004. Rats and Cats!

"The wound on my leg wasn't serious, but I couldn't afford to delay any longer."

"I needed to find some disinfectant at the hospital and clean it up."

Merlin had entered the sewers from the outskirts of the city, while the hospital was near the right side of the city center.

The streets above were unsafe, so Merlin silently continued through the sewers.

Every so often, he would poke his head out from a sewer entrance to check his exact direction.

After spending quite some time, Merlin reached a sewer entrance near the city center at around eight in the evening.

He lifted the cover above his head and slowly poked his head out to survey the surrounding streets.

The area was now desolate. There were few people on the streets, and most of them hurried along in a state of panic.

For now, though, it had not been engulfed by artillery fire from the neighboring countries. It was nowhere near as chaotic as the outskirts of the city.

But the first signs of disorder had already appeared.

"Calm before the storm..."

For some reason, those words surfaced in his mind.

Merlin climbed out of the sewer, got his bearings, and had only taken a step when he paused and looked down at the filth covering his entire body.

"I should go home and wash up first!"

Thanks to his family's status as fallen nobility, even though they no longer held a title in this generation, their house still stood in a secluded part of the city center.

Merlin moved expertly through the streets and alleys, running toward home.

"Laplace?"

Just then, as he passed a fence behind a sprawling building, a clear, gentle voice suddenly called out.

Merlin stopped. After hesitating for two seconds, he finally looked over.

Ten meters behind the fence stood a nun in a fitted black-and-white habit, revealing only her delicate face and short, warm grapefruit-pink bangs over her forehead.

On the pale right side of her face was a scar that looked even paler.

She also suffered from Lead Platinum Disease.

Several boys and girls around ten years old stood beside her. Merlin fell silent, then slowly spoke.

"Yol... sis..."

Nun Yol's puzzled gaze settled on Merlin. Seeing the boy covered head to toe in filth, she had nearly failed to recognize him. She hurried over, her eyes filled with concern.

"Are you all right? What happened to you? Are you hurt anywhere? Hurry, come into the church. I have medical supplies here."

At that moment, several children ran over. One of them, a crew-cut boy, pinched his nose and sneered in disgust.

"Laplace, did you fall into a shit pit or something?"

Merlin's eyes narrowed. He lunged forward, grabbed the boy by the collar, then rubbed his own arm across the boy's face, smearing his filth all over him. His fingers even shoved into the boy's mouth.

The boy wailed, tears bursting from his eyes. "Laplace, you bastard! I'm gonna call my Father to beat you up!"

Merlin let go and casually shoved him away. The boy fell backward and landed hard on his butt, retching as he burst into loud sobs.

He cursed between cries.

But Merlin had no time to deal with him. Instead, he quietly looked at Yol.

"The church isn't safe. None of those foreign soldiers outside can be trusted.

"They're massacring everyone in Frevanz on the outskirts of the city. They think Lead Platinum Disease is a contagious terminal illness. You need to run for your life.

"If you stay in the church, you'll only die."

Merlin took a deep breath and stared steadily at her. Yol froze, pressed her lips together, and forced a smile.

"Haha... how could that be? I heard the refugee ships are already prepared.

"We were told to wait here at the church. Once this is over, kind soldiers will come and take us to another country to treat our Lead Platinum Disease."

Merlin stared at her without blinking. This woman, only six years older than him, had always taken good care of him at the church.

As Merlin continued staring directly at her, the smile Yol had been forcing could no longer hold. She lowered her head, hiding her expression, and asked quietly.

"Where did you get that information?"

Merlin's tone remained calm. "I escaped back through the sewers from the outskirts of the city. I was chased by those soldiers there and killed one of them in return.

"From what they said, this country has been completely sealed off. Anyone who tries to escape will only die.

"And the people of Frevanz have begun resisting with guns. The soldiers from the neighboring countries have started massacring everyone in this nation.

"They're killing everyone, regardless of age or gender.

"I know you're strong, Yol, but you can't beat them when they have guns."

