After the teacher finished her story, everyone fell into an unspoken silence.
“…Is… is that true?” the curly-haired boy asked weakly.
Teacher Harriet curled her lips into a faint, cold smile.
“You can treat it as a story.”
Although she said that, the complex expression on her face made it clear that this was most likely her own experience.
At this point, when the group looked back at the staircase in front of them, their gazes were no longer filled with curiosity or eagerness to try—but instead carried a trace of awe and fear.
“Teacher, aside from the feeling of being isolated from the real world after stepping onto the stairs, are there any other abnormalities?”
In the silence, Everly suddenly spoke.
Harriet’s sharp eyes passed over the crowd and locked onto the source of the voice. When she saw it was one of the top students in the group, she did not seem surprised at all.
“No.”
Even though what she was describing was sowhat beyond the scope of the lesson, the teacher did not brush it off. Instead, she answered seriously.
“The staircase is completely harmless. Stepping onto it will make you feel fear, but that’s all there is to it. It won’t send you to another world, and it won’t harm you physically. If you don’t want to be frightened, then simply don’t go near it—that’s the only rule for dealing with it.”
So that was it… no wonder it hadn’t triggered her danger sense. It really was harmless.
“…Does the staircase stay in the sa place forever?” Everly pressed on.
Harriet shook her head.
“No. Just like it appears without warning, it also disappears quietly at so unnoticed mont.
Even after I left the search-and-rescue team, no one ever managed to figure out any pattern behind it.
All we know is that it exists alongside rescue operations: when there are search-and-rescue missions in the forest, the staircase doesn’t necessarily appear—but wherever the staircase appears, there is always a rescue operation happening sowhere nearby in the forest.”
Everly’s heart stirred upon hearing this.
Horror Movie Survival Rule #1: Pay attention to hints.
“Teacher, do you an… soone has gone missing in the forest?”
“That’s right. But you don’t need to be nervous. The forest is very large, and it includes a well-known hiking route. It’s normal for one or two missing-person incidents to occur occasionally. As long as you stay with the group, rember what you learned in class, and don’t deviate from the route, the chances of anything happening are very low.”
Is that so…
Following the teacher’s words, Everly turned her gaze toward the distance.
As far as she could see, there were trees everywhere.
Countless trunks stood like giants in a barren plain, upright in the cold autumn wind. Their gray-white bark was hard and rough, silently bearing witness to the passage of ti.
The path forward was trees. The path behind was also trees.
Just as the teacher had said, the forest was large—extrely large. If soone got lost inside, it would be completely normal for them to never find their way out.
However, as an experienced veteran of bad luck, Everly couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that sothing might go wrong.
She took out the map and hesitated between turning back midway or continuing forward for a long ti. In the end, she gritted her teeth and chose to continue with the group.
There was no choice—turning back now was too late.
It had already been two and a half days since they entered the forest. The group was now deep in the mountainous interior. Whether going forward, backward, or downhill, all directions led into an endless sea of trees.
Under these circumstances, leaving the forest ant either retracing their steps or pushing straight along the trail to the end.
Turning back required a legitimate reason; otherwise, the teachers would likely not allow it. Pretending to be sick wouldn’t work either—both instructors had extensive dical knowledge, and Teacher Ted had even once passed the U.S. dical licensing exam.
Of course, she and Misha could try sneaking off, but that would easily trigger Horror Movie Survival Rule #11: Never split up or get separated from the group (even two people could sotis count as being “alone”). That would likely backfire and instead push them into danger.
At this point, Everly felt that continuing with the group was still the better option.
At least in a large group, there was safety in numbers—and with two fully equipped, experienced instructors present, even if sothing bad did happen, it wouldn’t lead to imdiate total collapse. There would always be so room to breathe.
Besides, up until now, her danger radar hadn’t actually been triggered. Maybe the appearance of the staircase really was just a coincidence. Maybe she was overthinking it.
…
After leaving the staircase area, Everly’s group continued as planned to search for a water source in the forest.
Along the way, she kept carefully observing their surroundings, trying to detect anything unusual. But even after they finished collecting water and returned to the temporary camp, the forest remained exactly as it had always been—nothing out of the ordinary.
So… was her earlier worry just paranoia?
Uncertain. She decided to keep watching.
With a restless heart, Everly continued traveling with the group along the long, winding trail.
On the fourth day, the sky had been gloomy since morning.
Standing among the trees, Teacher Harriet looked up for a while before informing the students that they needed to speed up their pace today.
“By around 3 p.m. at the latest, it will start raining. Even with waterproof jackets and quick-dry base layers, rain in this season is still dangerous. So today’s task is to reach the nearest shelter as quickly as possible and take cover there.”
“Teacher, our tents are waterproof too. Why don’t we just set up camp here?” one of the boys asked.
“Because the rain will be heavy, and it may co with strong winds. In that case, using tents makes site selection critical—during heavy rain, a campsite must have high ground, good drainage, and wind protection. If any of these conditions aren’t t, even waterproof tents can still leak due to poor placent,” Teacher Ted explained.
