Little Zani wandered around the periphery of the Saintess's parade. Humble as she was, she didn't even dare to cast her gaze upon the radiant Saintess—though given her current height and location, she couldn't see the Saintess even if she jumped.
She hesitated and wavered, her eyes filled with hunger and anticipation... Finally, as if she had spotted prey, she slowly approached a well-dressed lady who was part of a minor noble's retinue, getting stepped on several times by the surrounding crowd.
"This kind noblewoman, you are truly beautiful! Just like an angel from heaven."
Little Zani approached the lady, blushing shyly yet resolutely, staring intently at the noblewoman before her, and bravely offered this compliment.
In the Black Alley, she had heard that if lowlifes like them offered flattering words, some noble ladies and gentlemen would be pleased and casually bestow some money!
But Little Zani seemed to have chosen the wrong target?
The lady she complimented didn't even look her way, acting as if she hadn't heard anything. Even when Little Zani tried different ways to compliment her several more times, speaking intentionally louder, she was still ignored.
The gazes of the surrounding people were full of disgust; a vacuum zone about one meter in diameter seemed to have formed around the edge of the parade route.
Little Zani had seen such looks more than once; she was long used to them.
'Can she not hear? Why This Old Ladys this different from what the people in the Black Alley said?'
Zani thought, and moved closer again,
"This kind noble madam, could you... could you spare me some food? This Old Lady haven't eaten for almost three days... for the sake of the Saintess."
But what she received was not delicious food or a casually bestowed currency, but a heavy kick!
"Get lost! Stinking beggar! What does your lack of food have to do with me?! Never mind three days without eating, what does it matter to me if you starve to death?!"
"And for the sake of the Saintess? This Old Lady tell you, you lowlife! The Saintess's glory will not shine upon rats in the sewer!"
"Do you know how filthy you are? And you keep leaning toward me? Do you know how much this outfit of mine costs? And you keep yelling! You're so annoying! It This Old Ladys already the height of mercy that This Old Lady haven't driven you away, and yet you dare to push your luck!"
"Pah! Stinking beggar! This Old Lady hate that This Old Lady even dirtied my shoes kicking you!"
Zani's condition was terrible, truly terrible.
Her self-conscious, hesitant mental state, combined with her extremely hungry and exhausted body, prevented her from dodging the minor noblewoman's kick.
She was instantly kicked three meters away, and the respectable people around her hastily backed away, afraid of being touched, dirtying their clothes, or being pestered by her.
"Ugh... This Old Lady'm sorry, This Old Lady'll leave right now."
Zani, whose first attempt had failed, painfully clutched her aching ribs, stumbled up from the ground, and moved away to the side.
Even though she possessed the strength to punch that ordinary woman flying, she dared not strike—she had heard too many tales of the horrors of the nobility. A lowlife like her, ignored by everyone and without status, would be easily killed in a myriad of ways if she offended a noble. No one would speak up for her, and no one would convict the noble...
She had truly paid a lot, a lot, just to attend this Saintess's parade—or rather, to reach the location of the Saintess's parade to beg...
The Black Alley, located southeast of Fufeng Waterside, was a gathering place for those who couldn't bear the light or were unable to survive, including all kinds of beggars, the unemployed, vagrants, street loiterers, fallen men, illegal immigrants, gangsters, and criminals.
To get from Fufeng Waterside to Egra Town, one had to cross dozens of miles of mountains and hills, and also beware of wild beasts and Tacet Discords along the way.
If only that were the only challenge.
Begging was the "job" of most people in the Black Alley, and anyone could see that the Saintess's coronation day was an excellent opportunity for begging!
That was the Black Alley, a place where even the appearance of a single rat could lead to a "battle for supremacy"!
Everyone there was hungry and cold, constantly fighting. Because it was located in a remote sewer, it was a dark, ungoverned area...
Here, the weak were dominated by the strong, with martial strength being the primary standard for status. The weak were driven to be tools for fraud, swindling, stealing, and robbing, with no right to refuse.
In such a place, the ugliness of human nature was infinitely magnified—these starving people had no faith—or rather, their beliefs were twisted.
Some of them believed that sacrificing a small child before going out to beg would make their begging business more successful that day—or perhaps bringing along a disabled or tragically deceased child would better garner the sympathy of the noble lords and ladies?
Even more, some who hadn't eaten for days and couldn't make it to the Saintess's parade location, their eyes red with hunger, turned their attention to the weak...
Even worse, regardless of gender or age, they treated the weak in the entire Black Alley as prey, raping and then killing, killing and then raping, raping and then eating... to satisfy their perverse desires.
Yes, Zani came out of that place.
She didn't remember having any relatives. Since she could remember, she had been a lowlife in the Black Alley, living in the lowest and worst-conditioned sewer—a place full of the old, weak, sick, disabled, and young.
She only remembered an old woman—a disabled old beggar who relied on her and dressed her up as a boy—of course, Zani also looked very much like a small boy.
In a society like Solaris, where women outnumbered men, boys were incredibly precious. Even beggars knew to cherish them—though, more likely, they just wanted to wait until they grew up, and then...
Similarly, dressing as a boy also carried significant hidden dangers. Fortunately, the young Zani at the time didn't understand those disgusting gazes—but it was at least better than being a girl in the Black Alley, where they were cheaply treated as livestock or tools.
But when she was about four or five years old, one night, following some unnoticed commotion, she couldn't even sense it. She only knew that after that particular night, she never saw the old beggar again.
It was also after that night that she lost her ally—or rather, her protection—and the fact that she was a girl was exposed...
Thus, Zani's nightmare began—She ran! She hid! She gave up everything she found for food to resolve conflicts! She willingly survived in the dirtiest, foulest, most wretched, and most despised places!
But she was still caught.
That time, tiny Zani, amidst her struggle and resistance, became a Resonator. Her strength was magnified exponentially, and she beat three disabled old women and two lewd old men to death, officially gaining the combat power of a healthy adult and becoming one of the very few people in the "weaklings' district" who would not be bullied.
Many people wanted to scheme against her, hurt her, or even eat her. On the day of the Saintess's coronation, even more people grouped together and targeted her for various strange reasons.
To get out of the Black Alley and head to the rumored location of the Saintess's parade or coronation, where begging was easier, Zani fought her way from one end of the "weaklings' district" sewer to the other, taking down more than thirty old, weak, sick, and disabled people, before finally reaching a sliver of light outside the Black Alley.
She could only keep swinging her fists! She had to keep swinging her fists!
Swing her fists! Swing her fists!! Swing her fists!!!
The enemies before her harbored too much malice; stopping her swinging fists meant falling into eternal damnation!
When she walked out of the Black Alley, she inevitably had several new wounds and bruises, and her physical strength was mostly depleted.
Then, after avoiding wild beasts and traversing large areas of forest, hills, swamps, and water... to finally reach Egra Town, she was truly, truly exhausted, both physically and mentally, and even her thoughts were sluggish...