Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Old John answered the phone.
The call was from the rescue team, and just as Old John had expected, due to a shortage of personnel, they were temporarily unable to send anyone to rescue the people at the mountain lodge.
“Have you calculated how long your remaining food and fuel can last?” the person on the line asked.
Out of his usual caution, Old John didn’t tell the full truth when answering. Instead, he left so leeway for their side: “Yes, we’ve already taken stock. If we only maintain basic survival needs, it can last at most four days.”
“Understood. We’ll organize a team to rescue you as soon as possible. However, please be ntally prepared—our current priority is the ski resort, so the rescue effort on the mountain won’t co very quickly. Please try to reduce your consumption of supplies and hold on as best as you can. We promise to get you out within a week at the latest.”
“But we can’t hold out that long.”
“There’s nothing we can do. The rescue team has its own difficulties as well—we ask for your understanding…”
They emphasized it several tis, but in the end, the rescue team stuck to the sa line: they could guarantee arrival within a week at most, but the exact timing was uncertain—they would have to wait.
After the call ended, the expressions of everyone in the hall were complicated. At the sa ti, they felt fortunate that Old John hadn’t told the whole truth.
After all, even when they clearly stated that, under minimal survival conditions, the lodge’s supplies could only last four days, the rescue team still said they would arrive within a week. If they had initially admitted they could last a full week, wouldn’t the rescue team have dragged things out even longer—maybe nine or ten days?
So unreliable… Are the lives of fifteen people not lives at all?
Because of that call, the atmosphere in the hall grew heavy.
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the two people busy in the kitchen brought out steaming, fragrant hot soup, breaking the gloom in the room.
Because the food needed to be rationed, dinner was not very lavish: a thick soup made with potatoes, carrots, and so at, two slices of bread per person, and a cup of hot milk—that was the entirety of the al.
There was a small incident during dinner.
After learning that the rescue might not arrive for a week and that food had to be strictly conserved, the short and stout Professor Samuel, relying on his age and respectable social status, claid he had hypoglycemia and demanded special treatnt from the innkeeper couple—specifically, a larger share of food.
Unsurprisingly, his request was rejected.
If this were outside, his shaless demand might have worked—soone might have been willing to give in. But tis were different now. Everyone was trapped on the snow mountain, and each al had been carefully calculated based on the assumption that they needed to survive here for a week. If Samuel’s portion were increased, then in the later days, everyone else would end up going hungry.
Besides, Samuel’s usual attitude was already quite irritating. He always acted arrogant and superior, putting on airs just because he was a professor. People had long been fed up with him, and there was no way they were going to indulge him now.
After arguing for quite a while, Samuel failed to get his way and retreated in defeat. In the end, it was the timid girl Ella who cautiously offered one of her own slices of bread to her ntor, finally restoring so peace at the table.
Because of the dispute, no one lingered long in the hall after dinner. Once the firewood in the fireplace burned out, everyone returned to their respective rooms.
Everly and her group of four did the sa.
Inside the large suitcase Everly had specially packed, there was half a case of food—all compressed biscuits, the kind where a single piece could fill you up.
That small amount of food at dinner truly wasn’t enough to fill anyone’s stomach. Skipping a full al once might be manageable, but if they couldn’t eat their fill for several als in a row, not only would hunger be uncomfortable, they would also grow weak. If sothing dangerous happened and they needed to escape, they might not even have the strength to run—that would be a serious problem.
So Everly deliberately called Old John and Rebecca into her room. Once the door was closed and a door barricade was placed, she opened her large suitcase and imdiately sat down to start distributing food.
As she did so, she couldn’t help but feel grateful for her foresight.
In horror films involving deserts, snow mountains, or rainforests, there was a common subgenre known as “desperate survival.”
These stories were usually simple: a group of people got lost or trapped due to various misfortunes. On one hand, they lacked food and fuel; on the other, they had to face harsh natural environnts. So particularly unlucky ones even encountered dangerous beasts or even monsters. In such situations, the protagonists had to overco difficulties, struggle to survive, and escape from the predicant.
And within survival-in-extremis films, a very common plot point was that due to hunger and scarcity of supplies, once-united survivors would turn against each other in order to compete for resources, sotis even coming to blows. Directors often used these selfish “cannon fodder” characters to highlight the ugliness of human nature, thereby contrasting it with the protagonist’s noble character.
Everly had absolutely no intention of undergoing any “test of human nature.” More than that, she didn’t even plan to go hungry. So before setting out, she had specifically gone to an outdoor gear store and bought a box of compressed biscuits.
That box of biscuits, calculated at two pieces per person per day, was enough for four people to eat comfortably for a week. Considering that they still had regular als—albeit ager ones—these extra biscuits, if used sparingly, could last up to ten days without issue.
Ah, well done indeed, past self!
After finishing the distribution, Everly reminded Rebecca to lock the door and set the barricade before going to bed. The four then split up. Old John and Rebecca returned to their bedroom, while Everly locked her door again and, munching on biscuits, began quietly chatting with Misha.
