Chapter 327: On This Day, at Eighteen

On the day of her eighteenth birthday, what would happen?

In the past decade-plus of her life, Little Red Riding Hood had been striving to avoid thinking about this question—even though she always presented herself as the most mature one in the "Fairy Tale," the reliable older sister in the hearts of all her younger brothers and sisters, even though she often spoke of her coming of age and a possible future in a casual tone, but if someone truly asked her how she planned to spend that eighteenth birthday, she would say... this day was nothing special.

She thought this day should be much like every birthday in her past life, because the previous generation of Little Red Riding Hood had taught her so; she would go to class as usual, talk to people, see the world, then return home, back among her younger brothers and sisters before dark, where everyone would prepare cake and gifts for her, but this time she probably wouldn't need to make a wish.

In the very end, before curfew arrived, she would go to a special room in the West Tower, lock herself inside, and there unwrap her birthday gifts one by one—the King or Bai Xue would guard the door, or other children skilled in combat.

If she had to have any plan for this day in her past life, her only thought was that when the time came, she must persist in unwrapping the very last gift, and then place them carefully around herself.

But now, that special room in the West Tower was gone—it had turned into a bubble upon waking from a nightmare during the fall of Ankella.

And the other parts were just as she had once imagined.

She went to school, saw teachers and classmates; she hadn't mentioned her birthday much to people "outside," yet still, well-informed or perceptive classmates brought her small gifts. The number wasn't large, because Gao San students generally didn't have much energy, and she had very, very few friends at school anyway.

Today's classes weren't difficult; half the content was reviewing previous knowledge. She almost fell asleep during the last period... in fact, she had fallen asleep, but was quickly awakened by the commotion of her desk mate jumping out of his seat and rushing toward the cafeteria.

She ate well at noon and even ordered braised pork—in the difficult days at the orphanage, she rarely ate such things, but now, because the consumption of rationality-blocking agents and similar potions had decreased greatly, and... because someone skilled at squeezing every last drop had been swindling various funds from the Special Operations Bureau to distribute to the orphanage children, conditions were far better than before; all the "parents" no longer had to live the straitened lives they once did.

The afternoon classes were even more boring than the morning ones, and all were things she had already mastered, so for half the time she used the wolf's perspective to secretly browse posts on the Border Communications. She saw again the Special Operations Bureau's warning notice issued to all Spirit World detectives and investigators, reminding everyone to pay attention to various anomalous phenomena appearing in mirrors nearby and clues related to the "Fog."

Three days ago, the Special Operations Bureau had publicly announced the existence of the "City in the Fog," and in today's announcement, they additionally mentioned the progress of exploration into the City in the Fog and released a series of safety rules already confirmed. The discussion section below the post was very lively; amidst many serious and solemn replies, an abstract post featuring a humidifier placed in front of a mirror was inexplicably bumped to the first page, filled entirely with questions about the humidifier brand. Additionally, the Mermaid had created a small account and posted in the comments, "Welcome to follow Fishy Official Meow~," where a bunch of people were cursing; she had liked them all.

It wasn't until near the end of school that the Mermaid's post was deleted by the administrator. Little Red Riding Hood thought this was quite embarrassing, but she wasn't surprised; after all, that salted fish had been doing abstract nonsense for days, and everyone thought it was because she played Fisherman's Murder with a group of sailors on the boat every night...

Then, the time for school to end arrived—the teacher didn't drag on today; as soon as the bell rang, she promptly and decisively announced the dismissal.

Little Red Riding Hood carefully packed up the books on her desk, stuffed the homework portions she needed to take home into her backpack, then stood at the classroom door and took a deep breath.

She would come to class again tomorrow.

Leaving school, finding a deserted place, mounting the Shadow Wolf, and leaping into the Shadow World together with the wolf pack, in just a moment she traveled from the school to the ruins of the old orphanage—the entrance to the valley was right on the site of the old orphanage, now cleared into an open space, while a single small hut stood in the corner of the old wall. Little Red Riding Hood greeted the guard on duty inside the hut, then pushed open that great door leading to the Otherworld.

Then, as soon as she entered, there were two "Bang! Bang!" sounds.

But Little Red Riding Hood knew her usual crowd of big and small bear children all too well; before entering, she had been tense, and the instant the two cannon shots went off, she darted straight out. Colorful paper and glitter fluttered down behind her, not a single speck sticking to her hair.

"Hey, that's no fun!" Rapunzel, standing at the door holding a confetti cannon, immediately shouted, "Sense of ceremony, sense of ceremony, do you understand!"

Little Red Riding Hood looked up and saw a group of familiar figures; Yu Sheng was among them, while Rapunzel stared wide-eyed in this direction, looking puffed up with anger.

Little Red Riding Hood smiled, just about to reply to Rapunzel, but the instant she relaxed her guard, she saw that magnificent golden hair behind the other suddenly flare out wildly, and immediately more than twenty confetti cannons popped out from that mass of hair—she only had time to say "Damn it," before hearing a continuous string of bang-bang-bang-bang sounds, her face plastered with colorful paper...

