Chapter 174

After arranging the matters assigned by the Director, Song Cheng returned to his office, lit a cigarette, and gazed out the window in a daze.

Layer upon layer, endlessly repeating and piling up, maze-like concentric walls extended outside the window, stretching toward an endless distance, while a torrential rain poured out from between the walls of that maze, flying toward the sky to wash over another land above the sky.

Song Cheng blinked in a trance, then remembered it was Friday; the floor where his office was located would move to the observation level of the "Maze" area after twelve o'clock.

Friday, how good, something to look forward to; tomorrow would be the pleasant weekend... the overtime day.

Song Cheng smiled self-mockingly, casually pulled down the office blinds, turned to the desk, and looked at the several files his subordinate had just delivered.

These were all materials related to the Otherworld "Fairy Tale," and some were intelligence regarding members of the current "Fairy Tale Organization."

Thanks to the recent activity of a certain "New Spirit World Detective Organization," the focus of attention in several departments of the Special Operations Bureau had now shifted to "Fairy Tale."

Casually pressing the cigarette out in the ashtray beside him, Song Cheng calmed his mind and began reading the paper documents before him.

After an unknown amount of time, a somewhat hurried sound of footsteps suddenly came from the corridor outside the door, causing Song Cheng to stop flipping through the files.

The moment the knocking sound rang out, he had already spoken: "Come in."

The office door was pushed open, and Ren Wenwen, with short black hair, appeared at the doorway: "Captain Song, the arrest team dispatched to Nancheng has returned and successfully completed the mission."

"Did you catch those two Angel cultists?" Song Cheng raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, a hint of a smile appearing on his face, "Any other big fish?"

"It seems... no," Ren Wenwen shook her head, "The arrest team waited there for a few days; the two cultists seemed to be acting alone, or perhaps they were standard 'disconnected members.' After their superior assigned the task, they temporarily cut off that line. Do you want to go over and check the situation?"

"... Okay, I'll go right now."

In the bedroom, Yu Sheng was sleeping in a daze.

An expedition in the Black Forest and a fierce battle with the Wolf Grandmother had consumed too much of his energy; although some inexplicable excitement sustained him, making him feel not too sleepy, the moment he returned to the bedroom and lay on the bed, less than two minutes later, he fell asleep amidst a sudden and irresistible wave of drowsiness.

In a half-dreamy state, he heard rustling sounds coming from beside him; that might have been the doll intending to take a nap as well; he also heard the sound of barefoot footsteps in the corridor, which should have been Hu Li returning to her room.

Then, he heard the hollow sound of wind; the wind blew through the forest, stirring the lush branches and leaves, passing through those towering ancient trees and withered, fallen trunks, whistling hollowly, and in between, it seemed to be mixed with the faint crying of an infant.

Yu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes.

He saw himself lying in darkness; around him, a thick, chaotic curtain seemed to hang, and behind the curtain, there seemed to be something, but it was impossible to see clearly; in the darkness before him, he distinguished a tall and hazy shadow.

That shadow wore an old hunting outfit and a dark-colored hood; beneath the hood was empty, with no body.

But Yu Sheng could clearly feel that within the void beneath that hood, a gaze was quietly fixed upon him.

He jolted awake, rose from the darkness, and stared fixedly at that figure in the hunting outfit.

At the same time, Yu Sheng quickly glanced around with his peripheral vision, judging the situation before him.

Was he back in the Black Forest? It didn't seem like it... there were no such scenes in the Black Forest; this thick curtain felt more like his own dream... but just now, he seemed to have heard the hollow wind blowing through the forest, which felt very much like the Black Forest... and there was another sound in the wind, was that the crying of an infant?

Was this his dream? Was it the Black Forest? Or was it... that his "dream" had connected to some strange thing again?

Yu Sheng quickly steadied his mind; after discovering he could not yet determine what was happening here, he focused his attention on that illusory figure before him.

The other party remained motionless, as if they had no intention of suddenly raising a hunting rifle to shoot him.

"Hello," Yu Sheng tentatively spoke, greeting the other party, "Should I call you 'Hunter'?"

That figure gave no response.

"You must be," Yu Sheng felt a bit awkward but could only continue talking to the other party on his own, "We met in the Black Forest, twice—the second time you even shot me; of course, I didn't really mind; you must have your reasons for doing so, right... hey, buddy, can you give some response? You're making me very awkward like this."

"Hunter" still gave no response, as if simply a phantom projection that had appeared for some reason in this dark space suspected to be a dream. Yu Sheng frowned tightly; he cautiously stepped forward while observing the other party's reaction, then carefully circled around the figure.

