Chapter 189: Thorn Shadows

Before leaving the Special Tasks Bureau, Yu Sheng casually told Bai Xue some details he had uncovered from Old Zheng.

After hearing Old Zheng's story, Song Cheng beside him showed an angry expression, and even with his superior present, he couldn't help cursing: "Fuck, these Angel Cultists never do anything human…"

Bai Xue listened silently, then paused to think, her brow slightly furrowed: "The 'Spirit Communication Ritual' those cultists taught Old Zheng—the blood-drawn pattern—did you record it?"

Yu Sheng froze, looking embarrassed: "Uh, I can't quite remember—it was cleaned once already, so it's extremely faint, and I couldn't even…"

Before he finished, Ai Lin suddenly blinked and raised her hand happily: "I recorded it."

Then the doll glanced at Yu Sheng and added: "When you got distracted, the pattern on the ground glowed for a moment—just briefly—but I remembered it."

Bai Xue immediately grabbed paper and pen from her desk and handed them to the doll: "Can you draw it?"

Ai Lin struggled to grip the pen, nearly as long as her arm: "I think so—I'll try…"

As she spoke, she bent down and began carefully sketching a complex circular pattern composed of numerous strange symbols and ornamental designs—she was clumsy at first, clearly unaccustomed to the pen, but soon her movements grew fluid, and a ring of symbols that induced a faint sense of dizziness gradually took shape beneath her hand.

Yu Sheng watched, stunned, and finally blurted out: "Wait, hold on… is your memory really that good?! You never remember anything important in daily life!"

Ai Lin kept drawing, not looking up: "I forgot things because I was sealed, not because my brain got damaged! My memory's normally great, okay… Hey, my hands are too small, drawing this is exhausting—when are you going to give me a normal-sized body, Yu Sheng?"

As Yu Sheng listened to the doll's muttering, his first thought was to glance at her head, wondering—

Three Ailins, either molded from clay and lotus root, or built from rebar and stone… does she even have a "brain" as an organ?

While Yu Sheng was silently pondering this, the doll had nearly finished drawing the complex array; just as she was about to complete the final segment, Bai Xue suddenly broke the silence: "Don't finish the last segment—draw it on another sheet."

Ai Lin "Oh"ed, ran over to another sheet, and continued drawing intently. Yu Sheng, watching beside her, couldn't help but be surprised—he looked up at Bai Xue, thinking: Of course, only professionals think of these kinds of security details—I never even considered it.

"Finally done—fucking exhausted," the doll said after a while, lifting her head to glance at Bai Xue and handing over the two sheets. "It should be correct."

Bai Xue took the papers with solemn care, studying the patterns on both sheets with a grave expression.

"It does contain the basic elements of Spirit Communication… but the key nodes have been altered—likely used to 'point' toward that sleeping Dark Angel. This might help us understand its nature—extremely valuable intelligence. Thank you."

Ai Lin immediately puffed out her chest, her expression growing smug.

…

Little Red Riding Hood walked across the open space between East Building and West Building; as she passed the outdoor play area, she paused, gazing absentmindedly in a certain direction.

Near the children's sandpit, a brightly colored swing set caught her eye.

Looking at the swing set, she unexpectedly recalled the drawing from Old Zheng's notebook—and the girl smiling in front of the swing.

This must be the place from Old Zheng's memory, but the swing set before her was not the same one from twenty years ago—the original had been replaced years ago due to excessive wear and safety hazards.

Little Red Riding Hood hesitated, then walked over and sat on the swing, gently swaying back and forth.

Winter was cold, and a breeze blew as evening approached; swinging outside in this season was hardly pleasant. Little Red Riding Hood soon stopped, and at that moment, her peripheral vision caught something.

In the glow of the sunset, a shadow seemed to float along the corner of East Building's outer wall—the shadow's outline resembled thorny vines clinging to the wall, stretching from the base up to about one meter high.

Little Red Riding Hood frowned, immediately pulled out her phone and took a photo, then leapt off the swing and sprinted toward it—her figure seemed to leap through the shadow, reaching the wall corner almost instantly—but when she arrived, the thorn-like shadow had vanished.

