It was an alley on the edge of Grey Curtain Town, close to the outermost parapet of the slum.

The skewed houses stretch out along the sides of the laneway, and the dilapidated windows and walls are nailed with reinforced rattan, giving these snow-covered buildings a tattered style in the dark.

The town of Gray Curtain during the period of stability, where many desperate poor people once gathered, is the only place where they will not be disgusted with their downfall. Today, after the famine, these places are gone.

There was still snow in the sky, and although there was no wind, this silent freezing tested people's will even more.

In the darkness, Thor and Shogues walked slowly through knee-deep snow.

Even in this terrible weather, they never stopped searching.

Along the way, Saul rarely spoke, continuing his style of saying less and doing more. Hughes seems to be calm on the surface, but his heavy heart has long lost the excitement and enthusiasm of the past.

Both of them knew very well that it was almost impossible to find food outside at this point in time, but neither of them mentioned it, but they just kept searching silently.

With each passing moment, it seemed that the footsteps of the Grim Reaper could be heard.

With little food left, persecution to survive, pressure from the Thieves' Guild, and despair all around, they can only struggle and watch the nightmare slowly become a reality.

The two of them had hardly rested for three days, and they had roughly searched all the places where they could.

If a pile of rotten planks used for firewood was a harvest, at least they had not found nothing for the past three days.

In addition to the crowded and dilapidated slum buildings, these remote lanes are also home to many abandoned barns.

Since the dawn of the continent has entered the dark calendar, perhaps due to climate or soil changes, the grain production of the towns has been in a state of decline and extremely unstable, and places like barns have long been left with the role of stacking farm tools and raising raisers.

When it comes to searching for food, these filthy and dilapidated buildings shouldn't have been the first choice.

But life is an adventure without a map, and it's hard to tell what's really right.

Just yesterday, at the end of the third day, they found two parchment bags of ale and two full large bags of damp rye in some similar barn, and a large chunk of dried bacon hanging there and shaking.

It's a huge treasure, maybe a farmer's back or some drunkard's little collection. None of this matters, the important thing is that they found it, which means that the shackles of death have been loosened again.

The two fell silent for a long time as they stared at the food in front of them, and then Shogues suddenly pointed at Thor and laughed, and Thor raised his hand as well.

The two pointed at each other and fell into a hoarse and suppressed laugh, the ugly laughter was like two patients who were suddenly gagged by their necks and were desperately breathing.

Thor laughed and held on to the wall, and Shogues was even more excited, rolling on the ground and even laughing to tears.

It's like two fools who suddenly go crazy and don't know what they're laughing at.

The wonder of the world lies in this, even if you are ordinary like a worm, miracles are actually not far from everyone.

Later, the two returned to the bottom of the well, toasted frequently by the fire, and fell into a cheap.

In the end, they cursed the gods together, and they were drunk and unconscious.

While he hadn't done anything as extreme as other orphans had done anything like jumping into the Trevi Fountain to steal money or urinating on the shrine, Shogues was certainly not a proper believer, and Thor wasn't either.

The oracle contains a commandment to guide the world to goodness, claiming that doing more good deeds can attract the attention of the gods and thus obtain the protection of the gods, and believers firmly believe in this.

If it weren't for witnessing some beauty disappear like a spark on a rainy night, Saul would have almost believed it.

There are too many bad people in this world who live well, and too many good people who die early, but in Saul's opinion, it has nothing to do with God or so-called good deeds.

Of course, correcting one's moral outlook through some good deeds, gaining a sense of accomplishment and inner fulfillment, can also be regarded as a positive lifestyle, and may have the value of advocating.

The sudden abundance of supplies summoned the two of them to the greatest enthusiasm of the winter, so Thor and Shogues came to the alleyways again today, ready to sweep the remaining area of yesterday completely.

At the door of a dilapidated barn, the two stopped.

Pushing open the door, a few wisps of dust were shaken off the door, the sound of rats fleeing in the darkness, and the smell of damp and moldy in the air came to my face.

"Ahem...... Ahem..."

There was a sudden coughing sound in the corner of the room, as if to announce to the enterer that there was already someone here.

Thor and Shogues took on a posture at the same time, but the situation was not very tense, because the voice sounded very old.

"Hey, what are you worried about......, two imps? Ahem, come here, come closer. The old voice sounded again, with a constant cough, sounding very weak.

After exchanging glances with each other, Thor and Shogues kept their guard and slowly approached the dark corner.

The barn was empty, except for a small pile of hay in the corner, on which a man was reclining at the moment.

An old man.

His hair and eyebrows are silver and snow-colored, the deep wrinkles on his face are like the rings of an old tree, the flesh of his cheeks has drooped slightly because he has lost his vitality, and his eyes are cloudy and losing the freshness of life.

