A Familiar Face

"Damn it! Damn it!"

"Theresa, why did it have to be you? Why?"

"Hey, Kleiman..."

"Stay away from me! No, sorry, I know this isn't right. But I... I just need some quiet. Let me be alone for a while..."

"..."

Inside the cave that had just been cleared of Mutated Ones.

Linsey stood beside the stinking corpses, watching the scene unfolding in the distance.

He stared for several seconds before finally sighing. Without saying anything more, he turned and headed back to camp.

It was now mid-May.

The expeditionary force had roughly one month left before reaching the northern end of its journey and launching the final battle against the Mutated Ones.

The troops under Linsey's command had pushed forward with overwhelming force, bolstered by multiple skills.

Linsey had even personally eliminated a Sixth Stage Mutated One.

But once they reached this point in time, the situation within the army began to subtly change.

The farther north they advanced, the more low-level Mutated Ones the army killed.

When cultivating Withered Overlord Flowers, the soldiers gathered these corpses together, piling them into fields that were easy to plant.

And among those corpses, people began recognizing familiar faces.

Friends, kin, elders who had once taught them.

Even children or parents.

The Mutated Ones did not merely breed humans in captivity. They also went to the surface to steal human corpses.

And those stolen remains—

In the end, they were corroded underground by Corruption Poison, becoming foul-smelling Mutated Ones.

When the soldiers saw those familiar faces,

many were consumed by rage, fighting even more fiercely and fearlessly.

But an unavoidable problem remained—some found it difficult to strike, even growing fearful and hesitating in battle.

Before launching the expedition, Linsey had considered many strategic issues: the strength of the Awakened, the underground environment,