Chapter 236: After Everything Calmed Down

The roar in the valley lasted for a long time before finally gradually settling down.

Titan giants clad in armor stood on a small square at the edge of the camp; boys and girls stood on the giants' shoulders, arms, and heads, gazing at the incredible changes in the distance, bathed in sunlight that carried the warmth of waking from a dream.

Smaller children gathered around the giants' feet, looking at the horizon with eyes full of wonder.

Clouds were spreading in from the distance—clouds soaked in rosy light that had never existed in this valley before.

Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel stood together on the shoulder of the Thunder Titan; at this height, they could see very, very far.

They could even see the dense forest on the other side of the valley, which seemed to have "grown" out in the blink of an eye, replacing a quite large portion of the mountain range terrain.

The buzzing of a drone came from high above; Little Red Riding Hood looked up and saw the drone Dorothy had secretly released earlier returning. In a moment, another Titan giant nearby raised its arm toward them—Dorothy came running over from the shoulder of the "neighboring" giant, her face glowing with excitement: "Hey! Red! It really is your dark forest! I saw the cottage—but it seems there are some other things in the forest now, like springs and flower fields, it looks much prettier than before..."

"Yu Sheng said not to get close to places undergoing changes," Little Red Riding Hood frowned, instinctively reminding them, "saying there might be danger."

"Oh, I sent the drone, I didn't go myself!" Dorothy laughed happily. "Later I'll send another one to check that tower in the north..."

"No need to look, it's definitely my tower; I know it too well," Rapunzel waved her hand. "But now it looks much more pleasant than before—at least no demonic aura is coming out of it, and no fire-breathing hell worms suddenly drilling through the windows."

"Ah, it's just a pity the drone's control range is limited, plus my abilities aren't enough—I originally wanted to see how big that forest is," Dorothy looked regretful. "If I sent a reconnaissance plane over there..."

"Don't add trouble for Yu Sheng," Little Red Riding Hood sighed upon hearing this. "The valley has already calmed down; he should be back very soon."

Just as she finished speaking, a lively commotion suddenly erupted from the ground below.

Rapunzel turned her head and saw a phantom door floating in mid-air at the center of the camp, while a group of children were already shouting and crowding around it.

"Oh oh! Big brother is back!" Rapunzel immediately smiled, then jumped straight down from the Titan giant's shoulder—her hair swayed in the wind, glowing with golden phantom light, and in the blink of an eye wove itself into a long slide, the end of which pointed straight at Yu Sheng who was pushing the door open and stepping out.

Yu Sheng pushed the door open, hadn't even stabilized his stance when he heard a sharp sound of air being torn by something near his ear; the next second he saw a golden-haired monster sitting on an acceleration track diving straight toward him...

Very quickly, Yu Sheng flashed aside with a swish, leaving even a afterimage in the air.

What could he do? He had three puppets at home that would fly and bite at any moment, and a cyber fox immortal who could kill with sonic headbutts; this agility was long trained. Dodging Hu Li's headbutt might still be a bit lacking, but dodging other high-speed humanoid objects flying toward him was a reflex as if carved into his DNA; by the time he realized who was flying toward him, it was already too late...

Then he watched that golden fur-ball-like figure cry out as it flew past his eyes, plunging straight into a dirt mound ten meters away.

But then again, after all, she was a super JK who could fight demons layer by layer in the Gao Ta through hand-to-hand combat; Yu Sheng didn't even have time to worry before Rapunzel "popped" herself out of the dirt mound, spitting out clods of dirt while complaining: "Big brother, why did you dodge! I just came down to say hello..."

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, about to say something, when he heard Little Red Riding Hood's voice from behind: "Don't pay attention to her; she sometimes gets carried away by the crowd, especially now when she's so excited."

Yu Sheng turned around and saw that familiar short-haired girl standing before him with a faint smile.

And on the square not far away, the Titan giants were bending down one after another, extending their huge arms toward the ground; familiar figures jumped down from the giants, walking over here with laughter and chatter.

The smaller children had already gathered in a circle around them.

A chubby tabby cat walked out proudly from the crowd, looked up at Yu Sheng, and with a serious expression on its feline face asked: "Is it all over?"

Yu Sheng lowered his head, looking at this "King"; after a long while, he slowly revealed a slight smile: "Yes, it's all over."

Silence fell around them, as if the entire world had been hit with a pause button.

