Blocked at the Door

Fine snow slanted down against the gaunt branches of the Birch Forest. The wind carried the bone-piercing chill of frozen earth, striking exposed skin like tiny needles of ice.

The palm of Lu Heng's right hand had long since been rubbed raw around his short saber. Torn flesh pressed into the rough grain of the wooden hilt, and blood mixed with melted snow had turned sticky and stiff. The gash an ice claw had left on his forearm was bluish-white with frostbite, and numbness crept upward along his veins. At his feet lay the utterly lifeless Black Iron Cold Stiff. He clutched its gray-black crystal core in his palm, cold and hard-the only spoils of this close-quarters fight.

The slashing and hacking just now had made quite a noise. The sharp cracks of his blade splitting the Cold Stiff's bone armor and the dull thuds of collapsing snow had carried far through the quiet Birch Forest.

There really were more Cold Stiffs in this forest now.

They were not packed so densely that they covered everything. But compared with when he had first arrived on this frozen land, wandering figures were now visible throughout the woods, scattered across the forest in groups of two or three. Most roamed aimlessly, and they even actively hunted the small wild animals that survived among the trees. Savage and vicious, they posed a far greater threat than when he had first seen them.

Lu Heng dared not linger. He bent low, keeping his body tucked in and his back slightly hunched, and moved toward his cave Shelter with quiet steps, hugging the snowy shadows on the sheltered sides of tree trunks.

He dared not run.

The snow reached his ankles. Any heavier step would crack the hard crust loudly enough to draw the wandering Cold Stiffs nearby. He had only three crossbow bolts left; the fight with the Black Iron Cold Stiff had used up most of his ammunition. His Flowing Water Saber Technique was still unpolished, and even fighting at close quarters was a struggle. If two or three Cold Stiffs surrounded him, escaping today would be difficult.

The wind strengthened, stripping white bark from the birches with a rustle and sending it whirling through the air with the falling snow. Much of his vision blurred, leaving only indistinct, swaying black shapes beyond ten meters.

He had barely gone a hundred meters from the battle site when a short animal cry suddenly came from the bushes ahead to his left.

Lu Heng stopped dead in his tracks, holding his breath completely as his back went taut.

He turned his head and glanced over. Four gray-white Cold Stiffs, their limbs stiffly bent, were surrounding a brown-furred snow hare. The hare kicked through the snow in a blind panic, its hind legs constantly digging as it tried to flee. Though the Cold Stiffs moved slowly, they coordinated their encirclement with remarkable precision, cutting off every escape route. The next second, one Cold Stiff clamped its withered hand hard onto the hare's back. Sharp nails pierced its fur and flesh, and warm blood instantly stained a patch of white snow red.

The hare struggled a few times, then went completely still.

The Cold Stiffs lowered their heads to gnaw at its flesh, their movements numb and mechanical, devoid of emotion.

Lu Heng swallowed involuntarily, his heart sinking.

Before, he had only known that Cold Stiffs attacked humans. Only now, after witnessing them actively hunt a wild animal, did he fully understand-the Cold Stiffs of this frozen land were not dead things that passively waited for prey to come to them. They were predators that sought food and knew how to hunt. Their numbers were growing, and they were devouring the creatures of the forest. Sooner or later, they would turn their full attention to the only human here.

Not daring to watch any longer, Lu Heng withdrew his gaze and made his breathing as faint as possible. He slowly circled around close to the tree trunks, avoiding this hunting ground as best he could.

Dangers arose intermittently along the way, but none became a hopeless encirclement.

At a fork ahead, three ordinary Cold Stiffs came wandering toward him together, dragging their feet with muffled crunches through the snow. Lu Heng immediately turned sideways and squeezed into the gap between two birches, burying his entire body in the thick snow. He did not even dare move his eyelids. The Cold Stiffs' hollow eye sockets could not see; they located things by scent and sound. All three slowly passed less than two meters from him, washing him in a putrid chill. It took a full half minute before they were finally far away.

Partway through the journey, ice lay hidden beneath the snow. His right foot slipped, scraping out a faint crunch.

The sound was quiet, but enough to alert keen senses.

A lone Cold Stiff a hundred meters away immediately turned its head and strode stiffly toward the sound. Lu Heng's heart clenched. Not daring to stay where he was, he bent low and hurried around a blind spot in the dense woods, taking a detour of several dozen meters before finally leaving the Cold Stiff's search range.

Throughout it all, his fingers remained locked around the saber's hilt. From the start of the fight to his retreat, his nerves had not relaxed for a moment.

His ears were filled with wind, falling snow, and the distant crunch of Cold Stiffs treading through snow. Every sound tugged at his nerves. He constantly anticipated the movements of the dark shapes around him, watching for any Cold Stiff turning its head or drawing closer. In his mind, he kept reviewing the flaws in his fight with the Black Iron Cold Stiff: unsteady force, insufficient deflection, too much reliance on crossbow bolts, and a mindset that was still too weak for close combat.

