Jiang Mo lowered his head slightly. When he raised it again, a chilling smile appeared on his face.
Actually, it was quite simple.
He just had to do that.
Another year passed.
Jiang Mo was nine years old.
Life after the Lower District was sealed off was even harder than imagined.
The situation around Rivet Town was especially terrible. The Rift's erosion had clearly accelerated.
Every night, the roars of monsters often came from the edge of town, leaving the residents trembling with fear.
Without the Silvermane Guards' defensive line, Riftworld Monsters began infiltrating Rivet Town with increasing frequency.
Jiang Mo had heard that monsters had rushed directly into town several times, causing casualties.
Residents who failed to take shelter in time could only be killed by the monsters in despair.
Before long, Rivet Town's residents began migrating to Boulder Town in large numbers.
Long lines of people carried their few belongings and silently walked down the road leading to the neighboring town.
Their faces were filled with exhaustion and numbness. They had become refugees fleeing disaster.
The residents of Rivet Town suffered like this, so naturally the orphanage on the edge of town was no better off. The more dangerous the surroundings became, the more severe the food shortage grew.
Director Natasha did everything she could to keep the orphanage running, rushing everywhere in search of food and supplies while soothing the children.
But it was simply too difficult for her alone.
In the end, at the suggestion of Rivet Town's neighborhood management committee, Natasha made a painful decision—the Rivet Town Orphanage would cease operations.
The news made the children burst into tears and tore Natasha's heart apart.
She began running everywhere, contacting families in Rivet Town and Boulder Town that could barely sustain themselves, hoping they would adopt the children.
A few days later.
The orphanage officially closed.
Natasha led the last group of children, along with pitifully few supplies, down the road to Boulder Town.
The group moved forward like a weary snake, winding along the road.
Tears and snot streaked the children's faces, while their little hands clutched their remaining toys tightly.
At the edge of Boulder Town stood a cluster of abandoned houses.
The walls were dilapidated, the windows let in drafts, and half the roofs had collapsed.
Natasha stopped there.
It was nowhere near as good as the orphanage in Rivet Town, but at least it provided shelter.
She immediately got busy, directing the older children to clear away debris and use scavenged wooden boards to patch the drafty gaps.
Before long, they had cleaned up a room that was barely livable.
Natasha also cleared out a small area and set up the simple medical equipment and medicines she had brought.
Not long after, Natasha's clinic opened in Boulder Town.
Although the conditions were harsh, the clinic's reputation quickly spread through town because of Natasha's superb medical skills.
Injured and sick residents came with a try-it-and-see attitude, only to be moved by her responsible manner.
Natasha had the heart of a healer as well. Many times, she charged patients very little, or nothing at all, and was willing to accept food as payment for medicine.
Jiang Mo stood outside the clinic, watching from afar.
He saw Natasha's busy figure and the smiles on the patients' faces.
Of course, he was not concerned with whether Natasha was living well.
He was only worried about that favor.
As long as Natasha was still around, that favor could be repaid.
That was more important than anything.
Afterward, Jiang Mo returned to his shelter.
Over the past few days, he had used resources gathered from everywhere to keep upgrading it.
He reinforced the walls with thicker boards, made a simple roof from scavenged sheet metal, and even set several basic traps around the shelter using rope and broken stones.
The shelter became sturdier and more concealed, like a turtle shell hidden in a corner.
Jiang Mo looked around the shelter. It had everything it needed, yet he always felt that something was missing.
As he thought about it, a thought suddenly came to him for some reason.
What if he invited Seele to move in?
It seemed... not impossible?
Once he decided, he acted.
He had even gotten several clean blankets and a soft pillow for the occasion.
Those things were absolute luxuries in the Lower District, and he had gone to considerable effort to obtain them from others.
This was not some sudden attack of saintly compassion.
He admitted that he had a little selfish motive.
After living alone for so long, even the most rational person would want some company.
And Seele was one of the few people his age he could talk to after arriving in this world, as well as someone willing to get close to him.
He began tidying up the shelter, placing the luxurious blankets and pillow in obvious spots.
