Shantytown.
Located in the southeast of the black hole gathering place, you can see the turbid water after a few steps on the potholed street. When Liao Ji passed by, he could smell the smell of smelly socks that had been worn for several weeks, but from here Judging from people's expressions, it seems that they have long been accustomed to it.
The trash cans on the roadside seemed to be full. Some days, flies and mosquitoes were buzzing on them. Yilin told Liao Ji that usually there was a vehicle to dispose of garbage only once every half month. This was only because every few years. A plague broke out in a shanty town before. In order to avoid a similar situation from happening again, we shortened the cycle. Otherwise, we might not even see a garbage truck come for a month.
However, even in poor areas, there are still high and low places between residences. The ones you see the most are naturally the densely packed shacks with a few wooden poles and a piece of rag. When Liao Ji passed by, he looked through the gap in the door curtain. You can see that there is only a few square meters of space inside, but it can fit a family of three, or even more.
A slightly better one can afford to live in an earth-and-stone building, which looks like a mud brick from the outside. Although it is still crude, it is definitely much better than a shack in terms of shelter from wind and rain.
As for the last thing, the most "luxury" residence in this slum area is a small building that can barely be called an "apartment". Each building is almost three or four stories high, but there are no less than two people on each floor. number of households.
The walls and paint on the exterior of the apartment have almost fallen off a long time ago. The ladder used to climb the stairs outside is rusty and squeaks when someone steps on it. Liao Ji is worried that it will collapse in the next moment. fall.
Fortunately, Yilin's house was not high and was on the second floor. For some reason, seeing Yilin still taking out the key to open the door with the old-fashioned door lock, Liao Ji even had the feeling that a young girl could live in such a good place.
All I can say is that happiness comes from comparison, and it’s so true.
Click.
With the sound of the key unlocking, Yilin reluctantly opened the door for Liao Ji. This was the first time she had brought a man home from outside. Although she was forced by the situation, it still felt... strange.
"excuse me."
On the other side, although the girl had said in advance that no one was home, Liao Ji still said hello symbolically and then stepped into the house.
In Liao Ji's imagination, a scavenger's home should be filled with debris, dirty and messy, with no place to stay. He was also prepared for all kinds of strange smells in the room.
But the actual situation before us cannot be said to be completely different, it can only be said to be completely opposite.
"Um... should I change into slippers?" Liao Ji didn't dare to leave as soon as he entered the door. He looked at the clean and tidy floor and the two pairs of slippers neatly placed at the door.
Even though the slippers look very old,... they are slippers! Liao Ji felt that in this poor area, just entering the house to change shoes was amazing enough and was out of place here.
"Whatever you want, my mother isn't here anyway." The girl passed the message directly without changing her shoes. Combined with Yilin's words, it was obvious that this good habit was a rule set by Yilin's mother.
After changing into his slippers, Liao Ji also took a preliminary look around the house. Yilin's home was estimated to be about thirty or forty square meters, but despite the small space, it gave people a feeling of being well-equipped.
The most intuitive manifestation is that in this small area of 30 to 40 square meters, there are actually two bedrooms and one living room! This is obviously not the original design of the house. Many partitions were added later. It is not difficult to see that the owner of this home does not dislike this place, but is thinking about how to make this home more beautiful through meticulous design. good.
"It's a small place, just stay in the living room. I'll go in and change clothes and see if I can find something for you."
The girl said hello to Liao Ji and walked towards the back room, but soon, Yilin poked her head out from inside again.
"Don't do anything weird!"
Liao Ji spread his hands speechlessly: "Do you think I look like that kind of person?"
"picture!"
While the girl was in the back room starting to sort out the next set of clothes, Liao Ji, who had nothing to do, looked around the room.
The sofas that were disconnected, the worn tables and chairs, the faded tablecloths, the old light bulbs dangling above the head, the faucet in the kitchen that kept water flowing intermittently, many of the furniture looked like they could no longer be described as second-hand. In Liao Ji’s opinion, She is the kind of person who even despises picking up rags on Blue Star. These are enough to show that Yilin's family situation is indeed worrying.
But on the other hand, starting from the slippers that entered the house, and now Liao Ji's fingers running across these old and tattered furniture, there is not much dust, as well as the neatly placed garbage bags carefully tied with ropes in front of the door. They are all in stark contrast to the slums that were dirty and messy before. This is at least a reflection of an optimistic attitude towards life.
Finally, Liao Ji's eyes moved to the wall in the corner of the living room.
There are many... certificates posted there.
[Learning Progress Award], [Third Place in the Black Cave Mathematics Competition], [Excellence in Morality Award], [Star of Creation], [Outstanding Reserve Sister], [Passed the Elementary Mechanical Assessment], [Civilized Pacesetter Award]...
The recipient of the award is naturally a certain girl... Oh no, corresponding to the time in the certificate, Irene should still be a little girl.
This really made Liao Ji look at her with admiration, and he changed his view of Yilin a lot. After all, you have to know that this is not a time of peace. Certificates with great weight like Blue Star are all real. Judging from the signing agency, there are Schools under the church also have training organizations from abroad.
It can be seen that Yilin received a very good education when she was a child, but...
Liao Ji paid attention to the period of the last certificate, and compared it with the calendar in the room now. It has been six years. At that time, Yilin should have just graduated from elementary school according to Blue Star's calculation. There was a sense of a sudden end.
Behavior like posting certificates on the wall will only come from parents, and parents who are very proud of their children and have high expectations.
Liao Ji looked at the most eye-catching photo that attracted his attention next to the wall of awards.
