Chapter 216: Overflowing Nightmare

Yu Guang barely caught what the little puppet was chattering away, standing frozen for two or three seconds before he realized what was happening, but by then he had no time to criticize Irene.

Because another strange sound suddenly came from deep within the underground passage.

The sound sounded like a series of cheerful flute notes, now distant, now near, as if the player were right in the corridor.

Immediately, the flute notes vanished, replaced by dense footsteps; Yu Guang saw numerous wet footprints suddenly appear on the ground ahead, as if a group of children were happily running through here—the footsteps then turned into the sound of a carriage rolling over stone slabs, the lights ahead dimmed in the blink of an eye, and the scent of gunpowder drifted into the air.

But this lasted only a few seconds, after which layers of thick fog rose all around, and within the fog many shadowy figures emerged; the underground corridor seemed to instantly transform into an unfamiliar street, with crooked, tall houses on both sides, pedestrians hurrying through the night, a cold winter night descending, the temperature plummeting, and Yu Guang noticed that the breath he exhaled turned into ice crystal particles in the air in the blink of an eye, while the pedestrians on both sides of the road almost instantly became countless lifeless ice sculptures.

And in the corner of his Yu Guang, he saw a bright flame ignite at the street corner, the flame growing larger, higher, brighter, and warmer.

Yu Guang shook his head hard, struggling to distinguish the original outline of the underground corridor from the layers of fog before his eyes; he lowered his head, passed through the cold wind, through the pedestrians who had already turned into ice sculptures and the crooked, strange streets, hurrying through this nightmare leaking into reality; the winter night wind almost pierced his bones, but immediately, the warm firelight spread nearby, and within the firelight a figure with long hair flowing over her shoulders walked over, looking at him with some confusion and wonder: "... Big brother, why are you here?"

"Your nightmares are leaking into reality," Yu Guang saw the other's figure fading rapidly, so he couldn't bother with detailed explanations and could only speak quickly, "Push forward with tonight's 'stage' progress as soon as possible, or just go straight to the Shelter Wasteland, find Irene..."

Before he finished speaking, the "winter night" illusion in the underground passage began to shake and fade rapidly; Yu Guang wasn't sure if "Matchstick" had heard what he said clearly; the last scene he saw was the deep winter night sky suddenly lit up by something, the girl raising her right hand high in the flames, as if summoning a white phosphorus bomb...

The underground passage temporarily returned to normal; Yu Guang ran quickly toward the exit—Little Red Riding Hood might need some time to gather the children, but the real world has the King's knights guarding it, so there should be no problems; the Shelter Wasteland has Irene watching over it, and the fairy tale members who lost in the "Subset" don't need to worry too much, but for some reason, Yu Guang always felt a sense of unease spreading in his heart, as if he had unconsciously ignored something, or... something was happening right under his nose that he couldn't see.

Just as this sense of unease became more and more obvious, a slight stinging pain suddenly came from the back of his hand, making Yu Guang subconsciously turn around.

Thorny bushes had scratched the back of his hand, low tree branches had hooked his clothes, and the disordered, sprawling Lin Mu in the Black Forest came into view; he saw that the corridor he had come from had been replaced by lush trees and bushes at some point.

He suddenly turned around again, looking in the direction he was originally going, but saw that the entire corridor had disappeared, with only an endless Black Forest ahead, continuous trees extending infinitely into the shadows, dense tree canopies blocking the twilight glow in the sky, hollow wind sounds echoing in his ears, and the sound of wolf packs howling in the wind.

The corridor's roof, ground, walls... all vanished; unlike the previous situation, this scene before him didn't seem to be an illusion leaking into reality, but rather that he had truly stepped one step into the Black Forest.

After realizing he had seemingly truly "walked into" the Black Forest, Yu Guang suddenly stopped, watching all the rustling in the surroundings with caution.

He heard faint cries of a baby, as if coming from deep within the forest, intermittent and blurred but unceasing.

Then, he heard a tiny, small voice coming from behind some nearby bushes, speaking cautiously: "This way, this way, hey, I'm here—"

Yu Guang immediately looked toward the direction the sound came from and saw a patch of brown-red appearing behind a low bush not far away; that was a squirrel's tail.

He immediately walked over, crouching down beside the bushes; he saw the squirrel hiding behind a pile of branches and leaves, holding two fallen leaves to block its body in a comical posture while cautiously looking out.

"Squirrel, you..."

"Shh!" The squirrel immediately made a silence gesture, then carefully moved in front of Yu Guang, lowering its voice, "Ankaira is coming."

Yu Guang's nerves instantly tensed; he took a light breath and subconsciously looked up at the surroundings: "Where?!"

