Chapter 307:

The bonfire crackled, dry wood snapping as it illuminated every corner of the dark night.

A faint, hazy glow landed on the tip of his nose, carrying a soft warmth.

Xu Xi closed his eyes slightly. The flickering fire cast shifting shadows on his face as he recalled his observations of Sylvia and the past she had recounted. At last, he found reasonable explanations for all the abnormalities.

Because of her hideous appearance.

Because of her tragic, painful life.

The girl instinctively rejected her undead self.

She donned armor.

She wielded a sharp sword.

She approached villages under the guise of a “hero” to earn people’s trust.

At the same time, Sylvia’s wariness toward Xu Xi’s identity as a sorcerer also stemmed from her past.

A sorcerer had destroyed her home.

A sorcerer had turned her into something neither human nor ghost.

Even now, Xu Xi could still sense the faint traces of fear buried deep in her heart—an instinctive reaction born from terror.

“Sir Sorcerer… may I ask…?”

“Why did you save me?”

The dry wood burned fiercely, crackling and popping.

The orange-yellow firelight reflected on her armor, staining its rusted surface with a golden hue. The undead girl hesitated before asking the question that had long weighed on her heart.

Xu Xi didn’t hide anything.

He spoke directly—her courage had moved him, and he was interested in her unique existence.

“Your condition is special, maintaining a delicate balance between life and death. That fascinates me,” Xu Xi said.

Sylvia suddenly understood.

She lowered her head, looking at her own hands.

Then she touched her face.

Indeed, even in a world now overrun by the undead, her body was extremely unusual.

To ordinary people, she was frightening. But to a sorcerer like Xu Xi, curiosity was only natural—even to the point of wanting to study her.

“No problem. Please feel free to use my body however you wish.”

She agreed without hesitation.

She was already dead.

There was no flesh, only bare bones.

If she could repay Xu Xi for saving her life, she had no objections to lending him her body for research.

Besides…

Sylvia herself was curious about her own condition.

Perhaps, as a sorcerer, Xu Xi could provide her with an answer.

Their goals aligned, and they agreed to begin the study the next day.

The bonfire swayed in the night wind.

Sometimes to the left.

Sometimes to the right.

Dancing gracefully, it illuminated everything around them.

Perhaps because it had been too long since she had a normal conversation, the girl was particularly excited, asking question after question.

“Sir Sorcerer, how do sorcerers train?”

“Sir Sorcerer, what is the outside world like now?”

“Sir Sorcerer…”

“Sir Sorcerer…”

Xu Xi answered each of her questions with patience.

It wasn’t a problem.

It was just a soul that had been silent for too many years, eager to finally pour out its bottled-up emotions. Xu Xi understood that feeling.

After answering her last question, Xu Xi asked one of his own.

“Sylvia, have you ever thought about the future?”

The future…

The joy in her voice came to an abrupt halt.

She fell silent for a moment before forcing a smile with her ghastly face.

“I suppose I’ll keep being a hero. The people here still need me.”

“You’ve never thought of leaving?”

“I have… but… the people need me.”

Hugging her knees, she lowered her head.

Her voice carried a trace of sorrow.

Did the people truly need a false hero?

Or was it that the false hero could not leave the people?

Even she couldn’t tell which answer was true.

Hiss—

Xu Xi flicked his fingers toward the fire.

The flames, which had dimmed slightly, flared up again with renewed intensity.

He didn’t look at Sylvia.

Didn’t look at her lonely expression.

Instead, he gazed into the dancing fire and spoke softly.

“Sylvia, you’re actually very strong.”

“Sir Sorcerer… are you talking about me?”

“Yes.”

She was visibly startled.

Her emerald eyes were filled with disbelief.

She never would have imagined that someone as powerful as Xu Xi—who had obliterated the minotaur undead in a single strike—would praise her as strong.

The sound of metal scraping echoed as the joints of her armor shifted.

“I think… you must be mistaken.”

Sylvia shook her head, denying Xu Xi’s words.

“I’m not strong. In fact, I’m very weak.”

“You’ve saved many people, Sylvia.”

“But… I’m not a real hero. I can’t save everyone. I don’t have real power.”

She was lost.

Still rejecting Xu Xi’s statement.

Was saving people really something amazing?

Compared to those she had managed to rescue, there were far too many she had failed to save.

She couldn’t bring her parents back to life.

She couldn’t defeat powerful undead.

She couldn’t stop the people around her from dying before her eyes.

She couldn’t do anything.

“But that alone is already amazing, Sylvia.”

Xu Xi’s voice remained gentle.

His eyes reflected the burning fire, its flickering light casting shifting colors over her undead armor.

She fought despite her fear.

She fought despite knowing she would lose.

Even a true hero might not possess her level of determination.

So, in Xu Xi’s eyes, Sylvia was strong.

She may have been an undead monster in the eyes of the world, but on a level unseen—within her soul—she was something far more brilliant and beautiful.

“I…”

The undead girl sat there, her skeletal hands crossed over her armored lap.

She had so much she wanted to say.

She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t as great as he made her sound.

That she saved people only because of her own loneliness.

So many things.

So many words left unspoken.

But in the end, everything was swallowed into the silence of her soul fire,

And only the cold, armored shell of her body trembled slightly.

BOOM!!!

Thunder rumbled.

The rain, which had ceased, came pouring down again with a vengeance.

Sylvia flinched, trembling in fear.

“Are you okay, Sylvia?”

“Sir Sorcerer, I-I’m fine…!”

She tried to sound composed but replied with a shaking voice.

In that instant, Xu Xi began to question if he had praised the right person.

…

[You saved the dying “hero.”]

[And from her, you learned of her tragic past.]

[Sylvia Crowfield.]

[The rising star of the Crowfield family, once destined for a bright future and a happy life. Yet due to a necromancer’s spell, she was transformed into a being neither human nor undead.]

[She is a false hero struggling in the darkness, yet at the same time, a true hero fighting to save others.]

[You acknowledged her deeds and established cooperation with her. In return for your help, Sylvia agreed to let you study her body.]

[Tonight, the thunder roars.]

[The hero, Sylvia, encounters rolling thunder. She fights with all her might… yet still fails.]

[The hero, Sylvia, collapses.]

[The hero, Sylvia, curls up into a ball.]

“Sir Sorcerer… p-please don’t look at me…”

“This is… a little embarrassing…”

The hero, Sylvia, said.