We were professionally trained, remaining alert even while asleep. The moment someone stirred in the house, we were awake and out of bed.
After attending prayer at the church and finishing breakfast, the long-awaited bathing session finally arrived. Thinking about having spent five days in the garbage heap without a shower, the psychological effect made me feel itchy all over.
The bathing took place in the nuns' rooms. The children who hadn't bathed yet waited by the door. The nun would call out a name, and that child would follow her into the room to wash. It felt just like visiting a doctor's clinic.
"Mourners." The nun called my name first.
A few children let out dissatisfied hisses but didn't voice any specific objections, so perhaps there was no rule to the bathing order? Was it decided by the nun's mood?
After seeing the bathing supplies, I realized the later you were in line, the more unfortunate you were.
Half a basin of water and one towel to wipe twenty-eight children.
By the end, the water would surely turn black and… smelly.
Closing the door, the nun wrung the towel until it was semi-dry. She first wiped my face, then my hands, before telling me to undress and wiping my torso.
The convenience of being mute was not having to open my mouth to speak. I worried about accidentally dropping the whistle while undressing and didn't want to entrust it to Illumi. So, I secretly put the whistle in my mouth beforehand, though it would result in saliva… The desert air was dry, so it would quickly dry, no problem, no problem!
After getting dressed, I looked into the basin before leaving. The water was a pale gray. Ugh, it got this dirty with just a simple wipe? Ah, I'm unclean again.
The specially made insect repellent was sprayed on my head. Wow, that smell, it was truly… I covered my nose and exited the room.
The nun called Illumi’s name second. Two to three minutes later, Illumi emerged, also covering his nose, with a head full of pungent repellent.
"..." I stood a short distance away and waved at him.
We left without delay, following yesterday's plan to collect garbage together. The contrast brought out the beauty; the smell of the repellent was less noticeable deep within the garbage mountains. After a while, the scent of the repellent faded considerably, becoming difficult to distinguish from the surrounding air.
The deeper we went, the lower the explored rate of the garbage mountain, and the fewer people we saw. It was like a dead land. But in dead lands rarely trodden by people, it was easier to find useful garbage that could be exchanged for more supplies. Correspondingly, the toxicity in the air was stronger, and the land was a lifeless charcoal black. I suspected my skill [Poison Resistance: Level 6] might not be enough.
There was no alternative; even drinking poison to quench thirst, we had to take a gamble. Without paying a price, there would be no reward. Staying in the church's beginner zone forever wouldn't advance our progress in this dungeon.
We had gone quite far. If we returned to the church for lunch, the round trip would waste a significant amount of time, so lunch was skipped. We focused entirely on avoiding other garbage collectors and on collecting garbage.
By afternoon, looking at Illumi's dusty appearance, he was no different from before bathing. I thought I must be the same. Well, as long as we didn't leave the garbage heaps, this so-called bathing session couldn't truly clean us. It was better than nothing.
Using fabric scavenged from the garbage mountain as wrapping cloths, Illumi and I each dragged a large bag of garbage. We returned to the church before dark. The children waiting by the supply exchange counter to register and count widened their eyes when they saw the amount we brought back. When we opened the wrapping cloths for counting and registration, the children gathered to watch were even more astonished, their jaws practically dropping. They had never seen any other children find so many "good things" in one go.
The submitted garbage was calculated into corresponding points, which could be used to redeem items from the supply list. After climbing up and down garbage mountains all day, the amount of garbage we could carry at once was limited. Constantly comparing and carefully calculating the points redeemable for the garbage we brought back consumed enormous amounts of both physical and mental energy. Illumi and I decided to exchange our points after breakfast tomorrow; we were too exhausted today.
Seeing how we, who had just bathed that morning, became dirtier than yesterday within a single day, no child suspected we might have stolen the garbage from others. Besides, they didn't know our combat power. Who would have thought that two six or seven-year-old children could actually defeat ordinary adults?
They all looked at us with admiration. Some children couldn't resist approaching us, asking if we could reveal roughly where we found these good things, as they also wanted to try their luck nearby.
"If you can tolerate that stench, go further in, and further in, there are many," Illumi frankly replied. "Some things we couldn't take, so we left them halfway."
"Ah—thank you!" The child's face lit up with joy.
Don't celebrate too soon, child. It's really far, and is your [Poison Resistance] level sufficient? I worry you might go there and never return.
The wooden plank beds in the dormitory were hard, a stark contrast to the soft beds at the Zoldyck residence. The first night, I couldn't get used to it and slept restlessly, but today we were tired enough to sleep exceptionally soundly.
The next morning, we attended prayers as usual, then had breakfast, and afterward went to redeem the points accumulated yesterday. Most children in the church, uncharacteristically, didn't rush out to collect garbage. They followed Illumi and me, curious about what supplies we planned to exchange.
Drinking water was outrageously expensive. After exchanging for two 600ml bottles of drinking water, the remaining points were only enough for three dried bread loaves. We put the supplies into the backpack we found yesterday in the garbage mountain. Shouldering the bag, Illumi and I left the church.
