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"There's a scent of recent human activity, no doubt about it."
She then noticed that Paimonding, who was hiding in Ying's arms, was staring at her, and immediately explained unhappily: "Why? I just smelled a little sweat--"
"No, no, no, Xi'er, I seemed to see the shadow of a vase running past you..." Paimon raised his finger with a silly look on his face.
She was actually quite calm when she should be scared——
"...Will the vase run away? No, how come I didn't notice it when it was placed so close to me?"
Although he knew that he was the only one who was used to paying attention to the mini-map, Paimon's silly remarks and Seele's unexpected remarks still made Sora frown:
"Hey - over there, don't run, we are normal people -"
He passed Xier and hurriedly shouted to the shadow that slipped away.
A green friendly unit just popped up on the map, but where did it come from? There's no portal nearby.
"……child?"
But when he saw the frail figure of the other party, Kong immediately became alert.
It was not an afterimage, but a green dot on the map. But why would a child run to such a dangerous place? Wasn't the announcement of the Big Mine and Panyan's public distribution of supplies attractive enough for them?
"Stop, little brother!"
However, no matter how Kong called out to him, he just kept running. It seemed that compared to those faceless monsters on the other side of the rift, Kong and his seemingly kind guys were the bigger threat.
"What happened? Did the kid run towards the market?"
Bronya nervously put down her rifle and shouted at the transfer: "We can't go any further - there are enemies over there!"
The desire to stop the child from going deeper into the contaminated area of the Rift did not override his reason. A flash of lightning flashed between Kong's brows. Under Ying's equally inquiring gaze, he quickly turned around, unhooked his gun, and fired a shot at the flat ground next to the workshop.
"bump--"
The newly formed rift made a sharp explosion, disintegrated under the impact of the particle beam, and dropped the remains.
Without further explanation, Kong casually kicked the relic that fell at his feet and threw it to Ying, then turned around, and a ball of fireworks sprayed out of his backpack, suddenly rising high over the roof, looking for the child's location from a high place -
"Boundary erosion? When did the erosion come here?"
Xier was startled by Kong's response without any notice, but when she noticed the collapse of the rift, her eyebrows jumped twice in succession: "Damn it, that kid ran to our side through the gap in the rift, no wonder there was no movement!"
"We have to go call him—" Bronya didn't even bother to discuss and ran to the other side of the alley before Seele.
But less than three seconds after she started running, Kong jumped down from the third-floor attic carrying a boy who was still struggling.
The movement was so quick that it was no more difficult than carrying a piglet.
"Let, let me go!"
"I'm trying to save you. If you go any further you'll run right into the wandering monsters."
Kong held the child tightly, his eyes full of seriousness: "Even if you have done something shameful, if you don't want to be caught by us, don't gamble with your life, okay? Can we be scarier than monsters?"
“But, damn it, it was almost there…” The child’s struggle was in vain and he gradually wilted under the scrutiny of Sora and Bronya.
"Eric, you little bastard!"
Sora and Bronya couldn't understand how this kid could be so desperate, and they needed to prepare their words to question him. However, Seele, who had known this brat for a long time, was not so polite. She immediately pulled Sora out of his arms, half lifted him up in the air, and scolded him fiercely:
"What if you run around and attract monsters? You're going to kill yourself and you're going to kill us?"
"Ah, Xier... I, I'm just collecting materials--"
As soon as the naughty kid saw Xier's "ferocious" expression, his face immediately turned green.
"The town is distributing daily necessities today, but you didn't go to collect them and instead ran into the Rift Realm. Do you know how sad your father would be if you died here?"
"Yes, it's because my dad is sick, and the living supplies we have are not enough, so I-I-"
The unfortunate child didn't even need to finish his words for Kong to smell a scent of sadness.
Cotton balls and plastic-sealed alcohol bags fell out of his small bag. Xier looked carefully and immediately discovered that there were several pieces of steel plates hidden in his bag.
"...These are the supplies that Nata hid... So you took them away. Where did you put them?"
"Xi, Xi'er, I need money for my father's medical treatment. Please, if I tell you where the things are stored, can you give me some money?"
It seemed that he was frightened by Kong's two moves just now. In addition, Xier had a bad reputation, so Eric didn't dare to be stubborn. He put on a pleading look, begging Xier to give him some benefits so that his trip would not be in vain.
"You just ran out of the opening of the rift... and you are still using your father as a shield - if I'm not mistaken, this outfit was also stolen from another child, right?"
Xier didn't buy his trick at all.
"Wait, Xier, if his father is really seriously ill, and he finds the supplies before us, we should really give him some travel expenses—"
"Ms. Xi'er, do you want to put him down and listen to his request first?"
Bronya, who was originally serious, and Ying, who had been silent, seemed to be unable to bear to see Eric trembling, and both of them relaxed their brows and took the initiative to request.
"Don't be nice to this kid. He's a notorious thief and a habitual offender."
"I'm telling the truth! Dad really needs some money! At least two hundred Winter City shields are needed to get the medicine—"
Ying and Bronya's sympathy gave Eric a glimmer of hope.
"Xi'er, how about I pay him these two hundred Winter City shields as payment for him to show us the way?"
Bronya took another step forward: "Tiewei can afford the guide fee."
"…Are you serious?"
Xier, with a head full of question marks, always felt that her cognition and moral level were a little incompatible with those of the guys in front of her - she even had the illusion of being marginalized.