As Merlin finished speaking, her body trembled slightly. Yol covered her mouth with a hand. A few seconds later, she looked up at Merlin, a glimmer of light in her eyes.

"Will you run away with us? I'm super strong—I can protect you."

Silence!

Merlin lowered his eyes and said softly, "There are too many people here, and the target is too large. Yol, you can't protect everyone.

Only by splitting up and disguising ourselves as corpses can we possibly cross this country's border and have a chance of surviving."

Yol's eyes lit up as she looked at Merlin expectantly. She reached out, habitually moving to touch his head, but Merlin took a step back and avoided her hand. He spoke to her softly, "I'm dirty, Yol. You have to survive. This country will never see salvation. The unknown gods have abandoned this place. We can only save ourselves."

Yol's outstretched hand froze. A trace of bitterness surfaced in her eyes, then she nodded heavily, a brilliant smile appearing on her face.

"Don't worry, Laplace. I'll definitely keep the children alive. We'll meet at Kastra, the port town in the Kingdom of Fultons beyond the border.

"I'll leave cross marks in certain places. You must come find us."

Merlin slowly backed away, staring fixedly at her as he said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, Yol. I'm too weak. I can't help you."

With that, he turned and ran swiftly into the distance.

Yol clasped her hands before her chest in prayer, staring at Merlin's receding figure as she murmured, "I won't blame you, Laplace. You have to survive. Even if you're the only one who makes it out alive..."

Only after Merlin disappeared around a corner did Yol take a deep breath. Her expression turned grave as she looked at the children behind her.

"Go call Gillard and the others over. I have something to say."

In a remote district, an old courtyard stood out from the surrounding buildings, with a two-story house at its center.

Merlin's frantic footsteps gradually slowed. He caught his breath, took out a key from his pocket, unlocked the iron gate, and stepped inside.

He locked the gate from within.

This was his home.

Crossing the small courtyard, Merlin entered the bathroom on the first floor. He took off his clothes and turned on the shower, clear water pouring down in a rush.

He scrubbed the filth from his body fiercely with soap. Icy water streamed from his head to his feet. Merlin closed his eyes, the muscles at the sides of his jaw twitching slightly as a murmur squeezed from his throat.

"I'm sorry... Yol..."

Merlin did not have many friends in this city. Rather, he barely had any at all.

Aside from Yol, only Trafalgar Doctor's family could be considered acquaintances.

After all, ever since he was little, he had often gone to the hospital or their home.

As for his colleagues at the newspaper office, they were merely familiar strangers.

The grime on his body washed away with the water. Merlin looked at the three-centimeter wound on the side of his left thigh. It was not deep, but blood continued to seep from it.

Gritting his teeth, he used his fingers to dig out and wash away the dirt inside the wound.

A moment later, although the stench that clung to him could not be fully washed away, he was at least clean now.

He put away the dagger and pocket watch he had washed along with himself.

After cleaning up, Merlin returned to his room on the second floor. He took out a bottle of high-proof liquor and used it to rinse the wound, then wrapped it tightly with medical bandages.

Gritting his teeth, he finished the crude treatment.

He took a sip of liquor to dull the pain.

Merlin changed into a brown-black set of casual clothes suitable for movement, then took a gray-black backpack from the clothes rack.

He pulled out all the drawers at the bottom of the wardrobe, reached into a recess at the side beneath it, and took out the ten gold bars and three million Beli hidden inside.

He packed all the savings he had accumulated over the years into the backpack's inner compartment.

Then he packed several changes of clothes as well.

Once everything was ready, Merlin put on a pair of deerskin ankle boots and calmly surveyed his home.

Before long, the sounds of bottles shattering echoed throughout the house. Amid a burst of flame, Merlin left his home.

Gripping his dagger, his eyes cold, Merlin did not look back, yet he could still feel the heat waves from the flames behind him.

"My home is gone. I'll remember this hatred too. As long as I don't die..."

Before long, he slipped into a deep, secluded alley.