The weather grew colder and colder.
By nightfall, cold wind whistled outside.
Listening to the wind, Huo Wa unconsciously pulled his blanket tighter. He was sleeping in a simple dormitory.
It was a communal sleeping quarters, and more than a dozen people were sleeping there besides him.
Huo Wa tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Aside from the dozen men snoring in a chorus around him, the image of that severed finger kept haunting him.
Even though several days had already passed, whenever Huo Wa went to sleep, he still remembered the severed finger wearing a silver ring.
He remembered those "sacrifices."
After that day, he had developed one overwhelming thought.
He had to leave this place.
But he had grown up on this land and had never traveled farther than a small town more than a hundred kilometers away.
Where to go and how to get there were all problems.
Huo Wa had no idea how to solve any of them, so even after all these days, he still had not left.
Just as he grew increasingly restless from being unable to sleep, he heard a rustling sound.
Huo Wa opened his eyes to a slit and looked out. It turned out that Uncle Li Gen had gotten up to use the bathroom.
That night, this uncle had helped him conceal the matter of the severed finger. Otherwise, who knew what might have happened if people had found out?
Because of that, Huo Wa felt grateful toward him.
Now, seeing Li Gen get up, Huo Wa thought that it was pitch-black outside, so dark he could not see his own hand in front of his face. He decided to accompany Uncle Gen to the bathroom, lest he fall outside.
Since he could not sleep anyway, Huo Wa climbed out