Chapter 137: The Hunter

Yu Sheng belatedly perceived the deathly silence surrounding the small hut.

The invisible wolf pack had vanished, retreating into the shadows of the Black Forest at some unknown time; silence enveloped everything, and that most vicious wolf, belonging to "this generation's Little Red Riding Hood," had never appeared—but Yu Sheng could feel that wolf's gaze.

That wolf, which had once devoured him, was now staring at this small hut from a very distant place; it had already detected the appearance of its prey, but for some reason, it had taken no action.

What was it observing? What was it waiting for? Or perhaps... was that wolf on guard, wary of something?

Yu Sheng cautiously extended his perception, attempting to analyze the latter's behavioral patterns or logic from that wolf's gaze, but just then, he suddenly "saw" a shadow within that gaze.

Near this small hut, on a clearing between the forest bushes, a figure had abruptly appeared—a human figure.

Yu Sheng's nerves instantly tensed, and almost at that same moment, he also heard footsteps coming from outside.

They were human footsteps, gradually approaching, trampling on the fallen leaves and rotting earth outside, neither hurried nor slow, already nearly at the door.

Yu Sheng's heart suddenly tightened; he thought of something, immediately raised his head to glance around, and then quickly hid in a corner.

And almost the instant he had just finished hiding, the small hut's door was pushed open.

A tall figure appeared at the doorway—under the dim, cold starlight, Yu Sheng saw only a green and brown hunting outfit, and a thick hood that obscured the newcomer's face; he saw that figure holding a long hunting rifle, entering the hut with a somewhat comical gait, half-bent at the waist.

The Hunter has arrived.

But the Big Bad Wolf was already dead—dead before the Hunter arrived.

Yu Sheng saw that tall figure in the hunting outfit take two steps forward and then suddenly freeze, obviously having seen the Big Bad Wolf lying on the ground, already gutted.

The "script" that was originally supposed to be completed by it had been tampered with, so this "entity," also generated by the Black Forest, simply froze abruptly in place, like a process that had hung.

The Hunter did not move, and Yu Sheng, hidden in the corner, dared not move either, so the small hut fell into an eerie silence.

Yu Sheng even felt that there was a bit of awkwardness in this silence.

And just then, Erin's voice abruptly rang out in his mind: "Hey! Yu Sheng! Are you alive? How's the situation over there? Why haven't you come back yet?"

"I'm fine, but a small situation came up," Yu Sheng said quickly in his mind while staring intently at the "Hunter" frozen in place, "How's the situation 'outside'? Did Little Red Riding Hood and that child both 'go back'?"

"Things are going very smoothly on my end; Little Red Riding Hood is currently vomiting in the water room next door, and that child has woken up too, going to vomit with Little Red Riding Hood; it seems the 'Sudden Awakening' had quite a big impact on both of them," Erin chattered on, "Honestly, I was startled too! That child actually did 'come back to life'; someone whose heartbeat and breathing had stopped for a long time can actually be resurrected! How on earth did you manage that... hey, by the way, what exactly is the situation over there? I heard Little Red Riding Hood say you killed the 'Wolf Grandmother'? So now..."

"Yes, I killed the Wolf Grandmother, so the 'Hunter' is stuck here," Yu Sheng sighed, interrupting Erin's rambling, "Do you know the 'Hunter'? The one who ran out at the last moment to save Little Red Riding Hood—I stole his job."

Erin didn't make a sound over there; she might have been unable to react for a moment.

After two seconds, the doll's voice rang out again: "Huh?! Stuck?! Can it be like that?"

"That's the only way to explain it; what else?" Yu Sheng's tone was also helpless, "Anyway, right now it's still standing there; I'm hiding in the cabinet corner behind it, and it's awkward to go out—mainly because I'm not sure what reaction this thing will have, after all, it should also be an entity generated by the Black Forest, and might have some taboos or something."

"Then are you two just comparing willpower there? If not, just withdraw first; I'll pull you out..."

"Don't yet!" Hearing that Erin was preparing to forcibly "pull" him out, Yu Sheng quickly interrupted her; recalling the feeling after the "Sudden Awakening," he suddenly felt it would be better to go up and provoke death, "I'll go probe the reality first; at least I need to see what this Hunter actually looks like."

While speaking, he had already stood up stealthily from his hiding place and then slowly walked toward that tall figure in the hunting outfit.

The "Hunter," however, seemed not to hear the commotion coming from behind, still standing dumbly beside the Big Bad Wolf like a statue.

Yu Sheng gradually grew bolder and no longer restrained his footsteps; he took a few steps and arrived beside the Hunter, poking his head out to take a look at the other party.

Erin's voice rang out in his mind: "Hey hey, how is it? Didn't get beaten to death? What does that Hunter look like?"

