Violet Empire, Southern Fire Claw Territory
A somewhat underdeveloped-looking skeleton was leading the way, holding a rusty knife, with two figures following far behind it. They walked at a leisurely pace, stopping every so often to look around before continuing slowly along the path the small skeleton had explored, as if searching for something.
The person walking in front was wrapped in a dark blue cloak, their entire body tightly covered, revealing only a decayed and withered face, half-dead and exceptionally eerie.
Compared to the former, the petite young girl behind looked much more normal. She had shoulder-length flaxen hair, wore a somewhat worn Sun Church priest's robe, and a constantly flickering flame danced between her fingers. Her delicate eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and her hazy eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment.
A few minutes later, accompanied by a soft exclamation from the girl, the flame between her fingers began to tremble violently without warning, then rapidly spread forward.
"Sudden Rain!" The person in front immediately did a standing long jump to protect his backside, and after landing, he quickly turned and raised his hand, summoning a cool, urgent rain from the air to extinguish the flame.
However, the overflowing divine power still incinerated the small skeleton not far away, turning the already tottering skeleton into a pile of ashes with almost no reaction.
"Sorry, Rin Dong, I got distracted..."
The Sun Sect's apprentice priestess immediately bowed in apology, while the other party was a half-human, half-ghost Necromancer who could summon skeletons and subtly exuded a deathly aura—an 'unclean' person. If this scene were witnessed by other natives of the Innocent Continent, it would undoubtedly appear extremely comical.
Admittedly, Necromancers in this world are not universally reviled as in most settings; they even have a place in the Mage Guild. However, these Minorities, skilled in manipulating souls and constantly dealing with corpses, are still not recognized by most churches and deities, especially by clergy primarily aligned with the lawful, neutral, and good factions. Aside from a few influential and well-regarded figures, they are quite willing to burn any Necromancer who appears in their sight.
Among them, the Sun God Sect is the most radical; their hostility towards Necromancers has become completely indiscriminate. They basically follow the routine of fighting if they can, and if they can't, going home to request support and continuing the fight...
This made the two individuals seem even more out of place, but they themselves didn't feel anything was inappropriate. After all, one was a player who hadn't yet established local values, and the other was a follower of a certain madman. In short, neither of them was particularly normal.
"It's fine, the summoning time was almost up anyway." Yi Dong waved his hand indifferently, laughing with a voice like a broken radio: "My mana is almost depleted, so I can go back to being handsome."
With that, he activated his talent called 【Life and Death Boundary】. His originally decayed and shriveled body, like a living corpse, gradually regained its youth. His dry white hair quickly turned black and glossy, completing an ultimate evolution from flesh and bone to a handsome young man within three seconds.
"Your 'beautification' and 'disfigurement' always seem so magical, no matter how many times I see them." Ai Fan Ye, the apprentice priestess who followed a certain Incredulous, rubbed her eyes, sighing for what was probably the umpteenth time: "As expected of Mr.'s friend."
Yi Dong rolled his eyes and pouted: "Why is it that even something as 'magical' as me can be attributed to that guy? I really don't know how he brainwashed you, tsk tsk, such a good girl..."
He had already taken off his hood, revealing a handsome face that could easily debut as an idol with a little packaging, and his voice had returned to normal, making him look as if he were still alive at first glance.
As a member of the Eternal Clan, as long as Yi Dong adjusted himself to the 'Life Realm' state with his talent, even a top-tier expert would find it difficult to discern the essence of his 'Death Body'. However, this was not like a protagonist's halo, a second male lead's halo, or a comedic character's halo; it was merely a form of protection granted by the system. After all, if he had constantly maintained that Zombie appearance, Yi Dong might have been killed as a monster within twenty minutes of entering the game...
Of course, even with his 'Life Realm' disguise now, there's no guarantee he wouldn't be recognized by a relevant expert who had a 'confirmed glance,' and then be hacked to death.
However, this probability is not high. Unless Yi Dong has the bad luck of the great cosmic will (there is no innuendo or insinuation here, please don't overthink it), it is still very difficult for his true nature to be discovered.
