Eric Bennett almost threw out his back with the axe in his hand. He turned to stare at Grace Cooper: "What did you say?"

Grace Cooper: "I didn't say anything, you must have misheard."

Eric Bennett looked full of suspicion.

Grace Cooper: "Then why don't you repeat what I just said?"

Eric Bennett: "..." This person is just counting on him being too embarrassed, right?

The two chatted while chopping trees, occasionally taking turns resting with the other men in the group. Before it got completely dark, they had already felled two trees.

There was nothing wrong while chopping, but transporting the wood became a psychological hurdle for everyone.

The two teammates who were crushed to death by a tree yesterday had already been buried under thick snow, but even though the bodies were out of sight, their tragic appearances were still vivid in everyone's minds.

"Let's not carry it," said Adam Grant. "Let's tie a rope around it and drag it."

"Then who will do the dragging?" asked Brian Carter.

Adam Grant said, "The men will split into two groups and all drag."

This method was fair—everyone was doing the same thing, so if someone died again, it would just be bad luck, and no one else could be blamed.

Eric Bennett didn't say much. He reached out to take the rope from Adam Grant and, together with another teammate who rarely spoke, began to drag the heavy timber with effort. Dragging wood along the narrow mountain path was even harder than carrying it, but at least it was safer and wouldn't result in an accident like before.

With the previous incident as a warning, everyone was on high alert along the way. It wasn't until they left the mountain path and arrived at the carpenter's house that they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sir," called Adam Grant, "we've brought the wood."

The sound of wood being worked on inside the house stopped. After a moment, a deeply wrinkled, aged face appeared in the crack of the door. The carpenter slowly pushed the door open and gestured for them to bring the wood inside.

"Sir," Adam Grant wiped the white snow off his face, "we've brought the wood. We're going to the temple to pray afterward—do we need to bring anything?"

The old man took a long drag from his pipe, exhaled a thick cloud of white smoke, and mumbled, "Just bring the people."

Adam Grant frowned at this.

"You have to go at night," the old man said. "After dark, go into the temple one by one, and come out after you're done praying."

Grace Cooper's expression changed subtly at this request. Eric Bennett thought she would say something, but in the end, she said nothing, just smiled with a complicated look.

"One by one?" Adam Grant seemed to find this request odd. "Can't we go in together?"

"Go in together?" The old man let out a cold laugh. "You can try if you want."

"Thank you," Adam Grant didn't ask further and turned to call everyone to leave the carpenter's house.

Eric Bennett couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. He said, "The villagers won't lie to us, will they?"

"Some will," said Adam Grant, "but the key people usually don't. If the clues or keys they give us are wrong, then there's nothing more we can do."

Might as well just wait to die.

Eric Bennett responded with an "oh."

After delivering the wood to the carpenter, everyone returned to their lodging, lit a fire to warm up, and began discussing what to do next.

Grace Cooper said she needed to use the bathroom and went out, but didn't come back for a long time.

Eric Bennett waited for a while and grew worried, so he went out after her. He didn't see her at the bathroom, and after searching around the house, he finally saw Grace Cooper sitting alone by the well.

She seemed to have been sitting there for a while; a layer of white snow had piled up on her head and body. Eric Bennett tentatively called her name, but Grace Cooper didn't seem to hear him at all and didn't even turn her head.

"Grace Cooper?" Eric Bennett walked toward her. "What are you doing? It's so cold out here."

"Don't move," Grace Cooper suddenly said.

Eric Bennett stopped in his tracks.

Grace Cooper said, "Don't come near me." Her tone was icy cold, completely devoid of her usual gentle warmth. "Stay away from me."

Eric Bennett said, "What's going on?" He keenly sensed that Grace Cooper's sudden change in attitude had a lot to do with the well beside her.

Grace Cooper shook her head and didn't answer.

Summoning his courage, Eric Bennett took two more steps toward Grace Cooper, getting close enough to see the well clearly. What he saw made his skin crawl: the inside of the well was covered with something black. At first, Eric Bennett thought it was water, but then he saw those things slowly wriggling and realized he wasn't mistaken—the well was filled with black hair.

Grace Cooper's feet seemed to be entangled by the hair, making her unable to move.

"Don't come over, Eric Bennett," Grace Cooper said. "You'll be dragged down with me."

"It's okay," Eric Bennett said softly, afraid that speaking too loudly would disturb those black strands of hair. "It's okay, don't be afraid. I'm here to help you."