“Of course way more bustling than this boring mine! It’s got great food and places, more people and fun. It’s better to live on the streets than this dark jailhouse.”

“What kind of food?” My mouth started to water, “Like meat?”

“Yep, all kinds of meat and candy. There are streets of good food day and night.”

After hearing this, I wanted to escape the Underground so badly, but how in the world could I fly over those boundary mountains? The mountains were tall enough to pierce through the sky.

“If there are great cultivators out there, why don’t the king just ask them to use magic to collect the coins? It would be so much easier.”

Rene giggled for the first time.

“I don’t want to say this, but sometimes you really lack a brain. Why the hell would a super master want to waste his energy to do something so boringly low? It’s like asking the king to sweep the streets. Such a low task can only be done by the lowlife.”

That actually sounded very reasonable, but at the same time, the whole slavery system was nothing but a way to control its citizens. I was hesitant to ask Rene, not sure if he actually knew anything about this.

“Have you heard of the winged Aniesians?” I finally asked.

Rene was confused, “What do you mean?”

I quieted down my voice, and got closer to his ear. “Like people with wings!”

He slowly widened his eyes, but then burst into laughter.

“You look older, but why do you talk so much nonsense! What’s so mysterious about Aniesians? Of course I know them, I have even seen one back in the old days!”

What!?

How come he looked so happy about the cruel Aniesians!?

“Where can I find them!” I was serious all of a sudden.

Rene was even more confused. “Are you from out of space? I have never seen someone so weird like you. You don’t even know what Aniesians are?”

After seeing that I indeed had no clue, he finally explained.

“Everyone knows what an Aniesian is. Once a demon gains his first pair of wings, then he would be considered an Aniesian. So if you are looking for Aniesians, they are basically everywhere on this continent.”

“But they took people’s holy pearls. They are murderers.” I bit my lips.

Rene was astonished. “What!?”

There was dead silence for a brief moment.

“My village. Those Aniesians killed so many villagers including my family, just to get the holy pearls. I must find out who they are.”

Rene thought for a second, “I have never heard of anything like that. How did you manage to escape?”

My mouth went sour, all due to those heart breaking memories.

“I ran……” I uttered lightly.

Yes, I ran away like a coward, trusting that Grandpa Jin could handle the whole situation by himself. If it wasn’t for Grandpa Jin, I would be long dead.

He chuckled, “You are slower than a turtle, I don’t believe it.”

I didn’t reply.

He might have realized my sudden change of emotions, immediately started to stretch and yawn.

“I am getting a bit sleepy.”

I didn’t lay down, but sat in a corner to put my head on my knees, wondering where the future was heading. The night was getting a bit chill, just like the inside of me right now. Rene shrunk a little bit, and seemed uncomfortable. The ground was relatively cold, and we didn’t even have a blanket. Even if the blanket was made of demon skin, I wouldn’t mind it at all.

I took off the outer layer of my clothes, and laid it on top of him.

He stared into my eyes, those brown eyes sparkled like the stars in the night sky.

He seemed thankful, but of course too proud to say it out loud, “Hey, what is your name?”

“It’s LiNa, if you want, you can call me Nana big sis.”

Rene swore childishly, “I don’t want a big sister, especially not a slow turtle like you.”

I tugged the corner of the clothes to keep that brat warm, and watched him fall asleep.

Days went by peacefully.

It wasn’t that bad at all once I adapted to life in the Underground. Yes, it was unfair to work as a slave, but so were the others. I wasn’t the only one here to deal with this unjust slavery system, therefore complaining wasn’t going to help anything. Not to mention that those steam buns were quite filling compared to sweet potatoes. There wasn’t much to think about either, mostly labor and food.

Rene got a lot better. Most of his wounds healed up quite nicely. I was always amazed at how quickly demons recover from injuries. Losing a limb without any antibiotics and surgeries was just a piece of cake, in which a human could easily die from infections and complications.

I better try to keep myself safe and sound, as my human body was too weak to handle any severe injuries. Of course, that was not something I could control, but something I hoped for.

Although Rene was a little brat, I was grateful to have someone to quarrel with in this cold place, so it wasn’t too quiet.

There were fireflies flying around close by, and landed on the walls of the boulders. They glowed in green fluorescence, and lit up the small space with a warm welcome. The moon was so clear tonight and made the surroundings extra visible.

I got close to one of the fireflies, and put my hand next to it. I waited so patiently that it decided to crawl onto my forefinger.

“Only kids play with fireflies,” Rene grumbled with a pale face.

“It’s fun, why don’t you try it!”

I handed the firefly right in front of his nose, and he screamed like a ghost.

“Get it away! Get it away!”

He tried to run off, as if he could really do that. I couldn’t help but giggled at his frantic hands and scared puppy eyes. Now he really was just a kid.

“You spent years living on the streets and now the Underground, how can you be scared of a tiny firefly?”

“Get that thing away! Hurry up!”

I finally decided not to tease that poor soul anymore, and pulled back my hand to lightly blow the firefly off my finger.

“It looks so pretty, don’t you think?” I smiled.

“Damn! All bugs are gross! If you do that again, I will surely knock your head off!”

“Oh, wait until you recover before saying those words.”

His frantic reactions to bugs really made me think the real reason he had joined the gang was to sleep in those nice clean tents.

“What are you laughing at!” Rene was curious about my expressions.

“Nothing.” I grabbed the paper wrapped bag and threw it in his hands.

Rene looked down, and unwrapped the paper. They were two steamed buns, still warm.

So warm………

His eyes glittered, as if thinking deeply about something. Perhaps he was so impressed that I was able to keep my promise as of today.

I found a comfortable position, and got the pocket knife out and started to smooth the bumpy areas on a wooden stick. This was Rene’s pocket knife, and it was quite sharp. He stared at the bread in his hands, and then stared at the wooden stick I was working on, and was silent for quite some time.

I was lucky to find this wooden stick. It was the right height for Rene, at least he could give it a try when ready. He couldn’t just lie on the ground for the rest of his life.

“Why are you not eating?” I asked curiously.

Rene hadn’t touched his food yet, which was rare. Usually he would devour the food when it reached his hands.

His voice was faint like air.

“Nobody had ever been this good to me, not even my parents. They abandoned me when I was little, I couldn’t even remember their faces. Anybody who was close to me had a purpose, those kids on the street made friends because they wanted to steal my last coin. When I came to the Underground, I knew right in the beginning that it was all about usage. Once a person lost the ability to provide service to the gang, he was nothing but trash.”

Rene was down.

I tried to cheer him up. “So how many demons are in the gang?”

“At least two hundred.”

“And how many slaves?”

“I don’t know, there are too many to count, maybe thousands.”

I smiled. “So why don’t more slaves join the gang?”

Rene thought for a second. “They are too weak.”

I shook my head.

“Yes, it might be true that most of the slaves are weaker because of the abuse and lack of food, but with the right amount of food, they would soon rebuild their strength and definitely be stronger than a little kid. How come a kid can join the gang, but not a healthy adult demon. There are possibly two reasons. First is that Headman Daoba and his keen followers must be super strong that it doesn’t matter what the rest of the group members are, they are able to resolve any conflicts. I still want to believe the second reason though.”