Chapter 162 Children on a Snowy Night

The snow kept falling.

The road was no longer visible on the ground, only the slippery ice surface. After the snow fell, it was trampled by people and cars, and after several times of melting and recondensing, it formed this ugly appearance. The white ice and dirty water were frozen together, and the surface was covered with a little melted water, with potholes. If you are not careful, you will slip if you step on it.

This is the North Nine District, a place rarely visited by people in the Jade Skirt.

Many abandoned buildings can still be seen on the street. The temporary houses left over from the mining boom were not solid to begin with. After a lapse of ten years, no one maintained them, and they were gradually damaged and collapsed in the erosion of rainwater.

"Woo, woo--"

A dirty wild dog was rummaging in the trash can in the snow, trying to dig out something to fill its stomach, but it was obvious that there was only a small tavern with little popularity nearby. The garbage they dumped had long been visited by rats, wild cats, and scavenging eagles, and there was nothing left to use.

Occasionally, a fully loaded truck, with bright lights on, drove through the street in this bad weather, making some noise and movement.

"Puff..."

The trash can overturned by the wild dog rolled on the ground for a few rounds, and then stopped again.

As if frightened by the sound, the wild dog, who was already thin and bony, jumped and ran away with its lame leg.

In the dim afternoon with snow, everything returned to silence.

After more than 20 minutes, a boy in ragged clothes came from the distance in the snow and fog.

He walked slowly and even took a break in the middle of the way, as if he was particularly precious about his physical strength. His dirty face was hidden under his hat and could not be seen clearly.

When he approached, the shabby clothes of various fabric styles on his body came into view. These coats or winter clothes were piled up in a mess, protecting the thin body inside.

When he walked to the side of the road, he saw the overturned trash can, stopped, and then squatted down and fumbled inside for a while, but like the previous few people, he did not find anything useful.

Then he stood up, looked around, and finally found the tavern that was slightly intact hidden in the ruins.

Standing in the distance, he looked at the tavern for a long time, then slowly walked over, stopped near the tavern, turned around a little, and looked carefully.

Finally, he memorized the location of the tavern in his mind, and then walked away slowly, saving energy, just like when he came, disappearing in the depths of the snow.

Perhaps in the eyes of ordinary people, this is just an accident, but two days later, the boy returned to the vicinity of the tavern, and brought a companion with him.

The two children were not big, maybe not even ten years old, wearing shabby coats that were randomly mixed and matched, and carefully looked at the building with lights and a little heat in the corner of the snow.

They had no intention of entering the tavern, but just looked at it from a distance, and then the two took turns to rest, until one evening, they saw a fat woman carrying large and small bags of garbage, walking out of the tavern and throwing them into a trash can far away from the tavern.

After the woman left, one of them woke up his companion, and then the two of them approached the trash can carefully, tore open the things that had just been thrown in, and began to search.

Although there were a lot of rotten things in the trash, there were also some leftovers, semi-moldy vegetables and fruits, etc.

The two picked up the useful things, freed up a cleaner bag, packed them, and slowly left the place.

This situation was repeated several times in succession until they gradually figured out the time when the tavern threw out the garbage, and then they could just come at a fixed time.

At this time point, six out of ten times you can get something useful. Although you can avoid missing it by staying by the side, it consumes too much physical strength and energy. In addition, they also have other "places" similar to this tavern to patrol.

For them, every source of food is precious.

Of course, life will not always be so smooth.

"Uh-woo-" The bared wild dog growled, looking at the two people approaching the trash can. There were many knots on its dirty black fur, and some places were hairless, revealing pus-yellow wounds.

The howling wild dog showed its yellow teeth, and it also exuded a foul smell, and emitted bursts of white steam in the snowy night.

Faced with such a wild dog, the two boys held sticks and approached step by step, and threw a stone once in the middle to try to scare the wild dog.

Finally, after comparing its size with the difference in the number of the two people, the wild dog reluctantly retreated and made way for the trash can in front of them.

The two continued to search for things, picked out the edible parts, and then packed them up, but before the two left, a burst of dog barking came over.

The wild dog just now came back and brought companions, a total of five dogs, of different breeds, yellow, white, black and gray, but all had similar characteristics, that is, dirty and thin.

After having companions, the wild dogs were not as polite and afraid as before, and rushed up directly. The two used sticks to sweep away one or two, but were soon bitten by the others.

