This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 274 Humanity Not Gone

Painful, pickled dusk.

The afterglow of the setting sun permeated the murky air, coating this desolate place with a sickly rusty hue.

Nie Weiyang, carrying the unconscious boy named Aji, turned and walked towards the shed in full view of everyone.

Time seemed to freeze behind him. Various gazes intertwined on his back—fear, suspicion, numbness, and a faint, unnoticed hope.

Lin Shouheng, struggling to keep his body afloat, breathed heavily as he used his eyes and gestures to disperse the crowd blocking the entrance to the shed, making way for Nie Weiyang.

He looked at the mother who was almost crying herself unconscious and silently comforted her with his mouth: "Don't be afraid... there is hope."

The shed was originally dark, but a few rays of light squeezed in through the holes in the tarpaulin, cutting out several hazy beams of light in the air filled with the bitterness of herbs and the stench of decay.

Dust danced within it, like stars adrift after the night had collapsed.

Nie Weiyang, radiating a gentle white light, gently placed the boy on the bed. The boy's small, thin body felt almost weightless to him. On the boy's exposed skin, dark red patches, like branding marks, spread across his arms, neck, and cheeks; some patches had ulcerated at the edges, oozing yellowish-green pus. The boy's body trembled violently from time to time due to the persistent high fever, his breathing as faint as a whisper.

Nie Weiyang stood silently before the bed, holding a long sword in one hand, the blade touching the boy's body.

His breathing was calm, as if in some strange resonance with the order of the world. The gentle glow of the healing spirit surged from him once more, flowing down his hands that gripped the sword hilt to the blade, and finally pouring out like warm moonlight, slowly enveloping the boy on the bed.

Where the pure white light passes, the rate of decay slows down and vitality is replenished.

The boy's furrowed brow, contorted with pain, relaxed slightly, and the choking gasps in his throat lessened. Soon, his breathing became more even, though the hideous patches on his skin hadn't disappeared, but the dark red sheen surrounding them seemed to have dimmed a bit, as if some corrosive energy had been temporarily repelled by this gentle yet resolute force.

The boy let out a sigh, a murmur that seemed like a release, and his tense body relaxed.

He fell asleep, deep and peaceful.

This scene made Nie Weiyang frown deeply—the Healing Spirit possessed a purifying effect on dark forces, and the remarkable effectiveness of its treatment of Lin Shouheng had already heightened his vigilance; now…

what.

What plague? This is darkness encroaching!

There must be some powerful, dark creature causing trouble in this epidemic zone!
Nie Weiyang's mind raced, but no one around him knew what he was thinking.

Aji's mother, who followed closely behind, could no longer contain her emotions. Her almost dried tears welled up and slid down her haggard, ashen cheeks, dripping onto the dry ground and leaving dark marks. She instinctively reached out to catch them, but dared not utter a sound. She could only cup her tears with her claw-like hands, while her other hand tightly gripped the front of her clothes, as if she had grasped Aji's lifeline.

Lin Shouheng stood at the doorway, leaning against a wooden pillar with remaining mold marks, his expression complex.

"...Your healing skills are the most effective I've ever seen," he said softly. "You must possess a powerful belief."

He had personally experienced Nie Weiyang's power, but witnessing a dying child temporarily break free from the embrace of death in the light was a double shock to both his eyes and his soul, making his dry eyes feel hot.

Whispers drifted from the crowd watching outside the shed; in the stagnant despair, a stone called 'possibility' had been thrown in.

Nie Weiyang sheathed his sword, and the white light enveloping the boy gradually faded. The boy's life points decreased rapidly, just like Lin Shouheng's before him, but remained above 30%, meaning he would not face the threat of death again for at least a short time.

He turned around, his gaze calmly sweeping over the faces crowded in the doorway.

The faces of those people were etched with complex emotions—longing, fear, doubt, and a glimmer of hope. And in their hearts, Nie Weiyang could sense a profound closeness, a closeness stemming from his power, his kindness, and his extraordinary charisma. Yet, even so, they dared not meet his eyes.

This made Nie Weiyang think for a moment about whether he should put his sunglasses back on.

Ultimately, however, he decided not to wear it. He would control his gaze to prevent people from experiencing excessive mental stress, but if he wanted his words to carry weight, a suitable amount of pressure was more effective than pure charm.

“He needs water, clean water. He also needs food.” Nie Weiyang’s voice was not loud, but it suppressed the noise at the scene: “Anyone who is willing to help can bring it in.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping gently over the few people who instinctively backed away: "Those who are afraid of getting infected can stay away from here. I won't force them."

