The winter morning was shrouded in thin mist, and the pine forests on the distant mountains seemed draped in white gauze. Under Bai Huang's gaze, Gao Ming opened the Manor's main door.
The heavy wooden door slowly swung open. Bai Huang entered with her clothes soaked through, mud clinging to her cuffs and visible scratches on her fingers.
"You're hurt?" Gao Ming caught a faint scent of blood on Bai Huang.
"That just proves I'm alive." Bai Huang's eyes were cold. She hadn't had a drop to drink since entering the nightmare, and she seemed to have lost a great deal of weight in a single night.
Heavy boots creaked against the wooden stairs, seemingly louder than yesterday. The House Owner rushed up to Bai Huang with his hunting rifle raised and aimed the muzzle at her forehead. "It's freezing, and the blizzard has sealed off the mountain. Almost no one could spend an entire night outdoors. Where did you hide last night?"
Gao Ming noticed the House Owner's choice of words. He hadn't asked where Bai Huang had gone, but where she had hidden.
"How do you know no one can survive a night outside? Have you abandoned lots of people out there before, then gone looking for their remains the next day?" Even with a gun pointed at her, Bai Huang spoke defiantly, making everyone watching sweat on her behalf.
"You think I won't shoot?" The man's finger slowly tightened on the trigger. Neither Gao Ming nor Xu Deyi dared step in, afraid that accidentally bumping him might make the gun go off.
"The shed beside the Manor where you store firewood. I spent the night there." Contrary to everyone's expectations, Bai Huang had no intention of continuing to provoke the House Owner. She answered without hesitation. Her