After a month of relentless rain, the people outside had long since run out of patience.
When Zhou Mo gave them no response, their tone quickly turned hostile.
“Hey, brother! We’ll pay. Just call your boss out!”
“Or sell us some food! Money isn’t a problem!”
“Stop pretending you can’t hear us! What’s wrong with selling us a little food? We’re not trying to rob you!”
The roads off the mountain had been washed out, and no one could come up either. The guesthouse on the northern side had already exhausted its food supplies trying to feed everyone stranded there. They had called for rescue, but massive landslides had blocked every route into the mountains. Even emergency supply drops wouldn’t arrive for another two days.
Their clothes were soaked through. If they couldn’t get inside somewhere soon, they would be in real danger.
Zhou Mo couldn’t have cared less.
Compassion had never been one of his virtues.
“I’ll only say this once,” he said coldly. “If you ram this gate again, you’ll be leaving your lives behind.”
He was actually being polite.
If they woke Shen Muyan, Shang Qi would probably come out with a knife himself.
Seeing Zhou Mo handling the situation, Shang Qi paid it no further attention and headed into the kitchen to make something for Muyan to eat.
He wasn’t much of a cook, so he simply followed recipes from cooking videos.
Whether it was talent or just because he was in a good mood, his first attempt turned out surprisingly well.
The aroma nearly made the other four cry.
For weeks they’d been surviving on meals that were either too salty, too bland, or hopelessly burnt.
Zhou Mo wandered into the kitchen and glanced sideways at the vegetables Shang Qi was stir-frying. At least he’d made a large portion.
“You really didn’t spare a thought for everyone else stranded up here?”
He didn’t believe it for a second. Shang Qi treasured Shen Muyan more than his own life.
“No.”
Shang Qi rinsed vegetables while keeping an eye on the soup simmering beside him, barely interested in the conversation.
“Quit standing there. Help me chop the vegetables.”
Zhou Mo folded his arms, spotted Xie Rao walking out, and jerked his chin toward the cutting board.
“Vegetables. Chop them.”
“…Fine.”
Xie Rao stretched lazily before picking up the knife.
His knife skills were impeccable, every slice perfectly even.
Zhou Mo always joked that he’d missed his calling as a decorative fruit carver.
By mid-June, relief supplies had finally begun reaching the towns at the foot of the mountain.
But nothing had made it to Qinglan Mountain.
Helicopters couldn’t land because of the weather.
The people staying at the northern guesthouse were reaching their breaking point.
Every day they came to pound on the gate.
Zhou Mo ignored them.
Shang Qi ignored them too.
Only Xie Rao and Du Ming went outside occasionally to warn them away.
Eventually Jiang Hao lost his patience and fired a single warning shot.
Everyone immediately behaved themselves.
At least no one came knocking for an entire week.
Life inside the southern guesthouse remained comfortable.
Outside, however, people had been reduced to drinking water just to quiet their hunger.
When survival became desperate enough, people were willing to do almost anything.
Someone finally proposed breaking in by force.
“They must have food.”
“Otherwise they wouldn’t have stayed indoors this whole time.”
“I remember seeing them haul a huge amount of supplies up the mountain.”
“But they have guns,” one timid man pointed out.
“So what?” another scoffed. “I don’t believe they’d actually kill anyone.”
“Exactly! They’re the ones breaking the law by keeping weapons. We’re just borrowing some food!”
Weeks of flooding had left everyone exhausted, irritable, and desperate.
A burly man riled up the crowd.
“If we stay here any longer, we’ll starve to death anyway. We might as well gamble on it. At least there’s a chance we’ll survive.”
If death was waiting either way, they might as well die with full stomachs.
Soon, fifteen people marched together toward the southern guesthouse.
Such a large group was impossible to miss.
Even Du Ming thought they were unbelievably foolish.
It happened to be his turn on watch, so he immediately reported everything to Shang Qi.
Shang Qi didn’t even raise his head.
His voice remained cold and indifferent.
“Take a gun.”
“Consider it target practice.”
When Du Ming went upstairs to call Xie Rao, a silver-gray animal suddenly crawled out from beneath the bed.
Both men froze.
It was a massive Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, standing nearly to their knees.
The dog bared its teeth defensively.
“Woof! Woof!”
The bark instantly put everyone downstairs on alert.
“What’s going on?”
“Where’d that dog come from?”
Just as Zhou Mo started upstairs, the wolfdog leaped out of the room.
