Chapter 65 The long night in the polar circle is my turn

The villa did not have a chef, and ordering takeout in a small northern city with a population of more than 2,000 was even more unrealistic during a blizzard.

Meng Yao opened the refrigerator and looked at the full of ingredients. He took out a can of drink from the side and handed it to Chi Jue, "I can't cook, can I make a salad?"

Chi Jue doesn't know how to do that either.

They had never had the chance to touch this since they were little.

Going to the North Pole to eat vegetable salad on the third day of the Chinese New Year makes me feel a bit sick. It has been several hours since I arrived at the North Pole, but Meng Yao still feels unreal as if he is in a dream.

"I should have brought my family's chef along."

Xu Huaiting took off his coat and hung it at the door, rolled up his sleeves, picked up the apron in the kitchen and put it on: "Let me do it."

Meng Yao was surprised: "Uncle, you can cook!"

Xu Huaiting smiled and said, "I learned it at a young age. My skills are very good. I know a little bit of both Chinese and Western food."

Seeing him calmly spreading his feathers like a peacock, ready to show off his skills, Chi Yan's first reaction was to look at Ye Man.

Ye Man had something on his mind, so his reaction to the outside world was much slower. He sat on the sofa wrapped in a blanket, hugging his knees, and concentrating on what he was going to do tonight.

There were only five of them in the villa. Except Meng Yao, the other four were people Ye Man knew very well, so he naturally relaxed and daydreamed.

Seeing that Ye Man was not paying attention to this, Chi Yan sneered silently. It seemed that some people's efforts were in vain.

"Don't bother Mr. Xu to drive, I can do it." He also rolled up his sleeves and walked towards the kitchen.

Facing Xu Huaiting, Chi Yan's aura did not weaken at all, and he said politely: "After all, my two younger brothers are here. As the eldest brother, I can't always trouble outsiders to take care of them."

He emphasized the word "outsider", but still sounded calm. When he looked at Xu Huaiting, there was a hint of coldness in his eyes.

Chi Jue: "Brother, you can cook? How come I don't know?"

Chi Yan opened the tablet and put it on the stand. She looked at Chi Jue as if he was a fool. "There is a recipe. Just follow it."

Meng Yao stood behind Xu Huaiting on the right, and felt a chill down his spine because of the words "outsider".

Originally, his affair with Chi Jue had long been known to the public. Chi Yan didn't like him very much, but she didn't dislike him that much either.

However, thinking about what happened between his younger uncle and Chi's younger brother, Meng Yao despairedly realized that he could no longer face Chi's eldest brother with an open mind.

It’s all his uncle’s fault!

Xu Huaiting didn't really care about the hidden thorn in Chi Yan's words, and smiled slightly: "'Big Brother' has the final say."

Meng Yao's scalp felt numb.

I secretly looked at Chi Yan and found that her face had indeed become darker.

Xu Huaiting didn't see anything wrong at all, so he said naturally, "I'll help you. The two of us can save time. Otherwise, Xiaoman and the others might have to go hungry for a while before they can eat."

The second half of the sentence hit Chi Yan's soft spot. They were in a hurry, the journey was long, and they had no appetite on the plane, so they didn't eat much.

It would definitely take Chi Yan more time to learn how to prepare meals for five people by herself. Although Chi Yan was not very happy about it, she had no choice but to acquiesce to Xu Huaiting's suggestion.

The two men were busy in the kitchen. Chi Jue greeted them and told them to go and pack their luggage.

Before they knew it, only Ye Man, Xu Huaiting, and Chi Yan were left in the living room and kitchen.

Learning to cook is not as easy as Chi Yan thought. It is not just about following the recipe. While Chi Yan was struggling with the ingredients, Xu Huaiting went to the sofa with the hot milk.

"Are you cold? Have something hot."

Ye Man was concentrating all his energy on thinking. When he heard someone talking to him, he reached out to take the milk and was about to drink it.

Xu Huaiting quickly covered the cup: "Let it dry for a while, it's still hot."

Ye Man nodded blankly.

Xu Huaiting turned his back to the kitchen, bent his waist, and in the backlight, his shadow cast a shadow on the person curled up on the sofa. He suddenly said, "If you have anything to say, you can tell me."

The hand holding the cup tightened, and Ye Man had words on his lips for a moment, but in the end he just shook his head in silence: "It's okay."

Xu Huaiting looked at him for a while and curled his lips: "Okay."

Turned back to the kitchen.

In the end, most of the work was still done by Xu Huaiting. Chi Yan found it difficult to understand words like "almost" and "appropriate amount" on the menu and became confused halfway through.

After dinner, the wind and snow outside became heavier.

Ye Man listened to the whistling sound of the wind and his heart beat so fast that it made him feel nauseous.

