Herding Misery, Farming Pain

"People actually breed Aberrant Creatures?"

Hearing Yang Jia's words so suddenly, Xiao Xiao was momentarily incredulous, feeling a kind of absurd shock.

He had seen many Aberrant Creatures already, whether it was the Rat-Man he first encountered in the subway station, the Suffocation Puppet in the abandoned warehouse, or the tormented woman in the coffee shop this time. In their aberration, they were indeed twisted and terrifying, wielding terrifying power, and capable of killing many people at any moment. But at the same time, Xiao Xiao also sensed deep pain and despair within them.

For even one such thing to appear was a tragedy.

But in this world, there were actually people who would deliberately cultivate such things?

His usually calm voice trembled slightly: "Why would they do that?"

Yang Jia said softly, "In this city, we are not the only special ones. We are not the only ones chasing Pain Substance."

"Pain Substance?"

Xiao Xiao understood. That group of people was also chasing Pain Substance?

Just now, he had realized the importance of Pain Substance because of the Enhancement of those three Demolition Hounds, and now, he suddenly heard such a bizarre thing…

He couldn't understand it for a moment: "Isn't this the kind of thing the city hates the most?"

"Every Aberrant Creature has the potential to bring disaster to the entire city, so our mission is to resolve these things…"

"If that's the case, why does the city's will tolerate them?"

"…"

"The city's will is too vast, so vast that we cannot fathom it, and it is difficult to achieve complete and unobstructed communication with it."

Yang Jia sighed softly and said in a low voice: "Sometimes, we even feel that the city is too bloated, which makes it very slow to react in some areas, only able to simply distinguish between Aberrant Creatures and natives."

"Sometimes, the difference between the two is not so easy to define."

"And we are only serving the city's will, there is no need to get too deeply involved with them."

"In fact, in the eyes of some Outsiders, they are even friendly. After all, the more Aberrant Creatures they produce, the easier it is for us to earn Points."

"…"

Xiao Xiao was silent for a moment.

Indeed, just like Little Four said at the beginning, if he hadn't intervened, after the girl next door became an Aberrant Creature, resolving her would have easily reaped him a sum of Points…

But, was such a thing really okay?

He vaguely felt extremely uncomfortable inside, unwilling to say it too directly, but a deep sense of disgust arose.

How could such people be tolerated, and how could such things be cooperated with?

"Of course, you don't really need to be too nervous right now."

Yang Jia seemed to notice Xiao Xiao's sudden increase in pressure, slowed her voice, and explained softly: "In fact, you are still far from the point of contacting them."

"We are not sure whether the little girl next door to you is related to their breeding."

"Little Four has investigated many incidents, and the child next door to you is already the most common case, and the possibility of it being related to them is not high."

"Normally, I shouldn't be telling you these things, but I happened to hear that such a thing happened around you, so I came to remind you."

"Now, you only need to remember that in the future, if you hear about events related to the Shepherds, try to stay away from them."

"…"

"Shepherds?"

Xiao Xiao remembered this newly heard name.

"Yes, a group of people who breed misery and graze on pain…"

When Yang Jia said these words, her voice also seemed a little cold, and one could hear the deep aversion and fear.

Xiao Xiao was silent for a moment.

Some people collapsed because of pain and became a threat to pollute the city, while others were cultivating pain in order to harvest it.

He couldn't describe his feelings upon hearing this, he just felt… extremely disgusted!

"Let's not talk about these things for now. For now, continuing to improve is the most important thing for you."

Yang Jia didn't discuss this issue too much and continued: "I've calculated it for you. Your Points are already very high."

"Solving the Suffocation Puppet before brought you three hundred Points, and this time, solving the coffee shop aberration event should also bring you nearly three hundred Points according to Ye's plan."

"Now you have nearly six hundred Points in your hand, and you can also choose your Enhancement path."

"…"

Xiao Xiao's attention was drawn back: "Path?"

"Yes, every Outsider will embark on their own Enhancement path."

Yang Jia explained softly: "In the early stages, we strengthen ourselves by relying on various Enhancement Elements."

"The more Enhancement Elements we obtain, the stronger we become."

"However, Enhancement Elements also have different properties and characteristics. We cannot always improve our strength by collecting different Enhancement Elements."

