It took him about an hour to place each of the flags along with its spirit stone. When the process completed. A translucent barrier sprung up like something out of a sci-fi movie. Ten lights shot from each of the flags and into a central point at the top. Fortunately, the light show lasted for less than five minutes before fading. The area returned to normal. Based on the information he had Nezha should be able to activate the array from the Nexus Station should it be needed. He wanted to test how strong the barrier was, but he decided against it. He didn't have an unlimited number of stones so he couldn't afford to waste any. He could've used the foundation level but that would weaken the array and would defeat the point. With that taken care of he took a quick trip around Nubia to make sure there were no problems before he left. Now that he was alone, he flew down the mountain. He let his killing intent off the leash to further deter monster attacks. His efforts brought him about an hour from Bridgerock within half a day. He decided to sleep in the wild and arrive at the settlement in the morning.

  He wasn't sure the settlement would let him in after sunset and he didn't want to risk a bad run in. He would prefer not to accidentally start a fight because someone got jumpy. It would also give him the chance to absorb some spirit stones. He leaped into the canopy of the tallest tree and braced his back against its bark. When he was somewhat comfortable, he pulled out two first realm stones, one in each hand and started his cultivation technique. The energy felt like a nice cold cup of water after an exhausting day. He focused on the sensation and compared it to the insights he wanted for his Dao. He could tell he wasn't close to an improvement yet, but every bit helped. After a while he let the technique run while he slipped deeper into meditation. When he reopened his eyes, the sun was high in the sky, and he had gained a level. All three points went into Intelligence bringing it even closer to two hundred. He grinned to himself as he closed the menu. He loved that feeling. He opened his eyes and looked down at the forest floor. He had to admit the end of the world had made everything more beautiful. He wasn't sure if that was the spiritual energy or his imagination. He was always a city boy at heart but now? Now he wasn't sure. Of course, he couldn't help but wonder what qualified as a city in the rest of the universe. There had to be some monsters out there.

  That was something for tomorrow. He stood up and fell to the ground. The dirt road was empty, but he imagined that wouldn't be the case for long. He reached into his bag and pulled out ten spirit stones. He wasn't the biggest fan of bribes, but it would accomplish his goal. Especially if he started throwing money around. Ideally, the leader would come out and they could come to terms. If this place was close enough to Nubia for the teleporter it could serve as a trade hub. The closer he got to the settlement the more his smile faltered. When he was twenty feet from the gate cold fury replaced his fading smile. Corpses. There were corpses hanging from the wall. Three of them, one of which was about half the size of the other two. Which meant someone had killed a child. Even the thought was enough to cause him to lose control over his killing intent. He reigned it in almost as immediately, but it was too late. The two gate guards perked up, rifles raised as if to fire and for a moment he wished they had. He wished they'd given him an excuse to attack.

  "Halt!" The first man called out. He was covered in dirt and his fatigues had seen better days. When Maximilian made no attempt to stop the men raised their guns to their eyes.

  "Bring them down." He growled as more of his killing intent leaked out. The Network had descended less than three months ago. Three months and we were hanging people from walls like a medieval king. Three months and we were killing children. Three months. He heard the man say something else but he wasn't listening. He knew it was impossible but it was like three people, the three dead people could see him. That they were waiting for him. He leaped from the ground with enough force to crater it. Before he realized he had sunk his fingers into the sheet metal. A blast of electricity was enough to split the metal around their necks. The corpses had fell for less than half a second before he had jumped after them. He grabbed each one as gently as he could before they hit the ground. A vague sense of danger caused him to release both of his Dao fields. He was aware that they had opened fire but he didn't care. The bullets were destroyed. He wasn't sure if it was the lightning that did it, the water or some combination. He leaped away from the wall and back into the forest.

