Page 13

"Bro, what's wrong with the hunting gear?" Yu Wen asked.

You Huo pointed to the last wall. "There are two empty nails."

"So?" Yu Wen still didn't understand.

"Where did the things hanging on them go?"

The room fell quiet for a moment.

Then someone said, "That's right... two things are missing. Nobody hid them, did they?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Old Yu said, "They were like that before."

Everyone looked at him.

"Well... before the exam, remember how I was going out for a walk?" Old Yu said to You Huo. "You were asleep, so I didn't wake you. When I went out, I looked around to see if there was an umbrella in the house. Those two nails were empty then, I'm sure of it."

"You mean two pieces of hunting gear have been missing since we came in?"

"Then who has them?"

"Hunter A?" Yu Wen guessed. "So... there really is a Hunter A, but he wasn't in the house. He went out hunting?"

Everyone panicked a little. "We can't go outside. If he doesn't come in, how are we supposed to find him?"

You Huo said, "Maybe it's not time yet."

Everyone was skeptical of that guess about the timing, but You Huo had already pulled up a chair and sat down by the fire.

Uneasy, the others sat down around the stove and stared into space.

Yu Yao carefully moved over, supporting her lower back. She watched You Huo for a while. The firelight outlined his profile, making him look a little gentler than usual, though his lowered eyes still held a chill.

"I'm sorry," she said, her face full of guilt.

You Huo looked up at her.

Yu Yao said quietly, "That ink... I was the one who wrote with it, but you were punished because of me. I wanted to apologize earlier, but before I could say anything, the proctor took you away again."

You Huo said, "..."

Yu Yao said, "I know an apology won't do much good. If anything else happens next time, I'll go in your place."

You Huo said, "..."

He glanced at Yu Yao from beneath lowered eyelids, then looked away and continued warming himself by the fire. "No need."

Yu Yao opened her mouth, wanting to say something else, but in the end she said nothing.

She sat in a daze for a while, then suddenly asked You Huo, "Aren't you afraid?"

You Huo stretched out one leg. The stove was so warm that it was making him sleepy again.

After a quiet moment, he said lazily, "Afraid of what?"

"Of dying, of breaking the rules... or anything at all. Everyone's curious. You seem so capable, like you're not afraid of anything."

"Would being afraid help?"

Yu Yao nodded and said softly, "True, but you can't help it, can you? I'm really scared..."

Without looking up, You Huo said, "You're not exactly timid. You dared to write on the wall with ink when you didn't even know what was in it."

He spoke effortlessly, as if he couldn't even be bothered to move his lips. His voice was low, with a cold quality to it. But warmed by the fire, it held no hint of blame.

Yu Yao lowered her head, still too guilty to know what to say.

After struggling for a long time, she finally managed, "Actually, I..."

But before she could finish, she noticed You Huo had one foot propped on the edge of his chair and an elbow resting on his knee. He seemed about to fall asleep again.

She stared for a moment, then swallowed her words. Without waking You Huo, she slowly moved back to the two elderly women.

"Why has he fallen asleep again?" one of the women whispered. "Didn't he sleep before he came here?"

Yu Wen caught part of what she said. He glanced at You Huo and thought, No, my bro is this sleepy even when he's had some sleep.

Yu Yao said nothing more. She leaned against the elderly woman, her gaze settling on a distant corner of the room, and seemed to drift off into thought again.

After an unknown amount of time, the clock on the cabinet ticked forward.

It was exactly four in the morning, Beijing time.

A sudden rooster's crow startled everyone awake.

They sat bolt upright and stared at one another, only then realizing they had drifted off to sleep.

Yu Wen slapped himself twice, waking himself up a little.

He had just lowered his hand when he heard a strange sound.

"Shh-"

He raised a hand and asked softly, "Did you hear that?"

"What?" Old Yu stared at his son, who was acting as if he'd seen a ghost, completely baffled.

"You didn't hear it?" Yu Wen said. "It was... a creaking sound."

The room fell silent in an instant. No one dared move.

Everyone listened with shocked, doubtful expressions, holding their breath.

Sure enough, after a few seconds or so.

The creaking sound came again, and this time everyone heard it.

It was like... something was dragging a heavy object through the snow.

The sickly beanpole suddenly made a gesture, pointing outside the window and silently mouthing, "Over here."

Before he could close his mouth, the door creaked open.

A pitch-black shadow fell across the doorway.

Then a white-faced man came into the house, pulling a hemp rope.

He had a broad frame but wasn't tall. His face was like overexposed paper, and his eyes were strange too: the black pupils were so large that hardly any white remained.

Hunched over, he coiled the rope bit by bit. A broad-backed knife and a small trap loop hanging at his waist clinked together.

No one in the room spoke. Everyone watched as he dragged a burlap sack inside, then closed the door.

Only then did he turn toward the fire, his pitch-black eyes blinking twice. "Ah... how nice, we have guests."

Everyone said, "..."

The one who had come to haunt them was Hunter A, whom they had been waiting for all this time.

He slowly rubbed his hands together and said, "The heavy snow has blocked off the mountain these past two days. I knew there would be more foo... mm, more guests coming."

The guests said, "..."

"It's really cold outside." He spoke slowly and softly. "The snow has piled up too thick, and everyone's gone into hiding. There's hardly any prey to be found. It took me a very, very long time to dig one out."