Chapter I – The beggar children

“Therefore, Baudrillard believes that both "products" and "demands" are false symbols. When he criticizes Marx's use of value, he thinks that the latter falls into the trap of capitalism's political economy and proposes his own symbolic political economy."

Wu Renren finished his report, clicked on the last slide, nodded in grat.i.tude to the teacher and a dozen of his cla.s.smates, then left the podium under the teacher's instructions to wait for the next cla.s.smate's report.

"Thales!"

The next moment, the former post-graduate student Wu Renren woke up from his dream.

He curled up, lied face down in an abandoned wall hole only to feel the ice-cold wind blowing from all directions through the gaps.

Wu Renren sighed, even after five long years after his reincarnation he still dreamed of his past life. Although obviously one could say he had a boring life back then, but at least those days were way better than his current miserable situation.

"Thales, Thales!" A big hand stretched out from the wall, grabbed Wu Renren's ear and rudely dragged him out of his small and dirty nest.

This was such a shabby house, through the half collapsed roof you could see many bright stars in the sky, it was just that the arrangement and the shape of the Milky Way were indeed very strange to Wu Renren.

There was no way for Wu Renren to put up any resistance against the brutal hand – what can a child of seven years old do? He was dragged on a rough brick floor while rubbing his knees sore, but he still did not say a word through his biting teeth, because the brutal Clyde was especially impatient with children's cries and was said to have beaten a six-year-old girl, who dared to use her tears to beg him for food until he paralyzed her legs.

"I already asked Rick, your “payment” from this week was five cents less than last week! Did you HIDE any?" The angry Clyde was like a lion with a red mane, and his protruding nose made him even more vicious.

Wu Renren was tossed onto the ground. In his gray-color eyes, he saw within the wall holes around him the five beggars who lived with him in this house, ranging from age of four to ten, all in the midst of s.h.i.+vering because of Clyde’s roar.

Among them, in the innermost hole, the youngest girl with short hair was biting her left hand, her face slowly turned red while she fearfully looked at the ground where Wu Renren lied. In the hole next to her, the six-years-old boy Ned was scared to cry out.

It was Carina, who Wu Renren knew what she was afraid of.

In fact, Wu Renren's luck this week wasn’t that bad. The beggar Thales, his current name, made a total of 37 pieces of copper coins, 18 more than last week.

But he only handed over fourteen coins to Clyde - the gangster boss who “manage” the beggars in the Brotherhood of Black Street – then brought the rest of the coins together with the hard-earned money he had saved over the past two years to Grove pharmacy. And finally thanks to Jenny’s goodwill (an employee there) he could afford to "buy" an anityphoid medicine with a reasonable price.

Thales fed it to the sickly four-years-old Carina - if she has typhoid fever at her age without any medicines, what only awaits her is a certain death.

Over the five years that have pa.s.sed since his reincarnation, Thales once again experienced the memory forming period of a two years old to a seven years old child. From an ignorance kid, he gradually recovered memories of past live bit by bit, in which before these memories appeared in scattered fragments due to the growing progress of a young child. Even so, in these two years of ignorance and naive, Thales’s new memory was engraved each time he witnessed the others’ death by his own eyes.

From being sick, falling to death, drowning, being hanged, to being beaten alive (and even once, Thales saw a crying out loud beggar being suffocated by a mystical power user from ten meters away) Specialized in human trafficking, the Brotherhood of Black Street has never had any bottom line or moral principles – normally with any criminal gangs, they still need time to precipitate some form of rules and orders, but for the Brotherhood, only ten years has pa.s.sed from the moment of its birth to the rise and growth in strength.

What's more is that even the Brotherhood's vital enemy, the 90 years old Blood Bottle Gang who was known as “the Aristocrats of the underworld", never had any shortage of blood debts on their hands.

Most of the time Thales was powerless while witnessing these deaths. Even he himself, only through the wisdom and maturity of an adult, could avoid not only just one but several murder attempts.

For example, this moment.

Rubbing his hands in excitement, Clyde was showing a s.a.d.i.s.tic gangster’s unique cruelty and vicious.