It wasn't his old appearance that really made Thor and Hughes let their guard down, but because the old man's broken body was left with only one right hand and one left leg.

Judging by the wounds, he must have lost his left hand a long time ago, and it seems that he lost his right leg not long ago.

Now the flesh near the broken leg has festered, the blood has clotted and discolored, and there is a faint smell of decay and necrosis, and the old man seems to have lost his ability to move due to the deterioration of the wound.

"Do you have food?"

The old man's eyes flashed with anticipation, and he tilted his head slightly to look at the two teenagers in front of him. Apparently hunger and weakness had tormented him for some time, and it was a little difficult to even make a simple gesture like a deviation.

As if the old man had told some joke, Shoggers sneered, and did not bother to answer.

"Yes, what do you trade it for?"

Thor's answer was short and direct, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the food was priceless in the current period, but Thor didn't mind using words to test the old man's hole cards.

"As you can see, I have nothing, but I can guide you on the path of a warrior. The old man replied.

Hearing this, Shogus was already trembling with laughter, and he bent his elbow around Thor's shoulder.

"Hey, are we really going to waste our time here listening to this old guy talk nonsense?"

Seeing that Thor was silent, Shogues pursed his lips secretly and turned around to leave first.

Today's search has so far yielded nothing, and there's a lot more to do.

Shogues had seen the heinous tactics and bottomless atrocities of the hungry for food, and it was one of the more modest and clever ways to make up a few moving stories to win sympathy.

Thor rolled his gaze to scrutinize the entire corner.

The old man was surrounded by food debris, and a stick that served as a crutch was leaning against the haystack.

There had been little snow in the past two days, and there were no recent footprints in the snow outside the barn, so it seemed that the old man must have been in this house for some time.

Maybe the old man suffered a loss and was seriously injured when he grabbed the food, but of course, it is also possible that because he provoked some forces, he could only hide here and wait for death.

Like most of the poor people who struggled with hunger, the old man wore old clothes made of coarse cloth and an old coat made of small pieces of animal skins that had been haphazardly patched together.

Other than that, there was nothing special, not even a weapon.

He is very old, he has reached the age where he has to be careful even with fallen leaves.

Even if he was really a weathered adventurer, the word adventure should have been far away from his life for a long time.

After all, at this age, it is already difficult to swing a wand or a sword smoothly.

In the end, Thor chose to leave silently.

Words like sympathy and pity don't appear in orphans' dictionaries, at least not when dealing with an adult, even if he is very old.

The moment he stepped out of the house, Thor stopped abruptly.

He suddenly froze in place with a shocked expression, as if a lightning bolt had flashed through his mind.

The interior of the barn was rectangular, and the door and the corner where the old man was located were exactly diagonal, at least nine paces or so apart from each other in a straight line.

So, how did the old man see us in the dark?

The next day, Thor came to the barn again with food and water.

"Why can you see our numbers and ages in the darkness at this distance?" Thor asked, pointing to the doorway, asking directly in his own mind.

The old man was desperately stuffing food into his mouth with his remaining hand, and he paused slightly at Thor's question, but did not answer, and the wrinkles on his face converged into a meaningful smile.

Although he was not sure if the old man was a liar, the other party's flirtatious look made Thor a little annoyed.

"This bit of food is hard to come by, and if you eat it, it means that others will eat less. I've taken the trouble to come here to listen to your nonsense, old fellow, and I hope you finally make me feel like I'm getting the best value for my money, or I wouldn't mind giving you a ride early. ”

The old man looked at Thor and asked rhetorically with interest.

"Interesting, sounds like you're their leader?"

Thor shook his head indifferently.

"There are no leaders, just a few poor people who huddle together to keep warm, and they will choose people to eat when necessary. ”

The old man stopped talking, but apparently did not take Thor's threat to heart, and only after the food had been eaten did he calmly wipe his hands on the hay and said:

"As far as common sense goes, any combat profession can be safely promoted to the first rank. And if you are lucky enough to step into the second order, your "Vision" ability will grow into "Insight", and your vision in the dark will be exponentially expanded. ”

"However, in a small place like Grey Curtain Town, I haven't seen any second-order professionals, it seems that there are only a few small forces supported by a few first-order little guys. ”

"I am a warrior, I was, wandering all the way from Kampte. After the chaos in Grey Veil, I joined a makeshift group of adventurers and set out for the nearest town, Logs. ”

"Unfortunately, while spending the night in a sea of trees, we were besieged by the Blighted Serpent. My teammates were all dead, and I myself was poisoned, and I had to try my luck to escape back to town after cutting off one of my legs. ”

"My time is running out, and it's your luck to meet me in my last life. So kid, you'd better be polite. ”