A black lizard was tied to a stick with a rope that restrained it, hanging in the air. Below the black lizard was a small pit filled with burnt ashes.
Beside it stood a young girl, only five years old, with black-silver hair, staring at the black lizard with hungry, foodie eyes.
She carried with her, ingredients and utensils—all of which pointed to one thing.
"How did I find myself here?" the black lizard muttered.
It looked down at itself, tied up, then shifted its gaze to the young girl's hungry eyes.
Even without being told, he immediately knew what was happening.
"Young girl, untie me, or you will face my wrath!" Daniel said in a chilly voice.
But his threat fell on deaf ears as fire ignited on the girl's fingertip.
"Cute things always taste delicious and tantalizing," she murmured.
When Daniel heard this, he looked at her strangely.
"How does a lizard look cute?" he wondered.
Then, he remembered the puppy eyes he had given her earlier.
At that moment, he realized he had dug his own grave.
"Ahem! Young girl, you know we can talk this out," Daniel quickly said.
He hadn't even spent a month in this new world, hadn't explored anything—yet here he was, on the verge of death.
And he was going to be cooked alive—the worst way to die.
"So much for a Fake Main Character Halo. It just pushed me straight to the grave," Daniel cried internally.
He tried to sweet-talk the girl, but alas, it was as if she were deaf.
Daniel watched in horror as his body was sprinkled with ingredients, oil, and everything needed to roast meat.
The girl had piled wood into the pit, and with a simple swipe of her finger, she threw a flame onto the logs.
Daniel's scream resounded throughout the village.
All the wolves turned toward his direction, wondering what was happening.
Those who knew simply shook their heads in pity.
At that instant, Daniel's survival instincts kicked in.
He wiggled his lizard body, desperately trying to escape the rope that bound him.
But alas, it was to no avail.
Daniel continued screaming until his voice turned hoarse.
One would be shocked by his vitality and tenacity.
"Am I going to die?" Daniel thought as he felt his consciousness fading.
"I haven't even spread my name or made it known. How can I die now?"
"I haven't even avenged the Dragon Clan. I promised that old man I would rebuild the clan and take revenge..."
"So... I can't die!" Daniel roared internally.
Thinking of all this stopped his consciousness from fading.
He steeled his mind, forcing himself to think of anything else to distract from the pain.
He also noticed something—he was starting to get used to the pain.
The young wolf girl giggled as she listened to Daniel's screams.
She licked her lips, unable to wait any longer to devour him.
But then, something surprised her.
Daniel still wasn't dead.
She could still sense a small amount of vitality within him, a vitality that never diminished—as if he were undying.
This continued for three to four hours, but Daniel's last breath still held on.
If one looked closely and calmly, one would see something like black mucus oozing out from Daniel's body.
Because this had the same color as Daniel's skin and scales, and because the fire burned the black mucus before it could drop to the ground, it was difficult to notice.
When the young girl saw that Daniel showed no sign of dying, she felt frustrated.
She let out a wolf howl, causing shock throughout the village, as they recognized this howl.
She opened her mouth and spouted out a black-silver, wolf-like flame that descended upon Daniel, burning his entire body.
Daniel, who was still clinging to life, felt the temperature of the flames increase by 200%, and his consciousness began to fade again.
If not for the fact that his voice had turned hoarse and he was too weak, he would have screamed just to let out the pain.
Still, Daniel held on, little by little. His adaptability to the flames increased, the heat and pain subsided as his body adjusted to it.
One could see large amounts of black mucus seeping from his body, as if he hadn't bathed in ages. To the extent that the mucus-turned-ash formed a pile even bigger than him.
An hour passed, and Daniel was still alive, making the young girl even more frustrated.
Drax suddenly appeared beside Daniel, looking at him with a sigh. Even he was surprised by Daniel's tenacity and will to survive.
He had never expected Daniel to last this long.
He turned to the young girl, whose gaze showed her frustration. She couldn't wait to devour her food, but here was Daniel, refusing to die.
She increased the intensity of her flames to the point where their heat could be felt throughout the village.
This time, Daniel's body and soul could no longer endure it. His life force was slipping away, already at death's door.
But something shocking happened.
Whenever his flickering life force was about to extinguish, it would suddenly flare back to life.
Again, it would weaken, only to resurge at the last moment.
One could see the sheer unwillingness in Daniel, his refusal to give in to death, fighting against it with everything he had.
But before two hours passed, it was certain that Daniel wouldn't be able to withstand it any longer.
Drax sighed. "I never expected him to last this long. It seems choosing him wasn't a mistake after all."
"This will also make him see the true reality of this world and understand what he's up against."
If Daniel were awake, he would have been shocked, as he was familiar with the gaze and aura Drax was emitting right now.
Drax waved his hand, and in an instant, both he and Daniel disappeared from the scene.
Meanwhile, at the center of the Wolf Village...
A group of men and women sat down, engaged in a serious discussion.
At the head of the gathering, seated on the largest chair, was the Alpha, in his half-human, half-wolf form.
"So, what do you think of the black lizard?" the Alpha asked.
"The Lizard Clan has been making strange moves lately. It is said that some weaker beast clans have disappeared. All evidence points to the Lizard Clan—their footprints and scales were found at the scenes," one of them said.
"He could be a spy sent by the Lizard Clan to assess our strength. We need to eliminate him to avoid future problems," another added.
They suddenly heard Daniel's scream, making them all chuckle.
It seemed they already knew what was happening.
"Alpha, it seems your daughter is taking care of it already," they said, laughing.
The Alpha sighed at this. He knew that his daughter loved eating cute things, but he still couldn't understand what was so cute about the black lizard that attracted her.
They continued their discussion until they sensed a sharp rise in temperature.
The Alpha turned toward the source and immediately recognized that it was coming from his daughter's flames.
With a flash, he disappeared.
The first thought in his mind was that his daughter was in danger, and that the black lizard had deceived them all, pretending to be weak.
When he arrived at the scene, he saw no lizard—only his daughter with teary eyes.
He looked at the spot where Daniel had been roasted and saw a pile of black ashes.
He immediately understood what had happened.
It seemed she had roasted the black lizard to ashes.
"Don't worry, I will find another cute one for you to eat."
His words instantly stopped the young girl from crying, as her cheeks puffed up in a pout.