"Can't you speak?" Yu Sheng asked curiously.

He still received no response.

After a stalemate like this for a while, Yu Sheng finally gritted his teeth and reached his hand toward the hunting outfit floating in the air.

He only wanted to touch the other party to see what reaction the Hunter would have; however, the next second, he discovered his fingers had easily penetrated that clothing.

Yu Sheng was instantly startled, then saw that "Hunter" was still just standing there blankly, which made him feel slightly relieved; emboldened, he continued to extend his hand forward.

He felt a slight resistance, the resistance, half-real and half-illusory, produced when his fingers penetrated the "fabric"; afterwards, he felt a slight chill, like touching air that was three or four degrees lower than the surrounding environment, but apart from that, there was no special sensation.

Yu Sheng stood beside "Hunter" like this, completely inserting one of his arms into the interior of that hunting outfit, then suddenly frowned.

Unintentionally, part of his arm that had entered the hunting outfit overlapped with the sleeve on the outfit—a scene as if he was "putting on" that sleeve.

The next second, he saw that sleeve, which had originally floated in mid-air like a phantom and remained motionless from start to finish, suddenly move; it moved along with the movement of his own arm, though the amplitude was small, it did not escape his eyes.

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He was "putting on" this outfit!

The sudden association and realization seemed to shatter this dark, chaotic "dream"; Yu Sheng suddenly felt a violent shaking coming from all directions, and amidst this shaking, he discovered he had withdrawn his arm at some unknown time—he saw the surrounding thick "curtains" collapsing, the dark space beginning to disintegrate, and that hollow, formless "Hunter" before him suddenly move; it stepped backward with stiff and eerie strides, and in almost the blink of an eye, only a phantom shadow remained.

Yu Sheng instinctively reached his hand forward, wanting to stop this strange "Hunter," but just as he managed to raise his arm, he suddenly heard a somewhat familiar voice beside his ear—

"Uncle, what are you doing?"

Everything before his eyes suddenly dispersed; Yu Sheng was only dazed for an instant, then saw himself standing in an endless, gray wasteland; a chaotic gray sky covered the plain, nameless wild grass covered the ground, and a familiar small hill stood quietly in the distance; a gentle breeze blew across the plain, causing the wild grass to ripple like waves.

And a little girl who looked only five or six years old was standing beside him, curiously looking up, blinking her eyes at him.

Yu Sheng's mind was still immersed in the previous contact with "Hunter" and the scene where he almost "put on" that hunting outfit; at this moment, he didn't wake up immediately, stood there blankly for two or three seconds, then suddenly reacted: "Xiaoxiao?!"

"Hello, Uncle!" Xiaoxiao suddenly smiled and happily greeted Yu Sheng.

"Uh, hello... hey, wait, why are you here?!" Yu Sheng looked at the little girl before him with a confused expression; the moment he finished speaking, he immediately looked up and scanned the surroundings, but did not see the figure of Little Red Riding Hood, "Just you alone?"

"I don't know either," Xiaoxiao tilted her head in confusion, "I was taking a nap."

"Taking a nap?"

"Mm, Teacher Su took us to take a nap; we must sleep at noon, otherwise we'll be sleepy in the afternoon," Xiaoxiao said, "I fell asleep, then dreamed a big bad wolf was chasing me, so I ran, ran and ran, and later when I really couldn't run anymore, I fell... fell here, and then after a while, I saw you came too, but you seemed to be in a daze."

The little girl's speech was a bit jumbled, but the basic logic and events were still complete; Yu Sheng immediately understood what the other party was saying, but his expression was even more confused than before.

Xiaoxiao dreamed of the "Big Bad Wolf"; this was undoubtedly the influence of "Fairy Tale" on her; she must have fallen into the Black Forest again in her sleep and been discovered by the wolf, but she said she ran and ran and then fell... and fell into this wasteland? What kind of situation is this?

Yu Sheng looked up at the surroundings; of course, he knew where this was; this was still his strange "dream"—but after experiencing several consecutive odd incidents, he had vaguely realized.

Is this place... really a "dream"?

Yu Sheng recalled the situation when he last saw Little Red Riding Hood here; he still remembered that when he "woke up" from here, Little Red Riding Hood remained in this wasteland; if she hadn't been discovered sleeping in class and woken up by the teacher throwing chalk, Little Red Riding Hood could have even stayed here longer; and this time, Xiaoxiao had arrived in this wasteland even before he entered here...

All sorts of clues indicated that this vast wilderness was not some "dream" at all.

This was a "place," a space of consciousness, or some other thing; it had always existed, but when one dreamed... there was a high probability of coming here.

(End of this chapter)