There are too many puzzles with no solution, at least William Clark couldn’t understand what he had experienced.

Compared to terrifying things like ghosts, monsters, curses, and the afterlife, the original world he belonged to was at least safe. Even though he had now become a vegetative patient, what if he could regain control of his body and wake up tomorrow?

That would still be better than being torn apart and devoured by monsters after crossing over, right?

The excruciating pain of having his leg smashed, the agony of having the flesh on his thigh ripped off bite by bite, and the utter despair when cornered by monsters—all of these left an indelible mark on William Clark. As an ordinary young man who grew up in a peaceful era and a peaceful world, he had never even dreamed of such terrifying things.

This made him completely afraid to cross over again.

Even if it meant staying in the current darkness, only able to listen to the faint sounds from the outside world.

So William Clark stayed in his original body for a long time. Although he couldn’t sense the exact passage of time, judging from the sounds he heard—like how the surroundings were noisier and more chaotic during the day, and most of the time quiet at night—he used this method to estimate time. He figured he had stayed in his original body for about ten days, or maybe a bit more than ten days, and then he noticed something unusual.

He seemed to be able to faintly, very, very faintly, feel sensations from his body.

It was a slight pricking sensation on the back of his hand—not painful, just the tiniest bit of feeling. At that moment, he happened to hear the nurse giving him an injection or something similar, and at the same time, he also heard his parents’ voices.

“??旻旻 is about to take the college entrance exam, but she still wants to come over??”

“Why not take 明明 back home, and spend the reunion festival together…”

“There’s still a lot of compensation money left, but??”

William Clark couldn’t hear them clearly. His only perception of the outside world was through sound, but even that was often blurry. Since becoming a vegetative patient, the recent needle-prick-like sensation on the back of his hand—though it was really just the faintest touch—was the only physical feeling he had experienced.

William Clark had become a vegetative patient after being hit by a car in the summer right after graduation. He vaguely sensed that about half a year had passed, so by his calculation, it was probably around the time of the Spring Festival.

His younger sister’s name was Emily Clark. In terms of pronunciation—especially with a Chongqing accent—it sounded almost the same as William Clark, which was something both he and his sister often complained to their parents about. They both thought it was the result of their parents being lazy when naming them.

Emily Clark was 18 this year, just about to graduate high school, five years younger than him. Unlike him, his sister was a hardworking academic achiever. Though not a genius, her grades were much better than his, and she had a good chance of getting into a top university. If she performed well on the day, she might even get into Peking University or Tsinghua University. At this moment, hearing snippets of his parents’ conversation made William Clark feel truly miserable.

And now?? It was the Spring Festival, a time for family reunion, yet he had become a vegetative patient??

Only after his parents left did William Clark gradually calm down from his feelings of longing.

Then he immediately began to carefully think about the needle-prick sensation he had felt on the back of his hand.

This was clearly a sign that he was recovering.

But it was only a sign.

Moreover, William Clark also had a feeling that after returning from his last crossing, his consciousness felt fuller.

This was actually very hard to understand. After all he had experienced during the crossing—one leg broken, his lower body a bloody mess, wounds all over his body—it would be no exaggeration to call it a severe injury. In that state, upon returning, he immediately fell into a coma. But after more than ten days, he felt that his consciousness was somehow fuller and stronger.

Then William Clark thought of the glowing particles that had emerged from the monster’s corpse when he killed it. Some of those particles had fallen into his mouth. At the time, things were urgent and he hadn’t thought much about it, but after returning to his original body, he had replayed the scene over and over in his mind, and of course, he didn’t overlook the glowing particles.

(Could it be that my soul has become stronger?)

William Clark was a young man, and apart from gaming, his biggest entertainment was reading web novels. So, making a reasonable association, he came up with some guesses about his current situation.

(Could it be that in that afterlife world, killing monsters lets you gain soul? Essence? Or something else? And after I absorbed those things, my soul essence became stronger? At the same time, the three elements of energy, spirit, and soul are interconnected, so if my soul becomes stronger, it naturally has some effect on my body—like a deeper connection and perception of my body? So does that mean…)

(As long as my soul is strong enough, I can wake up from my vegetative state!?)

This thought made William Clark extremely excited.

During the half year he had been in a vegetative state, he had overheard many conversations between doctors and his parents. He generally knew that he might never wake up again. Of course, if he was lucky, he might wake up in a few months or a year, but if not, being a vegetative patient for life was the most likely outcome.

He didn’t want that!

To rot away in this darkness, never seeing the world again, unable to fulfill his filial duties to his parents, with no family, friends, or classmates left…

He didn’t want that!!