It bounded past him and charged straight toward Shen Muyan.
“Watch out!”
Jiang Hao instinctively stepped forward to block it.
But the dog moved faster.
It slammed him to the floor before racing directly toward Shang Qi and Shen Muyan.
Zhou Mo reacted instantly, drawing his pistol.
“Left!”
Shang Qi immediately pulled Muyan to the right.
Bang!
The bullet barely grazed Shang Qi’s ear.
It missed the dog entirely.
Instead, it only enraged it.
The wolfdog spun around and lunged toward Zhou Mo with bared fangs.
Its strength was terrifying.
Zhou Mo barely avoided being bitten.
He kicked the beast away and raised his pistol again—
Only to find the wolfdog had somehow appeared behind him in the blink of an eye.
For the first time in years…
Zhou Mo genuinely felt death closing in.
The enormous jaws hovered above his head.
Shang Qi’s expression darkened as he leveled his own gun.
“Move!”
The wolfdog glanced at Shang Qi…
…then obediently darted beneath a nearby table.
Shang Qi: “…?”
Zhou Mo: “…?”
Jiang Hao, who had just gotten back to his feet: “…?”
Du Ming and Xie Rao, who had just come downstairs: “…?”
Something…
…felt very wrong.
Keeping Shen Muyan behind him, Shang Qi stared beneath the table and ordered calmly,
“Come out.”
“Lie down.”
To everyone’s astonishment, the wolfdog crawled out obediently.
It flopped onto the floor, looking pitifully at Shang Qi and Shen Muyan.
“Whine…”
Zhou Mo ran a hand through his hair and laughed.
“This dog’s smarter than most people.”
Shen Muyan blinked.
“Ah Qi… do you think it could be the puppy we rescued?”
Even she found it hard to believe.
Only two months ago, it had been small enough to fit in her hands.
Now it was nearly large enough to knock her over.
Aside from the silver fur, it looked nothing like the puppy they’d picked up.
A thought crossed Shang Qi’s mind.
His expression grew grave.
Just then—
Bang!
The front gate shook violently once more.
The wolfdog tilted its head, stood up, and bared its teeth again.
“Woof!”
The next instant, it disappeared outside.
Everyone except Shang Qi stood frozen.
The gate hadn’t even opened.
How had the dog gotten through?
Almost immediately, bloodcurdling screams erupted outside.
Shen Muyan’s face turned deathly pale as she instinctively pressed herself against Shang Qi.
“It’s alright.”
He stroked her hair gently while pulling her into his arms, then gave Jiang Hao a meaningful look.
Without even grabbing an umbrella, Jiang Hao dragged Du Ming outside.
The screaming had already stopped.
More than a dozen bodies lay scattered across the ground in pieces.
Rain mixed with blood, washing crimson streams down the slope.
“Urgh—!”
Du Ming doubled over and vomited against the wall.
It was too horrifying.
Even Jiang Hao, who had seen plenty of bloodshed, couldn’t stop himself from frowning.
Not a single corpse remained intact.
Severed arms.
Torn legs.
Chunks of flesh ripped away until white bone was exposed.
Even more disturbing…
The mangled bodies were visibly shriveling before their eyes.
Bloody water trickled downhill until it pooled beside a large furry paw.
The silver wolfdog lifted its head proudly and strutted back into the courtyard with its tail held high.
As it passed Du Ming, it shot him a look full of unmistakable disdain.
Pathetic human.
Its arrogance lasted exactly until it reached the doorway.
Standing there, Shang Qi’s dark eyes were as cold as frozen water.
His handsome face carried unmistakable authority.
“Wash yourself first.”
“Then come inside.”
The wolfdog immediately pulled back the paw it had just stepped through the doorway with.
Its tail wagged frantically as it whined pitifully at Shang Qi.
“Whine… whine…”
Why won’t you praise me?
Master’s being mean to me…
“If you come in smelling like blood,” Shang Qi said coolly, “don’t bother coming back inside.”
Though the wolfdog had no idea why it instinctively obeyed Shang Qi, that didn’t stop it from doing exactly as it was told.
With drooping ears, it turned around and sprinted outside.
It leaped into a huge rain barrel, splashing wildly.
It rolled around several times, even dunking its entire head beneath the water, leaving only its two gray ears sticking above the surface, twitching every so often.
Once it finally decided it was clean enough, it jumped back out, shook the water from its fur…
…and bolted eagerly toward the house.
It couldn’t wait to come inside.