My scan let me know that the best way to make an impact on the shining people was to just drop off the meat and continue on. From what I could tell, this was successful in varying measures, even making some people shine a little brighter. Others, however, dimmed.

Those people weren’t shining bright for me anyway, so it wasn’t too much of a loss. I noticed that many of the ones who dimmed were the richest ones or those poor enough to not be able to afford things, but not rich enough to bypass this journey.

I initially wondered why the rich people weren't able to get an artifact, but then I realized some artifacts can't just be bought, no matter how much money you have. In this situation, technically, they could buy it, but it's not worth the cost when they could just go through the journey with the pills instead. Since they're not nobles and are typically are much more maneuverable in lower circles, there isn't as much animosity towards them.

I finished relatively quickly. With the rest of the meat, I hurried down the steps at my higher speeds to get to these weaker people. Specifically, about 10 kilometers down, I set up another fort area.

This time I'm able to go much quicker, since there's no one else around that I might hurt. Even I can make mistakes while in this mode, so I try to go but slower to compensate for that. Because of my increased speed and using my scan to determine where things will fall and when, this only takes 10 minutes to set up instead of the thirty to an hour that it was before.

Unfortunately, just before I finish, I can hear frantic yelling. The sound of a life and death struggle.

It's already begun…

The people who cannot move because of tiredness or were just able to just bring themselves to the side of the road, but with no other people or defense, are being attacked by creatures looking to prey on the weak.

I immediately throw the logs I'm setting to block off this area, to get to the sound. Even as I do this, I have to be careful, as stopping when going downstairs is tougher than going up.

My scan quickly picks up what's going on. Looks like a man is having his arm being practically ripped off by a big hamster-like creature. I increased my speed, and use the force generated to slam into the creature, knocking it off the man. I did so at just the right angle, where it had to release his arm at the same time.

Obviously, the creature has exploded because of the force of the impact. The man on the ground is cradling his arm in pain, but is very much alive.

Luckily for him, because he could defend his body by using his arm as a shield, I can still help him.

Doesn’t take much time to find a big leaf and make a small poultice from ingredients around which I wrap around his arm to prevent infection. He doesn’t seem to say much, but just lets me do it. What I see is that he’s shining much brighter, showing the appreciation that he has for what I’ve done.

Honestly, these trials have been a major boon for me, being able to plant the seeds for positive interactions with so many people.

Being able to help many people get through issues really helps in establishing trust. Many people wouldn’t do the same for others in bad times. Not in this world.

It’s hard for them not to feel something for someone, when someone does something like that asking nothing in return.

As long as something major doesn’t happen, I should be able to just continue on like this.

Almost in response to my thoughts, I can hear many other screams of fear happen. During this night of the trial, this is pretty common.

I quickly firefighter carry the guy into the Fort, putting him down and then moving to the closest person who I could identify using my scan.

Alerted by the first guys’ scream, these people seem to have realized that they are being hunted as well, seeing the glowing eyes in the dark and have yelled preemptively. Mostly to scare them away from them.

This will work for a period… At least until they lose their voice or more of the animals arrive.

With this in mind, I once again sprint down the stairs, picking up and grabbing people. Each of them frantically fights against me until they hear me reassuring them I’m not there to hurt them. Their attacks would hurt a little if my body wasn’t so tough. They literally scratched at my eyeballs and I felt almost nothing but the urge to blink. It barely came to the level of dust in the eye.

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However, not everyone I could save.

By the time I reach some people near to the bottom, they’re already gone. Just animals eating the remains of people that used to be alive. Unlike how we do it on earth, I left the creature alive. Admittedly, I really really want to kill them. But it would serve no purpose since these animals are already used to eating people, and that’s normal in this world.

On earth, most animals don’t see humans as food, but mostly his fellow predators. So, once they start seeing people’s food, they become a threat. Here, they’ve always seen humans as food.

This makes me pause. if there really is no reason to or not to kill them, shouldn’t I take revenge for the person who was killed?

