"I Don't Want to Give Up Resisting"

Clang!

The axe slammed into the neck armor once more, showering the air with sparks.

The dull thud of the impact was muffled to a whisper by the endless curtain of rain.

After what felt like the umpteenth strike, Zhou Kai finally heard the crisp snap of bone.

He had forcibly shattered the swordsman's neck; the helmet, along with the skull inside, spun through the air for two or three meters before landing in a puddle with a heavy splash.

The swordsman's towering frame jerked backward, losing its balance for the first time, and crashed to the ground.

Zhou Kai's vision was pitch black, yet he did not lower his guard.

Upon hearing the heavy thud, he immediately pulled his axe back to defend his chest and retreated rapidly, putting a safe distance between them.

Three seconds later, a bolt of lightning tore through the clouds, its ghastly white light illuminating the backyard.

Only then did Zhou Kai see the magnificent result of his previous strike.

The headless swordsman was still struggling in the mud, attempting to crawl back to its feet.

Losing its head had not killed it instantly, but it had severely crippled its combat effectiveness.

"Time to end this!"

The swordsman was now defenseless; victory belonged entirely to Zhou Kai.

He hooked the axe onto his waist and leaned down to pick up the greatsword the swordsman had dropped.

This blade was wider and heavier than the one that had snapped during his last fight.

It felt substantial in his grip, and the cold sensation of the hilt provided him with an inexplicable sense of stability.

Zhou Kai gripped the hilt with both hands and raised the greatsword high.

Then...

Squelch!

He thrust it down with all his might.

The greatsword pierced the breastplate, driving deep into the swordsman's long-rotted chest.

A fountain of viscous fluid erupted along the blood groove of the blade, mixing with the rain and carrying an indescribable, putrid stench.

The swordsman's vitality was more tenacious than he had anticipated.

Even so, it continued to struggle, reaching out with both hands to grab the blade embedded in its chest.

"Hmph!"

Zhou Kai let out a cold snort, stepped on the swordsman's arm, and threw his entire body weight onto the greatsword.

With a sharp, grating screech of metal, the tip drove further into the chest cavity. Zhou Kai twisted the hilt left and right, grinding the swordsman's internal organs into a pulp.

After repeating this for a dozen breaths, the swordsman's body finally stopped twitching altogether.

The text Zhou Kai had been waiting for finally scrolled across his vision.

[Killed "Decaying Swordsman", gained 12 General Experience Points]

[Benefiting from Occultism Lv2, unexpected loot: A Fragment of Valuable Memory x1, Strange Skin x1]

"Occultism leveled up; the combat rewards really have increased..."

Memories and skin?

Both sounded interesting.

But now was not the time to count his spoils.

Zhou Kai focused his senses, listening intently to the surroundings. Within the curtain of rain, there were no signs of other monsters for the time being.

He bent down and hoisted the heavy body of the Decaying Swordsman onto his back. He carried the greatsword in one hand, dragged the armored arm with the same hand, and used his other hand to hook the gap in the helmet, carrying the severed head.

These were all his spoils of war.

Whether it was the Fireplace or the Nursery, obtaining extra rewards required the input of a complete corpse.

The armored arm he had chopped off earlier had been useless for anything other than extending the Fireplace's burn time because it was incomplete.

"Not a single bit... can be wasted."

Zhou Kai took a deep breath and headed toward No. 777 Shelter.

The swordsman was clad in heavy armor, weighing well over a hundred kilograms, yet as Zhou Kai carried the corpse, his footsteps remained as steady as if they were nailed to the ground, without the slightest stumble.

His strength was taking great strides into a realm beyond that of an ordinary human.

The fire in the Fireplace crackled, and the bones of the Decaying Swordsman emitted sounds like popping bamboo within the flames.

Zhou Kai had already stripped off the tattered armor; he silently raised his eyes and glanced at the dialog box appearing above the Fireplace.

[Fuel burn time: 11h]

A complete Decaying Swordsman corpse had pushed the fuel duration to a full eleven hours.

