Pursuit and Blockade

Just as Heka returned to the main road and prepared to head back to the sewer entrance in the wealthy district, several familiar figures caught his eye.

They were those adult beggars.

He did not know why all the familiar child beggars and young pickpockets had vanished from the streets, but Heka recognized these adult beggars.

Unlike the child beggars, whose lives only lasted around a year, these people were elderly gang members and the family members of important gang members.

They had fixed begging spots. Besides begging, they also used their status to engage in extortion, robbery, and similar activities.

Some young pickpockets even took an adult beggar as their leader, using the latter's familiarity with the streets to monopolize the theft business in an area.

Their arrival meant the gang's attention had arrived as well.

Heka turned and slipped into a flower shop at the side, avoiding their gaze.

Fortunately, his clothes looked respectable enough that he would not be identified as a beggar at a glance. After his bath, the grime on his face had been washed away, and the adult beggars did not recognize him right away.

But if he got too close, there was always a chance of being discovered. Heka ran through the sewer entrances in this area in his mind.

He was currently at the edge of the Graytooth Gang's territory, while the gang's strongest control lay within the alleys.

Unfortunately, most sewer entrances were located there. There were some on the streets as well, but they were covered by heavy manhole covers.

Heka had already looked around. Gang members were guarding every sewer exit.

Could he leave the Graytooth Gang's territory, then?

"What would you like to buy, little customer?"

The flower shop looked rather spacious from outside, but its interior was crammed with shelves reaching the ceiling. Pots of plants covered the floor as well, leaving barely anywhere to step.

Heka hurried forward and hid beneath the counter, then took out a copper coin and placed it on the countertop.

Behind the table that divided the tiny shop in two stood a slightly thin woman.

Her gray apron was dotted with colorful petals, while several abstract, more stylized than lifelike kittens were embroidered on her bright yellow sleeve covers.

"I... I only have this much money. I want to buy my mother a birthday gift."

The woman leaned over the counter. Only then could she see the little customer in front of her, with only his forehead exposed.

"What a good child. Would pansies do?

"Actually, daisies and elderflowers would both be suitable for a mother, but neither is available this season."

The shop owner smiled. She clearly liked this child, who carried a faint scent of soap.

She had just seen his hands. His nails were neatly trimmed, and there was no dirt beneath them. He must have come from a well-mannered gentleman's family.

"Thank you."

Heka stood on tiptoe to accept the flowers from her. Six pansies had been tied together with a cloth ribbon.

Pansies were originally plants that bloomed in spring.

But people who loved beauty always found a way, and cold-resistant pansies were not uncommon.

Pansies were also frequent guests in the little flower beds on the windowsills of Seapeak Port homes.

With just the right amount of shyness and excitement on his face, Heka glanced slightly out the window, then immediately pulled his cloak tighter.

Before the shop owner could give him a puzzled look, Heka offered an explanation.

"I want to surprise her. What a small world this is. Could I borrow your back door?"

Heka stuck out his tongue at the shop owner, putting on an expression that said he did not want his surprise to be discovered.

The shop owner smiled and pointed toward the little door in the back.

"It isn't locked. Just go through. Good luck."

Heka turned away, and his smile vanished.

Small shops like this usually had back doors. Many of the buildings here had shops on the ground floor and residences upstairs, with the owners living above and their businesses opened out front.

The flower shop was not deep enough, missing nearly a third of its space, and there were no stairs leading upstairs. Heka immediately concluded that the owner had sealed off the rear section.

After all, the back door opened onto an alley, where no shop could operate. It could only be a living area the owner had partitioned off with wooden boards.

He absolutely could not leave the shop directly right now. He had entered to avoid the people outside, and when he left, there was no way to completely hide his face from that angle. It was inevitable that they would notice him.

Nor could he get into a conflict with the shop owner. Buying something and then finding an excuse to leave through the back door was the best solution.

Sure enough, beyond the back door was a neatly arranged dining room. A wooden table, several chairs with backrests but no armrests, and a low cabinet by the door were all it contained.

Heka carefully opened the door leading to the back alley, then slipped outside.

He could not enter the sewer entrances on the street, but he remembered a nearby alley where a manhole cover had been stolen, leaving only two wooden planks covering the opening. Even though there were many gang lookouts here, he could only give it a try.

Leaving the Graytooth Gang's territory was also an enticing option, but the gangs outside might be looking for him as well.

Moreover, gangs stationed many lookouts along the borders between their territories. The chances of being spotted were too high. More importantly, Heka was unfamiliar with the streets outside and the sewer entrances there.

At least he knew this area of the Graytooth Gang's territory better.

Heka planned to find a lightly guarded spot and force his way in. If anyone was watching, he would deal with them.

The boy casually threw the flowers in his hand into a drainage ditch at the side, then took a hand crossbow and bolts from his backpack.

Although the hand crossbow was extremely compact—compact enough for someone like Heka, whose strength was less than a third of an adult man's, to load by hand—

it was sufficient against unarmored targets.

Heka had observed that those guarding the sewer entrances were all beggars and ordinary gang thugs. Their morale was practically nonexistent; the moment something went wrong, they would run faster than rabbits.

A single hand crossbow would be enough to deal with them.

Before reaching the intersection ahead, Heka quickly moved close to the wall on his left. After confirming from the corner of his eye that there were no gang thugs to his right, he immediately turned left.

Then, as he skirted around a pile of junk in front of him, he turned slightly and checked once more that no one was behind him.

Yet that feeling of being locked onto was still there, and it was growing stronger.