Chapter 193: Trial of greed(2).

Chapter 193: Trial of greed(2).

I was faced with a dilemma. Following the trials rules, I would have to give the small girl in front of me two of whatever arbitrary resource that represented health in this place. To do so, however, I would have to take back what I had given the old man earlier Despite the vitality he had regained from that, he didnt look all that healthy. Not healthy enough to make me think he had any life force to spare, anyway.

Despite this, I had already made my choice. Perhaps the fact that I had a little sister of my own pushed my bias in a certain direction, but I felt no regret at what I was about to do. Even from a practical standpoint, the value of a childs life was simply higher than that of an older person. At least, I thought so. While I couldnt ask the old man the same question, I felt reasonably confident that he wouldve sacrificed his own life force for the sake of the little girl, if he only had the chance to.

Determined, I dragged myself over to the unconscious body, accepting the Take 1? prompt.

Ding! 1 gained. Are you happy?

Instantly, the addicting feeling of regaining energy filled my body, allowing me to stand up shakily. When I looked down to assess the old mans state, I realised that the system wasnt in a forgiving mood. The drain had put too much stress on his body, making him cough violently, his raspy breath worsening even further. It was a painful, slow death. Feeling a sense of guilt over causing this issue, I forced myself to watch him in his final moments. While my mind told me that the system had made this person in my mind for the sole purpose of this trial, a part of me didnt believe that. Not truly.

Perhaps If I had only left the old man alone from the start, he would still be alive It was difficult to prove this, though, as the system loved creating the illusion of choice when there actually wasnt one. How much agency had I had so far? How much of this persons death was the systems fault? How much was it my own?

I couldnt help but shake my head in response to the systems repetitive question.

I distracted myself from this haunting thought by heading over to the little girl and hurriedly giving her two units of the life force I had gathered. The energy left me like a waterfall, knocking me back to the ground as I collapsed under my own weight. As I had returned back to minus three, the starvation and pain had returned in full force. The feeling of being on the edge between life and death was usually an exhilarating, if frightening experience, the rush of it all keeping one on full alert. Now, however, I felt none of that. My body refused to grant me that feeling, instead allowing me to wallow in my own misery.

Ding! 2 lost. Are you sad?

The girl recovered a bit, trading her sickness for that of fitful sleep. Where she had been malnourished before, her frame now resembled that of any other child on the street. Not overly healthy, perhaps, but she had been fed enough. I didnt expect her to wake up, but as long as she stabilised, the trade would have been worth it. I shook my head, assured that my efforts had succeeded, but stilled when the system went a step further.

Take 2?

No, system. I dont think so. I thought to myself, attempting to ignore my own state as best as I could. What was the system going to try this time? Was it going to make me choose between this poor child and a friend? A family member? At this point, its cruelty had become expected, predictable, even.

As I looked around, keeping an eye out for the next system prompt, I heard the little girl cough violently. I whipped around, attempting to see the cause of her issue, but found nothing. Nothing system related, anyway. While her body hadnt returned to the state that I had found her in, it was clear that something else was wrong. Had she fallen ill?

More bouts of coughing followed, a pained look appearing on the childs face. The prompt above her momentarily became unintelligible, before stabilising again.

Ah.

Right.

This wasnt what I wanted. Not at all.

In a rare period of soberness, I realised that this wasnt working. Time had continued to pass, yet nothing had changed. Not truly. It was time for a change of my own.

A thought came to me, an idea that seemed so foolish. Yet so rewarding.

I pranced throughout the endless white space, heading from person to person. Instead of thinking about it too deeply, I simply handed out my vitality wherever I could. An old person, then a young person, then a young old person and an old young person. Wherever I found living sleepers hidden between the dead ones, I gave them some life force, five at a time when necessary.

Wherever I went, the sleepers slept a little more soundly. Their breathing returned to normal. The malnourished ones were fed, the sick ones were healed and the weak ones were strengthened. I didnt remember their faces, didnt even stop to see them most times, but I knew that I was doing a good thing. Where before there had only been death, now there was life, too!

Eventually, I ran out of vitality. There were people ahead. People I had yet to share with, people I had yet to give back to. It felt like a personal failure, despite the fact that I had expected this exact situation.

The shadow men returned. Thousands of them darkened the horizons all around me. The charged, their footsteps creating a thunderous roar. When they reached me, I didnt have the power to resist. A single touch was all it took to end it, I suppose.

As I died, the world stilled. All the shadows disappeared. I felt oddly at peace, now. I had left myself enough vitality to breathe easy, as selfish as that sounded. Quite a waste, in hindsight

Suddenly, some bodies around me shook. Then, the same happened in the distance. Wordlessly, people began to rise from the body piles. I didnt recognise them, but as they opened their eyes, they seemed to recognise me. They smiled. These were the people that I had saved!

I- I hadnt managed to save all of them. But seeing their smiling faces, I realised that it was enough.

Ding! 7843 lost! Are you sad?

I shook my head, my vision darkening, my mind departing to the endless void.