This time it did not sound scary or with authority. It sounded calm and normal, like the kind of voice a true friend would speak to you with.
'What the...'
When he still did not open his eyes, he heard a strange and harrowing sound. It sounded like multiple people sighing and laughing at the same time.
The next moment, it was as quiet as a whisper, until the sounds of footsteps were heard retreating away. Grey was so afraid that the creature may still be around, so even after a long time had passed. He still had his hands covering his eyes tightly. His hands shaking from cold and extreme fear.
After two long hours, he finally decided to open his eyes. With his eyes open, he saw the whole room covered in a thin blanket of snow with several hundred footprints all around him. But they didn't look like shoe prints, they were actual footprints.
"That was... a bizarre existence!"
Grey said with fear and awe at the same time. He had almost died but at the same time had been in the presence of bizarre existences. He had been so close to death... So close.
Grey shrugged off the thin layer of snow that had unknowingly covered him. The reason for his chill was now clear.
"But what suddenly attracted a bizarre existence here?" He pondered but later shook his head and sighed when no answer came. This was the second time he was meeting such a fearful existence. And although they were rare, Grey had managed to encounter two in the same day. That was really weird.
"Am I a magnet for strong opponents?"
But he forgot his previous thoughts when he looked at his surroundings and saw the door that had been barricaded by several miscellaneous items now sprawled all around the floor.
The door was shattered into little more than splinters and the fragmented pieces of wood were stuck to the wall opposite it.
Grey then felt a stinging pain on his wrist and when he looked at it, he saw the decay point on his hand emitting sizzling sounds. Like his flesh was burning... no melting.
"Oh, the decay point! I'll have to ponder about that matter later."
Grey wanted to rush out and far away from here as possible, but the thought that the bizarre existence might not have left and may still be in the area made him stop dead in his tracks.
He lingered for a few seconds before deciding to stay put. He was not sure if it was safe outside.
With a bizarre existence in the immediate area, some mutated beasts would surely encounter it and die.
He sat down on the ground quietly waiting. But after the time taken for a candle to melt had elapsed, his wrist started hurting a lot and he was having trouble bearing through the pain. Even the medicinal pills he had taken before did not help much after being in the presence of a bizarre existence. It's presence must have made the corrosive substance within his body to skyrocket.
He was running out of time and couldn't wait anymore.
By the time he had assembled his belongings, the thin layer of snow had melted. Grey carried a brown rucksack on his back and stealthily left the broken building.
But his wariness was all for nothing. The bizarre existence he previously encountered was enough to keep the mutated beasts far away... for now, at least.
But though he could have rushed out of the corroded if he moved in a straight line, he headed deeper into the corroded zone instead.
His goal was to find a strange plant that grew only in the corroded zones. Strange enough, these plants had the power to neutralize corrosive substance.
In fact, the herb was the main ingredient used to make the decay point neutralizing medicine. Up till now, they just call it the medicinal pill.
Eating the herb raw was bound to reduce its potency and even cause some problems for the consumer. But Grey didn't have much of a choice now.
'It would have to suffice for now.' Inwardly he voiced and soon he reached the particular place where the plant was said to grow.
He then stopped at the base of a big tree, hanging on the tree where several corpses of both mutated creatures and bizarre existences.
Surprisingly, blood dripped from the corpses and unto the very ground where the herb grew. The blood from those dead creatures were nourishing the herbs.
Of course anything that grew and survived in the corroded zone were never normal. They were anything but.
It was very weird that the herb being used to treat decay points was drinking the blood of Mutated creatures to grow.
The flowers were bright red and danced lightly in the cold wind. The tree with all the corpses and red leaves swayed a little in the subtly breeze.
Grey quietly stepped towards the tree, avoiding some parts of its roots that stuck out of the earth.
He then reached the blood flowers. There was a nauseating smell emanating from them. He was not sure if it was the flowers or the corpse. But he didn't care.
With an indifferent expression, he carefully plucked five flowers from the plants while leaving their stalk and stems intact.
Gathering the multiple flower petals into his hand, he applied force and crushed them. The flower petals broke like dead tree leaves.
The result was a red dust like residue which Grey did not hesitate to put in his mouth.
A strange feeling permeated his body. He felt like he had swallowed hot dust. His throat was getting hot but that was not the only change.
He noticed the subtle change that underwent the decay point. Unlike before, the pain was not as piercing as before.
He crushed some more and went through the same process. Now after crushing the red flowers for about seven times, the pain reduced and was bearable. He quietly left the blood tree the same way he came.
As Grey moved silently, his slightly long hair covered his left eye and his long overcoat nearly dragging on the floor, he saw a black shadow swiftly passed by overhead.
But when he looked up to the red sky, the creature the shadow belonged to had left as quickly as it came. Leaving only the disturbed wind.
He gave a soft sigh that came out as a whisper and reached the edge of the corroded zone. He turned to look back as if hesitating then he left the corroded zone.
In less than two hours, Grey had finally exited the corroded zone for the first time. And he exhaled when he looked at the land beyond the red sky.
Outside the corroded zone, the air felt much warmer and the occasional tension he felt in his body had subsided. The clouds were not red, but they were not clear at the same time. The sky was dark as a result of the dark clouds that gathered over but the oppressive atmosphere usually present in the corroded zone was nonexistent.
Instead, he felt much more free and the countless gazes that once had their eyes on him retreated when he left.
He could allow himself to relax a little.
Grey let out a lingering sigh before rubbing the back of his neck.
"Ah, so this is how the outside world looks like! Its so desolate and barren..."
Yes, the world outside the corroded zones was always desolate and barren. After all, the corrosive substance was still in the air. Ushering death through mutation if need be.
"Actually what was I expecting." He shook his head slowly and dejectedly.
"Did I really have to transmigrate into a world without clear skies? Do I have to look at the dark clouds and God's hand every time..."
He asked himself those questions but it looked like he wouldn't be able to answer them now anyways.
Grey rubbed his dirty face and pulled out a map from his pouch.
He was now safe... at least from constant threat.
Dangerous beings also lurked around the outskirts of corroded zones so he did not release his guard down a little bit.
He put his hand into his pouch and brought out the multitude of coins he had gotten from most of his scavenging in the corroded zones.
Most of them came from the abandoned buildings he normally resides in while the rest were earned when he killed the rogue cultivator. He had a lot of them which was strange.
'Was he really the brother of the leader of the scavenger camp?'
In the next second, he shrugged and forgot about that thought.
For now he had thirty or so silver coins. Which should be enough for about ten to twelve of The medicinal Pills. At least that was what the previous Grey said in his memories.
It should be able to supplement his breakthrough to the fourth realm.
For now he had to find the scavenger camp. Which showed on the map that it was not too far away. If he ran without stopping, he could probably get there before dusk. Where he could make a quick purchase of some of the medicinal Pills and maybe sell off the materials he had collected that may still be of use.
Selling these should bring his total coins level to about forty coins or fifty.
Maybe he could also use it to rent residence in the scavenger camp. Just for breaking through to the next level.
Taking his time to bask in the sun for a few minutes, his gaze then turned serious as he faced a direction and his body swayed.
His speed suddenly erupted as he ran forth towards the scavenger camp. Seeing the world outside of the corroded zone felt so refreshing.