One Winter City Shield

Chu Mu did not even look up at Sampo's words, merely saying flatly:

"Even jokes have their limits. If the Silvermane Guards heard that and decided to take you seriously, you'd be lucky to get away with your skin intact. If you want to get yourself killed, don't get your blood on me."

Sampo immediately nodded like a bobblehead.

"You're right, boss. I get it, I get it. How could I go blabbing about something like that? Sampo guarantees he'll keep it secret! Take care, boss, and remember to come again! Old Sampo always welcomes your distinguished presence!"

But Chu Mu simply stared at him in silence.

"Boss, why... why are you looking at me like that?"

Being silently stared at by a child left Sampo feeling uncomfortable all over.

"You." Chu Mu pointed behind Sampo. "You haven't given my woven sack back."

"Aren't those things lying around everywhere at the mines?" Sampo's eyes widened, as though this was the first time he had ever heard such a request.

"But I need it." Chu Mu's tone left no room for refusal.

After all, he had no intention of returning to the mines. If the foreman spotted him, retaliation was inevitable.

Once he had his woven sack back, Chu Mu was about to leave when Sampo called him back.

"Boss, are you from the Orphanage in Rivet Town?"

"No." Chu Mu's expression remained blank, but inwardly, he grew wary.

"I'll just assume you are. Something of middling importance happened in the Upper District recently. Our newly appointed Supreme Guardian, Lady Cocolia Landau, apparently wants to adopt an orphan from the Underworld and raise them as the next Supreme Guardian." Sampo shook his head with a smile and added mockingly, "They've been arguing themselves hoarse over it at the high-level meetings, yet the Underworld hasn't heard a thing."

"Nothing to do with me." Chu Mu betrayed nothing on his face. He was not sure why Sampo was telling him all this, either.

This man's origins were suspicious!

Sampo gave him a mysterious smile.

"The higher-ups are still arguing, but once the Supreme Guardian has made her decision, those old men will probably have a hard time changing her mind. We'll have an answer in a month at most. The Orphanage in Rivet Town will produce the next Supreme Guardian! Hahaha, the first Supreme Guardian born in the Underworld!"

"Why are you telling me this?" Chu Mu stopped concealing his suspicions and asked outright.

"I told you, I see the potential for greatness in you." Sampo pointed at Chu Mu and said earnestly, "After all, if you become the Supreme Guardian, perhaps I could become your court jester, there to amuse and entertain you."

"What kind of worthless ruler would do that?" Chu Mu said disdainfully.

"Haha, if you knew what the current Supreme Guardian was planning, you'd think a worthless ruler wasn't so bad," Sampo said mockingly.

"Adopting an orphan from the Underworld-isn't that a good thing? At least it breaks down the divide between the upper and lower districts." Chu Mu was puzzled.

"If you think it's a good thing, then sure." Sampo shook his head. "Anyway, I've given you the warning you needed. You have to seize this chance and become the Underworld's one lucky soul if you want even a sliver of hope of surviving. You don't want to spend your whole life picking through garbage, do you?"

Sensing a storm brewing in Sampo's words, Chu Mu asked:

"Something big is coming?"

"The earlier information was a friendly freebie, but this piece of intelligence isn't free." Sampo put on the air of an information broker. "This information is worth at least nine hundred million Winter City Shields."

"Why don't you rob Kliperburg?" Chu Mu scoffed. Unwilling to waste any more words on this cryptic weirdo, he walked away.

Sampo remained where he stood, deep in thought.

"Kliperburg, the Supreme Guardian's residence... How did he know I wanted to rob it?

"When Supreme Guardian Cocolia visits the Orphanage in the Underworld, Kliperburg's defenses will be stretched thin.

"My boss really has a sharp eye. He saw through my plans at a glance!"

After leaving the Great Dump, Chu Mu did not return to the Orphanage right away. Instead, he wandered around neighboring Boulder Town.

Compared with prosperous Rivet Town, Boulder Town was much larger, yet far more crowded!

It was packed with miners and their families, bustling with everyday life, with a much wider variety of food, drink, and entertainment.

Chu Mu sniffed, catching the aroma drifting from a food stall, and his stomach growled with hunger.

He had only eaten breakfast that day and had gone out looking for work at noon. Even if he returned to the Orphanage now, he would definitely miss dinner. If he did not eat something now, he would have to go hungry all night and wait until tomorrow morning for food!

Children his age were especially vulnerable to hunger, and Chu Mu knew that feeling all too well.

He felt the few Winter City Shields in his pocket and unconsciously walked up to the food stall. Swallowing, he asked:

"What's the cheapest thing you sell, and how much is it?"

"The cheapest? I've got mixed vegetable soup that comes free with a set meal. If you want it on its own, I'll give you a big bowl for one Winter City Shield!" The stall owner pointed to the soup barrel beside him.

Chu Mu took a look. The soup was so thin he could practically use it as a mirror. But what else could one Winter City Shield buy?

The Underworld produced no food; all its daily necessities had to come from the Upper District. The Geomarrow everyone worked so hard to mine could only be sold cheaply to those above, then exchanged for food at steep prices, keeping the cost of living here relentlessly high!

A full day's work bought only three meals. That was normal for the Underworld's residents: they earned the least money for the hardest, most exhausting labor. The harsh conditions constantly bred one human tragedy after another. Perhaps even at that very moment, a miner lay in a sickbed, being tortured to death by illness.

Miner's disease cut their average lifespan short. Few lived peacefully to old age, which was also why the Underworld had so many orphans.

The bowl of mixed vegetable soup before him cost only one Winter City Shield. Yet to earn that single Winter City Shield, Chu Mu had to spend an hour digging through the snow, risking frostbite severe enough to cost him his fingers!

After some thought, Chu Mu shook his head regretfully and turned away.

He knew his own body. Missing a meal or two would not kill him.

Besides, what good would it do even if he ate his fill at every meal? The next time his illness flared up, he might die anyway.

Pressing a hand against his stomach, Chu Mu kept finding reasons to justify his decision, trying to stave off his hunger that way.

As he passed a small toy stall, he stopped.

He had spotted a Snow Globe.

He picked up the Snow Globe. Inside, a great white bird he could not name soared through the sky, hunting a rabbit on the ground.

Unfortunately, the circuitry inside had long since broken, leaving it unable to create falling snow or play music. It was probably a piece of junk scavenged from the Great Dump.

"How much?" Chu Mu asked.

"One hundred Winter City Shields," the seller replied with a grin.

"I'll give you one Winter City Shield at most. That's a fair price," Chu Mu said flatly, naming his offer.

"Hey, kid, that's some brutal haggling! You knocked off two whole zeroes!" The stall owner frowned. "This is a treasure from the pre-war era. A hundred Winter City Shields is already a huge bargain. Do you know anything about this stuff?"

"Not everything from the pre-war era is a treasure. Most of it is just garbage left over from before the war." Chu Mu looked up at the stall owner. "I know the prices of scrap from the Great Dump almost as well as you do."

"Heh, you know quite a bit for a kid." The stall owner chuckled. "Fine, fine. Take it for one Winter City Shield. I'm about to pack up anyway, and I don't want to carry it back again. We'll go with your price. I'll consider it making a new friend!"

Chu Mu paid and carefully wrapped the Snow Globe in his woven sack.

I'll take it back for Xiao Bu.