"Firstly, the Points consumption is too severe, and secondly, the burden on the mental level will be too heavy…"

"So, once we have a certain foundation, we will choose a path as our main direction for enhancement."

"For example, the Violence Factor. In the novice stage, it only takes twenty Points to acquire one unit, while in the veteran stage, you can spend two hundred Points to exchange for the advanced power of the Violence Factor. Even in the next stage, you can choose elements costing two thousand Points per unit to obtain the high-level power of the Violence Factor. This kind of advanced enhancement centered around a core element is our enhancement path."

"This enhancement direction, with the Violence Factor as its core, is what we call the Fortifier path."

"Besides that, we are also familiar with the Hunter path, which centers around the [Lurking Instinct], and the Seer path, which centers around [Extreme Sensitivity]..."

"Of course, there are many other paths, but the ones that our city is familiar with and controls are mainly these three."

"Every Outsider needs to determine their path in the veteran stage, and judging from the Points you currently have, it's time for you to make this choice..."

"..."

"Fortifier, Hunter, Seer..."

Xiao Xiao was captivated by what Yang Jia said, and a strange sense of unease arose in his heart.

Three different paths represent three different kinds of security...

So, which method should he use to protect himself?

On the other end of the city, Yang Jia hung up the phone and sighed softly.

At this moment, she was standing on the tallest building in the city, with the glittering streets and dizzying traffic below her.

After putting her phone away, she pressed the Bluetooth communicator in her ear. As the blue light flashed, she gently stepped forward and walked off the edge of the building.

Gravity instantly seized her body, and the ground rapidly approached her in a very impactful way.

During her rapid descent, Yang Jia lightly swiped her left finger, and a semi-transparent air phantom resembling a door frame instantly appeared beneath her feet, rotating as it did so.

Her rapidly falling body passed through the door frame, landing silently and gracefully.

She merely bent her knees slightly before standing upright. Raising her head, she saw a black high-rise building with many windows still lit. But now, this high-rise had become a living thing. It was struggling to pull its foundations out from under the earth, with huge tentacles overturning the ground. Nightmarish flesh filled the building, and within it, one could vaguely see countless struggling people crying out in the flesh.

Yang Jia, facing the giant monster hundreds of times her size, coldly raised the gun in her hand.

Before pulling the trigger, a semi-transparent box appeared in front of the muzzle.

Bang!

An ordinary bullet shot out of the muzzle, but after passing through the semi-transparent door frame, it instantly accelerated, and some indescribable, terrifying kinetic energy wrapped around the bullet.

The bullet, less than a centimeter in diameter, howled away, and the air was stirred into a chaotic spiral.

Rumble...

The giant high-rise monster had a huge hole torn in its body by this tiny bullet. It roared in pain, and dozens of huge flesh tentacles rose high, slamming towards Yang Jia, who was walking forward.

At this moment, Yang Jia, while dodging the giant flesh monster, frowned and spoke to the voice in her ear:

"In less than half a month, he has already accumulated six hundred Points and possesses a special dangerous item in the form of three terrifying Demolition Hounds."

"Is everything that is happening to my classmate really just a coincidence?"

"..."

Inside the headset, a gentle electronic voice said softly, "Based on the various information I have investigated, it is indeed just a coincidence."

"In the process of handling these Aberrant Creature incidents, he has not shown exaggerated combat power. He is just calm enough to find the right solutions."

"He even gave those poor beings a little final comfort."

"..."

Speaking of this, it paused slightly and said softly, "If I were to describe him, I would say he is a gentle person."

Yang Jia was somewhat surprised by this answer. Dodging a huge tentacle that extended from the ground and suddenly overturned a hundred square meters of ground, she said softly, "What does Little Four think of him?"

"Little Four was scared by him."

The gentle electronic voice replied, "The one hundred Points that were deducted should have been borne by him himself, but Little Four didn't dare to mention it."

"Hoo..."

Yang Jia didn't know what to say for a moment. Frowning, she raised her gun again, this time with three overlapping semi-transparent door frames in front of the muzzle.

"When I first came back, I was very frustrated, thinking I had overestimated myself and was powerless to change the situation of the Black Door."

As she fired the bullet with its destructive power, she sighed softly, "But now, I don't think it's hopeless..."