Ethan Dawson observed the thugs in front of him. ’How many moves would it take to finish them?’ he wondered. He had a gun, but to conserve ammunition, he planned to use his dagger. The only problem was the number of people passing by; making a move here would only bring them trouble.
’Or I could lure them into a corner.’ Quincy looked unreliable, but he wasn’t completely useless. Working together, they could probably take these guys out in under five seconds.
When Ethan Dawson didn’t answer, the man surprisingly didn’t get angry. Instead, he looked past him at Quincy.
"You two look unfamiliar. First time in the refugee camp?"
At his words, both Ethan Dawson and Quincy tensed up, their eyes flashing with killing intent.
Their faces were disguised and looked different from their usual appearance, but they hadn’t expected this man to see through them so easily and identify them as outsiders.
Ethan Dawson glanced back at Quincy. They had been together for so long that a single look was all they needed to understand each other.
"Don’t be nervous. I feel like we’re fated to meet. Why don’t you join us?"
Quincy subtly placed a hand on the pistol in his pocket, but before he could make a move, Ethan Dawson took a step forward.
"Join you? To dig up tree roots and pick leaves?"
The man roared with laughter, and his lackeys behind him cackled along. It looked like they hadn’t washed their faces or bathed in a long time. The grime on their necks was as thick as the bottom of a pot, and their clothes gave off a pungent stench, more gag-inducing than the mixed smell of smoke and stinky feet on a train.
Perhaps due to a salt deficiency, they didn’t have much hair, and the teeth in their mouths were sparse and black. If the man took one more step closer, Ethan Dawson would be hit with breath that stank like a septic tank.
"Do you know who I am? Everyone here calls me Titus. If you want to get by in this refugee camp, you can’t do it without my protection. Buddy, my brothers and I, we’re top dog here." He gave a thumbs-up, his smug grin revealing a mouth full of rotten teeth. The sight was so repulsive that Ethan Dawson had to take half a step back.
"Really? No digging up roots? Is there meat to eat?" Quincy excitedly popped out from behind Ethan, his eyes shining as he stared at the man.
The man nodded. "Of course you won’t need to dig up roots. As for meat... you’ll get your share."
Quincy and Ethan Dawson exchanged a look, and in perfect sync, they both put on greedy, wide-eyed expressions, as if they’d never known such luxury.
"So, you want to join us?"
"Yes, we have to join! Titus, my name is Terrence Dawson." Hearing Quincy’s introduction, Ethan Dawson shot a dangerous glare at the back of his head.
"And you?"
Ethan Dawson quickly replied, "My name is Zach Quincy."
"Good. You two are my brothers now. What’s in your backpacks?"
Quincy opened his pack. Inside, besides two ragged pieces of clothing, there was only a bag with about three pounds of black flour.
Thankfully, Evelyn Ford was smart and had given them some items to sell their disguise.
After inspecting it, the man curled his lip in disgust but didn’t make them hand it over. Quincy breathed a quiet sigh of relief. ’We’re pretty lucky,’ he thought, ’managing to infiltrate the enemy’s ranks.’
’I wonder how Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick are doing.’ His eyelid twitched a few times, and he couldn’t shake a feeling of unease.
「Meanwhile.」
After circling around for a while, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick decided to retrace their steps to find Quincy and Ethan. The child’s condition wasn’t good, and since they had only just arrived at the refugee camp today, there was no need to rush. But after searching the whole way back, they couldn’t find any sign of the two men. Evelyn pressed her temples.
"Don’t tell me something happened to them."
Ronan Kendrick shook his head. "Probably not. Look over there." Carrying the child on his back, Ronan walked to a utility pole. A five-pointed star had been drawn on it with a red marker. The star signified that they were safe and had a new lead.
"That’s Quincy’s mark. There’s a letter Q below it. Let’s go. We’ll head to the small building in the residential area first."
The most dangerous place is the safest place. The two planned to go to the secret base of those rich brats—the small, two-story house.
On their way out of the refugee camp, Evelyn found several more star markings. ’To have time to make so many marks, they must be taking it easy.’
The child whimpered a few times. The ropes Ronan Kendrick used might have been tied too tightly, making him uncomfortable. Seeing his flushed cheeks, Evelyn touched his forehead.
"The special medicine is working. He’s starting to run a fever."
Ronan Kendrick glanced back at the boy. His head was resting on Ronan’s shoulder, and he looked listless and pitiful.
The small building was quite a distance away. After leaving the refugee camp, Evelyn found a secluded spot and took out their vehicle. It would still take over half an hour to drive there; walking would be a waste of time.
As they neared the building, Ronan Kendrick went to scout the area. Only after confirming no one was watching did he return to drive.
The small building was a complete mess, obviously having been ransacked multiple times. The floor was covered in footprints and trash. Since Ronan had already removed the doors and windows from the second floor, they decided to stay on the first floor for the time being.
After closing the door and making sure everything was secure, Evelyn took out a storage battery and a power strip. She hung a strip of lights on the wall, and the first floor was instantly as bright as day.
Ronan Kendrick set the child down and started cleaning the floor. In a spot he had just cleared, Evelyn set up a folding cot, placed the boy on it, and began to examine his external injuries.
’Judging by his bone age, he really does look about eight years old. That matches Annie.’
Evelyn removed his tattered clothes. Seeing the various wounds and bruises covering his body, even she, who was accustomed to life and death, felt a pang of heartache.
The wounds on his back were already festering, and a large patch of flesh on his buttocks was rotten, apparently from being beaten with some unknown object.
His fingernails were caked with dirt and dried blood. They looked like they had been smashed with a rock; seven or eight of them were completely black.
"Ronan, I should have killed those bastards earlier."
Even Ronan Kendrick frowned upon seeing the injuries.
"This child’s physical condition is terrible." His internal injuries were likely even worse than his external ones. It was a wonder how he had endured it all. When he was being beaten earlier, he had just curled up into a small ball on the ground, not crying or screaming.
Evelyn took a deep breath and pulled a bathtub out of her dimensional space. While Ronan Kendrick gave the boy a simple wash, Evelyn went to prepare medicine. The rotten flesh on his body would need to be debrided. If not for his bone age suggesting he was seven or eight, he looked no different from a normal three or four-year-old child.
He was as frail as a little mouse.
’If Ronan and I hadn’t gotten involved today, he probably would have ended up like that old man, beaten to death on the spot by those little monsters.’
’The drug I gave those little brats isn’t lethal, but in a refugee camp where no one gets enough to eat, two days of diarrhea will leave them half-dead, if not worse.’
After he was cleaned, they gave him a painkiller. Then, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick worked together to debride his wounds.
"This looks like it was caused by a rock. And his nose... I just noticed his nasal bridge is a little crooked. That must have been from a beating, too. His eyes are bloodshot; his vision is probably going to be affected. I’m just worried about retinal damage."
Evelyn cursed the little monsters through gritted teeth as she treated the wounds.
"These little animals."
"Nghh..." Even though he had taken a painkiller and was unconscious, the boy broke out in a cold sweat from the pain as they cut away the dead flesh.