Zone 127, Gulf Town.
Darkness descended without warning, swallowing the sky, as whispers enveloped the entire town.
The world felt as though it had fallen into the dark side.
East of town, atop the low hill, stood the Sea God Sanctuary.
Rapid gunshots boomed, echoing far into the distance along the sea breeze.
Wu Shuang stood on the dirt ground, the barrels of his Argus already scorching hot. Disregarding the heat, he crammed two more bullets inside. Stepping closer this time, he pressed the gun barrels right against the grave digger's nearly obliterated head and pulled the trigger once more.
Bang!!
Shredded flesh and bone fragments flew everywhere, blowing open a massive splatter.
Only when the red glow inside the creature's eye sockets died out completely did Wu Shuang finally breathe a sigh of relief, convinced that it was truly dead. It had taken a total of five shots and ten bullets to take it down—utterly ridiculous!
This sudden plunge into darkness had completely thrown off his rhythm and plans, leaving him in a desperate plight.
The living corpses in town weren't deaf; they had undoubtedly heard the gunshots. Although no moving red dots had appeared around him yet, they were likely already on their way. A frenzy of living corpses would tear Wu Shuang to shreds, and his small frame wouldn't even be enough meat to go around.
He had to find a place to hide immediately!
Wu Shuang thought, his heart pounding violently. Just as he turned to leave, he noticed an orb of light floating out from the grave digger's corpse—a kill reward from the system, which normally only dropped upon killing magical beasts.
Did this thing count as a magical beast now?
He used the Appraisal Spell again, then touched the orb of light, which turned out to be a red Bronze Chest.
Without caring if there were any other items on the grave digger, he sprinted back to the entrance and picked up his backpack off the ground, relying entirely on the handbook's faint blue light to see.
But down the hill...
Red dots of light flickered, some in pairs, others bunched together in clusters. There was no need to explain what they were—many of them were moving toward the low hill.
"Damn it!"
Wu Shuang took one glance and knew it was a lost cause. Heading down the hill meant certain death. He didn't have night vision and couldn't see clearly, nor could he turn on a light—doing so would be no different than broadcasting his location to those living corpses, a purely suicidal move that would leave him to suffer as the darkness drained his Humanity away.
Besides, with gunshots that loud, the goblins were likely on their way as well.
"Fuck!"
"Think fast, what should I do?!"
Wu Shuang looked left and right, then turned back to peer into the shadowy outline of the ruined church.
The reason he could see it was that a faint light flickered from behind the church.
"That's..."
Remembering something, Wu Shuang immediately rushed over.
The Sea God Sanctuary had a cellar that served as the grave digger's quarters. Going there... might allow him to hide!
But what on earth was that light...?
He sprinted forward for all he was worth. Because of the dim environment, the handbook's faint blue light couldn't illuminate much, causing him to trip and tumble across the ground.
Yet he didn't stop. Scrambling forward on all fours, he stumbled a few paces before regaining his balance, scrambled up, and kept running until he finally reached the vicinity of the church.
There, he was faced with a choice.
Should he rush into the damaged church and search blindly in the dark for the cellar entrance, or round the building to see what that suspicious light was?
He had to choose between the two and make a decision right away, as the living corpses were almost upon him. He had no time to hesitate or second-guess himself.
"I'm gambling on it!"
Wu Shuang thought for two seconds. Looking at the glow cutting through the darkness behind the sanctuary, he chose to place his trust in the light. He sprinted over, rounded the sanctuary, and saw the source of the light...
It was actually a lone tombstone... standing upright on the ground!
Specks of golden light drifted up from beneath the tombstone, motes of brilliance floating skyward against the pitch-black backdrop much like particles of Humanity, before vanishing into nothingness.
Yet these luminous particles were more brilliant than any Humanity particles Wu Shuang had seen so far, illuminating a large open space almost as brightly as a windproof lantern. Moreover, surrounding the tombstone... was lush green grass that stood completely out of place with its surroundings, like an isolated sanctuary where darkness had been driven away.
"Golden Humanity?"
Wu Shuang gasped, stunned for a moment, unable to believe his eyes.
But right at that moment, as though the golden particles had been exhausted, the light quickly dimmed, plunging the surroundings back into darkness.
However, Wu Shuang had already used that illumination to find his objective—the cellar entrance.
As it turned out, the entrance wasn't inside the sanctuary, but on its rear side. At a glance, it looked like a low dumpster with a slanted door flush against the sanctuary wall.
Wu Shuang had seen similar designs in video games before, recognizing it at a single glance, and rushed over.
Thank goodness he hadn't blindly searched inside the church; otherwise, he would still be running around in circles in panic, a guaranteed dead end.
Looking at it this way, that ray of golden light was practically his savior, and its timing in fading out was surprisingly convenient—whether by pure coincidence or deliberate design, he couldn't tell.
But Wu Shuang couldn't care less about that right now. Desperate to hide, he shoved the door open and barged into the cellar, unconcerned about any dangers within—if there was a living corpse inside, he would simply fight it to the death.
Turning around, he slid the door bolt shut, then looked downward, using the handbook for light as he stepped down the stairs.
At this moment, his Humanity was still draining, yet he didn't dare light his lantern, worried that something in the cellar might ambush him; he had to confirm his safety first.
All the way down to the floor inside the cellar, Wu Shuang remained on high alert, gripping his sole remaining weapon—the dagger. The short hammer and hand axe had both been lost during the chaos, leaving him with only the dagger and two unused bullets, which he hadn't loaded and didn't even dare to fire since doing so would expose his location.
"!!"
Wu Shuang suddenly raised his shield, gripping his dagger tightly, ready to thrust.
In front of him stood a bed, with the faint figure of someone lying on it.
Wu Shuang stood in place for two seconds. Seeing the figure remain motionless, he edged forward, intending to strike first and drive the blade into its throat.
But as he drew closer, aided by the faint glow of the handbook, Wu Shuang finally got a clear look at the figure.
It wasn't a living creature at all, but a bizarre corpse. Its head was that of a fish, with the spiky fin rays common on fish lining both cheeks, though they were already skeletal. The bone structure barely revealed a few human traits.
"What on earth is this..." Wu Shuang muttered under his breath.
The creature's body was equally bizarre, looking as if it had been pieced together. The girth and length of its limbs didn't match at all, and its torso bore obvious signs of stitching and assembly, made entirely of rotted corpses and bones salvaged from who knew where.
What it lay upon wasn't even a bed, but a stone platform. Some kind of diagram seemed to be drawn on the floor, but Wu Shuang had no time to inspect it. He hurriedly dug through his backpack for his lantern, trying to light it.
A throbbing pain was creeping through his head—likely a side effect of his Humanity draining away.
Once the fire flickered to life, the sensation finally receded, and Wu Shuang gained a clear view of the cellar's interior.
Rate on N.U.
