Following the green line, Jacob stopped walking when he realized there were only 2 kilometers to go. He had already distanced himself from the more populated area and he knew that the chances of running into someone were now slim to none.

Taking a T-shirt from inventory, Jacob covers his face with it, much like the way inmates hide their faces. There may have been surviving children, and as much as he wanted to save them, Jacob didn't want to be recognized. After settling this matter, he would call 911 and flee the scene so as not to be identified.

'Better now.'

He didn't know what awaited him, nor could he imagine how dangerous this mission was, but despite knowing that maybe the person behind the kidnapping of the children was stronger than himself, it was hard to believe that such a possibility was possible. With his current status, Jacob knew that even a firearm would not be able to seriously injure him. Unless he had a bazooka or something equivalent, it would be difficult for him to be seriously hurt.

'No, there's no way someone who kidnaps children has such firepower, right?'

Although he wanted to believe it was impossible, Jacob hesitated a little but then decided to continue. At most, he would run away before he was found. And it was an investigative mission anyway; if he saw something he wouldn't be able to resolve, Jacob would prioritize his safety and contact the authorities later. The worst that he'd let happen was the mission failing.

No longer wanting to think about whether the mission would be difficult or not, whether it would fail or not, Jacob continued cautiously forward. Minutes later, Jacob saw an old house that looked like a large wooden shed not far away. He prepared himself mentally as he approached very slowly.

Jacob's steps were similar to those of a thief who moved to crouch towards the wooden house. His eyes and hearing sharpened.

"Ahhhh!"

As he got close enough, Jacob heard screams and then more screams. There were at least two children screaming in pain. If it weren't for the memories of his other life, Jacob would have run desperately towards the wooden house, but he managed to stop himself. Despite that, he quickened his steps. He could see from afar that there was a chimney giving off black smoke, which made him think that the children's kidnapper was present.

*Prac!*

Jacob stopped moving when he stepped on a dry branch and made a loud sound. The screams of crying children continued, but Jacob still didn't move as he looked toward the double doors.

After a few seconds that soon became minutes, Jacob started walking again. He got close enough to hear the screams more clearly and understand that there were more than 5 children crying and screaming in pain. Taking a deep breath, Jacob threw open the wooden double doors in one go.

*Bang!*

Jacob's eyes swept the room, causing him to feel a strong revulsion and indignation. Tied to the wooden pillars that supported the shed, since it had no divisions and was in fact just a shed, nine children were strung up by their wrists with zip ties. Some of the children were missing an arm, while others were missing a leg. Although the blood was not oozing, it already looked like their stumps had been sewn up at the amputated sites. There was still a lot of blood on the floor.

Jacob could smell blood very strongly. With a glance he noticed that the boys tended to be missing an arm while the girls lost a leg.

In the bottom right corner there was a wood stove. It was the source of the smoke he had seen outside.

"Help us!" A girl of at most 5 years old was crying pitifully and begging for help when she saw Jacob.

Although scared and unsure, since this man had hid his face, she still asked for his help. Only God knew the pain she had gone through losing one of her legs...

Jacob clenched his teeth tightly. He had seen many things in the memories of the other life, however, seeing something like this happen to little children made him so hateful and angry that it almost made him lose his reason.

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"Caution!" The same little girl from before screamed in a crying, high-pitched scream.

Jacob was alerted, but it was too late!

[Life -3]

"Oh?"

Jacob, who was stabbed in the back, saw that he had lost only 3 health and had a slowed reaction, however, he acted quickly afterward. Turning around, he looked and saw something that should have been a human before. It was leaning, hunched over. The man was some sort of hairless werewolf thing, approximately 240 cm tall, wearing a pure white mask that only showed the eyes and mouth with sharp teeth, bald, and with sharp claws.

What had tried to pierce him earlier was one of this being's claws. Jacob could see some blood on the nails as it had pierced his skin a bit, but it wasn't deep enough to seriously injure him.

"Hmm?" There was a look of disbelief on this abominable creature. However, it soon became bloodthirsty as it tried to retreat.

"Wanting to escape?" Jacob scoffed.

Now that he knew that this despicable monster was only capable of causing a small amount of damage to him, Jacob was no longer afraid.