Is that a... family photo?
In this precious photo, Liao Ji saw Yilin as a child, still baby-faced, chubby, fair, and facing the camera with happy dimples on both sides of her mouth, very cute.
A lady with long brown hair is holding the hand of the little girl in the photo from the right. This is obviously Irene's mother.
The woman was not wearing high-end clothes, and there were no beautiful accessories. Her upper body was just an old-style linen shirt. Even though it was so simple and plain, if Liao Ji was to put it on Blue Star, it would definitely hit the sharks of many women. star.
Especially the mature charm of a married woman, coupled with her good looks and good figure, Liao Ji felt that the inheritance of excellent genes by this wife was definitely indispensable for Yilin to be where she is today.
The only thing that makes Liao Ji indescribable is...
So does every married woman like to tie her hair into a one-sided ponytail and put it on one side of her shoulder? This does seem more gentle and virtuous, but...
Madam, your hairstyle is really dangerous!
Liao Ji felt that he might have found the reason why Yilin's mother was seriously ill.
at last.
He moved his eyes to the left side of the little girl. Logically speaking, this should be Yilin's father, but the strange thing is... starting from this side, the photo looks like it was torn off by someone with force. Chunks.
Speaking of which...
Since the beginning of his contact with the girl, Yilin mentioned "mother" many times, but "father" seemed to be in front of her, and she never mentioned it once. Even there were only two pairs of slippers at the door of the house.
so...
"He's dead." A girl's voice came from behind Liao Ji. Yilin didn't know when she had changed her clothes and came out.
She glanced at the family photo on the wall that Liao Ji was looking at, and the girl said in a calm voice:
"The cause of death was the backlash of evil in his body. The day after he became a doomed person, he went berserk and out of control, and finally turned into an ugly monster and was killed by everyone."
"And the night before, this man excitedly outlined his vision for a better future to his wife and daughter who were worried about him, saying that they would soon be able to make a lot of money with the ability of the Doomsdayrs, and then take them away from this chaotic gathering place to a place full of chaos. I hope to live in a big city.”
"Haha, it's ironic, isn't it? Just to pursue that pitiful power, you abandoned your wife and daughter, abandoned your own life, and kept saying that you would protect us and give us everything, but in fact... you don't know at all What do we really want..."
The girl looked away from the "family portrait", but it was obvious from her clenched fists that Irene's heart was far from as peaceful as she appeared on the surface.
"...I'm sorry." It seemed that this was all Liao Jineng could say.
He now understood why Erin was so resistant to the word "doomed person" when they were in the secret room at that time, and he also understood why the little girl with excellent academic performance in the certificate on the wall, Eventually you will end up on the path of a scavenger.
"So, the kobold statue at that time..." Liao Ji has not forgotten the cause of the gang's destruction. According to the current world view, the evil objects should never be taken out by ordinary people.
Yilin didn't hide much, nodded and said bluntly:
"That's right, those are the Zhuo'e items he accidentally found in the black market. He absorbed the Zhuo'e from them and became a Doom-changer. At the same time... it's also the only relic he left to us. I've always kept that I carry the clay statue with me, but I didn’t expect that one day I would actually use it.”
Shaking her head mockingly, Erin quickly changed the subject.
"Okay, Old Antique, these are things that happened six years ago. It's in the past for me, and I'm no longer a little girl who needs comfort. The reason why I'm still telling you this is because... No, you clothes."
Yilin held the wrinkled work clothes that she had not worn for several years and handed them to Liao Ji.
"I don't have a man in my family, so the only clothes I can give you to wear are my dad's. If you feel unlucky, there's nothing you can do about it. Just bear with it."
Speaking of which.
In fact, Liao Ji wanted to say something just now when he turned around and saw Yilin who had changed her clothes.
"What do you call...changing clothes?"
"The rotten coat, torn leather pants, and... dirt boots. Apart from the fact that they look like they have been newly washed and cleaner than before, are they any different from the way you were dressed before? Isn't this something that can be seen at a glance? After all, you are a scavenger! Besides, why don’t you put some makeup on?”
Liao Ji showed a worried and complaining expression.
As for Yilin, she was a bit embarrassed. Fortunately, she was still in the back room and thought she was dressing up for a long time, but in the mouth of the young man opposite, it became indistinguishable!
The girl's little hands hidden in her sleeves secretly tugged at the corners of the faded windbreaker that had been washed several times. She felt a little self-defeating and said:
"Then... what can I do? All I have at home are these scavenger clothes! Nothing else, let alone cosmetics! Huh, I'm really sorry for being poor!!"
Ignoring the girl's angry remarks, Liao Ji pondered for a moment and finally turned his eyes to the money bag pinned to Yilin's waist.
If I remember correctly, this was when the girl was searching for candles from the bodies of the kobolds, and she also took them out from the bodies of the gang members.
For this huge amount of wealth that should be repaid, Liao Ji could turn a blind eye before, but now...
"Miss Irene, do you want to experience what it's like to be... a eldest lady?"
"I don't want to! I don't want to at all!" Yilin immediately saw Liao Ji's plan, and the girl tried her best to protect the wallet around her waist.
Unfortunately.
"No, you think." Liao Ji used the contract to control Yilin's body, making the girl obediently place the purse in his hand.
"Also, I also want to dress decently to meet my aunt and leave a good impression on her. You should know that the image of the first meeting is very important, so lead the way, Miss Irene, let's go, um. ..”
"Just go to the most expensive and luxurious clothing store here."
