Boy in the Mirror (Big Chapter Seeking Monthly Ticket)

He Ao held a hamburger, flipped over, and leaped straight down from the off-road vehicle.

Laina glanced at him and hurriedly followed.

The off-road vehicle was parked by the sea. The roads nearby had fallen into disrepair long ago, riddled with potholes that reflected uneven shades of light beneath the evening glow.

The alley where the sounds had come from was rather narrow, but it seemed to see frequent foot traffic, so there was little snow. Only small patches of white had piled up along the roadside.

Those scattered snowflakes and the wet ground stretched all the way into the depths of the alley, reaching the darkness untouched by the light.

He Ao moved quickly, vanishing into the shadows in what seemed like an instant.

Laina swept her gaze over the remote alley and quickly followed in He Ao's footsteps.

The sides of the alley were not lined with towering buildings, but with makeshift shacks pieced together from broken brick walls and rusted metal sheets.

Shabbily dressed people huddled inside the shacks, warily watching the outside world through gaps in the metal sheets.

Laina watched it all calmly.

She was familiar with this. When she had been very young, she had lived in an environment like this. She could even guess what the boy who had cried out was going through.

She quickened her pace slightly. Beneath the shadows of the crude shacks, the beautiful sunset glow seemed to have completely lost its color.

--

"Ma'am."

A man in a black robe, his arms tattooed with warped patterns, reached out and gripped the woman before him by the throat, pinning her against the cold brick wall.

"Since your husband is dead, and your cousin has gone to the Eternal Divine Kingdom, he probably won't ever come back. You can't protect