Chapter 172: Information

A gate shimmering with faint light opened out of thin air, and Yu Sheng stepped out from inside, immediately seeing Hu Lizheng standing in the living room, turning to look this way, while on the opposite sofa sat three Ailins, neatly arranged.

Yes, now there were three Ailins.

"Benefactor, you're alive!" Hu Lizheng was the first to run over happily, grabbing Yu Sheng's hand and shaking it vigorously, "Is everything okay? Does it not hurt anymore?"

The fox-girl's grip was extremely strong; Yu Sheng immediately felt his shoulders creaking and groaning: "Everything's fine, everything's fine, stop shaking, you're about to pull my arm off..."

Then the three Ailins on the sofa spoke up, in unison: "Did you see that Hunter?"

Yu Sheng rubbed the down behind Hu Lizheng's ears, walked over to another sofa looking somewhat weary, and upon hearing Ailin's words, couldn't help but sigh: "Sigh, I saw her."

"Then why are you sighing?" one Ailin asked with a strange expression, "What? Was the negotiation not smooth? How did the two of you talk?"

Yu Sheng waved his hand with a gloomy face: "One shot, instant kill, what's there to say."

Ailin was puzzled for a moment, then realized what Yu Sheng meant, immediately frowning: "The Hunter shot you? That doesn't make sense... You didn't show her that group photo? She saw it and still shot you? Did she think you were a scammer? Or did seeing it trigger memories and turn grief into hatred?"

"So many words," Yu Sheng sighed, reaching out to poke the Ailin who was speaking on the forehead, but one finger failed to budge her; instead, his index finger hurt—this must be the one made of rebar mixed with stone, "I suspect she mistook me for a wolf. At the time, wasn't I contaminated by the Wolf Grandmother's blood? Maybe the contamination was a bit heavy."

Ailin listened as Yu Sheng spoke, and after he finished, her expression stiffened: "... Huh? That's possible?!"

"Otherwise there's no other explanation," Yu Sheng sighed wearily, leaning back on the sofa—although his physical injuries had completely healed after his "resurrection," the mental exhaustion brought about by the mutual contamination with the Wolf Grandmother and "intervening" in the Black Forest cycle was not so easily alleviated, "I didn't do anything extra, just showed her the group photo, but that photo, no matter how you think about it, shouldn't be a reason for her to shoot..."

Speaking of this, Yu Sheng stopped, unable to help but frown and ponder.

The scene of that hollow, formless shell raising its hunting rifle at him repeatedly floated in his mind: that empty hood, a gaze that seemed to exist yet was invisible, that hunting rifle...

Whether it was an illusion or not, Yu Sheng always felt that the Hunter's act of shooting at him wasn't that simple; he always felt the other party wanted to communicate with him at that moment, even... that shot seemed to be her communication.

But Yu Sheng could not understand.

He frowned deeply, and just then, he suddenly felt a vibration from his phone.

In the split second when he instinctively reached into his pocket, Yu Sheng suddenly remembered he seemed to have forgotten something; looking down at the screen, he indeed saw messages and missed call records from Little Red Riding Hood—there must have been over ten messages and seven or eight missed calls.

Yu Sheng broke out in a cold sweat immediately; the Ailin beside him leaned over to take a look, instantly let out an "Oh no," and then started chattering: "We're done for. You kicked the person out so decisively back then, now the debt collectors are here. Let me tell you, humans at sixteen or seventeen are the hardest to deal with, especially girls like this who carry deep grievances, care about face, and have been strong-willed since childhood. You should have known when you kicked her out of the team..."

Yu Sheng casually pushed the chattering Ailin beside him away; instantly, the three Ailins fell over like dominoes, erupting into a flurry of colorful language and witty remarks—Master Yu was instantly drowned in triple the amount of profanity.

Ignoring the tripled cursing from the small doll, Yu Sheng answered the phone with a worried face; before he could even open his mouth, he heard Little Red Riding Hood's voice on the other end, furious yet unable to hide her concern: "Why did it take you so long to answer? Where the hell were you?"

Yu Sheng was also awkward: "... Dead in the house."

Little Red Riding Hood: "...?"

Obviously, a certain young Spirit World detective had prepared a belly full of questions and a mountain of complaints during the time she couldn't reach him, but now she was choked up by Yu Sheng's single sentence, leaving not a word.

After several seconds, the voice on the other end of the phone continued, the girl's tone clearly weakened by more than eight octaves, sounding hesitant: "Really... died again?"

Saying this, she was clearly very unaccustomed to it, and her voice was kept very low, as if afraid someone nearby might hear.

"Nothing major, you'll get used to it eventually," Yu Sheng comforted the other party, "This isn't important; what matters is that we successfully killed the 'Wolf Grandmother' once—after you left."

Little Red Riding Hood suddenly fell silent, not speaking for a long while.

