This Necromancer Just Wants to Plant Trees

...

Lori Fangta?

Matthew tried to match the man in front of him with that name from his memory.

Previously, the information he got from Ashe and Hex suggested that

Lori had been killed by Demmo and his corpse turned into a Magic Broom.

It now seems it was probably just a false death.

After Matthew dealt with Demmo, Lori regained his freedom.

And just as Matthew was watching Lori,

he noticed Ashe's expression and demeanor nearby—

The expression on her face was mostly surprise and delight,

only occasionally a hint of sadness flashed in her eyes.

This also made sense.

After all, Demmo Ritz was her father, no matter how bad the relationship, the bloodline was still there.

The resurrection of her husband surely made her happy,

but the tragic death of her father must have been hard to bear.

Especially suffering such a huge impact in such a short time, it was even harder for Ashe to face the special existence of Matthew.

When she sensed that Matthew seemed to be looking at her,

Ashe chose to lower her head silently.

However, in fact,

Matthew was not particularly observing Ashe at all.

He discovered that as he watched Lori, his own insight inadvertently gathered all the information on the group of people around Lori.

Ashe was just one of them.

The actions and subtle expressions of everyone in Baiyan City, the deep meanings behind those expressions, all were within Matthew's control!

"Another new ability."

A realization dawned within him.

...

"Extraordinary Insight: When you observe a unit, you gain all information regarding any related individuals within a certain range near that unit.

Notably, key information will be highlighted in your field of view."

...

"Highlighted hints? Interesting..."

Especially since all this was accomplished automatically by perception, saving Matthew the trouble of studying expressions and sensing subtleties.

A smile unconsciously appeared on his lips, and his attitude toward Lori became more gentle.

Matthew smiled as he approached Lori:

"You are Lori Fangta?"

"I'm glad you're okay, your mother has always been thinking about you, and of course, so has your wife."

Lori's eyes reddened:

"I know, I know, I'm fully aware of everything that happened around me, I just couldn't voice it..."

As he spoke,

he couldn't help but grasp Ashe's hand tightly, and her shoulders trembled slightly, sobbing emotionally.

"If it weren't for you killing... that man, I honestly don't know how much longer I could endure that purgatory-like state!"

"You saved my life, I truly thank you!"

Lori intentionally avoided mentioning Demmo's name.

He thanked Matthew repeatedly with excitement.

Matthew waved his hand:

"It was nothing."

Lori said seriously:

"It might have been an easy task for you, but to me, it's nothing short of a life-giving favor."

"Please let me express my gratitude to you once more."

"Words cannot describe how grateful I am to you, luckily... I still have this, perhaps it can serve as a small token of my appreciation to you."

As he finished speaking,

he suddenly pulled his right hand away from Ashe and placed it over his right eye.

A faint negative energy oozed from his palm.

Quickly,

Matthew saw a tiny, infant-like but extremely nimble claw emerge from Lori's palm, slowly reaching for Lori's eyeball!

"The city lord only treated me this way to find the key of the Fangta family."

"All his actions were to gather the keys of the three great families, then to reopen the White Rock Box and obtain the shocking power deep within the Boneyard."

"I'm glad he didn't succeed, and I'm also glad I endured his torture and the Soul Search..."

Despite being very restrained,

there was still unmistakable hatred in Lori's tone.

Beside him, Ashe's expression grew noticeably dimmer upon hearing this—

Matthew had no interest in such matters, so he tried to block out some of the 'Extraordinary Insight' information.

"Good thing I can actively filter, otherwise I'd be bombarded with endless trash information anywhere I go, making life unbearable..."

After filtering out the extra information,

Matthew felt that the world had become much quieter.

At this time, Lori also managed to safely extract his right eye from its socket using that little incantation.

He handed the eyeball to Matthew:

"This is the key held by the Fangta family, used to open the White Rock Box."

Matthew received the eyeball, feeling its smooth and warm texture:

"Is this a fake eyeball?"

Lori smiled and shook his head:

"No, it's real."

"The inheritors of the Lori family complete the key sealing ritual secretly at a very young age. Since I can remember, my eyeball has been fused with the key."

"This is the real secret, and only in this way could I evade... the city lord's incessant torture and search."

"Now, I formally gift the key to you, representing not only my personal gratitude and admiration but also the Fangta family's allegiance to you..."

With these words,

the people of Baiyan City were shocked, even Ashe showed a surprised expression.

But their surprise was just that.

In front of Matthew, the newly ascended legendary figure,

they dared not make a sound.

Matthew was pleased with their reaction.

He valued the key given by Lori greatly.

Then,

he graciously accepted the eyeball without hesitation.

Lori breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, then somehow found an eye patch to put on.