Chapter 142: When Tomorrow Suddenly Becomes Worth Looking Forward To

Yu Sheng wasted no words; after receiving confirmation from Little Red Riding Hood, he directly pulled open a door in the corridor right in front of Rapunzel and Xiao Xiao (and, of course, filed a one-click report at the same time).

A illusory door emitting a faint glow appeared out of thin air, and the landscape opposite the door was unfamiliar.

"Wow..." Rapunzel's eyes instantly widened, her face filled with shock as she looked at the scene before her, "This is... what?"

While maintaining the door, Yu Sheng casually said, "My ability? Didn't Little Red Riding Hood tell you?"

"Uh, she did mention it a little, but I didn't expect it to be like this," Rapunzel's shock had not yet faded, and looking at the opposite side of the door, she added a bit more curiosity, "What is on the other side of the door?"

"Interested? You can all go together," Yu Sheng smiled, extending the invitation very openly, his gaze falling on Xiao Xiao again, "Want to go over and play? It's hard to find such a vast place in the Border City."

Xiao Xiao immediately raised her head, looking at her "parent" with a questioning and cautious gaze.

Little Red Riding Hood's heart was full of doubts; for some reason, she felt the landscape on the other side of that door was vaguely familiar, but due to the angle, she dared not be sure. However, after noticing the half-smiling, half-serious expression on Yu Sheng's face, she could be certain it was a safe place—so after a slight hesitation, she nodded to Rapunzel: "Come along together. Since Yu Sheng said you can go too, there shouldn't be any danger."

"Uh... okay, then I'll go tell the others first, I'll be back soon!"

As Rapunzel spoke, she turned and ran quickly down the corridor. Then, not a few minutes later, she came rushing back in a flurry—carrying a small schoolbag in her hand: "I'm back, I'm back, we can set off."

Yu Sheng looked at what the other person was carrying with a bit of confusion: "Uh... what is this?"

"Water bottle, tissues, small snacks, and band-aids. Children must bring these when they go out," Rapunzel said while putting the small schoolbag on Xiao Xiao's back, "Ah, right, and a hat. I forgot the little yellow hat. Wait for me..."

"We aren't going on a picnic," Yu Sheng said with a mix of helplessness and amusement, "And that place has no cars or crossroads. Besides, if it's really necessary, I can open the door and come back anytime."

"Ah? Oh, oh, okay," Rapunzel finally reacted belatedly; her personality seemed a bit rash, "Then what place is on the other side?"

"Nothing, just a vegetable patch," Irene casually said from the side.

Rapunzel's face was full of question marks, but before she could ask again, Little Red Riding Hood had already stepped through that door, followed immediately by Hu Li and Irene. Yu Sheng, controlling the door with one hand, made an inviting gesture to her and Xiao Xiao with the other: "Go over first, you'll be greatly surprised."

A momentary loss of weight and dizziness, along with the brief sensory confusion caused by the environment switch—the entire process took less than a second, and those who crossed the door had already left that orphanage, standing in a vast world.

Rapunzel looked with shock at this place with blue skies, Gaoshan, and large expanses of valley, then noticed that Xiao Xiao, who had come over with her, had widened her eyes—the girl, who was always a bit nervous and reserved in strange new environments and didn't speak up much usually, had a strange look of wonder on her face; such an incredible scene had obviously had a great impact on her.

"Wow—"

Xiao Xiao finally cried out in surprise, a big smile blooming on her face. She raised her hand, pointing to the vast mountain ranges in the distance and the wasteland covered in a layer of pale green, then giggled.

Completely unaware of what she was laughing at, one could only see that the child was very happy.

However, Little Red Riding Hood, who had crossed the door first, was now standing dazed in place. She seemed not to hear the laughter coming from behind, but stared straight at the Gaoshan on both sides of the valley, her expression gradually shifting from confusion to shock, even showing a hint of tension.

She finally recognized this place—although it had changed completely, she could still recognize the outline of the entire valley.

But the next second, she saw things that made her even more shocked.

She noticed the open platform located in the center of the valley (she was standing right beside the platform now), noticed the vast vegetable patches outside the platform that were obviously artificially leveled, noticed the unfinished irrigation canal on one side of the platform, and... the simple toilet at the edge of the platform that looked ugly.

The girl's train of thought was blocked by this pile of unrelated scenes; she tried to imagine for a long time but couldn't come up with any conclusion.

She could only look up at Yu Sheng, but saw that Yu Sheng was also looking at her with a half-smile.

"Do you remember what I told you? I want to get rid of that Black Forest, even solve the problem of 'Fairy Tales'," Yu Sheng came in front of Little Red Riding Hood and slowly said to her, "You told me that 'Fairy Tales' cannot be eradicated because the Otherworld is just like that—but I don't think so. Now look at this place, this is the 'evidence' I give you."