Let's get back to the main topic...
Little Ai only paused slightly at his words, then shook her head: "Mr. didn't brainwash me at all. He even strongly opposed me and Cole following him at first. But I truly want to repay him, even if I can only contribute a small amount. I want to repay Mr., even if it means sacrificing my life."
"That's called brainwashing. But it's fine, after all, if you're with him, especially the him in your eyes, it's not easy even if you want to die." Yi Dong, who had heard about the Patuo City incident before, shrugged. He had a good impression of this girl whose life Mo Tan had saved, and he knew that she might not find any meaning in life other than repaying his kindness for a while, so he didn't say anything more. He just casually changed the subject: "You said 'I' just now. Is that kid named Cole not just trying to repay Mo... Tan Mo?"
Little Ai smiled: "Of course he's as grateful to Tan Mo as I am, but there's another reason: he wants to resurrect one of our former companions. Mr. protected Luo Na's soul; she's our good friend."
Yi Dong rubbed his nose, gave an awkward laugh, and then fell silent. He sensed a hint of unusual emotion in Little Ai's words just now and felt it was better not to continue discussing this topic with the girl, who was said to have been timid and pure in the past but was now quite emotionless.
The two continued through the forest, but their pace was a bit faster than before. The previous leisurely walking speed was merely for the convenience of someone practicing a skill. Now that Yi Dong had used up his mana, their speed naturally picked up.
Yes, that's right. The meaning of the above sentence is 'skeletons can't walk as fast as people'.
They had only arrived at Fire Claw Territory a short while ago and had been searching here for about a day and a half, but still hadn't found the 'corpse hiding place' Mo Tan had told Yi Dong about earlier. On one hand, it was because the latter didn't know the general direction or the specific location (the reasons are obvious to everyone), and on the other hand, it was because Fire Claw had recently dispatched a large number of warriors to garrison the border, which made the search much more difficult.
"But the main problem is him!" Yi Dong, whose stamina was more than half depleted, sat beside a bush, gritting his teeth and saying: "He just told me to come find dead people in this vicinity, but he couldn't tell me the specific location when asked, and he even told me to 'smell' it! I'm not a dog!"
Little Ai, leaning against a small tree, blinked: "I think Mr. definitely has his own considerations. Hmm, maybe that location isn't convenient to state clearly, or perhaps there's a magical barrier that misleads people if it's treated as a destination~"
【No, girl, he really just has no sense of direction at all! He can't explain it because he doesn't know where north is, can't remember roads, and is blind without a map!】
Yi Dong roared in his heart, but on the surface, he let out two dry laughs and said nothing more.
However, the two, who had been searching since the day before yesterday, had already ruled out many places. So, theoretically, if Mo Tan's words were true, Yi Dong and Little Ai shouldn't take long to find the buried corpses. After all, one of them was a Necromancer and the other a priest, both quite sensitive to the aura of the deceased.
After resting for about ten minutes, the two resumed their search, quickening their pace. This was because soldiers from Fire Claw Territory might appear nearby after sunset, which would create significant obstacles for them. However, Yi Dong felt that with good luck, they should get results before dark.
...
Two hours later, both stopped almost simultaneously.
"I think we found it." Yi Dong shrugged at Little Ai, then quickly transformed into his flesh-and-bone mode and glanced to his right.
The latter nodded slightly: "I feel it too. Let's go, Rin Dong."
A moment later
"Holy crap!" Yi Dong's eyes widened as he stared blankly at the open space before him: "What's going on?!"
Little Ai froze in place, unable to utter a single word as she looked at the indescribable scene not far away.
Countless dried blood splattered radially across the ground, as if a living person had been twisted and exploded in mid-air like a pretzel. Large amounts of rotting flesh, internal organs, and countless bones, the largest of which were less than a finger's length, were scattered everywhere, making it impossible to imagine what had happened here not long ago...
In short, it wasn't good!