“Besides campsite selection, using tents has other drawbacks. For example, to prevent accumulated rainwater from collapsing the tent, we would need to regularly go outside during rest periods to clear it off. If strong winds pick up, the tension of the tent guy lines must be constantly monitored. We also cannot light a fire inside the tent, so if we feel cold, we can only rely on our physical resilience to endure it… There are so many disadvantages that if anything goes wrong, hypothermia could easily set in. This outing is indeed ant to train survival skills, but everything must be based on ensuring our safety first. That is the reason we decided to go to the shelter. Do you understand?” Teacher Harriet added.
“Yes.”
The students nodded solemnly, engraving the teacher’s instructions into their minds. All of this knowledge was the crystallization of the experience of those who ca before them; to personally practice and experience it was the purpose of this trip.
According to the map, the nearest shelter was about 20 kiloters away. Given the mountainous terrain, even at full speed it would take them until dusk to arrive.
However, fortunately, the hiking route curved along the mountainside in a long arc. If they cut across—first going straight up to the ridge, then descending the other side—they could reach the shelter in less than 10 kiloters.
Horror Movie Survival Rule #23: Take the main road. Do not take shortcuts.
Hearing the instructors’ plan, Everly’s first instinct was to object.
There were far too many horror stories where “a spontaneous decision” led to disaster. Especially in slasher films involving roadside killers—many incidents began with the protagonists deciding, on a whim, not to take the safe main road and instead venturing into an unverified shortcut.
“Teacher, isn’t taking a shortcut a bit too risky? After all, we’d be going through a route no one has verified as safe.”
Teacher Harriet did not get angry at Everly’s objection.
She fixed her gaze on the student in front of her, and a hint of satisfaction appeared in her otherwise serious gray eyes.
“Yes, Everly, you’re absolutely right.”
“In wilderness hiking, carelessly deviating from the route is indeed very dangerous. But both Teacher Ted and I believe that compared to the risk of getting soaked and suffering hypothermia, taking the shortcut is the better option. The mountain we’re on isn’t very steep, the climb is not difficult, and the route forward is fairly simple. There is essentially no real chance of getting lost.”
“But—”
“Alright, ti is urgent. We must reach the shelter before the heavy rain arrives. If you have any questions, we can discuss them once we get there.”
With that, Teacher Harriet patted Everly’s shoulder in reassurance, then turned to the rest of the students.
“Are you ready? Today’s task is a bit heavier. I hope everyone stays close and doesn’t fall behind.”
“We’re ready!”
The students responded enthusiastically, practically raring to go.
No one thought there was anything wrong with the instructor’s decision.
According to official statistics, nearly 40% of outdoor adventure deaths are caused by hypothermia. New Osebuch State was located in the temperate northern region of the United States, and by late November, temperatures were already close to freezing. In such conditions, getting caught in a cold rain and failing to dry off or warm up in ti could be fatal even for the strongest person.
Compared to hypothermia, most people were more willing to accept the risks of taking a shortcut. Especially since the shortcut looked simple, with almost no chance of getting lost—it practically made itself the obvious choice.
In fact, even if Everly relied on her past-life mories, she would likely have chosen the shortcut herself.
This left her with no reasonable grounds to stop everyone.
Only two options remained before her: leave the group and act alone, or join them and take the shortcut together.
The choice was obvious.
Once again, Horror Movie Survival Rule #11: Never split up or be alone.
In horror films, “splitting off from the group” is an even more fatal choice than “suddenly deciding to take a shortcut.”
Setting aside the fact that Everly still hadn’t detected any sense of danger, even if they were already in a risky situation, being surrounded by companions at least ant she could receive help and cover. If she were alone, she would have to face whatever threat there was entirely by herself.
So, even though she was unwilling, Everly still shouldered her pack in silence and joined the hiking group. Following the lead instructor, she changed direction and headed toward the mountain ridge.
Because ti was tight, Harriet no longer stopped occasionally to teach students various field skills as she had before. Instead, she led the way in silence, focusing entirely on navigation.
The other instructor, Ted, moved to the very back of the group, keeping an eye on the students while walking to prevent anyone from falling or being left behind.
They trekked like this for the entire morning. By noon, the group had successfully reached the mountaintop and began crossing the ridge diagonally toward the shelter.
Lunch consisted of dry rations from their backpacks, eaten while walking so as not to waste ti.
Around 1 p.m., the weather in the forest began to change.
Visibly, the clouds overhead grew thicker and heavier. The sunlight was swallowed by the cloud layer, and even at the mountaintop, the forest below was becoming dim.
Along with the dark clouds ca a biting, cold wind.
The sparse trees on the mountaintop were nowhere near enough to form an effective windbreak. Wherever the gale swept through, branches and leaves rustled violently. The people on the ridge swayed like twigs in the wind, and any exposed skin quickly turned red from the cold.
Harriet briefly spared a mont from her urgent pace to look up at the sky. A deep concern appeared on her resolute face.
Worse than expected. At this rate, the heavy rain could fall at any mont.
They had to speed up.
“Everyone, hang in there! Walk a bit further—once we start going downhill, the wind won’t be as strong!”
She turned and called out to the students behind her.
By now, the students were so cold their teeth were chattering. They could barely respond. Huddled together like a flock of shivering birds, they leaned into one another, shoulders hunched and necks tucked in, and at the instructor’s call, they once again quickened their pace.
But even rushing like this, they still weren’t fast enough.
By the ti the group reached a gently sloped pass and began descending, faint rolling thunder echoed through the sky.
And then, without warning, the cold autumn rain ca crashing down—pouring like it had no value at all.
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