Chapter 14
Joyson is a resident of No. 78, Run-Down Street. As long as he can remember, his family has lived at the end of the street in this well-known slum in Shatt City.
The house was actually rented by his family. According to his mother, when he was still a baby, they had to pay rent. Every month, they had to transfer a fixed amount of star coins to a designated account. If they were late or didn't transfer enough, they would be "a bit troublesome." But then, for some reason, the rent collector mysteriously disappeared, and the money they had transferred was automatically returned by the system. Then, one day, when young Joyson still had no memory, everyone living there was informed that they no longer had to pay rent to private individuals.
Anyway, the dilapidated street is called "dilapidated street", also known as "the unofficial garbage dump of Chat City".
I heard that this place was taken over by the city management center and private rent collection was prohibited. However, the people in the management center were too lazy to carry out major renovations on the garbage dump and did not want to waste the already limited funding on such things, so they tacitly allowed the original residents here to continue living there. As long as they did not cause trouble, the auxiliary robots generally did not come to the dilapidated street and did not care about the miscellaneous things happening there.
Jonathan and his mother were able to live on rent reduction, and the rent money saved was just enough for his mother to support him as an extra child.
"mom!"
Joyson crouched in his room all night, holding his breath, until the next morning, when he felt light seeping through the closed curtains and windows, and heard his mother's movements from under the poorly insulated floor. With his red hair dangling like a chicken coop, he tumbled downstairs and ran towards the red-haired woman in the kitchen with a sad face.
The red-haired woman heard the alarming commotion starting from upstairs. Without even turning her head, she said with a calm expression of someone used to seeing storms, "Don't wail in front of me so early in the morning. Your mother is still alive and well."
Joyceen cried with a sad face: "Mom, listen to me, I really saw a ghost last night!"
"?" The red-haired woman finally turned her head and gave Joyson an expression that said, "I've raised you for more than ten years, and finally I realized that you are indeed a fool."
Joyson was afraid his mother wouldn't believe him, so he gestured excitedly, "It's right across from our house! The house that's been empty for as long as I can remember! Last night in the middle of the night, I heard some movement across the street, but when I first checked, it was the same as before, with the windows tightly shut and pitch black inside. But you know what, Mom? After a while, I looked again—and the window was open!"
Joyson's gesticulating was not enough, he also tilted his neck toward his front door, stretching it hard toward the opposite side of his house, as if he wanted to use his not-so-slender neck as an alternative indicator arrow.
"Mom!" Joyson said, "Do you know what I saw?"
The red-haired woman remained calm: "Did you see a ghost?"
"Yes!" Joyson said excitedly and fearfully, with a look of "Mom, you're so smart!" "I saw a ghost. It was standing in the window on the second floor opposite, staring straight at our house. When I hid behind the curtains and peeked out, the ghost smiled at me!"
Red-haired woman: "..."
Joyson's admiration for his mother's wisdom quickly turned to despair. "Mom, what do you mean by the ghost smiling at me? Am I being targeted? Is disaster about to strike? What consequences will it have if I look directly into the eyes of a ghost like this?"
Thinking of the most important thing that happened to him in the past month, Joyson's expression became even more sad. "Or have I been ensnared by some unforeseen curse, and may no longer be able to attend the elementary supernatural school?"
The red-haired woman swung the knife skillfully, and with a "bang", the knife directly chopped through three potatoes placed vertically in a row, and the blade got stuck on the wooden chopping board underneath.
The hot-tempered mother commented coldly on her son: "I don't think you'll be able to attend the elementary school for supernatural powers, even if you don't see any ghosts. The school might refuse to accept you because of your lack of intelligence."
Although Joyson did not receive any comfort, being hit in the face by his mother's vivid temper was also an atypical comfort.
He felt that his mother's fiery temper could overcome anything dark, so after he and his mother finished making breakfast in the kitchen, he insisted on dragging her to go with him to the house opposite to take a look.
However, by this time, Jiang Yunu - the "ghost" that Joyson had witnessed - was of course no longer in the house.
Jiang Yunu didn't know that she had scared her neighbors last night. She thought she was just saying hello in a friendly way. However, the people living in the "black street" were probably more cautious and rarely saw an outgoing person like her, so they were not used to her.
Jiang Yunu didn't need much sleep every day. She waited until late at night for the wind to dry the surface of the bed, and then fell asleep in the semi-dry environment.
Although Jiang Yunu is thin now, her physical fitness is surprisingly strong. This slightly damp environment did not make her feel cold or have joint pain. On the contrary, because she had not slept on a proper bed for a long time, she slept very soundly on the second floor of the garbage house. Today, she woke up naturally at dawn, and lying on the hard bed made her feel refreshed. When she woke up, she felt that the world was full of hope.
Jiang Yunu, who was full of hope for the world, washed his face with clean water in the bathroom before daybreak, did some basic personal hygiene, and then went out.
