"Disciple Zhang, what's the matter, did taking a piss turn into a swim around the pond?" Zhao Changhe asked when, from the house, someone staggered out the door. Just as they reached the corner of the doorway, they felt a numbness in their chest, having been touched on a pressure point by Yue Hongling.
The last person in the house still didn't know what was transpiring outside. A flash of red, and they too were touched on a pressure point.
Yue Hongling took one in each hand and dragged them into the woods, questioning them one by one. When she came out to meet Zhao Changhe, they compared notes, and their statements largely matched.
"There's a bit of a story on my side," she said. "They claim that when they first arrived, it wasn't this cold. The weather clearly shifted into summer, but it's only been getting colder."
"There has to be a reason for this change in the environment... Have they taken any special actions?"
