Using his remaining single arm with every last ounce of strength, the human boy lifted the recovery potion that had been tossed in front of him. The bright red liquid swayed gently inside the transparent bottle, catching a clear, gleaming luster under the light.
A recovery potion?
It really… was just like an item straight out of a game.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t the hero of any game. He was more like the NPC in the background story—the one who had gotten his companions killed. Right now he was clinging to the final flicker of life like a candle in the wind, ready to hand over information for the “protagonist” who would soon arrive.
Once he spilled everything he knew and had no more value, he would die…
Under Theresa’s steady gaze, the human boy slowly raised the recovery potion to his lips. He pulled out the cork with his teeth and swallowed the liquid bit by bit.
The recovery potion Theresa had given him was the last one she carried, and it was only the most basic kind. It could repair injuries to a certain degree, but it was nowhere near capable of regenerating lost limbs.
Clearly, the human boy realized this too.
“I’ll ask you some questions in a moment. Before that, may I know your name?” Theresa asked.
“Cough… cough… There’s no reason not to tell you. Shen Xinghe… That’s my name.”
He coughed weakly. The recovery potion slowly mended his wounds, finally steadying his increasingly faint breathing.
“Demon Hunter miss, ask whatever you want to know. I only hope that afterward you’ll give me a quick end.”
“Have you already given up on living?”
“With the way I am now… death is only a matter of sooner or later.” Supporting himself against the firewood pile, Shen Xinghe smiled bitterly. The despair in his eyes was so thick it could never be washed away.
In this world that felt like hell for humans, he couldn’t imagine any way to survive. Especially not now that he had lost one arm and one leg.
Rather than dragging out his suffering until some terrifying bizarre creature finally devoured him, it would be better to die right here under the cold muzzle of the flintlock. The ignited gunpowder driving the iron bullet to take his life would only take a moment. At least he could choose a less painful death.
“Fine. I promise you.”
Theresa took out a new large-caliber iron bullet and calmly began reloading the gunpowder into the flintlock. This short window was the final grace she would give the boy who had already chosen death.
In truth, Theresa wasn’t surprised by his mindset.
Ever since she became a Demon Hunter who wandered year-round accepting bounties, she had encountered quite a few humans who had accidentally fallen into this hell world—though never a huge number.
The vast majority of them could not escape being eaten by evil bizarre creatures.
Even the few who survived by sheer luck would have their minds gradually corrupted. Their behavior would turn erratic and insane, until they could no longer be called human at all.
In all these years, she had only ever seen one person who had managed to survive in this hell world, grow stronger, and still keep their human way of thinking and awareness intact.
That human girl named Bai Tang—the one who couldn’t help but spark her interest.
“Those humans who appeared on Undead Street a few days ago… were they your companions?” After a moment of thought, Theresa asked her first question.
“They… were my best friends…”
“How did you all fall into this world?”
“We tried drawing a summoning magic circle… and something went wrong…”
“……”
……
……
“A bag of salt… Undead Street No. 42. According to the address, this should be the place, right?”
Bai Tang had been checking house numbers the entire way and quickly located the delivery address written on the memo note. She stopped in front of the door and knocked with moderate force.
She waited a moment, but there was no response.
Yet she could faintly hear voices talking inside the house. Not only that, whether it was her imagination or not, she also caught a faint scent of blood—though it was almost completely masked by the smell of something like stewed meat.
Frowning, Bai Tang tried pushing the door open. The wooden door happened to be unlocked.
At the same time on the other side, after reloading the flintlock with fresh ammunition, Theresa’s conversation with the human boy was coming to an end.
“I’ve told you everything I can, Demon Hunter miss. Please… I beg you to give me a quick death.”
The effects of the recovery potion had worn off. The unhealed wounds at his severed limbs began to throb again, as if countless insects were gnawing on them at once. The pain was almost enough to make him faint once more.
The human boy’s face was deathly pale. His tightly clenched teeth chattered uncontrollably.
From the moment the potion’s effect ended, every single breath had become pure torment. Only the last remnants of his willpower kept him from passing out.
“Are you really not going to struggle even a little more?”
Out of respect for the human boy, Theresa raised the newly loaded flintlock. And out of hope for resilient life, she couldn’t help adding one last piece of persuasion.
“Struggle…?”
The human boy did not answer Theresa’s question. Instead he asked one of his own:
“Demon Hunter miss, do you think… cough cough… do you think humans who are so weak they only deserve to be food really have any chance of surviving in this terrifying hell world?”
He had actually held something back—for the sake of protecting his homeland.
Earth was no longer the peaceful place it used to be. Some changes had occurred there as well, and bizarre creatures had started appearing.
Even back on Earth, in his own home, surviving had been a constant struggle. How could he possibly survive in a world ten thousand times more terrifying than that?
Truly, there was no hope at all.
“I have a friend,” Theresa said. “She’s still living well right now. She’s human, just like you.”
The human boy paused for a moment, then smiled with relief.
“Really? That’s wonderful.”
With those words he slowly closed his eyes, quietly waiting for death to come. No matter what Theresa said, he would not change his mind.
After listening to his story, Theresa thought: Perhaps what was truly preventing him from continuing to live wasn’t only his disability or his fear of the hell world. More than anything, it was the guilt of having gotten his companions killed because of his own actions.
He simply didn’t have the courage to live the rest of his life drowning in remorse for indirectly causing their deaths.
Theresa sighed helplessly and slowly pulled the trigger of the flintlock gun.
Bang—!
The pungent smell of gunpowder briefly overpowered the stench of blood. The last grain of sand in the hourglass finally fell. Life returned to silence and nothingness.
As Theresa lowered the flintlock, a figure slowly walked into the house.
Theresa was slightly startled.
“Bai Tang? Why are you here? When did you arrive?”
It was as if it had been destined that she would get involved in this incident. Even before Theresa could share the secrets she had uncovered, Bai Tang had found her way here through another path.
“Probably right when he asked you to give him a quick end.”
Bai Tang forced a smile and raised the iron shovel she had just found.
“Can you help me dig a pit? We humans believe in resting in peace after death. I want to help him…”
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