The Past

Shantytown.

Located on the southern side of the Black Cave Settlement, one could see murky, stagnant water after walking just a few steps along the potholed streets. As Liao Ji passed by, he could smell a stench reminiscent of socks that had been worn for several weeks, yet judging by the expressions of the people here, they seemed long accustomed to it.

The trash cans by the roadside looked as if they had been overflowing for days, with flies and mosquitoes buzzing incessantly above them. Irin told Liao Ji that a vehicle usually came to collect the trash only once every half month. This was only because an epidemic had broken out in the Shantytown a few years ago; to avoid a similar situation, the cycle had been shortened. Otherwise, one might not see a garbage truck even once a month.

However, even in a poor district, there were levels to one's dwelling. What one saw most, naturally, were the shacks squeezed tightly together. A few wooden poles topped with a tattered cloth—as Liao Ji passed by, he could see through the gaps in the door curtains that the space inside was only a few square meters, yet it could cram in a family of three, or even more.

Those slightly better off could afford earthen structures. From the outside, they looked like mud bricks; though still crude, they were definitely much better than shacks when it came to shielding one from the wind and rain.

As for the last type, which could be considered the most "luxurious" residence in this poor district, they were small, low-rise buildings that could barely be called "apartments." Each building was about three or four stories high, but every floor housed no fewer than double-digit residents.

The wall plaster and paint on the exterior of the apartment had long since peeled away, and the ladder used to climb the floors outside was covered in rust. It creaked and groaned the moment someone stepped on it, making Liao Ji very worried that it might collapse and fall at any moment.

Fortunately, Irin's home was not high up, just on the second floor. For some reason, watching Irin actually fishing out a key to open the door with its old-fashioned lock, Liao Ji even felt that the girl lived a bit too well.

One could only say that the saying "happiness is relative" was truly spot on.

Click.

Accompanied by the sound of the key turning, Irin opened the door for Liao Ji with a look of reluctance. This was the first time she had brought a man home from the outside; although it was forced by the situation, it still felt... strange.

"Pardon the intrusion."

On the other side, although the girl had said beforehand that there was no one home, Liao Ji still offered a symbolic greeting before stepping inside.

In Liao Ji's imagination, a Scavenger's home should be the kind piled high with clutter, dirty and messy, without even a place to set one's feet. He had even prepared himself for all sorts of strange odors in the room.

But the reality before his eyes could not be called different; it was, in fact, the exact opposite.

"Um... do I need to change into slippers?" Liao Ji didn't dare move further the moment he entered. He looked at the clean, tidy floor and the two pairs of slippers neatly placed at the entrance.

Even though the slippers looked very old, they were... slippers! Liao Ji felt that in this poor district, the mere act of changing shoes upon entering a house was enough to be astonishing and completely out of place here.

"Do whatever you want, my mom isn't here anyway." The girl had walked across without changing her shoes. Combined with Irin's words, it was clear that this good habit was a rule set by Irin's mother.

After changing into the slippers, Liao Ji took a preliminary look around the house. Irin's home felt like it was about thirty or forty square meters, but despite the small space, it gave one the feeling that it had everything one could need.

The most intuitive manifestation of this was that in this tiny space, there were actually two bedrooms and a living room! This was clearly not the original design of the unit; many partitions had been added later. It was not hard to see that the owner of this home did not despise this place, but rather thought about how to make it better through careful design.

"The place is small, just stay in the living room. I'm going inside to change my clothes and see if I can find something for you."

After the girl greeted Liao Ji, she walked toward the inner room, but soon, Irin poked her head back out.

"Don't you dare do anything weird!"

Liao Ji shrugged speechlessly: "Do I look like that kind of person to you?"

"Yes!"

While the girl began to busy herself with clothes in the inner room, Liao Ji, having nothing better to do, began to examine his surroundings.

The frayed sofa, the worn-out table and chairs, the faded tablecloth, the old lightbulb swaying overhead, and the kitchen faucet that dripped intermittently—many of the furnishings looked like they couldn't even be described as second-hand. In Liao Ji's view, they were the kind that even a scavenger on Blue Star would turn their nose up at. All of this was enough to show that Irin's family situation was indeed worrying.

But on the other hand, starting from the slippers at the entrance to the way Liao Ji's fingers brushed over these old, broken pieces of furniture, there wasn't much dust. And the trash bags neatly tied up with string by the door stood in stark contrast to the filth and chaos of this slum district. At the very least, this was a manifestation of an optimistic attitude toward life.

Finally, Liao Ji's gaze moved to the wall in the corner of the living room.

Many certificates of merit were posted there.

[Learning Progress Award], [Third Place in Black Cave Mathematics Competition], [Excellent Character Award], [Star of Creation], [Outstanding Novice Nun], [Passed Elementary Mechanics Assessment], [Civilization Model Award].

The owner of these awards was naturally a certain girl—no, judging by the dates on the certificates, it should have been Irin during her childhood.

This truly made Liao Ji look at her with new eyes and changed his opinion of Irin quite a bit. After all, one had to know that this was not a time of peace; unlike the watered-down certificates on Blue Star, these were the real deal. Judging by the issuing institutions, there were schools under The Church as well as training organizations from abroad.

It was evident that Irin had received an extremely good education when she was young, but...

Liao Ji noted the date of the last certificate and compared it to the calendar in the room; a full six years had passed. If calculated by Blue Star's standards, Irin would have just been graduating from elementary school back then. It felt as if everything had come to an abrupt halt.

The act of posting certificates on a wall was something only a parent would do—a parent who felt proud of their child and held high expectations for them.