Some aimed at the bottom of the trouser legs, some bit the waving wrists, and some even tried to go around and pounce on the neck, but they were discovered by the two men, so the wild dogs did not succeed.

The pain came from their feet, and their clothes were torn randomly. The two men also panicked and began to beat them hard with sticks, but most of them missed, and only a few hit.

Just as the two men shook off the wild dogs that were hanging on their bodies and biting their trouser legs, a big dog that had been barking before suddenly pounced on one of the boys and knocked him down in the snow.

Stepping on his body, the big dog's wet and hot mouth and teeth were clearly visible, blocking the sky, and the sour and stinky fishy smell made people dizzy, and then it went straight to the throat.

Fortunately, this time, the boy who fell to the ground finally noticed it in advance and blocked his neck with his hand, so that the big dog only bit the palm of his hand. The teeth penetrated the flesh, got stuck in the hand bones, and hooked the nerves, making the boy on the ground almost faint from the pain.

After breaking free from the wild dog beside him, another boy rushed over and beat the big dog with a stick, but this had no effect. After tasting the blood, the wild dog became even crazier. He bit again, this time landing on the chin, and the teeth tore the flesh.

Seeing this, the boy who was still standing finally remembered something. He hurriedly let go of the stick, fumbled for a knife from his arms, held it in his hand and stabbed the wild dog below.

"Awoo--" The wild dog screamed in pain and hurriedly jumped away, and finally rescued.

After that, the two panted and picked up sticks and knives to confront the five wild dogs again. At this time, both sides were injured and were much more cautious.

Time passed slowly, and the palms exposed to the air gradually became numb due to freezing. The wet and bleeding palms always made the two boys uneasy.

However, they did not run away. Running in the snow not only consumes a lot of physical strength, but once they fall, it is also extremely scary for the other party to find an opportunity.

The wild dogs barked continuously, and after a long time, they finally attracted people from the tavern.

An adult came over cursing and saw the five wild dogs surrounding them. He roared and scared away these guys who were already hesitant. These hungry wild dogs have limited physical strength. They can deal with children, but if they come, they will definitely not be able to beat an adult.

After seeing the two children being besieged, the big man with thick arms frowned, cursed a few words, and told them to leave quickly.

Supporting the injured companion, the two boys slowly disappeared in the wind and snow.

Without proper medical care, and not knowing whether they had been infected with rabies, they lost a lot of blood, and the future for the two was not optimistic.

————

"If I hadn't supported you that day, you would have died in the snow." When Grid mentioned this to Valk several years later, the other party thought for a while.

"Why do I remember that you were bitten by a dog, and then I supported you back."

"That's because you remembered it wrong. You were bitten. If you don't believe me, look at the palm of your hand. There are probably scars." Grid responded.

Valk's palm was indeed injured, or he had injuries all over his body. Sometimes he couldn't remember how these injuries came about.

"Okay." Valk was always a bitch for Grid, who could speak, so he stopped arguing.

The scene of wandering on the streets and competing for food with wild dogs and rats was a distant thing. They now live in a small church and are adopted by a kind pastor. This is also an orphanage with many children like them.

Many of these children have congenital defects, or because of their childhood experiences, their mental and personalities are a bit abnormal. They are considered to be in a better situation among them.

It was winter again. They sat in the church hall with other children. Although the heating was not very effective due to the large space, it was a very friendly environment compared to the wild where people could easily get frostbite.

A dozen children sat on both sides of the long table, waiting quietly. The clock on the wall moved slowly. It was almost 7 o'clock in the evening. Boyce hurried back.

"Hey, good evening." He walked into the hall with a big package and waved to the children.

"Hello, Pastor Boyce~" the children answered happily. Although some of them were still dull, they followed their companions to say so.

"Okay, hello, children, this is today's food." He smiled, then put the package in his hand on the table and opened it. Inside was the cheap bread that had just been bought. Although the taste was average, the quantity was enough.

Sitting in the room that was not cold, these children grabbed the bread and ate it randomly, while Pastor Boyce watched from the side. His eyes were both happy and disgusted, which was very complicated.

Time passed slowly, and the children who used to be only ten years old gradually grew up. Some of them were still as dull as when they were young, some began to become rebellious, and some just muddled along, enjoying the food given by the pastor every day with peace of mind.

Pastor Boyce also saw this situation and his attitude gradually changed.

For the dull children, he only needed to ask about them occasionally. For the rebellious ones, he would try to discipline and admonish them. If it didn't work, he would just ignore them. For those who muddled along, he would let them find some work to do. As for the smarter and more obedient ones, he would teach them patiently and occasionally give them some extra delicious food.

