Smooth-Talking

Her gaze drifted elsewhere as she said softly:

"Before... when you found food, you shared it with me too."

She still remembered.

She remembered how this boy, even skinnier than she was, had stuffed half a biscuit or a frozen-hard potato into her hands when she was about to pass out from hunger.

Though it had only been a trivial kindness, in the Underworld, where hunger was the greatest threat, that care had been invaluable.

Now, it was her turn.

But Jiang Mo shoved the bread into her hands. "I already ate a piece earlier. I'm not that hungry, and half of this is enough. Take it. You're starving too."

He meant the moldy bread Huzi had thrown away. Though it tasted terrible, it had at least filled his stomach a little and kept him from starving to death.

Seele looked at the half piece of bread in her hands, then at Jiang Mo's insistent expression. In the end, she did not refuse again and began nibbling at it in small bites.

Silence fell over the alley once more, broken only by the faint sounds of the two of them chewing bread.

But the atmosphere was no longer as tense as before.

"Earlier..." After swallowing the last bite of bread, Seele finally could not help asking, "What exactly happened?"

Jiang Mo's eyes flickered, but he did not hide anything.

"They wanted to steal my things, and they wanted to beat me up. I was just defending myself."

He was telling the truth.

Though he had gone a little overboard in the process, that was indeed how it had begun.

After hearing that, Seele fell silent again.

She lowered her head, making it impossible to see her expression.

After a long while, she finally looked up at Jiang Mo.

"How about... you go to the orphanage?"

"With Sister Natasha, at least you'd have something to eat, right?"

The orphanage.

The place run by Doctor Natasha, which took in homeless children.

But Jiang Mo shook his head without hesitation.

"I'm not going."

"Why?" Seele asked, confused. "At a time like this..."

"I don't want to see those looks."

Jiang Mo cut her off. "The children in the orphanage... the way they look at people is too empty. Like little dogs waiting for someone to pick them up. It's too pathetic."

"And Sister Natasha is a very good person, but every time she sees me, she wants to keep me there."

"I don't like owing people favors, especially not being looked at by her like that."

"I'd rather starve to death than go to the orphanage."

"Besides, you know it too, don't you? The Fragmentum corruption has been getting worse lately. They can barely find anything to eat in Rivet Town, so life at the orphanage there definitely isn't easy either. I don't want to take away what little food those kids already have."

Seele listened quietly without saying anything.

After a while, she tugged at the corner of her mouth, revealing a helpless smile.

"Is that so... You really haven't changed. Still stubborn, still worrying about pointless things. You're nearly starving to death yourself, yet you're still concerned about other people."

"Aren't you the same?"

Jiang Mo glanced at her and asked in return.

"You'd rather come dig through trash than stay at the orphanage, and you have the nerve to say that about me?"

Seele snorted and turned her head away.

"I just suddenly saw myself clearly. I simply don't want to stay in a place as restrictive as the orphanage. I'm not thinking as much as you are."

"Whatever you say."

Jiang Mo shrugged indifferently.

The two of them fell silent again.

The half piece of bread was gone, but the emptiness in their stomachs had not completely faded.

From time to time, Seele looked up at Jiang Mo, then quickly swept her gaze over the gradually cooling corpses on the ground, as though she were thinking about something.

Finally, Jiang Mo stood up and dusted off his clothes.

"Seele, I'm leaving."

"This place isn't safe. The smell of blood will attract more trouble soon."

Seele nodded and did not try to stop him.

She looked at Jiang Mo, hesitated for a moment, then added:

"Those Silvermane Guards have been acting crazy lately. They've been patrolling the Underworld much more often, and they're stricter than before."

"Be careful."

Those words were both a warning and something like a promise.

She would not report him.

"Got it."

Jiang Mo answered, giving her a deep look.

Then, without lingering any longer, he turned and headed toward the other end of the alley.

Seele watched Jiang Mo's small, thin figure disappear around the corner, then lowered her gaze to the corpses on the ground. Her expression shifted uncertainly.

