The Hailan Siblings

Bilgewater and Zaun are very similar, except the nighttime lights are much brighter. 69🅂🄷🅄🅇.🄲🄾🄼

Be careful when walking here, because the path is full of potholes and uneven stones. If you fall, you're bound to get a bruised and battered face.

Although the people here are lively, conflicts are rare. They prefer doing business and exchanging all sorts of new items.

Of course, this is just the surface; judging from the cunning look in many people's eyes, they are definitely brewing some kind of conspiracy.

"Grab him! Don't let him get away!"

We were strolling around when suddenly someone shouted loudly that several people were chasing a child not far away.

Out of curiosity, Riven and I quietly followed them.

The crowd was very dense, but the small child was agile and quickly left the adults behind him.

He ran wildly until he reached a dilapidated iron chain bridge. Despite the bottomless dark abyss below, the child mustered his courage and shakily ran across.

On the other side of the suspension bridge lies another world, an even more dilapidated slum than the city center we just passed. Many people who could no longer make a living jump off the suspension bridge, a truly shocking sight.

The child ran back to his place, and only when he turned around to close the door did he realize that Riven and I had followed him. He hurriedly ran inside and locked the door.

This place is less like a house and more like a box, about two meters long, wide, and high, resembling the packaging box for some item.

"Brother, are bad guys coming to get us?" a little girl's voice came from inside.

"Shh..."

"Open the door. We're not bad people, otherwise your house wouldn't be able to stop me."

The boy hesitated for a moment, then opened the door. He didn't welcome us; instead, he rushed out wielding a sharp weapon.

I grabbed his hand, snatched the broken steel pipe from him, and threw it on the ground. At that moment, the little girl ran out, knelt at my feet, and begged for mercy.

"Please don't hurt my brother, please..."

"Get up, child. I told you we're not bad people. We've just arrived on this island and don't know anything yet."

The little girl was happy to hear what I said, but then she suddenly started coughing violently. The boy quickly went back into the house to get the medicine and gave it to her.

Unlike the brightly lit city center, the slums are pitch black everywhere. Fortunately, the weather was nice today, and the twinkling stars prevented us from seeing nothing at all.

"Did you just steal this medicine?"

"Yes, my sister has been coughing for several days, and she also has a slight fever today, so she can't continue."

"Medicine shouldn't be taken indiscriminately. Is there a doctor nearby? Let's take her to see a doctor."

"It's okay, I saw that person selling this kind of cough medicine to others during the day."

"Cough cough..."

As soon as the boy finished speaking, the girl coughed even more violently, which panicked him. I quickly asked him to give directions to the nearby clinic.

The clinics in the slums are very deserted. Few people come to see a doctor, partly because they don't have the money, and partly because even if they do, they are unwilling to spend it in such places, preferring to save it for their loved ones.

When we arrived, the doctor was about to close the door. The boy hurriedly jumped off the motorcycle and went to ask for help. The doctor was about to drive him away when he saw me and Riven riding a vehicle he had never seen before. He knew we were not ordinary people, so he let us pass.

He examined the girl and found that she had an infection caused by dampness and bacteria invading her lungs, requiring special medication.

Seeing his hesitation, I figured he was worried we didn't have enough money, so I quickly pulled out a few gold coins. They weren't the local currency, but they still had some value.

Is that enough?

"Enough! Enough!"

The doctor's eyes lit up. Just as he was about to take the money, I put the gold coins back. "Treat the illness first, and you can have all of this after you're cured."

He hurriedly grabbed a few small bottles from the medicine shelf, mixed them together, and fed them to the girl. The effect was immediate; the girl stopped coughing right away.

"The cough has stopped, but the child is too weak. If we had come earlier, three doses of medicine would have been enough, but now it will probably take six."

"It doesn't matter how many times, as long as it works." I handed him the gold coins and asked him to prepare the medicine.

The boy was grateful but also seemed a little uneasy. "I can't repay that much money."

"I know, but you can repay me in other ways, like becoming our guide. Would you like that?"

"Yes! I know this place very well!" the boy said happily.

After leaving the clinic, I didn't let them go back to that broken box; the girl's condition had worsened because she stayed there.

As I rode my motorcycle toward the suspension bridge, the two children screamed in fright, then were amazed to find us suspended in mid-air.

Back at my place, I told the landlord downstairs that we could add an extra bed; our rented room was spacious enough.

The landlord remained silent, leading us to the storage room to choose what we needed. After the boy finished and went upstairs, the landlord whispered to me:

"Don't get too involved with the children in the slums."

I asked him why, but he didn't answer; he just waved for us to go up.

Back inside, I realized I hadn't asked the two children their names: "My name is Yasuo, and this older sister's name is Riven. We're explorers. What about you?"

"Wow, I want to be an explorer when I grow up!" the boy exclaimed enviously.

"Big brother asked for our names, not what you want to do, silly brother."

"Oh, hehe, my name is Yarlin Hylan, and this is my sister..."

"My name is Maki, Maki Hylan!" the little girl introduced herself before her brother could finish speaking.

Although Yarlin and Maki were very thin and their clothes were tattered, it could be inferred from the original state of their clothes and their behavior that they were two children born into a wealthy family.

Furthermore, children in slums rarely have their own surnames, yet they remember them very clearly; when I asked, I indeed received a positive answer.

The brother and sister were born in a border town on the east coast of Shurima. They moved to Bilgewater with their parents when they were young. Because of their business, they rarely saw their parents, but they lived a very comfortable life.

In Bilgewater, no matter how much wealth one possesses, it can vanish in an instant. Their parents were murdered during a business negotiation, and their entire family fortune was divided up.

This happened just six months ago when eleven-year-old Yarlin escaped from Hailan's house with his seven-year-old sister, barely surviving.

At the time, he only had some pocket money, which was not enough to survive in the main city, so the two went to the slums and struggled to survive in a place with fewer people.

Yarlin was frequently cheated when he went to work, and when he tried to reason with his boss, he only got beaten up. In the last two months, he ran out of money and had to resort to scavenging and theft to survive.

If it weren't for us, the girl's life would probably have been in danger, and there are many children like them.

An unfortunate story that reflects the current state of affairs in Bilgewater: chaos.