Chapter 154: Burned victims
Atlan pushed the rickshaw forward. The soldiers on the other side gestured for him to come faster, but Atlan couldn't. There were burnt human remains all over the street preventing him from going as fast as he wanted.
As they got closer to the soldiers, more corpses filled the cobblestone road. They died with outstretched hands towards the exit. They tried to crawl to safety, but their burns were far too severe.
It was tragic. Atlan couldn't help them anymore. The only solace that consoled him was the fact that their suffering stopped.
[You have reaped the death of a Sentient Creature: Human] x52
[Due to your Trait, your experience has multiplied by 10]
[You have gained 26,000 experience]
Atlan had to avert the rickshaw away from the corpses. He could have run over them, but he respected the dead too much for him to sully their corpses.
And after avoiding a few more spontaneous explosions in the streets, they finally reached the end of the line.
The intersection in front of them was the difference between the Masamune district and the residential district.
As soon as they passed through Masamune 25th Street and onto the Homely district, it was as if a bucket of cold water washed over them. The heat was gone and replaced by the cool ambient air of the City.
The surviving dwarfs relaxed their bodies as they felt the cooling air wash over their bodies. The cold breeze soothed the aching blisters that formed on every crevice of their skin.
Unfortunately, that only lasted for a moment. Their bodies went into overdrive as they felt a stinging pain overcome their every thought. They had third-degree burns.
"Give way! Give way!" the soldiers shouted as they approached the rickshaw. There were a lot of curious citizens who wanted to take a closer look at the victims, but the soldiers quickly dispersed them away.
They created a barricade that prevented civilians from interfering with their work.
The soldiers removed gauze from their medicine kits and applied it to the burned dwarves.
The dwarves, as prideful as they were, tried to bear the pain and not utter a single cry, but the pain was too much. It enveloped their whole body.
They winced and groaned, but the soldiers kept applying gauze and healing salves on their burned skin.
One of the soldiers immediately went over to Atlan and tried to apply gauze on his skin, but was quickly surprised when they saw no blisters on his skin.
"You're…not hurt?"
Atlan shook his head. "No. Just heal the others. I'm fine."
The soldier looked at Atlan's epaulet and saw that he was only at the 2nd stage Student realm! That was unbelievable. It wasn't long ago since they healed a 4th stage Student Tank for their third-degree burns. So, a 2nd stage Student shouldn't be this…fine!
Upon closer inspection, the soldier noticed that Atlan's skin was turning whiter and whiter until it returned to his normal complexion!
When Atlan exited the Masamune district, his skin was still reddish from the heat. But just a few seconds later, his skin already fought off the swelling.
"Are you really okay?!" The soldier wanted to check inside Atlan's battle suit, but Atlan waved him off.
With his Physique LifeSkill, he was able to regenerate his SoulTime every second. Not to mention the fact that he could gain years of lifespan with his Photosynthesis mutation, he wasn't going to get injured any time soon.
"The priests are here!" one of the soldiers shouted.
The crowd parted ways as a group of nuns and priests walked over to the recovering dwarves.
The nuns immediately went to work and kneeled right next to the bandaged dwarves saved by the soldiers. They clasped their hands and muttered under their breaths as they prayed for the Genesis God's blessing.
After a few seconds, a pillar of light beamed down from the heavens and enveloped the recovering dwarf.
The nun took out an oval crystal from her pockets.
Atlan's eyes widened when saw the crystal suddenly sprout tiny legs that wiggled like it was alive! Even if it didn't have the typical monstrous head that he was familiar with, Atlan would recognize that chitinous armor anywhere. That oval crystal was a Pseudo Canzer!
'Time…how much….'
The Pseudo Canzer spoke out a soundless screech that only Atlan could understand.
Then, the nun placed the crystal Pseudo Canzer onto the patient's chest.
After a few seconds, the crystal reflected numbers that Atlan was very familiar with. He saw it in his Soul System. It was the dwarf's SoulTime!
<SoulTime>
<Burned: 95% deduction>
< 0y : 28d : 23h : 12s >
The crystal Pseudo Canzer showed exactly how much time the dwarf had left before he died. His burns weakened his body so much that he only had 28 days left before his SoulTime turned zero.
But that wasn't for long. After the nun prayed to the Genesis God and summoned a beam of light from the sky, the dwarf's SoulTime miraculously started to tick up at a fast rate!
<SoulTime>
<Burned: 10% deduction>
< 1y : 139d : 23h : 12s >
The dwarf's pained expression soon turned to relief as most of his SoulTime returned to its normal state. His charred and flaking scars peeled off and were replaced by new pink skin.
As more and more nuns arrived at the scene, they took control of the situation and started to triage the survivors.
The ones who were near death and only had hours or even minutes left in their SoulTime were treated first. Priests had more healing power, so they were in charge of these victims. The nuns treated those who only had minor injuries and weren't close to death.
But as they healed one, two more took their place. Soldiers returned from the Masamune district carrying burned victims on their shoulders. They recovered more and more burned bodies.
Atlan used his Thermal Vision and looked back at the hellish Masamune district.
Even though everything was colored in a dark red, he still saw breathing survivors stuck inside collapsed buildings. They still clung on to their lives, but they wouldn't last long.
Without any hesitation, Atlan walked back into the Masamune district.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"