Although he had plenty of supplies in his backpack—enough clean drinking water and nutritious food to keep the town going for a while—he couldn't take them out now, at least not so easily and for free; that wasn't something he should do.

He wanted to see how many of these people could put their ideas into action.

This wasn't a test of humanity—Nie Weiyang wouldn't test humanity, because humanity couldn't withstand such tests. What he wanted to do was establish two-way connections between people, not one-way giving. Silence, like a curtain, enveloped the shack.

Some people struggled in their eyes, but ultimately succumbed to the fear of disease and the instinct to protect their food supply, quietly taking their steps backward and disappearing back into the shadows.

However, just as the suffocating silence was about to engulf everything, a figure moved. It was a thin young woman who walked forward shakily with a hunched back. Her cloudy eyes looked at Aji on the bed, then at Nie Weiyang, and then carefully placed a tattered pouch she had been holding in her arms at the foot of the bed.

This was like a signal. A middle-aged man, whose face also looked sick and whose arms had fresh red spots, hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and took out a piece of dry food wrapped in a dirty cloth from his pocket. It was as hard as a rock and he silently placed it next to his water bowl.

His actions carried a resolute, all-or-nothing determination. In his mind, it was a surrender.

Next, a silent woman brought over a small handful of salt wrapped in a rag. A boy of about six years old contributed a small handful of edible grass roots that he had secretly hidden away.

One, two, three...

Gradually, five or six people overcame their fear and brought the most precious things they could offer.

They made no grand pronouncements, nor did they dare to meet Nie Weiyang's gaze; they simply used their silent actions to bring hope to Aji.

Nie Weiyang breathed a sigh of relief.

Humanity has not been completely extinguished; the darkness here has not yet reached such a severe level... This is the only good news.

……

That night, Nie Weiyang had Lin Shouheng feed Aji clean food and water, but instead of distributing the supplies, he told the people who had taken the items to eat a half-full meal on the spot and then go home in about ten minutes.

Aji's high fever miraculously subsided to a low-grade fever. Although the patches on his skin were still gruesome and the root of his illness was far from being eradicated, he had at least temporarily escaped the narrow gate leading to death.

Nie Weiyang stood outside the shed, the night wind carrying the stench of the riverbed, mingling with the lingering smell of decay in the town, ruffling the white hair at his temples. He gazed at the night sky, where clouds obscured most of the starlight, leaving only a suffocating gloom.

Lin Shouheng, still weak, slowly walked to Nie Weiyang's side. The heavy deathly aura between his brows seemed to have dissipated somewhat.

Nie Weiyang didn't speak, so Lin Shouheng didn't take the initiative to talk either. He just stood silently for a long time, as if gathering his courage. Finally, he handed over what he had been tightly clutching in his hand—a shriveled and wrinkled tuber.

"Thank you," he said.

His voice was as hoarse as an old bellows, but it was no longer filled with knives and stones.

“Aji… he was my best student, intelligent and kind-hearted…” He paused, his gaze sweeping across the townspeople in the shadows, their eyes clouded with confusion, “…you made some people remember that they are still human beings.”

The plant tuber in his hand looked so insignificant, yet so heavy, in the dim light.

Nie Weiyang's gaze swept downwards, first to his eyes, then to his hands.

Lin Shouheng's lips moved slightly. He knew what Nie Weiyang was looking at.

“…I’m sorry. I took advantage of you,” he said softly. “But…well, there’s no ‘but.’ That’s just how it is.”

Previously, his words and actions had a tendency to incite trouble. Even for the sake of an innocent child, he had to admit that he had taken Nie Weiyang's goodwill as something to be exploited.

“If it weren’t for me here today, you would have died before Aji,” Nie Weiyang said calmly. He still didn’t take the tuber that was offered as a sacrifice. Instead, he took out a light yellow crystal and threw it into Lin Shouheng’s hand: “Have you tried going back to the China region?”

“I tried. But I failed,” Lin Shouheng said softly, his fingers tracing the pale yellow crystal, pondering what it was. “Before the Blood Moon rose, many of us tried to travel back to China together, but… the primeval forest was too terrifying. Too terrifying…”

"There were thirty-five people in total, and only four came back alive. Besides me, two of them later joined the manor, and the remaining one died. Sir, we had no other choice."

As he spoke, he suddenly paused for a moment: "...By the way, sir, I don't know your name yet."

He tried his best to stand up straight and extended a hand to Nie Weiyang: "Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Lin Shouheng. I am Chinese. I used to be a middle school teacher, teaching physics and biology. I was traveling here during the holidays when this happened."

"After coming to the New World, I ran a school for a while, but now the school is gone, and I've become unemployed..."

"...And you? What's your name?"

(End of this chapter)