Chapter 52: The Game of Digging Up Corpses, Reality of Burying Corpses

"Hah..."

After taking out the last Dark Hunter, I exhaled a warm breath, rubbed my cold hands, and looked at the corpses of the Hard-skinned Rats and Dark Hunters scattered on the ground. I also glanced at the few frozen Rogues lying on the ground, and sighed softly.

From the characteristics of these Rogues, they seemed to be mercenaries. They had probably been dead for a long time, but due to the cold climate of the Frozen Plain, their bodies had not decomposed. The messy knife wounds and the hard spines that looked like arrows on their bodies suggested that they were killed by Dark Hunters and Hard-skinned Rats. Even without these wounds, it was easy to determine the killers. Among the most common monsters in the Frozen Plain, if you were killed by a large beast, you would only see a few chewed bones. If you were killed by Fallen Ones, you wouldn't see anything at the scene; you might find something in their camp's pot if you followed them. The only ones not interested in corpses were the Dark Hunters, Hard-skinned Rats, and Ice Worms. However, Ice Worms clearly couldn't have killed these Rogue archers. The answer was obvious.

The so-called Dark Hunters were not native monsters of Hell but people who had been tempted by the forces of Hell and willingly fell into corruption to fulfill their desires. However, desires are not so easily achieved. In the end, their greedy souls were devoured by Hell, leaving only lifeless bodies behind.

Although their souls were devoured, they had once been human and still retained a bit of humanity. They instinctively repelled the corpses of their former kind. As for the Hard-skinned Rats, when I heard about their habits from Cain, I almost fell over. These guys were actually herbivores. If they could change their brutal and fierce nature, their cute appearance could even make them candidates for the Peace Ambassador of the Year. They never cared for meat. The idea of rats being herbivores was even harder to believe than the idea of angels being pure.

The state of these Rogues' deaths was terrifying. Some of their faces still showed panic, fear, unwillingness, and despair. I guessed they were killed by the Dark Hunters and Hard-skinned Rats I had just eliminated. It's no wonder; this small forest was quite large and hid 16 Dark Hunters and 9 Hard-skinned Rats. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible to wipe out the entire Rogue mercenary team.

I originally came in to earn some extra money, but I didn't expect there to be so many enemies. Fortunately, when I approached, the crow, which had already established a preliminary connection with me, suddenly cried out a warning, making the Dark Hunters and Hard-skinned Rats hiding inside unable to hide. They all rushed out, giving me time to prepare. Otherwise, if I had rushed in recklessly with my overconfidence, I would have been in serious trouble. Thinking about it, I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. I had already learned a lesson in the Evil Cave, so why was I still so reckless?

It seems my future is truly uncertain. Even with the bug amulet on me, the mindset and beliefs formed over 20 years are not easily changed.

These mercenaries, though more qualified to be warriors than me, were clearly not as lucky. Whatever their purpose for coming here, they failed and left their lives behind. The only companions to their stiffened corpses were the eternal cold winds of the Frozen Plain and the icy, bone-chilling mud.

Seeing the stiffened corpses on the ground, the lingering expressions of their last moments, I suddenly felt an urge to shout and cry. Is this the world I live in? Despairing corpses everywhere, cruel wars in my eyes. Will I, one day, end up like this? Silently lying somewhere, gradually losing consciousness, the sky and earth as my coffin, no tombstone, no one to mourn. The most terrifying thing is that even in my last moments, my mind might be blank, with no one to miss.

—Who would I want to see one last time? As my consciousness gradually blurred, I couldn't think of a single person. This is the most tragic thing.

For a moment, I was immersed in endless pessimism and pain—could I really adapt to this world, find a place to stand, and find my value?

After wallowing in self-pity for a long time, I patted my frozen red face. Now is not the time to think about these things; I need to survive first. I made the Venomous Flower Vines loosen the soil, then dug a large pit and buried the corpses. It wasn't out of compassion, but rather a duty as a warrior. The first reason was respect for the dead, to let them rest in peace. Of course, this reason was clearly absurd in this cruel world, probably just a way to gain the goodwill of civilians. The second reason was more practical—to prevent the corpses from being discovered by carnivorous monsters, which would be aiding the enemy...

I was puzzled. In the game, you can loot items from corpses, but here, not only is there nothing to loot, I even have to bury the corpses. The difference is too great.

On the fifth day of wandering the ice plain, I finally encountered another special type of monster, a boss. There were four Ice Worm bosses, whose strength was between elite and regular monsters. Although they had no special abilities, their attack, defense, and health were much stronger than regular monsters.

Unfortunately, they were Ice Worms. Encountering me, or any ranged attacker, was their bad luck. Under the first-time observation of the Venomous Flower Vines, it took me three Firestorms to burn them to death. Sweat, considering that fire magic has a damage bonus against ice monsters, their health was not much less than that of elite monsters.

In the game, bosses usually don't drop good items, and here they faithfully followed this rule. I had fantasized for a long time, but they only dropped a few light health and mana potions and a large amount of gold. However, the experience was decent, twice that of a regular Ice Worm.

After killing these Ice Worms, I smoothly leveled up to level 7. I kept the extra skill point and 5 attribute points. Unlike in the game, there are still many things in this world I don't know. Keeping them might lead to unexpected discoveries. It seems I need to visit Cain again to see if I can learn anything. This old man's knowledge is truly inhuman, like a mobile human computer.

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End of Chapter 52