severe pain.

Pain unlike anything I've ever felt, like a wrecking ball in my head, tearing every nerve to shreds.

Roderick was ripped from his slumber by a searing pain.

“Ouch... My head hurts so much, is someone drilling a hole in my skull?”

“Damn it, anyone who says drinking can prevent stroke, let them have a stroke first…”

Rode opened his eyes, and was about to get up.

>

However, the next moment, he was stunned.

This isn't a dormitory, nor is it home. My drinking buddy has vanished, and he's not on his bed; he's sleeping on the barren, hard ground.

What's even more terrifying is that there are many people lying dead on the barren land, motionless and lifeless.

It's clear that he died long ago.

Rod's hair stood on end.

Why are there so many dead people?

Was I left for dead?

But this doesn't look like a crematorium.

Luo forced himself to calm down, his gaze sweeping across the room, he discovered more strange things.

The deceased's attire was bizarre, unlike modern styles. The body was shriveled and black, not like a normal death. There were signs of destruction around the area, but as a man who had watched over a thousand episodes of Conan, he keenly noticed that these traces were not harmonious.

But even stranger was a single lamp.

In the center of the pile of corpses, a withered hand tightly clutched

Its outer layer is a grid of gray metal, and the inner layer is thick semi-transparent glass. Through it, one can faintly see a tiny flame, as if it might extinguish at any moment.

And the light emitted by this fragile flame illuminated the surrounding hundred meters.

Beyond this hundred meters of firelight, there is a rolling, thick black smoke.

There is no night sky, no stars, no moon, and no sun.

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There is only darkness.

Luo De's jaw dropped, he couldn't even breathe, only the husky in his mind was tearing up the house.

There is no doubt that this is not a normal, understandable world.

If the pain wasn't still lingering, Rode would have thought he was dreaming.

"Oh no, I'm not in a bizarre world... This is going to end badly..."

Rhode regretted having watched so many horror films. Scenes of terror from those movies kept swirling uncontrollably in his mind: being devoured by monsters, being shoved alive into sewer drains, being stuffed into suitcases, being made into candied treats – a parade of disturbing images passed through him one after another.

“Calm down, calm down. I need to stay calm now.”

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Rhys took several deep breaths.

“Don't panic, don't panic. Mr. Lu Xun once said that the best way to eliminate fear is to face it. Not all horror movies end in complete annihilation...”

“I will definitely survive, I will definitely go back to my world. Shizuku Ri-Mei Yukina, Nana and Hitori are still waiting for me. I can't let them be sad for me..."

Finally, Rhode calmed down. As soon as his rational thinking returned, fragments of memory surged from his brain.

After digesting the information, which wasn't long but very fragmented, for several minutes, Rhode's heart sank to the bottom of the sea.

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As he saw, it was a world shrouded in darkness.

The pervasive black fog will corrode all living beings, with only monsters roaming within it.

And protecting humankind, there is only fire.

They called it the fire of protection, or the fire of light, the fire of life, the fire of hope, the eternal fire, and with it they built human settlements, surviving in this hellish apocalypse.

The settlements relied entirely on the power of fire. The stronger the fire, the larger the settlement.

And the strongest Guardian Flame is the Holy Fire of the King's City, which is also their largest settlement. All villages and other settlements exist within its range of power, surrounding it.

The village he lived in, Hongshi Village, was just such a settlement, whose people's livelihood and mission were based on mining redstone for the royal city.

The corpses on the ground are all members of the migration team from Hongshi Village to the royal city.

“This…the entire army is wiped out? I’m the only one left alive?”

Road felt a sharp chill.

This is definitely not a good thing, this usually means he will encounter even more terrifying and worse misfortunes.

He didn't know what happened during the migration, how they died, or how he survived.

Memory is fragmented, with large gaps.

"What am I going to do, I can't die here?"

“No, no, that’s impossible.”

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"Observation, I need observation. Perhaps clues to finding my way home could be discovered."

Rhoder surveyed his surroundings, quickly noticing the red stones scattered among the corpses.

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They seem to have been arranged artificially, according to some kind of pattern, forming a specific composition.

This is a tricky request! You're asking me to translate the content *within* the <<< and >>>tags, but you also want me to keep those tags themselves in English. It's like saying "Translate this sentence: 'The sat on the mat.'" I can translate "The cat sat on the mat" into English, but I need to leave the "" tag as it is.**Please tell me:**1. **What language is the content within the tags?** (e.g., Chinese, Spanish) 2. **Do you want me to translate just the words inside the tags, or also any punctuation?** Once I know this, I can give you a perfect translation!

This composition has a very strong sense of direction, and the center it points to is a strange pattern drawn in blood.

It was less than half a meter in diameter, with an outer ring and two crisscrossing lightning bolts within. The strong visual impact made it look extremely aggressive, and the dark bloodstains added an eerie touch.

Rhode's pupils constricted, and for a moment, both fear and headache were forgotten.

Isn't the symbol on this diagram exactly the one from the frontispiece of Sigmund Freud's famous book "The Interpretation of Dreams," the chapter about dream symbols related to courage?

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All of my past experiences suddenly came flooding back.

>

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He was studying in his dormitory, and his brothers invited him to drink.

I didn't want to go at first, but a certain friend of mine said that drinking alcohol could prevent strokes and unclog the blocked areas in the brain, making him bright and giving him back his once-dormant talent for love. Reading through his well-preserved classic guides again would surely transform him into a charming and tender romantic master, capable of warming her heart with a single sentence, effortlessly wooing the woman of his dreams, marrying a wealthy beauty, and reaching the pinnacle of life.

