This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 180 The Shadow of Darkness
When Fu Nian woke up, he found himself sitting in an interrogation chair, surrounded by endless darkness.

The astronomer's eyes had night vision, which made it easy for her to see Nie Weiyang sitting opposite her with a white-haired girl.

When he found her awake, he looked up and gently brushed away the last bit of dust from the table.

In the darkness, those eyes emitted a faint crimson glow, and the tiny golden glimmer hidden within them became dazzlingly bright at this moment.

"Heh...hehe..." Fu Nian chuckled twice, then coughed with difficulty, "Old classmate..."

"I've wanted to say this for a while... You're completely different from before."

Nie Weiyang used to be a shy person.

He was handsome, and although his family was obviously poor, he took good care of himself. His academic performance and popularity were admirable. However, he was taciturn and didn't like to interact with people. He only had a few friends—in the last time game, that friendship continued until he entered the new world.

Without rewinding, he was actually with his friends when he entered the new world.

When "The New World" arrived, several friends realized it was actually real and quickly became excited. Young people always hope to possess some great power, encounter some extraordinary things, and deal with different people, whether reliable or dangerous. In short, as long as they no longer live their old lives, everything is acceptable.

At the time, they mistakenly thought it was really a game, just dangerous enough.

Before death came, everyone thought they would be the lucky one, but only Nie Weiyang realized that something was wrong.

But what can you do if you realize something is wrong?

At that time, they gathered near a village by the river.

Shortly after landing, while they were still discussing career choices, they spotted zombies in the distance.

“Old Nie, you’re a dark creature, the Paladin class just doesn’t seem like a good fit for you,” his healer friend said, a stark contrast to his usual demeanor. “Maybe the compatibility just refers to personality? Your personality is great, but Paladins are meant to be at the forefront, and you know we already have a tank. You should choose an Assassin; we need someone to fill in for us…”

What would I do for you? Nie Weiyang wondered. Would I do the dirty work for you?

He doesn't mind that, but paladins can obviously do more, right?

However, he was also competing with his friends for resources, and he was genuinely unsure whether his dark creature bloodline would allow him to become a paladin.

Bloodline itself obviously has power; what if his power attributes conflict after he takes up the post, and he dies immediately?
The five people had just gained their powers, but initially they had no coordination. Two of them died quickly. The survivor was a warrior and a healer.

The soldier had lost a leg, and the healer couldn't reattach it no matter what he tried. He screamed and wailed in agony, while Nie Weiyang squatted helplessly beside him. The scene was filled with tragedy, death, agonizing screams, and the powerful allure of human blood.

All of this left him confused and bewildered, his stomach and heart churning with thirst.

His genes told him he should drink blood, and that humans were his food. But reason told him: No, you are human, and humans are your fellow human beings.

Nie Weiyang regained his composure, picking at his still-healing wounds with his fingers and looking away.

But the warrior Fukus's voice pierced the darkness: "Old Nie! Why didn't you choose the paladin!" He screamed in agony, "You recovered from your injuries so quickly! Why didn't you take those hits for me! Why are you having it so easy! Old Nie!!!"

……

Twenty years have passed, and those emotions have faded away.

Nie Weiyang brushed aside the dust of the past and crossed his arms. His taciturn nature remained to this day, but he had long since learned how to make good use of everything he had. "Your brother is a soldier," he said calmly and gently. "I saw him before the Blood Moon rose."

When he returned to Langcheng to see old friends, he saw them carrying bricks for the city wall. But he didn't greet them, and those people, seeing his completely different appearance, didn't dare to come up and recognize him.

"Before the blood moon rises..." Fu Nian slowly picked at his fingernails, clearly deep in thought, "...And then what?"

“I don’t know,” Nie Weiyang replied calmly.

Of course he didn't know. He wasn't paying any attention to those people at all.

Were they dead? Or alive? He didn't care. The past was the past. Now he was on the path he truly needed to walk. To keep dwelling on the vanished past was just a waste of time and energy.

"Why do you believe in the Star God Cult?" he asked.

“The Star God Cult…” Fu Nian murmured to himself.

She had no intention of putting up a stubborn resistance, after all, things had come to this point, and resistance would only increase her punishment.

“…Humanity is pathetic,” she said softly. “Do you know what I mean?”

"..." Nie Weiyang paused for a moment. He had already heard what was to come.

"I am an astronomer, an old classmate. I studied hard for years, grew up, worked hard, and finally became someone who makes my parents and my brother proud."

Fu Nian said softly.

"But after arriving on this planet, I lost my parents, and now I probably don't even have a brother anymore. Everything I was so proud of has turned into a power that's not very useful in the early stages, and if I die, I'll become experience points, just like everyone else. All of that is useless; my true value is just that experience. Or..."

She raised her eyes, a deep-seated hatred surging within them.

“...or perhaps just a body,” she said. “A beautiful body coveted by certain men. Tell me, am I? If I am, why have I studied so hard for over a decade, striving to repay everything that nurtured me? Striving to repay my country and my parents? If I am not, why am I locked up in a cave?”

"..." Nie Weiyang remained silent for a moment. He truly found it difficult to give a coherent answer to this question. If he had witnessed these events firsthand, he would have killed those people. But now...

It's already too late.

“Religion is one of the ways people retain their will to survive in the face of the unknown and fear,” Fu Nian said softly.

"I don't like religion, and I don't really believe in any religion, but I think we need to understand that humans experience fear; it's a genetic expression, a survival instinct."

"As long as fear exists, religion will exist; as long as humanity continues, fear will continue... Just as the concept of family flows with blood, the meaning of life becomes more important because of the existence of death."

"Of course, anything that goes to the extreme of complete exclusion will only bring destruction. But we must allow it to exist before it becomes distorted, until each of us knows how to dissect celestial bodies, analyze the universe, and understand all the rules of spacetime—of course, before all that is impossible, we must first live."

Her voice was soft and weak.

"I want to live. That's all I want."

(End of this chapter)