After two battles, the sky had already changed from bright to dark. Starry, Boom and Rikka walked side by side on the Miracle Plain, and at this time, the two masks of the two had also changed into another one.
Face.
Rikka has been comforting Boom all the time, and Boom has responded from time to time, for fear of making the other person feel that he is still depressed. He is not depressed now, his lack of strength is a fact, and sighing is not the way to solve the problem.
After the New Year, Aogu City became lively again. Although the weather was still cold at this time, it could not stop people from going out.
However, New Year is the most deadly festival for many poor people. Because during these two days, they can neither go to the market area to pick up garbage, nor can they guarantee that they will survive the cold night.
Therefore, although the number of city guards has doubled, the craziness of criminals has not diminished at all, and there are even bad situations of sneaking into noble areas.
The moonlight is particularly cold today. Although it is almost late at night, the market area is still brightly lit. The New Year has passed, and a new chapter has quietly begun.
Life is like a salted fish, it will either be dried out or rotten in the end. Luck is like the salt on both sides, too much is useless, too little is useless.
Boom and Rikka were walking on the bluestone road. After the day's battle, the two of them had no intention of going home to cook anymore, not to mention Rikka also planned to purchase some fresh ingredients.
But what makes them depressed is that the market area at this time is like a huge hornet's nest. People inside are squeezing to get out, but people outside can't get in.
The reason for this situation is not that the number of people buying things suddenly increased. At least one-fifth of the poor people in the crowd are planning to come and steal something.
I saw that dirty hand reaching for the meat stall, reaching for the cheese, and reaching for the fishmonger's bamboo basket. Copper coins are better than nothing, silver coins are not lost at all, and gold coins are even more profitable.
Curses and exclamations arose one after another. The woman who lost her money bag cried, and the waiter who failed to keep an eye on the stall had a frown on his face.
"What should we do, brother? Should we wait for a while, or go back directly?" Rikka and Boom stood by the wall, looking at the crowd helplessly.
"Go back, I guess that's all for today." Boom sighed, turned around and walked towards the slums with Rikka.
Ten minutes later, Boom, who wanted to sneak back to the small courtyard quietly from the wooden house, stopped. Seeing this, Rikka also turned around and stood beside Boom.
Boom winked at Rikka, signaling her not to talk to him. Although Rikka was extremely dissatisfied with this, there was nothing she could do.
What everyone was watching was a mixed-haired cat. To be more precise, it was a mixed-haired cat that had been frozen stiff.
And behind it is naturally a wooden house. The brave person pushes the door open, and then the stench of decaying corpses spreads...
Back to a few days ago, this old man was wearing that rag and mingling with the crowd in the market area as usual. Sometimes he looked at the exposed money bag, sometimes he picked up the vegetable stalks discarded by others.
The cloth bag he was carrying was bulging, and his face became more and more excited because of it. The New Year was approaching, and he, who was already unable to do what he wanted, naturally had to prepare in advance.
Time passed by, and the old man finally stood in front of the fish stall, staring expectantly at the waste on the ground. The boss saw that the visitor was an acquaintance, and although his words were harsh, he had no intention of stopping him.
The smelly fish heads and tails were stuffed into the cloth bag by the old man. Today he felt very lucky because those chopped fish roe were rare and good things.
Returning to the wooden house, he first hung the vegetable stalks on the wall. At this time, the mixed-haired cat had already jumped to the ground and kept rubbing its head against the old man.
Seeing this, the old man smiled slightly, put the tiny bit of fish roe into the clay bowl, and pushed it to the other person. However, just when he was about to eat something, the door was kicked open.
"Old guy! What day is it today? We don't need to say more. Do you plan to postpone the three copper coins until next year?" A big man with a rough face walked in carelessly, followed by two younger brothers.
"I really have no money. Look, I got these rotten vegetable roots in one day." The old man replied with a wry smile and pointed to the cloth bag on the wall.
"You have the energy to raise such a waste, but you don't have the time to get some copper coins? Do you think I'm a fool?" The big man kicked the stray cat away, and the latter ran out of the wooden house.
Ten minutes later, the three thugs turned around and left, then walked into another wooden room. At this time, the old man was lying on the ground, uncertain whether he was alive or dead.
Coldness poured in from the four cracks in the door. At some point, the mixed-haired cat that had shrunk under the bed quietly walked up to the old man. It put its pink tongue on the old man's face, and the tingling sensation made him wake up faintly.
However, one of the old man's legs was broken, and the heartbreaking pain was rapidly spreading throughout his body. He used his last bit of strength to crawl onto the bed, but what he saw immediately was an empty wall.
His body was scrapped, and the rotten vegetable roots that he had picked up before were gone. Three days later it was New Year's Eve, and he must have died by then.
While the old man was thinking wildly, the mixed-haired cat quietly slipped out of the wooden house, jumped up, and disappeared in an instant.
Night fell as promised, and the old man was lying on the bed, his eyes full of despair. Although he had been a poor man all his life, he did not want to die early.
Meow meow meow! The meow of the mixed-haired cat suddenly sounded. After confirming that the old man was still alive, he placed the dead mouse in his mouth on the other's chest.
The old man didn't say anything when he saw this. He held the dead mouse and gnawed it like a wild animal. The smelly blood stained the sheets red, and the hunger in his belly was relieved.
The second day, the third day, and the fourth day. The mixed-haired cat would bring a dead mouse in its mouth every day, and the old man could continue to live as a result.
However, on New Year's Eve, the old man straightened his upper body as if he was having a flashback, then crawled to the ground and blocked the hole with his own body.
Although the returning mixed-haired cat was a little confused, it still chose to keep arching its head. After more than half an hour, it stopped this behavior and chose to squat quietly outside the wooden house.
Two days later, the mixed-haired cat still maintained this posture, but it had already frozen to death. It was at noon on the third day that the people in the slum realized something was wrong.
Boom and Rikka stood in the crowd. It was only at this moment that they finally understood the cause and effect of the whole incident. The nuns in the monastery also recited sacred texts.
The surrounding poor people gradually dispersed, and two corpses, one large and one small, were carried out of the city gate. Boom and Rikka were sitting by the fire, both of them looking a little ugly.
"Brother, where will they be buried? Miracle Plain?" Rikka asked gently.
"Bury? If every dead person had to be like this, the Miracle Plains would have become a cemetery long ago. There is only one way to deal with the monastery, burn it down completely."
Boom touched the other party's little head, then stood up and walked to the window, looking into the distance. In this dark night, the Miracle Plain was filled with a burning smell.