Chapter 131: An Abruptly Interrupted Childhood?

From Little Red Riding Hood's reaction and the expression on the girl who had just entered, Yu Sheng quickly guessed what had happened.

His brow furrowed instantly, but before he could speak, Little Red Riding Hood had already waved her hand hastily. "Wait here for a moment. I... I'll be right back."

"No, I'm coming with you." Yu Sheng stood up without waiting for an argument. Beside him, Hu Li also reached out to scoop Ai Lin into her arms and stood up as well.

"This is internal 'Fairy Tale' business, and we've... gone through similar procedures many times," Little Red Riding Hood said, her expression dark and heavy. "Thank you for your concern, but..."

"No 'buts.' I know what you mean—but your wolf bit me," Yu Sheng cut her off. He knew how to make this somewhat stubborn girl yield, so he didn't hesitate to bring up old matters. "I'm already caught up in 'Fairy Tale.' Maybe next time I dream, I'll be back in that black forest. I need to know more."

Faced with that argument, Little Red Riding Hood indeed lost her footing. She gave Yu Sheng a complicated look before nodding lightly.

Rapunzel looked at Yu Sheng and his companions with some confusion, as if she had many questions, but after catching Little Red Riding Hood's gaze, she swallowed her words and turned to open the door.

As soon as they exited the meeting room, Yu Sheng saw many children gathered in the hallway.

There were some who looked only six or seven years old, even younger, and others around twelve or thirteen—half-grown kids. They clustered in small groups in the corridor, at an age normally full of chatter and noise, but now they were unusually quiet.

A little girl in a blue dress spotted Little Red Riding Hood, hesitated, then walked over and carefully tugged at the latter's clothes. "Teacher Su said... Xiaoxiao graduated today. Is it true?"

Little Red Riding Hood pressed her lips together, bent down, and patted the girl's head. "Mm. She left today, transferred somewhere else."

"Will she come to the classroom this afternoon? I made her a present..."

"Just give the present to Teacher Su. She'll pass it on for you. Graduated children leave quickly, probably no time to say goodbye. But... I'll see her off for you."

"Oh..."

Little Red Riding Hood straightened up and hurried down the hallway with Yu Sheng and the others.

Once they were out of the children's sight, Yu Sheng frowned and asked in a low voice, "You said this has happened many times?"

"Many times," Little Red Riding Hood nodded gently. "Some children were already unstable when they arrived here. Others... had mental illnesses to begin with. 'Fairy Tale' worsens their condition. It's not just at 'adulthood' that we face a death crisis—there are pitfalls throughout the entire childhood."

Ai Lin lifted her head from Hu Li's arms. "They don't know the truth?"

"The youngest group doesn't know. Extra tension, fear of the unknown, and confusion would intensify 'Fairy Tale's' effect on them. But around thirteen or fourteen, they gradually come to understand what's going to happen from their 'dreams,' and at the same time begin to master the power 'Fairy Tale' gives them. We call that milestone 'awakening.' After that, they become 'parents'... We have a mature guidance process."

Ai Lin buried her head back in Hu Li's arms, her voice muffled. "...First time I've felt that the phrase 'mature guidance process' sounds so unsettling."

Yu Sheng said nothing. He just pressed his lips tightly together, his expression unusually grim—as if carrying a fire, and some strong, stubborn thoughts brewing.

Ai Lin sensed something. She quickly looked up at Yu Sheng but said nothing.

They hurried through the east building like that, then under Little Red Riding Hood's lead crossed a connecting corridor between the two buildings and entered the structure called the "west building."

The moment he stepped into that building, Yu Sheng immediately felt a change in the surroundings, or rather, the atmosphere.

A vague sense of... "suppression" seemed to fill the entire building. The corridor was so quiet it was nerve-racking. The lights were bright, but he kept feeling there were dark corners everywhere—a psychological "darkness," as if the west building harbored many things that light couldn't dispel, splitting the whole structure into countless fragmented parts.

"There are many seals and isolation measures in this building," Little Red Riding Hood said softly, apparently reading the change in Yu Sheng's expression. "This is our containment and research facility, more or less. Children who have incidents are brought here for a certain 'safety treatment' before they can be sent outside."

Yu Sheng nodded silently.