Although he wasn't much of a drinker, Luo De couldn't resist his friend's enthusiastic invitation and the yearning in his heart, so he went.

It seems like it actually worked. After drinking and reading books like "The True Scriptures of the Sea King," "God's Art of Being a Scumbag," etc., Rode felt that he had grasped the true meaning of life, understood emotional intelligence, and would never again misread the atmosphere and be disliked by girls.

The only thing lacking is courage.

Then he remembered the interpretation of the dream he had just been watching, and the symbol about courage.

Before bed, he made the symbol with his hands as instructed in the book, placed it over his chest, and closed his eyes peacefully.

I thought that after waking up, a new path of light would unfold before me. Unexpectedly, I have truly "passed away" .

Thought flashed through his mind, and a sudden idea struck Rhode.

If all of this is truly related to it, then.

Can I go back now?

The moment this thought occurred, his blood vessels were throbbing wildly, his heart almost bursting. The longing to go home drew him in; family, close friends, the internet, keyboard, reality or virtual, wives past, present, or future – they all encouraged him.

Infinite courage arises in the heart.

There is nothing left to be afraid of.

Rhone dashed toward the target point.

In the midst of such unknown dangers, decisive and goal-oriented action may not always yield positive results, but it is undeniably the path that leads closest to success.

Hesitation, indecision, and standing still may seem safe, but they often lead to worse outcomes.

Although it can't be confirmed, this is already the only possibility.

Perhaps with just a slight touch, he could instantly teleport back home.

Rhode leaped into the strange pattern.

The next moment, a surge of heat coursed through my body, as if something fiery had pierced me.

Then everything went black, and countless images flooded my mind.

On the dark desolate wasteland, a squad walked in solitude.

One hand shot up in the ranks, crushing a black skull. On the back of that hand was an incredibly prominent eye symbol.

The team was in disarray, with a specter moving among them.

Everyone is dead.

The scene vanished, the strange feeling faded, and Rode came to his senses. The pattern beneath his feet began to evaporate, black blood steamed up, transforming into fine black dust that scattered away.

The light dimmed slightly.

What happened？

Rhody was a little confused, what did those pictures mean? What was hot and swollen all about?

And just like that, this bizarre symbol is gone?

Don't you give me any surprises?

Looking around, the scene of corpses strewn everywhere still sent shivers down my spine, but there was a sense of familiarity.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head:

"Could it be that the scene I just witnessed was the annihilation of this squad?"

"That hand that crushed the skull, is that the killer?"

But, what good would killing the murderer do? Would I just open a portal on his body and teleport home after slaying him?

This should be a simple answer:

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Just as he was dumbfounded, Rode suddenly noticed shadowy figures flickering around him, like ghosts drifting about. An eerie humming sound arose from the air, and all the corpses were shrouded in darkness.

"What's going on?"

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"Oh no, did I just release some kind of monster?"

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A creature, about three meters tall and covered in black hair, stepped out of the shadows into the light.

The moment the flames touched it, a roaring fire erupted. Black smoke billowed into the sky alongside the flames.

Its movements froze for a moment, but didn't completely stop, like wading through mud.

"Damn."

Rod was startled and took a step back.

"What the heck is this?! I don't want this kind of surprise!"

Pffft! Pffft! Pffft!

More black-furred monsters stepped out of the black mist.

The rising black ash and raging fire made them look extremely terrifying.

In panic, Rhode tripped over a corpse.

Just as he was about to get up, a corpse grabbed his ankle.

Holy crap!

Lord's foot kicked open the corpse, and he jumped back like a startled rabbit.

"The corpse came to life!"

>

Not only that, but Rhodes looked around and saw that within a radius of a hundred meters, every corpse was twitching.

"Darn it!"

Rhode was speechless.

He had nowhere to escape, and didn't know where to run.

Am I going to be okay?

In the midst of my fear, I suddenly saw a shooting star streak across the sky in the distance.

My thoughts were stirred for a moment.

Rhoe immediately remembered, this was the rescuer of the royal city.

In the depths of memory, the Wangcheng was the pillar supporting all their beliefs.

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As a human kingdom that could survive in such harsh environments, they must have their own way of operating to cope with the threats from the dangerous outside world.

The migration team disappeared here, they must have found something unusual!

"Hey!"

Road roared, hope surging within him.

More than just the hope of salvation, there is a greater hope.

He had just stepped into the scene and saw the picture of the migration team being wiped out. Combining the traces left at the scene, it could be inferred that this must have been a premeditated murder.

However, the murderer's characteristic is a very obvious eye pattern carved on the back of his hand.

>

Let me know if you have any other text you'd like me to translate!

This is a very important clue. If he provides it to the rescuers, they should reward him, right?

According to experience in the original world, for a major case that resulted in the murder of hundreds of people, at least an S-level wanted notice should be issued. Providing important information leading to the capture of an S-level wanted criminal warrants a set of housing allocation in the Wangcheng, wouldn't you agree?

If things really went his way, at the very least, the probability of survival would increase significantly.

"I'm here! I'm here!"

Rhodes stood before the lamp, jumping up and down wildly, flailing his arms frantically.

And the meteors in the sky seemed to notice this place and flew over.

“Great! I have hope now!”

However, in the midst of his joy, Rhode suddenly discovered that on the back of his hand there was a black tattoo.

On closer inspection, wasn't that an eye?

Black lines crisscross each other, forming a huge pupil, just like the one I saw before.

No way?

Rod froze completely.

Could it be... that the murderer is me...?

>

I report myself, to be assigned a dungeon in the royal palace?

A meteor landed.

(Editor in charge：graphic novels)