He wanted to wait until everyone went back to their rooms to rest before sneaking out to turn off the power. But for some reason, Chi Yan and Chi Jue suddenly became very talkative today. After dinner, they didn't rush back to their rooms and insisted on talking to him.

Ye Man was surrounded and sweating profusely. He was so anxious that he almost jumped onto the roof, but he had to pretend to be normal and chat with others about random things.

No matter how he hinted to them to go back to their rooms and rest, these normally very smart people seemed to have lost their minds today and just didn't understand.

"Current time: 21:18"

Ye Man sat up straight: "It's getting late, it's time to--"

"It's time for the midnight show." Xu Huaiting continued.

Ye Man was a little dumbfounded.

I heard Xu Huaiting ask him: "It's a rare opportunity to go on vacation, how can we not have fun all night, don't you think?"

He struggled desperately: "No..."

"Or do you have other things to do?" Xu Huaiting tucked the blanket in for him. "It's okay. You can tell me if you have other things to do."

"......" Ye Man said unwillingly, "No."

"Okay." Xu Huaiting said this with a smile and asked Meng Yao to find some movies to play.

"It's snowing hard outside and the signal is bad. Luckily I asked someone to download some movies early," he explained.

Meng Yao took the trouble to check it out and exclaimed, "They are all horror movies!"

"Let me see, there's 'The Cabin' here,' which tells the story of a group of young men and women who go on vacation to a cabin in the snowy mountains and encounter a chainsaw killer..."

"The Attic, The Cellar..." Meng Yao read out the titles, "Which one do you want to show?"

Everyone present had an indifferent attitude. Chi Yan even analyzed the props and shooting techniques in the film. To them, all the films looked the same. In the end, the decision was left to Ye Man.

Ye Man's mind was not on this at all, he just said it casually.

Besides, movies are more interesting when watched with pictures. Just listening to the sound always makes people feel like something is missing.

However, he soon realized that the situation was not as he expected.

Chi Jue was on Ye Man's left, and Xu Huaiting was sitting on a single sofa on the right. As the rapid, tense, and heart-pounding music played, the person next to him said leisurely, "The chainsaw killer pulled the power switch of the villa and sneaked into the villa quietly."

"He's hiding in the shadows in the corner, holding a chainsaw, raising it..."

clang.

Ye Man shuddered, pulled up the blanket and buried his head in it.

Xu Huaiting picked up the things that fell on the ground: "Sorry, I lost my grip and the remote control fell."

When I stood up, I was faced with the aggrieved face of the boy who had stuck his head out from under the blanket.

He said nothing, but his expression was full of accusation.

Xu Huaiting looked for a long time before slowly straightening up.

This movie was even more frightening than Ye Man had imagined. He thought that just listening to the audio would not be a big deal, but when combined with the narration from people around him that occasionally interrupted him, his mind was filled with all kinds of images, and he was frightened.

"Current time: 22:54"

Ye Man couldn't wait any longer.

A trembling voice with a bit of sobbing rang out from among them: "You, you don't want to rest......"

After a while, Ye Man heard someone softly say to him, "No more watching, let's take a rest." Then he asked him, "Do you want us to go back to our rooms?"

Ye Man rubbed his sore eyes: "Yeah."

He was tired and sleepy and could just go back to his room to rest. But he insisted that everyone else should go back as well. It seemed a little strange.

If they asked him why, how would he explain?

But the interrogation he expected did not come.

He said he wanted everyone to go back to their rooms, and they all complied and went back.

"What else do you want to do after returning to the room?" Chi Yan took him into the room where they would stay tonight and asked Ye Man.

"Brother... go take a shower..."

There was no movement in front of me for a long time. After a while, someone walked into the bathroom next door, and the sound of water splashing was heard from inside.

Ye Man stood at the door for a while, and somehow his nose felt even more sore.

There is no time to think anymore, opportunities wait for no one.

Brother Tong is still waiting for him.

He wiped his face fiercely, took his cane, and quietly slipped out the door.

A few seconds later, the bathroom door opened with a click.

A neatly dressed man walked out.

......

While they were cooking, Ye Man pretended to be careless and asked about the location of the power switch.

In the past, there was a system to help him find the way, but this time the system was not there, and he had to grope his way around by himself.

Even a simple power outage can be fraught with difficulties.

First he had to get the toolbox and find the pliers inside.

He walked quietly towards the location he had chosen earlier and was almost there when he suddenly heard the sound of a chair being moved.

Ye Man quickly squatted down, hid behind the sofa, and covered his mouth.

Chi Jue accidentally kicked the chair: "......"

He turned on the light in the living room and fumbled around on the coffee table, muttering to himself, "Where's my phone? Strange, I just left it here? How come I can't find it!"

