My Coal Ball aren't this dry!
" Old Coal, oh Old Coal! I'm so sorry!"
Norton stared blankly at the dried-out bat in his hand, almost failing to realize it was Coal Ball.
The bat flesh in his hand had shriveled up, and the already dry membranes were now even more withered and wrinkled, stiffly holding the Coal Ball's body in place.
"Really dead?" Norton fiddled with the dried-up bat carcass in his hand in disbelief. No matter how he handled it, he couldn't believe that the corpse in his palm was real.
Because his body had stiffened and shrunk, he had become nothing more than skin and bones.
If this were Vampire, it wouldn't be so bad, since Norton himself is quite gaunt. But this isn't Vampire; even the Werewolf who ate his flesh didn't become this gaunt!
Norton stared blankly at the dried bat carcass in his hand. But he felt there might still be a chance.
After all, as he just said, Norton is just as withered, yet he's still alive, isn't he?
Perhaps this is in the middle of a process of change.
In any case, Norton's flesh and blood did have some effect; now it remains to be seen whether it's a toxic effect or an amplifying effect.
Although Coal Ball was just a bat, it had been with him for eight years. It was the first pet in the world that Norton could truly trust and be close to, and that had improved his mind and spirit somewhat, though it hadn't been of much use.
With a lingering hope that the Coal Ball might come back to life, Norton hung its dried-up body back on the roof, then dragged the now-stiff missionary's body from the ground away from the clock tower.
The body needs to be disposed of.
Although the temperature has risen recently, the air quality is still not as bad as in winter. If we don't deal with it soon, it will start to stink in a couple of days.
Norton dragged the missionary's body to the forest outside the city.
"We need to deal with this." Norton tossed the missionary's corpse from his shoulder onto the muddy forest floor and then prepared to dismember it.
Although this thing hasn't changed much, to be on the safe side, dismembering and grinding it up is the best way to dispose of it.
To avoid any classic movie scene where, after you leave, a pale claw suddenly emerges from the ground...
"Sizzle!"
The sound of Norton tearing flesh apart was particularly jarring in the woods.
The dense forest was pitch black. The Werewolf ' surveillance over the past few years had almost emptied the surrounding prey, making the forest even more silent after the Werewolf left, with only the chirping of insects and the sound of leaves rustling in the wind.
The dark and silent place, combined with the sound of tearing flesh and those two constantly flickering scarlet eyes, was truly chilling.
It's somewhat like a demon from a movie, terrifying and intensely oppressive.
"Coo coo coo..."
The darkness in the dense forest grew ever deeper, and the hooting of an owl echoed from afar, but by this time it had faded into almost inaudible.
In the deep darkness, a shadowy figure, as if taking its first steps, slowly approached Norton in a strange, humanoid posture.
Norton held a ripped human thigh in his hand, preparing to smash it to pieces with a stone.
A chill ran down his spine, causing him to stop what he was doing and turn around abruptly, cautiously peering into the dark jungle around him.
This feeling came from nowhere, but Norton had unwavering faith in his sixth sense.
"Something's watching me!" Norton was quite certain of his guess. As a cautious man, he never doubted his intuition.
The forests of this world are extremely dangerous. The Church books he had read described all sorts of monsters. Only the areas around cities, due to their proximity, do not have too many of these monsters. Moreover, Church knights would specifically clear the areas around cities to ensure their safety.
This is also why Norton never left the vicinity of the Holy Lord City.
So Norton acted decisively. He violently tore off the missionary's head, then, carrying the head in his hand, he quickly ran towards the Lino City.
He hadn't crushed the corpse yet. Removing the head would minimize the chance of any possible mutation. After all, without a head, how could it mutate?
As for staying here and hiding to see what exactly is trying to hunt me?
This behavior was incredibly foolish. Since he had a bad feeling, it meant that even before he saw what was about to attack him, the other party had already locked onto him and was preparing to hunt him down.
The forest was dark, Norton ran incredibly fast. The moment he sensed a strategic retreat, it took him only a few seconds to tear his head apart.
The thicket fell into darkness and silence again, with only a headless corpse, its limbs torn off, lying limply on the muddy ground covered with fallen leaves and grass roots, and no other sound.
Not long after, a soft rustling sound finally came from not far away.
"Meow~~~"
A slightly strange bleating sound rang out, and a goat, standing on its hind legs and walking in a human-like manner, staggered out of the dark forest.
"Meow~~~"
The goat's bleating was somewhat strange, sounding somewhat like a goat, yet not quite. Its rectangular pupils were fixed on the direction Norton was heading, but it wasn't chasing after him.
Because if you go any further ahead, it will be Church territory.
The goat walked on its hooves to the site where Norton had dumped the body, and finally, like a normal goat, it lay down on all fours.
It lowered its head and, like a normal goat grazing, began to devour the corpse that Norton had torn to pieces on the ground.
"Squeak squeak squeak..."
Norton, who had just returned to the clock tower, was still pondering his feelings in the woods.
The missionary's head was smashed to pieces by a large rock he picked up as he approached the city, which basically confirms that the missionary who died a violent death did not become Vampire or anything else.
However, the sound of bats startled him from his thoughts.
Having worked with the Coal Ball for eight years, he was already familiar with the timbre of the bats' calls.
That familiar call immediately excited Norton.
" Coal Ball?" Norton looked up from the attic of the clock tower.
Sure enough, the previously shriveled and dead Grand Duke Coal Ball had now come back to life, hanging in the attic and squeaking at Norton.
"I knew it!" Norton was overjoyed, his face practically beaming with happiness.
He reached out and picked up the Coal Ball hanging from the ceiling, stroking its head with great delight.
"Good, good, good, as long as you're not dead, that's good!" Norton was beaming; nothing was more gratifying than a false alarm.
As the creature that has been with Norton the longest in this world, Coal Ball has a special meaning for Norton.
This is why Norton used Coal Ball in his experiments.
After all, good things should be shared with your own people first.
Although I almost died from sharing, I'm still alive!
It's just become dry.
Indeed, the Coal Ball lying on Norton's palm did not regain its original round shape. Like Norton, it was withered, its skin dry and wrinkled, and its skin stiff.
But his energy level is noticeably better than before.
And whether it was due to evolution or its slender appearance after its body became thinner, Norton felt that its size had increased slightly.
This left Norton both pleased and worried.
His flesh and blood could indeed promote biological evolution; this was an extremely useful experiment.
He realized he'd better be careful in the future, lest his enemy tear a piece of his flesh and eat him during a battle, only to have him evolve and then turn around and kill him Norton.
Furthermore, after every battle, you must collect your severed limbs; otherwise, if they fall into the wrong hands, it will truly become a ghost story in Xiling, where eating them grants immortality!
Damn it, Norton is really going to be on the Church's must-eat list now!