"Happy Birthday!" "Happy Birthday, Sister Red Cap!" "Eighteen years old!" "There's a bonfire today! A big bonfire!" "Roasted meat—and fireworks!"

People around shouted in a chaotic mess. Little Red Riding Hood, flustered and somewhat disheveled, brushed a head full of colorful confetti. Just as she was about to say something to assert parental authority, she was surrounded by her younger brothers and sisters, then ushered forward by the crowd. In the middle, she could only struggle hard and shout: "Hey! My backpack! Can I put my backpack in the room first... I'll release the wolf if you keep this up!"

Yu Sheng, wearing a brilliant smile, walked forward along with the others, simultaneously pulling out his phone to check the time, then casually waving it toward the sky.

The clouds gathered; today's "night" arrived a bit earlier than normal.

Little Red Riding Hood saw the large bonfire already erected on the open ground outside the town, and saw the roasted meat racks being pushed out from the warehouse. She saw the clouds in the sky gathering ahead of schedule, while a group of court musicians dressed in colorful attire were assembling in the square. The moment she approached, cheerful little tunes began to play.

"Is this really necessary..." The young girl felt a bit at a loss due to the commotion. Although she knew everyone in "Fairy Tale" had been preparing a birthday celebration for her during this period, this scale obviously exceeded her expectations. "If it's just for a birthday, isn't this budget way over the limit?"

"Sister Red Cap! Today isn't just any ordinary birthday, you know," Dorothy shouted, "You are the first among us to turn eighteen since the curse ended! The commemorative significance is huge! I originally planned to arrange eighteen cannons around the square, then have an air squadron perform aerial stunts as you entered, with my Lionheart Armored Division parade formation on the ground, but Brother didn't agree..."

"Every Fairy Tale member's eighteenth birthday will have a grand celebration from now on," Yu Sheng patted Little Red Riding Hood's shoulder. "Coming of age is worth celebrating greatly, especially your coming of age—of course, Dorothy's plan was indeed a bit excessive."

Little Red Riding Hood listened, stunned, and before she knew how to react, that huge pile of firewood had already ignited into a blazing bonfire.

The streetlights inside and outside the town had lit up. In the light of the lamps and the fire, several more familiar figures appeared in the square—it was the council employees, including Teacher Su.

They pushed a very large food cart, on which sat the biggest cake Little Red Riding Hood had ever seen in her life.

The cake was decorated like a forest, with chocolate-made "Shadow Wolves" moving through the forest. On top of the cake was a large sign with a line of characters reading "Happy Birthday to Wang Jiajia."

"The cake was sent by the Special Operations Bureau," Yu Sheng said from the side. "The writing on it was done personally by Bai Liqing—she said she once wrote a similar greeting card back then but couldn't deliver it; today, she has finally fulfilled one of her wishes."

Little Red Riding Hood's expression was somewhat dazed; since a while ago, she had looked as if she were about to cry.

But Rapunzel would always interrupt someone's emotions at the right moment—the hair-creature hopped over, reaching out to pinch Little Red Riding Hood's cheeks: "Forget the cake for now! Let's open the gifts first!"

"Oh right! Everyone prepared gifts for you!" Bai Xue happily came over. "I took a long time picking mine!"

"I prepared one for you too," Yu Sheng said with a smile.

Little Red Riding Hood stood there, dazed, watching everyone bring the gifts to the open ground beside the bonfire, piling them up like a small mountain.

She no longer needed to unwrap them alone in that special room; she could open all the gifts right here.

Cinderella urged him from the side: "Open them, open them~~ Let's open them right here on the spot! See what everyone gave!"

Little Red Riding Hood hesitated for a moment, then finally walked toward that "small mountain."

The first thing she picked up was the box with Rapunzel's name written on it—this gift was heavy; she had no idea what was inside.

Rapunzel immediately became overjoyed: "Oh oh! The first one opened is mine!"

"Because you're the one most likely to cause trouble," Little Red Riding Hood wiped her eyes, glanced up at Rapunzel, "Opening yours first makes me feel more at ease afterward."

Saying this, she casually tore open the gift wrapping paper and opened that thick cardboard box, which looked very sturdy.

Inside was another box: a brand-new set of "90 Days to Sprint for the College Entrance Exam," boxed edition.

An "Oh—" sound instantly erupted from around them, with some people even praising that this was a gift only a human could come up with. Rapunzel laughed like Erin, spinning around and waving her hands: "Thank you, thank you, just normal performance, normal performance, too kind..."

Little Red Riding Hood felt both amused and helpless, gave Rapunzel an eye-roll, then lifted her hand to take the gift Yu Sheng had prepared, intending to comfort herself.

At this moment, Yu Sheng's expression was somewhat strange: "Um..."

Little Red Riding Hood didn't notice; by now she had already opened that equally heavy gift box.

Upon opening it, she saw: "120 Days to Sprint for the College Entrance Exam," boxed edition.

Little Red Riding Hood: "...?"

After a long silence, the young girl slowly raised her head, looking at the two people before her.

"Are you two sick?!"

(End of this chapter)