This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 273 Crimson Sunset

The shack was heartbreakingly simple, containing only a bed board, a rough earthenware pot with a small amount of water, and an animal skin map spread out on the ground.

Lin Shouheng had just entered the shed, intending to have a brief talk with Nie Weiyang, when his body betrayed him first.

The high fever, exhaustion, and malnutrition of the past few days had drained his strength. He was unsteady on his feet, and with a stumble, his thin body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Nie Weiyang reacted extremely quickly, almost the instant he swayed, he grabbed his upper arm firmly with a steady and firm force, not only stopping him from falling but also lifting him up and placing him on the bed board.

Lin Shouheng, whose vision went black and he found himself in a different place: "...?"

Nie Weiyang tilted the hilt of his longsword and gently touched Lin Shouheng's arm. A gentle energy, like a stream thawing in early spring, instantly surged into Lin Shouheng's nearly depleted body.

[Healing Spirit]!

Lin Shouheng's level wasn't high, only around level seventeen or eighteen. Nie Weiyang's powerful healing spell, cast by a level forty paladin, had an immediate effect.

He gasped sharply at the scorching air, and miraculously, a fleeting glimmer of color returned to his face, which had been sallow and ashen from the high fever and weakness, as if he were experiencing a final burst of energy before death.

The lingering turbidity and weariness in his eyes seemed to be wiped away by an invisible hand, revealing a clear background. His hunched body subconsciously straightened up a bit, like parched seedlings receiving sweet rain, bursting with vitality for a moment.

However, this exhilarating scene, like dew under the blazing sun, is fleeting.

Almost the instant Lin Shouheng's life force was forcibly replenished, the corrosive effects of the fever returned.

The color drained from his face like a receding tide, and he let out a muffled groan. His spine, which had straightened slightly, seemed to be struck by an invisible hammer, and visibly hunched over again, only slightly better than before.

Ultimately, his health points dropped back to their initial state, only 30% of their total.

Lin Shouheng leaned back heavily, behind him was a moldy wooden pillar supporting the shed.

Sweat beaded on his forehead again, and he gave a bitter smile, his eyes filled with resignation.

Thank you... for your kindness.

“But really, it’s not a waste of effort.” His voice was hoarse, carrying a deep-seated weariness: “If the epidemic doesn’t end, no amount of treatment will change the outcome; it’s like pouring water into a broken bowl. It may quench the thirst temporarily, but it won’t change the overall result.”

"Everyone here will eventually be worn down by this thing."

He closed his eyes, as if even maintaining visual perception had become a burden. Nie Weiyang remained silent, offering no rebuttal, but simply resting his hands on his longsword.

“Tell me,” Nie Weiyang’s voice was unusually calm, even icy, which strangely suppressed the pain and unease spreading in the air: “What exactly happened here? Let’s start from the beginning.”

His face was cold and hard.

He had already gleaned some information from the depths of Lin Shouheng's heart, which made him feel rather uneasy.

Lin Shouheng took a deep breath of the hot, polluted air, trying to gather his scattered thoughts, and began to narrate.

His words were initially somewhat disjointed, but soon, his long-suppressed anger and helplessness surged forth like a flood.

“This epidemic area... has three ‘breeding farms’.”

His teeth were chattering slightly, his expression filled with undisguised hatred and humiliation.

“Those who control that place… are scum, festering sores!” He was so agitated that he almost fainted, but he managed to control himself: “Back on Earth, they at least had some human skin and were bound by international conventions, laws, and morals.”

"But in the new world, everyone gained power, whether strong or weak. They found themselves with greater strength, but without the constraints of rules above them..."

He paused, a hint of irony appearing on his face. Combined with his frail and sickly appearance, it made him seem all the more pitiful.

"At first, they knew how to put on an act, because those who had been oppressed by them wanted revenge, so they would lead their people to kill each other and pretend to be pitiful to the strongmen they had no grudges against."

