Valke opened his eyes again, awakened by pain.
An unfamiliar child of his own age was straddling him, one hand pinching his philtrum, the other pressing on his neck, causing him great discomfort.
Seeing him awake, the other party seed sowhat surprised, panic flickered in his eyes, but he managed to suppress it.
"You're awake."
"I saw you lying in the snow outside and brought you back here." He released his grip and stood up.
"Cough cough..." Holding his sowhat reddened and painful neck and philtrum, Valke struggled to stand, looking around. This place was a makeshift triangular shelter, surrounded by old clothes and blankets. Though dirty and disordered, it was still much warr than the icy wilderness outside.
"Thank you." Valke's voice was very weak due to extre hunger.
"It's nothing." After that, the two remained silent for a long ti.
"My na is Valke, what's yours?" Finally, Valke couldn't help but ask.
"?" The boy across him paused, his gaze wandering, finally resting on the outer packaging of a discarded can.
"My na is Gleid." Gleid was the na of a low-quality beer.
Knowing that this was probably a na made up on the spot, Valke did not call him out. He no longer had the energy to concern himself with such trifles.
So the two of them remained sitting in the triangular shelter until it gradually beca dark outside.
Suddenly, Gleid raised his head, looking outside, where the curtain revealed a slight gap, allowing a faint view of the snowstorm beyond.
"It's ti," he said slowly standing up.
"What ti?" Valke asked, puzzled.
"Ti to get food. The ti to scavenge for food has co." Gleid explained, a spark of eagerness in his eyes.
"Co with ." Then he lifted the curtain and walked out of the shelter.
The two walked one after the other in the snow, crossing the wilderness, gradually arriving at the ruins, where collapsed and rusted buildings could be seen everywhere, clearly remnants of the mining boom from years past.
With no maintenance, these buildings were exposed to the corrosive acid rain and deteriorated day by day, becoming ruins that could collapse at any mont, places even drifters would not easily settle into.
After almost forty minutes of walking, they finally ca to the outskirts of a secluded small town. This appeared to be a highway rest stop for transporting minerals, where drivers often stopped to take a bath, get so rest, and eat so hot, delicious food.
"Listen up, that restaurant over there will close soon, and the servers will throw the garbage in the bin 100 ters away from the shop. There will definitely be sothing edible inside."
"So we go and get it, right?" Valke quickly understood.
"That's right, but it's not just us watching these things, there are others too." Gleid cautioned him.
"We work together, this way we both can have sothing to eat, understand?"
"Understood." Valke nodded.
"Good, now let's find sothing handy to use." Gleid led Valke towards the ruins on the street corner, where he had hidden sticks and scrap iron bars before.
Although both of them were very weak, holding those cold iron pieces gave them a bit of confidence.
Ti slowly passed, and after half an hour, as expected, an employee with a bag of trash walked out of the store.
They watched the employee intently until he finished dumping the trash and left.
"Now." With that, Gleid and Valke quickly ran towards it, but due to hunger and weakness, they started to pant after a few steps, and their speed slowed down.
At that mont, another figure dashed out from a corner, reaching the garbage bin first, rummaging through it, and then stuffing anything edible into his mouth.
"Hurry up, or he'll have it all," Gleid urged again, forcing them to pick up their pace.
Soon, the man heard the noise and looked back. Valke also got a clear view of his face. It was like that of a baboon's, with loose and dark eye bags, ssy hair, nails full of black dirt, and his whole body emitting a foul odor.
"Waka waka—" He seed unable to speak, only capable of making random shouts.
anwhile, Gleid had already charged forward, striking the other person with an iron bar, leaving a red mark and causing him to cry out in pain.
But the other person started to fight back, holding onto the iron bar, attempting to snatch it away, and then reaching for Gleid.
Seeing this, Gleid was both shocked and scared, but he didn't dare let go of the iron bar, because once he gave up the weapon, he and Valke definitely wouldn't be able to beat this adult tonight.
"Quick! Get him!" Gleid endured the other's nails scratching him and urgently shouted.
Valke no longer hesitated; he rushed forward and struck the other person on the head with a stick, prompting another loud cry of pain.
With the help of Valke, Gleid also gripped the iron bar tightly, breaking free from the other's hold, and started attacking again.
Under the assault of both of them, the frail vagrant had no choice but to run away, eventually giving up the trash can.
After driving away their competitor, the two of them sat on the ground, gasping for air, and couldn't help but show happy smiles on their faces as they looked at the scraps of food scattered on the ground.
That day, they shared the rare feast and then began to stick together, fighting wits and strength with other vagrants, stray dogs, and low-rank Autonomous Units, surviving the wilderness.
...
"What a touching past," Patrick said, wiping away tears, moved by the hardships Valke had endured.
After speaking, he sniffled, then walked to the side, picked up a cup and drank so water to calm down.
"I grew up in the South First District and never imagined that there would still be such difficult wilderness environnts on the Jade Skirt," sighed Patrick. He used to think that eating a T5 level al was the toughest life could get, let alone people eating garbage.
"Although the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain isn't wealthy, it's still capable of maintaining the most basic living standards for its residents."
Industrial goods have beco cheaper, but they're still needed, and they provide quite a few jobs, keeping the Jade Skirt relatively stable."
"Then how did you later obtain the Federal citizen identity? That's not easy, is it?"
"I have to thank Pastor Boise for his help. He took to the ho of the relative who abandoned , gave them a sum of money, and made them recognize and testify for , going to the archive bureau to confirm my identity."
"Although my mother abandoned , fortunately, she left a sample of her genetic material in the Federal Gene Database, and after checking, it was confird I was her offspring, which made passing the verification process a lot easier."
"Indeed," Patrick touched the cup and pondered carefully.
"The Federal Congress conducts the strictest verification on bloodlines of unknown origin. If your parents were already Federal residents, it would be much easier."
"Later I'll compare your genes for a test; maybe we can even find out which generation of human descendants you are who immigrated to the Jade Skirt."
"Historically, there were mainly three periods when the Jade Skirt's population expanded. The earliest group was mostly Elves, who heeded the legacy of 'Golden Fla Rose' to go to the Barren Planets to pioneer and transform the environnts."
"The second group ca just after the renovation of the Jade Skirt when the environnt gradually beca more habitable. A lot of people migrated here from across the Federation, including humans and a small number of beastn. They often originated from wandering populations that couldn't fit into their local environnts, so they ca to this new environnt to settle."
"The third wave arrived over 400 years ago during the civil war. At that ti, as an important military-industrial star, a large number of factories were built, requiring many workers and technicians, so the Federation transferred people from various Star Domains here."
"Tis change, and now there are very few Elves left on the planet, and those important military industrial conglorates, under the arrangent of the Federal Congress, have all relocated..."
"It's really reflective. If those military industrial groups had stayed, the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain might have been extrely powerful."
"But that's just wishful thinking. With so many dominant military industrial giants converging, the Federal Upper Echelon would never feel at ease. Dismantling and relocating after the war was inevitable."
"Rise and fall with military industry, the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain is just one of the leftover issues from that prolonged war, only ti can slowly heal these wounds."
"Yet, the toxic rain managent, the bottom layer's population problem, still remain unresolved—likely, not because the upper layers do not know how to solve them, but because so people do not wish to do so."
"Why wouldn't they want to solve it? Without those problems, the Jade Skirt could probably get a lot better," Valke couldn't understand.
Patrick glanced at the healthy young man on the sickbed, did not directly answer, but slowly sipped his tea.
"Yeah, for so, it's suffering, but for others, it's like sweet dew," he said.
"When it rains, the umbrella seller must be very happy."
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