Wails, sobs, cries – Ren expected all of these. What he didn't expect to hear first... was arguing.
"It's all his fault! If it weren't for him, how would the shacks have caught fire?"
"He brought the divine punishment upon us!"
"He must have stolen something from someone; that's why the gods delivered retribution!"
Before Ren even got close, several figures came into view. They were clustered together, seemingly surrounding someone in the middle. Vile, dirty accusations spilled from the group.
Ren's brow furrowed tightly. The temporary settlement area was filled with injured and infected patients. The Honkai Eruption had just ended; this should have been a time for refugees to lick their wounds together.
Yet, it was precisely at times like these that human malice often revealed itself most vividly.
"It wasn't me! You were the ones trying to rob me; you knocked over the stove!" The boy surrounded in the middle gritted his teeth. Half his face was blistered from burns, and his arm was covered in Honkai fracture lines; clearly, his infection had worsened.
But even though the boy was so severely injured, the group seemed unwilling to let him go. His explanation only fueled the fire; a fresh wave of ugly curses erupted.
"You definitely stole something to trade for that Holy Medicine! It's obvious you brought the divine punishment!"
"Someone gave it to me! And I traded for the Holy Medicine fair and square! You just wanted my Holy Medicine; that's why you knocked over the stove!"
Initially, it was just an argument between the group and the boy. But the moment the words "Holy Medicine" were spoken, the expressions of the surrounding onlookers changed instantly.
Without exception, their bodies were covered in Honkai fracture lines, their infections nearing the critical stage. Despair filled their eyes as they waited quietly for death. But upon hearing "Holy Medicine," their gazes fixed on the boy, filled only with madness.
"That boy has Holy Medicine!"
"I can still be saved?!"
Low murmurs, like demonic whispers, flooded the boy's mind from all directions. He looked around nervously. The refugees, like the monsters in the garbage dump, were rising from the ground one by one. In that moment, he finally felt true fear.
"I don't have it," he pleaded weakly. But these people didn't care whether he really had it or not. Under the threat of death, human reason had long since vanished.
As the crowd closed in, the boy stumbled backward. Suddenly, his foot caught on something, and he lost his balance, falling to the ground. With no time to get up, he could only scramble backward on his hands and knees.
But the crowd had already formed a tight circle; where could he possibly escape?
Despair filled his heart. But the next second, a glimmer of hope reignited in his eyes as he spotted Ren outside the crowd. Just as he was about to call for help, he seemed to remember something and bit down hard, forcing the words back.
Ren naturally noticed his expression. He also recognized the disfigured boy – the same one who had guided them earlier. Though his face was burned, the Herrscher mark wouldn't lie.
The so-called Holy Medicine was likely the inhibitor. The Relief Association had used it to extort money from the refugees before. Now, with the infection spreading, the importance of a single inhibitor was self-evident.
"Truly despicable." The malice of humanity was nauseating. Ren, having absorbed the memories of countless puppets, had witnessed far too much of it. He showed no mercy, directly using his Herrscher of Reason ability to construct a pistol and firing a shot into the air.
BANG!
The gunshot silenced the scene instantly. Seeing the pistol, the surrounding crowd instinctively took a step back.
After intimidating everyone, Ren walked straight up to the boy and pulled him to his feet.
"Why were you carrying the inhibitor on you?"
"I had to take it back to my mother, but they kept chasing me." The boy, knowing Ren's power, didn't hesitate to tell the truth.
After speaking, he subconsciously clutched his pocket, where the inhibitor was clearly kept.
Seeing his action, others naturally got ideas. "Outsider, this has nothing to do with you! The Holy Medicine he has was stolen..."
BANG!
Before the person could finish speaking, a bullet tore through their thigh. Intense pain instantly consumed their reason, leaving only pig-like squeals.
With one person taken down on the spot, some finally realized Ren's gun was real. The encircling crowd visibly widened.
Of course, some still didn't believe it. But after Ren emptied the magazine, the scene became remarkably harmonious.
"Where is your mother?"
"She..." The boy's face was pale. "I don't know if she made it out."
Naturally, this wasn't a problem for Ren. Since he had marked the boy, finding someone connected to him was simple.
However, just as he finished dealing with the situation and was about to take the boy to find his mother, he noticed Kiana standing silently in the distance, watching him.
Right. The gunshots were loud; Kiana couldn't have missed them.
But Kiana's expression was complex. Himeko was right; only by personally getting to know Ren could she understand everything about him. And this trip to South Asia had indeed shown her a more multi-faceted, real Ren.
"I rescued his mother," Kiana said directly, not asking Ren why he had opened fire. Working together, they quickly found the boy's mother.
Fortunately, his mother was still alive. Unfortunately, the Honkai sickness had already seeped deep into her bones; even with the inhibitor, recovery would likely take time.
"Keep the Holy Medicine for yourself. I've long been prepared to return to the gods." The mother, having learned her condition from Ren, didn't hesitate, immediately refusing treatment for herself.
"But..."
"You use it. Even though we can't live in the city, you're still young. Maybe one day in the future, you can be like these two and go to another country. Maybe you can even find your birth father. As for me, since we are the God-punished, this is simply my fate."
Listening to the mother and son's conversation, Kiana once again felt the profound impact of religion on this country. For the sake of nebulous gods, people adhered to an extremely unreasonable caste system. A Honkai infection was called divine punishment. Inhibitors developed by Schicksal were treated as holy medicine bestowed by the gods.
It was hard to imagine such blind religious faith still existing in modern society.
Ultimately, persuaded by his mother, the boy injected the inhibitor. The infected individuals who had secretly followed, seeing the medicine used up, could only leave with venomous glares.
The effects of the medicine were swift; the Honkai fracture lines on the boy's hand noticeably faded somewhat.
"It really works! Truly Holy Medicine!" The boy and his mother were emotional, but Ren noticed a problem.
This efficacy... isn't right.