Chapter 98: Sacrifice and Corruption

"My wolf is myself."

Yu Sheng felt that when Little Red Riding Hood said this, a trace of very complex emotion seemed hidden in her expression, but he could not make it out.

He only felt that the atmosphere around the other party at this moment was somewhat low and oppressive—presumably, "the wolf is myself" was not a good thing.

If the timing and atmosphere were not inappropriate, he would definitely dig to the root of it, but even without asking now, Yu Sheng had recorded this trace of curiosity about Little Red Riding Hood and her wolf pack in his heart, preparing to ask properly later once he was more familiar with the other party, or if another opportunity arose.

And now, his gaze once again turned toward that white exhibition hall at the end of the corridor.

Now, even he could faintly smell a trace of fresh blood in the air.

The "security guards" only react to the intruder themselves; they have only vision, not hearing or smell. These guards are actually very rigid, acting completely according to the rules, with huge loopholes...

Yu Sheng's expression gradually became thoughtful.

Little Red Riding Hood then lowered her voice and spoke again: "How about it, should we retreat first? We can come back tomorrow..."

"No," Erin suddenly interrupted her, "look at Yu Sheng's expression."

Little Red Riding Hood turned her head in confusion to take a look: "What's wrong with his expression?"

"He has another idea." Erin let out a sigh.

As soon as the doll finished speaking, before Little Red Riding Hood could open her mouth to ask, Yu Sheng finished thinking. He turned his head to look at the Fox Miss standing nearby: "You say, does Hu Li's tail... count as her 'self'?"

Everyone present was stunned. Little Red Riding Hood hadn't reacted at first, and before her brain caught up, her mouth had already spoken: "How could it not? That's grown on her body..."

"But her tail can be fired out," Yu Sheng said very seriously, "strictly speaking, these are all magical treasures she forged—and moreover, the kind that can be reloaded."

Little Red Riding Hood remained frozen in place with her mouth open; at this moment, her brain finally caught up.

The next second, she looked at Yu Sheng with a face full of shock: "Wait! What do you want to do?"

"Just try it. Anyway, if we really alert those plastic people, we'll just open the door and leave," Yu Sheng said with great spirit of exploration. "Didn't you say those 'security guards' only have vision? If we block their line of sight without them seeing us, that should be enough..."

Then, ignoring Little Red Riding Hood's shocked gaze, he turned to explain to the Fox Miss, who still looked bewildered: "I have a plan that requires your tail..."

"Wait, wait," Little Red Riding Hood couldn't help but interrupt halfway through hearing this, "you just said there are at least seven or eight 'security guards' in that exhibition hall, right? Hu Li has already fired two tails. Are the remaining ones enough?"

When she said this, it felt strange in every way, a kind of awkwardness where a normal person's values had to be crushed and forcibly adapted to face abnormal things, but as soon as she finished speaking, she realized—she had been awkward too early.

At this moment, Hu Li had already understood Yu Sheng's meaning. She reached out, casually pulled two tails from behind her back and laid them flat on the ground, then pulled out two more and arranged them on the ground as well. When the tails behind her were almost all pulled out, the demon fox turned her head to look, then remained silent for two or three seconds. Then, a "hum" sound like a sword being drawn from its sheath was heard—nine more tails emerged from behind her.

Little Red Riding Hood: "...?"

"These are the ones she usually stocks up on," Erin said with the air of an experienced person, patting Little Red Riding Hood's arm with her body, "she usually has a huge appetite, just used to stockpiling tails."

Little Red Riding Hood continued with a face full of question marks: "...?"

She knew every character, but how did they connect to form such a niche sentence—was what she just heard even human speech?!

At this time, Hu Li was even pointing at the tails on the ground and introducing them to her: "This one requires twenty chicken legs, this one requires ten..."

Little Red Riding Hood's expression was dazed; she didn't know how her brain caught up (or maybe it didn't catch up at all): "Because the second one is half price?"

"Because this one can only accelerate to subsonic speed; it's a subsonic cruise tail," Hu Li looked at Little Red Riding Hood with a strange expression. "Matter and energy are proportional; do you have any common sense?"

Little Red Riding Hood had the thought of whether she should give herself another shot of rationality blocker.

And at this time, the Fox Miss, who was "very common-sensical," had already neatly arranged all the tails ready for use—the fluffy fox tails floated a few centimeters above the ground in a posture that looked like they were placed on the ground but were actually hovering just above it. Behind every fox tail, eerie fox fire scattered in starry points. They emitted a slight trembling sound, just like... rocket projectiles prepared for launch after being fueled.

The instant this association popped into her mind, Little Red Riding Hood felt her life was over; she must have already been influenced by the trio from the inn, and her brain had started to become abnormal.

