Chapter 122: Erin Drilling Through

To be fair, reestablishing contact with Erin was indeed a relief for Yu Sheng—and although this little doll was a bit annoying to talk to, her coming through this time had genuinely revealed extremely useful information.

The self in the real world was indeed still "dreaming," but clearly it wasn't normal dreaming; Erin believed her consciousness had become "lost," meaning…

Yu Sheng lifted his head, scanning the cozy little wooden cabin, then looked out the window at the vast night beyond.

This "forest"… was a "mental space" existing somewhere, complete and sealed, like a trap that would "pull" the dreamer's consciousness inside while severing all contact with the outside world.

Thinking about it, Erin seemed pretty impressive—she'd managed to find him even under these conditions?

Thoughts flashed rapidly through Yu Sheng's mind, and at the same time, Erin, after rattling off a stream of chatter, finally got to the point: "Yu Sheng, what's your situation over there? How did you suddenly get 'lost' just from sleeping? Where exactly is your consciousness now?"

"... I'm in a black forest. If I'm right, this should be the Black Forest from 'Little Red Riding Hood.'"

Erin was baffled: "... What do you mean, 'the Black Forest from Little Red Riding Hood'?"

"It's a bit complicated to explain, but in short—back when I was at the museum, wasn't I bitten by the wolf that crawled out of Little Red Riding Hood's shadow? Now it seems I've established a connection with her," Yu Sheng said, carefully choosing his words. "Little Red once said that 'fairy tales' are another realm, and her power is a curse. The place I'm in now should be the one that trapped her…"

Yu Sheng told Erin everything that had happened to him: being chased by an invisible wolf, encountering a talking squirrel—though he omitted the details of the "temptations" he'd seen along the way.

"You mean… you're currently with a squirrel?" Erin listened, stunned. The doll probably never imagined that going upstairs to sleep could turn Yu Sheng's life into such an adventure. "So what's the situation outside your cabin? Is it safe? Can you get out yourself?"

"It's quiet outside now, but I can feel eyes—those wolves are gathered somewhere in the black forest," Yu Sheng glanced out the window. "But I don't think it's a problem. This cabin seems safe enough, and if things turn bad, I should still be able to escape… Though I don't understand the mechanism, even in this 'dream,' I can still 'open doors' normally."

Erin made an "oh" sound, then after a few seconds, her voice came again into Yu Sheng's mind: "Do you have any picture frames or canvases around?"

Yu Sheng instinctively looked around: "No… why are you asking?"

"I'm trying to see if I can 'drill' through to your side," Erin said. "You're not in your own dream, so I can't reach you directly—I need a medium, like the 'coordinates' you use when opening doors. If you don't have picture frames or canvases, do you have anything you can draw on? A pen, a sheet of paper, anything."

Yu Sheng got up and walked around the cabin, finally finding a few chunks of pitch-black charcoal beside the fireplace.

The squirrel, perched on the table, clutching a giant acorn, stared at Yu Sheng pacing around with utter bewilderment, and finally couldn't hold back: "What are you doing?"

Yu Sheng didn't look up: "I have a friend coming to visit."

The squirrel was dumbfounded: "... What?"

Yu Sheng didn't explain further—he just told Erin: "There's nothing here except a few pieces of charcoal…"

But the doll immediately replied: "Fine. Draw a frame on the floor…"

Yu Sheng: "How come every time you compromise, you always go so far down?"

"It's an emergency!" Erin was perfectly calm. "Rituals are about the process, especially dream rituals—they emphasize sincerity. If you're sincere, great. If you're not, fine too. As long as there's some symbolic meaning, it'll generate direction…"

"... God damn sincerity, even insincerity works!" Yu Sheng's complaints stuck in his throat, but he still picked up a piece of charcoal and went to the center of the cabin, drawing a frame on the floor as Erin instructed. "Fine, the frame's done. Now what?"

"Then draw an utterly gorgeous, adorable, elegant, mature lady—exactly like me."

Yu Sheng stayed silent, standing there without responding.

Erin's voice dropped eight octaves: "... Not that gorgeous is fine too. Just make it look like me."

Yu Sheng remained silent.

The doll gave up: "... Just draw a human shape. Below it, write my name, using the letters I taught you."

