Wolves came out in snowfall to hunt the animals that had burrowed into hiding. They were skilled at finding the burrows of their prey, flushing them out from their shelters, and turning them into a meal.

This wolf was clearly pleased to have spotted what it had — the creature before it was a great deal larger than any wild rabbit.

Shen Ruoxi met the wolf’s gaze, and her heart clenched at once. Cold sweat broke out instantly.

She dared not make any hasty moves. Instead, she slowly and quietly shifted herself back toward the boulder behind her. It was tall — if she climbed it hand and foot, the wolf should not be able to leap up to reach her.

Shen Ruoxi’s mind was racing. The moment the wolf was still calculating how to approach her, she suddenly hurled her pack straight at it. While the wolf was dodging, she spun around and scrambled upward as fast as she could — just as the wolf lunged after her.

Just as the wolf was nearly upon her and its teeth were about to close on the hem of her trousers, Shen Ruoxi hauled herself up to the top of the rock. She scooped up handfuls of snow from the boulder’s surface and flung them down at the wolf, forcing it to retreat backward.

Shen Ruoxi’s thinking had been right — the wolf truly could not climb up. For now it could only pace back and forth below the rock in frustration.

But it was clever. After it realized it could not climb up on its own, it devised another approach.

Shen Ruoxi watched the wolf turn around and walk away — though it had not gone far before it swung back around. Then it broke into a charge.

Using the momentum of its sprint, the wolf’s two front paws scrabbled up onto the edge of the rock. But the surface was icy, and it slid back down — the first attempt had failed.

Even though the wolf hadn’t made it up, Shen Ruoxi was already drenched in cold sweat. She could see the wolf was gearing up for a second charge.

As long as it had the patience, reaching the top was only a matter of time. And what was more, her food was at the bottom of the rock, the snow showed no sign of letting up, and if this wolf had the determination to stay and guard her position — even if it never managed to eat her, she would starve to death first.

Most urgently of all, Xie Yan still hadn’t come back, and he had no idea there was a wolf here. If he approached without his guard up, he would almost certainly be attacked.

The sky was growing darker and darker. The wolf had failed to clear the rock several times yet had not given up. After a brief rest each time, it charged again.

Shen Ruoxi watched it without daring to relax for even a single instant.

The extreme mental strain and the prolonged lack of food had left Shen Ruoxi utterly spent.

Then the wolf made another charge — and this time, with one great leap, it pulled half its body up onto the rock. Shen Ruoxi had no weapon. She could only lash out with her foot to kick it, but the wolf was ferociously aggressive: the moment she raised her foot, it snapped its gaping jaws toward her.

She certainly wasn’t going to willingly offer herself as food, so she pelted it with more snow.

This wolf had extraordinary endurance. No matter what Shen Ruoxi threw at it, it refused to give up. Seeing that it was about to drag itself up entirely, Shen Ruoxi had no choice — she jumped down from the other side.

She knew she couldn’t outrun a wolf. The moment she landed, she could already see how it would end for her.

She was probably going to be torn to pieces here, and her bones would be buried under the snow.

The wolf, seeing Shen Ruoxi jump down, launched itself after her immediately.

Meanwhile, outside the ski resort, Uncle Liu cast an anxious look behind Ghost Hand. “Where’s Mr. Xie? Where has Mr. Xie gone?”

Ghost Hand lowered his head. “Uncle Liu, Mr. Xie has disappeared.”

“Disappeared? I sent you to guide Mr. Xie down the mountain — how could he simply disappear?”

“I found Mr. Xie before and he was following me down, but partway through the snow was too heavy. When I looked back, he was gone.” Ghost Hand’s expression was full of remorse and self-reproach. “I searched the mountain for a long time but could not find him.”

“Then what are you standing there for? Go back with more people — go look for him now.” Uncle Liu was so anxious he could barely keep still. “Bring as many as you can.”

The snow was this heavy, the mountain paths were tangled and confusing, and in a blizzard you could lose your way with frightening ease. And on top of that, this mountain was home to wild wolves.

Whether lost in the snow or attacked by a wolf, Uncle Liu could not bring himself to think about what that would mean.

Ghost Hand took a group of men back up the mountain, but just as Uncle Liu had feared, the paths crisscrossed in all directions, and finding the right way was far from simple. Xie Yan could have taken any route, and whatever footprints he might have left would have been buried by the snow long ago.

When Xie Yan suddenly appeared before Shen Ruoxi, her first feeling was joy — followed immediately by a shout: “Xie Yan, there’s a wolf! Run — don’t mind me!”

Xie Yan stepped in front of her, his voice low. “I’ll hold it off. You run forward — no matter what happens, don’t look back. Just run.”

Shen Ruoxi stared at his back. Heavy layers of snow had settled on his ski jacket and his hat. She couldn’t see his face, but she could guess the expression on it.

She reached up from behind and grabbed his arm, shaking her head firmly. “I’m not going.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Xie Yan snapped. “Do you want to die?”

“You can’t fight it alone. You don’t even have a weapon.” Shen Ruoxi’s nose stung. “I’m not going.”

“Go.” Xie Yan turned and shoved her. “Get out of here. When you’re safe, leave Shun Cheng — don’t delay even a moment. Shen Ruoxi, go back to where you belong.”

Shen Ruoxi stared at him wide-eyed and momentarily went still.

“The snow in Shun Cheng is beautiful, but home is better. Isn’t that right?” Xie Yan turned back to look at her — one long, deep look. “Go.”

As he finished speaking, the wolf was already hurling itself at him. In an instant, man and beast were rolling together in the snow.

Shen Ruoxi watched the man wrestling with the wolf, and in that moment forgot all about his cryptic words. Instead, she sprinted back to the rocks.

She grabbed the ski board, turned around, and ran back toward Xie Yan without hesitation.

Shen Ruoxi aimed at the wolf’s head and brought the board down with full force.

When you were fighting in motion, hitting a precise target was difficult — this strike landed not squarely on the wolf’s skull but on its ear. The wolf yelped in pain and whipped its head around to attack Shen Ruoxi.

Shen Ruoxi hadn’t anticipated the wolf turning on her. She stumbled backward in a panic and sat hard on the ground.

As the wolf lunged to bite her, an arm suddenly swept across her path. The wolf’s teeth closed on that arm instead.

Xie Yan bore the searing pain and drove his fist into the wolf’s eyes — one punch after another, striking until the wolf’s face was covered in blood and its eyeball was nearly driven from its socket.

The wolf had no choice but to release its grip, howling in agony. Xie Yan seized the moment to snatch the ski board from Shen Ruoxi’s hand and bring it crashing down onto the wolf’s skull.

He struck again and again with relentless force, and finally the wolf collapsed to the ground and lay still, its breath gone.

Only when he was certain it was dead did Xie Yan drop back and sit heavily on the ground, gasping in great heaving breaths.

Shen Ruoxi snapped back from her shock, and half-crawling and half-scrambling, she made her way to Xie Yan’s side.

His arm had been bitten by the wolf. Blood was flowing freely now, staining a patch of the clean white snow a vivid red — a sight that was difficult to look at.