Lv Shu nodded, matching the list with his memory. Mizushima Kawa Sora should indeed be investigating.

Looking at the fearful expressions of the crowd, he should have felt the joy of avenging a great grudge, yet he did not feel any comfort, only melancholy in his heart.

—— The person is gone, who can repay the suffering he endured?

…

Lv Shu stared at the trash bin.

Street trash bins hide many leftovers, maybe some remaining dishes and buns.

"Who allowed you to buy junk food, throw it away quickly!" Just after school, a parent tugged a child's ear, demanding the child throw away the freshly bought spicy strips.

The child hurriedly took a few bites and threw the remaining half of the spicy strips into the trash bin.

"You..." Lv Shu wanted to speak, but that bag of spicy strips had already fallen into layers of garbage, contaminated by waste water.

"Big brother, do you want to eat it?" The child saw his expression.

But the parent took the child away: "Xiao Dai, don't talk to this kind of person, people like this have no home, they don't look like good people, they'll abduct you. Plus, he's all dirty, don't dirty your new cotton jacket."

"Then why doesn't he wear a new cotton jacket, does he not have a mom?" the child asked.

"Don't worry, it's none of your business."

Lv Shu silently watched them walk away. They only left him feeling a dull pain in his stomach, like his organs were being torn apart, acidic water rushing up in waves. Since being expelled from the Ancient Martial Families, he hadn't eaten for four days, and the wounds on his body were festering and inflamed, with frostbite too.

He had trekked alone for four days to reach the nearest city.

"H City..." he murmured. But H City was still far from Taihua Mountain, and even if he went there, his enemies wouldn't let him live well. If he allied with that good man, that good man would be implicated.

The sadness was close to numbness, four days of time was way too harsh to accept the pain of losing family. To survive, he had to bury the sorrow deep in his heart.

The towering city was extremely bustling, the aroma of grilled sausages and fried skewers filled the street. He swallowed his saliva, took a few steps toward a stall, and the vendor frowned at him.

"QR code payment." The vendor gestured.

"Huh?" Lv Shu stared blankly at the sign, QR code... what is a QR code? What is scanning?

"Did you bring money?" the vendor asked.

"I..." Lv Shu had nothing on him.

"Go away, don't block my stall." The vendor immediately told him to leave to avoid affecting the appetites of people around.

Lv Shu backed up a few steps after being scolded, staring blankly at the bustling traffic before him. Everything was so unfamiliar, he didn't understand why the electronic screens on buildings rolled, nor did he understand what the black squares in people's hands were. Why could you get food just by scanning, he used ancient coins for trading in the mountains.

Children holding balloons, white-collar workers with briefcases, students catching buses... all bypassed him from a distance. As if there was an enormous mold spot on him, just a glance at the mold spot would make others sick. But he checked carefully, there was no mold spot on him, and he had bathed by the stream, no smell, why did everyone look at him like they were looking at trash?

Could it be there was an invisible mold spot on him? Unseen, untouched, following him like a shadow. Or maybe that mold spot was not on him, but on people's retinas, branded in their brains.

Dusk fell, the sun cloaked in twilight, lights started coming on one by one, the aroma of dishes drifted in the wind. He walked with crossed arms in a daze, constantly shivering.

He didn't know where he should go, had no goal, and no home. Joyful passersby walked against him, as if he were traveling against colorful and vibrant waters.

Hunger tortured his rationality, Lv Family's young master had never gone hungry, nor imagined he would leave the deep mountain. Everything outside was brand new; he was like a fledgling suddenly thrown into a pool, desperately flapping wings but not knowing how to fly.

He hadn't looked in a mirror, but knew the burn on his back must be unsightly, even the slightest friction with fabric brought a stabbing pain, black blood and tissue fluid dripping down.

—— Where can he go?

—— Where does he want to go?

A thirty-meter-high building loomed like an eagle overlooking ants, he looked up at the gray-blue sky for the first time realizing it was filled with smog, suffocatingly oppressive.

"Hey!" A sound from behind, wheels, was the vendor.

Lv Shu instinctively shrank, too many cold stares he had encountered these days. Seeing someone running toward him, he reflexively feared. Besides, that vendor disliked him so much just now, could it be he was coming to beat him?