"Found it, it's here. I have to hurry back to my room!"

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away.

Forgot to turn off the light.

Ye Man breathed a sigh of relief.

Didn't find him.

I found the location of the toolbox that I had determined earlier and touched it. It was empty.

Ye Man touched it again in disbelief: "How come it's gone? It was here before. Where is the toolbox?"

On the stairs, Chi Yan looked at her brother who was muttering about the toolbox and rummaging around in the cupboard, then looked at the toolbox lying not far from his right foot and closed her eyes slightly.

Take out your phone.

Ye Man was in a hurry when his cell phone rang. He took it out in panic and found that it was Chi Yan calling him.

"Xiao Man, there's something wrong with the bathroom plumbing. If you have time, help me get the tool box. Go to the locker and feel around to the right back, and you'll find it."

Before Ye Man could answer, the call was hung up.

I reached back and touched...it was true.

The bitterness in his heart just started to emerge, but it was cut off midway. Ye Man shook his head awkwardly, picked up the pliers, and went to find the switch.

With a desperate momentum, he headed towards the power gate.

I was always on guard against other obstacles along the way.

Just as we were about to arrive, the lights in the house suddenly went out.

Ye Man lowered his head and touched the pliers in his hand, then turned towards the direction of the switch with a confused look on his face.

Xu Huaiting was standing not far away and said lazily, "I was wondering why the light was flickering just now."

He flipped the switch and heard a clicking sound. "It turned out that the snowstorm was too strong and the circuit was damaged. There was a power outage."

Ye Man bit her lip.

However, Xu Huaiting seemed not to see him and walked past him, "Go back to sleep."

Ye Man stood there alone for a while, rubbed his eyes hard, and stumbled and groped his way to Meng Yao's room.

Meng Yao opened the door, looked behind Ye Man stiffly, and asked, "Brother, it's you. What do you want to talk to me about?"

Ye Man: "The battery is out. I'm scared. Can you..."

Meng Yao shuddered all over, and was so frightened that he almost knelt down before him. He shouted, "Are you scared? I'll take you to find my uncle! I tell you, my uncle is awesome! He's a killer with his fists and a killer with his kicks! I'm no match for him!"

He lowered his voice and discussed with him quietly: "Brother, give me a way out. Whatever you want me to do, I will do it for you."

Ye Man was also anxious: "Go to that room, go there!"

He pointed next door.

When Meng Yao took a look, it turned out to be Chi Jue's room.

I felt a little embarrassed and said, "This is not good. I understand what you mean, but your brother will be angry. This..."

Ye Man was about to cry and pushed him over there. Meng Yao glanced behind him and said, "Okay, okay, I'll go. Is it okay for me to go? But if your second brother locks the door, it's none of my business—"

With a twist of the handle, the door opened.

Chi Jue stood at the door with an expressionless face.

Meng Yao: “…”

Chi Jue made way silently, and before Meng Yao could speak, he was pulled in and the door slammed shut.

Ye Man took out the key he had hidden in advance, locked the door from the outside, and sat against the door for a while.

It was eerily quiet.

No one came to lock him up.

Brother Tong didn't say how he was found, and Ye Man didn't know the details, so he could only copy the answer step by step.

It doesn’t matter, he thought, Brother Tong said that it doesn’t matter if there are some mistakes along the way, as long as the final result is right.

He hasn't failed yet.

Ye Man got up from the ground and walked up to the attic.

The stairs leading to the attic were a little shaky, and he walked stumblingly. At the end of the stairs was the attic door.

Since no one came to lock him up, he locked himself up.

When I opened the door, a stale, moldy smell came from inside.

It was very dark inside, like a bottomless hole. It was a completely unfamiliar space to him. Ye Man tried to catch a ray of light with his half-baked vision, but there was nothing.

Do you want to stay alone in a place like this for a whole night?

He felt a little timid and took a step back, but soon he gritted his teeth and forced himself to go in.

It's okay. It's just one night.

As long as we can hold on until the sun rises, everything will be over and Brother Tong will come back.

But he soon thought of a problem: the sun would not rise.

The nights in the Arctic are long.

When would the others wake up and find him here?

...Will someone really notice that he is missing and come here to look for him? If he asks for help, will he be ignored as Brother Tong said, or will someone come...

Ye Man held the door handle and his hand rested on it.

However, the next moment, he heard a tiny sound of a buckle snapping in the darkness.

The door was locked.

Not from outside.

From inside.

Xu Huaiting reached over Ye Man, locked the two of them in the attic.

"Anything else?" he asked calmly.

Ye Man's eyes widened.

Xu Huaiting leaned against the door and looked at the man in front of him with his back to him and his head lowered: "If there is no more, it's my turn."