Chapter 98: Chapter 98

“Grandma, why does your voice sound so strange?” Little Red Riding Hood only saw her grandmother lying in bed, covered by a quilt. She didn’t look closely, just set her things down.

“I have a cold… I’m the big brother. Grandma asked me to wait here for you. She heard you were coming and went to the woods to pick mushrooms—she wants to make your favorite mushroom soup.”

The man on the bed sat up with a stiff smile. Where did these seven beautiful girls come from? He was caught off guard, but they all looked inexperienced. Since they’d come to him, he wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip by, though it would be a bit more troublesome.

“Big brother, why are you here?” Little Red Riding Hood exclaimed in surprise when she saw the man."

"“Weren’t you going to pick flowers? I was worried Grandma would wait too long, so I came to let her know first,” the man said gently.

“Oh, you’re so nice, big brother. But is Grandma okay? Why did she go out? And why are you on Grandma’s bed?” Little Red Riding Hood asked, sounding a bit concerned.

“She’s much better now. I was waiting for you, but I got tired and fell asleep,” the man said, patting Little Red Riding Hood’s back in a comforting way.

Mu Ying quietly took a step back, feeling a chill. There was no wolf disguised as Grandma like in the story, but instead, a strange, greasy man.

Little Red Riding Hood wasn’t really a child—otherwise, her mother wouldn’t have let her come to the forest alone. She was a young girl about the same age as Mu Ying and her friends, but the man’s gesture of patting her back felt a bit too intimate.

“Little Red Riding Hood, what’s this man’s name?” Mu Ying asked.

Little Red Riding Hood scratched her head. “I don’t know. He’s the big brother I told you about—the one who suggested I pick flowers. I only met him today, just like you guys.”

“…”

Mu Ying almost wanted to kneel in exasperation. Was the world really this innocent and trusting? Did people just accept strangers so easily?

Well, maybe Little Red Riding Hood could be excused for being young and not very aware of gender boundaries, but what was with this man getting so close and touching her all the time?

Thinking of this, a dangerous glint flashed in Mu Ying’s eyes. She pulled Little Red Riding Hood over to her side.

The man didn’t seem to mind. As he poured tea, he said, “I forgot to introduce myself to Little Red Riding Hood. My name is Wolf. I live in the forest too.”

“Huh? My sisters live in the forest too!” Little Red Riding Hood exclaimed, covering her mouth in surprise. Do young people these days all like living in remote forests?

“What a coincidence! Come, everyone, have a seat. The sun’s strong today—you must be thirsty. Have some tea,” Wolf said, gentlemanly pulling out chairs for everyone.

Mu Ying whispered a few words to Margarita, the strongest among them. Then she stepped forward to take a teacup. Just as the cup was about to reach her lips, she suddenly swerved and jammed it straight into Wolf’s mouth, chipping half his front tooth.

Wolf never expected the sweet, obedient girl to turn on him so suddenly. As the teacup came at him, he tried to dodge, but Margarita, who had somehow moved behind him, gave him a shove. Caught off guard, his tooth bore the brunt.

The tea he’d so carefully prepared ended up choking him instead. No matter how he coughed, it wouldn’t come out. Furious and in pain, he ran out, crying, “What are you doing?! My tooth!”

Bang! The wooden door slammed shut in his face.

“Sorry! I just thought, since you worked so hard to make tea, how could you ‘forget’ to serve yourself? I’m not that thirsty—better for you to drink it. Who knew you’d be in such a rush and bring your mouth over? Is your tooth okay? Don’t cover it—let us see how bad it is,” Mu Ying said, looking all innocent and concerned.

“…”

Wolf’s tooth hurt even more. Why had he been so foolish as to mess with this little demon? He already felt weak in the knees—if he didn’t leave now, he’d be the one getting eaten!

