At night, the white light of the bright moon swayed on the garbage dump outside the city, and the moonlight was hazy, reflecting the thin and yellow faces of the people on the garbage dump.

This dirty garbage dump, located just outside the west gate of Chiba Castle, was a dirty place for the dignitaries of the eastern city to dump their garbage, but it was a source of income for the residents living in the slums west of the city.

Foraging!

The inhabitants of the slums call it foraging.

Foraging is the most important activity of the poor, and although the rich and noble families in the east of the city look down on it, and the commoners with slightly better living conditions are undeniable, it is very famous in the whole slum.

Once a month, every foraging for food would cause the poor to fight, even to the point of paying with their lives, in order to find important supplies hidden in the garbage heaps, even if they were just garbage that the rich and noble disdained.

For example, a few bites of bread, such as a damaged iron tool, such as a broken talisman...... What can be stuffed into the mouth can be used to fill the stomach, and what cannot be eaten can be used to barter.

A few hundred meters outside the west gate of the castle, there is a large open space dedicated to throwing waste products, and all the waste products left by the rich and noble families will be thrown in this kind of place, so as not to stain the noble appearance of Chiba East Castle.

The poor people in the west of the city don't care about the disdain of the nobles in the east of the city, anyway, your waste, my treasures, the more the merrier, in this garbage heap, if you are lucky, you must be able to find some "treasures" worth a few steamed buns.

The number of hated nobles in the east of the city is not large, otherwise it would not be thrown once a month, when it comes to the "frugality" of the nobles in the east of the city, the poor people in the west of the city are all hating iron but not steel, gritting their teeth.

At this moment, at the periphery of the garbage dump, a small figure climbed up, it was a little boy, and his extremely thin body slowly pushed inward from the periphery.

The boy was about fourteen or fifteen years old, dressed in tattered clothes, and his face was so dark that he could not see clearly, except for his eyes, which were full of determination.

Ye Wen, this is the name given to him by his parents who died young, and it is the only thing left to him.

He picked up the garbage with his small, rough and dirty hands, and looked around vigilantly as he could, as if fearing that some fierce enemy would pounce on him at any moment.

Pick it up......

"Huh?"

Ye Wen's body stiffened suddenly, his eyes became extremely bright, his little hands were even more vigorously pulled down, and the cold touch from the tips of his fingers told him that this might be a precursor to finding good goods.

"It's ......"

Ye Wen looked at the thing in his hand suspiciously, this was a locked iron box, he swallowed his saliva, thinking that maybe there was a steamed bun hidden in it, his little hand touched to the side, and soon found a hard small stone.

Ye Wen held the small stone in both hands, and although he hadn't eaten for a few days, he still desperately exerted all his strength and smashed the rusty iron lock.

Click!

The iron lock was split in half.

"How can it be so easy to ......" Ye Wen looked at the iron box in a daze, a slight look of disappointment appeared on his little face, the more fragile the lock, the more it meant that the value of the items inside was low, but he quickly cleaned up his mood and opened the iron box with expectant eyes.

The inside of the empty iron box came into view.

Ye Wen turned the iron box upside down and shook it again, and sure enough, there was nothing, so he wiped the sweat on his forehead, and then threw the iron box aside speechlessly.

"Huh?"

Ye Wen just wanted to leave here and search deeper into the garbage dump, when his eyes suddenly froze, and his eyes were attracted by a little shiny shrunk next to him.

Fleeting.

But Ye Wen didn't doubt his own vision, he looked straight at that place—the place where the iron box was lying crookedly. The iron box was still empty, worthless garbage no matter how you looked at it, and the rough handiwork was too crude to even be seen by the people in the slums.

There are quirks!

Ye Wen's bright eyes were even brighter, and he almost crawled up, his heart was pounding, his resolute eyes were staring at the empty iron box, and his slightly trembling little hands were groping carefully inside.

Suddenly, a cold sensation came from his hand.