The vendor stopped beside him, rummaged in the drawer, and pulled out a burnt sweet potato, handing it to him.

"Eat it. Didn't sell out today. I'm packing up, thought I'd give it to you."

The vendor's words stunned him.

The sweet potato in his hand was scorching, Lv Shu's palm still had unhealed knife wounds, burning out threads of blood, but he ignored the pain. Perhaps it was starvation for too long, a thread in his mind snapped, appetite dominated his brain, and he immediately bowed his head to eat.

As he ate, tears flowed down.

He had never eaten such a thing, formerly picky about food, mostly eating vegetarian and drinking tea, never tasted even slightly greasy meat soup, let alone such scorched food. If he secretly ate, grandpa would use bamboo board to hit his palm.

But now grandpa was gone, vegetarian and tea were gone, even if he buried himself eating such things, with none of a noble young master's image, no one would blame him anymore.

But he missed having an elder stand in front of him, calling his name, using bamboo board to hit his palm. Yet when he lifted his head, all he saw were cold traffic lights and night breeze.

"You look young, don't wander the streets." Seeing Lv Shu devouring, the vendor said, "There's a bridge with many homeless children over there, you can find some clothes to wear... Alas, I can't care that much, my elderly mother is waiting for medicine money at home, I'm leaving."

The burden of life suffocated people, the city had no surplus kindness, better to pity oneself than others.

Lv Shu finally felt the pain screaming in his stomach eased a bit, but the burn on his back made him dizzy, his forehead scorching, he nearly collapsed on the ground.

But even so, grandpa had taught him what to say.

"… Thank you." He murmured.

Accepting help from others, he should say thank you. It's the same in the city as in the mountains.

The sound of wheels didn't stop, the vendor left without looking back, for the vendor, he had helped the homeless child as much as he could.

That night, Lv Shu slept under the bridge.

There were indeed some homeless children here, but they wouldn't accept a feverish outsider, fearing Lv Shu might infect them. He could only stay in the coldest spot on the outer edge, blown by the howling wind, resting on collected cloth, and fell into a lethargic sleep.

At least asleep... the stomach wasn't so painful.

The next day, he didn't wake up quickly.

Complications from the burn surged all at once. He felt sore all over, forehead hot, chest like burning flames, back pain made breathing difficult, completely unable to get up, only able to lay straight on the ground, like a corpse.

Cars came and went, no one cared about a homeless man lying on the ground, who cared? What if the homeless man suddenly attacked, what if the homeless man had contagious diseases.

"Help..." The cry for help was pressed in his mouth, he knew no one would save him anymore. From four days ago, there wasn't anyone in this world who would love him unconditionally. And he couldn't afford any price; with empty hands, how could he trade for someone's affection.

Curling up on the ground, he fell back into a lethargic sleep.

Cold winds cut like knives over his back, scorching hot in front, as if something was tearing his organs, knife slice upon slice...

Sleep, wake up, sleep, wake up...

Like a nightmare cycle.

He was like a ghost in the city, with very little waking time, only able to stare blankly at the sky outside the bridge hole, where there was a very beautiful high-level community. He often saw boys of his age playing the piano or violin by the window, enjoying the love and praise of their parents... it seemed so far, far away from him...

Happiness belonged to them, he had nothing. He felt like a rat crouching under the bridge, lying in the gutter, gazing at the distant sky. Even though he and his peers in the city shared the same sky, they seemed to be people from a different world.

When his illness improved a bit, he slowly got up; even though his whole body hurt like hell, he couldn't lie down any longer. Although he could drink the water from the ground, he would starve to death without food.

Dragging his body as heavy as a sack, he walked, eyeing that trash can once again—the trash can he hesitated to approach when he first came to the city.

Maybe it was poor city management, but this trash can hadn't been emptied, that bag of spicy strips was still inside, but it was already rotten, emitting a maggot-like smell.

Gulp.

Yet he shamefully swallowed his saliva.

A trembling hand reached forward... he no longer had the energy to keep searching for food, he had to live... he had to gain strength to survive, only then could he...

Only then could he... take revenge.

The youthful spirit in his green eyes gradually shattered, mud-colored darkness seeped into his eyes; twisted obsession began to grow... he finally cast away his pride and reached out with a trembling hand.