  He wasn't sure how long he ran until he got his wits back. Until he had processed what he had done. Part of him wished he had felt bad but he didn't. He had done the right thing. He placed the corpses onto the soft forest floor and then blasted a whole. He shifted to the Dao of Rain to make makeshift water cannon. It was a far cry from a shovel but it was all he had. He created three graves. The mud in the whole irritated him. Though there was nothing he could do. He wasn't sure if his electricity couldn't heat the dirt or if he needed to add heat to his understanding. Either way there was nothing he could do. He placed each body into its hole. He wasn't sure if they were related or not so he placed them on either side of the child. The bodies were in an advanced state of decay so it was hard to tell anything about them. He was sure it was two males and a female. He placed the dirt over their bodies. He decided not to use spiritual energy for this part of the process. It felt wrong to him. Though he wasn't sure why. When he finished he stared at the graves. He had no idea who they were but there was no way he would leave them in an unmarked grave. He held out his hand and condensed as much electricity as he could into a beam. The mental energy expenditure was immense but he didn't care. When he finished his head throbbed and he wanted nothing more than a glass of water.

  "May heaven take over where the earth failed." He read the inscription twice. He was far from a poet but he hoped those words were enough. He took another moment with them before he left. He walked for ten minutes before he shot up and into the trees. Spiritual energy surged into his muscles as he reignited the flame of his anger. He had dealt with the most pressing part but not the only. Now he would need to bring about justice. He hoped for both his and their sake that they were dead when they were hung from the wall. The barbarism of the punishment was one thing. He forced himself to focus on what was in front of him. On what he knew to be true. By the time he returned to the settlement he found a small group waiting for him. The pair of guards from earlier as well as five others. Four of the newcomers were dressed like cultivators though their robes were dirty. Either they didn't have the cleaning features or like him they had destroyed the arrays. The final person was different. He carried a two handed sword with its tip buried into the ground. The man was built like a NFL linebacker with arms that looked strong enough to crack open skulls.

  "Well, well, well the criminal returns to the scene of the crime. I have to give it to you that takes balls. Almost enough for me to respect you." The man began with a dark grin on his face. The man didn't bother to give him a chance to respond. "Lets see you broke in, damaged my wall and then removed the symbols. I count three crimes." He held up three fingers to punctuate his words. "Ordinarily I would impose a fine of spirit stones and call that a day." He paused again as if trying to give his words added weight. "Though it turns out this isn't the first time you've been to Bridgerock. Which means you should know better. I am going to give you one opportunity to make this right. Hand over that there bag and apologize. You will spend the next month cleaning the latrines then your free to go on your way."

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  Maximilian stared at the man for several more seconds unsure if he was being serious or not. When he realized he was he searched his mind for the words. For anything that would make the situation make more sense. When nothing came he stepped forward. Every step released more of his killing intent until the air around him felt as heavy as steel. "You dare? You dare speak to me of rules? Of law? Of punishment?" The group fell to their knees, their fingers scratched at their throats like fish out of water. Next came his Dao fields. Electricity arced around him along side the rains of purification. "You hung human fucking beings like ornaments and for what?" By the time he was close enough to touch the leader his guards had collapsed bonelessly to the ground. Maximilian was long past caring if they had survived. It took every shred of his focus to keep his aura. His anger focused on this area. His anger had become a beast that threatened to snap its leash if he stopped. "How dare you."

  Every instinct he had told him to blast the group or split them apart or do anything but what he knew he had to do. The world needed law and order. It needed proof that a new system could be put in place. That the rule of law could work again and that people didn't need to behave like monsters. He took another breath and sealed his aura and Dao away. As soon as the weight was gone the group stopped struggling. "If there is anyone with medical knowledge I would appreciate it if you checked on them. If they are still alive I want them to be looked after. If anyone has chains or rope bring it as well." He had to give the order a second time before people moved. Everyone gave him a wide berth as if he were a wild animal. One that could attack at the slightest provocation. He didn't blame them. He knew that what he had done was hypocritical. He had ignored this monster's law to impose his own but what else was he supposed to do? There had to be a better way than hanging people from walls like Vlad the fucking Impaler. Humanity had advanced over thousands of years there had to be better ways than this. He shook his head and entered the settlement. There would be time for him to worry about the law later. As soon as he entered the settlement he received a notification from the Network. One that made his complicated feelings worse.

