—if he hadn't been startled, he would have worn the Hunter's attire then and there.

... So that strange dream was the Hunter's first "attempt"?! At that time, the Hunter was trying to get him to wear this "Hunter's clothes"?

Yu Sheng furrowed his brows and, being cautious, did not take further action. Instead, he spoke in a deep voice, "Reason?"

"We know what you're looking for," the hollow, indistinct voice reappeared in his mind, "The path to the 'Deep Layer' is blocked by illusions; only by becoming a part of 'it' can one bypass this forest. We successfully discovered this method, but we cannot resist its will, so we have to act according to the stage's 'script' up to now. But you... you seem capable. Wear this attire, become the Hunter in the Black Forest—then you will see the true path within the forest.

"If you truly have the courage and determination to confront it, then go face it."

Yu Sheng sharply noticed that the Hunter had used a special word when referring to itself: we.

"You are the Deep Dive Team from that year—you've fused into one entity?!"

"Yes, just as you think—'it' cannot distinguish our individual and collective selves. So after the 'rupture' occurred, we fused during the descent," the Hunter responded. When talking about this, it did not seem to have much emotional fluctuation, only a faint sense of nostalgia, "But we still remember many things. The group photo you brought..."

However, at this moment, an abrupt, loud buzzing resounded through the forest, interrupting the voice in his mind. The immense feeling of oppression felt like it was crushing every nerve ending, stimulating all of his perceptions. Yu Sheng felt his spiritual intuition trembling madly, a certain illusion of being scrutinized by an immense presence made his heart skip a beat—in the illusion, he seemed to see a shadow sweep across the Black Forest, composed of countless enormous, grotesque eyes, carrying a bone-chilling pressure and indifference.

The illusion vanished in an instant. Yu Sheng found the forest briefly calm again, and the Hunter's voice resumed, this time with a hint of urgency, "Hurry! We have little time left—it's now aware that the actors on stage are acting on their own. The 'Hunter' must revert to the state before the Wolf Grandmother appears—you have to trust us, we've been waiting for this opportunity, 'it' is about to..."

Yu Sheng suddenly stepped forward, reaching directly for the Hunter's clothes.

He knew he was being somewhat reckless this time.

The intelligence revealed by the "Hunter" was insufficient, and there was not enough interaction between him and "them" to establish any mutual trust. What would happen after "wearing" the clothes, what he should do, what the so-called "true path" looked like, how to follow that path through the Black Forest, and what it would be like to face Anka Aela... These were all things the other party hadn't had time to clarify. To act on impulse at this moment was indeed a bit life-undervaluing.

But he didn't have time to think it through.

Because at this precise moment, he once again sensed Anka Aela—that shadow composed of countless "eyes" swept over the Black Forest again, like some mechanical scanning process searching through all storage spaces. He could almost "hear" everything in the Black Forest responding to this "scan" command, resonating. The noise mixed with the crying of infants grew increasingly loud. Yu Sheng vaguely perceived that the Dark Angel trapped in the depths of the "Fairy Tales" had already detected him, had found this "invader" in the Black Forest.

He could open the door and leave, but doing so now would likely expose the coordinates of the real world to the Dark Angel.

Yu Sheng's hand penetrated the Hunter's clothes once more—just like in the previous dream. The Hunter was like a hollow illusion; there was no sensation of a physical body upon contact.

But Yu Sheng could feel that as he lunged toward the empty attire, the "connection" between him and the Hunter's clothes suddenly intensified.

Anka Aela's gaze suddenly turned towards him, like a puppet on stage suddenly moving and arousing the vigilance of its puppeteer.

Yu Sheng felt the clothes covering him, felt as though he was hiding inside an additional "shell." He felt a slight sluggishness in his mind, and many emotions and memories that did not belong to him briefly surged in, but then they passed away soundlessly. However, in that brief contact, he still captured many fragmented scenes—

He saw twelve people in heavy protective gear standing together, and he was among them.

He heard the sound of commands by his ear, along with the sound of water filling the "deep-dive pool."

He heard chaotic whistling, countless voices—the voices mixed and gradually distorted, with the hum of numerous devices operating simultaneously.

He saw himself traversing a darkness, saw his "shell" splintering.

Raging out-of-control energy licked at the protective layer, and the internal structure deconstruction alarm signal burned like magma coursing through nerves. Countless error messages flooded his mind, and a voice shrieked—

Warning, "umbilical cord" rupture, warning, "umbilical cord" rupture...

Loss of core connection...

Yu Sheng felt his mind jumping between different perspectives, and these perspectives did not solely belong to the Deep Divers from seventy years ago—he saw many "memories" that couldn't possibly come from human senses, and the last scene he saw was himself falling through chaotic, mad light and shadow.

The end of the fall was a clearing, surrounded by a few low, dilapidated buildings.

The light went out.

Yu Sheng opened his eyes, draped in the Hunter's attire, standing in the center of the dark hut.

His vision swayed, and many red cloaks swayed like flames in the darkness, quietly igniting the night.

Anka Aela's gaze swept across the roof of the hut.

Yu Sheng lifted his gaze. Through the edge of the Hunter's hood, he saw the roof of the hut seemingly disappear briefly, and the shadow composed of countless eyes moved slowly in the sky, gradually "falling" towards the edge of the Black Forest.

It did not notice the "invader" hiding within the Hunter's attire.

Yu Sheng calmed his mind and tentatively asked within himself, "Are 'you' still there?"

He received no response.

But he vaguely heard some hollow howling, the howling seemed to be consciously sending him a "signal".

It seems "they" were still around, just hiding to avoid further agitating Anka Aela.

Yu Sheng stood in place, quietly pondering for a moment, then looked down at his body and cautiously raised his arm.

He saw himself wearing the hunter's clothes, but when he tried to move his arm, he felt no unusual sensations.

It seemed the worst hadn't happened—his only previous worry was that the process of "putting on" the hunter's clothes was a trap, which would lead to him being controlled by the outfit and becoming the next "Hunter" who must act according to the Black Forest's rules, a fate worse than death. But now, it seemed none of that had occurred.

Yu Sheng blinked; he vaguely felt that something about himself had changed, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. At the same time, he sensed a gaze.

Following the feeling, he saw a squirrel squatting nearby—the little creature was nervously waiting beside him, visibly trembling, but had ultimately not escaped the room.

"So..." the squirrel said in a very soft voice, "You're a 'Hunter' now too?"

"Maybe?" Yu Sheng thought for a moment and stepped forward to pick up the squirrel. "But it doesn't seem like much has changed..."

He suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

The squirrel, looking worried, scratched Yu Sheng's finger with its paw. "What's wrong?"

Yu Sheng didn't respond; he was just staring blankly at the wall in front of him.

That wall was "flickering" in his vision.

The wall was flickering erratically, sometimes disappearing, sometimes reappearing. When the wall disappeared, he could directly see the view of the Black Forest outside—and the entire Black Forest was flickering in his vision too.

Every tree, every flower, every bush was flickering randomly, like a faulty projection screen. Everything in the Black Forest had become an insubstantial flickering illusion, and as time passed, this sense of unreality grew stronger.

Yu Sheng dazedly walked forward, carrying the squirrel directly through the flickering wooden wall and stepping outside the cabin.

"Wow!" the squirrel exclaimed in shock, having not reacted in time earlier. "We just walked through the wall! How did you do that?!"

But Yu Sheng didn't have time to answer the squirrel's question because he saw something else.

A huge rift, just like the crack torn open in Old Zheng's room when Anka Aela's tentacles pierced the reality, was quietly standing in the center of the Black Forest.

It had been there all along—the path to the backstage was hidden in the Black Forest.

It's just that no one had been able to see it all this time.

"Do you see that?" Yu Sheng lifted the squirrel and pointed in the direction of the rift with his other hand.

The squirrel seemed a bit dazed. "Huh? What?"

"...Never mind," Yu Sheng shook his head. "It seems only 'Hunters' can see it."

He took a deep breath, and stepped towards the rift.

However, in the next second, as he took the first step towards the rift, an endless chorus of howls and a terrifying roar made him stop abruptly.

The squirrel screamed, "Wolves are coming!!!"

The wolves are coming—

Countless wolves appeared in Yu Sheng's vision.

Yu Sheng was certain, even when he led Hu Li to blast a path through the Black Forest to fight the Wolf Grandmother, there weren't this many wolves surrounding them!

Countless wolves directly appeared out of the air, filling every inch of space in the flickering forest backdrop, as if all the wolves in the forest had suddenly crowded onto the stage—tangible malice and murderous intent thickened the air, almost making the blood smell appear.

Yu Sheng gasped sharply, but he still gritted his teeth and reached behind to grab the hunting rifle, holding it awkwardly in his hands.

"Come on—"

He said through gritted teeth.

And then, the wolves lunged and tore him apart.

Into tiny pieces.

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