"I didn’t hide anything! This week is the beginning of winter, there were a lot less people pa.s.sing by the three Undercity districts.”

Thales stood up from the ground, brainstormed swiftly so he can spit out some excuses.

"Snapped!"

Meeting him was a merciless slap in the face, Thales fell to the ground again.

"Now you hand over the hidden money so I could give you a good beating! Or how about I beat you first so you could hand over the money! Choose for yourself!"

Obviously, Clyde did not want to hear his explanation, maybe this Brotherhood’s boss just want to search for some drinking money; or maybe he simply want to find someone to beat.

"But you can also be a stubbornly loudmouthed kid- I like those the most." Clyde smiled and moved his fist.

Watching the fist as big as a sandbag in front of him, Thales knew that even if he did not say anything, Clyde would not let him go.

Just last month, a beggar from the fifth house has been abused and killed by Clyde.

Knowing that, Thales clutched his swollen cheeks, quickly thinking.

In fact Clyde does not care about daily accounting. When the night came he goes right away to the Sunset bar on the Underground Street to hang out or to cling on another bottle of wine. It's hard for an idle man like him to tell how much a Meredith silver coin would be exchanged to Meredith copper coins, not to even mention knowing the exact amount of “payments” his underling beggars give him - all of this is the job of his deputy, Rick, who seems to be a steadfast and responsible lad. And even the clever Rick knows that it’s the norm for a beggar's “payment” to be around seven to eight copper coins each week.

There must be a snitch.

This is the only conclusion.

Thales gazed around the group of beggars. He himself, who successfully solicited some money from a n.o.blewoman, traveled back to The Ruin right away. So it had to be the children in this house who saw it, and in such a harsh environment like this, the children's hearts may become even more terrifying than what adults could have imagined.

Clyde came again with a kick. Thales secretly held his elbows against his abdomen to protect it, slightly uncoiled the force, and made a painful looking face like that kick gave him the most terrible ached he had ever felt. He must not make a sound, Clyde's most favorite was the screams of kids.

"I will say!" Thales's face had a deeply scared expression. "Please, just don’t hit me!"

"Well that would depend on my mood!" Clyde looked around and saw that the other five beggars were shrinking in fear, which made him very satisfied with his authority being respected.

"I met a n.o.blewoman on Wednesday morning, she gave me ten copper coins!" Thales hid in the corner and shuddered.

"I knew it! Begging? Nah, must be stealing right? n.o.body can hide anything from me, especially a petty thief like you!" Clyde viciously rubbed the palm of his hands to prepare for the next round of beating: "Hand over the money!"

Thales did not wait for Clyde to frown, he added: "But that was when I went to Red Square Street!"

"Red Square Street?" Clyde put down his raised hand a little, "You went to Blood Bottle’s territory?"

"Yes, there is really no more money for us to squeeze out in our location." Who else, except for the Brotherhood’s members, highly skilled rangers, and a few people with very particular purposes would dare to glance at these three s.h.i.+tty districts in Black Street’s neighbor? Even the city guards who are armed with swords and s.h.i.+elds are reluctant to get near this sinful and gloomy place.

"It’s the first time I got so much money, and there was no member of Blood Bottle, then I thought there might be a chance the next day."

"Dumba.s.s!" Clyde fiercely kicked Thales while the latter vaguely saw Carina s.h.i.+vering in the distance, only to see Clyde angrily shouted, "How could you not think of it? Blood Bottle’s territories would be that easy to exploit?”

Thales's body shrank a bit, he said in s.h.i.+ver: "Yes, the next afternoon Blood Bottle members already captured me, and then they hanged me upside down. I said I was lost, they did not believe me. I handed over all the money but they still didn’t let me go. "

"f.u.c.king useless waste! How did you escape?" Clyde spitted.

"Then I said, I am one of boss Clyde’s men. But they… they laughed."

"What?" Clyde clenched his fist as he seized Thales's tattered burlap collar and lifted him up along the corner. "What were they laughing at?"