"You can't see it, and it probably hasn't seen you yet; only its gaze has come here—I don't know how to explain it to you, but I still remember this gaze, I remember... what it feels like to be watched by it," the squirrel spoke softly, its voice trembling slightly, "It seems to be looking for something; just now its gaze swept past here... the entire Black Forest went silent for an instant, but now the wolf packs are restless again."

Not just the Black Forest.

Ankaira's gaze swept over all the Subsets of all the fairy tales, sweeping over all the stages.

Yu Guang instantly thought of these things, and his expression grew solemn.

"What is it looking for? Still looking for that lost umbilical cord?"

"I don't know, but... probably not," the squirrel curled up again under the leaves, "It has been looking for that umbilical cord for many years; there's no reason for it to be so anxious suddenly now... ah, why did you suddenly come here? And without bringing other friends?" The squirrel cast a curious gaze.

"... Part of the Black Forest has 'overflowed' into the real world; I walked in directly from the part where they 'overlap'," Yu Guang said with a serious face; he wasn't sure if the squirrel could understand, then he hesitated slightly, gently reached out, held the squirrel in his palm, and stroked her head, "Next... things might change a bit; you need to find a place to hide—do you have a hiding place?"

The squirrel stared blankly at Yu Guang, unknowingly dropping the two leaves in her hands; she stayed dazed for a while before nodding vigorously: "Yes! Squirrels can hide! There are many tree hollows in the Black Forest; every tree hollow is a place for squirrels to hide..."

"Good, then hide in a tree hollow; no matter what happens, protect yourself first; also..."

Yu Guang paused, then without hesitation sliced open his finger.

The squirrel seemed frightened, looking at Yu Guang who had "suddenly self-harmed" in some confusion, watching the drops of blood seeping from the other's finger.

"You're bleeding!"

"Lick it." Yu Guang said.

"... Huh?!"

"Every child has one," Yu Guang looked seriously into the squirrel's eyes, "This is the new 'rule' of the orphanage."

No mistake, one sentence, one content, one inside, one look!

The squirrel's expression was obviously a bit dazed, but her walnut-sized brain was clearly not suitable for thinking about too complex problems now; after a few seconds of not turning the corner, she simply stopped trying, and muddled through, licking Yu Guang's finger.

Then she seemed to vaguely realize what "every child has one" meant, and showed a nervous and awkward expression—as well as a hint of happiness after disbelief...

Yu Guang actually didn't know what use this would serve, didn't know if the squirrel, who had already become part of the Black Forest, would receive the "shelter" in the nightmare like other children after contacting his blood—he was just thinking that if he could help a little, it would be something; the situation was urgent, all the children in the orphanage had places to hide, but this squirrel... if he didn't help, then in this boundless Black Forest, there would truly be only herself, alone, hiding everywhere.

Afterwards, the squirrel's figure gradually faded in Yu Guang's palm.

The surrounding Black Forest scenery also began to fade gradually, sinking slowly into darkness.

The dream began to recede temporarily once more; Yu Guang stood up and saw that between the shadowy trees, the corridor's walls and ground were gradually emerging.

He quickly walked toward the wavering exit, found the stairs leading to the upper floor, and ran from the second basement level to the first floor in one breath.

Various brief, bizarre illusions and strange sounds appeared and faded beside him like stage sets and actors coming and going; fairy tale scenes that were half-real, strange and twisted story characters, short and sharp horn sounds, cheerful whistles, lion roars, the songs of princesses and princes—like countless hands trying their hardest to intercept him before the last few steps, all these things popped up within a few short seconds, but were all thrown behind him.

As a boring adult, Yu Guang without hesitation broke through these illusions that had crawled out of the stories, and then saw that many figures had already gathered in the hall on the first floor of the East Building.

Several older children were directing and coordinating, half-grown children were helping maintain order and checking personal items and helping younger siblings get dressed, small children were queuing up obediently, some still sleepy-eyed, some holding water bottles they had hurriedly brought out, some looking nervous with a hint of fear, but not a single child made a random sound; a huge space was crowded with dozens of little heads, yet not a single cry or shout was heard.

The loudest sounds in the hall were only the quick exchanges and arrangements of Little Red Riding Hood and a few other "parents"—

"Put on all your clothes, does everyone have their water bottle? There's purified water over there, just bring your own water bottles—okay, those who have finished checking wait over here."

"Bring food, and blankets; there might not be beds or cooking conditions over there for now, it was too rushed..."

"Count the people, count again—Long Hair, watch the line! The smallest ones are falling asleep again, don't leave them behind."

"Big brother is here! Open the door, big brother!"

(End of this chapter)