[Cold Breath]

The instant the icy breath left his mouth, the man who looked like a monster out of a horror movie froze. Jacob moved and stood in front of the abominable being, and with his right fist he sucker punched it in the pit of its stomach.

*Bang!*

[Critical!]

[- 165]

"Pffft!"

[Moonwalker]

Vomiting a lot of blood, the man's lycanthropic transformation began to wear off, reverting back to the form of an average 180cm tall man.

[Experience gained: 5]

[Bonus experience gained: 2.5]

Jacob looked at the man who fell lifelessly to the floor with cold indifference. Killing someone like that didn't make him feel bad, even though in this life it was the first time he had killed someone. Jacob could see that even in death he could see the man's username. Clicking on the name, the man's status appeared.

__

Name: Harvey

Level 5

Bloodline: Cannibal

__

Strength: 7 (+1)

Intelligence: 7

Endurance: 7 (+1)

Attack: 36

Agility: 9

Magic: 28

Magic Resistance: 7

Health: 160

Defense: 8

__

"Ugh..."

Upon seeing Harvey's awakened bloodline, Jacob felt a strong revulsion and the urge to vomit.

'Did he eat the children's arms and legs?' Though he didn't want to think about it, it was hard not to when he saw the woodstove and saw the children with missing limbs.

'And to think that the first to awaken a rare lineage was a cannibal...'

Jacob shook his hand of blood, spattering blood on the floor. He saw Harvey's body turn into particles, and soon some items were left in his place. There was a smartphone, the mask Harvey wore, and some gold and silver coins.

Without thinking twice, Jacob took the gold and silver coins and assessed the mask.

__

[Stealth Mask (High Quality)]

Strength +1

Physical +1

Special Ability: While wearing the mask, you can enter stealth mode for 2 minutes. Cooldown Time: 10 minutes.

__

'Tsk, that's why I couldn't find him before...' This also made him remember the sound he made when breaking the dry branch. 'That bastard was very cautious, and if it wasn't for our difference in status, I would have...'

Jacob didn't even want to think about it that deeply anymore. There were more important things to do now.

Putting the items away, he didn't equip the mask yet, as it must have caused some trauma to the children.

"It will be all right now," Jacob said in a soft tone. The children were still crying in pain, but there was some hope in their eyes.

Jacob took a deep breath and put on doctor's glove he had bought at the supermarket earlier. Taking out his smartphone, he approached the children. After untying them and letting them sit on the floor, he dialed the emergency number.

When it started ringing, Jacob placed the smartphone on the lap of the little girl from earlier who had tried to warn him and asked for help.

"I called an emergency number. Ask for help and tell them you are at XXXXXX."

"I... Thank you..." The little girl's voice was tearful. As much as she wanted to calm down, she couldn't. The pain she felt was still very strong.

"Mm." Jacob didn't quite know how to handle this situation. In the end, he just nodded with a kind look.

When the call connected, he turned to leave.

"No, don't go!"

The children were shaking with fear. It was impossible for them to feel safe even if the monster that caused them so much pain was dead. Only Jacob who defeated the monster, even with his face hidden, gave them some sense of security.

"Things are going to get messy if I stay. I need to leave," Jacob said softly. He knew it was very unlikely that they would understand his motive, but he really had to go.

Before leaving, he said, "There is still hope. In today's world, there are ways to get your lost limbs back."

The children blinked in disbelief. Even though the oldest among them was a maximum of 10 years old, none of them believed such a thing was possible. After all, they were trapped in this damned place while the world changed. Even if they knew about any of the changes, it was hard to believe that something like restoring a leg or an arm was possible.

Without saying anything, Jacob reached the double doors and stopped. He remembered using his hand to open the door. Pulling hard, he took both sides off the door and put it in the inventory.

"Bye, be safe." Saying that, he disappeared before the children's eyes.

Of course, his voice was also heard on the other end of the phone line that connected with the emergency personnel. The little girl holding the smartphone was crying as she tried to explain what was going on. The other kids did the same, which made it even more confusing, but the call stayed connected for a long time, which gave the call a chance to be traced.

Not long after, some police cars appeared. The children's eyes were full of hope when they heard the police siren.

Edited by: Azurtha