"We've got both feet on the ground!"
Eileen stood atop a dark, heavy boulder, struggling to clutch a cleaver in both hands. Bracing herself against the night wind, she struck what she thought was an imposing pose and shouted into the empty valley.
Yu Sheng poked a finger at the doll's head, nearly knocking her off the rock. "Stop making such a racket. We haven't found Huli yet. Don't draw 'Hunger's' attention over here ahead of time."
"That thing doesn't sense people through hearing." Eileen hopped down from the rock in annoyance and tightened the straps holding the picture frame to her back. Then she raised her head and surveyed the surroundings. "...It really is desolate. And just like you said, it's creepy and eerie. It's as though something is covering the sky."
"Be extra careful." Yu Sheng glanced at the petite Eileen, who looked almost completely incapable of fighting. Though he knew the doll possessed all sorts of strange abilities, he still couldn't help reminding her, "If anything happens, make sure you protect yourself first. I'm not afraid of dying, but you're different. Neither of us can be sure whether your soul would survive if this temporary body of yours were destroyed."
"Don't worry, I'll protect myself. And to be honest, 'Hunger' isn't much of a threat to me." Eileen tipped her head back. "Dolls generally aren't affected mentally. More importantly—I don't get hungry."
"That's true, you don't get hungry, but you sure know how to be greedy normally. I can't even take a drink of water without putting it in front of you so you can stare at it." Yu Sheng muttered under his breath and glanced at his feet.
The several large plastic bags they had brought were all there, which made him instantly sigh with relief. His caution and meticulousness when opening the door had paid off. He had gotten all the "load" through the gate, so at least the beginning had gone smoothly.
Yu Sheng bent down and easily lifted the food, which would have been rather heavy for an ordinary person, then looked toward the nearby distance.
The collapsed, dilapidated temple stood silently in the night, barely changed from when he had left.
"We'll head over there first. Huli should be nearby. I can feel it." Yu Sheng spoke softly and started walking into the night.
He had only taken two steps when Eileen began shouting behind him. "Hey, wait! Slow down! I can't keep up!"
Yu Sheng turned around and saw the 66.6-centimeter-tall doll dragging the cleaver with one hand while using the other to keep her balance. She had gone around several large rocks in the path as if crossing mountains, then was trudging through the gravel-strewn riverbed, stumbling over the uneven ground.
Obstacles an ordinary person could simply step over required her to climb across, or else spend ages going around them...
Yu Sheng watched this speechlessly, then suddenly sighed and walked over to crouch in front of Eileen. "You'd better sit on my shoulders—don't say 'giddy-up'!"
Eileen instantly brightened. She ran toward Yu Sheng with the cleaver raised. "Hey! You're so nice!"
Yu Sheng immediately shouted, "Put that thing away first! At least point the blade in another direction!"
Good grief, a living doll with blood-red eyes charging at his neck through the night while waving a cleaver was way too horrifying.
Yu Sheng wasn't afraid of dying, but he was afraid of this.
"Where the hell have you brought us?" Li Lin shivered as a cold wind swept through the forest, an increasingly intense unease weighing on his heart. "Is this still The Crossroads...?"
"Otherworld, Nightfall Valley, current depth L-3, gradually sinking toward L-4. Danger Level assessment... According to the records, above Level Three." Xu Jiali's voice came from beside him. At some point, the nearly two-meter-tall muscular man had connected a portable depth detector to his eyeball. Now, while scanning the surroundings, he rapidly recited the information he remembered. "This Otherworld is classified as 'Wilderness'—we're in serious trouble."
Li Lin's eyes slowly widened. Prompted by Xu Jiali, he finally recalled, belatedly, the information he had encountered during training.
"Wilderness"-type Otherworlds were vast, had no clear boundaries or exits, and required specific conditions—or a specific time and direction—to leave. A depth of L-3 meant this place was basically completely isolated from reality and operated according to rules that defied reason. Prolonged stays also carried a high risk of mental and cognitive erosion and interference. Danger Level Three meant that obvious malice existed here. Something occupied this place, actively attacking and attempting to kill intruders. The threat was lethal, and methods such as "following the rules" could not be used to avoid or resist it.
Operating in an Otherworld of this level usually required at least an entire team of Special Operations Bureau agents—more than a dozen people, fully armed and carrying heavy equipment.