Why are there so many saints around me? She couldn't help but complain in her heart.
232. Banya’s will is being tested…
"…If I hadn't had time to stop you, you would have… actually dared to ask for money. Forget it, remember, Eric, those things are not ownerless, and you are not allowed to use the money I give you for other things. If you go back and let me know that your father is not sick, I will hang you on Goethe's sign, do you understand?"
Even though everyone showed tolerance towards Eric, Xier still had to play the bad guy.
She had seen too many tragedies. Sometimes tolerance could actually harm a person, let alone a child like Eric who was clearly growing up in a wrong direction.
"I swear I didn't lie...at least not this time." The boy who was finally put back to the ground by Xier muttered.
"I believe you. Two hundred Winter City shields, but you have to promise me that after you take the money you will not do anything illegal again. Also, this place is too dangerous. Before entering the city, I want to make sure you take the money and return to Rock Town obediently."
Bronya half-knelt down, and her kind eyes soon calmed Eric's trembling body.
"Thank you, sister - the stuff is at the top of the market, in the pile closest to the orphanage!"
After getting the money, the boy actually had an adult-like look of relief on his face, and he very seriously pointed out a relatively safe street leading to the foot of the mountain.
"We have to take a detour through the shopping street. The big entrance to the market is blocked - it was sealed up recently."
"Wait, orphanage? You were actually hanging around the town center?"
Kong's eyelids twitched twice when he heard that.
"Well, I used to come here often to collect waste, and I'm familiar with the surrounding stalls."
Eric still showed no sign of remorse - or rather, what he promised Bronya to repent for was not "running to a dangerous place", but the "stealing" that Seele had mentioned before.
"You were able to avoid the monster... only because you accidentally entered the Rift. Don't do that next time."
Being able to force a child to steal and do things that adults dare not do...
It seems that his previous judgment of the underground situation was still somewhat one-sided.
"Okay, I understand. Thank you, brother!"
The group of five almost "escorted" Eric back to the entrance of Rivet Town, and after confirming that he went to the Rock, they returned to the vicinity of the workshop in silence.
No one talked about the efficiency and significance of doing so. All they needed was to relieve the depression in their hearts through this behavior - a kind of distress that they felt for their children's misfortune.
"Why are you looking so sad too?"
Xier thought that Kong was a little depressed because he had just scolded the poor child, and she softened her tone for once: "Put away your sympathy, Kong. I was just trying to scare him... In the underground, everyone has to do their best to survive. What I did when I was nine years old was not necessarily better than him. Tao Teng was a bit pitiful in the Rift Erosion Zone, but every child in the underground is almost the same..."
"That's the thing, Xi'er, I'm thinking that although I think a lot has been done and enough has been done, it's actually far from enough."
Sora shook his head, "I'll have to pay more attention from now on."
"...You... don't have to take all the responsibility on yourself... Didn't you say that you hope we can make changes in the way of Beloberg?"
After saying this, Xier felt that she had been too self-conscious in her words again - the more she got along with Kong, the more she felt that she couldn't grasp the measure of her language, which made her a little distressed.
"Well...but the children shouldn't suffer this. Give me some time. Besides supplies, there must be other ways to support the children." Kong didn't mind.
Looking at Kong, who was a little worried and not as frivolous and cheerful as before, Xier seemed to see a layer of golden light spreading around his body for some reason, and a strange feeling began to brew——
If her previous understanding of Golden Retriever was limited to "he is a good person", now seeing Golden Retriever's empathy and concern for the children's future, she truly classified him as "someone who can be trusted unconditionally like Nata".
As a rough person, Xier believed in her intuition more. Kong's careful thinking was not just a show - the same was true for the woman named Ying beside him. When she watched Eric leave, her expression turned sad many times, and then became resolute many times:
"People's suffering will be with them for life, and these children... need to be sheltered."
"Why are you expressing your feelings? Didn't you say you wouldn't express your opinions?"
Xier's face flushed slightly, and she snorted softly, as if trying to hide her disordered heartbeat, and then directed her criticism at Ying.
"I once caused my people to suffer, and I do not want to see the suffering of the world again. Although I cannot promise eternity to the people here, I am willing to bear the sword for the sons of men - please bear witness to my promise."
Shadow sighed.
"..." What the hell is she talking about? ?
Seele, who had a limited education, listened to Ying's nonsense for a long time in amazement, but in the end she could not understand anything. She could only stiffly turn her fire to Bronya, who was also not in high spirits: "And you, Iron Guard leader, just supporting one child cannot change the entire lower class. Hurry up and cheer up, we haven't done the real work yet."
At least Bronya is a local, so there shouldn't be such a big generation gap between her and me, right?
"…You're right. There are many children like Eric. We can't delay any longer."
Although it was different from the way Seele expected to cheer herself up, Bronya finally found a way to motivate herself and get rid of her hesitation... This made her feel very relieved. After all, she was able to understand and speak human language.
However, this guy who seemed to be in the most normal mental state... became a little weird after entering the market area...
"——Go through this workshop and go two T-junctions ahead. It should be there, right?"
Because the déjà vu was so strong, Bronya, who originally did not intend to share this strange hallucination-like feeling, subconsciously pointed out the way.
"Huh? How do you know the road?" Xier, who was on guard in front, immediately stopped and looked suspicious.
"I don't know, there were intermittent flashes of images... I was running on the street, and there was someone looking after me behind me... but I have forgotten what she looked like."