Rei leads Julius through the dark passages. Julius held a torch aloft to light the way ahead of Lei, who held a bag full of pebbles. Lei naturally didn't pick up pebbles to play such a hobby, this is not an ordinary small stone. She dragged the bag in her right hand and held several small stones of different shapes in her left hand. This small stone is round and pointed, milky white, and has a smooth surface...... If that's all it takes, it's just a little peculiar. The stone has a pale white fluorescence, and in the dark, even if there is no fire, it is quite bright. Every distance she walked, she would crouch down and shove pebbles into the crevices that might fit in, preferably where it would be difficult to get out. Or you can find a gap in the surrounding wall and press the pebble into it.

After entering the barred entrance, Rei has been doing this work ever since. It was indeed a job, a price paid for her to get free access.

Julius had been following Lei, and now that the passage was safe, there was nothing to do. He was idle, just holding the torch, and in addition to paying attention to the situation around him, he was also observing Lei. This petite girl is using the milky white glowing pebbles in her hands as a kind of signpost as she can stuff them into the crevices of things in her path. The guiding stone has been building a glimmer of light for a long time.

Julius was already familiar with the sewers, but it was a new place for him for the first time. "You haven't brought me here before...... This place is new to you?"

Julius had doubts in his mind. After entering the iron gate, which he could not normally pass through, Rei led him through the intricate passages for a long time, going around on the left and straight on the right for a long distance, until he almost lost his sense of direction before Rei stopped. The sewers on this side behind the iron fence don't seem to be dangerous, but there are more pipes, and not only around, but also overhead and underground. The hole in the ground makes people worry about whether they will fall down, and the pipe on the head is afraid that some heavy objects will fall and smash the unlucky eggs below.

"Don't worry, we're on a new path. It's easy to get lost in this place, but I don't. Rei replied. In this narrow and dark space, even if there is fire, it will not make people feel the slightest brightness in their hearts, and it is good that there are no negative emotions. And in this kind of space, the flow of time also seems to be frozen, giving people the feeling that they have been walking for a long time, but this may only be an illusion, but the human senses have dragged time out.

Rei looked like she was walking around completely, and at first Julius was a little worried about whether she was really messing around, but when she took out the guiding stone at the entrance to a certain cave and began to leave markers, he realized that Rei wasn't walking around.

Since then, Rei has been walking silently in front of her, only occasionally crouching down or approaching the wall to put a small pebble in place to mark it. If Rei hadn't deceived those people in the Mouse Path, then the marked path she had left behind now would have led to a new area. Julius is well aware of Lei's character, she is a child struggling to survive, but she will not go crazy because of it...... At least not by deceiving people to gain anything.

Julius believed in Rei, so he didn't say anything more, but in such a space, silence was also torture. "Why did you take on this job? I don't think you're such a selfless person. Julius said. Because the relationship is not bad, Julius doesn't speak very politely, not to mention that if he is polite, the two of them will not be able to get along - this is not only the way he and Rei get along, but probably the way most of the residents of the Rat Path deal with each other. There isn't much euphemism, just simplicity and directness.

"Of course I wasn't, and if I could have everything in one place, I would definitely do it. "But I can't, I can't even take anything a little heavier on my own...... I can only bring small light things, and I don't know if it's worth it yet. Speaking of this, Rei smiled, "Since I can't eat so many things alone, and someone will always find out sooner or later, then it's better for me to sell this information while it's still valuable." Besides, you and I won't be able to move around in the new area, and there might be dozens of tiny fangs that will eat us to the bone. ”

Lei's words did make sense, so much so that Julius had nothing to say. This impoverished little mouse is not as greedy, intelligent and contented as the other scavengers. Julius didn't have the consciousness of Lei's age, and if he learned that there was a large piece of sweet fruit waiting to be picked somewhere, he would never tell anyone, even if he couldn't eat it alone, and most of the fruit would eventually rot on the branches or the ground. People change depending on the environment, Julius is an orphan who lives hard in the middle of nowhere, and Rei is a rat who lives in a chaotic place like the rat passage and has to come to the sewers to pick up waste...... At least Julius felt that his previous life in the village would not be worse than that of Ray. Before the two of them partnered, he and she weren't really doing well.

"Sometimes I think you're just dressed in a child's skin, but you're no different from an adult. Julius said.

"I also want to grow up quickly. Rei replied, "It would be nice if I could live long enough to grow up." ”

Such heavy words coming from the mouth of a little girl may not be a normal thing in itself. But Julius had to get used to this, otherwise he wouldn't be able to make a living in a place like Rat Lane, and he wouldn't be able to make a living with a ...... like Lei's A little girl gets along.

Julius didn't know how long he had been gone, but Rei in front of him finally stopped. There seemed to be an exit in front of her, and a wind poured into it—although the fact that there was wind underground, it might have been a strange thing in itself, but Julius had long been accustomed to it.

"After going around this labyrinthine place for so long, I'm finally back here. Lei turned back to Julius and smiled, "I thought I would never find this path again, but it seems that I was lucky." ”