Perhaps he was destined to live in this world full of scars.

He had tried to resist—seeking help from ancient martial families, reporting the crisis to his ancestors, and even asking ordinary people for help... but none succeeded. No matter what, he was trapped in a quagmire, unable to save himself. The mold seemed to have really appeared on his body, exuding a foul smell.

At the moment of biting down, he felt as though he was devouring that gentle boy on Taihua Mountain.

He chewed up the boy's pride, snapped the boy's edges, swallowed down without a full chew, he felt that he was completely dead, he didn't die on the day of the blazing fire, but in front of that reeking trash can.

The moment he consumed the garbage, he bit off his own self.

The first, second, third piece...

Half-eaten buns, expired biscuits, spoiled meals... to stay alive, he stuffed them all into his mouth, he didn't understand what infection was, or food poisoning, anyway as long as it was consumed, it should give strength...

Those days lasted a long time.

"The city is so big." he often thought.

"Everywhere are electronic ads and QR codes I don't understand, the city's aerial tracks are so high, I can't walk onto them. The rolling ads, I mostly can't understand them either."

"The black boxes his peers played with, he didn't know what those were. The various snacks they ate, he could only follow behind at a distance, hoping they'd eat and throw leftovers into the trash can."

"People say you can go to the hospital when sick, but what is medical insurance? What is an ID card... it's like I don't have any of those..."

He scavenged for food in the garbage, slept under the bridge, curled up through illness and pain.

He tried to find work, but as soon as he stepped into the store, people pinched their noses and kicked him out.

He thought about going to H City, but after a few steps, he realized that his foes were still watching him suffer, he couldn't bring trouble to good people.

The city was so big, he couldn't walk out.

However, he never begged like other street kids, always found food on his own. When ill, he just bore it through stubbornly.

What made him happy was finding a toy knife in the trash that a child didn't want. With a little strength, he practiced his knife skills, he couldn't let his hand go rusty, he still needed to go back and take revenge...

Until one day, he noticed a strand of white hair on himself.

"...Hmm?"

The white hair increased.

He didn't understand what it meant, and when his entire head of black hair turned white, he still felt nothing. Until one day when he was bathing by the river, he suddenly vomited blood and passed out.

In a hazy state, he thought.

...It's over.

...

But when he woke up.

He lay on a clean, tidy bed, his hand receiving an IV drip.

He was puzzled.

This was a hospital, even a single box of medication here was beyond his means, how could he be lying here.

But just as he was about to jump out the window to escape, the door opened. A man in a police uniform stopped him, pulling him back to the bed.

"Hey, I saw you fainted by the river, so I brought you to the hospital. The doctor said you've a whole bunch of problems, you know that? Just stay here for treatment, I'll cover the cost." The man advised him.

Lv Shu widened his eyes, not understanding why. Clearly, people couldn't even spare a bun, yet this man spent so much money to help a stranger like him?

"No particular reason. There are many bad people in this world and also many good ones. Seeing you, I couldn't just stand by. My salary isn't so meager that I'd starve, so I save whoever I can." The man turned to pick up a large bag from which warm air emanated:

"Look, I just got you a new cotton coat, try it on to see if it fits. Here's some porridge and roasted sweet potatoes I bought from the hospital entrance, you haven't had hot food in a long time, warm your stomach..."

After wandering for so long, it was the first time Lv Shu wore a fitting cotton coat. The sweet potato lay in his hand, his palm already tended to by the doctor, no longer in pain.

"...Umm."

He realized for the first time how delicious this food was. Previously, everything tasted bland to him, but this time, the sweet fragrance spread in his mouth, it was happiness that made him almost cry.

The man brushed his head gently, his large hand was warm: "You'll stay at my place before your ID documents are ready, I'll help you find a job afterwards. If you want to study, you can also work part-time and study."

"...Hmm."

He gave a vague response, the sweetness spreading in his mouth. So there really was a Savior for him in this world.

So in this world,

there really were... good people.

He didn't see the disease notice at the foot of the bed, and even if he did, he wouldn't understand—what did the word "cancer" mean? He didn't know.

Anyway, it wouldn't be worse than now, right.

He met a good man, he could go to school, life would surely... gradually get better.

He could live for a very long time, how wonderful...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.