The King of Black Fog

After a while, the old man returned and quietly reported the information to Li Changzhou.

"The owner of this tavern is named 'Della'. She used to be a warrior searching for the 'Great Power', then later opened this tavern here."

The man who was grabbed by the old man in the stable glanced at the bar: "Della, that's a beautiful name."

"Let me remind you, Andy," the old man said sternly, his eyes fierce. If earlier chatting with Della he seemed like a flirting old man, now he was like a bear, "when you're outside, there are three kinds of people you shouldn't mess with: old men, women, and children, because—"

"Because they're either experienced or holders of the 'Great Power', alright, old man, you've been telling me this every day since I joined the team." Andy interrupted impatiently.

He suddenly grinned mischievously, hugging the smallest member of the team: "Tali is a woman, but she's also a child, should I be afraid of her?"

Andy burst into laughter; in the tavern, his laughter was quite 'in tune' with the atmosphere, not disturbing anyone around.

Tali pushed him away: "But my captain is..."

The old man glared at Tali murderously, under this gaze, Tali felt suffocated as if a horse's leg was stuffed in her mouth.

Everyone was easing the cold brought from outside. The old man rubbed his wrinkles vigorously.

Soon, Della came over holding a huge wooden tray herself.

"Horse bone soup, roasted horse meat, and baked bread." She placed the corresponding food on the table with each mention, "Enough soup for everyone, go help yourself at the fireplace."

The horse meat was piled up, there were some dry spices for dipping.

There were two kettles of horse bone soup, each different in style—just like the kettles on the fireplace, clearly from different owners, just like the horse meat.

"With this cold weather, does Miss Della need some help staying warm at night?" Andy joked.

Della smiled slightly.

Before she could reply, the old man growled in a low voice, "Andy!"

Andy pouted, grabbing a kettle to pour himself a cup.

"Is this horse bone soup?!" Andy squawked, "How is it any different from the melted snow water I drank?!"

"It's different, of course," Della chuckled, "I used the snow from in front of the tavern."

"Isn't that worse? People who've stepped on horse manure might have stepped on that snow!"

Della shrugged, the gesture graceful and charming: "Good luck eating the snow I stepped on."

She was about to leave when Li Changzhou called out to her.

"What is it, my next husband?" Della placed the tray down and sat beside Li Changzhou, propping her chin on her hand to gaze at him.

The attention of those around, intentional or not, all focused this way.

Glancing at the calloused hands of the other, Li Changzhou remained calm: "Has there been any particularly beautiful woman in Fengxue Town recently?"

"Yes, but not recently, I came to Fengxue Town three years ago." Della's watery brown right eye blinked slowly, while her left eye stared at Li Changzhou lifelessly.

"Thank you." Li Changzhou took a piece of hard ice from the beast bag at his waist and placed it on the table.

"Handsome and rich," Della leaned in, her warm breath made contact with Li Changzhou's still cold face, "in this chilly weather, don't sleep alone tonight, let big sister tell you a story."

Andy's expression grew exaggerated, about to speak.

Bang!

The door was kicked open once more.

Della stayed close to Li Changzhou, but her face, now with raised eyebrows, turned around.

As the door opened, the fierce cold wind made everyone in the tavern shiver, cursing angrily, even the old man muttered a few curses under his breath.

But soon, voices fell silent.

More than a dozen people came in, some without heads, some missing arms, others without legs, and a few crawled on the ground.

Della's expression changed slightly, she rose slowly, a smile devoid of humor slowly appearing on her face.

Apart from her, there was no creature in the tavern that dared move.

"Pat," Della said with a smile, "how was the haul?"

The only man with his body intact, although an ice cone was lodged in his chest, said irritably, "Nothing gained, everyone fell to their deaths when going into the pit, got any food?"

They walked into the room.

The kettle on the fireplace boiled, whistling sharply.

A man near the fireplace was startled.

