Although I've seen similar plots in novels and movies, when it actually happens to me, the first thing that comes to mind is helplessness and despair.

After taking a few minutes to calm himself down, the composure he had developed from years of scientific research helped him regain his composure.

First, we need to understand three things.

who I am? !

Where am I?!

what happened? !

He picked up the candle from the wooden table and looked around.

The small, enclosed room had a small window under the roof and a wooden door leading to the outside. Inside, there was a wooden table, a stack of straw, a small pile of coal, and a stone stove that looked like it was heated by burning firewood. The stove's chimney forked in two, one end going through the roof and the other through the wall to the next room.

Xia Shang tried to push the door with both hands, but the wooden door didn't budge. He squatted down to look and saw that a sturdy iron pin had locked the door from the outside.

Helpless, he turned back and focused his gaze on the high window. He pulled the wooden table to the foot of the window, climbed up using it as a stepping stone, and then, standing on tiptoe, barely managed to reach the windowpane with his forehead. Pushing aside the thick animal hide covering the window, he looked outside. The raging snowstorm had turned the outside world into a white expanse. As far as the eye could see, he couldn't see any distant scenery or boundaries; all he could hear was the howling, fierce wind.

Xia Shang gestured to indicate the size of the window and then looked at the width of his shoulders. He quickly abandoned the idea of ​​escaping through the window. Besides, with such a heavy blizzard, even if he got outside, he would freeze solid after only a few steps.

He closed the window, tightened his thick linen robe, and began to think of other ways to escape...

Just then, a heavy revolving door sounded from the next room.

A chilling frost and snow trickled down the floor and into the small room through the gap under the wooden door.

Xia Shang shivered involuntarily and shrank back.

Someone lit a candle in the next room, and the soft light slowly shone in through the crack in the door.

A sharp, nasal voice rang out.

"Damn blizzard!"

Another hoarse voice, sounding like a dull knife scraping against glass, followed up: "Huggins is late."

Xia Shang held his breath, listening intently to the conversation between the two people in the outer room. To his surprise, they could understand the meaning of the language, which they had never heard before, without any difficulty.

"In this awful weather! It would be strange if he showed up on time!"

The shrill voice was full of disdain for "Huggins" as he threw his snow-covered coat heavily onto the ground.

Carefully crawling towards the door, Xia Shang narrowed his eyes and peered through the crack in the door panel, observing the activity in the next room.

In the flickering candlelight, a man with a full beard faced the door, his deep-set leopard eyes meeting the boy's gaze.

The blood in his veins seemed to have frozen. Terrified, Xia Shang covered his nose and mouth with both hands, trying his best not to make any sound.

The leopard-eyed man stared at the door for a while before finally shifting his gaze to his hunchbacked companion. He slid his thumb toward the room where Xia Shang was, and his hoarse voice rang out again: "What about the one inside?"

The hunchback untied the rope and dagger from his waist, looked in the direction they were pointing, and smacked his lips: "Poor little Todd, he even gave me a bracelet made of bellflowers..."

"Stop with your useless attitude. Weren't you the one who just poured poison into his mouth?"

Hearing Leopard Eyes's merciless accusation, Hunchback shrugged and said in a completely indifferent tone, "There's nothing we can do about it. He saw something he shouldn't have."

"We need to dispose of that body by tomorrow morning!"

“I know, I know, just like always. Put them in sacks and throw them into the mine…”

"Don't forget the finishing touches!"

"Good heavens, you're so nagging! Stripping off my clothes, chopping up my face, burning my hair—I don't need you reminding me of these tasks. I'm not a novice! I've been busy all night, can I get some sleep?! We can talk about it tomorrow!"

The man with leopard eyes muttered a few words and blew out the candle.

The sounds gradually faded into the darkness, leaving only two voices in the cramped little house.

The snoring of outlaws, the heartbeat of lambs to the slaughter.