anovelconsole Chapter 337 - Three Hundred and Thirty-Four:
Chapter 337 - Three Hundred and Thirty-Four:
Chapter 337: Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-Four: "But My Hair Has Turned WhiteSu Ming’an went back to his room and immediately fell asleep.
Due to the nightly challenges involving the Demon King and the Brave, he was severely deprived of sleep.
However, he hadn’t been asleep long when he was suddenly awakened by noises outside.
"— to ensure the safety of the Eastern District... Royal City... taxation..."
"I beg you... please... if... we..."
The noise outside grew louder and more intense, giving Su Ming’an a headache.
He initially didn’t want to deal with it, but the noise outside only grew louder, even mingling with faint cries and the sound of smashing, accompanying loud angry shouts.
He sat up abruptly, rubbed his eyes, and his wristwatch suddenly lit up.
"Good afternoon, master! It is now three twelve in System Time, I will play some soothing wake-up music for you..."
"Shut up," Su Ming’an said.
The light from the wristwatch immediately withdrew, and the music that had just started also silenced.
From the wristwatch came a timid voice: "Master, you haven’t named me yet."
"Name yourself," Su Ming’an said as he got up from the bed to listen to the commotion outside.
"But master, how can I possibly name myself..."
"Then you’re called Alone," Su Ming’an said offhandedly.
Alone was the name of a goldfish Su Ming’an used to have.
The smart wristwatch seemed quite happy with the name.
Su Ming’an walked to the door, listening to the noise outside.
"Sir, the three percent tax is already life-threatening, can you please bring it up with the Royal City, four percent taxation is really..."
Su Ming’an pushed open the door.
The incident was taking place not far down the street, and because the residents’ pleas were too loud, it was even audible through the drafty door.
On a cobbled street littered with rags and garbage, a tall man stood in the middle, a cigarette dangling from his mouth; behind him were several guards in Royal City uniforms.
"You dare defy the orders from the Royal City?" the man bellowed at a crying woman on the ground: "The barriers are weak, the storms are rampant, and adding one percent tax is already merciful of them. You parasites, who only think about your own lives, should have limits to your selfishness!"
The man stepped forward, snatched the jade bracelet from the woman’s wrist, ignored her pleading, turned, and walked away, leaving parting words:
"The day after tomorrow is tax collection day, you vermin better remember to pay up on time! Pulaya supports no waste!"
Behind him, the uniformed guards blocked the woman, and with a shove from each, the woman ended up lying beside the building.
"Mom, mom..." a little girl in tattered clothes supported the coughing woman.
Behind them was a leaky shack.
The nearby residents also helped the woman, patting her back, telling her to calm down.
"Kasana, don’t be sad, everything will get better..."
"The father of my child just went to sea, how dare they just rob us overtly, we’ve lived in Pulaya for generations, how have we become vermin..." the woman sobbed and coughed, evidently unwell for some time.
"Kasana, that’s the way people from the Royal City are, we can’t do anything... why don’t you visit the tavern we told you about before? They might be able to give you some money to help you through this tough time..."
Under the residents’ persuasion, the woman’s expression kept changing.
Finally, looking into her daughter’s timid eyes, she nodded with difficulty.
The tavern that people spoke of seemed like a terrifying place to her.
Su Ming’an leaned against the door frame, watching the scene unfold nearby.
It appeared the locals had had enough excitement, and went about their own business, and the crying woman also got up and headed out to the street.
In the room next to Su Ming’an, an old lady was working the sewing machine, which creaked and emitted the soft friction of thread and fabric.
The room wasn’t soundproof, so sounds from inside easily came out.
It seemed the family was having a conversation.
"...Mom, stop worrying about me..."
"...How can I not worry, you’re my daughter, don’t worry, even if the old man can’t get the medicine, you and Lele will be fine."
"...Why bother..."
"Don’t worry about it, just lie down, I’m thinking of getting someone to send this family photo over..."
Su Ming’an wasn’t one to eavesdrop, he turned around, planning to go back to his room to catch up on some more sleep.
At the window, however, the sound of the sewing machine suddenly stopped.
"Hey, I see who’s standing by the door... young man, young man, hey, Su Rin’s family!"
As Su Ming’an turned around, the old lady’s voice came from inside the window.
