samanatha tried her best to keep her expression normal as she returned to the main hall.
Inside the hall, Jessica and Ashley had started another round of arguing.
The cause was simple: Emily was Mike's ex-girlfriend, and Jessica was Mike's current girlfriend, even though the two had been very good friends before.
It was a messy situation, which was evident from Matt's face, which had turned a sickly shade of green.
Ordinary people might envy Mike for having a girl on each arm, but once they saw Jessica's flat, round face, they would immediately feel relieved.
Sitting on the sofa, samanatha tried her best to remain calm as she secretly observed Josh, who was trying to play the peacemaker. Sure enough, she noticed his eyes were unfocused and he seemed dispirited, yet he couldn't help but let out chilling smiles from time to time.
It was just... too creepy.
samanatha shivered, feeling more and more convinced that what Asa said was true—Josh was definitely up to something.
As the only person in the room who knew the truth, samanatha felt deeply pained.
This feeling of watching her friends fall into a trap set by a murderer while being unable to do anything...
samanatha's evasive gaze, combined with the look on her face, eventually caught the attention of their host, Josh.
Josh didn't ask why samanatha looked so terrible. He smiled and said, "You guys wait a moment, I'm going out for a bit."
With that, he turned and pushed open the lodge door.
"The snow is so heavy, where are you going?" Mike asked, watching Josh's back as he left the house.
However, Josh just waved his hand and said nothing.
samanatha's expression changed; she couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Hey, guys,"
"Don't you think Josh's behavior is a bit strange?"
"What's strange about it? Isn't Josh always like this?" Ashley, who had freckles, said while hugging a bear.
"How long has it been since you last saw Josh? He's so haggard now, and you're telling me he's the same as before? Besides, on the way here, Shen said that this is the perfect scene for a murder. As long as the cable cars going up and down the mountain are destroyed and the radio signal tower is cut, no one will know what happens on the mountain."
"Do you think Josh went to... do you think he went to destroy the cable car?" samanatha finally voiced her suspicion.
"Then why would he kill us? We were also looking for ways to save Hannah and Beth back then," Emily said, and the atmosphere suddenly went quiet.
Hannah and Beth were a source of pain that everyone present was unwilling to bring up; the only reason they had agreed to Josh's invitation to this heartbreaking place was because of the guilt they carried.
But now that it had been said out loud, everyone felt uncomfortable. After all, it was just a prank; no one had wanted Hannah to die.
The tough guy Mike stiffly changed the subject.
"Why destroy the cable car? We can still take the road down the mountain."
Yes, there was another road on the mountain that led directly to the foot of the mountain. It was just that it required crossing many streams and rivers, and with the slippery conditions and the road buried under heavy snow, it was very difficult to navigate.
Having no other choice, samanatha had to repeat what Asa had jokingly said to everyone:
"It's not a Chamber of Secrets murder; this type of setting is usually called a'snowbound lodge' mystery."
The bespectacled tech geek Christopher chimed in:
"It certainly fits what Asa said, but on his own, I'm afraid it's hard for him to take us all down. Either he has an accomplice, or he has a weapon we can't resist."
Everyone's expression shifted; the fear of firearms was ingrained in the bones of the locals.
To be fair, a year ago when Josh's sister accidentally fell, although they were responsible, it wasn't a crime punishable by death.
"Go check the rooms to see if there are any weapons left behind," Mike said, making the executive decision.
"As long as everything is normal in the villa, it means Shen is just speculating."
But if Josh really had malicious intent, the situation would take a sharp turn for the worse. Don't think that eight people could handle an ordinary person with a gun; facing a dark, gaping gun barrel, if an average person didn't wet their pants on the spot, they could already be considered brave.
Matt and Emily had developed a rift, and Emily was still dissatisfied with Mike for favoring Jessica, but given the current situation, safety was clearly more important, so they couldn't afford to dwell on such things.
Asa stayed in his room, listening clearly to the commotion outside.
Holy crap, he just told a story, and the whole plot trajectory had completely deviated from its original path.
This group was extremely vigilant. If this were university students from the East in his previous life, they would never have imagined that someone wanted to kill them.
It seemed Josh's revenge plan was going to be nipped in the bud. As expected.
After Josh finished destroying the cable cars going up and down the mountain, he was met with an extremely oppressive atmosphere. Everyone was sitting on the sofa, arms crossed, silent and cold as ice.
"Huh? Let's play, why isn't anyone playing?" Josh froze; his schizophrenic mind could no longer allow him to think much further.
Mike, leading the group, walked past Josh and closed the main door. Josh immediately felt that something was wrong, and then saw Christopher pull out a large pile of blood-stained torture devices from the corner.
Mike walked over to Josh, grabbed his shoulder, and said:
"Josh, tell us, what are these?" Mike's eyes were full of disappointment.
"Are you planning to attack us?"
"These are just miscellaneous items in the lodge. I don't know either. Why did you go looking for them?"
"Then what about the cameras everywhere in the villa?"
"To prevent burglars, isn't that normal? Don't worry, I won't watch you shower."
"Was the cable car broken by accident too? Do you want us to go take a look together?"
Seeing that the situation had been exposed, Josh stopped pretending and laid his cards on the table.
"Hmph, ahhhhh!"
"So what? Compared to Hannah's fate, what's a little injury for you guys!?"
"A little injury?"
Mike was furious. He grabbed Josh by the collar and shoved his face toward the torture devices.
"Look at this huge circular saw, look at this baseball bat, look at this guillotine. Can you tell me this is something that can be smoothed over with a 'little injury'? Are we supposed to just put on a Band-Aid and tell ourselves that being cut in half doesn't really matter?"
"What?"
Josh argued defiantly:
"I just wanted to teach you a lesson, to let you feel what Hannah and Beth felt before they died!"
"You wouldn't have died!"
"These are just props; I wouldn't actually use them on you. I prepared dummies, and you would have known when the time came, right? Hehehe."
With that, Josh couldn't control his laughter any longer, tears swirling in his eyes.
A year ago, after Hannah and Beth died, the screams of his two sisters crying out to Josh for help had been echoing in his ears.
Because of this, Josh had seen a psychiatrist, and the solutions they gave were either to rest for a period of time or to stay away from this place.
But just forget about them like that?
Josh still remembered when they were little, the image of his sisters holding onto his collar and following behind him—so small, so cute.
And now, was he supposed to completely forget them? Would no one else remember them besides Josh himself? No, absolutely not!
He had to let everyone know what it was like to lose the people closest to them.
It just seemed like he had messed it up again, hadn't he? Sorry, he was truly useless.
The gathered crowd watched Josh, who was rolling on the ground, crying and laughing at the same time. Faced with a madman, they were at a loss for what to do.
"Tie him up and call the police tomorrow."
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