"But when the blood moon rose and monsters surged in like a tide, they tore off their masks and used the lives of ordinary people to fill the gaps, forcibly creating a path to survival with corpses, thus preserving their core power."

“From then on, they stopped pretending altogether and became even more monstrous than monsters…” Nie Weiyang’s fingers tapped lightly on the hilt of the sword, and the blade glowed with a faint white light.

"They started raising us ordinary people, treating us like talking, working livestock, and even..." Lin Shouheng's voice trembled with anger and hatred: "They deliberately spread the plague! The 'fever epidemic' was very likely one of their schemes!"

"They control a small number of people with healing abilities, or they simply teach their own people spells that can only alleviate, not cure, diseases, and then sell them to us at high prices!"

"An ordinary person, after working themselves to the bone for a long time, might only be able to exchange the meager resources they gather and the flesh they hunt for enough to buy a spell that temporarily suppresses their illness and allows them to breathe a few more days!"

—Smugglers.

This is a common harvesting technique used by criminals; plantation owners, who are pure slave owners, generally don't use this method.

"Because we are infected with the disease and our bodies are constantly weak, we are unable to fight effectively, level up quickly, and acquire the resources to become stronger."

"And after some people entered the shelter and obtained resources to become stronger from the dungeon... the shelter entrance was also guarded by their people..."

Lin Shouheng clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force, but soon he let go helplessly.

"A vicious cycle, like a snowball that keeps rolling down a hillside, getting bigger and bigger, faster and faster, trapping us all in this mud and making us unable to move."

It's like scraping meat with a dull knife.

This is an absolutely suffocating picture of hell.

Resources are monopolized, power is suppressed, and lives are slowly eroded and drained by disease and exploitation, while the perpetrators tread on their corpses and enjoy a bloody harvest.

“…I understand,” Nie Weiyang said softly. “Do you have any thoughts?”

Lin Shouheng glanced subconsciously at the sword and the powerful hand on it. The word 'paladin' kept flashing through his mind... Finally, he took a deep breath: "I think..."

Just then, Nie Weiyang suddenly turned his head to look at the west side of the town, and soon a commotion came from there.

The sounds grew louder as they approached, a mix of a woman's heart-wrenching, almost incoherent wails, a boy's struggling and weak groans choked with sobs, and the rude, impatient shouts of several men, along with the sounds of pushing and shoving.

A pale-faced man with a terrified look in his eyes scrambled to the door of the shed and shouted to Lin Shouheng inside, "Teacher Lin! Something terrible has happened!"

"Aji... Aji's family wants to... wants to throw him out of town and leave him to fend for himself!"

Lin Shouheng's face turned ashen. He suddenly stood up, but his vision went black and his body swayed violently. If Nie Weiyang hadn't reached out to support him, he would have fallen again.

His face was filled with a mixture of pain and helplessness, and his voice was hoarse: "It's happening again..."

"They think... people who are too sick and worthless will be thrown into the river to be eaten by mutated animals. The animals are smart, and if they eat the meat, they will be less likely to enter the enclosure..."

"I'm a... physics teacher, and Aji is the smartest of my students..."

Nie Weiyang glanced at Lin Shouheng. His expression remained calm, but a gentle breeze passing by made him subtly cold.

He didn't say much, his tall figure emerging from the low shack. Several men dragged an unconscious boy along, while another woman held the boy tightly, being pulled along as well: "Aji... Aji!"

Lin Shouheng leaned against the doorframe, staring intently at Aji, his eyes filled with pain: "There's nothing we can do... These people are connected to the manor, you can't save anyone..."

The men dragging Aji heard the voice and saw Nie Weiyang, this tall stranger, and instinctively looked up, wanting to glare at him.

But then the stranger reached out and grabbed Aji and the woman on his back, easily pulling them out of the encirclement. His pale, handsome face turned as cold as a statue.

Those eyes were blood-red.

Like a blood-red setting sun hanging at the end of the dark sky.

(End of this chapter)