“Don’t rub so much on!!!”
A sharp vampire scream pierced the morning silence of the forest.
Vivian and Nolan sat facing each other on a blanket.
Vivian, whose face was smeared with milky-white sunscreen, complained with a hint of dissatisfaction, “This sunscreen is incredibly expensive. That glob you just slapped on is worth enough bread to feed both of us for two whole weeks.”
This was vampire sunscreen she had managed to scavenge from the black market with great difficulty, and it had cost her a fortune. To afford it, Vivian had lived frugally for a long time. She hadn’t even let herself buy pig blood, stubbornly enduring her hunger to scrape the coins together.
Originally, Vivian had planned to be lazy this morning and enjoy the feeling of being pampered. She had arrogantly ordered Nolan to apply her sunscreen for the day.
Now, Vivian regretted it immensely.
With one careless scoop of his large hand, Nolan had wiped out more than half the box she had been so reluctant to use…
“Ah, sorry. I’ll put it back right now.”
Nolan felt a bit embarrassed by his own clumsiness, and his cheeks burned slightly. Hearing Vivian’s complaint, he hurried to scrape the large clump of sunscreen off her face, intending to put it back into the small wooden box.
Seeing this, Vivian immediately grew anxious and snatched the wooden box away.
“No, no, no!”
She shook her head wildly at Nolan.
“It’s already been on a face. It would be too gross to put it back. Have you ever seen someone eat their own vomit…?”
She pouted in disgust.
Vivian’s life was indeed destitute, but she still maintained certain luxurious standards. For instance, she was a bit of a neat freak. She always kept her environment clean. If sunscreen that had already been taken out and used was put back into the container, it would contaminate the rest. She found that psychologically impossible to accept.
“Then what should I do with the extra?” Nolan scratched his head, showing a sheepish smile. “We can’t just waste it. That would be a shame…”
Vivian huffed. she tilted her head slightly, revealing a neck as white as a swan’s, and then extended her small, delicate feet. Her toes were rounded and neat, curling slightly to add a touch of tenderness.
She spoke in a somewhat disdainful tone, “Then I’m going to punish you. Rub the extra onto my feet. If there’s still more left after that…”
Vivian’s face suddenly darkened.
“The rest goes all over your face!”
“Alright…”
Nolan had no choice but to bow his head and accept this humiliating outcome.
Time slipped away quietly amidst their playful bickering. The sun slowly climbed above the treetops.
Blake got up from his bed. After a night of comfortable sleep, he felt refreshed. He moved his stiff neck slightly, and his cervical bones let out a series of light *clack-clack* sounds.
Then, he saw two greasy faces not far away.
Nolan was silently putting his gauntlets back on, while Vivian was turning her face away toward Blake in a huff.
What was this about now?
Blake’s gaze sharpened. After thinking for a moment, he asked curiously, “You two didn’t eat the entire pot of meat left over from yesterday, did you? What am I supposed to eat?”
“No,” Vivian said, turning around. “Your breakfast is still in the pot.”
Vivian pointed toward the large pot on the bluestone table. Then, she sneakily pointed at Nolan beside her while pinching her nose with her other hand.
“Blake, I suggest you stay away from this guy today. He might have athlete’s foot on his face…”
Nolan was stunned.
‘Does it still smell?’
He hurriedly rubbed his face with his hand, then brought his hand to his nose and sniffed lightly.
‘It doesn’t… it clearly smells fragrant…’ Nolan protested silently.
***
The three of them briefly cleaned up the campsite, packing everything useful and leaving the bundles behind. After all, it was difficult to move around with large bags. Besides, they might need this camp again on their return trip.
After tidying the camp, they quickened their pace and moved through the dense forest.
A while later, the three arrived at a small earthen slope covered in waist-high bushes. This was the Thorny Slope President Cole had mentioned, the site of the demon attack.
“Is this the Frostfang Bramble?”
Vivian crouched by the roadside, looking curiously at a cluster of brambles covered in ice-blue spikes.
“That’s right,” Blake confirmed. He then explained patiently, “They automatically gather the ice elements from the surrounding air to form a row of sharp ice spikes on their surface. If you accidentally get pricked by this plant while passing by, the piercing pain will make your life a misery.”
Blake also crouched down and stared at the bramble before continuing, “But wild boars can completely ignore this defense. Those tiny ice spikes can’t penetrate their thick skin at all. Consequently, those beasts especially love to treat Frostfang Brambles as an after-dinner dessert. Gradually, this place attracted a large number of boars. And, of course, the hunters who followed them…”
As he spoke, Blake carefully pushed aside a patch of blue brambles. A blood-stained, cold-glinting bear trap revealed itself from behind the thorns, exuding a silent ferocity.
“Eek!”
Vivian let out a strange cry and jumped back.
‘Good thing I didn’t reach out to touch it just now. That’s terrifying!’ she thought, feeling fortunate as she patted her flat chest.
“Alright, there’s nothing much to see here. Let’s go,” Nolan urged, taking the opportunity to pat Vivian’s soft head.
“Mm.”
Blake gave a light response, covered the brambles back up, and cleared away the traces he had left. He stood up, patted his hands, and continued their journey along the dirt and stone road.
The three of them crossed the Thorny Slope and reached a small grove behind it. Nolan, who was walking quietly, suddenly stopped. His nostrils flared slightly, and his brow furrowed.
“I smell rotting corpses. We should be getting close.”
“Over there.”
Nolan pointed to the left and immediately took a large stride, rapidly approaching the source of the stench. Vivian and Blake followed closely behind, running at a jog.
As they moved forward, the choking stench of rot grew stronger. Before long, a sound of tearing flesh — *shrr-shrr* — came from nearby.
Nolan bent down and crouched behind a bush, gesturing for the two behind him to be quiet. Then, he slowly parted the bushes in front of him.
A monster appeared, hunched over on all fours. Its skin was withered and dark, like a piece of rotting cloth draped over a skeletal frame. Its eyes were cloudy and white, and it bared a foul-smelling mouth. In its sharp claws, it held a pale severed arm, tearing at it with large bites.
“It’s a Ghoul,” Nolan whispered to his companions. “A low-level undead animated from a dead person.”