Dimensional Hotel

Yu Sheng awoke abruptly, emerging from visions of chaos and an endless, dark descent. He opened his eyes into the dim gloom of his bedroom and tried to sit up—but couldn’t.

Two Irenes perched, one on each of his arms, while another made of steel bars sat squarely on his chest. Nearby, Foxy crouched at the edge of the bed, staring intently with golden-red eyes glowing faintly in the dimness, brimming with a mischievous aura.

Yu Sheng nearly choked, gasping as he tried to shove the heavy doll from his chest. “Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t jump onto the bed? Do you realize how heavy this body of yours is…?”

The little doll glared back with crimson eyes. “I didn’t jump suddenly—I climbed up slowly.”

With great effort, Yu Sheng finally managed to sit upright, dizziness still clouding his mind. “What exactly are you all doing here anyway, staring at me like you’re viewing a corpse…?”

Irene immediately nodded. “Exactly. We are viewing your corpse.”

Yu Sheng: “…?”

“Benefactor, your aura completely vanished for half an hour. We assumed you’d died,” Foxy chimed in, nodding seriously. “Irene said humans are fragile and often drop dead after staying up too late, so you probably died from exhaustion. But I thought she crushed you to death by sitting on your chest, so we were waiting for you to come back and tell us…”

Yu Sheng groaned, “Can’t you try learning something more reliable from Irene?”

Suddenly, Foxy leaned closer, her glowing eyes wide with concern. “Benefactor… what’s wrong?”

“I became ‘Hunter.’ I saw the fissure behind the black Forest—and then I was killed by the Wolf pack.” Yu Sheng spoke quickly, suddenly jolting upright and looking urgently towards the window. “Wait! What time is it now?!”

“It’s already dark. You’ve slept a long while, Benefactor,” Foxy answered hurriedly, startled. “Irene and I visited the Valley earlier this afternoon. Everything seemed fine…”

“No—no, something’s going to happen. Nightfall is approaching again—” Yu Sheng muttered anxiously, overcome by a powerful unease as he hastily rose from the bed. “Anka Aila’s activity hasn’t lessened at all. It’s preparing an even greater assault. I’ve overlooked something crucial—I’m sure of it.”

The three Irenes glanced uncertainly at each other before one jumped onto the bedside table, staring up at him curiously. “Wait, what trouble are you talking about? Wasn’t the most dangerous night already behind us? Foxy and I just confirmed that the Cursed Children are safe in the Valley.”

“But Anka Aila’s power isn’t diminishing—it’s intensifying!” Yu Sheng interrupted urgently, staring into the doll’s blood-red eyes. “Yes, the Blood Bestowal Ceremony and the Valley’s shielding have weakened Anka Aila’s control, but its awakening speed is actually increasing!”

The three Irenes froze simultaneously: “…What?!”

“I saw it clearly from within the black Forest—the Dark Angel is scanning through every Fairy Tale subset,” Yu Sheng explained rapidly, grabbing his coat and quickly sending a warning to the Special Affairs Bureau from his phone as he opened a Door in midair. “I suspect it’s searching for Fairy Tale members who’ve been ‘interfered with.’ My actions to protect the children likely appear as abductions to Anka Aila, and it’s realized it’s losing control over the stage. But I’m not sure how much this has accelerated its awakening…”

Irene stared blankly, confused. “Wait, where are you going?”

“To the Valley. You and Foxy, follow me!”

A shimmering Door appeared in the air, instantly transporting Yu Sheng to the makeshift camp in the Valley. The sudden brightness of daylight momentarily dazzled him, and as his eyes adjusted, he saw Little Red Riding Hood standing nearby, gazing at him in surprise.

“Why are you here?” She quickly approached, smiling warmly. “Irene said you were exhausted and went straight to sleep. We’re just getting dinner ready—care to join?”

“Is everything in camp alright?” Yu Sheng ignored her invitation, urgently pressing, “Have any children fallen suddenly asleep or mentioned anything strange?”

Seeing Yu Sheng’s grim expression, Little Red Riding Hood quickly grew tense herself. “No, everything’s perfectly normal—what’s going on?”

