Was that really Asa voice outside the door?
Actually, it wasn't.
Asa was still clearing out the Wendigos in the Sanatorium at this time. This place was poles apart from his current location; how could he have time to be here?
Hearing Asa voice, the two were originally very happy and were just about to head out to check, but Samantha suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Christopher was a bit confused:
"Why aren't we going out, Samantha?"
Samantha turned her head stiffly, her expression strained:
"That must have been a hallucination just now, right?"
"?"
Christopher was puzzled.
Samantha gestured with her chin toward the outside.
The outside was completely empty; only the wind blew through the woods with a rustling sound. The words from a moment ago seemed to have been a shared hallucination.
"Shen? Lang?"
Samantha called out tentatively, but only the sound of the wind responded to them.
"Stop joking around, come out!"
...
Dead silence.
At first, the two thought it was just some kind of hallucination, perhaps an auditory hallucination born from their desperate longing for news of Asa.
The matter should have ended there, but the two soon discovered it was not like that at all!
Because the voice outside the door was still calling to them, yet there was no sign of Asa.
"Oi, what are you guys doing here? Come on out!"
"Then where are you?"
Samantha shouted loudly, her voice echoing through the mountains.
Heavy snow fluttered down, with no trace of anyone to be seen.
A moment later, a figure flew out from the side and vanished into the wind and snow.
The two felt a chill in their hearts, because that figure could not possibly be Asa—it had long, spindly limbs, skin that blended into the snow, and a hideous face...
"What the hell is that thing?"
"So it wasn't a hallucination? Can this thing actually mimic human speech?"
"Did you see it clearly, Chris?"
"Josh, is that you?"
Even though she knew it couldn't be him, Samantha asked with a trembling voice, only to be answered by the silent void of the air.
"There's something strange about this mountain."
Former partners harboring hatred, friends disappearing mysteriously, and strange creatures that could mimic voices—all of it indicated that this place likely held things they had never imagined or seen before.
They were clearly being watched by something now!
"So was Asa taken by this thing too?"
Samantha gripped her baseball bat tightly, but it didn't give her the slightest sense of security.
...
As everyone knows, before killing the final boss, there is the puzzle-solving phase.
All the Wendigos in the Sanatorium had been killed, but in the Abandoned Mine, there was still a massive Wendigo—transformed from Hannah—waiting for Asa to challenge it.
Furthermore, even if all the Wendigos were killed, the curse of Blackwood Mountain would not be broken.
Asa was not a pious man of justice; his life creed was to solve as many problems as his abilities allowed.
Currently, he did not possess the divine powers or means to break the curse, but having killed most of the Wendigos, this place would be safe for a while.
At this moment, he was walking through the Sanatorium, looking for information regarding Wendigos.
Asa had obtained information about Wendigos from the lore of the game in his past life, but the owners of the Sanatorium half a century ago might have had other discoveries. Asa wanted to search for records to see.
Over 50 years ago, computers were not yet widespread, and most data was recorded in files. Thus, Asa found the information he wanted in a safe.
Well, never mind whether the contents of a safe could still be used after fifty-odd years.
The records clearly documented the transformation process of a Wendigo:
A normal human transforms into a Wendigo because they are forced to consume the flesh of their own kind.
The Sanatorium arranged for a test subject to undergo this. At first, the subject did not know the steak he was eating was human flesh, nor did he find it particularly delicious.
But soon, even though the Sanatorium changed the menu, the subject became addicted. He gradually lost interest in ordinary food and only craved fresh, bloody human flesh.
Humans... are they delicious?
After continuously feeding the subject human flesh, a weird magnetic field energy sought him out. Subsequently, the subject underwent a violent transformation: hair fell out, muscles atrophied, eyes protruded, and skin turned white.
The records specifically noted that regardless of whether they were Black or White, they would all turn into white Wendigos.
It seemed the indigenous spirits didn't discriminate by race.
"A weird magnetic field energy?"
Asa gaze shifted. The Sanatorium had used scientific methods to observe the energy of the curse. Just as they were preparing to trace the source of the energy, the entire Sanatorium was suddenly abandoned.
The evacuation was very abrupt, as evidenced by the fact that they left without even taking the records from the safe.
What had made the Sanatorium staff so desperate?
Asa did not know.
Putting away the records, Asa prepared to return to the Lodge.
The mine was on the other side of the Lodge. According to the route, he would first reach the summit, then follow the path down the back of the mountain to reach the mine.
He wondered how those kids were doing. Had they been scared half to death by his sudden disappearance?
Actually, Asa just thought it would add to the atmosphere, so he had left a bit of blood on the window. The blood, of course, was from another creature.
Walking out of the Sanatorium, Asa looked back and committed its appearance to memory.
Next time, perhaps he could resolve it!
On the way back, Asa suddenly heard a high-pitched scream. It was a soprano, and the voice sounded a bit familiar—was her name Emily or Jessica?
Something happened at the Lodge!
And with Josh already captured, the fact that something still happened at the Lodge made the culprit obvious!
It didn't matter if the others died, but Samantha must not die.
Asa felt a slight regret; if he had known, he would have left something for Samantha to defend herself. He hoped that by the time he got there, Samantha would still be conscious.
Maybe she could establish a bond relationship with Asa before dying or something.
"Sigh, I really am too kind-hearted."
Shaking his head, Asa set off on his return journey.
The situation was worse than Asa had imagined.
From the Sanatorium at the foot of the mountain to the Lodge at the summit, it was only a few minutes' journey, and Asa arrived at the top.
At the Villa's main entrance, a spray of blood was exceptionally striking; it was clear the blood loss was massive.
In the time he was gone, was it that Wendigo from the Abandoned Mine? Was it that fast?
Asa frowned. Hearing the voices of others inside the Villa, he strolled over.