-POV 3rd person-
Inside a dimly lit room, in the bandit's hiding cave, lies a boy on a poor excuse of a bed. The boy's face is pale and weak, clearly uncomfortable.
The boy, of course, is Long Ren. Near him, beside the bed, a woman with simple clothes was kneeling and focusing her attention on Long Ren with a confused gaze.
She does not know what to do right now.
This woman is the woman Long Ren had saved from the cultivator's clutches.
After evading her poor fate, she followed Long Ren's instruction of staying in the room, but after 2 hours had passed and still no news of Long Ren, she wandered around the cave.
As she got out of the cave, she saw the corpses Long Ren had left behind, all of them having exactly one bullet hole on their head.
At first, she was shocked by the scene but got over it quickly.
She then searched around for Long Ren, though she had little to no contact with Long Ren, she believes Long Ren would not just leave her behind for no reason.
'Something must've happened to him.' is what she thought, and her thoughts are right.
She soon arrived at the cliffside Long Ren fell unconscious on. Seeing that, she was shocked, what could possibly hurt a strong cultivator like him!
She slowly approached Long Ren and after confirming he is just unconscious, she carried Long Ren to the bed, although it was hard, it was the least she could do after what Long Ren had done for her.
Seeing Long Ren's pale face, she searched around and grabbed a few things from the cave, mainly food and water.
As she was tending to Long Ren, he woke up.
"Ugh…my mind fucking hurts." Long Ren mumbled through his rough breath.
He then slowly got his upper body up but fell shortly after, his mind still feeling extremely weak.
Feeling like shit, he wanted to at least feel comfortable, so he took his futon out and laid on it slowly, only to then realize the woman kneeling next to him and where he currently was.
"..."
"Should I kill her as well…she saw my futon after all." Long Ren mumbled nonchalantly as if the thought of killing someone just because he can is something normal, or maybe it is now.
Hearing that, the woman did a dogeza and apologized, though she does not know what a 'futon' is or what she did wrong. She apologized just to please Long Ren.
Long Ren just gazed at the woman kneeling before him, and his mind eventually cleared up.
'What the fuck! Why did I just go straight to killing now! Ugh…!' Long Ren thought in his mind, then all the memories from a few hours ago resurfaced in his mind
All the bloodshed and the pile of bodies.
Long Ren immediately felt sick again, but this time, he did not vomit. This sickening feeling is slowly getting numb to him, but still sickening nonetheless.
His face is still pale, but he felt better after drinking water from his ring.
He then realized the woman is still kneeling toward him, and he immediately felt bad.
His previous mindset of mortals only being objects is gone, that was just an in-the-moment mindset for him.
He hoped that that mindset won't resurface…just that one session of bloodshed almost made him numb to killing an innocent woman…He fears what multiple of that can do to him.
"Uhm…I'm sorry, but I'm not going to kill you so can you lift your head and act normal?" Long Ren said to her, and she stopped kneeling, trusting Long Ren's words
She then looked at Long Ren, who is currently laying comfortably on his bed, or futon as he called it. She had never seen something like that before, something so fluffy and silky. She wanted to try and feel it.
And sure enough, Long Ren noticed this and hissed at her, dumbfounding the woman.
…
"...I'm sorry." Long Ren apologized, as he realized what he did was stupid. Imagine hissing at someone just because they stare at your bed…
The woman laughed in response, seeing Long Ren's protective side over his bedding, relieving the rather awkward atmosphere between them, though just a bit as she still kept a respectful gaze towards him.
After a moment of silence…
"You see the bodies on the way here right…What do you think about that?" Long Ren asks her, as she definitely saw the bodies he left behind when she carried him to the room.
"The bandits…I was at first shocked at how easily they died, they haven't even taken their weapons out yet, so I guess you're really strong huh…hehe." She answered with a meek laugh at the end.
Long Ren seemed confused at first and clarified. "No, I don't mean that, I'm asking how you feel about me killing all of them and all."
Now, it's her turn to be confused. "...Thankful…? You did save me and the town from the bandits after all. Ah right! I forgot! Thank you for saving me before I was…you know. And thank you for getting rid of the bandits!", She then did another dogeza once more, as Long Ren heard the gratitude in her voice.
'That's not what I'm asking tho…really, how could she brush off me killing 60+ people so easily…I'm sure most, if not, everyone from earth would see me as a monster after killing that much but here…'
Long Ren sighed heavily, releasing all the frustration he had in his mentality.
At first, he was quite burdened by the thought of having just done a bloodbath, but after talking with her and seeing her nonchalant attitude towards it, he felt like an idiot.
If she, a normal woman, didn't judge him, nor see anything wrong with him killing, honestly, why should he. Why should he suffer for something so trivial?
The herd mentality is really powerful after all.
Though Long Ren still feels a bit sick and uncomfortable remembering the pile of innocent bodies he saw up on the cliff, he quickly suppressed that, at least as much as he could.
Long Ren took out several rations he prepared before and handed some to the woman, eating them together. Though he saw the rations she brought with her, he does not want to touch them.
It disgusts him, eating the same thing they ate.
Slowly, his pride as a cultivator, and something else, start growing in his mind, though Long Ren himself had not realized it just yet.
After talking for a while with the woman and how they should go on with this, they reached a conclusion.
The woman is now free and will go back to the village to tell them that the bandits are dead and they can reclaim their properties and rations after one day while Long Ren will stay here for a while and just rest.
He really needs it.
With that out of the way, he ate a lot of his rations to fill his empty stomach and immediately slept and snuggled deep into his futon, causing the woman to giggle.
She had never seen a cultivator before, and never in her wildest dreams did she expect one to carry a bed everywhere he goes.
Seeing Long Ren fast asleep, she quietly walked away from the room and enjoyed her freedom. She had been held captive for quite some time and now that she is free and the bandits are dead, she wanted her revenge.
She went out and saw several corpses, there, she saw a bandit that she hated the most and immediately stomped on his ugly face, doing so until she is satisfied, and finally, robbed the bandit of their gold.
'Better get as much money as I can before the others noticed, Hehe.' She thought to herself while searching for their treasury, trying to make the best out of the worst, well…now good situation.