The King of Black Fog

It was a gray-white eyeball, devoid of any sparkle, and from just this eye, one could imagine a cold corpse standing erect in front of them.

Thick black substance surged up, transforming into a black hand that grabbed the other party.

After waiting three seconds and confirming there was no resistance, the black substance covering Li Changzhou's right hand receded, and he raised the kerosene lamp to get closer to the other party.

The figure was burly, with tattoos on the face, and it was the burly man killed by the child with a breathtaking green light.

The kerosene lamp was brought a bit closer, and Li Changzhou took a step forward, scrutinizing the other party inch by inch like an archaeologist, as if trying to see every pore on the other's face.

Pale complexion, hair, beard, and frost on the collar, as if from a corpse freshly pulled from the freezer.

Li Changzhou fell into contemplation; was it the child's 'great power,' or in this ghostly place, do all the dead resurrect in the form of corpses?

No.

If it were the latter, the tavern owner and those adventurers wouldn't stand by, they would definitely burn the corpse on the spot.

So...

It's also not certain if it's the child's 'great power.'

Just like no one knows he possesses the 'great power,' he also doesn't know who else in the tavern holds this mysterious power, perhaps it's some unknown person who acted.

Retracting his thoughts, Li Changzhou looked at the corpse before him... it'd be good for practice.

Under Li Changzhou's will, the black hand dissolved, becoming a mesh-like armor that covered the corpse.

The corpse straightened its legs and moved stiffly.

Raised its arm, threw a punch, crouched, ran, wrote with its fingers...

Aside from detailed actions like writing, the corpse could do what a normal person could under the control of the black substance.

A black wall arose, the corpse punched it, but the black wall remained unmoved, it used claws, teeth, and other weapons, still causing no damage to the black wall.

Li Changzhou raised his left hand, and black substance flooded into his hand, transforming into a purely black AK.

Click!

The finger pulled the trigger, producing a hollow sound without shooting a bullet.

A realization dawned—it seemed the black substance wasn't a standalone existence, giving a sensation of forming a gun with bare palms, hence unable to make a gun.

The black gun dissolved into nails.

With a hiss, Li Changzhou embedded the nail into the corpse's forehead, the corpse's gray-white eyes still staring at him.

It seemed the black substance didn't have the properties of flames, having no special lethality against the dead.

Hm?

A sudden feeling arose in Li Changzhou's heart, he stared at the corpse's head.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The corpse's head forcibly twisted, finally snapping with a click, and before it touched the ground, a black hand rose from the ground, grabbing the head, and slowly handed it to Li Changzhou.

Another black hand emerged from the darkness, taking the kerosene lamp from Li Changzhou's right hand.

Li Changzhou lowered his right hand, covered in black substance, with only his black pupils exposed.

The black hand held the kerosene lamp, edging closer to the corpse's head, while another black hand held the head near the lamp.

The dim light cast on the head, giving the pale face a strange hue, like makeup applied to a dead person.

Li Changzhou focused on the black nail in the forehead of the head, in the lamp's light, the black nail cast no shadow, with a slender black line connecting the nail to him.

Those eyes, completely blending with the night, watched silently for a moment, then he shifted his gaze to the body missing its head.

The mesh-like black armor tangled around the corpse transformed into five small black snakes, burrowing into the corpse's limbs and heart, then solidified into black nails.

After a moment, the corpse walked over, taking its head from the black hand as if retrieving a hat, placing it back on its neck.

The black hand, without a head, under Li Changzhou's gaze, helped the corpse adjust the angle of the head, confirming it wasn't significantly different from the original setting.

After finishing the tidying work, the black hand turned into a black line, sewing the head and neck together.

A corpse with black nails embedded in its forehead, heart, and limbs, neck sewn with a black line, stood obediently in front of Li Changzhou.

'Very good.' Li Changzhou nodded with satisfaction, 'Although the black substance has a distance limitation, with this corpse, the room for operation is greater, allowing for probing each person without exposing himself in the darkness.'

It is known that the child has one 'great power,' and completing the task requires a total of three.

Not just the number, among the three, one must resolve the 'ancient god curse'... can the breathtaking green light do it? Killing the ancient god? Or killing one of the ancient god's eyes?

◇

Ironwood room, a room named 'Ironwood.'

Amidst the darkness, three kerosene lamps, one on the bedside, two on the wooden table.

The night-guarding Kara and Rein, tightening their collars and hats to fend off the cold, huddled in the corner, their expressions filled with boredom, tinged with a hint of sorrow.

Rein yawned, "How long until dawn?"

"See for yourself," Kara replied coldly.

The tavern owner was a stingy, money-grubbing woman, if not for customers not consuming human flesh, what lay on the plate wouldn't only be horse meat, thus, just looking at how much oil the kerosene lamp had left, one could tell how much longer the night was.

Rein, of course, knew, but any slight movement and the cold wind would find an opportunity to deliver a sharp stab.

He mentally prepared himself for a while, then stretched his neck, quickly glanced at the kerosene lamp, and before the cold wind's stab could cut too deep, swiftly retracted his neck.