Thales shook his head in doubt: "I do not understand much of - what they said."

Clyde looked at him fiercely: "Say it fast!"

Thales put on a terrified look, shuddered and trembled: "There's a bald head among them, he said that since I was a child of Clyde they should spare me for once, because Clyde was indeed badly in needed of children - "

Thales has not finished when he was already severely thrown to the wall by Clyde!

He tried his best to protect his head, chest and abdomen, and used his back to receive the impact of the wall. He then immediately turned his back to Clyde to withstand the heavy blows under the fury of this man. At the same time, he felt the force behind these blows to quickly change the angle of his back, and tried his best to neutralize the intensity of each blow.

"You son – you son of a wh.o.r.e - you f.u.c.king - baldly - Sebas – how could you know – f.u.c.king kill you - kill you – useless waste – dumba.s.s -"

Clyde shouted furiously, dealing one kick after another toward Thales, while his mouth could only shrieked out a few understandable but scattered swords.

Inside the holes of the wall, the children were horrified to see Thales being beaten, but they all tightly clutched their mouths and dare not to say anything.

Thales suffered Clyde’s endless kicks and madness, but he was relieved.

At least for now Clyde will not ask where the extra money went, and though how terribly horrified it seemed, an outraged Clyde, is far safer than a Clyde who happily tormented his children.

His words were only half-true. Thales did go to the Red Square Street, but he was hiding in the corners of the alleyway, watching carefully around him. And he did encounter a n.o.blewoman in luxury goose feathers clothes, but she was followed by twenty Terminate Swordsmen, which is why when he came out from the alley to beg, Blood Bottle members did not interrupt him. In that goose feather n.o.blewoman's hands, Thales did find a dozen of copper coins (of course he was not stupid enough to steal in front of twenty Terminate Swordsmen) but he did not wait for this n.o.blemen group to go far to rapidly disappear into the crowd and eventually went home without turning back.

As for baldhead Sebas, Thales has never seen him, only to know that he was a Blood Bottle’s boss and leader of the thugs who collect “black account”. Clyde also used to be a boss of the thugs who collect this kind of protection-money in Black Street – until he touched the wrong person and got his lower “part” broken. This information was supposed to be quite a mystery. But while he was lying under the corners of Black Street’s wall, Thales heard inside a room where the a.s.sa.s.sin Lucas and the she-devil Veronica, who were in the middle of their “private fight”, ridiculed Clyde long enough for him to become aware of that mystery.

Clyde finally vent out of his anger. While he was cursing the baldy Sebas from Blood Bottle, he pulled out a wine bottle. At the moment Clyde left the scene, vaguely cursing, the back of Thales's clothing has been torn into pieces. His back had blue and purple bruises, and some places could also scratch out blood because Thales deliberately turned away his side for the sake of avoiding the frontal blows. Waves and waves of pain hit him repeatedly.

Blood flow to the ground. Thales only felt a really hot ache hitting him, probably because he had not been beaten for too long. His muscles felt like they were burning.

Since his reincarnation into this world, being beaten, hunger, sickness and cold have become like daily meals. But after gradually reclaiming the memories belonged to the pre-graduate student Wu Renren, by those experiences and his carefulness, Thales has not been viciously beaten to such an extend for a quite long time.

After Clyde's voice slowly faded away in distance, the other five children in the house climbed out of their own holes, skillfully brought the unable-to-move Thales to a small yard. The ten-year-old "big guy" Clint grabbed a broken bowl’s fragment to scoop some water in the tank. The crippled Ryan and ‘black face” Kelly, both are eight years old, struggled to collect some dry branches, weeds and tried to make a fire with flintstones. The six-year-old yellow-haired Ned and the youngest Carina took off a few oddly-shaped wild leaves, chewed them inside their mouths, and gently rubbed them on Thales’s full of wounds and bruises back.

Thales, trying to withstand the pain and look for some distraction, turned to the soon-to-cry Caria, then the desperate yellow-haired Ned, as he did his best to calm his tone while he spoke.

