Chapter 10: Blood

Out of the front door, Lu Mian seemed to have entered another world.

In front of him was no longer the familiar Cordu village, but a mountain peak reflecting dark red and circles of collapsed buildings surrounding it, which together formed a strange ruin.

The high-altitude fog was thick and pale white, making it difficult for light to enter. The ground was broken and bumpy with many loose stones. Lu Mian carried the axe and moved forward cautiously, unable to find a place to hide his figure along the way.

There were no weeds here, and no trees.

Lu Mian walked with fear and trepidation, only able to arch his waist and back, comforting himself—at least if there was any danger in this area, it was clear at a glance and could be discovered in advance.

Finally, he arrived at the ruins and came to a building that had half-collapsed from fire.

Lu Mian observed for a while, initially confirming that there were no other living creatures inside, and then walked in cautiously, avoiding the scorched black wood that could fall at any time, and began searching.

His gaze swept, and he saw a golden glint in a broken clay jar in the corner of the house.

Lu Mian approached step by step and found that it was a gold coin.

Is it this real? Are there treasures in the ruins of the dream? He muttered while picking up the gold coin and wiping it on his body.

The patterns on the surface of the gold coin were revealed.

On the front, it was carved with the head of a man with a thin face, hair parted in a three-seven split, and two mustaches on his lips, with a quite firm gaze. On the back was a cluster of iris flowers surrounding the number "20".

Lu Mian recognized that man; he was the first president of the Intis Republic, Levankes.

"It's actually a gold Louis..." Lu Mian was quite surprised.

First, he didn't expect that the currency of the Intis Republic in reality would appear in the ruins of this strange dream. Second, the one he picked up casually was actually something as valuable as a gold Louis.

The legal currency of the Intis Republic currently is Felkin and Kope, with 1 Felkin equal to 100 Kope.

Among them, Kope exists in the form of copper coins and silver coins. Copper coins are divided into three types: 1 Kope, 5 Kope, and 10 Kope, while silver coins have 20 Kope and 50 Kope.

Felkin can be silver coins, gold coins, or banknotes. Silver coins have three types: 1, 5, and 10 Felkin, while gold coins are divided into five types: 5, 10, 20, 40, and 50.

Banknotes have more diverse denominations, with 5, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 Felkin respectively.

And in actual life, the people of Intis are also used to using some old currency units. For example, they call the 5 Kope copper coin, which is the most widely used, a Rick.

Similarly, the gold coin worth 20 Felkin is called a gold Louis.

Of course, in the old currency era, the gold Louis was actually called a gold Roselle. After the Republic was established, in order to eliminate the influence of Emperor Roselle, it was changed to a gold Louis.

According to Lu Mian's knowledge, although it can't be done in the city, in a countryside place like Cordu village, a gold Louis can completely allow a poor family that already has land to live well for a month.

If it weren't for Aurora's not-low income, he might not have even seen what a gold Louis looked like. In the entire Cordu village, besides the siblings, only the priest's family and the administrative officer's family had seen and owned gold Louis.

For any villager, this gold Louis is a harvest worth cherishing.

"What a pity, this is just a dream..." Lu Mian sighed with disappointment in his heart.

This doesn't involve extraordinary things and shouldn't be able to be "brought" out of the dream.

Although that was the case, Lu Mian still solemnly put away the gold Louis. His past stray life made him cherish every Kope.

And a gold Louis is equivalent to 2000 Kope, slightly less than 1 pound of the Loen Kingdom. Of course, according to the newspaper, 24 Felkin can be exchanged for 1 pound.

Lu Mian continued searching.

He wanted to find some written records to confirm the specific situation of the ruins and see if this place corresponded to somewhere in reality, or if it was a village in the Republic of Intis that had been "moved" into the dream as a whole—the appearance of that gold louis had given Lu Mian these speculations.

As he moved step by step, Lu Mian saw that the edge of what was originally a stove was stained with a bit of dark red.

"Blood?" His pupils dilated, and he quickly formed a guess.

Immediately after, he made a judgment:

Although this blood was not fresh, it was not old either; it hadn't turned black and looked as if it had just dripped down two or three days ago.

Or even shorter!

While his heart tightened, Lu Mian felt the surrounding light suddenly dim a little.

It was as if something had silently crept over the half-collapsed roof, blocking the meager light that had been passing through the thick fog!

The experience of being attacked while wandering rushed into Lu Mian's mind like a surging wave, causing him to react reflexively.

He lunged forward abruptly, then curled his body in mid-air, rolling as he landed.

Thump!

A heavy object fell behind him.

Lu Mian rolled to the left side of the dilapidated stove, reached out to press against a stone, and used the leverage to turn his body.

He raised his axe and saw a figure standing where he had originally been.

Under the dim light, Lu Mian could not be sure if it was a human or a humanoid creature.

"He" was hunched over, wearing no clothes or shoes; his skin seemed to have been peeled off by someone, revealing bright red muscles, blood vessels, and yellowish fascia, with drop after drop of viscous liquid flowing over them without sliding to the ground.