"That's acceptable," Yu Sheng finally lowered his head and began sketching Erin's outline and her true name within the charcoal frame, muttering to himself as he drew: "You know my artistic skills—don't start with unreasonable demands from the beginning…"

The squirrel, watching curiously since earlier, now saw Yu Sheng drawing on the floor and scribbling strange symbols and letters, and completely lost its mind, suddenly shrieking: "Hey hey—you, whoever you are—what are you doing?! This… this is witchcraft?! I'm warning you, don't mess around—there are already enough deadly things in the black forest…"

"I told you, a friend is coming," Yu Sheng didn't look up. "Don't worry—it's not dark witchcraft. My friend is sealed inside a cursed oil painting, and you need a special method to summon her."

The squirrel nearly choked, its big tail flailing wildly as it bounced up and down on the table, but clearly dared not approach.

At that moment, Yu Sheng completed all the steps of this crude "artwork."

The squirrel, which had been bouncing around on the table, suddenly froze.

It stared with its glossy black eyes at what Yu Sheng had drawn, and its face showed a distinctly human expression of relief.

"You scared me—I thought you were some evil wizard. Turns out you're into abstract art—drawn this ugly, what even are you summoning…"

A shimmer suddenly rippled across the surface of the crude "painting" on the floor.

The squirrel's last words died in its throat as it bit its own tongue.

A simple yet solemn oil painting slowly rose from the shimmer, the charcoal lines on the floor dissolving and evaporating as the painting fully materialized in midair.

It floated before Yu Sheng and the squirrel, Erin inside the frame, hands on hips, smugly declaring: "Yu Sheng! I've come to help you!"

The squirrel on the table let out a "ga!" and fainted, lying on its back, tail twitching.

Yu Sheng rushed over and shook the squirrel awake: "Hey hey, what's wrong with you?"

The squirrel slowly came to, saw the oil painting floating lazily behind Yu Sheng, the gothic doll peering curiously from the frame, and shuddered again, tail curling: "... Has witchcraft gotten this desperate these days? You summon something that looks like a wild goblin…"

"That's the squirrel you mentioned?" Erin studied the "little animal" curiously, then turned to Yu Sheng. "Kinda interesting. It's got a red cloth tied around it. By the way, what did it mean by 'wild goblin'?"

"Cough cough—probably just a local specialty of the black forest… let's not get into that," Yu Sheng cleared his throat and changed the subject, pointing at the doll in the frame. "This is my friend—her name is Erin—she's also a friend of Little Red Riding Hood."

"Hello," Erin politely greeted the squirrel, then added, "Actually, we've got a fox too—another friend of Little Red—but she can't come in. She's guarding the outside."

The squirrel listened, stunned, then suddenly started clawing at its own face, pacing frantically in circles on the table: "What's happening? What's happening? This never happened before… The black forest has never seen anything like this. Strange, it's getting strange…"

"Uh…," Erin, seeing this, leaned close to Yu Sheng's ear and whispered, "Why does this squirrel seem mentally unstable?"

"It's always been like this—nervous from the moment we met. It even smokes," Yu Sheng whispered back. "But think about it—if a squirrel can talk, what do you expect?"

The squirrel circling on the table suddenly stopped. Whether it had heard Yu Sheng and Erin's whisper, it raised its head sharply and pointed at itself: "I am a squirrel."

Erin jumped, then nodded blankly: "Uh, yeah, I can see you're a squirrel."

"Does Little Red have many friends?" the squirrel immediately asked, eyes locked on the doll in the frame. "Many like you… weird, seemingly powerful, able to enter the black forest… friends?"

"I… I don't know how many friends she has. We've only known each other a short while, haven't met her other friends yet," Erin hesitated, then immediately bragged, "But if you're asking about power—we're amazing! I'm a doll from Alice's Cottage! We've got a fox who can shoot out her tail—when she transforms, she takes up two parking spaces…"

But the squirrel didn't seem to be listening to Erin's bragging. Instead, it suddenly brightened, scampering rapidly across the table, muttering to itself: "The important thing is you can enter the black forest—you can get in… then she won't have to walk the path alone… This has never happened in the black forest… Yes, something unprecedented… something outside the rules… an 'accident.' If there's an accident, there's a chance—maybe…"

Yu Sheng frowned, exchanging glances with Erin.

(End of Chapter)