Dealing with entities is truly dangerous—even someone like Yu Sheng who looks harmless to humans and animals is the same.

At the same time, Hu Li gently raised her hand.

The silver-white fox tails surrounded by eerie fox fire slowly rose into the half-air.

These treasures, originally "refined" to fly at subsonic or even supersonic speeds, were now, under the demon fox's careful control, flying slowly and cautiously through the museum corridor with a highly spiritual and cautious posture.

"If those 'security guards' don't react later, block their line of sight, and we'll go in to check the situation. If they suddenly move, just roll up whatever is in the center of the exhibition hall and retreat at the fastest speed; we'll open the door and leave," Yu Sheng said while watching the Fox Miss's high-precision control, while already reaching his hand toward the half-air. A virtual door emitting a faint glow formed in his hand. "I'll prepare the door first, waiting for your feedback."

"Mm." Hu Li nodded a bit nervously, controlling her fox tails to slowly probe their heads into that white exhibition hall.

Only Little Red Riding Hood remained with a wooden face. She felt she should be nervous, after all, the atmosphere had reached this point, but she really couldn't get nervous, after all, the atmosphere had become so weird to this point—her brain couldn't keep up with her values, her values couldn't keep up with her senses, and her heart felt like it had encountered a bug.

Even her wolf had fallen into a daze since a while ago.

"They didn't move..." At this moment, Hu Li finally broke the silence. A trace of joy appeared on her face. "I tried blocking their line of sight all at once... it should work."

Only at this time did Yu Sheng finally breathe a slight sigh of relief.

The virtual door silently dissolved in his hand.

After receiving Hu Li's confirmation again, he waved to the others: "Let's go, go over and check the situation."

The group, with various moods, stepped toward that white exhibition hall which was now quiet.

The tense nerves reached their peak when they saw those dark blue security uniforms, but then gradually relaxed as those plastic dummies remained motionless.

Everyone's gaze fell on those "security guards" immediately. Little Red Riding Hood saw the entity standing next to the main gate, seemingly guarding the passage entrance, at first glance. She saw that dummy wearing a dark blue uniform standing motionless, but the position of its head was wrapped layer upon layer by a silver-white fox tail.

That was a very beautiful tail; when on the demon fox, it looked like a light, floating work of art, but now wrapped around the plastic dummy's head, it gave a feeling as if... a grotesque and eerie cocoon.

Afterwards, she heard Yu Sheng's low exclamation: "... Holy crap."

Little Red Riding Hood instantly turned around, following Yu Sheng's gaze toward the center of the exhibition hall.

That was where the "Weeper" statue should have been placed.

However, now there was no statue on that platform, only a strange and horrifying corpse—a man, tightly bound to the platform by iron thorns covered in spikes, tied into a posture of kneeling prostrate with hands covering his face, weeping in grief.

That posture was exactly the same as the posture of the "Weeper" statue mentioned in the data.

The victim's blood had been drained dry, appearing to have been dead for a long time. There was no sign of the killer around, only a pungent smell of blood filling the entire exhibition hall.

Yu Sheng felt his heart contract several times—he was no stranger to "death," having died suddenly more than once or twice, but this was the first time he witnessed such a gruesome scene from a third-party perspective. Moreover, the scene itself was secondary; what shocked him even more was...

the strong, sacrificial, and eerie atmosphere contained in this scene.

The sacrifice bound by iron thorns and bled to death, the sacrificial posture deliberately restored to the "Weeper" sculpture, the fresh blood flowing down from the high platform, the polluted white exhibition hall, and those plastic dummies standing quietly surrounding the sacrifice.

This was a completely different kind of "horror" from Entity-Hunger.

"Little Red Riding Hood, do you know this..."

Yu Sheng instinctively turned his head, wanting to ask the only "experienced person" on site if she could understand what was going on with this scene, but suddenly found that the situation of the girl in red seemed a bit abnormal.

She stared fixedly at the sacrificer on the high platform, her eyes having turned blood-red like those of her shadow wolves at some unknown moment; a low whine emanated from her throat, and fine downy fur was already sprouting from her cheeks and the backs of her hands.

In the next second, Yu Sheng saw the shadow behind Little Red Riding Hood suddenly stretch and grow; a massive beast burst forth from that shadow—it stood upright, like a man draped in wolf skin, or like a wolf that had consumed a human and thus acquired human bones and contours. This hybrid of man and wolf lunged forward directly from the shadow, without a roar, without warning, without any meaningless display of intimidation, but simply charging straight ahead.

Yet it did not lunge at Yu Sheng—it went straight for the unresponsive Little Red Riding Hood.

It is very difficult for a person to dodge an attack from their own shadow.

(End of this chapter)