He followed Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel through that oppressive corridor. Sunlight streaming in through the windows cast broken, mottled shadows on the walls. Eventually, they came to a heavy iron door. A young woman in a light gray coat, seemingly in her twenties, with weariness in her expression, stood at the door, leaning against the wall as if spacing out.

An adult.

Yu Sheng was startled for a moment when he saw her, but quickly remembered what Little Red Riding Hood had told him.

An "employee" sent by the council?

"This is 'Teacher Su.' She's in charge of caring for children under seven," Rapunzel introduced in a low voice. "Sent by the council. The kids all like her very much."

The young woman called Teacher Su finally snapped out of her daze. She noticed the newcomers, but didn't seem to pay attention to Yu Sheng—her eyes landed on Little Red Riding Hood.

"It happened during class..." she said softly. Though an adult, she looked like a child who had done something wrong in front of Little Red Riding Hood. "I... should have noticed earlier..."

"Noticing earlier wouldn't have helped. It might have been too late even before she was sent here," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. "We need to go in and see."

"...Okay." The young woman bit her lip and nodded. But just then, she finally seemed to notice Yu Sheng, Ai Lin, and Hu Li. "Wait, who are they?"

"Traveling companions," Little Red Riding Hood said, already pushing open the heavy iron door. "And my friends."

The woman blinked. Yu Sheng walked past her, turning to nod at her before entering. "Hello, I'm Yu Sheng, from the Traveler's Inn."

Hu Li followed suit. "I'm Hu Li, Traveler's Inn."

"I'm Ai Lin, Traveler's Inn!"

Before the woman could react, the figures had already stepped through the door. The iron door closed, leaving her standing in the hallway, a little dazed.

The room was brightly lit.

But that "dimness" that seemed to spread directly from the psychological level was even worse than in the hallway.

Yu Sheng saw that the spacious room had no furnishings except for a small single bed in the middle.

A thin, small figure lay covered with a thin blanket, seemingly fast asleep.

A vague resistance stirred in his heart, but Yu Sheng still stepped forward.

The child lay there, sleeping peacefully.

But there was no breath, and her chest didn't rise or fall at all.

Some fine, unsettling red lines covered her neck, arms, and calves. Scars remained between the lines, as if those parts had once been shattered and then barely stitched together.

Yu Sheng immediately recalled the change he had seen in Little Red Riding Hood's arm in the valley earlier.

"The response was timely, and no other children saw it," Rapunzel said quietly from the side. "She briefly turned into a wolf in a nightmare. Just a moment, and it was too late."

"...At least in the final moment, she turned back into human form," Little Red Riding Hood sighed softly. "At least we can send her off in a 'human' way."

"Wait, wolf?" Yu Sheng finally confirmed something, looking at Little Red Riding Hood in shock. "Her 'symptom' is also turning into a wolf? So..."

"Don't you know?" It was Rapunzel who spoke instead. She pointed at the child on the bed. "She might have been the next Little Red Riding Hood."

Then she shook her head, her expression gloomy. "But it doesn't matter now."

"You've seen it," Little Red Riding Hood let out a long breath and spoke to Yu Sheng. "This is the story's ending—her childhood has ended abruptly."

"Will you be like this too?"

"Yes. After that, I'll be like this too. If I'm lucky, in human form; if not... then another form."

Yu Sheng didn't speak. He stared at the red-clad girl before him for a long time, then at the child on the bed. He stood there motionless for a long while, as if thinking.

Thus a full few minutes passed. Just as Little Red Riding Hood was about to speak, Yu Sheng suddenly moved.

He reached out and touched the bloodstains near the child's neck.

Rapunzel's eyes flew open. She stepped forward. "What are you doing?"

Yu Sheng didn't look up. "I want to know what she saw in her final moments. If possible, maybe I can say a few more words to her."

Rapunzel was taken aback, but just as she was about to speak again, Little Red Riding Hood reached out from the side and stopped her.

Almost at the same moment, Yu Sheng let out a puzzled "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" Ai Lin asked instinctively.

Yu Sheng didn't answer. He kept his hand on the bloodstains, standing still for over ten seconds as if observing or sensing something unusual. After a while, he blinked, then exhaled sharply.

"...She's not dead."

He said softly, his tone carrying hesitation and confusion. Then, as if to emphasize, he looked up and swept his gaze over everyone in the room, nodding firmly again.

"I think... she's not dead."