Instinctively reaching out, he felt something cold—it turned out to be a heavy iron machete.

In a flash, Lawson understood many things.

‘This attack was aimed at me! Most likely, they mistook me for the ambushing curse mage!’

‘That mage was hiding near the sheep pen but didn’t kill me—not because he didn’t notice me, but because he used me as bait to confuse the enemy’s senses!’

In other words, he had just been wandering at death’s door!

Thinking of this, his heart instantly turned cold.

Right then, a dim dark red orb of light shot out from a secluded corner by the sheep pen, crashing into the figure outside.

No, not just one orb—two, no, three!

‘Beep! Beep! Beep!’

Accompanied by a strange whistling sound, the three orbs traced smooth arcs through the night, striking the figure one after another.

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’

The explosions, like giant firecrackers, went off almost simultaneously.

“Ah~~~~”

A cry of pain echoed from outside the sheep pen.

With the scream, the previously extinguished torches flared up again, their flickering light slightly dispelling the darkness of the snowy night.

Lawson lifted his head slightly, peering outside through a hole in the wooden boards.

He saw the bandit leader, Ironclaw Wolf, lying on the snow less than ten meters from the sheep pen, groaning in pain and writhing.

Both his arms were severed at the shoulders, and below his left knee was nothing but emptiness. The snow around him was stained black with blood gushing from his wounds.

On the other side of the sheep pen, in a secluded corner less than five meters from Lawson, a medium-built man emerged.

The man wore a slightly worn, wide-brimmed, pointed hat, a thick gray cloak dusted with snowflakes, and leaned on a long wooden staff.

He looked almost exactly like the mage Lawson had imagined.

The man walked a few steps forward, stopping five meters in front of the bandit leader. The firelight illuminated his face.

Lawson squinted, observing that the mage appeared to be just over forty, very thin, with slightly sunken cheeks and a forehead full of fine lines, giving him a weathered look.

But his eyes were a misty gray, glinting eerily in the darkness. Just one glance made Lawson feel a chill in his heart, as if he were being stared down by a wild beast.

Several thoughts flashed quickly through his mind.

‘This mage definitely sees human life as worthless.’

‘Magic is truly powerful—he wiped out an entire bandit camp single-handedly... If I want to survive with dignity, I’ll probably have to become a mage too!’

At this moment, the mage spoke.

“Waldron, you have two choices now. First, tell me where the camp’s treasure is hidden, and I’ll let you die quickly. Second, I’ll spend three days prying your mouth open bit by bit.”

“Despicable! Shameless! Bastard!”

“I won’t say a word!”

“You’ll never get a single copper from me!”

Ironclaw Wolf Waldron roared with all his might, but he was too weak—his voice carried no threat.

The mage shrugged. “That’s a pity. I heard your son just died yesterday, buried in the graveyard over there, right?”

As he spoke, he turned to look at the graveyard in one corner of the camp.

After a few seconds of silence, a bright green orb of light appeared out of thin air beside him, floating like a will-o’-the-wisp toward the graveyard and sinking into the damp earth.

A suffocating silence lasted for about ten seconds.

‘Plop!’

From the soft, wet ground, a pale hand covered in black mud reached out, then another. The hands clawed at the earth, digging out a pit.

Next, a young man sat up from the pit.

He wore a beast-hide coat soaked in mud and water, his skin bluish, pupils white, head covered in mud and snow. He looked like a corpse, but his movements were as lively as the living.

He clutched his own neck tightly, painful whimpers squeezing from his throat.

“Father~ Father~ It hurts so much~ It hurts so much~ Save me~~ Save me~~”

The voice was hollow and ethereal, like an echo drifting from hell.

Lawson watched all this, his hair standing on end.

Although he’d seen similar ‘living corpses’ in various media in his previous life, that was all imagination. Now, seeing it happen before his eyes, he felt a powerful psychological shock.

This was... this was just too intense!

Instinctively, he focused all his attention, eyes wide open, staring unblinkingly at the scene.

At that moment, Lawson heard a ‘click’ in his mind, like a camera shutter, and a stream of information flashed through his mind.

‘Adventure log screenshot successful. Screenshot automatically saved to desktop.’

His heart stirred, and he immediately summoned the desktop.

Sure enough, there was a new image on the desktop, perfectly capturing the moment the living corpse crawled out of the earth, with astonishing detail—every feature crystal clear.

Lawson was secretly pleased: “I can even take screenshots—at the very least, I could be an excellent realist painter.”

There was no time to look further—the mage’s voice came again.

“Waldron, your son may be dead, but his soul hasn’t dissipated yet. I can make him get up and suffer every torture in the world all over again!”

“No! No~~~~~”