It was daybreak, and the nighttime rule in Chat City that "children are not allowed to stay alone in public places" was no longer in effect. Jiang Yunu seized the daytime to further explore the city, while also exploring this world that was still strange and new to her.
Jiang Yunu had just arrived in Xiate City yesterday. She had been wearing a hat since she received her new clothes. This was not only to cover up the scars on her cheeks near her ears and the sides of her neck, but also to hide her gray hair.
Jiang Yunu was originally a little worried that white hair was an uncommon hair color in this world - not to mention the elderly, at least it might not be common in children.
She was afraid that her white hair would become a target to show off her special identity and bring unnecessary trouble.
However, today during the day, when he walked on the streets of Xiate City again, Jiang Yunu immediately felt relieved.
She found that she was worrying too much. The future world was indeed the future world. There were golden, red, blue, green, purple, black, white, gray, and brown hairs of all colors on the streets.
Traditional hair colors only occupy about half of the people walking on the street, while the remaining half are so colorful that they look like a painter's paint palette.
When Jiang Yunu confirmed that she saw many children with colored hair, which proved that humans in this world could indeed naturally reproduce with various hair colors, she felt relieved and pulled down her hat, allowing her little white-haired girl to blend into the crowd.
It really doesn't catch your eye at all.
If someone would look at Jiang Yunu twice because of her hair, it was definitely not because of the hair color, but because... her hairstyle was really too wild.
Jiang Yunu's hair was still the one she had cut herself with a knife on the isolated island. The blade of the knife was not sharp enough, so it was a bit difficult to cut, which made the ends of her hair uneven. Now it was neither too long nor too short and rested on her shoulders, hanging down slightly behind her shoulders. A few clumps of hair were curled up because she had slept on a plank bed all night, and were baring their teeth and claws on the back of her head.
In short, as a little girl, Jiang Yunu's current hairstyle looks in one word: wild.
But she didn't care anyway.
Jiang Yunu occasionally saw himself reflected in the glass of roadside windows and self-service machines. He only took a close look at her current face and felt that her current facial features were somewhat similar to her original ones. He just didn't know if they would still be similar when she grew up and had a certain adult outline.
As for what her current look is like, does it matter?
Jiang Yunu didn't think it was important anyway. She hadn't noticed yet that she had escaped from the parking lot yesterday, leaving behind the empty flying car and robot No. 129. But this didn't seem to attract any attention. It wasn't as important as a robot suddenly sliding in front of her, scanning her face, and asking her to "please come with me."
The urban management of Xiate City may not be as strict as Jiang Yunu thought when he first saw it.
During the day, Jiang Yunu wandered around with the body of a child. Except for someone occasionally looking at her hair, most of the time, because of her small stature and the natural "buff" that children have in front of adults that is easily overlooked, she could easily move around many places.
Thanks to his outgoing personality and sweet talk, Jiang Yunu miraculously managed to get more than one meal.
She looked like a child now, a very young one at that. When she felt hungry again, all the calories she had replenished from the food samples last night had been consumed. She couldn't help but stop and stare at the roadside food stall again and again. The enthusiastic owner greeted her: "Little girl, do you want to try one?"
"I want to try it." Jiang Yunu answered honestly, "But I'm sorry, boss, I can't afford it, so I can only take a look and leave."
After saying this, Jiang Yunu prepared to leave. She couldn't afford to pay, but she wouldn't stand at someone else's door and interfere with their business.
As a result, a lady who came to eat after get off work happened to come over. She heard such sincere words, then lowered her head and found that it was such a small child.
"Your family doesn't allow you to eat outside?" The woman in work clothes leaned over and teased Jiang Yunu. "Do you want to try it secretly?"
Jiang Yunu immediately raised her face with the most obedient expression: "Sister, I would like to if there is a chance, but I don't know when the chance will come."
The lady was at least thirty years old, well-dressed, mature and intellectual. She found it funny to be called "sister", but she was also a little happy.
"You have your chance now," the cheerful lady said. "I'll ask the boss to reduce the seasoning by half. Too much seasoning is not good for children. Eat it secretly outside and don't tell anyone at home when you get home."
In this way, Jiang Yunu miraculously got a meal.
In the afternoon, she explored another block and took the initiative to greet the owner of a street-facing store, asking him if there were any recycling bins in the block.
The charity recycling box is also one of the key targets of Jiang Yunu's exploration today. She wants to see if there is anything else suitable for her to collect.
The shop owner showed her the way and casually asked, "Do you have anything at home you'd like to donate?"
Jiang Yunu said honestly: "No, it's just that I might need the items inside."
Shop owner: “…”
The shop owner then took a closer look at Jiang Yunu and realized that the child's clothes were probably not the so-called "loose fit" but really did not fit him.
Jiang Yunu not only received directions, but also received a bag of pastries and a bag of dried fruits and vegetables.
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