While the young boy assumed his life was over after seeing the bloody hands of the living corpse man, the latter gestured with his blood-drenched hand holding a rectangular object and spoke: "Here. I want you to take this golden stone book and head to the South Main City's Stronghold leader's office and hand this over to him. I don't care how you get there. Just find a way to deliver it to him. When you do, say that an unlucky, dying man gave it to you for safekeeping. Do you understand what I just said?"
The young boy dumbly nodded without thinking about the living corpse man's words. The next moment, he came back to his senses and swallowed hard in fear. He hesitated to grab the golden stone book.
The living corpse man was impatient and loudly said: "Take it, and you can leave!"
At this point, the young boy realized he had no choice but to take the golden stone book. But he was worried that something was wrong with it.
Despite his thoughts, after contemplating his decision and considering the repercussions of rejecting the living corpse man, he came to the conclusion that he had to take the golden stone book. Thus, he forcefully suppressed his fear and reached out his hand slowly to grab it.
"So you're nearby! Just wait for me, you're dead meat, Paul!"
A voice suddenly echoed through the forest, causing him to flinch and involuntarily move to grab the golden stone book in a hurried manner. Once he took hold of it, he stopped in his movement and turned around to search for the owner of the voice, but he couldn't see anyone nearby.
While vigilantly looking around, he failed to notice that the golden stone book in his grasp shone with a bright light, and the light permeated his body through his hand as though it was scanning him.
After pondering for a moment, the young boy discerned that the owner of the voice he heard was most likely referring to the living corpse man. With that realization, he turned to look at the miserable state of the man in front of him and couldn't help but wonder in his heart.
'Is this living corpse man actually not dead and instead just hurt? Did that voice just now refer to him as Paul?'
These thoughts merely flashed through the young boy's mind momentarily before dissipating completely, as they were irrelevant to his equivocal situation.
After all, his situation hadn't changed much with this discovery. Even if the living corpse man was still alive, judging by their tone of voice, the other person seemed to be looking for him with ill intentions.
He wondered if that person was the one who caused the living corpse man— Paul— his serious injuries. He also wondered what would happen if he ran into that person.
Would he end up like this Paul person lying in front of him?
"Hahaha! I can feel that treasure! Wait for me!"
The other person's voice sounded once again. It was also at this time that the light on the golden stone book and on the young boy's hand disappeared completely.
"Run! Get away from here if you don't want to die!"
The young boy suddenly heard the solemn voice of the living corpse man, or rather, Paul, and then for some reason, he felt a sense of crisis well up inside of him. Without thinking too much about the root of the crisis, he immediately ran as quickly as possible to avoid the impending disaster that loomed over his entire existence.
'What is this uncanny feeling? It felt like I would be obliterated by whoever that person was if I had stayed there any longer.'
With such apprehensive thoughts in mind, the young boy quickened his pace, moving astonishingly fast, as though he had become one with the wind.
Unknowingly, the injuries that he had succumbed to previously had already healed, and he felt invigorated and slightly energetic. Thus, he was able to run a little bit faster than usual. Though he was always fast when he ran, he wasn't as fast as his present self at this moment.
Not to mention that after running a marathon, he would always feel his skin rupture and then bleed profusely. This deterred him from running most of the time. However, his current situation didn't provide him with any other choice.
Despite the suffering that came with overexerting himself, for some strange reason, aside from his ligaments, his bones never got hurt, which was a stark contrast to his skin and flesh injuries.
After running through the forest in one direction for some time without knowing whether he was on the right path or not, he finally saw some light in the distance. Upon further observation, he was instantly overjoyed by the sight of buildings in the distance.
"I made it back!"
The young boy had a silly look on his face as he stormed in the direction of the glowing lights.
Some time later, he finally reached the orphanage's establishment. Thankfully, the orphanage's establishment was not that far from Edge Forest, so he only had to run for about ten minutes before he reached his destination.
After going through the doors of the orphanage's building, under the shocked gazes of the children and the others in the orphanage, especially the manager who was responsible for sending him to get the medicinal grass, and one particular boy who frowned upon seeing him come through the door from the outside alone, he rushed into his room without batting them an eye. Only then did the young boy feel that he was safe, and the feeling of looming danger vanished from his mind shortly after.
The young boy slumped tiredly and lay on his bed, breathing heavily and raggedly. As if a storm was brewing in his heart, he could feel his heart rate increasing and beating so loudly like a drum in the middle of a hurricane.
The young boy took some time to go through what he had experienced on this day. He then thought of the golden stone book that was still in his clutches and immediately sat up on the edge of his bed, while ignoring the state of his body.
The young boy observed the golden stone book in his grasp for a few moments in wonder. After a few moments, when he wanted to open it and see its contents, as if it was an object molded entirely out of grains of sand, it crumbled and turned into dust, scattering on his lap.
The young boy observed this sudden turn of events in shock, unable to extricate himself from his dumbfounded state for a while.
"What the hell... After all that trouble, it was just a sand-molded book? Not even a stone book as it appeared to suggest? Why did that Paul person want me to take it then? Why did I even bring it with me in the first place? Today was just my unlucky day... I nearly died for this stone... No, this sand-molded book."