Lin sat next to the closed Red Gates and looked at the orange sky, where the bright sun was just starting to rise. The closing of the Gates was a heavy blow for him, because he didn't know where the exit was that could help him leave.
He sighed.
"Who would've known that staying for a few more seconds would cost me the chance to return to my world?" Lin said out loud, then shook his head:
"Hours of suffering in battle against those black wolves ended up bringing me nothing. Even though I got a Distorted Chest at the beginning of the fight, which dropped from a wolf, in the end — the item I got from it I had to use just to survive!" Lin gritted his teeth out of mild anger he was feeling.
"I guess I shouldn't have gotten so caught up with the wolves. Now I realize I had many chances to escape when I used the explosive banana. But I didn't do it, and that served as a good lesson now," he turned his head toward the Gates and imagined how happily he would have walked in and returned to his world.
A foolish person doesn't notice or learn from their mistakes. A wise one notices mistakes — theirs or others' — and constantly avoids them.
Lin realized he made a mistake during the battle. Namely — he forgot and didn't notice that he had countless opportunities to retreat, but didn't use them, which led to this difficult situation.
"Anyway, what's done is done. I can't change the situation now. All I can do is try to find a way out of this Dead World," Lin's eyes became as sharp as a razor blade. He looked around, trying to figure out where he was.
Seeing only endless green plains, he slowly stood up and headed towards the large hills made from the wolves he had killed. There were about three hills in total, each containing several dozen wolves, if not more.
He still hadn't checked all the wolves he had killed.
From the Distorted creatures, instead of their usual resources — for wolves: fur and fangs — certain items could also drop, which were highly valued by the Awakened.
The first of them were the Distorted Chests that Lin had previously received. Distorted Chests were regular loot boxes from which various items and more could drop. There were five known ranks of Distorted Chests:
Beast Chest.
Monstrous Chest.
Demonic Chest.
Devilish Chest.
Titanic Chest.
They dropped from corresponding Distorted creatures that bore the same names:
Beast.
Monster.
Demon.
Devil.
Titan.
At the moment, humanity had managed to defeat Distorted creatures up to the Titan level. There were other, even higher-level Distorted creatures that humans couldn't defeat, and thus no Distorted Chests were obtained from them.
This was one of the many mystical things that could drop from Distorted creatures. Of course, the chance was extremely low, which made their market demand always active. Even Lin, despite having good connections, couldn't obtain a Beast Chest.
Luckily, during this battle, he managed to get one chest, which helped him a lot.
The second and very important item that could drop from Distorted creatures was — Soul Shards.
Soul Shards were crystallized dead souls and the will of the bearer. Inside was a crystallized dead soul, which had many uses, especially for the Awakened.
They came in three varieties:
Low Soul Shard.
Medium Soul Shard.
High Soul Shard.
Each of them was very rare. Since Soul Shards were needed for every Awakened, they were bought faster than they could appear. Because of this, Soul Shards became almost mythical; after all, there were few goods in the world with such demand.
In his life, Lin had only seen Soul Shards a few times. And that was back when he was still with his family, but in those years, he didn't care much about them.
But now, he understood their value and was willing to do anything to get them. That's why he headed towards the wolves, hoping to find at least one.
...
Lin looked at the hill of dead bodies, which reeked horribly, like sewage. But ignoring the terrible smell, he slowly began tossing the wolves aside so it would be easier for him to open their skulls.
Inside the head of every creature in the world was a brain, which was the catalyst of the soul, consciousness, and spirit at the same time. It performed the general functions needed to sustain life. This is exactly where Soul Shards were formed, which everyone needed.
Realizing he would have to dig through others' brains, Lin frowned slightly, but accepted his fate. Like everyone else in this world, he was disgusted by these actions, but who wouldn't want a Soul Shard?
After tossing the wolves aside, Lin grabbed wolf bones and began breaking open the wolves' skulls to access the top of the head. Seeing the gray surface of the dead brain, Lin's face twisted slightly; even in his worst years, he had never had to dig through others' brains.
"No matter how disgusting this is, the benefits I'll get if there's a Soul Shard inside will be enormous. Besides, I've become Awakened, and in the future there will be many more battles from which I must profit. And Soul Shards are exactly that profit. So my disgust should go away soon."
Lin lifted the bone and struck the dead wolf's brain with force.
The bone completely crushed the inner brain, scattering its matter everywhere. But unfortunately for Lin, no Soul Shard appeared inside, as he had hoped.
"Sadly, no Soul Shard inside. But that's no problem." Lin glanced at the remaining wolves and continued: "With this many, at least one should drop."
Lin quickly stood up and started smashing the wolves' heads with the bone, trying to find the coveted Soul Shards.
After killing about twenty wolves, he still hadn't gotten a single Soul Shard. Not even one Distorted Chest had dropped!
Slightly tired, Lin decided to sit down for a bit to rest. During this time, he cleaned his hands and face from the stinking brain matter. Luckily, he had plenty of wolf pelts that he could use as towels.
Shhh.
While cleaning himself, Lin heard a small rustle, causing him to turn his head and look at the source of the sound.
What he saw shocked him.
From a large pile of human corpses, a girl slowly began to emerge!
Lin squinted slightly and recognized her.
It was his classmate, Yulan. She came from an ordinary family, but her appearance was considered quite beautiful, and her physical form always fascinated people. Unfortunately, she was rather reserved and quiet, so she had relatively few friends to spend time with.
For Lin, it didn't matter who she was, how beautiful she was, or any other reason. Upon seeing her, only one question arose in his mind: how did she survive?
"Surely, such a fragile girl wouldn't be able to fight wolves if she isn't Awakened. So how did she survive? Did she use some trick? Or maybe she hid under the bodies of others to survive?" Countless questions appeared in Lin's mind.
"No matter how she survived, it's praiseworthy," Lin slowly stood up and approached the girl.
The black-haired girl, with white strands on her temple, stood up and looked around, immediately noticing Lin approaching.
She was a little wary but still managed to gather her courage and ask:
"You're... Lin, right?"
Lin nodded and looked at the girl standing across from him.
She had pleasant facial features, long black hair, but with silvery-white strands on the right temple. Her eyes were blue, and her figure was indeed captivating. But for Lin, it didn't matter.
He looked at the girl emotionlessly and pointed a bone at her.
"Nice to meet you, Yulan. I'm glad at least someone knows my name."
"My name is indeed Lin."