It seemed like a good move, but these children soon realized the difference in treatment. Some began to please Pastor Boyce, and some began to cry to Pastor Boyce, saying that they were bullied and hungry, so that the pastor would give them delicious food or be more tolerant of them temporarily.

Pastor Boyce didn't know these little thoughts at first, but he gradually realized them as time went by. From then on, he became more indifferent, or treated them differently.

He would ask about those with good personalities and intelligence almost every day, and for those children he didn't like, he would just give them some food every day. The pastor would only respond indifferently to their complaints and cries.

In the eyes of some children, Pastor Boyce was a friendly and patient person who was worthy of respect, while in the eyes of other children, Pastor Boyce was a strict and indifferent person, and in the eyes of some children, Pastor Boyce was just a hypocritical person who used the rescue of children to gain a good reputation.

If three children tell their image of Pastor Boyce separately, people may think that they are three different people, but the three answers are true, and they are talking about the same person.

When he was fifteen years old, Greed came back from playing outside as usual and was very hungry, so he rummaged through the cabinets in the church, hoping to find something to eat. It happened that Pastor Boyce also entered the kitchen and saw him rummaging through the cabinets.

"Are you looking for something?" The pastor's expression was a little cold.

"Yes." Greed felt something was wrong and stopped moving.

"There's nothing here." After the pastor finished speaking, he looked at the empty countertop and left.

Soon after, the pastor came back and threw a bag of bread crumbs at Grid, but the bag of bread crumbs fell to the ground before it flew into Grid's hand, and was mixed with the dirty floor.

"Take it and eat it." The pastor glanced at him and turned away.

Although Grid slowly picked it up, a particularly uncomfortable feeling also rose in his heart.

If the pastor was like this to everyone, it would be fine, but unfortunately it was not.

Another girl who often praised Pastor Boyce and said that Lord Boyce was great, following behind Pastor Boyce always got the pastor's smile. He would buy more expensive and delicious things for this girl, and would not let her work, and even teach her some extraordinary knowledge, trying to let her slowly master the power.

Once, the sponsor invited the pastor to drink together, and Grid secretly followed him, thinking whether he could get some delicious food.

This was also the time when he heard the real voice and thoughts of Pastor Boyce.

"Alas, although rescuing children is a great thing in the eyes of others, some children are really... disgusting just to look at them. I have been trying to overcome this feeling, but later I found out that there is indeed a reason why some guys were thrown away..." He spoke unclearly because he was drunk, and occasionally slapped his hands on the table.

"Like a rat in a gutter, stupid, deceitful, sneaky, and extremely lazy, who would want such a child?"

"If there weren't a few good kids among them, I really feel I couldn't stay here..."

"You know, last month I specially prepared some things, intending to make a big cake for everyone during the winter festival, but the things disappeared the next day after I put them in the cupboard... Later I went to the kitchen again and saw that guy sneaking around, and I really wanted to find a stick to beat him up."

"But I can't do that, because my reputation would be ruined."

"Even raising a stray dog ​​is better than some people."

"Hahaha, calm down, Pastor Boyce, we all know how difficult it is for you. Think about who were the people who came here for the mineral stealing craze more than ten years ago? They were all thieves, robbers, ruffians, and the like who were not doing very well. The bastards they left behind are naturally not much better."

"It's just that there are a lot of 'good people' in the Federation. They live a superior life and have endless kindness. If we want them to consume and pay, we have to pretend to have some things, don't you think?"

"Come on, drink some more and have a good sleep tonight. Tomorrow we will shoot the environment and surroundings of the church again, and then add some sentimental music, and it will be done."

"As for those useless people you mentioned, just give them some food so that they won't starve to death. It doesn't take a second to waste. They are just stray dogs that no one wants on the street. Some of them are not even considered 'humans'. Why make things difficult for yourself?"

"Hahaha..."

The laughter echoed in the tavern, but Grid walked away slowly.

It was still snowing outside, and the white snow made the whole world gray and particularly quiet.

In the snow, he stepped silently on the icy road step by step, looking at the mud that froze with the white snow, his feet and fingers were cold, which reminded him of a long time ago, when it seemed to be the same, walking in the cold snowy night like a dirty stray dog.

Isn't it enough to just be alive? Being alive should be a happy thing, but for some reason, he was not as happy as before.

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