I'm not a goblin Frankenstein's monster.

Chapter 99 Corpse

He stopped looking at the headless corpse, then suddenly bent down and roughly plunged his scaled and metal-covered gauntlets into the still-warm chest cavity of the body!

"Pfft!"

The dull thud of flesh being torn apart.

When he withdrew his hand, he held in his palm a human heart that was still pulsating slightly and stained with blood.

Without further hesitation, and without even glancing at the scene of carnage, he clenched his heart, turned and strode away with heavy steps toward the direction from which the howling came. Drawn by some force, he quickly disappeared into the dense shadows of the forest.

The forest clearing returned to silence, leaving only the thick, lingering stench of blood and the cold body with a gaping hole in its chest and its heart missing.

The Loran Forest is never short of scavengers with a keen sense of smell, nor is it lacking in monsters that crave fresh flesh.

In just a few days, or perhaps even just a few hours, with the kind help of these "forest scavengers," the remains of this nameless adventurer will completely decompose and blend into this fertile yet cruel soil. Flesh and blood will nourish the vegetation, while bones will turn to dust.

In a sense, adventurers and the forest seem to have reached a twisted yet eternal "cooperative" relationship: adventurers hunt monsters and gather resources from the forest to exchange for gold coins and survival; and in the end, many of them will "give back" everything to the forest in the form of their own lives, becoming nutrients to nourish a new cycle.

If nothing unexpected happens, the corpse will disappear completely in a very short time, as if it had never existed.

until-

"Whoosh!"

A dense thicket of thorns and ferns was cleanly and decisively cut off by a simple, all-black longsword, clearing a gap for passage.

Xia Lin sheathed his longsword, his gaze falling on the ground not far ahead, his brows furrowing slightly.

"An adventurer's corpse," he said to his teammates behind him, turning to the side.

The scene before them was quite gruesome. The corpse had clearly been visited more than once by the "residents" of the forest. Most of the flesh and blood had disappeared, leaving only a few bones with rotten flesh hanging on them and tattered clothes.

The fatal wound on his neck, the clean cut, and the horrifying hole in his chest all indicated that he had suffered an extremely brutal attack.

"Judging from the wounds and the extent of the damage," Xia Lin crouched down and carefully poked at the remaining scraps of cloth and leather armor with the tip of his sword. "It doesn't seem like the work of an ordinary wild beast or goblin."

More like—a powerful and incredibly fast monster.

Melissa, pale-faced, covered her mouth and whispered a short prayer, asking for peace for her unfortunate colleague. She especially couldn't bear to look at the hollow in his chest.

Kyle's sharp, golden vertical pupils scanned the surroundings. He whispered, "The bloodstains and drag marks are old, at least two days old. There are no signs of a large-scale battle nearby. He was probably caught and killed while fleeing."

This unidentified corpse was more like an appetizer for the team's entry into the forest.

Unlike previous times when entering the outer areas of the Loran Forest, where they would always encounter lone goblins or even wild beasts as part of a "welcome ceremony," this time their journey into the depths of the forest was exceptionally smooth.

It went too smoothly.

Apart from occasionally startling a few birds or catching a glimpse of some small creatures fleeing in panic, they encountered almost no significant obstacles or attacks.

The anticipated surge of even more ferocious monsters did not materialize, and even ordinary mutated beasts were rarely seen.

This unusual calm made Xia Lin, who was the temporary guide, feel uneasy, and even vaguely a little lost.

Where is the perilous depths of the forest I was promised? If possible, he wouldn't mind encountering a few suitable monsters along the way, giving him some practice and a chance to test his recent theoretical learning of the material processing techniques in the manual.

The fact that they arrived at the edge of the deeper area so easily made him feel that his value as a "guide" had not been fully realized, and he felt a little uneasy.

"It's too quiet," Xia Lin stood up, dusted off his hands, and looked into the darker depths of the forest. "Something's not right about the quiet. Those monsters—they all seem to have hidden deeper in, or—they've been cleared away or summoned away by something."

Kyle's tail swayed nervously: "The lingering scents in the air are mixed, but there are few signs of activity."

She seemed completely oblivious to the visual impact and stench of the decomposing corpse.

He leaned slightly forward, his golden vertical pupils like the most precise observation instrument, calmly scanning the ground around the corpse, the cut of the severed neck, the broken edge of the sternum, and several almost imperceptible tiny marks on the nearby tree trunk.

His fingertips traced the almost too-smooth cut on the neck. "Judging from the blood splatter, the attacker..."

She shifted her position slightly, simulating possible attack routes: "Attacking from the upper left behind, extremely fast, with the force concentrated on the blade or claw tip to create such a clean cut, with almost no dragging or tearing sensation. The assailant must be much taller than an average human, or—they must have been in a position of special height advantage during the attack."

She pointed to the hole in his chest: "The destruction here is even more brutal, it was caused after death. The purpose is unclear, but the method shows a pure, almost formulaic release of power, clearly this is not the first time such a hunt has occurred."

Xia Lin listened from the side, secretly admiring him.

Are these the professionals trained by the Upper City Church? Their observational skills during missions are so systematic and formidable?

"Dragonborn generally have stronger senses than humans, and their job in the church has always been to conduct preliminary investigations and analyze traces."

"The church provides specialized training for those who deal with heretical monsters," unlike the adventurers here who rely entirely on trial and error. Therefore, those who emerge from here all possess some kind of specialized skill.

The orc Garu beside her seemed to notice the surprise in Xia Lin's eyes and explained in a gruff voice.

So there's such a thing as specialized "vocational training"? Xia Lin suddenly realized.

He had previously guessed from Garu's equipment and manner of doing things that the church was wealthy and generous in terms of material supplies, but he did not expect that it would also invest a lot of effort in cultivating "software" professional skills.

In contrast, most ordinary adventurers who live on the edge and bear their own profits and losses are indeed more like self-taught individuals who improve themselves entirely through practical experience and the occasional "folk secrets" that circulate.

No wonder people like Garu and Lance, Targen's old teammate, are willing to join these powerful forces—the benefits and career paths are indeed much better than going it alone.