Pat, along with those who were already dead, slowly turned their heads to look over.

"How come there's a living person?" Pat asked Della, but his gaze remained fixed on that man.

They changed direction, moving towards the man.

"...Help, help me!" the man screamed hoarsely.

No one paid him any attention, the others stood as still as ice sculptures, Li Changzhou's gaze subtly shifted, following these dead people.

A corpse, crawling on the ground, body severed in two, suddenly turned to look at him.

Li Changzhou felt the sudden halt in the breathing of those around him.

"Help me!!" the man stood up, yelling and shouting, as the corpse shifted its gaze away from Li Changzhou.

The corpses slowly walked over, knocking down a living person along the way, the living person fell like a rigid statue.

The man targeted by the corpses had facial muscles twitching wildly from fear.

"You... you..." the man glanced around at all the living people in the tavern, his eyes bloodshot, his expression gradually becoming ferocious.

Li Changzhou was very familiar with this kind of look, he often saw it when tidying up on Earth.

That "once caught, there's only the death penalty, so they indulge recklessly, dragging down as many as possible with them" kind of look.

He wasn't the only one who noticed this look, Della, the old man, and many others noticed it too.

Except for Li Changzhou, the expressions of these people turned maniacal.

"Act!" Della suddenly shouted.

In the firelight from the hearth, silver metal glittered brightly, the sound of iron clanging resounded.

Everyone either drew their swords, swung huge axes, or readied bows to shoot arrows.

Whoosh!

An arrow shot past everyone, hitting Pat's head straight, the arrow pierced the air with sufficient force, but Pat only swayed slightly.

"Roar!" the dead went berserk, with immense strength.

The crawling corpse moved just as fast as the gale.

The bonfire from the hearth was picked up and smashed onto the dead bodies, the tavern was momentarily ablaze with flames.

Corpses and the living mingled in combat, shadows cast by the firelight flickered on the walls like shadow puppetry.

The sound of boiling water grew ever sharper!

Li Changzhou retreated to the side without taking action, quietly observing the battle, noting the combat methods and level in this world.

Seemingly chaotic combat, was actually each for themselves, each group only guarding their own, even if a corpse pinned another team to the ground to devour, they remained indifferent.

Weapons that struck the corpses would be coated with a faint blue liquid, most weapons crack upon contact with the blue liquid due to freezing.

The liquid could damage weapons, and with the corpses' great strength and speed, everyone was cautious, using flames to slowly wear them down.

Flames were evidently the nemesis of the corpses, soon, the corpses began to decompose as if thawing.

Flesh fell piece by piece from the face, arms, thighs, burning like oil on the ground, yet it didn't ignite any wood.

Until all flesh detached from the body, bones collapsed, and the corpses stopped attacking.

About five minutes later, all the corpses in the tavern turned into bones, with faint candle-like flames flickering on the wooden floor.

Everyone was panting.

In this life-and-death struggle, regardless of how warmly dressed, their bodies could not warm up, yet now they were drenched in sweat.

"Damn!" a man as brawny as a horse, grabbed the man previously scared by the kettle.

He forcefully pinned the man to the table and chairs, disregarding the sharp yet commanding voice of the tavern owner, Della, and brought down an axe.

The axe's edge was coated with a layer of gold by the firelight, which quickly turned bloody.

It was a clean decapitation.

The head rolled across the floor, with a crisp sound, rolling all the way to the entrance, stopping at the toes of a group of people.

Della's brown eyes, still vivid with color, seemed ready to spit fire...

Wait.

A group of people?

No one had time to relax, their guts tensed again!

Leading the group was a child wrapped tightly, he looked down at the head by his feet, kicked it with his foot, a hint of a happy smile on his tender face.

Everyone held their breath.

"The water's boiled," the child, engrossed in his play, suddenly raised his head, "isn't anyone going to attend to it?"

On the hearth, dozens of kettles boiled simultaneously, emitting explosions of sharp hissing.