Global Fog Survival

The cave quieted down.

“Whew…” Colin let out a deep breath, breaking the silence of the past few seconds. He glanced behind him.

Sanna’s face showed little emotion, but her eyes seemed to be flickering, occasionally wandering between the girl’s grave and the olive tree. The servants… seemed indifferent, with no empathy. What surprised Colin was that Li Chou’s eyes were actually red?

Li Chou rubbed his eyes. “Sigh, getting old, can’t handle stories like this anymore.”

…I only said a few words. What kind of drama did you imagine? Colin remembered that only he knew the full story.

Colin shook his head and didn’t rush to look at the girl’s grave. Instead, he took out the scroll and submitted the completed quest. Then, Colin opened the historical task information on the scroll and handed it to them. “Take a look, just as a witness.”

Meanwhile, the system prompt “Quest Completed” appeared in his mind.

“Congratulations, you have received ‘Hardened Black Bread’ *99.”

“Congratulations, you have received ‘Bloodthirsty Stigma’ *1.”

…

“No task rating?” Colin murmured, feeling that the system was becoming stingier. His operation should have at least started at an S rating, right? But there was none.

【Bloodthirsty Stigma】

【Type: Level 1 Stigma.】

【Item Description: In combat, each time you deal damage, you can steal 15% of the damage as life, with a maximum steal of 10% of your own life per minute.】

【The stigma can be imprinted using the ‘Thorns of Suffering’ for your servants, with a current limit of 30 copies, each with a 5% life steal, and a maximum steal of 1% of their own life per minute.】

【Note: 30% of the life stolen by the imprinted copies in combat will be transferred to the main imprint holder, without time constraints (this steal rate can be adjusted, with a maximum of 100%)…】

【Remark: Be humane! You can’t extract blood from robots, and it doesn’t work on stone men either, so don’t try.】

【Hint: Every three of the same kind of stigma can be synthesized once. At a high enough level, robots might not be bloodless.】

“Hiss, the mark of a capitalist…” Colin was surprised. How could a successor of society like him use something so capitalistic? A second later, Colin forgot his previous thought and touched his chin. Would the damage from guns and cannons count? If so, couldn’t he achieve the maximum steal every time?

Colin knew what this meant. He decided to try it out when he had the chance. But the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was off… Through this, he suddenly remembered the few ml of tainted blood they got from each monster kill, at most just a dozen or so ml. It must be a misunderstanding, right? How could such an advanced civilization need to extract our water?

Colin shook his head, then looked at the image in his inventory, which was like a drop of blood on the water surface.

“Do you want to bind ‘Bloodthirsty Stigma’ to yourself? This binding can be canceled.” “

Yes.”

With that thought, Colin felt a slight pain on his right wrist, where a red thorn pattern circled around it. It looked like a red bracelet made of thorns, eerie and strange. Soon, as Colin moved his thoughts, it was hidden. This thing, like the recently upgraded Level 2 title, appeared as a “tattoo” and could be hidden at will.

“To copy one ‘Bloodthirsty Stigma,’ it takes about ten ‘Thorns of Suffering.’ That’s acceptable, not too expensive… But how much should I extract? 95%? No, that’s a bit too much… 75%… Forget it, 50% it is…” After a mental struggle, Colin set a reasonable rate.

However, recalling something, Colin sighed, “If only I had that mysterious item ranked 97th on the resource list. I remember its effect is to attract all mutants within three kilometers. As long as I don’t run into a lord-level mutant’s territory, I could heal anytime, anywhere… Then, I could build a moving high wall with a war chariot and make the mutants pay for it.”

Suddenly, an idea flashed in Colin’s mind. “Right, I could have them capture a batch of mutants and execute them when needed, gaining a lot of healing. Healing is based on the damage dealt, so there’s no need to kill them outright. I could cut off a hand, then a leg. As long as I don’t cut the head, one mutant could be used four or five times… Hmm, there might be better ways to use it. I’ll call a meeting to brainstorm later…”

Then, Colin looked at the last item, which could potentially enhance his overall strength. “Level 1 Custom Blueprint.”

【You think you can use it to create simple firearms, but you lack the professional knowledge.】

“This should be designed by them…” Colin decided to give it to Huang Weiyang, his “chief scientist,” later. He then put away the inventory; only two or three minutes had passed.

“This Church of Suffering is truly heartless!” Li Chou cursed, handing the scroll back to Colin. Even Sanna despised the Church of Suffering.

…Indeed, heartless, but why does this sound familiar? Colin put away the scroll. He knew better than anyone that the priest follower Kimino was likely caught in the power struggle between the “Saint of Light” and other saints. Engracia and Kimino were probably victims of this struggle. From the task content in the “Withered Olive Land,” the death of this “miracle” girl was likely not simple.

But now wasn’t the time to tell the story. Colin focused, looking at the black stone coffin not far away. His task in the “Withered Olive Land” was not yet done.

Surrounding the black stone coffin were six olive trees, arranged in size, the only ones in the cave. These six trees were far more twisted than those outside, with grotesque faces, arms, and legs growing from them. They surrounded the black coffin, either kneeling or standing, as if crying while hugging the coffin, with extreme pain on every face.

【Hint: During the six years Engracia performed miracles, she personally planted one olive tree each year. These six trees were all planted by her.】

Meanwhile, Colin saw that the black stone coffin seemed to have a corner opened, with darkness inside, as if another space existed within.