In the end, she gritted her teeth, turned around, and quickly left the alley in the opposite direction.

However, after confirming that Seele had gone far away and no one else was in the alley,

Jiang Mo returned to the three men.

His gaze fell on Huzi, who was still sprawled on the ground, unconscious.

To cut the grass, one had to pull out the roots.

Leaving a survivor meant leaving behind trouble.

He walked over to Huzi and expressionlessly raised the brick in his hand.

Aiming at the completely defenseless back of Huzi's head.

Splat!

Villainous Act Confirmed: Eliminating Future Trouble! Villain Points +50!

Jiang Mo tossed aside the brick. Without even looking at the corpse beneath his feet, he turned and walked out of the dark, filthy alley, now home to several more dead souls, without looking back.

Silver Tongue

Jiang Mo walked onto the main street, waves of aching weakness spreading from deep within his body.

The dangerous fight earlier, combined with the aftereffects of Berserk, had drained his already limited strength and energy.

The agonizing cramps in his stomach were gone. The moldy bread and the half piece of dry bread Seele had shared with him had barely driven away that feeling of imminent death.

But those pitiful few calories were nowhere near enough to sustain his recovery.

He needed real food. He needed energy. He needed rest.

But where could he find any of that now? He had no home, and he did not have a single Winter City Coin on him.

Should he keep digging through trash?

No. Now that he had a system, wouldn't digging through trash be a disgrace to a transmigrator?

And what could he even find in trash bins? Moldy bread crusts or spoiled scraps of food?

He did not want to live like that for even one more day.

Speaking of the system...

Right. He should run more simulations to earn Villain Points and get more traits.

Traits meant power. With power, even if he had to rob someone, he would have something to eat!

Jiang Mo focused and called out to the system in his mind.

"System, I want to continue simulating. Start the second simulation!"

Sorry, considering the host's young physical age and low attribute values, the body cannot easily adapt to new traits.

Second simulation unlock age: 10.

Third simulation unlock age: 15.

Fourth simulation unlock age: 18.

After the age of 18, one simulation may be activated each month.

Jiang Mo froze completely.

"You've got an anti-addiction system too?!"

His current body was only six years old!

There were still four years until he turned ten! Four years!

He had to wait four years to start the next simulation?

Was this damn system trying to get him killed in the Underworld?!

Unwilling to give up, he asked several more times, but the system gave no further response. There was no room for negotiation at all.

Jiang Mo could only accept it.

Forget it. At least he still had the system, and he still had two traits.

As long as he could survive until the next simulation unlocked, there was still hope.

First, he needed to find something to eat and avoid starving to death...

At that moment, Jiang Mo spotted smoke rising from a food stall in the distance, along with the scent drifting toward him.

That morning, he had gotten himself into trouble at that very food stall and had nearly been beaten to death by its owner.

The owner was a broad, thickset man with a face full of flesh and vicious eyes. He showed absolutely no mercy toward drifters.

Though fierce, the man did not seem particularly sharp. His emotions could easily sway him.

Perhaps he could use him to test his new trait?

Seeming to think of something, Jiang Mo headed toward the food stall.

He slowed his pace, hid around the corner of a building, and observed in secret.

The owner had his hands on his hips, cursing viciously at a drifter who had tried to approach. Spittle flew everywhere as he waved a meat cleaver in his hand, frightening the drifter into scrambling away.

What a savage, Jiang Mo thought.

Standing off to the side, he adjusted his expression.

His face remained haggard; that part needed no pretending. He reined in the sharpness in his eyes, making them appear somewhat lost and helpless.

He deliberately hunched his back, let his left arm hang limp, and limped toward the food stall.

"Get lost! Get the hell away from here!"

The owner caught sight of Jiang Mo from the corner of his eye and barked at him without a second thought.

"Trying to freeload? No chance! If you want food, bring money!"

Jiang Mo did not stop. He merely moved even more slowly.

He reached the stall, stopped, and raised his thin face, covered in dust.