Liao Ji turned his gaze to the photo next to the wall of certificates, the most prominent one that caught his attention.

Was that... a family portrait?

In this precious photo, Liao Ji saw a young Irin. She had a baby face, chubby and fair, with happy little dimples on both sides of her cheeks as she faced the camera. She was very cute.

A lady with long, coffee-colored hair was holding the hand of the little girl in the photo from the right; clearly, this was Irin's mother.

The woman wasn't wearing high-end clothing, nor could any beautiful jewelry be seen. Her upper body was just an old-fashioned linen shirt. Even so simple and plain, if Liao Ji were to say so, she would absolutely blow many female celebrities on Blue Star out of the water.

Especially that mature charm of a wife, combined with her beautiful features and graceful figure—Liao Ji felt that for Irin to have the foundation she had today, the excellent genetic inheritance from this lady must have played an indispensable role.

The only thing that left Liao Ji feeling somewhat indescribable was...

So, does every wife like to tie her hair into a side ponytail and drape it over one shoulder? It does look a bit more gentle and virtuous, but...

Ma'am, your hairstyle is truly dangerous!

Liao Ji felt he might have found the reason for Irin's mother's serious illness.

Finally.

He moved his gaze to the left side of the little girl. Logically speaking, this should have been Irin's father, but strangely... starting from this side, the photo looked as if someone had forcefully and violently torn off a large piece.

Come to think of it...

Ever since he had come into contact with the girl, Irin had mentioned her "mother" many times, yet she had never once mentioned a "father" in his presence; even the slippers by the entryway were only two pairs.

So.

"He's dead." The girl's voice came from behind Liao Ji; Irin had finished changing and come out at some point.

She glanced at the family portrait on the wall that Liao Ji was looking at, and the girl said in a flat tone:

"The cause of death was the backlash of the Corrupt Calamity within his body. On the second day after becoming a Corrupted, he went berserk, lost control, and was finally gunned down by everyone after turning into an ugly monster."

"And the night before, this man was still excitedly painting a picture of a beautiful future for his worried wife and daughter, saying that he would soon be able to earn big money with his abilities as a Corrupted, then take them away from this chaotic settlement to live in a big city full of hope."

"Heh, ironic, isn't it? Just to pursue that pathetic bit of power, he abandoned his wife and daughter, abandoned his own life. He kept saying he wanted to protect us, to give us everything, but in reality, he didn't know what we truly wanted at all."

The girl shifted her gaze away from the "family portrait," but it was clear from her clenched fists that Irin's heart was far from as calm as she appeared.

"...Sorry." That seemed to be all Liao Ji could say.

He now understood why Irin had such a strong aversion to the word "Corrupted" back in the secret room, and he also understood why the little girl who was a model student in the awards on the wall had eventually ended up on the path of a Scavenger.

"So, the Kobold clay figurine back then was..." Liao Ji hadn't forgotten the cause of the gang's annihilation. If this followed the current worldview, a Corrupt Calamity item should definitely not be something an ordinary person could obtain.

Irin didn't try to hide it, nodding and speaking bluntly:

"That's right, it was a Corrupt Calamity item he accidentally found on the black market. He became a Corrupted precisely because he absorbed the Corrupt Calamity from it. It was also the only legacy he left us. I had always kept that clay figurine with me; I never expected that one day, I would actually end up using it."

Shaking her head with a self-deprecating smile, Irin quickly took the initiative to change the subject.

"Alright, old antique, those are things from six years ago. For me, they are in the past, and I haven't been a little girl who needs comforting for a long time. The reason I'm still telling you this is because... here, your clothes."

Irin handed Liao Ji the worker's uniform she had been holding in her arms, which looked like it hadn't been worn in years and was full of wrinkles.

"I don't have any men in my house. The only clothes I have for you to wear are my dad's old ones. If you think it's bad luck, there's nothing I can do about it, just bear with it."

Speaking of which.

Actually, Liao Ji had wanted to say this the moment he turned around and saw Irin after she had changed.

"You call this a change of clothes?"

"A ragged coat, torn leather pants, and... muddy boots. Aside from looking freshly washed and a bit cleaner than before, what difference is there from your previous outfit? This still makes it obvious to anyone at a glance that you're a Scavenger! Besides, you could at least put on some makeup, right?"

Liao Ji wore a look of exasperated criticism.

As for Irin, she felt a bit annoyed; she had spent a long time in the back room thinking she was dressing up, only for this young man to say there was no difference!

The girl's small hands, hidden in her sleeves, tugged secretly at the hem of her faded trench coat that had been washed many times, and she said with a sense of self-abandonment:

"What else can I do! My house only has these Scavenger clothes! There's nothing else, and definitely no makeup! Hmph, I'm so sorry for being poor!!"

Ignoring the girl's sulky outburst, Liao Ji pondered for a moment before finally letting his gaze drift to the money pouch hanging at Irin's waist.

If he remembered correctly, this was what the girl had swiped from the gang members while she was scavenging for candles from the Kobold's corpse.

Regarding this wealth, which was likely a significant sum, Liao Ji might have turned a blind eye before, but now...

"Miss Irin, would you like to experience... what it's like to be a young lady of high status?"

"I don't! I absolutely don't!" Irin saw through Liao Ji's intentions at once, and the girl protected the purse at her waist with her life.

Unfortunately.

"No, you do." Liao Ji used the Contract to control Irin's body, making the girl obediently place the money pouch into his hands.

"Also, I want to dress decently to meet your mother and leave a good impression. You should understand—first impressions are very important. So lead the way, Miss Irin. We're going to, um."

"We're going to the most expensive and luxurious clothing store around here."