Chapter 215: The Leak Expands

Patrolling all the corridors and classrooms of the East Building takes about thirty minutes, after which the West Building must also be patrolled; every floor of both the East and West Buildings has a logbook for clocking in, hung in a record box at the stairwell entrance, where situations discovered during the patrol must be recorded on a form for the next patrolling "parent" to reference—Little Red Riding Hood was already quite familiar with this patrol procedure.

Yu Sheng followed closely beside Little Red Riding Hood, watching her perform these tasks; he saw that she was doing them with great seriousness, even carrying an almost sense of mission as she passed every room and wrote every entry.

Yu Sheng felt he could understand her mood—Ankaira was gradually awakening, and tomorrow the children would be transferred to that valley; after this, no matter what happened, whether the crisis of "Fairy Tales" was finally resolved or the Dark Angel broke free from control, for her, this might be her last time patrolling this place.

"Not long ago we were still planning a comprehensive search of the entire orphanage, still arranging patrol and inspection plans for the underground facilities, and now tomorrow we might have to leave," Little Red Riding Hood sighed softly, her tone somewhat self-mocking, "It's really... quite sudden."

"Plans can't keep up with changes," Yu Sheng said quietly, "Things are always like this."

Little Red Riding Hood pressed her lips together, remained silent for a few seconds, then suddenly spoke in a very low voice: "It will be fine, right?"

"Of course," Yu Sheng said with a faint smile, "We have made all necessary preparations; whether Ankaira launches an attack on you in reality or in the dream realm, we will block it."

Little Red Riding Hood looked into Yu Sheng's eyes; after a moment, a hint of a smile appeared in her eyes.

"Let's go check the underground together; the King is currently patrolling the corridors with its 'guards', so by now the patrol should be finished. Let's see what situation is over there."

"Okay."

Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood arrived together at the second basement level; after entering the connecting corridor and walking west toward the West Building for a short while, they saw the King lazily lying on a fire equipment box—three figures wearing black leather armor and hooded masks were quietly guarding nearby; after Little Red Riding Hood appeared, those three figures immediately heightened their alertness, but then relaxed, nodding stiffly and rigidly to Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood.

"You're here, meow," the lazy tabby cat raised a paw and waved, seeming not to care at all about Yu Sheng's appearance, "Both basement levels have been checked; there's nothing. I was just thinking whether to find a place to sleep for a while."

"You've worked hard," Little Red Riding Hood stepped forward and scratched the fur on the King's back, "Was the area near that ventilation shaft checked thoroughly before?"

"Of course, I even personally crawled into the ventilation duct to look," the tabby cat yawned, "If something really happens, it won't just happen on this one night, right? —Where would such bad luck..."

A muffled sound of music, coming from somewhere unknown, suddenly interrupted its muttering.

The underground corridor instantly fell silent; the King's half-stretched yawn even froze in place; Yu Sheng felt his spiritual intuition "ping" jump; although that vague and brief sound of music was very faint, it seemed to pierce through something and echoed within his perception.

He suddenly looked up at Little Red Riding Hood, meeting the girl's wide-open eyes.

Then, the soft, elegant, and soothing music sounded again, this time even clearer than before, as if it were sounding right on the other side of the wall!

The fur on the King's tail instantly bristled; that usually low and magnetic documentary voice struggled to hold back: "Holy crap, surely not—I'm just an innocent little kitten..."

"Quiet!" Little Red Riding Hood immediately cut off the cat's muttering; many shadowy wolf figures suddenly emerged from the shadows beside her; every wolf perked up its ears, listening to all sounds in the underground corridor; after a few seconds, she spoke with a grave expression, "It's a courtly dance. Bloodstained Court? At this time it could also be the Eternal Ball... No, time in the dream realm doesn't correspond to real time..."

Amidst the soft and elegant music, noise suddenly appeared; then came the sound of something shattering, interspersed with the crackling and popping of flames, and the music quickly became distorted and off-key, turning shrill.

Little Red Riding Hood finally determined that the sound was coming from behind a wall on the left side of the corridor.

"This way!"

The girl shouted urgently, then immediately led the wolf pack running swiftly toward the direction from which the sound came.

Without a word, Yu Sheng followed on foot; those few figures dressed as assassins also quickly chased up; the King directly jumped onto the shoulder of one of the assassins, while at the same time waving its paw at the air beside it; in the blink of an eye, several "attendants" dressed as mages and warriors appeared in the air; they instantly formed some kind of combat formation, covering the left and right sides and the rear of the corridor, running forward together with Little Red Riding Hood and Yu Sheng.

