What does " "Almost cruelly"" mean?
My stomach. "Almost cruelly", the bullet had missed his heart. As a veteran of La Guerre d’Algérie, the curator had witnessed this horribly drawn out death before. For fifteen minutes, he would survive as his stomach acids seeped into his chest cavity, slowly poisoning him from within.

What does " "Almost cruelly"" mean?

I wonder why the writer use the word "almost"

Question

What does " "Almost cruelly"" mean?
My stomach. "Almost cruelly", the bullet had missed his heart. As a veteran of La Guerre d’Algérie, the curator had witnessed this horribly drawn out death before. For fifteen minutes, he would survive as his stomach acids seeped into his chest cavity, slowly poisoning him from within.

What does " "Almost cruelly"" mean?

I wonder why the writer use the word "almost"

Answer

If the bullet had hit is heart he would have died instantly. But it hit his stomach and so he will still die but painfully and for 15 minutes. It is cruel because his death is prolonged. He uses 'almost' because it is as if the bullet had made a choice to be cruel. He is saying the bullet almost has human characteristics in deciding to be cruel.