And that was only for an investigation mission. In other words, the objective was merely to collect intelligence and withdraw alive, not to try to fight the entities here. That required more personnel or more experienced specialists.
Li Lin looked around. Counting Xu Jiali, there were only two Special Operations Bureau agents present. One of them was a deep diver, a specialist specifically trained to fight entities, but the incident had happened too suddenly, and the muscleman had hardly brought any equipment.
There was also an underage "Spirit Realm Detective" who took outsourced jobs. Apparently, she specialized in reconnaissance.
Their fate was completely screwed.
"Give the food in your hands to that little girl." At that moment, Xu Jiali, the most experienced person on-site, broke the silence and gave his order with a stern expression. "Li Lin, you and I will use this."
Li Lin quickly recovered from his thought that their fate was completely screwed. Without hesitation, he followed the veteran agent's instructions, handing the two bowls of instant noodles in his hands directly to the still-dazed Little Red Riding Hood, then reaching out to take what Xu Jiali offered.
It was a needleless syringe, its pale green liquid glowing faintly in the night.
A sanity blocker.
Li Lin looked up in shock at his colleague, who had already pressed the syringe against his arm.
"The entity generated here is 'Hunger,' and it tends toward mental attacks." The muscular man spoke calmly. "You should know what that means from the name alone. Take a shot first. Though the side effects are worse than those of an inhaler, at least it can ensure you won't lose your judgment for forty-eight hours."
Li Lin nodded. With a soft hiss, he injected the sanity blocker into his body.
Beside them, Little Red Riding Hood instantly reacted when she heard the name "Hunger." She immediately stepped forward. "Wait, then hurry up and eat. Your bodies are still ordinary human bodies. I can withstand it much better than you—and I have snacks with me..."
"Listen to me." Xu Jiali cut her off directly. The nearly two-meter-tall man stood in the night, almost two heads taller than Little Red Riding Hood. He lowered his head to look at the girl before him, his expression unusually stern. "I know your situation."
Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing.
Xu Jiali patted her shoulder. His low voice seemed to carry a reassuring strength. "This is for our sake too. Your wolf pack is our greatest hope of fighting the entity. You need to maintain your combat strength."
Li Lin watched Little Red Riding Hood crouch beside a rock and quietly eat the instant noodles, which had already gone cold. He turned to glance at his colleague, a trace of confusion in his expression.
Xu Jiali gently shook his head and lowered his voice. "If she falls prey to hunger, her wolves will eat her."
In the night, the wolf pack let out soft, restless whines from within the forest.
In the cold wind, a malicious "gaze" spread through the valley.
Among the ruins of the temple, Yu Sheng and Eileen searched carefully.
The omnipresent stench of decay grew increasingly thick, even seeming to possess a will of its own as it wormed into their nostrils, making them exceptionally uncomfortable.
Eileen simply stopped breathing.
Yu Sheng envied her for that.
"You're sure that fox is here?" Eileen gripped the cleaver with one hand and Yu Sheng's hair with the other, riding on his shoulders while stretching her neck to peer around. "I can't see anything..."
"I'm sure." Yu Sheng answered casually. "There's a faint connection between her and me, established through our blood. There's one between you and me too, though you may not have noticed it yourself."
"Y-you're sure?" Eileen looked at Yu Sheng suspiciously, then lowered her head to stare at her own hand, as if pondering what he meant by a "faint connection."
At that moment, a faint rustling suddenly came from the silent ruins, interrupting Eileen's thoughts and Yu Sheng's movements.
The two of them raised their heads almost simultaneously and looked toward the source of the sound.
A white figure cautiously crawled out from behind a collapsed section of wall.
Her silver-white fox tail swayed gently in the night, and her fluffy ears quivered slightly in the wind. The fox girl emerging from the ruins widened her eyes as she looked at the figure standing not far away. Once she finally saw who it was, she immediately broke into a happy smile.
"Benefactor!"
Huli ran out from behind the broken wall, almost sweeping over the scattered bricks and rubble like a gust of wind. She circled Yu Sheng twice in rapid succession before stopping in front of him, her face filled with pure joy and a hint of disbelief. "You really came! Benefactor, you really did?"
"It's me, it's me. I really came." Yu Sheng smiled just as happily, then immediately set down what he was carrying. "I brought you lots of delicious food. Starting today, you won't have to go hungry anymore."
Before you continue