"This is... Nightfall Valley?" Little Red Riding Hood finally broke the silence, but didn't know how to continue. She had already sensed that unimaginable changes had happened here, but reason made her dare not think about what this truly meant.

"It used to be called that, but now I'm planning to give it a new name," Yu Sheng raised his head, gazing at the distant scenery, "Ever since that Big-Eyed one left, there has been no night here. Now I'm more worried about how to make normal day and night cycles appear here—if it's always daytime, many vegetables won't grow well, but I don't know how to build greenhouses."

Little Red Riding Hood blinked her eyes; her ears were following, but her train of thought wasn't.

She found that the biggest problem when dealing with Yu Sheng and his group (although the human content was questionable) was that her train of thought could never keep up.

However, after two or three seconds, she finally reacted: "Wait! What about the Hunger Entities lurking here?"

"Gone," Yu Sheng spread his hands, "The last dish you saw when I left you at home for a meal last time was the final plate."

Irene beside him added, looking up: "By the way, he's quite regretful about that."

Little Red Riding Hood: "...?"

Her train of thought didn't keep up again.

"Hunger Entities... gone?" After another two or three seconds, Little Red Riding Hood finally reacted, and immediately, out of reason, a series of storm-like chain deductions arose. She finally realized what Yu Sheng's lightly spoken words meant, "Wait! Do you mean that 'Hunger' entities will never be generated here again?"

Yu Sheng nodded: "That's right—hereafter, not only will 'Hunger' no longer be generated here, but I also plan to turn this place into the meat, vegetable, and grain production base for the Inn, although it is just in the starting stage now."

Little Red Riding Hood didn't pay attention to what Yu Sheng said in the second half. She suddenly stepped forward two paces, and her eyes became sharp as a wolf's in that instant: "So, the rules of this Otherworld have been permanently changed? No... the rules of the Otherworld are its essence; changing the rules means... the original 'Otherworld' here has perished? No, that's still not right, this valley is clearly still here..."

"Bai Li Qing had a very fitting saying," Yu Sheng saw that Little Red Riding Hood was a bit confused due to her emotional agitation, so he smiled and waved his hand in front of her, signaling her to calm down, "This valley is now like an empty shell left after being eaten hollow—the rules that once filled this shell and the entities born with those rules were eroded in that feast. The valley that remains is just a harmless shell."

Speaking of this, he paused, then added another sentence: "Also, this 'shell' now seems to be 'connected' to 66 Wutong Road. Although I haven't sorted out the space-time structure between the two, you can consider that you are now standing in the 'courtyard' of 66 Wutong Road."

Little Red Riding Hood said nothing.

She seemed not to be listening to Yu Sheng's second half of the sentence at all.

She just stood there dazed, motionless for a long time, her eyes seemingly frozen in their sockets, gazing steadily at a very distant place, gazing at the clear sky and the healed earth, gazing at the pale green on the hillside, gazing at... this "Otherworld" that was no longer filled with hunger and despair.

Light footsteps came from the side; it was Xiao Xiao. This child, who always kept her head down and didn't speak in the orphanage, now had a brilliant smile on her face. She ran all the way to Little Red Riding Hood's side, raised her hand high, and handed over a bunch of wild grass: "Sister Red Riding Hood! There are flowers!"

The next second, the little girl suddenly froze. She kept her hand raised, looking up uneasily: "Why are you crying? Does it hurt? Is your body going to crack open too?"

When speaking the last part, the child was obviously already a bit afraid.

But Little Red Riding Hood suddenly lowered her head, quickly wiped her face, and when she looked up again, her eyes were full of smiles. She reached out and took the bunch of wild grass from Xiao Xiao's hand, then rubbed the other's head: "No, the cold wind blew into my eyes... This is just a bunch of wild grass, there are no flowers, you know?"

"It fell on the road," Xiao Xiao smiled again, "Then the wind blew it away. You have to pretend it's still in your hand..."

"... Okay, it's still there," Little Red Riding Hood said, then rubbed the girl's hair hard again, "Thank you for your flowers."

Immediately after, she straightened her body, looking for Rapunzel.

She saw that Rapunzel, at some unknown time, had climbed onto that strange platform and was curiously studying something beside that strange and ugly "house." After a while, the other person suddenly raised her head and waved her arms enthusiastically towards this side.

"Hey! Little Red Riding Hood! There are chickens raised beside this toilet too! A whole flock!"

Little Red Riding Hood faced the bright sunlight and squinted her eyes slightly.

It's so good, she thought to herself—suddenly there are again some things in life worth looking forward to, it's so good.

Only Yu Sheng suddenly wasn't very happy.

"That's not a toilet!" he shouted, jumping up and down, at the girl on the platform, "That is the first-phase project of our club's headquarters!"

(End of this chapter)