After getting rid of the troublesome rat peddler, Julius continues on his way. In a place like the Rat Road, it is not uncommon for a vendor like the old man just now to be in the Rat Road, or it can be said that in the place of the Rat Road, everyone can become a person who sells something. Some people sell goods, some people sell their bodies, and some people sell their lives.

After walking for a while on the crowded road, Julius left the crowd and walked into a small alley. The rat path is not a straight line, it may be in the shape of an arc, or it may be a maze-like structure. Julius's rat path has a spacious straight line, and on this main road, there are several split trunks that extend deeper into the ground.

Julius went to the deepest part of the alley and finally met the man he was looking for. It was a thin little girl, dressed in thin, dusty clothes, and shoes on her feet that I don't know where they had been found, one big and one small, of different colors: the larger one was tied tightly with a rope so that it would not fall off its feet. She was covered in a linen cloth coat, which could no longer be seen to be gray and white, and looked dirty. Her hair was flaxen, unkempt, tied into a ponytail, tied up like a bundle of hay—her hair had no shine at all, for there was no maintenance at all, and maintenance was too difficult for a child struggling in the rat path. Her features were upright, and if her face had been washed well, she would have been a lovely girl, but a little too thin and a little malnourished, and her eyebrows were raised, and the eyebrows were tightly knit, an expression of precaution, and whatever was near her would make her wary.

Julius shouted at the little girl, "Lei." ”

At this time, the little girl named Lei was dragging a huge piece of metal, which was so rusted that it could not be seen at all, it had a curved surface, the middle part was slightly raised, and the sides were smooth and flat edges, which looked like the carapace peeled off the body of a giant beetle, but the shell was not so hard and did not rust. The piece of metal was tied with a thick rope and was being dragged along by Lei. The metal behind Lei was much heavier than her, and it was obvious that it was much heavier than Lei. This makes Rei look very struggling.

Rei heard Julius shouting and turned to look at him without much alarmism, "Come and help me." She had only one word for Julius' arrival, simple and neat.

Julius didn't say anything and walked over to Rei's side and took the rope off Rei's shoulder. Seeing that there were obvious rope marks on Lei's shoulders, he probably knew how much effort and time Lei had spent on this piece of metal, but it didn't seem to be of much use. "Shoulder hurt, doesn't it?" Julius slipped the rope around his shoulder, tugging a little and moving the piece of metal a few points forward.

"It's so much better than being whipped up. Rei replied, rubbing the place where the rope had been pressed, there were obvious traces of the rope, and it would probably not be able to get rid of it for a while. "This is only a little uncomfortable for a few days, and soon there will be no traces, at most there will be a little red mark, but if you are whipped by the whip, it will hurt for about ten days, and if the skin is infected, it will be even worse......"

"Where are you going to pull this piece of metal? Julius asked.

Rei pointed to a doorway in the alley, "Just throw it there, there's probably no one interested in this thing." A piece of broken copper and iron, and the blacksmith has no interest in pulling it back to melt it down and reforge it. ”

Julius dragged the piece of metal to the door, the heavy piece of metal leaving two deep scratches on the ground. "It's heavy. Julius said, "Where do you find this kind of thing?" ”

"At the garbage dump, I thought it was something good, and it took a lot of effort to move it back, but it turned out to be just garbage. "You shouldn't expect anything from the garbage dump, and if there's anything good, it's not my turn to grab it...... What a fool I am. ”

Julius chuckled, which made Rei grunt a little disapprehended, "You're not going to treat me like a fool too." ”

Julius shook his head, "I wouldn't take you for a fool, and if it weren't for you, I'd probably still be starving right now." ”

Hearing Julius talk about this, a smile appeared on Lei's face, "Me too, if I hadn't met someone as powerful as you, I would probably still be starving." ”

Julius doesn't know how long Lei has lived in the rat road, maybe what she saw when she was born was the damp ceiling of the rat road, her smile is not as innocent as a child, although she smiles happily, but this smile seems to have a haze, without the slightest childish atmosphere...... This is not the smile that a child should have, but more like the smile of a small citizen who is struggling to survive at the bottom of the city.

Julius was used to Lei's smile. He had lived as hard as Rei, and he couldn't have that kind of pity, which was something that only those with the most money were entitled to, and he, Julius, had not yet had the luxury and arrogance to sympathize with Rei, considering that he was no better off in the village less than a year ago. And after following Lulunaka, Lulunaka's chilling smile left various shadows on him...... Lei's smile made his spirit relax.

Julius dragged the metal piece and lowered his head slightly to look at Lei, who was following him. Rei was still a kid indeed, just around his waist, allowing him to see the top of Rei's head. Lei's hair never seemed to be groomed, dry and yellow, and if it weren't for the flaxen color of her hair, it would probably look more obvious. Since meeting Julius, Lei's life has been relatively good, much better than before, and Julius's words, because of Lei, she has the opportunity to repay Luluna's card money, and she has not starved anymore. But when it came to Lulunaka not giving him food, he didn't do it anymore, and Julius could have found something to eat in the store if he wanted to, and of course, no one would have prepared it for him.

Julius dragged the piece of metal near the doorway, and Rei opened the corroded wooden door and stepped inside. Julius dragged the metal piece in, and the unlit room was filled with all sorts of miscellaneous items...... Or should I say rubbish. The light that enters from the outside after opening the door makes the room look less dark, allowing Julius to see what's inside the room. Large, heavy, lumps of metal were piled together, none of them intact or clean, all rusted badly. The smaller things were thrown together, piled up into a small mountain, placed in a corner, and when Rei walked over, she accidentally kicked it to the edge of the hill. All sorts of rags rolled down the surface of the hill and landed at Lei's feet.

Rei crouched down, picked up the small pieces of rubbish that had tumbled, and put them back on the hill, but the scattered items kept falling until she repeated the task several times before they settled on the surface of the hill.

"Why keep this garbage, if you can sell it, you won't keep it. Julius said. Rei wasn't someone to hide valuable things as treasures, she wasn't a dragon, she wasn't a miser, and her circumstances wouldn't allow her to do so. But in this place where no one cared and no one wanted to come, she piled up all the things that couldn't be sold.

Rei placed the last thing on the top of the hill, it was a gear, not much rust on the surface, with a coppery metallic sheen, but most of it had collapsed, and it was a complete scrap. "It's a shame that these things rot in the garbage dump, and maybe someday someone will need them. ”