Leaving aside the girl locked in the room for the moment, Shoko and the others were already standing on the second-floor balcony, watching the situation beyond their defenses.
"Look over there!" Shoko pointed toward the edge of the distant woods. Her sharp eyes had already caught the wolves prowling there.
"So that's a wolf pack?" Huaxiu said curiously. She squinted hard, trying to get a good look at an animal she had never seen in the wild before.
"Yeah. But Japan's wild wolves went extinct last century. I'm guessing these escaped from some zoo… but how are there so many of them?"
Shoko suspected there might be feral dogs mixed in as well. Once large abandoned dogs reverted to the wild, there was not much difference between them and wolves.
They did not even need binoculars to make out the ill-intentioned shapes. Dozens of wolves, scattered into loose groups, roamed just beyond a hundred meters. There might have been even more hidden in the dense woods. Yet on the open ground by the parking lot to the east of the house, there was not a single visible movement.
Even wolves understood the value of terrain. They had more sense than the teammates you met in games. Those idiots would charge straight into enemy fire with no cover and no support, each one acting like a suicidal general adding another line to the casualty list.
Within the wind and snow, the indistinct pack shapes pressed heavily on their nerves. The air itself seemed frozen solid with drifting snow, and the suffocating tension was most obvious on the youngest member of the group.
Seeing Doris shiver, Brent, still shouldering a rifle despite being injured, looked at Shoko and asked,
"Should I fire?"
"Not yet. Let them come a little closer."
Shoko laid a hand on Brent's shoulder, signaling her not to rush. Brent, though, really was anxious. She had seen how frightened her young mistress was, which was why she had asked.
And she also knew that in weather like this, with snow haze and wind interfering, long-range sniping would be difficult.
Shoko had noticed the mood in the group too.
"Yeling and I will stay here. Brent and Miranda, go to the rear side. Huaxiu… Doris, you two go down to the first floor and check every door and window. Don't let anything slip through."
"Got it."
At Shoko's order, everyone moved at once. Doris's short legs carried her downstairs even faster than Huaxiu's long ones. In the blink of an eye, only four people remained upstairs.
The wolves did not immediately charge the house. It was as if the virus had dampened even the hunger of a wild predator.
They wandered along the tree line, cleverly keeping their bodies behind cover. Shoko could tell a net of encirclement was beginning to form around them.
There were shadowy figures everywhere.
Fortunately, Shoko and the others had already put up a ring of barbed wire around their new home. At least it would keep the beasts from rushing straight in… although, because digging into the frozen ground was difficult, the stakes wound with wire had not been set very deep.
Still, it would slow those things for a while. And Shoko's group had enough ammunition. Under fully automatic suppressive fire, these creatures—unless they had developed some especially nasty mutation—would most likely be cut down in the snow.
"Closer… just a little closer…"
Crouched behind a chest-high wall, Shoko tracked a target through her scope, silently gauging the distance. Her finger rested on the trigger. With the safety off, the rifle was ready to spit fire at any moment.
The dark shapes ahead were growing larger.
The wolves were coming out of the woods.
Inside the House
The girl who had just awakened still had no idea what was going on.
A dull ache rose from her stomach, followed by a burning, acidic feeling that made her curl in on herself. Her body was crying out through pain, the sensation driving straight into her brain.
Her head hurt.
She was dizzy.
She was starving.
She was cold.
It was a miserable combination.
The snow had cushioned much of the damage from the tumble down the slope, and her thick coat had helped too. Otherwise, she might not even have been able to move now.
Her body's condition tormented her. Bound hand and foot, the girl shivered violently. Her sluggish mind struggled to replay the last thing she remembered before blacking out. She turned her head, worried, but her thoughts felt like an old television drama running on a dying machine—slow, blurry, full of static and black-and-white snow.
After catching her breath, she tried to sit up.
It failed. The ropes on the bed held fast, and only then did she fully remember that her limbs were tied.
Poor thing. Even her brain was not functioning properly yet.
Then she tried to fight the ropes, but the cords clinging to her body were like jungle vines wrapped around an old tree, immovable and tight.
After a bout of struggling, the sheets and blanket beneath her had been reduced to something resembling a rumpled mountain range.
Brute force clearly was not going to work.
Her resistance failed.
How could a hungry, weakened girl like Chihaya Awase possibly tear herself free?
With no strength left, she could only stare helplessly at the ceiling. Her eyes moved restlessly, taking in her surroundings.
The elaborate patterns painted overhead meant nothing to her. The room, not yet fully cleaned, felt cold and empty. A thin veil of dust lay over the table in the corner, and spiderwebs stretched like old fishing nets along the wall.
Her body had no strength left. Feeling the "snakes" of rope biting into her flesh, Awase finally stopped struggling.
She was trapped here.
Could anyone save her?
The tears she had tried so hard to hold back slipped free. Dim light faded from her eyes, replaced by grief. A few heavy drops slid from her clear eyes, down her cheeks, and into her mouth.
The salty taste made her swallow hard.
Maybe she had finally hit her limit. Clenching her bound hands, Awase forced herself to think.
This is pathetic. I can't stay like this… Ai is waiting for me. Grandfather is waiting for me too!
Chihaya Awase, you can do this!
Her mind began racing.
She needed to use her head.
She would outsmart them.
Using what little movement her hands still had, she began working carefully at the ropes.
Good. They were loosening.
When Shoko had tied her up, she had not used any especially elaborate knots, nor had she made dead knots. If you did not try to yank yourself free by force, anyone who knew how to tie shoelaces could eventually work them loose.
A few minutes later, her hands were free.
And once her hands were free, everything became easier. Just like humanity's ancestors—freeing the hands raised a person's potential to an entirely different level.
At last… success.
Awase tossed the rope aside and gasped for breath.
Being tied up felt awful.
The pressure marks remained printed across her lovely body, giving her a strange, damaged sort of beauty.
She tore off the bandage. It had not been stuck on very tightly, and beneath it her skin was pale with the faintest flush of pink.
There was dried blood beside the needle mark, and her arm still ached faintly.
"What did they do to me?!"
Her eyes fell on the syringe and IV bottle on the floor, and dread rose in her chest.
Just then, she thought she heard hurried footsteps outside the door. Louder than that, though, were the wind and snow beyond the window, and the eerie animal howls coming from somewhere far away in the mountains.
Maybe she had imagined it.
No—fate was crueler than that.
The door opened.
Ah. So she had only just escaped and was already caught again?
Her heartbeat instantly shot through the roof.
Like fleeing all the way to paradise only to be told she had arrived in the wrong country.
She did not even have time to hide. Her mind blanked completely, and she froze, sitting stiffly on the bed.
She was done for. Her escape had failed. They had caught her red-handed.
Two figures appeared in the doorway.
Dear friends, long time no see. Did you miss me? The author is free again. During the National Day holiday in early October, updates will resume as normal.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 142)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter181)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter103)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter192)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 173
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 166
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 110
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 190
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 165
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 156
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 81
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 102
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 120
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 80
Uma Musume: I Want All 95
I Can Copy Unique Skills 84
Summoning an Evil God, but the 66
Supernatural Multiverse 83
My Harem Is Indescribable 75
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 81
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 75
Still playing traditional Honk 55
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 60
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 57
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 45
Transmigrated as Sukuna 55
Checking In in Demon Slayer 60
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 65
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 35
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 35
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 39
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 58
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