Yu Sheng rapidly recounted his recent experience before concluding grimly, “I need to return to the black Forest quickly and find a way to approach that fissure. Anka Aila’s growing activity is deeply concerning. It clearly considers my ‘taking’ the children away a major provocation—maybe too major.”

Little Red Riding Hood listened carefully, tension evident on her face. She hesitated several times, finally asking cautiously, “Then…was our previous ‘sheltering’ too hasty? Did we provoke the Dark Angel too soon?”

“No, we can’t think that way,” Yu Sheng swiftly interrupted her. His mind was clear about the situation. “We’re not the only ones making moves—the Angel Cultists have been tirelessly pushing Anka Aila toward awakening. Ever since we performed the ‘Blood Granting’ rituals for the children, we haven’t had the luxury of hesitation.”

“At its heart, while our act of ‘Sheltering’ might provoke Anka Aila, choosing not to protect the children wouldn’t slow its awakening at all. After all, the Heretic Cultists are so desperate they’re performing mass Self Sacrifices just to stir their master awake. This time, we have to seize the initiative. At least then we keep some control in our hands.”

“You’re right. I’m just panicking,” Little Red Riding Hood quickly nodded, her brows knitted tightly together. “But now what? Anka Aila is waking faster, and it’s even scanning all the Fairy Tale subsets… The nightmares ahead will probably be far worse.”

“That’s exactly why I’m here—to check our status immediately,” Yu Sheng replied grimly. “In the real world, night has fallen again. It’s another active cycle for the Fairy Tale stage, and tonight will be particularly crucial. As long as the Sheltering Wasteland holds strong, surviving this nightmare won’t be an issue. No matter how much stronger Anka Aila gets, it’s still trapped within the Otherworld we call ‘Fairy Tale.’ Theoretically, its link to reality was severed when you all evacuated.”

“I understand,” Little Red Riding Hood replied instantly. “Tonight, I’ll increase patrol frequency. King has also prepared; his Court Wizards will monitor the entire camp continuously.”

Yu Sheng nodded, but a faint unease continued to gnaw at his heart. Even though he had confirmed all was well among the Cursed Children, and preparations for patrol and surveillance were set, he still felt something wasn’t quite right—as if an unforeseen disaster loomed just out of sight.

His expression hardened, and just as he felt he was grasping a crucial thought, an urgent ringtone suddenly shattered his focus.

He frowned instinctively and picked up his phone. Bai Li Qing’s name flashed urgently on the screen.

Yu Sheng had barely answered when the Director’s cold, crisp voice spoke rapidly from the other end. “We found that book.”

After a brief pause, she added, “The book Zhao Le Le gave to Anka Aila. We’ve located a copy from the same print batch. Several scanned pages have been sent to your Frontier Messenger. Check immediately.”

Yu Sheng ended the call, his mind swirling with unrest. Still, he opened Frontier Messenger at once, scanning through Bai Li Qing’s message.

Irene and Little Red Riding Hood quickly leaned over, curious, while even Fox, who barely recognized words, crowded close to peer at the screen.

Yu Sheng swiftly found the images Bai Li Qing had sent. The first to appear was a low-resolution scan—a bright yet crudely printed cover from an aged Fairy Tale book, its edges torn and worn, clearly archival material of an old children’s book.

The cover depicted a cartoon-like forest with winding paths, and, prominently seated atop a tree stump, a whimsical, red-brown squirrel.

The squirrel held up a pine needle, pointing theatrically toward the book’s title:

Squirrel Knight Reads You Stories

Yu Sheng’s eyes lingered on the squirrel for a long moment. He drew a quiet breath before opening the next page.

A scanned page revealed the table of contents:

First story: Little Red Riding Hood

Second story: Snow White

Third story: Sleeping Beauty…

Little Red Riding Hood, standing nearby, stared intently at the phone. After a moment, she softly murmured, “Oh…so mine was the first story…”

Yu Sheng’s eyes hovered on the table of contents briefly, then moved to the next scan.

On yellowed and damaged pages, the cheaply printed text presented the first story, accompanied by simple illustrations and phonetic annotations.

The entire story, including pictures, spanned just two pages. It was extremely brief, clearly intended for young children who had only recently begun reading independently.

Yu Sheng continued flipping through scans—

The print grew increasingly jumbled, occasionally breaking into unsettling blank spaces.

This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation