Su Jiu had never imagined that a city as prosperous as Dawn City could have such dilapidated dwellings. These so-called houses looked as though they had been thrown together out of straw. In this small patch, the straw huts were crammed almost wall to wall, making it easy to see how many people lived here.
She glanced over the people outside the nearby houses. Almost all were the elderly, the frail, women, and children.
Questions stirred in Su Jiu's mind, but she did not know how to ask them. She only said, "This place of yours..."
The boy seemed to understand what she wanted to ask. He took over at once, suppressing the sting in his eyes. "The people living here are all from families with no one fit to work."
"As you know, Dawn City grew around the Concealment Stone Vein. Any family with a man in it sends him to mine. Mining is exhausting, but for people like us, it's the best-paying work there is."
"Once they've mined enough and earned enough spirit stones, they move into a big house. But before my family could save enough spirit stones for one, my father was bitten to death by a demon beast." At this point, the boy gave a faint, bitter smile.
"My mother fell ill from grief after my father died and never got back on her feet. The few spirit stones he earned were gradually spent on medicine for her."
Before long, the three of them reached the door of the boy's straw hut.
The moment Su Jiu entered, she heard a fit of violent coughing. The boy hurried inside first, and Su Jiu and Yun Huanling followed.
A woman who appeared to be about fifty lay on the bed, yet her bone age was clearly only