Ye Wen's thin body trembled, his eyes were all unprecedentedly large, and he saw a faint flash of light in the corner of the iron box, from being there to being visible to the naked eye, and gradually condensing into a small jade pendant.

"Yes, it's a treasure...... Steamed buns, you can exchange them for a lot of steamed buns!"

Ye Wen picked up the unexpected treasure with a face full of surprise, this is a jade pendant carved from jade, as the shape changes from transparent to visible to the naked eye, the light gradually disappears, and I see that the surface of the jade pendant is covered with black ash.

Rub your thumb twice to quickly remove the dust, and you can see one eye carved by the jade pendant.

Ye Wen suddenly trembled, his expression was sluggish for a moment, and then he shook his head violently, and came back to his senses, he didn't pay much attention to the strange appearance just now, probably because of excessive excitement.

He looked left and right vigilantly, and when he saw those ragged peers approaching nearby, he hurriedly put the jade pendant into his arms, stored it tightly close to his chest, and then pretended to have no harvest with a depressed look, lowered his head and slowly turned back.

Walking cautiously, he approached the west gate of the city step by step, and because of the treasures he carried, even the guards who did not squint seemed to have a suspicious heart.

Ye Wen entered the city gate, and after a dozen circles in the winding lanes, he finally arrived at the slum west of the city, a place full of hunger and poverty.

The tattered wooden houses, tattered clothes, and the stench that resembles a manure pit represent the typical appearance of a slum.

A few minutes later, an old wooden house appeared in front of him, Ye Wen cautiously scanned the surroundings, and found no one with malicious intentions, so he slowly squatted down at the door, stretched out his dusty little hand, and knocked lightly on the wooden door thirteen times.

The wooden door opens.

A petite and lovely figure appeared at the door, it was a girl who looked about eleven or twelve years old, her figure was slender and even lean, and she was dressed in tattered gray clothes, but compared to the petite figure, the clothes were extremely loose, and her bright eyes were cute in a blink of a blink.

"Brother Ye Wen, why did you come back so early today? ”

The girl tilted her head and looked at Ye Wen with expectant eyes, as if it was the greatest happiness to be able to eat cold and hard steamed buns, and swallowed her saliva as she spoke.

Turning around and closing the wooden door, Ye Wen walked quickly to the girl, and then took out the jade pendant worth several steamed buns, with a smug smile on his face.

"Look. ”

Looking at the little girl, Ye Wen stretched out his little hand with a smile, and the smooth and recognizable jade pendant came into the girl's eyes, which suddenly made the girl cheer.

"That's amazing!"

The girl's smile made Ye Wen's whole person warm, he proudly straightened his little chest, and said, "Little girl, don't you look at who your brother is?"

"Brother Ye Wen, how many steamed buns is this, how much is this worth?"

The girl blinked, leaned over her little head, and then stretched out her little hand to touch the jade pendant, and asked curiously.

"Well, probably, maybe a dozen of them...... No, at least twenty!"

Ye Wen scratched his head, at first he didn't hesitate, but soon raised his head, and his tone was full of confidence.

Mutter......

The voice of swallowing saliva became louder, and the girl was obviously convinced of the brother who depended on her life in front of her, and regarded him as the most powerful person in the world, so she said in a tone full of admiration: "Twenty or twenty steamed buns, Brother Ye Wen, you are really amazing!"

"It's fine. Ye Wen was suddenly a little embarrassed, and said with a smile, "I'll go to the old lame man tomorrow morning and sell this jade pendant, and then we can have a big meal!"

The girl nodded obediently.

"Are you hungry now?" Ye Wen smiled slightly and rubbed the girl's little head.

"I'm not hungry at all, I just ate a steamed bun the day before yesterday, oh, Brother Ye Wen, I just picked up a dead little green lizard......"

The girl shook her head, and suddenly seemed to remember something, her big eyes flashed, her little hand stretched out and grabbed the corner of Ye Wen's clothes, and turned to walk towards the simple wooden bed.