"This place... is very strange." Little Ai's reaction speed was much faster than Yi Dong's. She looked around, then covered her mouth and nose and whispered: "These remains look like they've been here for a long time, but they haven't been dealt with by nearby wild beasts. No, rather, there are no wild beasts wandering around here at all, even though we encountered some before. But since half an hour ago, even small creatures like Mud Pikas, which are everywhere, can't be seen."
It took a while for Yi Dong to come back to his senses, then he shivered slightly: "I feel like I've sensed something very ominous, and vaguely seen some very crazy scenes, but then again, it's like there's nothing at all. Ugh... a very painful feeling, very bad, ugh, damn it... Ah!"
He suddenly covered his eyes and knelt to the ground. Seeing this, Little Ai quickly ran to Yi Dong's side, looking at him worriedly, but she had no idea how to deal with the situation. She did have some healing methods, but Yi Dong was currently an undead creature, and being subjected to sun god magic would cause problems even if he was fine beforehand.
"I'm fine... no health loss, no negative... Ugh!" Yi Dong struggled to get up, but then collapsed to the ground in a headache that seemed to have been completely undiminished by the system, then rolled around frantically, clutching his head.
His character panel was perfectly normal; his health and stamina had not changed, and he had no negative status effects, but...
【Is the answer silence?】
A cold voice boomed in his ear, somewhat familiar, but more so an uncontrollable fear. However, that fear didn't seem to belong to Yi Dong himself, but to someone else.
【Unable to control one's own sin, even being Backlash... devoured...】
Yi Dong involuntarily moved his trembling legs, and the scenery before his eyes rapidly receded, but he knew in his heart that he wasn't moving, wasn't running wildly. He was confused, but he didn't know what to do.
【But your ending cannot be changed. Sin cannot be escaped.】
His body, which hadn't moved at all, was forcibly restrained in place. So was he running away or rolling on the spot?
【I'm so curious~ What do you feel like right now, enduring both physical and mental collapse...】
Yi Dong felt as if he had gone mad, yet at this moment, he was surprisingly clear-headed. Was the pain and fear fading? Was the pain and fear increasing? His perspective and perception in his mind were gradually splitting into two.
Yi Dong calmed down...
Because he had already understood that everything he was seeing, hearing, and feeling now had nothing to do with 'himself.' It was another person's memory, though fragmented, still clear!
The physical body of that existence was precisely the surrounding flesh, bloodstains, and bones, while his soul had completely collapsed. Only that deeply ingrained fear still carried some unspeakable entity, lingering here, unable to find release.
Even though it no longer existed, it still couldn't find release.
"How is this possible..."
Yi Dong lay on the ground in terror, his chest heaving violently. He completely failed to comprehend the scene he was witnessing, and he completely failed to accept his own conjecture. This was a complete and utter paradox, a paradox that couldn't exist even in a world of swords and magic!
The pain gradually receded, simultaneously becoming more and more frantic, but Yi Dong, who had indeed perceived the existence of 'himself,' gradually stopped trembling.
He had completely distinguished them.
That wailing remnant and the pain and fear imprinted on this land... were not his own.
They didn't even exist!
【I thought I was a pretty gentle person~】
A pair of eyes like an abyss blinked gently...
That somewhat familiar back gradually faded into the distance...
Finally, everything returned to peace.
"Rin Dong! Rin Dong!"
【You have unlocked the talents: Soul Vision, Spiritual Medium, Underworld Sound. Summoning Specialization Level +15, Necromancer Experience +50000】
【You have unlocked a new profession: Spiritual Medium. Summoning Specialization Level +3. Obtained items: Nameless Spirit Tablet * 5, Bannai's Fear Fragment * 5, ??? Echo * 1】
【New skills obtained: Phosphorus Fire, Screeching Banshee, Withering Wrap, Summoning: Soul Guiding Lamp, Spiritual Medium Secret Art Double Ghosts Slapping the Door, Spiritual Medium Secret Art Ghost Beast Poison Mine】
"Huh?"
"Rin Dong?"
"What... happened?"
"It's so good that you're okay. Just now, those things... disappeared!"
Chapter 193: End
