Chapter 24: Miss information
The survivors quickly realized there was a pattern.
Yet no one could prove what it was.
Everyone only had guesses.
Amidst the chaos, a woman stumbled over a root and fell hard onto the ground.
"H-help!"
She reached toward the crowd with trembling hands.
Most ignored her.
One young man hesitated before gritting his teeth and grabbing her arm.
"I've got you!"
He pulled her up.
The nearest golem slowly turned.
Its golden eyes settled upon them.
The two froze.
The giant watched...
Then looked away.
Nothing happened.
"..."
"..."
"We..."
The woman stared at herself before laughing in disbelief.
"We're alive!"
Someone shouted.
"The golem spared them!"
Another survivor's eyes widened.
"It only attacks selfish people!"
"No!"
"It spared them because they helped each other!"
"It rewards kindness!"
Hope spread faster than fear.
People immediately rushed to help one another.
Some helped others stand.
Some carried the injured.
Others deliberately grabbed strangers' hands.
"It's true!"
"It works!"
"The monsters won't attack good people!"
The scientist opened his mouth.
"...No."
His brows knitted together.
"That doesn't explain the others..."
He looked toward Yunxia.
She remained silent.
Her eyes weren't on the people.
They were on the golems.
Watching.
Waiting.
"...Something's wrong."
Soon, everyone was, one way or another, in groups of two or three, thinking they were saved.
Then it began.
The golems began making their own groups of two.
A bright light shone, and the wooden golems became rock golems with blue eyes and a symbol on their heads.
It looked like a Z, but with a 5 facing left. It was the number 2, but in a strange shape.
Then the couple who'd brought hope were crushed.
Horror spread across everyone's faces, and a chuckle came from above.
A man with a jester mask looked down beside the crow-masked man, who had now begun eating steak with wine.
"Wow, the look on their faces. I want to see it again."
The man looked like the combination of a white-and-black clown, with a ♣ on his white side. He held a staff and used it as a pole to stay in the air. He kept laughing, wiping a fake tear from his onyx-black eyes.
"Birdy, I was beginning to think you'd gone soft, but you really gifted them one heck of a test."
He nudged the crow, causing his wine to spill.
The crow looked up but said nothing at first.
The people below ran like mice.
The scene was almost comical, like two babies trying to step on running cockroaches.
With brutal precision...