Global Fog Survival

At the edge of the light, within the fog, hateful and venomous curses quickly faded away.

With a sudden, abrupt scream, all movement ceased there, falling into complete silence.

The corpse remained, but Colin and his group didn’t immediately act.

After a brief moment of silence, they snapped out of the terrified trance caused by the distorted scream.

Colin stepped forward, seeing the corpse drenched in cold sweat, its dying expression grotesquely twisted. The jaw had dislocated during that last scream.

Apart from the eyes, there were no visible wounds on the body. Those eyes… had melted.

Along with the eyelids, they melted in the sockets like candles, inducing a sense of horror.

Everyone had the same question in their minds: What did he experience?

From beginning to end, no one, including Colin, saw anyone or anything approaching him in the gray fog.

Until Colin took away the lantern and retreated, exposing him to the fog for less than three seconds before everything ended.

[The gruesome scene before you makes you shudder. You realize he wanted to close his eyes before he died, but unfortunately, those thin eyelids couldn’t shield him from the horrific sight.]

[His eyes, eyelids, and the brain beneath melted instantly from looking directly at the indescribable…]

[You realize you have no interest in the gray fog or any intention of disrespecting it.]

“The hint… chickened out.”

Colin felt his throat dry. This was the second time the hint backed down.

The first was yesterday during a willpower check, when a sixth-sense-like intuition warned him against his curiosity.

This time, Colin instinctively sensed a connection between the gray fog and the bizarre, illogical world from his “steadfast will” trial.

The thing that made the hint retreat was likely of the same level, or perhaps even the same entity.

But…

Looking at the horribly mutilated corpse, Colin felt the hint was right. He had no interest in the gray fog, nor any intention of interacting with it.

“Still, the test wasn’t completely fruitless. The parchment rolls and crafting table didn’t disappear, confirming that these items don’t vanish upon death. My previous guess was wrong.”

Colin checked his inventory, noting that the items taken from the enemy were still there, unchanged.

Where did the female survivor’s parchment roll and crafting table go then?

Did someone search her body before he arrived?

No, that was unlikely. If she had been searched, the person wouldn’t have left other valuable items behind. Nothing else was missing from her body.

For a brief moment, Colin sensed a deep mystery surrounding the corpse he briefly encountered.

However, now wasn’t the time to ponder this. Colin turned his gaze to another direction, where continuous wails echoed.

Those were the servants who had consumed the “flesh mushrooms.”

Sanna stood there, having piled up all the people she had defeated. After ensuring Colin’s situation was under control, she kept watch over the raging, frenzied servants without taking action.

She had no hesitation dealing with the mastermind, “Mage,” but hesitated with the wailing people on the ground.

Under her white robe with gold trim, her fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly.

Killing them to bring peace seemed like the most reasonable choice, reducing their pre-death suffering.

But every time she decided to strike, her fists lost their strength, feeling utterly powerless.

This powerlessness… felt familiar.

In her daze, the current scene overlapped with a blurred memory.

There was no gray fog in that memory, but under a flag emitting holy light, ordinary people fell one by one.

At that time, food seemed to be scarce…

This time, it was the holy light that was lacking—a stronger holy light…

Every time, she felt so powerless.

“Killing them to lessen their pain, at least, would reduce their suffering…”

Sanna took a deep breath and made her final decision.

She wasn’t indecisive, and she could be ruthless when necessary. But this feeling of repeating a past, irreversible regret was hard to bear.

If these people were soldiers or loyal enemies, none would have survived when she charged over.

But this situation was different.

Her glowing white hand grasped a frenzied servant, but just as she was about to apply force, a voice sounded in her ear.

“Do you want to save them?”

Colin approached, having finished looting the enemies, except the Mage.

There were five, with the Mage dead and another perishing outside the lantern’s reach.

Three remained.

These three were peacefully unconscious (or comatose), and Colin, being merciful, didn’t disturb them, silently helping them close the lantern and taking the servants who might snore and wake them, hiding his deeds.

Even if they later had nightmares, it wasn’t Colin’s concern.

He just checked, and they were grateful for a good night’s sleep, leaving him a reward and indicating that he could take it without waking them.

After completing his good deed, Colin quickly returned to Sanna.

Sanna’s hand trembled, realizing Colin had arrived with the others. Clearly, he had dealt with the other enemies.

Yet, there were only four captured lords in the group; the others were likely dead.

Recalling Colin’s words, she hesitated, then nodded. “Yes…”

She wasn’t inclined to lie. After exhaling a breath of frustration, she glanced at the wailing people again:

“But they seem beyond saving. I’m sorry, did I delay you…?”

“No problem on my end. They surrendered directly.”

Colin replied, then asked again, “Do you want to save them?”

Shana was taken aback, realizing what he meant, and nodded firmly:

“Yes, Lord Colin, I want to save them.”

Colin tilted his head, resting his chin on his hand, squinting at her. After a few seconds, he said:

“That’s good. Then let’s save them.”

Not wanting to force it… Sanna seemed to realize this required a sacrifice, about to speak.

But Colin raised his hand, stopping her.