Lawson did not respond. He looked down at his empty hands, the lingering sense of oppression in his heart refusing to dissipate even as the beautiful scenery dawned around them. Just as the other two thought the nightmare had receded and prepared to celebrate their survival, a sharp, sudden electronic tone sliced through the dead air.
"Ding—"
[C-RANK AREA LIBERATION MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED!]
Rewards Granted:
10,000 LP
Enhancement Core C x5
Power Core C x5
Brutes Chieftain's Blood Halberd x1
Brutes Chieftain's Armor x1
War-Wolf's Fangs x2
War-Wolf's Beast Armor x2
{Halberd} Armor Blueprint x1
{Shadow Wolf} Armor Blueprint x1
"Whoa! Big bro, look! These rewards... we're set for life!"
Victor, like a child with a new toy, shoved his vibrating phone almost directly into Lawson's face, his own face flushed with excitement. The shimmering gold symbols and the flashy settlement interface felt grotesquely ironic against the backdrop of the peaceful town.
"So... everything that just happened was nothing more than part of a mission?"
George muttered to himself, his voice thick with the exhaustion of a survivor. He shook his head, leaning down to pick up the rare drops scattered in the grass, trying to let the physical task numb his mind and drown out the memory of the trauma.
Lawson, however, remained motionless. The wealth and items that would drive ordinary men mad were nothing more than cold pixels in his eyes.
His mind was a broken projector, trapped in a loop of the exact moment his hammer crushed his mother's body—the sickening sensation of shattering bone.
He felt as if his very blood had been frozen by the earlier frost. Lawson cast a freezing glance at the rewards on Victor's screen, said nothing, and turned away with steps as heavy as lead. He walked slowly, his silhouette looking solitary and desolate in the warm sunlight, utterly disconnected from this world that had just regained its vitality.
Watching that staggering back, Victor's boasting ceased abruptly. The smile on his face froze. A tidal wave of shame surged from his feet to his skull as he finally realized—mere minutes ago, this man had personally ended the life of his only remaining kin in this world.
"I'm such a... goddamn beast!"
Victor cursed through gritted teeth, slamming his fist hard against his own temple. He didn't hold back; he wished he could physically beat the ill-timed, boastful stupidity out of his own head. He stood there dazed, watching Lawson drift further away, not daring to make another sound.
The air distorted slightly as Ester materialized in front of Lawson without warning. She had rushed over after detecting abnormal system fluctuations—the backend hadn't even officially issued the command yet, but the mission progress bar for this area had mysteriously hit 100%.
Scanning the peaceful townhouses, she arched an eyebrow and offered a playful, mocking praise:
"Not bad, Big Brother! You actually forced your way through a Main Story quest with only two deadweights? Soooo impressive! ~"
Ester's voice was sickeningly sweet, and she even playfully blew a kiss toward Lawson. Yet, she was met with a silence as stagnant as dead water. Lawson didn't even blink. He squeezed a cold, perfunctory "Oh" from the depths of his throat and brushed past her as if she were a common stone on the side of the road.
"You... you dare ignore me?!"
Ester's fragile ego detonated. The manufactured sweetness on her face was replaced by pure rage. In her humiliation, she didn't give Lawson a chance to explain. Her body flickered like a ghost, reappearing directly behind him.
"WAKE UP!"
She unleashed a devastating straight punch—a blow meant to shatter mountains—accompanied by a piercing sonic boom as it slammed into Lawson's back. The terrifying impact caused his back to cave in; his teeth nearly rattled out of his jaw from the vibration as he was sent sprawling onto the ground by the brute force.
Bizarrely, Lawson didn't retaliate. He didn't even cry out in pain. He simply sat there on the ground where the force had flung him, staring blankly into the void like a hollow shell that had lost its soul.
"Hey, what's the matter? Brother Lawson? Playing dead isn't your style."
Just as Ester was about to continue her mockery, a figure rushed over like a whirlwind.
"ARE YOU INSANE?!"
George's roar was like a thunderclap, causing Ester to shrink back as he charged in, his own wounds nearly reopening from the sheer fury. "He was forced to unmake the very flesh that had made him, and you choose now to lay a hand on him? Are you so blind that you can't see he's in a living hell right now?!"
"Mr. George... I... I really didn't know..."
The smug, interrogating look on Ester's face turned to stone. These words hit like a bolt from the blue, pinning all her arrogance and dissatisfaction deep in her throat. Her eyes, usually full of mischief, were now wide with shell-shocked horror. She stared at the man on the ground as if watching a world silently collapse.
After a long silence, Lawson seemed to physically crush and swallow his heavy past. He rose unsteadily, his silhouette looking exceptionally bleak in the dying crimson light of the sunset, yet possessed of a newfound, jagged hardness.
"Enough. Stop looking like you're attending a funeral." He tilted his head, his gaze falling on the blood-soaked George. A playful yet chilling arc tugged at the corner of his mouth. "George, go get your wounds treated in the Medical Bay. This is 'Hardcore Game Clear.' We don't provide 'Retirement Counseling'."
"Brother Lawson... are you... really okay?" Ester edged closer, her pink eyes filled with genuine concern.
"Hmph."
Lawson let out a cold snort, offering no direct answer. When he turned his head again, the eyes that were once gentle now flashed with a cold, blade-like intensity.
"I see it now... the most disgusting 'underlying code' of this world."
Lawson's voice wasn't loud, but it struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer. He scanned the three of them, his tone devoid of any warmth.
"Those so-called [Shadow Shifters] aren't monsters spawned from the void. They are 'Devourers'; they are born by parasitizing human consciousness and flesh... devouring the host's soul to manifest."
His piercing gaze swept across the stunned faces of Victor and George as he pronounced his judgment, word by word:
"Perhaps one day, you too will face the same situation—to become a puppet for the monsters as you are eroded, or to personally end it all before you rot completely. That will be your 'Moment of Choice'."
The air seemed to freeze in that instant. Victor and George exchanged a glance, seeing the heavy weight of "resolve" in each other's eyes. In this mad world, peace was just a fake illusion built of data; only this brutal reality was the true passport.
Lawson lifted his head to the sky, a surge of arrogance masking his earlier dread.
"This is the fate we must face, 'players'!" he roared. "Since the System has penned this grotesque farce, we have but one role left to play: to cleave a path through the bowels of Hell and rewrite the finale of this wretched 'Game' with our own hands."