This really comes down to, do I value human or animal lives more? In a world where animals can rise to sapience, is it right now to value their lives as much?

This leads me to the easiest answer, though.

They just killed a person.

If another person killed someone else, nobody would blink if they were killed in the moment, to stop them from killing more people. To add to that, if there was no feasible way to stop a serial killer from killing via imprisonment, most people would resort to just ending the killer’s life.

Comparing it that way, the answer became simpler for me.

And so, I turned back around and killed those creatures.

When I have more leeway, I’ll spend more time to try to work things out in a more peaceful way.

… why does this feel like a slippery slope and hypocritical?

Despite my misgivings, I continued into the night time, this pattern of grabbing people and taking them to the fort. As well as using wraps and poultices to help heal them.

Since I’m dealing with hundreds of people, this obviously takes a while. Despite how the movies portray superheroes, you can’t accelerate at top speed with a weak person or even a normal person. so there’s a bit of a buildup for each time. Which makes this take longer.

the night continues on, and it reaches the middle of the night as I’m almost 4/5 of the way through.

Which leads to something I should have suspected; it had prepared my team for.

A notification came in from the hero team that they had to subdue someone who was trying to sneak into the Fort. The earlier presence of food and the obvious fortifications can engender jealousy in a person. This was obviously one of those situations.

With me gone, they were testing the waters to see if everything would still be held together. If the group is strong without me.

This wasn’t just an individual attempt, but a probe from the bigger groups within this trial. This should hold off any further attempts during this night.

The details of how Dana did it, was a little disturbing.

With her ability to split off, she caught the person immediately and wrapped them within a Jelly like covering. This restricted them and silenced any sound they could make. She dragged them into the ground as their mouth gaped open with fear and jelly flowing into their body. They did it in the open and a lit area, so that the others could just barely see the action.

The hero team doesn’t believe there will be any other attempts tonight.

With that side taken care of, I’m able to focus back in on trying to help the people below. Immediately get back to work.

I continue to go throughout the night get through a significant amount of people. I also bring back the bodies of the animals I killed, so the people in there can cook and eat them.

There’s more than enough for everyone.

However, as I near the end of my work, reaching the last amount of people, just notice something that disturbs me.

My scan has been up this whole time, to protect me from any ambushes or surprise attacks during the night. I also have been doing regular pulses to ascertain the general situation around me.

One of the people who were laying there is now standing. She’s being approached by an animal. A typical situation for this night.

What isn’t typical is that I see them perform some type of complex martial arts movement. One that blows away the creature and scares off any others. Something that shouldn’t have been possible with their body type and strength.

While this might seem like a fortuitous situation, to gather another skilled person’s trust… something seems immensely wrong about this person from my scan.

Like this person’s body is breaking down and used like a tool.

One could say like a puppet.

I can see them collapse to the ground, out of energy.

My suspicions are confirmed, when my scan picks up the words that flow out of their mouth, as their mouth gapes open like a dead fish.

“This body is too weak. It had much promise, but it cannot hold one is great as myself. I need to find a better one.”

Despite the fact that I am a few kilometers away, I can practically sense their empty eyes landing on me.

Almost as if teleported, they are now here. Right in front of me.

“Perfect.”

Their words resound in my ears, as I feel their hands grab my face with a strength beyond any other I’ve faced yet. A transparent, bubble-like structure tightly surrounds us. One that I only just noticed was around them this entire time.

The skin and flesh around their bodies are stripping away like flakes.

There were no discernible Qi fluctuations from my scan.

Nothing that would alert any cultivators that something was wrong. Which means this must be an extremely advanced cultivation technique, that can hide those indicators.

No one will know what happened.

… no one is coming to save me.

I can feel the flow of time slow for me, as the world turns dark.

My ‘eyes’ open in a black void. My body feels real, yet not.

My thoughts on this are jolted away, as I can hear malicious laughter resound around me.

“Feel honored, child, for you shall be the vessel for me, Wang Fei, the Demon Abyss Master. Bow before me and I shall make this less than extremely painful for you.”

…

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.