"We've got our feet on the ground!"
Erin stood atop a heavy, dark boulder, awkwardly holding a kitchen knife in both hands, attempting to strike a pose she thought looked very imposing against the night wind as she shouted towards the empty valley below.
Yu Sheng poked the doll's head with his finger, nearly knocking her off the stone: "Don't be so noisy. We haven't found Hu Li yet, and you're already attracting the attention of 'Hunger.'"
"That thing doesn't detect by hearing," Erin jumped down from the stone resentfully, tightened the strap holding the picture frame on her back, and then looked up to survey the surroundings, "…It's really desolate here, and just like you said, eerily creepy, it's like there's a layer covering the sky or something."
"Be extra careful," Yu Sheng glanced at Erin, who seemed too petite to have any combat ability, knowing that the living doll had many weird and wonderful powers, he still couldn't help but remind her, "If there's trouble, prioritize protecting yourself—I'm not afraid to die, but it's different for you. Neither of us can be sure if your soul can continue to live once this temporary body is destroyed."
"Don't worry, I'll protect myself. And to be honest, 'Hunger' isn't much of a threat to me," Erin looked up, "Dolls generally aren't affected by mental influences, and what's more important—I don't get hungry."
"Yes, you don't get hungry, but you sure know how to crave snacks. Even when I drink water, I have to show it to you first," Yu Sheng grumbled and glanced down at his feet.
All the big plastic bags were still there, which immediately eased his tension—being cautious and meticulous when opening the door was necessary. He had transported all the "payload" through the gate, which made for a smooth start.
Yu Sheng bent down and easily picked up the food bags, which were somewhat heavy for ordinary people, and looked up towards the distance.
The decrepit and tilting ruined temple stood silently in the night, no different from when he left.
"Let's head over there first; Hu Li should be around here, I can feel it," Yu Sheng whispered and stepped towards the night.
Then, after only two steps, he heard Erin shouting from behind: "Hey, wait for me! Slow down! I can't keep up!"
Yu Sheng turned around and saw the 66.6 cm tall doll, one hand dragging a kitchen knife, the other maintaining balance, clumsily navigating around large stones on the road, trekking unevenly on the gravel-strewn valley floor.
What an ordinary person would step over, she had to climb—otherwise, she'd have to detour a long way...
Watching this scene, Yu Sheng sighed and then walked over and crouched in front of Erin, "Better get on my shoulders—just don't say 'giddy-up'!"
Erin instantly cheered up, holding the knife and ran towards Yu Sheng, "Ah! You are so nice!"
Yu Sheng immediately yelled, "Put away that thing first! At least turn the blade the other way!"
Good grief, a living doll with blood-red eyes rushing towards your neck with a kitchen knife in the night, this scene was too damn thrilling.
Yu Sheng wasn't afraid of death, but he was scared.
...
"What the hell have we gotten ourselves into," Li Lin shivered in the cold forest wind, a growing unease swirling in his mind, "Is this still the Boundary Land..."
"Exotic Realm, Nightfall Valley, current depth L-3, gradually sinking towards L-4, Danger Level assessment... according to the records, above level three," Xu Jiali's voice came from aside. The nearly two-meter tall man had attached a portable Deep Probe to his eye and was now swinging his gaze around while rapidly speaking based on the information memorized in his mind, "The classification of this Exotic Realm is 'Wilderness'—we're in big trouble."
Li Lin's eyes slowly widened, remembering the details he had once encountered during training, thanks to Xu Jiali's reminder.
"Wilderness" type Exotic Realms are large, lack clear boundaries and exits, and require specific conditions, or at certain times and directions, for departure; a depth of L-3 means a complete separation from reality and the presence of rules that defy sanity, with prolonged stays posing a high risk of mental and cognitive Erosion; Danger Level three signifies obvious malice, something lurking and actively attacking and trying to kill invaders—its threat is lethal and cannot be avoided or countered by simply "following the rules."
Operating in an Exotic Realm of this caliber typically requires at least a full team of Special Service Bureau Officers, over a dozen people, heavily armed and carrying heavy-duty equipment.
And only for reconnaissance missions—in other words, the objective is simply to gather intelligence and then retreat alive, not to confront the entities here; that would require more manpower or more experienced specialists.