And just at this moment, Yu Sheng's peripheral vision caught sight of something again—he saw a shadow suddenly appear on the roof ahead of the corridor; that shadow was like layers upon layers of rose bushes, suddenly blooming and spreading out under the dim light; thorns then pierced out from that shadow, as if trying to break free from the shadow's constraints, trying to pierce into the real world! However, before Yu Sheng could speak to remind them, the shadow of the rose bushes suddenly vanished; on the roof there was only a layer of grime accumulated over many years.

Little Red Riding Hood's figure moved like the wind; in the blink of an eye she darted into a fork in the underground corridor; two shadow wolves suddenly lunged out from the air behind her, smashing open an iron door marked "Storage Room".

Bright light suddenly poured out from behind the iron door; a bright red carpet "surged" out from behind the iron door like madness-spreading fresh blood, spreading and growing in the underground corridor; Yu Sheng saw that inside that "Storage Room" was an open and magnificent hall; countless twisted and ecstatic bodies were dancing in the hall; they wore shining courtly attire; every long skirt, every gown was extremely exquisite and magnificent; however, their faces were absurd and grotesque as if painted with oil paint; those facial features painted with bright colors were laughing wildly, and a voice was shouting loudly amidst the gradually distorting and off-key music—

"The Prince wants those crystal shoes—cut off her feet!"

A booming sound suddenly exploded; everything in the hall began to collapse; the "Storage Room" in reality and the "Hall" in the illusion seemed to overlap; Yu Sheng saw that a corner of the ceiling not far away seemed to have collapsed; through the hole in the roof, he saw a pumpkin carriage rising into the air amidst thick smoke and booms, rushing toward the distant sky.

However, just a second later, several huge light beams suddenly pierced through the night curtain; the East and West Buildings of the orphanage had somehow become high towers surrounded by barbed wire and heavy concrete fortifications; at the tops of the high towers, artillery fire boomed in the blink of an eye; tongues of fire swept across the sky; but just at the moment when that fierce anti-aircraft fire hit the pumpkin carriage, the latter seemed to collide with an invisible door and vanished into the night in the blink of an eye.

Immediately after, all illusions disappeared, including the two anti-aircraft towers, including the collapsed and damaged roof, including the "warehouse" overlapping with the ballroom hall; Yu Sheng only felt himself stagger for a moment, and everything before his eyes returned to the "normal" appearance of the underground corridor.

As if nothing had happened.

But Yu Sheng already knew what was going on.

"The leak is expanding!" he shouted, then reached out and slapped Little Red Riding Hood, who seemed a bit dazed, "Quick, go wake up the children now! Wake up everyone you can wake, have everyone gather on the first floor and wait for me to open the door!"

"Okay!" Little Red Riding Hood nodded quickly, but then seemed to remember something, "What about those trapped in the 'Subset'?"

No mistake, one sentence, one chapter, one content, all in one look!

"Don't worry about them for now—you just saw, if they really encounter danger, their consciousness will enter the 'Wasteland' for refuge," Yu Sheng said quickly, "For now, transfer them in batches first, ensure the smallest children are not affected by the nightmare leak!"

Saying this, he quickly thought for a moment, then added: "I will send Erin to the 'Wasteland' right now to explain the situation to those who have already 'fallen' in."

"Understood!" Little Red Riding Hood nodded vigorously, then looked at the tabby cat beside her, "King, summon all your Guard Knights; go protect those still in the 'Subset'; don't let their real bodies get hurt!"

The King said nothing, just waved its paw vigorously; in the next second, all the adventurers beside it vanished, and a fully armed regiment of heavy knights appeared in the underground corridor—all were towering figures nearly two meters tall, wearing adamantine armor filled with magical radiance, wielding sharp blades, with heavy shadows beneath their helmets, emitting a powerful aura.

These "Guard Knights," who looked capable of flattening a Demon King's castle, stepped forward silently and neatly; under a single "meow" from the King, they crossed the underground corridor at an astonishing speed and disappeared from Yu Sheng's field of vision.

Little Red Riding Hood also nodded to Yu Sheng, then sank into the shadow together with her wolf pack, vanishing from the corridor in the blink of an eye.

"... Everyone is so cool."

Yu Sheng muttered quietly, then quickly judged the direction; while stepping forward, he called out in his heart: "Erin, respond if you hear me."

The little doll's voice immediately appeared: "Heard, heard, what's up?"

"Divert your attention, go to the 'Wasteland' immediately; there should already be defeated 'Fairy Tales' members who have entered for refuge there—go tell them their nightmares are leaking into reality; the children are being transferred early; tell them not to panic for now; wait until their respective 'Subsets' calm down, then return to reality, and go directly to the first floor of the orphanage's East Building to gather; I will open a door there to send people to the valley for refuge. Do you understand?"

"Understood, understood, why do you always run into such emergencies over there? I'm going right now, stay safe; if something really comes out, take people and run first; don't fight hard; if you die it's fine, but if others can't run, then it's truly death; oh my, bitten my tongue..."

(End of this chapter)