For the moment, let us turn the clock back to just before the door was opened.
"Miss Huaxiu, this is the last room left to check. Hurry up, I'm scared."
The two of them moved quickly through the house, checking doors and windows one by one. At last, they reached the final room.
"Doris, relax. That room should be safe. Xiangzi already cleared it out and turned it into a temporary infirmary. The girl we picked up is inside too, and she's tied up."
Huaxiu tugged the shivering Doris along the corridor at a brisk pace. Through the windows, they could still make out shapes moving in the wind and snow outside.
Because the house had been built on a raised foundation, the first floor started about a meter above the ground. That meant the windows were set fairly high, with the lowest edge around two meters up.
So she was not too worried about wolves leaping straight through them. Still, Huaxiu knew perfectly well that Xiangzi had only sent the two of them downstairs because Doris was frightened. If those wolves really could leap more than two meters…
Then closing the windows and doors would be little more than symbolic. They were not reinforced barriers, just ordinary wooden frames and plain glass. Against wolves with sharp claws, they would be no sturdier than a watermelon under a knife.
In the end, the real defense was still the guns in the hands of the people upstairs. If bullets could not "persuade" the pack to leave, then the thin doors and windows certainly would not stop them.
Huaxiu silently prayed that Xiangzi and the others were safe.
Doris did the same.
They stopped in front of the door. Even through the wood, Huaxiu could feel the cold seeping in from the outer wall.
The door was not locked. Huaxiu simply turned the handle gently.
Creak…
The door opened.
But what lay beyond was nothing like what she had expected.
Before either of them could even lift a foot to step forward, the door slowly swung inward and revealed everything hidden behind it.
The moment the two girls looked up, the scene inside made them jump.
"Ah— a g-ghost!!"
Doris felt like her eyes had started hallucinating. Her weak little legs gave out instantly, and she began to collapse.
Luckily, Huaxiu caught her with one hand before her face could make intimate contact with the icy floor.
"Don't move!"
Shoving Doris behind her, Huaxiu swiftly drew the pistol at her waist and pointed it at the figure in front of them.
The black muzzle was intimidating enough on its own.
A girl with long light-brown hair sat motionless on the bed, so still she looked like a doll in a shop window.
Her loose hair hid most of her face. Combined with the dim light in the room and the scattered medical waste on the floor, the whole scene carried an eerie, unnatural atmosphere.
Luckily, Huaxiu had a gun. Otherwise, facing a scene like this would have been far harder.
And most likely, this "ghost" was the girl they had brought back earlier.
Had Xiangzi made a mistake and brought home someone infected?
"Talk, or I'll shoot."
Huaxiu still did not fire. There was enough distance between the bed and the doorway that, if the girl tried anything, Huaxiu would still have time to react and empty her magazine.
Her left hand clutched Doris's sweaty little fingers tightly, while the other kept the pistol trained on the girl as she slowly backed away.
"D-don't shoot! I'm normal—I'm not infected!"
The girl, startled half to death, finally managed to stammer something out.
She instinctively tried to stand, but then froze, as though some alarm bell in her head had screamed at her not to move.
"Don't move! Stay right there. There are infected outside. Don't do anything reckless."
Seeing that the girl could speak, Huaxiu relaxed a little. At least she was not an infected. But she still did not lower the gun.
"O-okay… I won't move. Just put the gun down. I'm not going to do anything. Please don't kill me."
Even seeing the tears on the girl's face and how pitiful she looked, Huaxiu still did not put her weapon away.
Behind her, Doris also recovered a little. At Huaxiu's urging, she glanced around the room.
Good. The windows were shut.
Their task was complete. All that remained was to keep watch over the awakened girl.
Doris hurried upstairs to notify Xiangzi.
Huaxiu stayed behind.
For a time, the room fell into a strange silence. Neither of them trusted the other, and yet for the moment they existed in a precarious equilibrium. Sitting across from each other, all they could hear was the other's breathing and the pounding of their own hearts in the stillness.
"So… they just left?"
"Looks like they all withdrew. Those wolves are pretty smart."
The infected wolf pack had not rushed them head-on. Instead, they had sent a few particularly fast gray wolves probing along the perimeter, pacing restlessly behind the tightly strung wire fence.
From the second-floor terrace, Xiangzi and Brent watched every move the pack made.
The two of them could tell at once that those few wolves were only scouts. And now that the scouting party had retreated, the main body of the pack was clearly beginning to pull back as well. They had likely already judged that attacking now would not be in their favor.
The real pack was still hidden deeper behind the mountain.
Were those things still waiting for a better chance to strike?
At this point, the wolves had vanished into the forest in a line. Xiangzi could no longer see them.
Even with the real-time map open, the dense trees and the blowing snow made it impossible to spot threats concealed beneath the canopy.
Xiangzi's expression darkened.
If those things were left alone, tonight would become a real problem.
Having already suffered through more than one nighttime battle, Xiangzi had grown to hate fighting in total darkness.
Night raids had to be strangled in the cradle.
"Miranda, Ye Ling, once they've fully withdrawn, let's hurry and reinforce the defenses. Tighten up the wire—finish it before sunset. Brent, stay here and keep watch."
Just then, the door behind them opened.
It was Doris.
Xiangzi frowned slightly. Hadn't the little girl been scared? Why had she come back up already?
"Miss Xiangzi, the girl we picked up woke up."
"Ha? Of all times… Where's Huaxiu?"
"She's downstairs keeping an eye on her."
"Then that's fine. You head back too. Take this."
Xiangzi relaxed a little and tossed the pepper spray hanging from her belt to Doris.
A can of this stuff was devastating against any human. The other side would not have any ability to resist. Even if they somehow lacked a nose or mouth, exposed skin alone would still react violently to the spray.
Doris clutched the can and hurried back downstairs.
Aside from Brent, everyone else also headed down to keep working.
There was a lot of construction left to do.
At the same time, not far away, beyond their field of vision, an old man and a pack of wolves were moving through the storm and gathering in the night.
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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