Even at night, the Imperial Capital's vibrancy did not diminish in the slightest. The darkness of night enveloped the light, and here, the debauchery of the red-light district more explicitly revealed humanity's underlying bestial desires to the world.
Compared to the noisy and bustling night streets of the market, the somewhat dilapidated and dim pathways here gave Zhi Feng a feeling as if they were two different worlds from the lively streets she had just seen.
"It's so desolate. I never thought such a place existed within the Imperial Capital."
Zhi Feng frowned, looking at everything in the slum before her. There were almost no pedestrians on the desolate, ruined pathways. Even if there were, they hurried away with their heads down and gloomy expressions. However, everyone couldn't help but glance at Rin and Zhi Feng.
"This is the slum. Even in a place as seemingly prosperous and splendid as the Imperial Capital, it doesn't change the fact that there are people who can't eat or starve to death."
Rin walked along the dark, desolate, ruined road, speaking casually:
"Wherever there are people, there will always be some filth and garbage, entities without value, living without meaning. Their only purpose is probably to one day become a stepping stone for a growing strong person to be crushed. Hmm, in a sense, they are actually quite useful, after all, they have helped me out of financial crises quite a few times in the past."
Rin summarized the value of society's dregs among humans while she and Zhi Feng, disguised, surveyed the suffering of the people.
"Whack!"
In a broken house in a dark, dilapidated corner of a street, the boy who had begged Rin earlier in the day was violently thrown into the corner of the room. The one who struck him was the Delinquent Youth who had stood on the street earlier, and he yelled at him, cursing:
"You're effing playing me! Huh?! This little bit, this tiny bit is supposed to be for two people? I think you're full and have no mind to work, right? You brat, with this broken girl you picked up from who knows where, you're really good at feigning pity to gain the sympathy of those naive young ladies. Do you know that what you ate today couldn't be bought even if you sold yourself a hundred times over! Things I've never touched in my life are actually going into your mouth first, damn it!"
This method of controlling street orphans to beg for money is commonplace in the slums. These scumbags, with no background, no ambition, and no ability, rely on squandering the money begged from kind-hearted people by a few pitiful children they control, living aimlessly day by day. After the children begged for money, it was taken by them to squander on alcohol and women. If they couldn't get enough money, they would beat, scold, and abuse these helpless children at night.
In such a place, a death is nothing more than a feast for rats in a street-side garbage heap. The lives of these children, abandoned by their parents or having no parents at all, were no different from a chicken or a dog.
The begging money the boy handed in today was already much more than the usual average, but the Delinquent Youth was simply annoyed and jealous of the luxurious food the boy enjoyed.
The steak that Rin ordered at the restaurant for lunch, costing fifty Imperial gold coins, was like an emperor's scepter—desirable but unattainable—for beggars who usually returned empty-handed, and at best only earned a dozen or less than twenty copper coins. Even if they were incredibly lucky and were given a few gold coins by an innocent noble lady, who would save up money that they might not even beg for in a lifetime just to eat one meal?
The beaten boy was covered in blood and wounds. He just huddled in the corner, enduring, not saying a word or crying out in pain, because it was useless. And the Little Girl who was with him huddled in another corner, shrinking into the shadows, watching everything, trying not to attract anyone's attention. Only a wisp of short silver hair was illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through the doorless doorway.
Because they were weak, they could only endure for now. They had to endure until the day came when they could resist and escape from here... There were not only three people in the dilapidated house, but also several other children of similar age, all sitting silently against the walls of the broken house, oblivious to all of this as if it were commonplace, their eyes and faces filled with dead ashes.
The boy spit blood from his mouth from the beating, and the Delinquent Youth finally got tired of hitting him, stopping breathlessly. Although the amount handed in by this brother and sister today was already quite a bit compared to usual, the other begging children had not had good harvests, not enough for him to go across the street and find a woman from a street brothel.
Abandoning the boy who was beaten so badly he couldn't get up, the Youth picked up the cooked meat, bought with the children's begging money, that was placed to the side. As he ate it, it felt like chewing wax. Before his eyes was the scene of the brother and sister enjoying steak and cake at the two noble ladies' table. The cooked meat he usually loved now tasted bland.
Just then, he suddenly saw a glint of silver light in the corner of the wall by the doorless doorway. He placed the piece of meat wrapped in oiled paper on the ground.
"This little brat you picked up from who knows where is useless just staying here. You can't even feed yourself, but you still feed her a bite. You carry her around every day, and it doesn't do any good. Why not just twist off an arm and dig out an eye? Then you can take her out and really play the pity card. Hahaha..."
"St... Stop!"
The boy, with broken ribs and spitting blood, unable to stand, found some unknown strength. Hearing the Delinquent Youth's words and seeing him grin and stand up to act, he, who was lying prostrate on the ground and couldn't move, suddenly pounced onto the Youth's leg and bit a chunk of flesh from his thigh.
"You little brat, you're rebelling against me!"
The Delinquent Youth, in pain, immediately cursed and reached out to grab the boy's collar. But the boy's tattered clothes were too thin and old, tearing in his hand, but he couldn't lift the boy. The boy's two hands left ten deep bloody marks on the Youth's leg, and his mouth bit off a chunk of his thigh. The Youth, losing his balance, fell to the ground.
"Run... Run now!"
The silver-haired girl, huddled in the corner, was instantly at a loss. After all, a child not yet two years old could barely understand words. She instinctively thought she should hide here and not make a sound to attract attention, but somehow, she suddenly became the focus.
The only older brother who cared for and protected her was desperately clinging to the adult who had just beaten him, shouting for her to run. But a child not yet two years old needed to be led even to walk; how could she run outside alone? The Little Girl, scared and flustered, stood up from the corner, slowly backing out to the doorway, but she didn't run, or perhaps she didn't even know how to run. Where could a child without guidance run to?
A child, after all, cannot contend with an adult. The furious Delinquent Youth continuously hammered the boy who was clinging to him with heavy punches. The boy spit blood non-stop from the beating but refused to let go, his dirt-covered fingers digging into the Youth's flesh. However, he finally realized that the Little One couldn't manage without him; she couldn't run at all. She was simply too small; she couldn't do anything without someone to take care of her.
"You stinking brat! I'm going to squeeze both of you to death and then make kebabs! I'll kill you first, and then leave you with one breath to watch how I torment that little brat to death!"
I can't go on... This is how I end, isn't it? There are so many happy and joyful things waiting for me to do in the future... But that lunch was already too luxurious as my last feast before death... Only that Little One I picked up... "...Run, Najenda!"
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.