Li Lin looked at his companions, including Xu Jiali, there were only two Special Service Bureau Officers on site, and though one was a deep diver, specializing in confronting entities, he wasn't equipped for such a sudden emergency.
Beside them, there was also an underage Spirit Realm detective who took on freelance jobs, said to be an investigative type.
Their fate was looking completely doomed.
"Hand over the food in your hands to that little girl over there," just then, the most experienced Xu Jiali broke the silence, instructing with a grave face, "Li Lin, you and I will use this."
Li Lin quickly snapped out of his sense of 'fate being utterly screwed', unhesitatingly following the instructions from the senior officer, directly handing over the two bowls of instant noodles in his hands to the somewhat confused Little Red Riding Hood. Then, he reached out to take the object passed to him by Xu Jiali.
It was a needleless injector, with pale green liquid inside that was faintly glowing in the night.
Sanity Blocker.
Li Lin looked up in astonishment, seeing his colleague who had already pressed the injector against his arm.
"The entity generated here is 'Hunger', with a tendency towards psychic attacks," the burly man said calmly, "You should know what it is by the name — take a shot first, the side effects are greater than those of using a nebulizer, but at least within forty-eight hours, it will ensure you don't lose your ability to judge."
Li Lin nodded, and with a "hiss", he injected the Sanity Blocker into his body.
Hearing the name "Hunger," Little Red Riding Hood immediately snapped to her senses. She quickly stepped forward, "Wait, then you guys hurry up and eat, your bodies are still ordinary people, and I can withstand more than you - and I have snacks with me..."
"Listen to me," Xu Jiali interrupted her directly, the nearly two-meter-tall burly man standing in the night, towering nearly two heads above Little Red Riding Hood. He looked down at the girl before him, his expression extremely serious, "I know your situation."
Little Red Riding Hood opened her mouth but eventually didn't say anything more.
Xu Jiali then patted her shoulder, his deep voice seemingly carrying a reassuring power: "This is also for us — your Wolf Pack is our greatest hope against the entity. You need to maintain your combat effectiveness."
Li Lin watched Little Red Riding Hood squatting next to a stone, silently eating the cold instant noodles. He turned his head and glanced at his colleague beside him, his expression filled with a touch of confusion.
Xu Jiali gently shook his head, lowering his voice: "If she falls into hunger, her wolves will eat her."
In the dark of night, the Wolf Pack made unsettled whimpers in the woods.
In the cold wind, the malicious "gaze" was spreading in the valley.
In the ruins of the ruined temple, Yu Sheng and Erin were searching cautiously.
That omnipresent stench of decay became increasingly intense, as if it had consciousness of its own, invading one's nostrils, making it particularly unpleasant.
Erin simply stopped breathing.
Yu Sheng envied this ability of hers greatly.
"Are you sure that the fox is here?" Erin, with a kitchen knife in one hand and grabbing Yu Sheng's hair with the other, perched on his shoulders and craned her neck to look around, "I can't see anything..."
"Confirmed," Yu Sheng said casually, "There's a faint connection between her and me, established through blood - you have it too, although you might not realize it yourself."
"Really?" Erin looked at Yu Sheng with some skepticism, then lowered her head to look at her own hands, as if pondering what the "faint connection" he mentioned was.
And at that moment, a slight rustling sound suddenly came from the silent ruins, interrupting Erin's pondering and Yu Sheng's movements.
The two almost simultaneously looked towards the direction of the sound.
A white figure cautiously crawled out from behind a collapsed wall.
The silver white Fox Tail gently swayed in the night, and the furry ears trembled slightly in the wind. The demon fox girl who emerged from the ruins widened her eyes at the figures standing not far away, and when she finally saw who it was, she immediately smiled happily.
"Savior!"
Hu Li ran out from behind the broken wall, almost like a gust of wind sweeping over the rubble, circling Yu Sheng quickly twice, and then stopping in front of him, her face showing pure joy and a hint of disbelief: "You, you really came! Savior, really?"
"It's me, it's really me," Yu Sheng smiled happily in return, and then immediately put down the thing in his hands, "I've brought you a lot of tasty food, you don't have to go hungry from today onwards."