The situation was even worse than expected.
Although Wu Shuang had achieved an almost impossible dodge through Near-Death Time, he was still severely injured, hit in four separate places on his body. His right thigh in particular severely impaired his mobility.
Enduring the pain to crawl over here and stab the attacker to death with the short sword had already pushed him to his absolute limit. Even though his Humanity had risen by over 20 points, reaching 150, it still couldn't change his current predicament. His injuries weren't something a few extra points of Agility could fix.
His wounds were still bleeding, staining his trousers dark red and leaving a glaring trail of blood all the way over. He had completely lost the ability to stand.
As the adrenaline surge faded, he began to feel cold and numb—symptoms of massive blood loss. His time was running out.
Crawling back to his hideout was out of the question; he would die halfway there.
Furthermore, the stench of blood on him and the sound of gunshots could attract living corpses or even goblins. In the end, he might not even leave behind an intact corpse.
"Is this where it ends?"
"To think I'd die at the hands of a Hero..."
"Trash system, trash game. I'm fucking deleting my account and quitting."
He cursed, surprised to find that he still had a sense of humor.
Thanks to Near-Death Time, his dying process was stretched out long enough that he had more than enough time to curse eighteen generations of the system's ancestors.
But this time was not infinite.
His vision was growing dark and narrow, and his eyelids felt impossibly heavy. His life was drawing to a close...
No!
Maybe I can still live! There must be a way!
Wu Shuang forced himself to rally his spirits, turning his gaze toward the floating light spheres not far away.
If there were medical items inside, something like the Blessed's Shedding, maybe...
Wu Shuang began crawling forward. Whenever dizziness threatened to claim him, he bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the pain to focus his mind.
It was an excruciatingly long process.
Constantly slipping into Near-Death Time made those few meters feel like a marathon—a death marathon. Several times, Wu Shuang just wanted to close his eyes and give up, but thoughts like just a bit further, almost there, and I've crawled this far already spurred him to press on.
He wasn't sure how long he crawled; by the time the pain in his bitten tongue had turned entirely numb, Wu Shuang finally touched the light spheres right before passing out.
【You have obtained Gold Coin Chest x1, yielding 2,000 Kingdom Gold Coins!】
This is useless right now...
【You have obtained Pick-One-of-Three Bronze Chest. Please make your choice.】
This is useful!
Three bronze chests shrouded in different colored auras appeared before Wu Shuang's eyes. They looked just like the cheapest chest textures from a web browser game, spinning continuously. It almost jarred the dying Wu Shuang wide awake. What kind of trash is this?
The colors were red, blue, and yellow, indicating distinct differences in their contents.
Pick right, and he had a slim chance of survival. Pick wrong, and he'd kick the bucket.
Wu Shuang's brain spun into high gear as Near-Death Time activated once again.
"These colors should correspond to Humanity."
"Red represents anger and courage, which should be related to offense—most likely a weapon."
"Blue represents fear, which should be related to survival and escape."
"Survival..."
Wu Shuang's gaze lingered on the blue chest. Since his life was on the line, he had to think it through carefully. In the end, he turned his focus to yellow and made his final choice.
Because there was a high probability that blue would yield escape items like smoke bombs or town portal scrolls. While they could save someone from danger, they couldn't save Wu Shuang from dying of blood loss.
So there was only one choice left: gamble on the yellow chest.
He made his choice in his mind. The three chests merged into one, turning into a Yellow Bronze Chest that flew into Wu Shuang's body. Like the Kingdom Gold Coins, it was stored inside the Hero Handbook, accessible at any time.
【Name: Yellow Bronze Chest】
【Description: Chests are rewards prepared by the Holy Kingdom for Heroes, containing various items. Completing quests or slaying monsters grants a chance to obtain these chests.
Higher-tier chests have a greater chance of dropping better items. However, as they are random chests, anything is possible, so one should be mentally prepared.
Hero's Insights ⑲: Luck is the least trustworthy thing of all.】
The handbook even allowed viewing the description of the chest, but Wu Shuang had no mind to read it and immediately opened it.
The chest icon vanished, and a yellow light flashed before Wu Shuang, dissipating to reveal a finger-sized dark brown glass bottle. Typically used to store pills, it contained three lumpy pills visible inside.
Wu Shuang recognized the item at a glance. His weakened body suddenly felt a surge of strength as if grabbing at a lifeline. He immediately picked it up, bit off the cork, and poured all three pills into his mouth in one gulp.
【Name: Holy Blessed Pill】
【Quality: Common】
【Description: A strange meatball infused with holy blessed power, used as a healing item. Consumption restores a certain amount of health, heals wounds, and stimulates blood production, taking effect in an extremely short period. It comes with intense feelings of hunger and thirst, and is best used alongside food and water.
Excessive or improper use may affect the color of one's Humanity, causing it to discolor and become murky, which further impacts the effectiveness of the Holy Blessed Pill.】
Desperate to save his life, with his health down to single digits, Wu Shuang couldn't care less about side effects and swallowed them all.
The pills entered his mouth, instantly dissolving into a thick liquid paste that flowed down his esophagus.
Immediately after, a wave of warmth spread throughout his limbs and body, particularly around his wounds, filling Wu Shuang with a comfortable, soothing heat.
If a bystander had been present, they would have seen a faint yellow glow emanating from Wu Shuang's wounds, resembling the specks of Humanity particles seen at night, rapidly knitting the skin back together.
The flesh around the wound on his cheek began to regenerate, stretching out like fibers to fill in the missing portions.
However, the newly grown flesh had a distinct reddish hue that differed from his normal skin tone, one that likely wouldn't fade anytime soon.
Wu Shuang touched his cheek in disbelief, then felt his right leg, finding that wound scabbed over as well. It hadn't healed quite as cleanly as his face, likely because of the lead pellets embedded inside, which were now being squeezed out by the regenerating flesh.
The wound under his armpit was recovering similarly.
But before Wu Shuang could rejoice, a foreign surge of intense hunger and thirst swept through his entire body. His eyes turned wild and green, his breathing grew increasingly rapid, and his gaze involuntarily darted toward the nearby remains of the goblin.
The bones had been licked clean, even bearing teeth marks, but a few shreds of flesh still hung from the joints, with quite a few flies stuck to them.
Wu Shuang actually felt an appetite for it. Saliva pooled in his mouth as an urge overtook him to pounce on the remains, suck the shreds of meat off the bones, crunch through the skeleton, and drink the marrow inside.
No!
This is the pill's side effect!
Wu Shuang warned himself, yet he couldn't suppress the craving deep within his heart. He even found himself taking an interest in the corpse of the other Hero, feeling an urge to crawl over and take a few bites.
No, I'm losing control!
Gurgle... (the sound of stomach rumbling)
Wu Shuang slammed a fist into his stomach, using the sharp pain to momentarily suppress his appetite. Grabbing Argus, he bolted back toward the attic as fast as he could.
He had to eat right now!
Not even the King of Heaven himself could stop him!
Rate on N.U.
