The attic.
Inside, only the sounds of gulping and chewing could be heard, mixed with occasional choking, frantic drinking of water, and thumping on the chest.
In less than ten minutes, food that was meant to last two or three days was completely finished by Wu Shuang. He had even downed more than half the water, coming dangerously close to gnawing on a dead rat raw.
Only after consuming all of this did his feeling of hunger and thirst subside slightly, his stomach bulging high as if bloated with gas.
Only then did he have the time to call up the handbook and check his status.
His Humanity had risen significantly to 176, but its color had turned murky, labeled with both Blue and Yellow.
(Murky Humanity cannot grant special effects; it provides only pure attribute bonuses. The exact bonuses depend on the proportion of each Humanity color. Opposing or contradictory types of Humanity will cancel each other out and cannot coexist.)
(Yellow Humanity: Represents appetite, lust, and possessiveness. When exceeding 100, every 10 points of Yellow Humanity increases your Constitution by 1, grants self-healing ability, enhances digestion and metabolism, allows quick stamina recovery through eating, and bestows resistance to various physical status ailments.)
...
He learned the effect of Yellow Humanity from the handbook—it represented desire.
"No wonder I was so hungry just now..."
Wu Shuang looked at his bloated stomach with some helplessness. He had no choice but to wait for it to digest for a while.
As for his Humanity turning murky, he wasn't particularly worried. It would eventually turn back to white anyway.
He checked his health bar, which had recovered well, reaching 63%. The pill's effect was truly powerful. Had he known, he would have taken only one or two pills; that probably would have been enough to pull him through while saving one for later.
He sat back down on the bed, but before he could even settle in, familiar, heavy footsteps resounded.
It was a goblin!
Wu Shuang instantly became alert, his ears practically pricking up. Listening closely, he determined the sound was coming from the north—the exact direction where he had just fought the attacker.
He immediately checked the time. From the moment he was shot until now, only about twenty minutes had actually passed. The reason it felt so long was due to the Blue Humanity.
These things really are attracted by noise. From making a loud disturbance to their arrival, there's a safe window of about twenty minutes.
"Wait... maybe I can..."
The image of the silver-armored knight flashed in Wu Shuang's mind, and he felt it was worth a shot!
He ran back out, this time carrying his bow and arrows. When he climbed onto the eaves, he happened to see the goblin feeding—on the body of that Hero, of course.
What a waste of all that loot, but it wasn't too late to make a move now.
Wu Shuang observed the goblin. Unlike the one that died earlier, this one had a dorsal fin, blue-gray skin, and a large bone club for a weapon—it looked like it had mutated from a shark.
It swallowed the Hero's corpse in just a few bites and turned to leave, but right then... an arrow flew over limply, landing in the mud beside the goblin and catching its attention.
The archer was, naturally, Wu Shuang.
He had originally intended to hit the monster with a shot, but he had underestimated how hard it was to use a hunting bow.
The target was so massive, less than thirty meters away, and he held the high ground—yet he actually missed.
But it didn't matter. He had achieved his goal; he only needed to draw its attention!
Wu Shuang stood up straight, completely unbothered, while reviewing the old knight's actions in his mind.
He seems to be protecting this mansion, waiting for someone.
So if a strong, dangerous creature like a goblin comes near, the old knight will attack it.
If that's the case, I can use this to my advantage and complete my Main Quest with the old knight's help.
It's a flawless plan.
However...
That shark monster... no, that goblin didn't pay Wu Shuang any mind. It looked over for a moment, then turned and walked away.
"Does it have bad eyesight? Is it nearsighted?" he wondered aloud.
Seeing the goblin about to flee, Wu Shuang, overcome by some unknown burst of courage or a sudden brain cramp, bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"Come at me~~~!!"
His voice was loud and full of energy, carrying far into the distance.
But the moment the words left his mouth, he regretted it. He instantly ducked down and crouched, worried the creature might throw a rock at him.
Yet the shark monster... merely paused, cast a venomous glance in Wu Shuang's direction, and kept walking forward.
"Damn it, you grew that big for nothing? Are you really this cowardly?"
"If you've got the guts, come over here and fight me one-on-one!"
The shark monster remained unmoved, speeding up its pace instead.
"Are you blind? I'm right here! What are you running for? Come at me already!"
Wu Shuang shouted hysterically, flinging taunt after taunt, but the creature refused to take the bait. In the end, Wu Shuang was the one who became frustrated and flustered.
"Damn, this thing actually has brains!" he cursed under his breath.
"Sharkhead, I'll spare your life today!"
He tried one last time, waited a moment, and realized it was a total lost cause. He sat on the eaves for about ten seconds, preparing to head back.
But just as he reached the windowsill, he suddenly remembered something. He hadn't explored the south side yet. Since he was already out, he decided to take a look.
The south side was the main entrance of the estate. With the old knight standing guard, it shouldn't be dangerous as long as he didn't fall down.
He crawled along, pulled himself onto the eaves beside the main entrance, and poked his head out to look down.
Holy crap.
On the paved road directly leading to the main gate lay a dense carpet of corpses. Many were reduced to bare bones, easily numbering over two hundred. Among them were giant skeletons and fish heads—the remains of "goblins," three of them in total.
Some corpses were relatively fresh, covered in swarming flies, indicating they hadn't been dead for long.
"Holy shit... did the old knight kill all of these by himself?"
Wu Shuang thought to himself, all the bravado he had displayed during his taunting completely evaporated as he cowered like a quail.
Because directly below him stood the silver-armored knight, standing motionless like a sculpture, looking every bit like a god of slaughter.
The strange woman he had seen last night—the one appraised as an orphanage teacher—along with several small living corpses, were all lying dead here.
It seemed they had noticed Wu Shuang last night, chased after him, and were subsequently cut down by the old knight without Wu Shuang even hearing a sound.
Gulp...
Wu Shuang swallowed hard, feeling a chill run down his spine, and prepared to retreat.
With so many remains, Wu Shuang couldn't be sure if any belonged to past Heroes. He didn't dare gamble, deciding it was best to avoid contacting the old knight altogether.
To make a hideout here, he had to admit that some past Heroes were quite smart and knew how to choose a spot. This building was indeed safe, guarded by a door god like that.
He slowly backed away, crawling on all fours back inside. His legs were still weak when he returned to the hallway, overwhelmed by the sight of hundreds of corpses—a far cry from his previous minor scrapes.
"Looks like these goblins have tasted the old knight's power too. There weren't three of them originally, but six."
Having figured out the cause and effect, Wu Shuang made it back to the attic. It seemed the outsmarting method was completely dead, leaving him to think of other dirty tricks.
"Tsk."
Wu Shuang tutted, suddenly scolding himself.
"What am I thinking? Why am I suddenly so invested? Official Heroes die even more easily anyway. Why do I care so much?"
He grumbled to himself, deciding not to take unnecessary risks and to just honestly complete the side quest.
Rate on N.U.
