My Coal Ball wasn't this dried up!
"Old Coal, ah, hey, Old Coal! I've let you down!"
Norton stared dumbfounded at the dried-up bat in his hand, almost unable to process that this was Coal Ball.
The bat in his hand had withered flesh, its already quite dried-up wing membranes now even more desiccated and wrinkled, rigidly holding Coal Ball's body in place, appearing stiff and unnatural.
"Is it really dead?" Norton fiddled with the dried bat corpse in his hand with disbelief. No matter how he manipulated it, the corpse in his palm felt undeniably real.
Because the body had stiffened and shrunk, it had taken on a skin-and-bones appearance.
If this were a vampire, that would be one thing, after all, he, Norton, was just as dried up. But this wasn't a vampire! Even the werewolf that fed on his flesh hadn't become this dried up!
Norton stared blankly at the dried bat corpse in his hand. But he felt there might still be a chance.
After all, as he had just said, he, Norton, was also this dried up, and wasn't he still alive?
Perhaps this was the intermediate stage of a transformation.Regardless, his, Norton's, flesh and blood did indeed have some effect. Now it was just a matter of whether it was a toxic effect or an enhancement effect.
Although Coal Ball, this bat, was just a bat, it had ultimately accompanied him for eight years. It was the first pet in this world that Norton could truly trust and be close to, something that had slightly improved his mental state, even if it wasn't particularly useful.
Holding onto the hope that Coal Ball could come back to life, Norton hung its dried corpse back on the ceiling. Then, dragging the stiff missionary's corpse on the floor, he left the clock tower.
This corpse needed to be dealt with.
Although the temperature had been fluctuating lately, the air still hadn't reached winter levels. If he didn't handle it soon, it would start to stink in a couple of days.
Norton dragged the missionary's corpse to the forest outside the city.
"Need to deal with this." Norton threw the missionary's corpse from his shoulder onto the muddy ground of the forest, then prepared to dismember it.
Although this thing showed no changes, for safety's sake, dismembering and grinding it up was the best disposal method.
This would avoid any classic movie scenarios where, after he left, suddenly, a pale claw emerges from the soil or something...
"Rip!"
This was also why Norton had never ventured far from the Holy Lord City area before.
So Norton made a decisive decision. He violently tore off the missionary's head, then, holding the head in his hand, quickly ran towards the direction of Rino City.
After all, he hadn't crushed the body yet. Taking the head away would maximize the prevention of any possible transformation. Without a head, what the hell could you even transform into!
As for staying here, hiding, and trying to see what exactly wanted to hunt him?
That kind of behavior was utterly foolish. Since he already had a bad feeling, it meant that whatever wanted to attack him had already locked on and prepared to hunt him before he even saw it.
The dense forest was dark. Norton ran extremely fast. The time from sensing the premonition to his strategic retreat only took the few seconds needed to tear off the head.
The bushes returned to darkness and silence. Only a headless corpse with its limbs torn off lay limp on the muddy ground covered with fallen leaves and grass roots, with no other sound.
Before long, faint rustling sounds finally came from not far away.
"Baa~~~"
A slightly strange goat cry sounded. A goat, standing on its hind legs, walking in a human-like manner with a bizarre posture, stumbled out from the dark dense forest.
"Baa~~~"
The goat's cry was somewhat strange, resembling a goat's yet not quite. Its rectangular pupils were fixed intently on the direction Norton had left, but it did not pursue.
Because further ahead was church territory.
The bipedal goat walked to Norton's dumping site and finally crouched down like a normal goat, all fours on the ground.
It lowered its head and, like a normal goat grazing, began to eat the corpse torn apart by Norton on the ground.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."
Norton, who had just returned to the clock tower, was still pondering the sensation he felt earlier in the forest.
He had smashed the missionary's head to pieces with a large rock he picked up near the city outskirts, basically ensuring that this unfortunate missionary had no chance of turning into a vampire or anything else.
Having worked with Coal Ball for eight years, he was long familiar with the timbre of these bat squeaks.
And this familiar squeaking sound immediately excited Norton.
"Coal Ball?" Norton stood in the clock tower attic, looking up.
Sure enough, Duke Coal Ball, who was previously in a dried-up, dead state, had now regained vitality, hanging from the attic beams and squeaking at Norton.
"I knew it!" Norton was overjoyed, almost moved to tears.
He reached out, took Coal Ball down from the ceiling, and happily stroked its little head.
"Good, good, good! As long as you're not dead, as long as you're not dead!" Norton was beaming. Nothing is more delightful than a false alarm.
As the creature that had accompanied him, Norton, for the longest time in this world, Coal Ball held a special significance for him.
This was also why he, Norton, used Coal Ball for the experiment.
After all, good things should be shared with your own people first.
Even though he almost shared it to death, it didn't actually die, did it!
It just became dried up, that's all.
Indeed, Coal Ball, now resting on Norton's palm, had not returned to its originally somewhat plump appearance. Like Norton, its body was dried up, its skin withered and stiff.
And whether it was due to evolution or just appearing more slender after drying up, Norton felt its size had experienced a small growth.
This made Norton both happy and worried.
His flesh and blood could indeed promote biological evolution. This was an extremely useful experiment.
He felt he needed to be more careful in the future, lest during a fight, an enemy tears off a piece of his flesh, eats it, evolves, and then turns around and kills him, Norton.
Moreover, after battles, he must always retrieve any severed limbs or body parts. Otherwise, if they get out, it would truly become like the legend of Xiling, where ghosts exist, and eating it grants longevity and immortality!
Damn it, he, Norton, had really made it onto the Church's must-eat list now!