  You have conquered the previous owner of the settlement. You have one hour to claim the Nexus Station for yourself. 00:00:59:59

  He didn't like being a "conqueror" but he wasn't about to ignore the message. He still needed a place that could link Nubia to the rest of the bottom of the mountain. It wasn't hard to find the Nexus Station, the few guards left had either dropped their guns or fled the area. He had on interest in going after them. He couldn't punish every person here for what happened. Not without more violence and he was exhausted. When he entered the bunker that served as the former command center his anger was reignited. He had assumed the settlement was low on food and other resources but that was wrong. It had all been brought here. Further there were things that had come from the Network. Which allowed him to make an assumption. The Network had offered the people here quests. Quests that when completed gave them rewards. Rewards the leader then took. He shook his head and gathered everything. He would give it all back if he could figure out who it belonged. The situation also explained why the group was so weak. After all, why go hunt for yourself if you stole the rewards.

  Most of the people wouldn't have been cultivators and if they used guns for the kills. There was little chance of them getting stronger. That would stop now. He made a mental note to speak to Nezha to try and set up some payment system. Even if people didn't want to fight they had to do something. He also needed a way to get people to be farmers and other menial tasks. Work that wasn't going to be fun. Especially when you could instead get superpowers. He placed a hand over the Nexus Station. He had expected some sort of ceremony but that wasn't the case. The station glowed and then he got access to the same menu he had in Nubia. He paged through it all to be sure but there were no differences. He scrolled through until he found the teleporter section and made the purchase. He let out a sigh of relief when the array showed Nubia as a possible destination. He stepped through and found himself in a small unadorned building.

  He was sure this wasn't where he had placed the teleporter which piqued his interest. He was pretty sure it wasn't Nezha who made the decision. He stepped out and found the assistant as it finished a conversation with Kim. He gestured for the construct to follow him. "Nezha would it be possible to design a prison? Or at least to buy one? There is someone I would like to keep locked away for now."

  "You do not have access to any buildings like that. It would be possible to configure a makeshift one if need be." Maximilian gestured for the construct to continue. "If you buy one of the normal buildings and then an energy starvation array it would serve a similar purpose though nowhere near as effective."

  "Based on the description the array would make it harder to absorb spiritual energy? Would the person still have access to all their attributes?" Nezha nodded and Maximilian continued. "I see, in that case we would need rope or chains as well." He sighed and looked up at the darkening sky. The list of things he had to do seemed to get bigger every time he did anything. When he had composed himself, he looked over at the construct. "Make it happen. Place the building some distance away from the teleporter room. Let the people know they are to avoid the area. It will be considered a crime to interfere with any of the prisoners. I don't want anyone to get hurt nor do I want anyone to try and break him out. I doubt he will be happy with me."

  Maximilian went over a few more details with his assistant before he left him to it and headed back through. When he returned to Bridgerock he began the second part of his plan. He had no interest in this place. It had little in terms of defense, and it would take too much time for him to fix it. Instead, he would offer everyone who wanted to the chance to move to Nubia. After that he would leave the place open as a teleporter way station. He had confirmed that he could lock Nubia down. He didn't need to worry about someone using the teleporter to enter without his permission. If he lost this place, he could rebuild or take it back later. As he expected escorting the prisoners was the hardest part of the process. Most of them stayed unconscious but their leader hadn't. Maximilian took the man's sword and then escorted him to his new prison cell.

  He would have to figure out for how long later. He wasn't even sure how to calculate the crime since the United States didn't exist anymore. As far as he knew. The whole thing made his head hurt. Once he found his family he would need to sit down and work out a system of laws, penalties and everything else. When he stepped through the teleporter for the final time, he pushed all those thoughts to the back of his mind. He had officially done everything he had to do before he could move away from Nubia. He backed the mountain behind him and then blasted into the forest at his top speed. The world blurred around him as his heart swelled. He would find his family and take the time to explore the new world.