The wooden gate to the cabin creaked open, jammed due to the weather and rust on its metal parts. The lantern inside was dim, yet in the pitch darkness it shone like a star, illuminating Zeth's vision.
"What... is this place?"
Looking around the small room, Zeth noticed the cracks in the walls, the rusty lantern hanging from the ceiling, a small bed, a wooden table, a chair, and a register. A blanket of dust covered every corner, and dead spiders hung from the coffins of webs they had made for themselves.
Only the lantern, dimly lit in the middle of the room, looked clean... almost too clean, as if it were constantly maintained. Zeth instinctively stepped back to avoid the floating dust stirred up by the sudden opening of the door.
The pretty boy, on the other hand, didn't look surprised or even scared. He excitedly stepped into the cabin, looking around the walls in awe.
"This is an abandoned cabin? I always wanted to stay in something like this in the middle of the rain... something a bit cleaner perhaps. I remember when I was younger, my parents took me on a vacation...."
Zeth looked at him for a second. The enthusiastic pretty boy had even started cleaning the place with a rag he found somewhere. With a sigh, he couldn't help but wonder when the last time was that he had met someone like this guy. It didn't ring a bell.
Nodding his head, he walked away from the cabin being cleaned, unnoticed by the pretty boy, who was still going on and on about his family vacation. There was something Zeth had to test inside the dominion.
He closed his eyes and summoned his inventory. There were fifteen slots as always, and one of them was empty—the slot where he used to store his sword. He glanced at the weapon he was holding, since it was a bit special.
In the past two weeks, Zeth had found himself an instructor to learn how to wield a saber. Though this alone should have boosted his combat ability, it was nowhere near enough. Either with the Heavenly Body or the Goblin's Tooth Necklace, Zeth gained almost superhuman strength.
Therefore, factors like weight and balance were no longer a concern for him. Taking these into consideration, he came up with a weapon that should be durable, heavy, and capable of delivering greater striking force.
A large saber made of dense steel, with tungsten at its core. In essence, the sword he was wielding weighed almost thirteen kilograms, enough to shatter human bones with a single strike if he attacked with the blunt side.
"I will probably need to find a better person to partner up with..."
Zeth shook his head. The boy was diligently cleaning the cabin while singing a popular song. With one last glance at the saber, he put it back into his inventory... this wasn't what he came here to check. He looked at the other inventory slots, which contained a gun, a survival kit, a multitool, and even TNT.
'Fuck you, system.'
Not much to his surprise, all the assets that weren't melee weapons were already locked, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't summon them. The only things he could use were the multitool, a small knife, and his sword.
Just when he was about to go on a rampage of curses, he saw a notification appear before his eyes.
[It's time for a patrol around the farm!]
'Wait... It's been forty-five minutes already?'
He couldn't help but frown. His shift had started at 9 p.m., and he was supposed to patrol every forty-five minutes. Yet it was already 9:45. The time wasn't adding up. All he had done was check his inventory. It should have been only ten minutes.
"Zeth-sama! It's time for patroooool!!"
The pretty boy yelled from behind, waving his hand. Clearly, he had received the same notification as Zeth, and perhaps... he was already done with the cleaning.
'Who cares? It was a day outside. It's 9 p.m. when I entered... time doesn't work normally inside the dominion.'
Zeth forced an exhausted smile.
"Come along... with the lantern."
This wasn't the first place where the concept of time worked differently. Even in Heaven, he had stayed for almost a week and returned to Earth at almost the same time after his death. It wasn't like Zeth needed to publish a research paper. Using more brain gets you older faster.
'All smartasses die young.'
The pretty boy was already holding the lantern that once hung inside the cabin. Zeth looked at him, then at the cabin, which was now dark. Shaking his head, he grabbed the lantern from the pretty boy's hand.
"Oh, you're going to lead?"
Zeth frowned. Was he taking the lead? In this creepy place? Hell no.
"Cough, cough! Actually, I should stay at the back... cuz... I'm taller than you. If I stay in front, it'll block your field of vision if something attacks. And I can always protect the rear cuz... ahhh... yes, it's dark. The rear is more dangerous than the front."
To Zeth's surprise, the nonsense he came up with on the spot sounded logical... almost strategic. The pretty boy thought for a moment, contemplating his words, then looked at Zeth with sparkling eyes.
"Zeth-sama! You're a freaking genius!!"
"Shh, keep it down, kid."
The pretty boy nodded, and Zeth signaled for him to walk ahead. Without wasting a second, the boy closed his eyes, and a golden longsword made of light appeared in his hand. He led the way while Zeth followed, always five steps behind.
The ground was flat, almost too flat for a farm, and the thick fog combined with the chilling wind made everything worse. After five minutes of walking, Zeth noticed that the wooden cabin behind them had disappeared, replaced entirely by the thick fog.
At that moment, there was nothing within his range of visibility. The fog surrounded everything, and the lantern's light was almost useless against it.
'A hundred more kilometers and I'll reach Neverland...'
As if waiting for that thought, Zeth spotted a structure inside the fog. Pointing it out to the pretty boy, the duo changed direction. As it slowly became clearer, Zeth could finally make out the structure.
A small well, with a concrete boundary reaching almost to his waist. A large pipe connected to a motor rested beside it. Curious, he peered into the well for a moment. A deep abyss where the lantern's light couldn't reach.
'Isn't this the kind of place where ghosts drag you in?... Scary.'
Not letting the fear show on his face, he walked away from the haunting structure. His gaze shifted to a small wooden booth with a hanging gate secured by a simple rope knot.
'No, wait, dumbass!'
He was about to shout, but before he could react, the pretty boy had already untied the knot and opened the gate.
To his surprise, there was no abomination waiting inside the coffin-sized booth. Just a blue drum filled with gasoline to power the generator, the generator's handle itself, and a small toolbox.
What piqued his interest was a small paper carrying a similar note:
Water at 1 a.m... Farm ahead.
Zeth looked in that direction. It was still foggy, but shadowy silhouettes were visible.
'Is that a scarecrow?'
Something about that shadow felt strange, and Zeth found himself drawn toward it. The pretty boy, on the other hand, was busy exploring the toolbox. The light from his magic sword, though nowhere near as bright as the lantern, was still enough to make things visible.
Summoning his saber into his hand, Zeth slowly walked toward the silhouette. It became clearer and clearer until he could finally see everything. His eyes widened, and his grip instinctively tightened around the hilt of his sword.
What he saw before him was not a scarecrow but a wooden T-shaped pole. Tied to the pole was a human... a bleeding human with a clay pot covering its face. A terrifying smile and hollow eyes had been painted on the clay pot in white.
'What the hell is this...'
Zeth felt his legs trembling. It wasn't just one scarecrow, but multiple identical figures spaced evenly apart. They were arranged like crops within the field, surrounded by rusty iron wire fencing, with a small wooden board creaking in the wind.
Red text was written on the board, as if painted with blood, and Zeth felt a chill run down his spine as he read it.
"Human Farm."