Chapter 224: Awakening

After seeing the next few scanned images, Yu Sheng's brows couldn't help but furrow.

There were normal story passages and illustrations, as well as misaligned lines and typos clearly caused by typesetting errors or poor printing quality, and even blank spaces where content was obviously missing between paragraphs; the beginning was fine, but the problems grew worse the further along one went.

He exited the image page and began editing a message to ask what was going on, but just as he was still typing, Bai Xue's message arrived first: "Did you see it?"

"I saw it," Yu Sheng typed back immediately, "but what's going on with the rest? I see a lot of typesetting errors and missing printed sections."

"It was a low-quality print run, so most of that batch of books was recalled and destroyed from the market back then," Bai Xue seemed to have known Yu Sheng would ask this, and she sent a reply quickly, "but obviously, the Council couldn't possibly supervise every corner of Border City, so some books remained at the market's end—and one of them was eventually donated to the Fuli Academy at that time... perhaps to pad the numbers for a charitable asset declaration, or perhaps just an unintentional act."

A moment later, Bai Xue sent a follow-up message: "We found an asset list left over from the orphanage's management handover in an old Council archive, which included a record of this 'socially donated book.' To be honest, it wasn't easy to find—we only found the name and publication date; the images I sent you were matched later through other channels in other databases.

"On the other hand, since most circulating versions have disappeared, this book has ironically become a 'niche treasure' among certain book collectors. The Special Bureau is still trying to locate existing copies of the same edition. According to transaction tracking records, the last copy of 'The Squirrel Knight' to appear through official channels was sold a month ago by a private collector to a branch charity under the Sunshine Foundation. We've already sent people to make contact, hoping to find the book, though we still can't determine what use this book might actually have..."

The message Bai Xue sent was quite long; it took Yu Sheng a while to scroll through and finish reading. Afterwards, he unconsciously furrowed his brows, feeling somewhat uncomfortable whenever he thought of how such a crudely made "storybook" had once been the Squirrel's most treasured possession, but just then, Little Red Riding Hood, who had leaned over to look at the phone, suddenly let out an "Eh?", interrupting his wandering thoughts.

Yu Sheng turned his head: "What's wrong?"

"The Sunshine Foundation... I feel like I've heard that name recently," the girl frowned slightly, trying hard to recall something, "just these past couple of days, it seems like..."

Her eyes suddenly sharpened.

A flash of brilliance struck the Gao Zhongsheng's mind.

"Bai Xue!!" Little Red Riding Hood looked up and shouted loudly across the camp, her tone slightly urgent, "Bai Xue! Where are you?!"

The next second, Bai Xue's head popped out from a nearby small house: "What is it?"

"Didn't a batch of donated books arrive at the orphanage a while ago—sent through the Sunshine Foundation channel?!"

Bai Xue paused for a moment, nodded while walking out of the room: "Yeah, that did happen. A pile of books sent by the Sunshine Foundation—I almost died of exhaustion moving them to the reading room. What's up?"

Then she saw Yu Sheng standing nearby and happily raised her hand to greet him: "Brother, have you eaten?"

Then she saw the serious and solemn expressions on both Yu Sheng's and Little Red Riding Hood's faces at the same time.

Bai Xue's expression instantly became tense: "... Did something go wrong with that batch of books?"

Little Red Riding Hood stared straight into the other's eyes: "Did you really check them carefully? Were there no abnormalities in those books?"

"I checked them. I looked at every single one, and you've already seen the book list..."

Little Red Riding Hood frowned, recalling carefully, and remembered that she had indeed seen the book list for those donated books after that, and the name of that book was indeed not on it.

But the fact that something could be coincidental to this extent was still enough to arouse suspicion.

"Where are those books now?" Yu Sheng said with a serious face, "I need to go check them."

"They're in the cabinet in the northwest corner of the reading room—the reading room at the end of the second floor. I haven't had time to put them on the shelves yet; they're still piled there as they were," Bai Xue said hurriedly, then couldn't help but ask, "So what exactly is..."

"Eighty-six years ago, 'Zhao Lele' gave a fairy tale book to 'Anka Ela' who had just arrived in this world, and according to recent collector market transaction records, an old book of the same batch and edition as that fairy tale book from back then was 'coincidentally' bought a month ago by a unit under the Sunshine Foundation—and a few days ago, the Sunshine Foundation donated a batch of books to the orphanage. All the anomalies started after that day."

Little Red Riding Hood spoke, her expression unusually grave.

"Coincidences exist in this world—but do you believe in one that is 'coincidental' to this extent?"

