Forest Depths
The moment he entered the Black Forest, Yu Sheng did not hurry around. Instead, he cautiously stood where he was and spent several seconds carefully sensing the surrounding... "presence."
The "wolves" had not appeared yet. The forest was perfectly calm. From far away came the occasional faint sound of wind stirring the leaves or birds and beasts moving about. Some afterglow still lingered in the sky; dusk had not yet ended, and no malice had gathered in the forest's shadows.
It seemed the Black Forest had not yet reacted to this sudden "intruder."
But what about the child already deep in the forest? What was the environment around that girl named "Xiao Xiao" like now? Would the Black Forest appear differently to every "Little Red Riding Hood" who entered, depending on their stage? Or was it divided into different "zones"?
Many questions flashed through Yu Sheng's mind. Then he heard light footsteps beside him. A red figure entered his view: a girl wearing a dark-red coat.
Several pitch-black wolves emerged from the surrounding shadows and began circling and sniffing around the red-clad girl. Perhaps because of the Black Forest's influence, these shadow wolves seemed even more agitated than they had in the real world. Even the edges of their bodies were trembling rapidly, making them look extremely unstable.
Even around Little Red Riding Hood's own body, it seemed as though a layer of lingering shadow had taken root. Her dark-red coat appeared indistinct within it, as if another body—or another "form"—were superimposed over her.
Yu Sheng could not help looking at her twice more. "...I can tell just from one glance that you're not doing very well."
The girl's body instantly shuddered. She whipped around and stared at him as if she had seen a ghost.
Yu Sheng