Then after several seconds, someone hesitantly let out a small, short cheer, and someone else raised a hand to clap—the children's reactions were surprisingly slow and hesitant, as if they had been waiting for this day since they became aware, but when the moment truly arrived, everyone became at a loss, not even knowing how to arrange their expressions.

This was the one thing they had never learned and never experienced in all their study and practice regarding "fairy tales."

Until Yu Sheng raised his hand, breaking the stagnation: "Smile, smile first—then celebrate, celebrate however you want." Sparse clapping and laughter began, and finally cheers erupted, first from the smallest children, then the older ones, and finally the "parents."

Everyone cheered, making noise, screaming, and both crying and laughing.

Yu Sheng laughed along with them; after a long time, when the surroundings finally quieted down a bit, he saw the "King" approach him a little closer.

"I am very satisfied, meow," the cat nodded solemnly, its furry face seemingly showing a smile. "Then I appoint you as the Minister of Belly Rubbing at Court, granting you permission to rub my belly at any time."

"This is the highest honor," Little Red Riding Hood immediately leaned in close, whispering in Yu Sheng's ear, "It doesn't even let me rub it casually."

The King glanced at her with disdain: "That's because you always smell like a dog."

Little Red Riding Hood immediately widened her eyes: "Wolf! It's a wolf!"

"Smells about the same."

"You're out of cat treats!"

"Meow-wooo?!!"

The girl and the cat started arguing noisily, and it seemed this wasn't the first time they had quarreled over this topic; no one else in the surroundings came to mediate, but some even fanned the flames.

No mistakes, one sentence, one release, one content, all in one view!

Yu Sheng stood in the middle watching with a smile, as if enjoying all the noise of this moment—he suddenly thought that every laugh, every argument, even every breath, every joy and sorrow of these children, whether older or younger, from today on, every step they take in life, seemed to become an extension of all his efforts these past days, became the meaning of him standing here now, became...

A part of him taking root in this vast city.

He raised his head, his gaze passing over the children, and saw many figures standing even further away.

The adults—employees sent by the Council, engineering and security personnel sent by the Special Operations Bureau—were standing far away, constantly looking over here.

"After this, we will hold a grand celebration," Yu Sheng said. "Everyone will participate."

"Will Teacher Su participate too?" a little boy nearby asked curiously.

Yu Sheng nodded with a smile: "Of course."

"Yay!!"

Yu Sheng reached out and patted the child's head, his gaze finally settling on Little Red Riding Hood again.

"But before that, let's talk about business first," he straightened his expression slightly. "I need to tell you about the changes in the 'Fairy Tale' realm now; this involves your future arrangements and the future of the 'Fairy Tale' organization."

"Okay," Little Red Riding Hood, being the most senior "parent" in the Fairy Tale organization, adjusted her state almost instantly, nodded slightly with a serious expression, then quickly called out the names of the parents: "Bai Xue, Rapunzel, King... everyone come over first, we'll have a meeting. The rest disperse here and do whatever you need to do."

"Where shall we talk?" Yu Sheng looked at the circle of people around him and asked curiously.

"Where else? Of course, the 'castle' you built for us," Rapunzel said, raising her hand and pointing her thumb toward the end of the camp behind her. "That place is indeed quite spacious; we've already decided to use it as our activity center from now on; it's perfect for meetings."

Yu Sheng looked up and saw the large building with a Wengcheng that he had built with all his might for the orphanage children back then; he also saw that several colorful flags had been planted on the sloped roof of the building at some point, giving it a genuine "castle" atmosphere.

The group walked through the camp into the castle—water and electricity were now connected here; although interior decoration hadn't been done much, at least a large mat covered the main hall upon entering, so the ground was no longer bare and hard stone; temporary electric lights were on the walls and ceiling, so it wasn't pitch dark; Yu Sheng also saw a large round table in the center of the hall, with more than a dozen chairs arranged around it, simple but presentable.

"We originally planned to put a long table, but later the King suggested a round table, saying that would make it a 'Round Table Meeting'," Little Red Riding Hood turned on the hall lights and pointed at the large round table while introducing it to Yu Sheng. "Although I don't know what use that has, everyone seems to think a 'Round Table Meeting' is good, so we set it up as a round table."

Yu Sheng nodded as he walked over, then reached out to touch the large round tray on the table; after hesitating for a few seconds, he finally spoke: "Actually, first I think the round table in the 'Round Table Meeting' probably doesn't have a large rotating tray for dishes in the middle..."

(End of this chapter)