If he had to fight again now, he would most likely be wounded and defeated.

After enduring for who knew how long, he finally saw the familiar outline of the cave entrance at the edge of his vision.

Amid the wind and snow, the cave's uneven rock walls looked especially reassuring. The stone barricade piled at its entrance was intact. It was the only place on this frozen land that could shelter him.

A little tension suddenly drained from Lu Heng's shoulders, which ached from being held so taut. His steps unconsciously quickened. No longer taking such extreme care to hide himself, he hurried through the snow toward the entrance. The wound in his palm pulled painfully, but even that felt less real than the security in his heart.

After a journey spent on edge, dodging hunting Cold Stiffs, avoiding wandering ones, and guarding against any noise that might draw monsters, he had finally returned to his Shelter alive.

Hurrying to the entrance, he braced his hands against the stones on either side. With his arms, he pushed the heavy outer blocking stones into the gaps at the entrance, one by one.

The stones scraped against the rock walls with deep, heavy sounds. One by one, they settled into place, completely shutting out the howling wind, the forest's putrid stench, and the Cold Stiffs that wandered and hunted, ready to pounce and kill at any moment.

The last stone wedged firmly into place, sealing the entrance. The gaps admitting light closed completely.

The dim, enclosed, quiet cave instantly enveloped Lu Heng.

All the wind, the Cold Stiffs' footsteps, and the animals' dying cries were shut outside.

At that moment, all the tension in Lu Heng's muscles and bones abruptly gave way.

He rested his back lightly against the cold rock wall, his shoulders slumping. His fingers slowly released their tight grip on the saber. The pain in his torn palm swelled to its fullest, and the numbness from his frostbitten forearm spread through his whole body. He slowly let out the stale air that had built up in his chest, one long breath after another.

His heartbeat, strained throughout the journey, gradually settled into a steady rhythm.

The suffocating feeling of danger at every step in the forest, where the slightest mistake could have left him surrounded and killed, completely dissipated.

Safe.

He no longer had to hold his breath and hide, watch every dark shape, or fear that the slightest noise would draw predatory Cold Stiffs.

The cave was quiet, with only his somewhat heavy breathing breaking the silence.

Lu Heng lowered his eyes to his hands. His palm was a bloody mess, and his fingertips were covered in slush and dried blood. The outer layer of his padded clothes was soaked and frozen. Cold and exhausted, he had pushed both mind and body to their limits.

He raised his hand and tapped open the Survival Bracelet on his wrist. A pale blue screen lit up.

[Armor status: crude leather armor slightly worn, no damage]

[Physical status: torn skin on palm, grade two ice-claw frostbite on forearm, physical exhaustion, severe mental fatigue]

Lu Heng moved over to the pile of dry grass inside the cave and sat down. Taking the cloth bag off his back, he pulled out the plantain and water celery he had previously stored and dried on the riverbank. He crushed the herbs to extract their juices, then lowered his head to tend his wounds. The herbs felt slightly cool. Applied to the torn skin and frostbite, they brought a soothing ache, slowly suppressing the stinging and numbness in his flesh.

He thought through every movement of his close-range slashing just now.

His cutting angles had been too straight. He had not known how to use the tree trunks to redirect force, and he had wasted more than half his strength against the Cold Stiff's hard bone armor. In his panic, his saber strikes had left far too many openings.

There were more and more Cold Stiffs in the forest, and they actively hunted. Exploring outside would only become more dangerous. Relying on a consumable supply of crossbow bolts was ultimately unreliable. Mastering the Flowing Water Saber Technique and honing his close-combat abilities were fundamental to staying alive.

Besides that, the barricade at the cave entrance offered weak protection. It could only block sight and sound, not withstand impacts from Cold Stiffs. The cave's water supply depended on going outside to fetch it, which was extremely risky.

With his eyes lowered, Lu Heng settled on his next steps.

For the time being, he would stop venturing deep into the Birch Forest. His priorities would be reinforcing the stone defenses at the entrance, installing the Black Iron Water Purifier as soon as possible, securing a steady water supply inside the cave, and reducing his trips outside. In his spare time, he would repeatedly study and practice his saber technique, improve his proficiency, accumulate crystal cores, and steadily raise his Shelter's level.

The blizzard still raged outside the cave. The bracelet's interface remained steady, without a warning buzz.

A rare peace settled over the small, warm cave.

But that peace did not last long.

He had only sat resting for a short while when the Survival Bracelet on his wrist suddenly emitted a low-frequency, piercing warning buzz.

From outside the cave came a dense, chaotic, overlapping tread of footsteps in the snow.

Following his earlier scent, a group of Cold Stiffs had already reached the cave entrance.