After cooking a portion of beast meat that would usually be enough to feed a family, Damien quietly sat and watched the little girl eat away.
However; his thoughts were elsewhere.
'This realm is nowhere near as simple as I thought it was. Trial World? Secret realm? What a joke. If that was all this place was, then the existence of those creatures would be impossible.'
Although he had been driven by his rage, he had obviously retained his clarity when he saved the little girl earlier. Even if he didn't, the passive abilities of his eyes would always be active whether he liked it or not.
Eventually, he would've noticed what he had already noticed. Still, he wanted to ask the little girl about her story before he came up with any true conclusions.
But he was hesitant. 'She just got out of such a perilous situation, and for a little girl with no cultivation like her to have even ended up like that, there must've been some kind of tragedy beforehand. There's no way hundreds of those things would chase one person otherwise.'
Was it a wise idea to directly ask her about something that would obviously be her trauma? Damien knew how hung up he was on his own trauma, so he was a bit sensitive about the topic.
Just as he was pondering how to move forward, the little girl moved from her spot at the little table Damien had made her and sat on his lap.
"Daddy and Mommy said to run, so Xue'er ran."
Damien was surprised by her sudden shift in attitude, but he didn't say anything. He focused his gaze on her and quietly listened.
"Xue'er's village was nice and small. All the little kids like Xue'er were always happy and playing. But Daddy and Mommy always told Xue'er about the scary ghosts that live in the world."
The little girl, whose name Damien now knew was Xue'er, slightly shivered as she spoke.
"Daddy and Mommy said that the ghosts were bad people who listened to the Devil and that Xue'er should be careful to never leave the village alone. But they also said that Xue'er would be safe as long as she was with the adults.
"But Daddy and Mommy were wrong. And now, Xue'er is alone."
Xue'er's light shivers had become uncontrollable. Tears had once again begun to spill from her eyes. Damien sighed and turned her around, once again hugging her into his bosom and lightly brushing her midnight black hair.
It seemed that his actions were able to slightly calm her down because not long after, Xue'er continued to speak.
"The bad ghosts came to Xue'er's village and did bad things. They took everyone Xue'er loves away. But Daddy and Mommy didn't say anything. They only told Xue'er to run away."
And so that's what she did. While the people of her village were being slaughtered, Xue'er ran as fast as she could into the nearby forest.
But those things were insatiable. After taking everything they could from the people of the village, they chased Xue'er down as well. They were fast, faster than a little girl with no cultivation could run.
Xue'er could only be counted lucky. She had run for 3 days straight before those things even caught her scent and began chasing. As for what they did during those 3 days, Feng Qing'er would probably have the best idea.
"The ghosts covered Xue'er's friends in black ink, and then Xue'er's friends disappeared. Will-will Xue'er disappear like them too? Xue'er doesn't want to die!"
Damien couldn't help but sigh once more. It was truly tragic, to the point where Xue'er probably wouldn't realize the full extent of the tragedy until she was much older.
Hundreds of villagers had been reduced to nothing, even the women and children weren't spared.
Damien hugged her tightly and continued to brush her hair. He gently injected warm mana into her body to lessen her shivering.
"No. Xue'er won't die. Didn't Big brother already say? Big brother is very powerful, and he won't let anything bad happen to you."
Xue'er lightly nodded her head, but the tears didn't stop falling. Although Damien couldn't see her eyes, he could guess what she was thinking.
'She's a lot smarter than I gave her credit for.'
Most likely, Xue'er knew. She knew that she was alone in this world now, and that her parents and friends had been slaughtered. A little girl with the determination to kill herself before being caught would naturally have this small amount of maturity.
It was just…regardless of how much she had been forced to mature in the past few days, she was a child. A child who, before this, had never been through those kinds of hardships. Perhaps Damien's presence was the only reason she was able to truly vent her feelings and act like a child again.
'This level of trauma…I don't know if she can ever truly recover. No, I can't let that happen. There's no way I'll let such an innocent little girl become an empty shell of her former self.'
Damien's will seemed to ignite. He didn't know why, but he felt a connection to Xue'er. He truly admired the grit of this little girl, and her current condition reminded him too much of his previous self.
But his feelings aside, Xue'er's story ended up confirming what Damien had speculated.
'That inky black substance she was talking about…combined with the mana I saw around those abominations, there's no mistaking it.'
Once again, the Nox had made their appearance. He had suspected their involvement with the elves in the 3000 Beast Mountain Range, but how could their influence even spread into this secret realm that was controlled by a mythical existence like the Primordial Undying Tree?
As he thought previously, things became much more complicated.
Truthfully speaking, Damien had no reason to get involved. He could always ignore the problems happening with the Nox here and simply go on a killing spree until his star was black.
But, could he really?
For one, anything related to the Nox was directly or indirectly tied to the fate of the entire universe.
Secondly, Damien was feeling rage in Xue'er's place. The feeling of this little girl cut into his heart, and he couldn't find it in himself to simply ignore her and continue on.
And lastly, there had always been something nagging at Damien's mind. Back when he was in that little forest with Ruyue, when he killed the thing disguised as Elder Baba, he had been forced by the situation.
He had run away from an obvious conspiracy that he most likely had the power to stop, all because he simply didn't have the time to get involved.
It had always been nagging at the back of his mind. It was a subconscious thing. He felt like, on that day, he had done something that went against his moral principles.
But this situation was different. He had an entire year in this realm. Even if he couldn't solve the problem in its entirety, he could at least somewhat help alleviate the burden.
Damien didn't want to run into another situation like the forest. He wanted to always be certain that no matter what actions he chose to take, he'd always do so of his own volition, instead of being forced by the circumstances.
His principles were incredibly important to him. Even if he lost everything else, he at least wanted to be true to himself until the end.
There was only one situation where he'd allow himself to fall into madness. Only a single situation that would justify him betraying himself. And that was if his women or someone he cared for equally was killed.
As Damien firmed his resolve, he ended up smiling. 'I really have a habit of getting involved with bullshit, don't I?'
But he quickly changed his outlook. His smile became a lot less stiff. 'If I have to kill to strengthen my star, then aren't those related to the Nox the perfect targets?'
