"Sob, sob... what are we going to do if Ashley is dead?"
Jessica hid in Mike's arms, weeping helplessly, her shoulders trembling slightly.
The scene from just now was deeply etched into the eyes of the remaining two couples present.
An unknown dark shadow had lunged forward, snapping Ashley's neck, before dragging her mangled corpse away like a piece of prey.
It wasn't that they hadn't seen dead people before, but they had never seen a human hunted down and taken as a trophy like a deer.
None of them knew how the two couples had managed to return to the lodge; in short, at that moment, they surprisingly hadn't scattered in flight. After encountering such an attack, one couldn't expect more from them.
"Mike, I'm so scared, let's get out of here!"
"Are you crazy? The paths up and down the mountain have been destroyed by Josh. We can't go anywhere right now!"
Mike's words caused everyone's expressions to shift as they finally realized a terrifying fact:
Asa was missing, and Samantha and Chris had gone out of the villa to find him and had yet to return.
Was it possible that the four of them were the only living people left in the villa?
Josh: Am I not a person?
Just as the two couples were comforting each other and considering their next move, an unusual noise suddenly came from the storage room. Mike and Matt's expressions changed:
"Oh no, it's Josh!"
They finally remembered that there was still a host they had tied up in the storage room's Chamber of Secrets, unable to move.
By the time the four arrived, it was too late. The storage room was empty, the glass facing the outside was shattered, and Josh, who had been on the floor, was nowhere to be seen.
Now, truly only the four of them remained.
"What should we do?"
Emily's gaze turned to Mike nearby, hoping her ex-boyfriend could provide a solution.
Matt saw this and his face darkened, but he still said:
"Do you have a plan, Mike?"
"Right now, we can only hide in a room and wait for dawn tomorrow before figuring something out."
Mike shook his head. He was a tough guy, not a foolhardy one.
Just as they were at their wits' end, a strange sound suddenly came from outside the door.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?"
That voice... it was Asa, the first one to go missing!
Hearing this voice, the four were shocked. They looked at each other, but no one dared to open the barricaded door.
The previous incident was still fresh in their minds—Ashley had gone out only after hearing Samantha's voice, but Samantha was nowhere to be found afterward. It couldn't have been a collective hallucination.
After a moment of hesitation, Mike finally approached the window and peered outside.
"Asa, it really is you! You're not dead!"
Mike finally confirmed that the figure standing outside the door was indeed Asa himself.
"You sound very happy to hear I'm not dead."
Asa gave them a dry look, then prepared to open the door.
"Whose blood is that?"
"It's Ashley's. Man, there might be wolves on Blackwood Mountain, just now..."
Mike didn't finish his sentence. Ashley was their friend, after all.
"Wolves? You're dead wrong; that's no wolf. I don't know if you've heard the legends about Blackwood Mountain?"
Asa inner riddle-master was piqued. Just as he was about to tell a little story, he looked around at the people inside and suddenly noticed two were missing.
"Where's Samantha?"
Asa felt a bit uneasy.
As a romanceable character, Asa hoped she would live a bit longer—at least until they formed a bond so he could reap some rewards.
"She went to look for you, along with Chris."
"Fine. Now, stay in this room and don't go running around."
"Those monsters can only hear sound; their eyesight is terrible. You'd better be quiet."
"Also, they can mimic human voices. Don't believe anything until you see the person with your own eyes, got it?"
After warning the survivors, Asa turned and headed toward the mountain path on the other side.
"Hey, Asa!"
Mike was instantly alarmed. What did he mean by monsters? What did he mean by being quiet? And what did he mean by mimicking human speech?
Ashley, Samantha's voice...
Mike shuddered.
Rushing down the mountain without pause, Asa happened to see Christopher and Samantha; the two were hiding inside a building.
Outside, a Wendigo was pacing. This Wendigo hadn't noticed Asa presence yet.
There was no blood on its face, so it didn't seem to be the one that had eaten Ashley.
But clearly, its target was now the two inside. Once Samantha and that four-eyed guy went out, they would surely be ambushed.
After several failed attempts to communicate, Samantha knew that the one outside wasn't actually Asa, but some unknown monster.
It was hiding; it was watching.
The two had tried to seal the windows, but they were soon broken through by some unknown creature. Now, the two could only hide inside the wooden hut, not daring to leave.
"We might as well charge out together. I told you this wasn't a good idea."
Christopher complained.
Samantha hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth.
Being trapped here meant death anyway; they might as well take a chance.
"Go!"
Exchanging a look, Chris kicked the wooden door open and was the first to rush out of the hut, with Samantha following closely behind.
The two chose completely different directions, but Samantha soon found that the creature ignored Chris entirely and was hot on her heels.
Fuck, this monster is a feminist!
Narrowly dodging the monster's claws, a figure stood quietly ahead on the mountain path.
"Hey, get down."
A calm voice, a familiar tone. Samantha instinctively lunged forward, diving into a snowdrift.
The Wendigo behind Samantha suddenly felt a hot blast of air appearing in front of it.
Bang!
Blowing the gunpowder smoke off the shotgun, Asa sent the Wendigo flying with one shot and then swapped to new equipment.
But the Wendigo hit by the buckshot realized the person in front was not to be trifled with. After being knocked back, the cunning creature took the opportunity to flee away from Samantha and Asa.
There was still another human, wasn't there?
Watching the Wendigo's retreat, Asa lightly tapped the knit cap on his head.
"Wendigo One, go after it!"
After giving the order to pursue, an illusion of a Wendigo generated where Samantha couldn't see it.
Asa turned around, blew the smoke off the shotgun, and reached his right hand out to Samantha, who was lying on the ground.
"Hey, Samantha, how's your night going?"
"Great. If you'd come any later, you'd be collecting my corpse!"
Placing her hand in Asa right hand, Samantha stood up, her eyes sparkling.
"But, you looked really cool just now!"
"No grateful kiss?"
Asa was a bit disappointed.
"Besides, you're wrong. I'm always cool."
"After this is over, we can go on a date and try to get to know each other."
The blonde beauty was clearly not a shy person. Asa actions had obviously earned him a ticket to the depths of her heart.
"I'd be delighted."
"Let's go. Let's find Chris first, and then we'll head back together."
The hint was obvious; as long as their values weren't seriously incompatible, the rest of the story would follow naturally.
As for jumping straight into bed, Samantha clearly wasn't that type of person; she was more of a slow burner.
If it were Jessica or Emily, they'd already be having a romp in the wild by now.
Asa slung the shotgun over his back. He had waited for this hard-won opportunity to play the hero and save the beauty once he was sure Samantha was safe.
After trying this move on Jill, Ada, and others, it had gradually become Asa formulaic strategy.
It wasn't that there weren't other ways to win them over, but these three were all good girls, so Asa naturally wanted to leave a perfect impression.
The results were pleasing; a system notification told Asa he had gained something again.
[Congratulations! You have established a 'Friend' bond with the important plot character Samantha Giddings. Favorability has increased to 'Trust'. You can claim three rewards!]