This was a monster!

"His" eyes, with more white than blue, seemed embedded in his face; his mouth was stretched wide, his teeth were jagged, and saliva dripped down, stretched out long.

Over the past few years, Lu Mian had made up many ghost stories, but he never expected to encounter such a thing that could be called a malevolent ghost today.

Whoosh!

A bloody wind slapped against him, and the sound of wheezing breath reached his ears.

Lu Mian subconsciously stepped to the side, dodging the blood-red monster's attack.

If it weren't for the frequent "guidance" he received from Aurora, and the years of combat training and street fighting experience, he, being shocked in body and mind, might not have been able to react just now.

Steadying himself, Lu Mian chased after the monster that had overshot its mark, raised the sharp axe in his hand, and hacked fiercely at its back.

Bang!

The monster, just about to turn around, was hacked to the ground, with pus and blood splashing everywhere.

Lu Mian did not hesitate; he decisively knelt on one knee and raised the axe again.

Splat! Splat! Splat!

He hacked multiple times in a row, each axe sinking deep into the flesh, creating deep and wide gashes, leaving the monster's back of the head, neck, and back in a ruined state.

Finally, the monster stopped struggling and lay prone, motionless.

"Huff, huff! You don't look as terrifying as you perform..." Lu Mian let out a breath and whispered, half-mockingly.

He wiped his face with his left hand, smearing it with blood.

"Could this monster's body fluids be poisonous? I don't have that kind of corrosive pain for now..." Lu Mian began to worry about another problem.

Just as he mustered the courage to search the monster's body, the skinless, blood-colored monster braced its hands and suddenly sprang up again!

It wasn't dead yet?

Even after being hacked like that, it still wasn't dead?

Lu Mian was both shocked and terrified.

He had to admit, he was scared, he was timid.

If he had encountered a normal human, beast, or monster, even if he couldn't beat it, he wouldn't be this afraid; but this guy in front of him seemed impossible to kill, and everything he did was in vain!

Taking advantage of the monster appearing a bit "dizzy" and unable to find where the enemy was, Lu Mian made a prompt decision, braced his feet, used his knees to push off, and sprinted away.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

He ran at his best level, but a stream of breath still vaguely sprayed toward his neck, and the sound of heavy wheezing echoed in his ears.

The monster was in close pursuit behind him.

Lu Mian gritted his teeth, feeling that fear had brought a surge of strength into his body out of nowhere.

He ran even faster, surpassing his previous standards.

He was delighted to find that the distance between the monster and himself was no longer closing.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Lu Mian finally ran back to his own two-story semi-underground building.

He pulled open the unlocked door and darted inside.

Clang!

He slammed the door shut behind him.

Without stopping to rest, Lu Mian rushed to the stove and picked up the steel fork leaning against the wall there.

Then, he stared intently at the doorway.

The monster's running sound disappeared nearby, but ten seconds passed, and it didn't attempt to ram the door.

"Does it know I'm ambushing it here?" Lu Mian couldn't believe the monster had such high intelligence.

He moved bit by bit to the window near the front door and looked out quietly.

A face suddenly appeared on the glass!

A face without skin, bloody and mangled, with jagged teeth!

Lu Mian's heart nearly stopped, and he froze for a moment.

But the monster didn't take the opportunity to break the glass and launch an attack; it just stared at Lu Mian.

Lu Mian came to his senses, retreated quickly, and raised the long fork with both hands.

The monster then left the window area.

Lu Mian remained exceptionally cautious, guarding and observing.

He saw that in the faint gray fog, the monster wandered for a long while before leaving his building and slowly returning to the ruins.

"..." Lu Mian was very bewildered.

He had prepared himself to find a way to trap the monster and quickly escape the dream, but the opponent just left like that...

After pondering for a while, he thought of a possibility:

"That monster doesn't dare to enter my home?

"Right, there are no signs of damage in the house at all...

"In the dream, is this an absolutely safe place?"

Having this guess, Lu Mian immediately relaxed quite a bit.

The next second, he felt intense exhaustion.

This short chase was even more tiring than practicing combat for an entire afternoon.

Carrying the long fork and the axe, Lu Mian went up to the second floor, entered his bedroom, and tried to fall asleep.

…………

In a hazy state, Lu Mian opened his eyes.

It was still very dark outside the curtains, and the room was dim.

If it weren't for the lack of faint gray fog, and if he hadn't already "changed" into his pajamas, Lu Mian wouldn't be able to tell if this was reality or a dream.

"Startled, woke up early?" He subconsciously felt the pocket of his pajamas, but didn't find that gold louis.

This made him somewhat disappointed, confirming a fact once again:

Money truly cannot be brought out of the dream!

Collecting his thoughts, Lu Mian began to ponder a serious question:

How should he deal with that immortal monster?

Although he could bypass that area and sneak deeper, he still had to consider the possibility of encountering similar monsters later; he had to make corresponding preparations and couldn't gamble with his life.

PS: Thanks to Young Master Lang for the Silver Alliance donation.

(End of chapter)