Chapter 52: Game Corpse Flipping, Reality Corpse Burying
"Ha…"
After finishing off the last Dark Hunter, I breathed out warm air and rubbed my cold hands. Looking at the corpses of Quill Rats and Dark Hunters scattered on the ground, and then at the few Rogue corpses lying frozen stiff, I sighed softly.
These Rogues, judging by the characteristics on their bodies, were likely Mercenaries. They had probably been dead for a long time, but due to the climate of the Cold Plains, their bodies hadn't rotted. From the messy knife wounds on them and the hard spines stuck in them like arrows, it seemed they were killed by Dark Hunters and Quill Rats.
In fact, even without these wounds, it would be easy to determine the killers. Among the most common types of Monsters in the Cold Plains, if you were killed by a Giant Beast, you'd only see a few chewed-up bones. If you fell into the hands of the Fallen, I'm sorry, you wouldn't see anything at the original spot; if you chased after them, you might find something in their Camp's pots. Those not interested in corpses are Dark Hunters and Quill Rats, and also Ice Worms. However, Ice Worms clearly couldn't have finished off these Rogue Archers. The answer was already obvious.
So-called Dark Hunters are not Monsters native to Hell, but rather people who were tempted by the Hell Forces and willingly degraded themselves to achieve their desires. But how could desires be so easy to achieve? Ultimately, their greedy Souls were Devoured by Hell, leaving behind only a walking dead husk in their Body.
Although their Souls were Devoured, they were at least once human and retained a shred of humanity. Instinctively, they still rejected the corpses of their own kind. As for the Quill Rat, honestly, when I first heard about its habits from Cain, I almost fell headfirst to the ground. This fellow is actually a herbivore! If it could change its brutal and fierce nature a bit, its cute appearance could even run for annual peace ambassador. This guy is always disdainful of meat. A mouse turning into a herbivore is even harder to believe than being told Angels are pure.
The manner of death of these Rogues before me was terrifying. Some expressions still held panic, fear, unwillingness, and Despair. I think it was probably done by the Dark Hunters and Quill Rats I just eliminated. It's no wonder; this area of the Small Grove is relatively large, and it actually hid 16 Dark Hunters and 9 Quill Rats. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible to completely wipe out the entire Rogue Mercenary Team.
I originally came in hoping to earn some extra money, but who would have thought there would be so many Enemies inside? Luckily, when I approached, the Raven that had initially established a connection with me suddenly cried out a warning, exposing the Dark Hunters and Quill Rats hiding in ambush, who rushed out one after another. This gave me time to prepare. Otherwise, if I had rashly rushed in relying on my overconfident Strength, I would have suffered an unexpected defeat. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but break out in a Cold Sweat. I clearly already learned a lesson in the Evil Cave, so why am I still so undisciplined?
It seems my path ahead is truly uncertain. Even with the Bugged Amulet on my Body, the Viewpoint and mindset formed over many years aren't something that can be changed just by saying so.
And these few Mercenaries, although more qualified than me to be a competent Warrior, clearly didn't have my luck. Regardless of what purpose they came here with, in any case, they failed and left their Lives here. Accompanying their stiff Corpses were only the eternal, unchanging cold wind of the Cold Plains and the bone-chilling cold mud.
Seeing the stiff Corpses on the ground, the lingering reluctance remaining on their faces before they died, I suddenly had an urge to shout out loud and cry a good cry. Is this the world I'm in? The path is everywhere filled with Corpses of Despair, my eyes are full of cruel War. Will I too, one day, be like this? Silently fall down somewhere, gradually lose consciousness, with heaven and earth as the coffin, one Tombstone, not even one person to mourn. The most terrifying thing is that even before dying, my Brain was actually completely blank inside, I didn't have a single person to miss.
—Who was the last person I wanted to see? When this thought arose in my gradually blurring consciousness, I couldn't even think of a single person. This is the most tragic Matter.
For a moment, I was immersed in endless pessimism and Pain—Can I really adapt to this world? Can I really find a foothold in this world and gain the value of my Existence?
After wallowing in self-pity alone for a long time, I patted my face, which was red from the cold. Now is not the time to think about these things. Let's just survive first. I let Poison Creeper loosen the Dirt, then dug a large Crater and buried these few Corpses inside. Of course, it's not because I'm so merciful, but as a Warrior, there is such an obligation—the first reason is respect for the dead, so they can rest in peace. Of course, such a reason is clearly nonsense in this cruel world, probably just a Method used to gain the favor of Civilians. The second reason is the important one—to prevent the Corpses from being discovered by flesh-eating Monsters. This is an act of aiding the Enemy...
I'm puzzled why in the Game you can do Corpse Flipping for Items when you see a Corpse, but here, not only is there nothing, instead, I even have to handle Corpse Burying. This Gap is a bit too big, isn't it?
On the fifth day of wandering around the ice plains, I finally encountered another type of special Monster for the first time: Chieftains. They were 4 Ice Worm Chieftains. Their Strength was between Elite and Normal Monster. Although they didn't have special abilities, their Attack, defense, and Health were much stronger than Normal Monsters.
Unfortunately, they were Ice Worms. Encountering me, or even any Ranged Attacker, they were bound to be unlucky. With Poison Creeper watching for the first time, I used a full 3 Firestorms before burning them to death. Ugh, you know, Fire Magic even has a certain Damage bonus against these Ice Monsters! Their Health is quite high, even compared to Elite Level Monsters.
In the Game, Chieftains generally don't drop good Items. Here, they also faithfully followed this iron rule. It made me fantasize for a long time, but they actually only spat out a few bottles of Light Life and Magic recovery potions for me, and a large amount of Gold Coin. However, the Experience was pretty good, it was 2 times that of Normal Ice Worms.