Imagining Seele's expression when she saw them, the corners of his mouth could not help curling upward.
Seele had not been doing well lately.
She had grown quieter, and her gaze had become colder.
As she fought over increasingly scarce food, the wounds on her body grew more numerous, yet she seemed unable to feel pain.
She was like a small wild beast, struggling to survive in the cracks.
Gradually, she began to miss the order that had once existed in the Lower District.
She no longer wanted to see people beating each other bloody over a piece of bread, nor did she want to endure that constant fear that monsters might rush into town at any moment.
But she was only a child. What could she do?
That day.
Seele got caught up in another fight.
Several drifters were fighting over a pile of scrap metal, fists and clubs flying everywhere.
Seele had merely been passing by, but one of the drifters tried to steal the food hidden on her. She retaliated without hesitation!
She was nimble and ruthless. Before long, the drifter was clutching his stomach on the ground.
But the food on Seele's person had been exposed.
In an instant, the other drifters who had been driven mad by hunger, along with even some residents who usually seemed honest, had reddened eyes. They surrounded her, their gazes filled with nothing but desire for food.
"Brat! Hand that stuff over!"
"What? You won't? Can a kid like you even finish that much food? Be good!"
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
Seele faced off against five or six adults more than a decade older than her.
Although Seele was very good at fighting, she had no chance against such a difference in numbers and size.
Just then, two figures approached.
"Enough."
A white-haired middle-aged man stopped them.
A tall, expressionless man stood beside him.
The people surrounding Seele hesitated, but hunger left them little room for caution. Someone charged straight at them!
Oleg's eyes turned cold.
He made no unnecessary movements. With a single punch, he smashed his fist into the face of the drifter rushing at him first.
"Ah!"
The drifter screamed. Blood sprayed from his nose as his body flew backward like a rag doll and crashed heavily to the ground.
Immediately afterward, the man beside Oleg moved as well. He grabbed two more drifters who had rushed forward, lifted them like chicks, and slammed them viciously into the ground.
"Ugh! Ah!"
The two groaned at the same time and could not get back up for a long while.
The remaining drifters and residents stopped in fright, staring uncertainly at Oleg and his companion.
Only then did they realize that this man and the person he had brought were far from ordinary fighters.
Oleg ignored them and turned to Seele.
He saw that although she was dressed in rags and covered in injuries, her gaze remained sharp, without the slightest sign of retreat.
"Are you all right, child... Wait, you're Seele?"
Oleg looked surprised after getting a clear look at her.
Seele did not answer. She merely watched him warily.
Oleg did not force the matter. He turned around and swept his gaze over the frightened drifters and residents.
"Is this really how you want to spend the rest of your lives?"
Oleg asked, disappointment in his eyes.
"Like beasts, tearing at each other over scraps? Is this all the Lower District amounts to?!"
His words pierced their hearts like awls.
They lowered their heads and said nothing.
"The Silvermane Guards are gone, and the Upper District has abandoned us!"
Oleg's voice suddenly rose like a thunderclap. "But we can't just sit here and wait to die!"
He began loudly telling the gathered crowd about his plan.
"We have formed a team, a team that belongs to the Lower District itself!"
"Listen up, everyone. We're Wildfire! We will maintain order, resist the Riftworld Monsters, and make sure the Lower District is no longer the dumping ground abandoned by the Upper District!"
Oleg's gaze swept across every person present, his voice ringing out.
"Join us! Together with us, burn like flames beneath the earth and light up the darkness! We rely on no one but ourselves!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the man beside Oleg pulled out a stack of crudely printed papers from his coat and began handing them out to the people around them.
They were Wildfire flyers, bearing their recruitment slogans and the location of their base.
Although no one knew whether the drifters and townspeople had truly taken the words to heart.
Oleg's speech was like a flame, genuinely igniting the long-suppressed desire for resistance deep within Seele's heart.
She had always wanted to change the Lower District.
And this man seemed to have shown her a path.
Afterward, Oleg walked over to Seele.
Before you continue