A weak, trembling apology echoed in the dark and closed alley.
Accompanied by the sound, there was also the very recognizable muffled sound when the soles of shoes were kicked on the belly.
Click, click.
The sound of the two lighters being lit was particularly clear, and the fire light came on, lighting the cigarette the man was holding.
"spit."
A mouthful of thick phlegm was spat on the face of the boy lying on the ground.
The boy just held his head and did not dare to complain at all.
"What a bummer! As a piece of shit, don't you have the consciousness to hide yourself well?"
The man frowned in the dim light of the fire, his big feet still stepping on the boy's dirty, tangled and clumped hair, like stepping on a rubber ball.
But his voice was just plain and emotionless, as if there was nothing wrong with this approach.
"Our Fakun Autonomous Group should have already said that starting from this month, this neighborhood will be the territory of our Autonomous Group."
"All infected people must be evacuated immediately, within three days, and the deadline is...yesterday."
As he spoke, the man raised his wrist and looked at his watch.
【00:03】
"Exactly, just three minutes passed."
"...Yes, I'm sorry."
The boy held his head tightly with his hands and tried hard to curl up his young body. The thin but very spacious robe covered every inch of his body.
However, under the robe, there were still lumps that had condensed on his skin and appeared through the robe, which seemed to be stones.
The boy kept repeating this sentence.
The voice was already too weak to be heard.
The pain caused by the purple mass on his head and the sourness that kept rolling in his stomach tortured him to the point where he could no longer cry out. Drool flowed out of the corners of his mouth unconsciously, and his whole body was extremely sore.
"...I'm just so, so hungry."
He muttered unconsciously.
The man didn't notice the silent murmuring at all, and looked at the boy's curled up thin body, which was quite boring.
If he hadn't just lost a bet with the cadre in the bar, he wouldn't have come out to do this bad thing.
The man circled around the half-conscious boy, wanting to pick him up and throw him out, but he didn't want to reach out because he was too dirty, so he kicked him and rolled him away like a ball.
He didn't want to move until he was kicked to the street at the intersection with another block. He stretched out his hands and tightened his thick leather coat tightly, turned around and walked back.
It's so cold here.
The boy who fell into a semi-faint instinctively tightened his thin but wide enough gray robe. The tender skin under the robe was scratched a lot during the friction with the ground. There were wounds everywhere and blood stains along the skin.
The source stone pieces slipped off and faintly penetrated into the gray robe.
The blood is still warm.
The boy curled up hard, as if as long as he lay here like this, hunger and cold would not come, and he would not have to endure the suffering after waking up.
However, the severe cramping feeling in his stomach never allowed him to do what he wished for. Even if he had already fainted, it forcefully pulled him back from the warm dream and faced the cold reality.
Why is this?
Morian struggled to wrap his robe tightly and huddled up into a ball, leaving only his mouth and nose exposed.
Every breath he took out left a white mist in the cold air.
'Why do I live so hard?'
'Is it just because I'm infected?'
'Why did my parents abandon me?'
'Why did my grandfather, who used to love me the most, use a cane to drive me out of the house?'
'Why don't you give me something to eat?'
'Why don't you even give me a chance to work?'
Painful memories will always appear in people's minds again and again when they are most painful, making people look back on them over and over again when they are most miserable, break them into pieces, stuff them into their mouths, and force them to chew them.
Morian missed the feeling of being able to cry and make trouble.
But now I can't feel even a trace of moisture in the corners of my eyes.
Compared with this, the hunger in the stomach and the pain in the body seemed to be nothing.
Mental pain is often a hundred times more intense than physical pain.
But who knows?
The north wind remains.
Spring days in Chernobog are always colder than winter. The temperature is minus 40 to 50 degrees all year round. Even the Ursans who are strong and frost-resistant do not dare to resist. Vodka and tequila are necessary to complete the experience.
In this kind of weather, the streets were naturally cold and deserted, and not two people were seen for a long time.
Morian was so hungry that he was already a little unconscious, but his instincts were still there. His trembling body wrapped in a thin robe wriggled like a caterpillar and shrank into a sunken corner at the far corner of the street.
It seems that by maintaining this posture, the cold wind will take away less of your body temperature.
I don't know how much time passed, but when Morian felt his whole body start to feel warm, he suddenly saw a pair of white hands.
In his hands, he held a small steel basin unique to Ursus, which contained steaming thick meat porridge.
Morian felt that he was probably hallucinating due to hunger. He had seen this scene before, but only in a dream.
Now, of course, there can be no accidents.
"Drink it while it's still hot."
A gentle female voice sounded in my ears.
Morian was startled.
He raised his head with difficulty and looked out from inside the dark robe. It was a woman with an inverted dragon horn on her head and a pair of red pupils.
Next to her, there stood a woman with half-length blond hair and a pair of cat ears on top of her head. Her eyes were fixed on a screen in mid-air, and her fingers were clicking on it, not knowing what it was.
"Can you still move? Do you want me to help you?"
Morian reacted suddenly, lowered his head to look at the meat porridge in front of him, and his Adam's apple moved up and down exaggeratedly.
First he looked at the woman, then at the bowl. After confirming several times that he had received permission, his slender and thin hands tremblingly stretched out from his robe and carefully touched the steel basin.
The long-lost warmth made his eyes instantly turn red.
The woman also smiled and pushed the bowl towards him.
"Eat quickly."
Morian didn't have time to think of anything else. His skinny arms, which he originally thought he couldn't squeeze out with any strength, yanked the steel basin, held it firmly with both hands, and almost stuffed his whole dirty face into the basin.
He swallowed loudly and didn't even bother to chew.
As Morian ate, big tears fell down his face.
The woman just smiled quietly and watched him eat.
When he was almost finished eating, she suddenly asked: "Are you an infected person?"
Morian's movements suddenly froze.
Gu——dong.
The thin and slender hands almost failed to hold the rice bowl. Fortunately, the woman held it with one hand and kept it from falling to the ground.
Just the three words "infected" seem to have infinite magic power, enough to drive people to death.
"I, I..."
Morian struggled to spit out a few characters.
The pair of big eyes that looked very bright due to the contrast between the dirty and thin cheeks stared closely at the expression on the woman's face.
She seemed to want to see the answer from her face.
The woman just looked at him with a calm smile.
Finally, Morian looked at the steel basin containing the meat porridge, and as if mustering up great courage, he carefully placed it on the ground, his little face wrinkled as if he was going to be punished.
"...I, I am an infected person."
As soon as he finished speaking, Morian lowered his head habitually, and his body curled up unconsciously.
However, after waiting for several seconds, there was no scolding or punching as usual.
Morian raised his head strangely.
Then, he saw the woman rubbing his head nonchalantly, with that heart-warming smile still on her face.
"What a coincidence, so am I."
"In that case, we are companions."
"You seem to be having a miserable life here. Come with me."
It was obviously a command sentence, but looking at the woman's calm expression, Morian suddenly felt like his heart had been hit.
"I can eat enough."
The woman added another sentence.
Morian stared at her stupidly.
As if remembering something again, the woman suddenly squatted in front of him and stretched out her hand to him. Her smile was as warm as the summer in Ursus, which only has two months in a year.