Yu Sheng was silent for two seconds: "... Under the clothes, it's empty."

He looked at the "Hunter" before him, seeing that it was just a set of empty hunting clothes; under the hood there was no face, only some hollow shadows.

The entire "Hunter" was just a set of clothes floating there.

But whether it was an illusion or not, he always felt that under that empty hood there seemed to exist... a "gaze"; as if there was an invisible face there, a pair of eyes staring at him.

Yu Sheng shifted half a step to the side; the "Hunter" before him remained motionless, but he always felt that the "gaze" coming from under the hood also seemed to have shifted a little along with him.

"Hello," Yu Sheng hesitated for a moment and finally tried to greet this "entity" before him, "My name is Yu Sheng, uh, just arrived."

Erin's beeping immediately rang out in his mind: "Ah, sounds so stupid."

Yu Sheng was expressionless: "Shut up!"

The Hunter made no response to his greeting; only that sense of invisible observation still existed.

Yu Sheng felt a bit awkward and raised his hand to point at the wolf corpse on the ground: "This, I did it—sorry for stealing your job."

In that instant, he keenly noticed that the folds at the edge of the Hunter's hood had changed.

This "entity" was moving its gaze along with the direction of his finger, and moreover... it might even have nodded its head.

It can communicate!

Yu Sheng's heart stirred, but he immediately controlled his expression and cautiously continued speaking: "The child who was eaten by the 'Wolf Grandmother' has already been saved by me."

The Hunter's hood moved slightly again; this time Yu Sheng saw clearly that it was indeed nodding.

"It seems you have no hostility toward me," Yu Sheng tried to make himself look friendlier and slightly extended his right hand toward the other party, "If we stand from the perspective of opposing the 'Evil Wolf,' we are on the same side."

The Hunter suddenly took half a step backward.

Yu Sheng was stunned by this sudden reaction from the other party, and immediately after, he saw the other party continue to retreat quickly backward—as if it were a reverse playback of entering the door; this invisible "entity" wearing the hunting outfit and hood retreated quickly with that slightly comical yet extremely strange gait, taking a few steps back to the small hut's doorway, and then almost in the blink of an eye disappeared into the vast night outside.

"Hey—" Yu Sheng subconsciously reached out his hand and called out, but he couldn't stop this strange entity at all.

Erin's voice came from his mind: "What happened?"

"The Hunter suddenly ran away just as I was about to shake hands with it," Yu Sheng was also completely confused, "I feel I shouldn't have provoked it anywhere."

While speaking, he sighed, but just then, something intruded into the corner of his vision.

That seemed to be a piece of paper, dropped on the ground when the Hunter left quickly just now.

Yu Sheng bent down and picked up the piece of paper, seeing that it was yellowed and fragile, about the size of a palm; its surface might originally have had something written on it, but it was covered with layer upon layer of grime—ink stains, oil stains, and even possibly bloodstains—so that the content on the paper was completely unrecognizable.

"I picked up something..."

After holding the piece of paper and examining it carefully for a long time without result, Yu Sheng muttered in his mind.

"Ah? What did you pick up?"

"A piece of paper, dropped from that 'Hunter,' but it's so dirty and broken that nothing can be seen."

"Uh, do you think you can bring it out?" Erin's tone sounded a bit uncertain, "I should only be able to 'pull' your consciousness out... or should I go in right now and show you on the spot? I'm not very skilled in Oddity Studies and Relic Appraisal; you can completely not count on me."

Honestly, Yu Sheng didn't even notice anything wrong with what this doll said at first; he was stunned for a moment before realizing it, and laughed out of anger: "You are actually honest!"

Saying this, he shook his head, carefully stowed the paper that seemed ready to shatter at any moment, and stepped over to the wolf corpse.

"I'm going to try opening a door from here to see if I can bring something out—but this is my first time opening a door from an 'awareness world' like the 'Black Forest' into the real world. I'm not sure what will happen. Have Little Red Riding Hood and the others stay far away; best if they wait outside the room. Just you and Hu Li stay here to guard."

"Oh, okay!"

After receiving confirmation from Erin, Yu Sheng took a deep breath, and then... first took out his mobile phone to take a look.

He didn't understand whether the "mobile phone" he pulled out while his consciousness was in the Black Forest should count as an actual existing object or just something he dreamed up in a dream; anyway, there was no signal for the phone here.

Looks like there's no way to report in, but the Special Operations Bureau should be used to it... right?

A jumble of random thoughts flashed through his mind. Yu Sheng put away his mobile phone, then bent down and dragged up one of the wolf corpse's legs. With his other hand, he pulled at the air, and a phantom, faintly glowing large door appeared out of nowhere beside him.

(End of this chapter)