Dimensional Hotel

Yu Sheng drifted off to sleep more quickly than usual this time. He had used so much energy that once the excitement faded, he collapsed onto his bed and, within moments, sank into a deep slumber.

His dreams were strange and blurry—filled with shifting colors and fleeting images he couldn’t quite grasp. It felt as though he was floating above a foggy expanse, unable to grab onto anything solid. He saw himself in bed, glimpsed the familiar sight of Wutong Road No. 66, watched Irene fiddling with the TV remote, and even imagined Foxy by the pool, carefully washing her fluffy tails. She hung them on a clothesline, lining them up one by one…

Gradually, Yu Sheng found it impossible to tell if he was truly dreaming or if these scenes were real. He felt his consciousness growing hazy, drifting in and out. Then, all of a sudden—he felt something pressing firmly against his back.

Yu Sheng’s eyes flew open.

Towering trees surrounded him on all sides.

He found himself in a vast forest, the treetops so tall that their thick canopies tangled and blocked out the misty sky. Beneath the crowns, everything lay in deep shadow, as if the forest were trapped in permanent twilight. Thick vines curled around the trunks, and wild bushes spread across the soft ground. Strange flowers grew everywhere—unfamiliar plants in colors that appeared both vibrant and faded at the same time, as though coated in a fine, grey mist. They filled the spaces between these colossal trees.

Blinking in confusion, Yu Sheng sat up, realizing he was resting on a bed of damp leaves and soft earth.

The forest around him seemed alive with hidden creatures. Unknown birds and beasts called from the treetops. Something swooped past him, wings beating in the air overhead. Far away, a haunting howl echoed—like a wolf’s cry, yet oddly human and unsettling.

Yu Sheng’s head cleared a bit. One question rose above the rest: Where was he?

Was this just a dream? Or had he somehow slipped into another strange dimension again?

To check, he pinched his thigh. A dull, numbing pain radiated up his leg. He tried calling out to Irene in his mind, but all he heard was silence, as though his thoughts were lost in a distant, howling wind.

His growing sense that something was very wrong made him more alert.

He reached out into the empty air and, after a moment, a faintly glowing, translucent door wavered into sight.

Thank goodness—the “door” still worked.

Relieved, Yu Sheng waved his hand to make it vanish again, then squared his shoulders, determined to figure out where he was. He began moving slowly through the forest.

He soon noticed this place felt different from the “Night Valley” he had once visited. Even so, he was convinced that this was no ordinary dream. Whether it was tied to that other dimension, he couldn’t be certain—but he did know that this forest was not part of his own imagination.

Leaves rustled beneath his feet as he tread carefully over twisted roots, weaving between giant tree trunks. He walked for what felt like a long time, yet the scenery never changed. The forest seemed endless, and just walking on foot felt futile.

Then, he heard a soft rustling off to one side.

Startled, he whipped around.

There, perched on a fallen tree stump, sat a large, fluffy squirrel, gazing at him with bright, shiny eyes.

For a moment, Yu Sheng felt relieved that it was only a squirrel—just a little forest animal, curious about this newcomer. The eerie silence of the woods felt slightly less oppressive.

He let out a small sigh of relief and even managed a tiny smile at the animal.

The squirrel tilted its head, its bushy tail flicking against the stump. Then, in a high-pitched voice, it spoke: “Don’t leave the path…”

Yu Sheng’s smile vanished, and his eyes went wide. “Wait… You can talk?!”

“I wasn’t done,” the squirrel said, tapping the tree stump with its tail and standing up straighter. “What was the rest of it…? Oh, yes. Don’t get distracted by the flowers and mushrooms. Hurry back to the path if you want to make it home before dark. And don’t forget to add a cute little flourish at the end… yes, so cute,” it muttered to itself.

Yu Sheng stood there, stunned. “…”

Paws folded in front of its chest, the squirrel glared back at him with an annoyed look.

Blinking hard, Yu Sheng pinched his thigh again, convinced he must be hallucinating. Did that sweet-looking squirrel really just talk to him?

Seeming exasperated, the squirrel smacked its tail a few more times against the stump. “Well, why are you just standing there? Hurry up, or you’ll end up as wolf food in the Black Forest.”

Finally, Yu Sheng realized he wasn’t imagining things. But instead of rushing back to the path the way the squirrel suggested, he stepped closer, curiosity taking over. “Who are you? And where exactly am I?”

“Are you blind? I’m a squirrel!” the creature retorted, not looking scared in the slightest. “Can’t you see? It’s a forest. The Black Forest. A huge one that stretches on and on. Why’s that so hard to understand?”

It shifted a little, glancing around as if it were hunting for something. Then it muttered, “Weird… the other one isn’t dead yet, and now there’s a new arrival. Is the other one almost finished off? But this new one’s a man…”

Yu Sheng’s heart gave a jolt. He blurted out, “Dead? Who’s going to die?”

“Little Red Riding Hood, of course,” the squirrel answered, scratching its face. “Not sure which one we’re on now… the eighteenth? Or the twenty-eighth Little Red Riding Hood…?”

Yu Sheng felt his pulse quicken. He looked around at the forest, remembering the distant howling. A fragment of an old nursery rhyme ran through his mind—a girl in a red hooded cloak, picking flowers in a dangerous forest… and a lurking wolf.

All at once, his shoulder flared with pain, accompanied by a spreading warmth. Glancing down, he saw a patch of blood staining his shirt—a red mark in the midst of the forest’s dull gloom.

That was where the wolf had bitten him during the “Night at the Museum,” when the beast emerged from Little Red Riding Hood’s shadow.

As Yu Sheng watched, the blood slowly faded, but realization began to dawn on him.

His blood had connected him to Little Red Riding Hood. Could it be that the wolf chasing her was part of the same story? Was this her dream?

Thoughts spinning, Yu Sheng suddenly heard the squirrel shriek, “No! No, no, no!”

He jumped, startled. “What’s the matter?”

“The current Little Red Riding Hood isn’t done for yet! She hasn’t even been caught! The wolf’s still roaming the forest… Wait, who are you? How did you even get in here?”

Yu Sheng had a fleeting thought that someone else had asked him something similar once, but he pressed on: “I’m her friend. What do you mean, ‘Little Red Riding Hood will die’? And you mentioned there’s more than one. What’s that about?”

“Friend? She has no friends in the forest! She walks alone on the path—that’s Little Red Riding Hood’s whole deal!” The squirrel squeaked, hopping on the stump. “If something changes, it’ll just make things harder! Don’t make life harder for a squirrel! We have our own problems! This forest…”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Abruptly, the squirrel froze, as though it heard something. Its ears twitched, and it lifted its nose.

Yu Sheng hesitated. “What…?”

“Shh.” The squirrel raised a tiny paw, commanding silence. “Listen—the wolf isn’t howling anymore.”

Indeed, a heavy silence now wrapped around the forest. The distant howls were gone, and even the smaller woodland creatures seemed to have gone still.

An uneasy chill traveled down Yu Sheng’s spine. In the next instant, the squirrel leaped off the stump and dashed onto his shoulder, squeaking loudly, “Run! The wolf is coming!”

Yu Sheng, startled by the squirrel’s sudden leap, whirled around and bolted. Only then did he feel the chilling dread catching up—a suffocating sense of malice and looming death that rushed toward him like a fierce wind.

The wolf was coming.