Ashley Grant struggled to get up, and Henry Clark quickly supported her. After Ashley Grant sat up, she whispered, “I want to go to the bathroom.”

“Uh…”

It was a bit troublesome.

It was too cold outside, but it definitely wasn’t appropriate to go inside. Henry Clark hesitated for a moment and said, “Put on another layer, I’ll help you go outside to use the bathroom.”

“I can do it myself…”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Helping Ashley Grant down from the kang, Henry Clark held her arm and said, “Let’s just go nearby, put on my coat, and come back quickly.”

Supporting Ashley Grant outside the house, the first thing Ashley Grant said was, “Wow, it’s snowing, how beautiful.”

After she finished speaking, Ashley Grant inhaled the cold air and coughed twice. Then she looked at Henry Clark and said, “If I hadn’t met you, I’d probably have frozen to death by now.”

“You definitely won’t die now. Hurry up, use the bathroom and come back. Call me when you’re done.”

After bringing Ashley Grant to the back of the house, Henry Clark turned and went back to the front. Without his coat, it was indeed very cold. Henry Clark breathed into his hands, stomped his feet, and habitually glanced toward the mountain pass leading into the village in the distance—then he froze.

There was a dark figure. If it weren’t snowing, it would have been hard to spot from such a distance, but now, even from far away, Henry Clark could tell it was a person.

Who would come to this already abandoned mountain village?

Henry Clark was deeply shocked. His first thought was that maybe his friend had finally arrived, but at the same time, he felt a bit of panic.

After thinking for a moment, Henry Clark quickly ran back into the house and took a small pair of binoculars from his backpack.

He went back out, ran a few steps, and, finding a spot where he could hide and observe the road, raised the binoculars and took a look. Henry Clark immediately knew the person coming was definitely not his friend.

So Henry Clark immediately went to find Ashley Grant.

At this moment, Ashley Grant had just finished and stood up, so meeting in this position was obviously extremely awkward.

Ashley Grant was stunned, but Henry Clark immediately reached out his hand and whispered urgently, “Don’t say anything.”

He ran up to Ashley Grant, helped her pull up her pants, and said urgently, “Someone’s coming. Don’t make a sound, just hide here. If you hear me call you, run!”

Ashley Grant was dumbfounded. She whispered, “Who is it?”

“I don’t know. Wait here.”

Henry Clark hurried back to the house again. He grabbed the sleeping bag, picked up Bob’s backpack, and also took the two knives Ashley Grant had left on the kang.

Returning to the back of the house, Henry Clark quickly pulled off the coat he had draped over Ashley Grant and handed Bob’s backpack to her.

“I told you to keep the knives with you, but you didn’t! This is my last reminder. Now put on the backpack, keep the knives ready, wrap yourself in the sleeping bag. There’s a lot of medicine in the bag. Remember, if I shout ‘run,’ it means I can’t handle the other person. You must run, run as far as you can. Since there’s snow, you’ll leave tracks, so head into the woods, understand?”

He finished in a rush, put his own coat back on, then said to Ashley Grant, “If the person coming is bad and I can’t handle them, I’ll try to lure them away. This shelter is too important—I won’t give it up easily. But if I… you run! Got it?”

Tears were already streaming down Ashley Grant’s face. She grabbed Henry Clark and whispered, “Don’t go to your death! Don’t die. If it’s not possible, let’s just run now. Please don’t go out, okay?”

Henry Clark sighed and said, “I have to see who it is. Take these binoculars, hide far away and watch. We don’t know what will happen yet. If there’s danger, I’ll definitely try to take you with me, but if I die, or if I shout ‘run,’ you run. Enough, I’m going!”

Henry Clark pried Ashley Grant’s hand off and turned to leave.

Ashley Grant covered her mouth with her hand, but after two tears fell, she pressed her lips together, drew the knife Henry Clark had given her, and followed behind him.

Henry Clark stopped, turned to look at Ashley Grant, and said angrily, “Didn’t you understand what I said? Go back!”

Ashley Grant shook her head and said softly, “I won’t drag you down, trust me, I definitely won’t. We’ll hide together, and if we really have to fight, I’ll go out first to distract them, then you attack! Brother, I really don’t want to be alone anymore. If we live, we live together. If we die, we die together!”

Chapter 10: Fallen Leaves Return to Their Roots

The person coming might not be good or bad.

But in a time when all order has collapsed, caution is the most basic survival instinct.

Henry Clark didn’t want to give up this shelter. If the person coming was good, Henry Clark would politely ask them to leave. But if they tried to take his supplies, Henry Clark would do whatever it took to protect himself.

Actually, what Ashley Grant suggested was a good idea—let her appear first to distract the newcomer, then Henry Clark could ambush them. That would definitely increase their chances of success.

It was just that Henry Clark seriously doubted Ashley Grant’s current physical condition.