They were mainly venting about Samuel.
Although he was a professor, he gave off an impression of being rough, rude, and overbearing—like a petty person who beca arrogant once he gained so power. Under the current circumstances, everyone was already hungry, yet he was the only one insisting on special treatnt, constantly making demands and causing a scene. It was truly annoying to watch.
“That Lucas guy is also irritating,” Everly said after swallowing a bite of biscuit, delivering an important statent. “The satellite phone my grandfather brought clearly helped everyone. And besides, the avalanche wasn’t caused by us. I really don’t understand why he’s so obsessed with digging into it. Can’t he have a bit of boundaries? Or does he think acting like that makes him look smart?”
Misha agreed wholeheartedly when the topic ca up. “His attitude is definitely unpleasant. Even if he’s curious, he could ask in a gentler, more acceptable way instead of staring at people like that with cold, scrutinizing eyes and showing zero respect. Soone like him probably wasn’t popular in school.”
With no mobile signal, there was nothing interesting to do. After so gossip, they still didn’t feel sleepy—instead, they started to feel cold.
After thinking for a mont, Everly took advantage of Misha’s distraction, suddenly pouncing on her and grabbing her around the waist, lifting her up and throwing her onto the bed with a playful shoulder throw.
Misha was caught off guard and was spun around before landing in a dizzy heap. After giggling on the bed for a while, she let out a bear-like “awoo,” twisted her body free from Everly’s hold, and rushed back to pin her down. The two of them traded playful punches and kicks, sparring with each other in a mock fight.
After a while of roughhousing, once the boiler room’s heating ca back on and the room ward up again, drowsiness finally crept in slowly.
With nothing to scroll on their phones, the two girls simply lay down early and fell asleep.
A night without dreams.
When they woke up, the sky outside was overcast again, and snow had started falling.
The boiler room heating had shut off soti during the night, leaving the room as cold as an ice cellar. Shivering as they got dressed, Everly and Misha went downstairs and found several people already sitting in the hall.
After the boiler was turned off, the warst place in the entire lodge was in front of the fireplace.
Everyone first went to the dining table to pick up their pitifully small breakfast. After eating it in a hurry, they all—without discussion—moved to the sofas, warming themselves by the fire while chatting, playing cards, or killing ti with offline mobile gas.
The whole morning passed slowly like this.
It wasn’t until lunch was prepared and brought to the table that everyone belatedly realized soone was missing from the hall.
Twelve als were laid out in total, one for each of the twelve guests staying at the lodge. But now, eleven portions had been taken, while one remained untouched.
Everyone looked around and quickly realized that the untouched al belonged to the short, stout professor Samuel.
“Maybe the professor was too hungry last night and didn’t sleep well,” the four students said to each other, trying to excuse their ntor.
“Ella, Antonio, why don’t you take the al up to him? I rember he specifically left you a room key so you could help organize his notes when you have ti,” said Fatima, the girl with the na tag.
Ella was the girl who had been forced to give up a slice of bread to Samuel the day before. She and a boy nad Antonio were clearly in the “slave” or “assistant” position within their group of four—no, five, since the professor also constantly ordered them around.
At Fatima’s command, the two students imdiately stood up in a hurry and carried the cold breakfast along with the freshly served lunch.
“We’ll bring the food up to the professor.”
After speaking timidly, the two of them went upstairs in silence, one after the other.
After two als of not eating enough, everyone was already hungry and had no energy to interfere. Once all the food had been evenly distributed, they thanked the generous innkeepers and imdiately began eating heartily.
However, they had barely had a few spoonfuls of the hot soup when a terrified scream shattered the calm of the hall.
“Ah——!”
The scream ca from upstairs. Judging by the location, it was right where the professor’s room was.
Sensing sothing was wrong, everyone in the hall imdiately put down their utensils and stood up.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. Should we go take a look?”
Just as they were hesitating in confusion, hurried footsteps ca closer and closer. At the corner of the stairs, Antonio—the timid male student—stumbled into view.
“The professor—he… he’s de—dead!”
……
One minute later.
Except for the deceased professor, all the other fourteen people went upstairs and gathered at the door of Room 205, where he was staying.
The door was slightly ajar. Even before approaching, a chilling cold could already be felt seeping out through the crack.
The girl Ella, who had taken the food upstairs earlier, had collapsed on the floor, pressed against the wall of Room 206, curled up in a corner and trembling from fear and cold.
At the entrance of Room 205, shattered porcelain bowls and a few pieces of bread were scattered on the floor. It seed that after opening the door and seeing what was inside, the two students had been so frightened that they dropped everything in their hands.
Under everyone’s gaze, Old John, who was walking at the very front of the group, slowly raised his hand and gently pushed the door inward—
With a soft creak, the wooden door swung open.
Inside was a room as cold as a snow cave, and on the bed lay Professor Samuel—tied up, covered in blood, his eyes wide open in death.
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