Forcing himself to speak, he said, “I’m fine, it’s not your fault. It’s just my tooth looks a bit ugly now. I’d better not stay—I’ll take my leave.” As he spoke, he glanced shyly at Little Red Riding Hood, as if embarrassed for his crush to see him in such a state.

“Oh? With your ‘delicate constitution,’ can you really make it home safely? Why not just lie down on Grandma’s bed? After all, Grandma’s sleeping under the bed!” Mu Ying said.

Little Red Riding Hood nodded at first—she was worried about Wolf going alone too—but at the last sentence, she looked at the bed in surprise.

There was a pile of stuff under the bed, making it hard to see, but in the shadows at the foot, the tip of a shoe was just visible—Grandma’s shoe!

“You!” Wolf realized things were going south. How had they figured it out? The door was blocked, but there was a window by the back door. He forced himself up and tried to climb out, but only managed to get halfway before passing out, hanging there half-in, half-out in a ridiculous pose.

“Grandma!” Little Red Riding Hood finally reacted, rushing to the bed and pulling Grandma out.

Rosie went over to check. “She’s fine, just knocked out with some kind of drug.”

Knock knock knock!

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door. Little Red Riding Hood jumped in fright and asked in a trembling voice, “Who is it?”

“I’m Nick the hunter,” came a gruff voice.

“It’s Uncle Nick!” Little Red Riding Hood ran to open the door. “Uncle Nick, Grandma was hurt by a bad man! We almost got tricked too, but Sister Mu Ying noticed something was wrong…”

“It’s all right now, it’s all right,” Nick said gently—though his voice was so rough that even when he tried to be gentle, it sounded a bit off.

He looked at the group of girls in the house and relaxed.

Nick had been tracking the human-trafficking ‘Wolf’ to this area. This ‘Wolf’ looked like a decent man and had used his looks to trick many young girls. Some had been assaulted, others sold. There were rumors that traffickers had come to Blackberry Village, so as one of the strongest hunters, Nick naturally took it upon himself to protect the village.

The witches, hearing about the ‘Wolf,’ all looked at the figure hanging in the window.

Mu Ying: This is what you call ‘decent-looking’? He’s just a disgusting, greasy creep!

Lilian: Why didn’t I kick him just now?

Windsor: Human men are terrifying—they actually trick girls to sell them. Mu Ying’s version of the Starflower story must be the real one!

Rosie: Looks like we need to add a potion that paralyzes men from the waist down to our graduation supplies.

Margarita: I should’ve just kicked him.

Renee: Ugh!

Lucia: Wind Blade, quietly rising… snap—

“Ah!” The ‘Wolf’ on the windowsill let out a scream and fainted again from the pain.

Nick walked over and hauled the Wolf up. “I’ll take him to the village for judgment.”

“We’ll go with you,” Mu Ying said. “We were planning to head to the village anyway, but since we’re new here and don’t know anyone, we came with Little Red Riding Hood first. Grandma needs someone to look after her too—let’s bring her back to the village together.”

“Good idea!”

Mu Ying and her friends followed Nick into the village. Their unfamiliar faces drew some attention, but it was the unconscious Grandma and the young man bleeding between his legs in Nick’s hands who really caught people’s eyes.

The men present all felt a sudden chill between their legs for some reason.

“What happened?”

A young woman who looked a lot like Little Red Riding Hood rushed over. “Mother! Mother!”

“Mom, Grandma’s okay. She was just knocked out by the bad guy. Rosie says she’ll wake up after a bit more rest,” Little Red Riding Hood said, head lowered.

“Martha, take your aunt home to recover. We need to find the village chief and set up the judgment platform. The human-trafficking Wolf who’s been causing trouble lately has finally been caught,” Nick said reassuringly."

"""The Evil Wolf, real name Wolf, has harmed many girls in the surrounding villages and towns. Today, Little Red Riding Hood almost fell victim to him as well. Fortunately, these seven young ladies were vigilant and saved her...""

Nick explained the whole story clearly.