"The orphanage is standing up…"

Li Lin said urgently on the phone. As an elite operative—though perhaps not that experienced yet—this young man was always able to remain calm, but this time, the situation before him had clearly exceeded all the training and combat experience he had received.

"To be exact, it's those two buildings. They are 'growing,' as if they're turning into some kind of plant, making huge noises while intertwining with each other—we've already requested support from higher-ups, and we are retreating outside the perimeter wall. The nearby blocks are undergoing emergency evacuation, and just now something came from underground…"

The voice on the phone suddenly became intermittent, as if it was experiencing severe interference. Then, Yu Sheng heard the cry of a baby and a piercing noise similar to an alarm. At first, he thought the noise was still in his mind, but the next second he realized it was coming from the phone receiver—

The baby's cry from the other end of the phone overlapped with the noise in his head, making him feel dizzy.

Until Erin's frantic movements finally woke him up: "Hey! Yu Sheng, Yu Sheng! What's the matter! What's happening! What?!"

"Anka Aela… The orphanage is the container for that Dark Angel!" Yu Sheng took a sharp breath, summoning a portal to a distant place with a wave of his hand, "Hu Li, Erin, come with me!"

But then he suddenly thought of something, and stopped the action of opening the portal abruptly.

He raised his head and looked around the camp huts—in the blood-connected links, he could sense that almost every child had now fallen asleep, and some of them had even entered the Sanctuary Wilderness.

"Erin," Yu Sheng turned to look at the puppet, "You need to split yourself…"

"Is that even a human request?!"

"Stop interrupting—split and go to the Sanctuary Wilderness. Remember how we opened the teleportation gate to the Black Forest? I just thought of something that might help us break through the Wolf Pack in the Black Forest, and it will require your ability…"

He paused for a moment, a hint of unusual light appearing in his eyes.

That was the kind of look Erin was familiar with, the look when "Yu Sheng had an idea."

"I'm going to give Anka Aela a big one…"

...

In the dark night sky, strange roars and creaking noises echoed unsettlingly, as if the entire world was being torn and pierced by some unstoppable force. The gigantic structures, made of reinforced concrete and eerie black material, extended toward the sky like rapidly growing and out-of-control limbs, twisting and deforming into spiral shapes. That scene…

It was like a twisted umbilical cord connecting the sky and the earth.

However, once outside the perimeter wall of the orphanage, all the strange clamor and terrifying sights disappeared. From the nearby blocks looking towards the orphanage, everything seemed normal as if those horrifying mutations and erosions were just illusions trapped within the walls.

But Li Lin knew that thing was "overflowing." He could clearly see the dark perimeter wall occasionally bulging, like a fetus about to be born, moving its hands and feet inside the womb. After retreating outside the wall, he could still occasionally hear strange noises in the night sky. Looking up, he saw the contorting "umbilical cord" structure appear every one or two minutes, although only for a moment, but it was indeed still growing, becoming more hideous and bizarre each time.

Before retreating, the sensing devices set up inside the orphanage's perimeter wall were transmitting numerous chaotic data. The images presented on the surveillance screens became increasingly unrealistic, with numerous indescribable shadows emerging around the two buildings. They looked like swaying crowds, struggling limbs, and even more terrifying inhuman entities.

At this moment, Li Lin's peripheral vision suddenly caught a glimpse of a phantom door appearing in the nearby air. The door opened, and the figures of the Travel Inn Trio emerged from it.

For some reason, he suddenly felt a sense of relief—as if he had seen the backup sent by the Special Service Bureau.

Yu Sheng walked out of the door quickly, holding a frightening club in his hand. He walked straight to Li Lin, while glancing back at the orphanage gate.

In the night, the door occasionally twisted, as if something was constantly crashing into it, trying to escape from the "no-go zone" delineated by the wall.

"What's the situation now?" Yu Sheng looked away, turning to the Special Service Bureau officer in front of him, "I saw those two buildings are still…"

"The mutation is currently confined within the perimeter wall and can only be observed by going inside, but it is overflowing," Li Lin interrupted Yu Sheng quickly, explaining in an urgent tone, "Before we retreated, we tried to rush into those two buildings to set up some emergency monitoring devices, but the buildings almost instantly altered their structures—as if they sensed our intentions, 'erasing' their doors and releasing a lot of twisted shadows to stop us—so we had to pull back here first."

Yu Sheng nodded: "I understand. You stay here, we three will go in and take a look."

Li Lin was taken aback: "Wait! Just the three of you? You're going in directly?"

Yu Sheng had already stepped forward, turning his head upon hearing his words: "Yeah, what else?"

"No, I thought you would have a more detailed plan, or wait for the follow-up support from the Special Service Bureau to coordinate… at least there should be some combat plan…"

"Ah," Yu Sheng scratched his chin, thought quickly for a moment, and then shook his head, "I really haven't thought that far—our club is non-professional."

After saying that, he took large strides and walked through the gate that was swelling and deforming in the night sky right in front of Li Lin and his stunned colleagues.

Then, Yu Sheng saw the "reality" within those walls.

The upper parts of the East and West Buildings had already turned into a pile of bizarre fragments, within the broken wall structures, an eerie black substance like fibers was supporting those fragments. The lower parts of the buildings, though still barely maintaining their original appearance, were completely covered by heavy shadows—aside from these two main buildings, the entire orphanage was filled with overflowing shadows and undulating substances. The swings and slides where children once played were engulfed and swallowed by those substances, the sandbox and flowerbeds were rippling with suspicious ink-like liquid, and the sound of a baby's crying...was simultaneously coming from Yu Sheng's mind and reality.

"Ugh..." Erin tightly grasped Yu Sheng's hair, her whole puppet body tense, "I suddenly feel that barging in directly isn't a good idea..."

Beside them, Hu Li's fur stood on end, her nine tails flared like a peacock: "Savior, it seems we can't go in..."

However, Yu Sheng did not respond; he was intently staring at the two main buildings intertwined like a huge umbilical cord—

He realized he seemed to see something that neither Li Lin nor Erin and Hu Li could see.

He saw that between the two twisted and towering main buildings, among the black substances surging in the grounds, there was indeed a path.

He saw faint glowing traces spreading across the broken and deformed ground, extending all the way into the spiral structure that was once the East Building.

A slight heat emanated from near his chest, growing more noticeable, even bringing a faint burning and tremor.

Yu Sheng reached into his coat, quickly finding the source of the heat.

A bullet with a spiral tip.

It was heating up as if it had just been fired from a scorching barrel, fulfilling its mission to reach its target.

In the corner of his eye, Yu Sheng saw the black shadows undulating in the outdoor activity area were gradually transforming into towering trees, the swings and slides being engulfed by the viscous substance were slowly blooming with forest flowers.

Little Red Riding Hood must walk on the countryside paths.

The Big Bad Wolf is to attack the lone girl on the path.

Wolf Grandmother awaits her prey in the final cottage.

And the Hunter—the Hunter will traverse the forest to reach the cottage.

"Follow me..."

Yu Sheng said softly, he slowly clenched the bullet in his hand, as if following his intuition, he walked towards the two main buildings still growing in the night sky, intertwined with each other.

Hu Li followed without hesitation, although her nine tails still stood on end like a sword tomb.

Erin hugged Yu Sheng's head with one hand, eyes wide open, then fiercely waved her hand, "Oh, forget it! I'm a puppet of Alice's Cottage!"

The dark silk threads emerged from the puppet's hands, floating and weaving around the three, forming an illusory barrier.

Yu Sheng seemed not to hear the voices around him, just following his intuition forward. Gradually, he seemed unable to see the surging shadows and viscous eerie substances, unable to see the crooked twisted walls and blocked doors and windows. He walked forward in the soft glow, treading a secret path only visible to him, passing through shadows and seemingly blocked walls and gates with Erin's soft exclamation. In Yu Sheng's view, he was merely walking through some forest lights and shadows.

A dense forest grew in the first-floor hall, the reception area entrance crowded with bushes, a dead tree trunk lay across the stairs leading to the second floor, vines hung from the roof, nearby walls cracked, and classrooms inside filled with twilight glow.

Yu Sheng climbed a dirt slope covered with vines, passed through a dried-out tree hollow from a window, used a stick in his hand to clear away blocking grass, and stopped at the end of the path, seeing a sign lying in the dirt and fallen leaves at his feet.

The sign read "Reading Room."

"Yes, the Reading Room—in the orphanage, all 'stories' are intertwined with this place."

He muttered to himself softly.

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