"It’s nothing, Ned, I do not blame you."

Ned snapped, he lifted his head with a face full of panic and terrifying expression. The other four children immediately turned their gazes to him.

"How did you know?" The six-year-olds could not help but felt guilty and horrified. All were written on his face.

Just when Thales was beaten by Clyde, the slightly older three children, though scared, were intensely staring at the scene; with only Carina and Ned left, one hid her face in her hands and unable to look up, the latter turned back his head to look at the inner wall and randomly glanced over in fear.

Carina's ant.i.typhoid medicines were the final destination of those copper coins, certainly she wouldn’t be the snitch. But Thales was not so sure if it was Ned, and now he had no doubt.

He tried to squeeze out a smile. "It's all right, Clyde will not interfere again."

"I, I," Ned's blush was outrageous. He looked at Thales's back with tears dripping down. "I did not have the money to give them this week nor the guts to steal." he sobbed, "Rick did not say anything, but Clyde was unhappy. He said if this keeps happen again, he would sell me to the Great Desert as food for the Desert Bones barbarians. I was terrified and told him that Thales, oh Thales, he brought back a lot of copper coins someday back then ... I thought they would not sell me ... Clyde told me to go back and said he would come at night ..."

Carina's face turned red again, the hands of her that were wiping herbs suddenly s.h.i.+vered, making a few drops of blood drip down to the floor from Thales's back again. Thales moaned in silence, the burning sensation of pain which was diminished a bit now was again stimulated by Carina’s actions.

Ryan stared angrily at Ned, making the latter lowered his head. Kelly looked at Ned with astonishment then looked at Thales. Only Clint went silent and kept bringing the water to them.

"I said it’s nothing, Ned, Carina," Thales felt the injury on his back seemed to be somewhat better, he gently held Ned's hand, "Next time, if any of you cannot obtain enough money, tell me, I will find a solution."

Ned cried even harder, he vaguely said with a sobbing voice: "Th-Thales, yes - yes - sorry -"

"It's all right for now, Ned, do not be scared. I always find a way in the end." Thales chuckled and took a sip from the broken bowl in Clint's hands.

He turned his head and lightly breathed in some fresh air, his luck was undoubtedly much worse than other countless fellow reincarnated predecessors who crossed countless worlds.

But even so.

He looked at the five children around him, especially the one that just escaped the Typhoid fever Carina, her glittery crystal eyes were still frightened.

Tomorrow we need to find some ways to beg for more money, he thought.

In the Sunset Divine Temple of Aloftstar City, it was the end of the praying time at sunset, an a.s.sistant priestess who was cleaning the ritual altar stopped her hands, she was surprised to discover under the stone altar a sacrificial lamp filled with the Eternal oil.

That lamp, since she was given the duty to take care of the ancient altar, was never lit, never used, never mentioned by anyone up until this morning, suddenly lit a bright yellow flame.

The flames then absurdly turned red, a bright red, just like the color of blood, became more and more exuberant.

An elderly priestess noticed the disrespectful action of the a.s.sistant, she shouted resentfully as the a.s.sistant s.h.i.+fted her attention back to the altar. But until she also saw the unusual sacrificial lamp, the elder cannot help but to exclaim.

"Nina, fast, inform lady Grand priestess!"

The elderly priestess cannot hide the surprise look on her face. She fluttered before the sacrificial offering lamb, lifted her right hand, turned her left hand up, and prepared to pray.

What's going on here? The a.s.sistant Nina saw for the first time her elderly priestess would possibly lose her usual respectful calmness that it also affected her altogether.

Did I make a mistake? Alas I’m sure did not touch the lamp.

"But, what should I tell lady Grand priestess? That someone secretly lit up … lit up the lamp by the altar?" Asked the fl.u.s.tered Nina.

“No.”

The elderly priestess stared at the sacrificial lamp, her hands kept changing the praying gestures.

"This lamp, through the two continents, through the countless islands in the whole of the world of Elor, there’s only one person who can light it up."

"And that person, will determine the future of this kingdom."

End of chapter I