CHAPTER 55: 55. LOOK AT ME

Neken felt like he had a very long dream.

He dreamt he was back in his hometown of Hidaris, back when the Royal Family hadn’t yet met with misfortune, and the Temerian restoration army hadn’t yet arrived.

The air wasn’t filled with the stench of rotting corpses and the thick smoke of burning houses, but with the fragrance of flowers in the town’s flowerbeds and the aroma of sea fish being cooked in roadside restaurants.

People weren’t tense, weren’t anxiously guarding against every stranger, nor were they... hungry enough to gnaw on fellow corpses.

The air there was humid yet pleasant, the temperature just right. It was nothing like Velen, which was swamps and miasma all over, like a muddy pit.

Neken began to yearn for everything from his hometown before it was ravaged by war.

"Wake up, scum."

But then, the scene in his dream changed.

He began to run heedlessly through the jungle.

He didn’t know why he had to run; he just felt a thrilling sensation as if his bones were gnawing and sucking blood, bursting from deep within.

Behind him came the "thud, thud, thud" of heavy footsteps, fast and urgent.

Dreaming, Neken felt it was absurd.

Sprinting through the forest, are you wearing heavy armor? Chasing me down?

Are you some kind of Deer-headed Demon?

Forget it, it’s just a dream, dreams don’t make sense, don’t make sense...

Just a dream...

"I said, wake up, scum!"

In a haze, Neken felt a figure moving in front of him, his view lying on the ground.

Then, he felt his wrist being stepped on.

Neken was jerked back to reality by the physical sensation, blankly opening his eyes to see his wrist pinned down.

This wasn’t much of a concern because the other party’s purpose was to "hold down," not "crush."

But pinning down the wrist... for what?

A "sizzling" sound erupted by his ear.

That was the sound of meat sizzling at high heat, the oil inside popping and crackling.

Neken’s scattered gaze condensed, soon turning into terror!

"Ahhhhhhh!!!"

It was the hand! It was his hand!

His hand was pressed against a pile of coals that still had embers!

What had been their campfire, not long ago roasting an oiled arm.

His body, which had been lying flat on the ground, arched up instantly in pain.

He frantically tried to pull his wrist away, but the boot armored with steel guards seemed immovable!

Not a budge.

"What are you doing? What are you doing?! Who are you? Help! Heaven spare me, help!"

Lann lightly tilted his head, watching the man at his feet squirm like a maggot.

Slowly pressing his wrist away from the pile of embers with his foot.

Neken got a brief respite from the continuous burning pain.

By now there was no blood left in his face, giant beads of sweat rolling down from his forehead.

He instinctively looked around, but the sights around him seemed to shatter his last shred of sanity.

Tears of fear and snot burst forth, his lips trembling as if in a shiver.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Seven people gathered in this small camp, all concentrated in this clearing.

Three were cut dead on the spot, while those who turned to flee were already in "various strange conditions."

Kneeling on the ground, hands trying to reach their own head, but that head had already turned into charred coal!

A wide gaping mouth, Neken could almost imagine the look of desperate howling.

And necks bulging unnaturally, skin full of blood vessels, a patch of cyan-black...

From the bewilderment of waking up from a dream, to the panic and shock of sudden pain, combined with the current sight before his eyes.

Neken’s head trembled as he turned, looking at the man with his foot on his wrist.

A face with exotic features, wearing thick armor, not even the Cotton Armor Outer Cover scratched!

He finally remembered his situation.

Roasting a human arm with his teammates, then an enemy burst from the woods, shredded anyone daring to unsheathe a sword.

They ran, then fell unconscious.

Upon waking again, this man was stepping on his wrist, pressing his hand into the pile of coal with embers.

"A bit disappointed."

The man spoke with no expression.

"I thought the cruel ferocity of cannibals would persist until the very last second before their death."

Neken was too terrified to speak properly.

"Mercy, mercy! Please... I beg you!"

"When life and death aren’t in your hands, don’t plead for mercy; show your worth, Neken."

The man’s tone was calm, but because it was so calm, in this camp already bizarrely adorned with various corpses, such calm was absolutely terrifying.

"Neken, a fisherman from Hidaris City, Neken Vanderlo. Your friends told me you’re the most senior and respected in this camp. They told me a lot about you, your background, your experiences, your rank in this group..."

"But they didn’t know more, so they ended up like this. I hope sincerely you can have a different end from theirs."

Lann gestured to the man at his feet, indicating around him, his tone stable and deep.

But in Neken’s ears, it felt like an intangible, frantic spirit was rampaging in his mind!

"A slightly big-headed little boy, taken two days ago, wearing a washed-out blue linen shirt, bearing nothing else."

"I’ve run all the way from Auridon to Condell, killing, interrogating, killing again... because you abducted such a child."

"I killed your hunters, I killed the noble’s soldiers stationed in Condell, and then here."

"To strike fear in you, I grabbed that man’s head and used the Igni Magic Seal to burn his head to coal."

"To prevent your lies, I grabbed another’s throat, using Alder’s Rune, pumped twenty kilograms of air into his stomach."

Lann pointedly gestured at those corpses for Neken.

"I vomited during the interrogation, Neken. Because unlike you, I don’t derive pleasure from human screams and wails, I don’t find satisfaction. On the contrary, those sounds make my bones ache until they go numb."

"But don’t misunderstand... even though I vomited then, I didn’t hesitate at all during the interrogation. Because I know, vomiting was just a physiological reaction, in my heart’s sense of justice, there’s no disagreement with my actions."

Lann bent slightly closer to Neken.

Indeed, a sour stench lingered at the corner of his mouth, that of stomach acid.

"In fact, even if I had to interrogate a hundred, two hundred more of you, I’d still feel uncomfortable. But I’m also very sure—so long as it helps me to save that child, I’d never slacken because of discomfort while acting."

"The life of a man-eating beast, a thousand can’t match the worth of a good child."

"That’s what I think, Neken."

As he spoke, Lann pressed Neken’s wrist back toward the ember-laden pile of coal.

"Now, tell me where the child is. If you don’t know, tell me who possibly might."

"Or you can play the tough guy, grit your teeth through torture, face danger with bravery, choose death over surrender. Honestly, I hope you do."

"Like I told your companions, the information a tough guy spills after breaking down is often more reliable."

"While someone who spouts a lot of information right away makes me worry about what is usable and what’s not, wasting time."

"Am I making sense, Neken?"

Lann leaned forward, pressing close to Neken’s side, staring directly into his eyes.

"Come, lift your head and look at me, speak."

He calmly said: "Let me see if you’re lying, if you’re hiding something."

Neken Vanderlo, utterly broke down.