This caused the sense of security in Zhou Kai's heart to surge.

"Eleven hours... It seems that for the next six days, even if I play the coward, I can make it through until the night of the mandatory conscription..."

Zhou Kai grinned, then shook his head.

He was only thinking about it; he wasn't the type of person who liked to run away.

Besides, it was never just the Fireplace that kept his life safe.

Searching for plants, cultivating the Nursery, hunting monsters, gaining experience, leveling up skills, and reinforcing the Sanctuary.

If one wants to survive in the Nightmare, there is still much to be done.

Thinking of this, Zhou Kai glanced at his panel.

[Character: Zhou Kai]

[Status: Eroded, Clear-Headed]

[Skills: Comprehensive Combat lv3(0/50), Light Footwork lv3(10/50), Soraka Swordsmanship lv2(6/25), Occultism lv2(0/25), Falcon Strike Technique Lv1(8/15)]

[Items: Residence Permit, Blood-Stained Axe, Morning Star Notes (Part 3, Part 2), Moonlight Orchid Seed (Plump), Exquisite Moonlight Orchid Amulet, A Memory of Some Value, Strange Skin]

[General Experience Points: 14]

The last two items in the inventory were flickering with a faint light.

This was the harvest from leveling up the Occultism skill.

Now that he was back in the Sanctuary, he was absolutely safe.

It was time to see what these two things actually were.

First was that piece of skin.

With a thought, Zhou Kai retrieved it from his inventory.

"What the hell, that's disgusting."

The moment he saw the skin, Zhou Kai felt a wave of physiological nausea.

The edges of the skin were dry and curled, still clinging with yellow fatty tissue. The surface was covered in dense, coarse pores, emitting a sour, putrid stench of sweat.

If this skin was human... it must have been torn from the back of a neck.

"So... what is the use of this thing?"

Zhou Kai instinctively felt that anything judged as an "item" by the system couldn't be pure trash.

But after turning it over and over, he couldn't figure it out, so he finally decided to pin his hopes on that memory.

"Since they dropped together, maybe there's some connection."

"Use memory."

As the thought fell, wisps of thick black mist appeared out of thin air, as if possessing life, and drilled into Zhou Kai's nostrils, exploding deep within his brain.

"The nightmare is coming, I have no choice... I don't want to give up the resistance."

"As a member of the Soraka Family Guard, you understand what you carry on your shoulders! The trial is coming; prepare to show your loyalty to the Great Lord!"

"▒▒ You are the incarnation of the Dao, ▒▒ You are the Nirvana Sacred Awakening... Please listen to the ▒▒ who takes the sins away from the mortals..."

Bursts of frantic and chaotic gibberish echoed in his mind, and Zhou Kai's vision spun.

After a long while, the dizziness slowly subsided.

The owner of the perspective raised his head.

In front of him was a dark cathedral towering into the clouds, its Gothic spires jagged like bone, piercing the lead-gray sky.

"Come, Soraka."

A priest shrouded in black robes led the owner of the memory, along with a dozen other silent men beside him, around the cathedral.

They walked toward the mausoleum behind the cathedral.

Zhou Kai "watched" all of this numbly, like a bystander unable to break free.

Deep in the mausoleum, the black-robed priest blessed the men and then led them, one by one, toward graves that had been prepared in advance.

From Zhou Kai's perspective, he seemed to be waiting for judgment, yet also expecting something; the complex emotions resonated with Zhou Kai.

A few minutes later, it was finally Zhou Kai's turn.

"Come, don't be afraid... take a big step forward."

"The heroic spirits keep watch before the tomb."

The black-robed figure reached out and touched Zhou Kai's head. Only then did Zhou Kai realize that the protagonist of this perspective was not tall, only about 1.6 meters.

Following the black-robed figure through the mausoleum, Zhou Kai's gaze swept over tombstone after tombstone, but the text that should have been clear was blurred beyond belief.