She pulled out her phone and reviewed the photo—everything looked normal; there was no thorn-shaped shadow on the wall corner.

Hallucination? Because the dusk lighting was poor, did she just imagine it?

Little Red Riding Hood instantly dismissed the thought—after years as a Spirit Realm detective, one of the most important lessons she'd learned was never to casually dismiss fleeting anomalies as mere "hallucinations," because in the occult, even if something was purely imagined, the moment it was observed, it gained "reality-interference significance." Footsteps approached from the side; she looked up and saw a slender girl with a bob haircut, appearing two or three years younger than herself, carrying a stack of books as she passed by. The girl noticed her and paused curiously, greeting: "Red Hood, what are you doing?"

In the orphanage, members who served as "parents" addressed each other by codenames; only children who had not yet passed their Awakening Period were called by their real names—this was an old tradition, said to stabilize the "role identity" after Awakening, though no one knew if it actually worked.

In the "Fairy Tale" organization, there were many such rules, none of which anyone knew were effective, yet everyone believed they helped stabilize conditions and extend survival.

"I just saw some strange shadows, but they vanished when I turned around—tonight, better assign someone to patrol outside this building a few times," Little Red Riding Hood said casually, then noticed the stack of books in the girl's arms. "Bai Xue? Where did these books come from?"

The girl called "Bai Xue" lifted her arms: "Donated—through the Sunshine Foundation's channel. They're headed to the reading room."

Little Red Riding Hood frowned, asking seriously: "Did you check the content?"

"Checked. No gay, no lesbian. Books for readers over fourteen are strictly heterosexual; under fourteen, no romance at all…"

"I didn't ask you to check that!" Little Red Riding Hood glared at Princess Bai Xue. "What the hell do you even pay attention to?"

"Just joking—you've been so tense lately," Princess Bai Xue laughed. "Seriously, the content's fine—no tampering, no substitutions, no psychological triggers that could destabilize the children."

Little Red Riding Hood sighed and waved her hand, when suddenly her phone rang—the monkey was doing backflips again.

Princess Bai Xue couldn't help complaining: "Red Hood, seriously, won't you change this ringtone? And where did you even find this song? You've had it for years!"

One by one, they looked.

"I met an Algraidian during a mission—they gave it to me, said it came from the 'Yaojing' star region," Little Red Riding Hood replied offhandedly. "I like it, and I'm used to it."

As she spoke, she answered the call, and the next second Yu Sheng's voice came through the speaker: "Hello, is this Student Wang Jiajia?"

Little Red Riding Hood's eye twitched; Princess Bai Xue smirked: "Oh, your real name's out now?"

"Shoo, shoo," Little Red Riding Hood waved her off, then cleared her throat twice. "Cough—wait, I didn't mean you—what do you want?"

Yu Sheng's voice came through the phone: "I'm back from the Special Tasks Bureau. I told them about Old Zheng. Also, we caught the Angel Cultists who performed the sacrifice in the White Hall—I extracted something from one of their heads."

Little Red Riding Hood's expression visibly changed, her tone instantly grave: "What did you find?"

"Are you at the orphanage? I'll come over and tell you the details, and we can discuss something."

"I'm here…"

Little Red Riding Hood had barely finished speaking when a door nearby suddenly opened—Yu Sheng stepped out with Hu Li, holding up his phone and waving it: "Perfect—same room as last time?"

Ai Lin also poked her head out from behind Yu Sheng: "Hihi, we're back!"

Little Red Riding Hood: "…"

The girl hesitated, then finally blurted: "Can't you knock before opening the door?"

Yu Sheng: "I notified the Special Tasks Bureau when I called you…"

"I meant tell me!" Little Red Riding Hood glared at him. "What if I was in the shower?!"

Yu Sheng turned beet red and quickly explained: "That's impossible—unless it's random teleportation, I can only open doors to places I've been. You've never taken me to your bathroom—and I'm not a pervert."

Ai Lin slammed her head into his knee: "Stop explaining. The more you explain, the more you sound like a pervert."

Yu Sheng: "…"

(End of Chapter)