After a long time, a somewhat low voice came from the other end of the phone: "It's useless, she will appear again."

"Yes, she will appear again, but we are weakening her bit by bit; next time you face her, she might not be so dangerous. And more importantly, I have now successfully found some clues behind the 'Black Forest'," Yu Sheng said calmly, while his mind recalled the scenes of "illusions" he saw in his dazed state when the wolf poison erosion was most severe, those branch-like structures interwoven on the "other side" of the Black Forest, resembling blood vessels and neural networks, "I have successfully implanted a 'backdoor' into the Black Forest's 'cycle' system. Our gains today were significant."

A soft intake of breath came from the other end of the phone.

Yu Sheng immediately continued: "Now I have a question."

"You ask." Yu Sheng hesitated: "When you were dealing with that 'Hunter'... did she shoot at you?"

"The Hunter shot at you?!"

"Do you think how I died in the end," Yu Sheng sighed, "was just because she blew me away with one shot."

"... The Hunter only shoots at 'wolves', usually meaning the Wolf Grandmother," Little Red Riding Hood hesitated, "but theoretically, if the Wolf Grandmother has already been killed by you, the Hunter will disarm. Under normal circumstances, her desire to attack isn't actually that high..."

"Then what if my body was contaminated by the Wolf Grandmother's blood at the time?" Yu Sheng asked immediately, "Would the Hunter misjudge because of this and mistake me for a wolf too?"

Unexpectedly, Little Red Riding Hood's answer was very direct and definite: "Of course not."

"So sure?"

"The Hunter can accurately identify 'wolves' and won't misjudge due to mere blood. Although I don't know the specific principle by which she makes judgments, this accuracy can be confirmed," Little Red Riding Hood stated firmly, "I have been pointed at by the Hunter's gun many times. I have been swallowed by the Wolf Grandmother, swallowed by evil wolves, and contaminated by their blood. In terms of 'wolf' components, I am definitely higher than you, but the Hunter's bullets have never been wrong..."

Yu Sheng silently listened to the information Little Red Riding Hood conveyed; after a long while, he nodded gently: "I understand, then it seems I still need to think about this matter carefully."

Afterwards, he exchanged a few more words with the other party, mutually confirmed safety, and endured a few complaints from the girl before hanging up the phone.

This work is organized and uploaded by~~

The three Ailins had by then climbed back onto the sofa as if nothing had happened; one of them leaned over: "So what's the verdict? What exactly did that shot from the Hunter mean?"

Yu Sheng shook his head, opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly felt his throat itch a bit.

He coughed twice, but the itchiness in his throat not only did not weaken, but became even more unbearable.

He began to cough violently, uncontrollably, as if trying to cough out his heart, coughing so violently as if trying to tear out his lungs and trachea.

Ailin and Hu Lizheng beside her were instantly startled by Yu Sheng's violent coughing fit; they immediately rushed over to pat his back and smooth his breath. Hu Lizheng was so anxious her tail fur stood on end: "Benefactor, are you okay! Benefactor, are you allergic to my tail..."

Ailin was also extremely anxious, patting Yu Sheng's back hard while shouting: "Holy crap, I feel like you're about to cough to death! What suddenly happened... Are you going to die again? You just came back to life!"

Yu Sheng coughed violently, gagging hard several times at the end before finally struggling to stop; then he raised his hand to wave at Hu Lizheng, pushed Ailin's arm away, and his voice was hoarse: "Stop patting, you'll pat me to death... Next time, don't use this body to pat my back. Who uses rebar to hit people."

Ailin widened her eyes, about to protest, but saw Yu Sheng straighten his body while panting heavily, then open his right hand.

It was something he had just spat out from his mouth during the violent coughing.

Hu Lizheng looked at the small metal lump with confusion: "What is this?"

Ailin's eyes were also a bit dull: "... A bullet tip?"

Yu Sheng said nothing, merely steadying the discomfort in his chest while staring intently at the thing lying in his palm.

It was indeed a bullet tip, its surface still stained with bright red blood threads, yet its appearance was somewhat strange—a short and thick bullet tip, the head bearing spiral ridges, resembling neither a conventional rifle bullet nor a shotgun pellet, and larger than a handgun round by a circle; its tail and waist showed layers of dense patterns, those patterns seeming machine-pressed, yet not merely decorative, but carrying a certain... mysterious sense symbolizing supernatural power.

The discomfort in his chest gradually vanished, and his breathing became smooth.

Ailin held Yu Sheng's hand, looking up: "So this is..."

"The Hunter's 'message' to me," Yu Sheng murmured softly.

Ailin frowned: "Then how should we handle this..."

Before the doll's voice had even faded, Yu Sheng had already picked up his phone.

He took a photo, edited the message, and sent it to Baili Qing, all in one breath.

(End of this chapter)