2015?
No help, no cure, just wait to die.
Farewell.
What's done is done. Classic American bullying led to the deaths of two victims, so Asa isn't bothered by what's about to happen at Blackwood Pines.
No matter how you look at it, everyone present is an aggressor, even if that wasn't their original intention.
And judging by their behavior in the show, there was guilt, but not much.
Asa had no intention of stopping the prank; instead, he was very interested in the Wendigo monster on the mountain.
If he killed it, what materials would it drop?
Or would he be recognized by the System and become another Lisa?
Ugh, it's already eating people, forget about it.
In terms of talent, it would be related to the monster's own abilities.
What are the Wendigo's abilities?
Fear of fire, love of cold, cannibalism, and possessing greater strength than ordinary humans.
The Wendigo's strength, at best, is only that of a strong Licker. This level of difficulty is extremely easy for Asa, like an old lady skipping by with her feet.
A useless ability.
Returning the phone to samanatha, Asa asked:
"If you had to describe our relationship in one sentence, what would you say?"
samanatha paused, then, coming back to herself, said in an uncertain tone:
"Probably, maybe, perhaps, not-so-close good friends?"
"Good friends?"
Unfortunately, there was no proof of a bond relationship forming.
Is samanatha not sincere, or does the relationship need to be re-established?
After a brief thought, Asa decided to accompany samanatha on this journey.
In fact, he only remembered the general plot of the original work, but had no impression of each character's personality, experiences, or his role in it.
But upon closer thought, if even samanatha could be rated as an important plot character recognized by the System, what about the other characters?
Although Asa virtues are honesty, kindness, and being non-monogamous, he's not interested in other female plot characters, but he still needs to exploit any opportunities he can.
To have a treasure trove and not take from it would truly go against Asa philosophy of life.
"Alright, let's head up the mountain as soon as possible."
Asa changed the subject and led the way to the cable car.
samanatha was stunned, feeling that Asa, the exchange student from the East, was slightly different from her memory.
She had last seen Asa half a month ago. Perhaps some unknown change had occurred in Asa during this half-month.
The girl didn't think much of it and rode the cable car with Asa.
With a click, the cable car started. The two sat facing each other inside the car, with heavy snow falling outside the window.
It was swaying and too slow.
To amuse himself, Asa simply spoiled the plot.
"samanatha, do you think Josh has some other intention for holding a party here again?"
Hearing this, samanatha, who had been sitting upright, suddenly changed her expression.
It was hard for her to forget the scene of Hannah and Beth falling off the cliff at this time last year.
How much pain did that cause Josh? For samanatha, it was also a lifelong shadow that she couldn't get over, an unforgettable pain.
Afterward, the friends who caused all this went on with their lives, attended classes, as if nothing had happened. Everyone seemed to have buried that memory deep in their minds, not daring to easily bring it out.
Rationally speaking, samanatha knew that it wasn't the fault of those classmates.
But in reality, who can say for sure?
After all, samanatha was one of the few who didn't bully Hannah, including Asa in front of her, and another guy with glasses.
But it had to be faced eventually.
"Maybe Josh has other ideas; he wants us to feel guilty."
No matter what, since Josh extended the invitation, samanatha, as one of the people present at the time, wouldn't refuse.
"Perhaps, how long has it been since you last saw Josh?"
"About half a year."
"Half a year, huh. Think about it, a blizzard, a mansion isolated on a mountaintop, and young people with unresolved grievances. Imagine what kind of terrifying story would unfold once the power is cut off?"
Asa casually said, crossing his legs and resting one hand on the backrest beside him,
"Mystery novelists call this kind of isolated situation a locked-room murder, which is somewhat similar to the current situation."
"Maybe Josh invited us here to kill us."
Asa said eerily.
samanatha felt a chill run up her spine. She forced a steady, awkward laugh and said:
"Hehe, you should really stop reading novels."
The atmosphere fell into an awkward silence. Suddenly, Asa smiled freely and said:
"Since that's the case, it's only right for the perpetrators to return this life to him."
Well said, but you're not the perpetrator!
samanatha covered her forehead,
"Stop it, how could Josh do such a thing?"
She stopped talking, feeling that if she continued, Josh might really turn into the perverted killer Asa described.
The awkward silence continued until the cable car gradually stopped.
"Finally here."
samanatha let out a long breath and practically fled from the cable car.
The air was still cold, but samanatha felt relieved because she saw someone waving at them.
Someone was already waiting for them at the villa.
"Hey! samanatha, Asa, long time no see, how have you been?"
Walking towards them was a young man with a haggard face and heavy dark circles under his eyes.
Josh Washington, the Wendigo's brother.
It was now 6 PM, with 12 hours until dawn.
"Hey, Josh, I thought you wouldn't be able to get over your psychological trauma. Any surprises tonight?"
Asa gave him a big hug.
"Surprises? What do you mean?"
Josh's expression changed slightly. He had meticulously planned this prank to make those who bullied Hannah feel remorse and pay the price. How could he let them guess what the prank was before it even happened?
Wouldn't he just become a clown then?
"Ha, I thought you'd cut off the mansion's phone lines and external communication system, and then kill everyone here, Josh."
Someone remembered your choice.
"You're thinking too much. Actually, all these years, I've been missing the party back then, missing those two. Holding this party again is also to let Hannah and Beth see that we're still alive and well, right? Seeing me like this, they'll be relieved."
Relieved? Not necessarily, but certainly hungry.
Asa nodded and was the first to walk into the mansion.
samanatha followed behind, only able to try and lighten the mood:
"Asa has been having some emotional issues lately, I hope you understand."
"You two? Are you together?"
Josh's expression was normal, Asa words hadn't affected him at all; instead, he teased.