As soon as the little head drilled under the bed, the little hand touched around, grabbed a thumb-thick lizard, and then poked his head out and handed it to Ye Wen, saying, "Brother Ye Wen, take a look." ”

"Green lizard?"

Ye Wen's eyes turned red, and he took over the young green lizard, who would have imagined that the poor people who did not have three meals would regard even the disgusting little lizard as a precious source of food.

It's just that......

Ye Wen lowered his head, looking at the expression of longing for approval on the girl's little face, his little fists were clenched tightly, and a bitter color that did not match his age flashed on his face, and then he immediately dimmed away this dust, and said with a smile: "You did a good job, the little lizard can be used as a backup ration...... However, we can eat well now, brother, and I am hungry enough. ”

After saying that, his rough little hand took the girl's tender hand, walked towards a small wooden box in the corner, and then slowly opened the clean and surprisingly small wooden box, and felt out an oiled paper bag from the deepest part of it.

Carefully opened the oiled paper packet slowly, and suddenly a fragrance that made people's appetite move wafted out, and a complete cake was presented in the eyes of the two.

This palm-sized cake was occasionally picked up by Ye Wen, even the bullies at the top of the food chain in the slums coveted it, and they were able to successfully save the cake, thanks to Ye Wen's usual carefulness and alertness, because it was too precious, the two of them were still reluctant to take it out and taste it.

"Come, let's be one and a half. ”

Ye Wen put the green lizard into the box, then broke the fragrant cake in half, and handed the girl one of them with a smile.

"This ...... Brother Ye Wen, didn't you say that you would wait until the day you left the slum to take it out and eat it to celebrate?" the girl said with wide round eyes and some doubts.

"Hehe, when the jade pendant is sold tomorrow, we may become rich people in the slums, and then buy a better one to celebrate, come, let's eat this fragrant cake!"

"Hmm. ”

The girl nodded, then tore off a small piece of half of the cake, and nibbled on it in small bites, eating with relish, and a satisfied smile appeared on her lovely face.

Looking at the girl's happy appearance, a smile also appeared on the corner of Ye Wen's mouth, since the death of his adoptive father, life has been difficult, sometimes even five or six days to eat a steamed bun, more often it is to pick up animal carcasses, dig bark and roots to fill the stomach, but the two have always relied on each other, never gave up, and survived strongly.

Ye Wen took a small bite of the cake, while quietly staring at the jade pendant, his eyes flashed with a little excitement, maybe this jade pendant is more valuable than he imagined, even so, on the old lame man's side, it is destined to only be exploited, this is the sadness of the poor who lack [Dao power].

In this world, the truth of the law of the jungle is pursued in order to become a strong man, the first step is to nourish the Dao power in the body.

The so-called Dao power is a mysterious power produced by ** training, and it is said that when cultivated to the extreme, it can even become a saint and become an immortal, but this legend is just an ethereal and unfathomable myth.

In the slums of Chiba City, even if a little bit of Dao power is nourished, it is enough to jump to the middle level of the slums all at once, and if you are lucky enough to reach the realm of quenching your body, even the top bullies in it are afraid of three points.

However, how can it be a simple matter to quench the body, ** breeds strength, a strong physique is a prerequisite condition, if you want to cultivate the body, you must eat meat, and this is not a luxury that the poor with yellow face and thin muscles can hope for.

"Meat ......"

Ye Wen looked at his thin little hand, couldn't help but smile bitterly, then stuffed the rest of the cake into his mouth, swallowed it in two clicks, and then looked at the girl who was still happily eating, and a trace of warmth swelled in his heart.

But seeing that the girl's little face suddenly turned pale, Ye Wen's face changed, and his little hand quickly touched the pale cheek, only to feel as cold as an ice lump, and even his little hand was frozen stiff.

"Xiao Qian! It's cold to the bone...... No, it can't be, it should be two months away!?"