When he looked her way, the old lady stopped her sewing.
She folded the fabric and clothes she held, waved to him through the window.
Su Ming’an hesitated for a moment, then walked over. To his surprise, the old lady opened the door to let him in.
The house was small but appeared very clean, as if it had been meticulously cleaned. The dining area and the inner bedroom were only separated by a screen, from behind which came intermittent coughing.
When Su Ming’an entered, the old lady’s granddaughter Lele came out holding an empty bowl that had contained medicine, furrowing her brow slightly at him, apparently quite wary of him.
"Lele, I’m going to talk to this young man," said the old lady.
Lele pouted and turned back to the area behind the screen.
Sitting next to the sewing machine, the old lady carefully straightened the clothes in her hands.
"Young man," she lowered her head and said, "Have you signed up for Soul Hunt yet?"
"..."
"You didn’t come back last night, so I knew you must have become a Soul Hunter... Don’t be nervous, I’m not blaming you," the old lady said as she smoothed the fabric with her thinly skinned hands. Her fingers brushed against a box beside her, then she pulled out a thin needle: "Thinking that the Maritime Banquet is about to start, I wanted to ask for your help."
"It’s fine," Su Ming’an said, "Just say it."
Communicating with the locals was beneficial for gathering information, and he didn’t refuse.
The old lady grinned, her smile wide.
She squinted her eyes, put down the needle, and then found a photograph that looked like a painting.
The photograph seemed to have been made using a special technique, exceptionally blurred, the faces unclear, only vaguely showing a family of four standing in it.
Her somewhat trembling fingers caressed the black and white photo before she handed it over to Su Ming’an.
"Young man, you are from Su Rin’s family, a good young man," she said. "I’m old now, can hardly move anymore, and can only spend my days and nights in this small house..."
Su Ming’an took the photo.
"I want to ask you to take this photo to the Central Soul Hunter Department," the old woman said. "After the Soul Hunters die, their photos are kept at the Central Soul Hunter Department. I thought, although the old man can no longer return, I wanted to fulfill his wish to have this photo of him and our little Her preserved together...This is the clearest photo I have found; I hope their faces can still be seen clearly..."
Su Ming’an took a look.
The photo was blurry, and even the faces looked as if they had been rubbed away, completely indistinguishable.
"It’s clear enough," he said. "I will submit it to the Soul Hunter Department."
He took the photo; the old lady seemed to want to say something more.
After putting on her glasses with trembling hands, she began moving her needle.
"You have been back these days, and you must have seen," she said softly. "This Pulaya is no charity hall. It’s not a place where everyone can live well."
Su Ming’an remained silent.
"The situation you just saw, with the Royal City imposing taxes, we can’t do anything. If a family doesn’t have a young and strong member, living is just being a parasite, a burden..." the old lady said. "I even saw a Knight of Light coming to our neighborhood last night; probably even the church can’t tolerate our impoverished district anymore..."
"Knight of Light?" Su Ming’an guessed probably Sherrod had come looking for him for a mission last night, but unfortunately, he was still in the Southern District with the Soul Clan. "It’s probably not the church. They don’t seem to care about these things."
"Is that so?" the old lady laughed. "More than sixty years ago in Pulaya, during that time of the most scarce resources, the hardest times, when Su Rin had just ascended to Cloud City and hadn’t yet managed to establish the barrier...The first one who advocated abandoning the residents to save resources was the church."
As she spoke, the fingers holding the needle gradually clenched tighter: "Back then, life here wasn’t so tough... My old man was a man of old culture; back then, he would talk about literature, history, and the local customs of Pulaya. Even working as a public speaker or writing newsletters, life was barely manageable..."
"He loved to show off, and his favorite activity was being a second-line team leader for the Soul Hunt at night, helping to
Her voice was gentle, and her tone was soft, like a flowing stream. Listening, his originally tense mood relaxed considerably, and some of his numb emotions began to soften.
For the first time since the beginning of the game, he felt cared for by an elder.
He sat there for a long time, for about two or three hours, as the sunset slowly spread across the windowsill like a band of light, there was a knock on the door.
The old lady let go of his hand, stood up, and opened the door.
There, standing in front of the house, bathed in the sunset’s glow, was the handsome Knight of Light.