"You know this place?" Li You walked over to Xiao Yi and stood beside him at the moonlight-soaked window, looking outside.
The dilapidated street reminded him of where his dream had begun: Gray Soil Town.
It seemed the poor lived in the same kind of place everywhere.
Xiao Yi stared into space. "This slum... is my home."
Bai Ye looked startled. "What a coincidence. We came straight to your home?"
A flicker of suspicion crossed his eyes. He scanned their surroundings, inexplicably feeling that Painter had set them up.
Mostly, it was because Painter had set him up so often that whenever a coincidence occurred, he instinctively suspected Painter.
In fact, he wasn't the only one. In North Mang, Painter was also the first person many powerful figures thought of whenever they encountered a coincidence.
Prejudice was a mountain in people's hearts, and that mountain was named Painter.
It was like having a student in your class who often stole from his classmates. Even if he later turned over a new leaf, he would still be the first person you suspected whenever something went missing.
Xiao Yi shook his head. "It's not really a coincidence. The Steel Brotherhood's outskirts are all slums. Coming in from outside, you have to pass through them. The Inner City is the real heart of it."
He kept watching the ruined street outside, his thoughts drifting.
"When I was little, the Inner City was the place I wanted to go most. I thought that once I got there, I wouldn't be a beggar anymore. Everyone there had enough to eat, and no one would bully me.
But beggars could never reach the Inner City. The Inner City... was a place only important people could go."
His voice was soft, like a thin layer of snow