Chapter 43: Healthy Choices

Chapter 43: Healthy Choices

I feel my eyes slowly refocus after quite a bit of time. I see the bones of the man being pulled underground, still being eaten and gnawed on by the beetle like creatures.

The knife is the only evidence that this man was here. I neither pick it up nor go near it.

This is a cultivation world.

I have to assume that things like this could be tracked.

How do I handle this? Since it already is a messed up situation

I immediately send out a high-powered scan, the first in a long while. I query whether anyone else saw me and the man or would track him. I also check whether that cultivator would be able to remember me and would track me down.

All information points to no.

While I want to be more cautious on these, it could potentially cause more issues. Ill leave this here.

Surprisingly, I receive no backlash from this high-powered scan.

Likely, it is because of how far Ive been pushing my brain lately.

Not that I want to repeat that, but in situations like this, theres not really a choice in what you can do. I needed to know what the ramifications of my actions are with this.

Lowering my scan to a consistently far distance, I quickly begin moving away from this area, leaving the insects to act on their own. The only instruction I give them is to not eat demi humans or humans, but to otherwise live normally.

Once I get to a comfortable distance away, I practically drop to the ground.

Shit.

That was a clusterfuck. And Im not even talking about the attack.

I panicked and ran away, with the only thing I used to get away, was the scanning and pathfinding ability. I didnt use the insects, at least until I had already gotten my face beat in. I didnt use the scan fighting technique, though that may not have had the best effect honestly.

Hell, I didnt even use the instant healing, which might have kept me in the fight longer, mentally. Enough time to summon the insects for an attack.

Im not ready for combat.

Not even a little.

Even that fight with the man, was because I was mentally prepared at that point. And I still feel sick to my stomach about what Ive done. Even when I fought, the punches and adrenaline made me forget all of my plans.

Well, honestly that just makes sense.

Who in their right mind would stay even slightly close to this area, if they saw what could only be perceived as an eldritch monster?

Especially, since anyone out here is likely to not be cultivator. Theres probably no context on how to comprehend such a sight. Other than, I need to immediately leave this area and not come back.

Reinforcing this thought, is that the only people that I see around as I move, are those who are truly sick. The ones who couldnt run away when the fighting started. The ones who are so injured or in pain, that they couldnt even move.

The ones who are so out of their minds, that they dont understand the threat.

Some people dont even appear to have noticed anything has happened, though their eyes are glazed in the direction of where the battle happened. Im not sure if it is shock or something else.

The sad part about it, is that this is still way too many people. Comparatively, when Ive gone through other parts of this slum, with Gong, there were three times as many people. Obviously, the majority of the people in this slum are demi-humans.

I need to get my mind off things. What Ive done. At least until I can sit down and sort out my thoughts properly.

I need to do something good.

I think healing these people discretely could help. Anything. Anything other than thinking.

I begin using the healing aura in the same way I was testing when I traveled with Gong. Something I like to call remote healing.

This way of using it, doesnt require me to be looking at a person, but combining my low tier scan and the ability, lets me still heal people on a deeper level. Just in case someone could recognize me, I pull up the hood of my coat.

Walking past people, pausing to stretch or slowing down to heal a little deeper. I never do the full heal, but always try to take care of the most serious wounds (that wouldnt be obvious.

For example, I passed by a young demi-human, with festering legs. He has extremely tight dirty cloth on his legs, potentially to slow spread of whatever is causing his issues.

The way I heal it, is to heal everything up to the surface, but leave the surface tissue alone. In fact, I even regenerate a skin layer underneath. So, that way that it is only the appearance of skin. Of course, I have some concerns about what will happen if a layer remains on top, but based off the amount of healing, I think it would be the same as if a wet, dirty piece of cloth was on your skin for a long time. Itll be bad but not as bad as it could be.

Probably

I always heal people that Ive already passed. That way, they dont actually have time to look closely at their surroundings by the time theyve been healed. What ends up happening, is that I hear exclamations of excitement behind me.

This definitely helps.

This is what I want to do. Not fight.

I will do that, again if I have to. Though, Id much rather protect and help people.

I let my thought trail off as I head into the next alleyway.