At this moment, Yu Sheng had already reached his hand toward the empty air: "No matter what's going on, I'll go check first..."

Before he could finish speaking, a sharp, grating "noise" suddenly entered his mind, interrupting his action.

It was the crying of an infant, along with piercing alarms and layers of buzzing hums—as if briefly drowning out the entire world, roaring up within his consciousness. Yu Sheng gasped sharply, looking up toward the camp.

Children were running back and forth between the simple houses; the older kids and the "parents" seemed to have noticed nothing abnormal.

Hu Li, standing nearby, was startled by Yu Sheng's action and expression: "Benefactor, what's wrong with you?"

"Anka Ela's 'noise,' very clear, very close," Yu Sheng spoke rapidly, while at the same time he could continue to hear the voices in his mind rising in waves, "I feel it is trying to chip away at the real world... No... It's about to break through! Get the children back to their rooms! Quickly!"

As if sensing something, he looked up and spoke urgently, then suddenly turned to look at Little Red Riding Hood: "You two go back too! Everyone inject the Sanity Blocker—have the Special Bureau and Council staff take over the camp, immediately!"

Although Little Red Riding Hood couldn't hear those "noises," she instantly knew from Yu Sheng's reaction that the situation was urgent; without a single doubt, she turned and ran toward the camp. Bai Xue's action was only half a beat slower than Little Red Riding Hood's, and the two figures ran into that settlement area one after the other.

Afterwards, the entire camp reacted almost in the blink of an eye, as if an invisible alarm had been sounded. The children who had been playing just a second ago quickly completed their assembly and, under the direction of the older kids and "parents," ran to their respective houses. The caretakers sent by the Council retrieved sufficient quantities of the Sanity Blocker in the shortest time possible and distributed them to every house. The nearly adult "parents" injected themselves first, then helped the younger children complete the injection process according to each younger sibling's degree of erosion—all things proceeding with astonishing efficiency, as if practiced countless times.

Yu Sheng, Hu Li, and Erin also quickly arrived at the camp.

Pitch-black threads slid through the air.

Erin sat on Yu Sheng's shoulder, raising her hand to deftly and quickly pluck at the air. Spider-silk-thin threads drifted and spread, weaving into a huge net like eerie, living strands of hair, gradually expanding above the camp, and continuously dropping down fine filaments during the expansion.

"No contamination for now, but indeed some children are 'falling asleep' uncontrollably; some have already started dreaming," the small doll said in an urgent tone, "Yu Sheng, can you feel that 'Anka Ela'? Is it invading the valley? Has it entered?"

No error, one sentence, one release, one content, one look!

"Don't rush, don't rush, I'm searching for it in reverse." Yu Sheng waved his hands quickly, trying hard to concentrate, tracking the continuous noise in his mind. The power of blood linked his perception with the entire valley, and also with every child in the valley. He sensed the situation in the camp and also sensed any possible traces of "angelic invasion" in the valley. However, after several "scans," he still hadn't detected Anka Ela's presence.

He was not unfamiliar with that presence; he had already faced that massive shadow directly in the Black Forest.

However, it had not come here.

The noise was becoming sharper; Anka Ela was awakening...

Yu Sheng raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the houses where the children were hiding.

Those houses one by one fell into silence.

The children were falling asleep one after another. At this moment, the real world was welcoming night, and the power of "fairy tales" was rising rapidly in the darkness. The infant's crying grew clearer and clearer. Anka Ela's awakening process was obviously advancing rapidly; it felt as if it had already chipped through some barrier, as if it had already entered...

A container.

That word suddenly floated up in Yu Sheng's mind again.

The children were all protected by the "Blood Pact"; Sheltering the Wasteland could at least protect their consciousness.

No signs of angelic invasion had appeared in the valley; Anka Ela seemed not to have discovered this place.

Little Red Riding Hood and Bai Xue, the two fairy tale members most severely eroded, had been very stable until just now, and moreover, Erin was currently monitoring everyone's mind here. Even this incredible doll had not detected any traces of contamination.

Was the chosen container not one of the children here?

It couldn't be the "Squirrel," trapped in the Black Forest and long lost her physical body in reality, could it?

Could it be that nephew of Old Zheng, whom he had only met a few times?

An urgent phone ring sounded. Yu Sheng instinctively picked up his phone and saw the caller ID on the screen displaying the name Li Lin.

He answered the call and heard the urgent voice of that young Special Bureau agent coming through the receiver.

"... What do you mean 'the orphanage stood up'?"

(End of this chapter)