"Huh?"
"We just met on the way."
...
Asa picked up his backpack and tossed it onto the sofa, watching samanatha collapse onto the sofa with a sigh of relief.
They were among the early arrivals. There should have been 8 people at the party that year, plus him, making 9. The rest would arrive later.
Slowly, all the victims arrived.
Besides samanatha, Josh, and Asa, there were six others.
They were Mike Munro and his girlfriend Jessica, Emily and her Black boyfriend Matthew, freckle-faced Ashley, and the tech-savvy Christopher.
Aside from these six, there was also an old hunter on the mountain, the only one who knew about the Wendigo's existence.
Of course, the informant's role is to quickly die to warn the protagonists.
Logically speaking, there were four women, all game characters, but the mine Asa had envisioned didn't appear.
Three more girls were present, but without exception, no system prompts sounded.
If Jessica and Emily were married, and their appearance was passable, Asa could understand. But Annette violated this rule again?
After thinking for a moment, Asa guessed that perhaps the System had an invisible mechanism, where only plot female characters recognized by the System could provide rewards to Asa, not all plot female characters.
And there were too many high-quality women in the resident evil world, too many beautiful, intelligent, and kind characters, which gave Asa the illusion that anyone with a name could provide him with rewards.
Then again, Lisa is a System-recognized existence, but these three aren't? It seems the System has its own unique aesthetic.
System, well done, you haven't lost face!
Asa didn't dwell on it too much. If he couldn't mine, he couldn't mine; he'd just treat it as a trip.
Traveling to more worlds and witnessing different wonders is also good.
Everyone arrived, and the show began.
Asa wasn't very familiar with anyone present; even samanatha was just an accidental encounter, and Asa was too lazy to actively join the conversation.
He was a slow starter.
Because he didn't actively try to integrate into the conversation, observing coldly like a bystander, he attracted the attention of Ashley, who also had a somewhat shy personality.
Besides Asa, there was Emily, an Asian-American, a pure American.
In the eyes of ordinary people, two people with the same skin color might be closer, but in reality, as a native-born Japanese-American, Emily hadn't said a word to Asa since entering the villa, not even a basic greeting.
Even Matthew, who was Black, would pat Asa on the shoulder and say:
"Hey, bro."
"Um, hello."
Matthew seemed rather shy; he didn't get angry even when Asa teased him.
But Asa was really not familiar with this group of people. After greeting them, he said, "I'm tired," and left the living room.
The people in the living room continued to chat after Asa left.
Jessica's eyes lit up, Ashley secretly watched, and Emily scoffed softly after walking away.
Emily was Japanese-American, while Asa was an exchange student from the East. Their relationship naturally wasn't very good.
In Emily's memory, Asa was someone born in the East who didn't possess much of the humble, shy, and reserved personality of people from the East. Compared to ordinary Easterners, he was more aggressive, which made Emily unhappy.
The reason was simple:
For a long time, when facing others of the same skin color, Emily always had a sense of superiority, thinking, 'You struggled so hard, traveled thousands of miles to this continent, but we were born right here, so we're better than you.'
This sense of superiority was innate.
And when she introduced herself as a native-born Japanese-American, Emily would always receive envious glances from others from the same country.
But with Asa, Emily didn't feel that sense of superiority. It was like their first meeting: she introduced herself, but he just said a quiet 'hello' and then there was nothing more.
No adoration, no envy, no longing.
Emily was naturally displeased.
So, people from the East should act like people from the East, wearing glasses and diligently studying mathematics for the Olympiad.
Courage, cheerfulness, and a love for telling jokes shouldn't appear in someone from the East.
However, disliking was just disliking; Emily didn't dare to openly show discrimination.
...
Asa completely failed to grasp Emily's thoughts.
He always kept his distance from 'fairy-like' characters.
The reason he left the others was that the mansion's connection to the outside world hadn't been cut off at that point, and Asa wanted to take this opportunity to see what the outside world was like.
Unheard electronic music and a world with fantasy settings—this world definitely wasn't as simple as just having one monster like the Wendigo.
However, Asa had overthought it. He walked into the room and opened the computer, only to find that the mansion's communication with the outside world had already been cut. Neither the landline, mobile phone, nor computer had any signal.
Asa frowned and returned to the living room: "Didn't you notice there's no signal?"
As the host, Josh also looked puzzled and said, "No signal?"
"You don't know?"
"There's only one signal tower on the mountaintop. Perhaps the blizzard is too heavy, and the tower can no longer be used?"
Josh explained, then said,
"It's alright, we'll go fix it first thing tomorrow morning."
"OK. I'm going to rest."
Asa returned directly to his room.
Hearing the news that the signal tower was covered by snow, no one else thought much of it, only samanatha's expression froze.
She felt a chill.
Asa was right, the communication with the outside world was cut off, and the mansion had completely become an isolated island!
samanatha found an excuse to leave the conversation, pulled out her phone, and indeed found no signal.
Even with samanatha's relatively calm personality, she was now a bit flustered.
Knock, knock, knock, Asa door was knocked.
He opened the door to samanatha's somewhat nervous, pretty face.
"You were right, Lang! Should we warn the others to be wary of Josh now?"
samanatha said urgently.
"Right about what?"
Asa looked bewildered:
"What are you thinking? The signal tower was just blown down by the snow. Couldn't we just fix it tomorrow?"
"Ah? Weren't you talking about a locked-room murder?"
"I was just teasing you. How could a good person like Josh kill anyone?"
Asa rolled his eyes and, with a'snap,' closed the door again, leaving samanatha stunned in place.
No, what's the meaning of stirring up someone's thoughts and then abandoning them?
Is this 'placement play'?
My fists are clenching!