"You guys exchanged so many things, where are you going?" a small child chased after us to ask. "Is it a faraway place? Will you come back?"
"We want to see other districts," Illumi replied. "Perhaps a place better than this."
Upon hearing this, the children became excited. They currently lacked the strength to leave the church's protection and had never ventured out of their current district. However, most of them harbored ambitions of reaching the central district.
The children enthusiastically shared all the information they knew. Just a few days prior, they had been indifferent to us.
In this place of the fittest surviving, their admiration for the strong was almost overflowing.
To summarize the children's remarks, Meteor City's districts were divided into rings. The innermost area was District One, also known as the "Central District." It was said to be very prosperous, with electricity and running water in every home, a place where only the strong could survive. Moving outwards was District Two, and then outward in layers. The closer to the outer ring, the worse the environment, all the way to District Thirteen, which was our current district number.
Hmm, much like leveling up floors in the Heaven's Arena arena, this place required strengthening oneself to enter better districts. Once we had the ability to reach the Central District… no, that might be a stretch. I estimated there would be many Nen users there, much like the 200th floor of Heaven's Arena, a completely different world where we stood no chance. If the Zoldyck family didn't plan for us to learn "Nen" yet, being able to enter District Two, or perhaps Three, might fulfill the passage conditions for this Meteor City dungeon.
Under the gazes of admiration and anticipation from the children, Illumi and I set off.
As Illumi and I left the street and passed five garbage mountains, several children blocked our path. The leader was the oldest child from the church.
"Hand over your food and water," he said, reaching out to us. "Want to go to a better district? You two little shrimps? Don't think being good at collecting garbage makes you special. You'll surely die on the way. Why not hand over your things and join us? I'll protect you from now on, how about it?"
"Please allow me to refuse," Illumi replied politely. "We have no need to join any group."
That's right, we had no reason to join a garbage collecting group. Our goal was to clear the Meteor City dungeon, and our target levels were entirely different from those of these children.
Conversing with these roadside NPCs was a waste of time. I held Illumi's left hand and skirted around them to the right. The child closest to me tried to grab my backpack, but I dodged him, and we successfully left them behind.
"W-wait!" they shouted, chasing after us.
They were ordinary children. Their only advantage was being slightly older than us, not enough to be a threat. I couldn't be bothered to conflict with them and quickened my pace, confident that we would shake them off in no time.
Illumi suddenly stopped.
"?" I looked around, finding nothing that might cause him to stop.
"Sister," Illumi tilted his head. "They are insulting you."
"Are they? I didn't notice," I replied with lip-sync. "Even if they are, it doesn't matter, they're just kids."
I tugged on his hand, wanting to continue running, but he stubbornly refused to move.
"I'm unhappy," he said.
According to the original novel's settings, you weren't emotionally stirred when Leorio cursed you to your face, right?
Oh, no, you're not authentic. You're actually unhappy being provoked by children's immaturity. Sister is very disappointed in you.
"Illumi," I said with lip-sync, "Don't be stubborn over such trivial matters. You're wasting time."
"Haha, the little mute is actually 'talking'?" "Little mute, scaredy-cat, not running anymore? Or is your brother more spirited." "Little mute! Little mute!" The children caught up.
"..." So noisy. Not only these brats, but Illumi is also a troublemaker, refusing to listen to my advice.
I released Illumi's hand. I had figured it out. If he doesn't walk, I'll walk. Anyway, I have the food and water, so he'll have to follow me, right?
"Quarreling, fighting, and stealing are three things the nun strictly forbids within the church," Illumi said, gripping my hand. "Just 'within the church,' right? Sister."
"..." I'm too lazy to argue with you about these trivial matters.
It was all Illumi's fault for dawdling. These children formed a circle, blocking our path forward and backward.
"So..." Illumi looked at the children surrounding us. "Whoever calls me 'sister mute' again, I'll rip their mouth open."
His tone was level, and there was no trace of ferocity on his face. The "oh" at the end of the sentence added an inexplicably lively touch to this threat, which already lacked any imposing aura. All the children assumed he was joking and burst into laughter.
These poor children, you don't know what kind of demon you're facing. He's a ruthless person who's as good as his word.
And Illumi, by uttering his threat so lightly, was clearly baiting these children to meet the conditions.
Someone immediately took the bait, and Illumi acted as promised.
The child was still laughing when Illumi made his move, not yet realizing the danger. As his laughing mouth stretched all the way to his ears, revealing his bright red gums, the expressions of the other children completely changed.
"Anyone else want to say the same thing?" Illumi winked at them, his large black cat-like eyes looking incredibly innocent. "You can 'keep your mouth wide open' oh."
Amidst the chaos of the victim's screams, they scrambled to escape. The bloodstains remaining on the ground proved they had been there, had struggled, had fought.
"That settles it completely," Illumi nodded to himself. "They lack proper upbringing and need some education, right? Sister."
"..." It was just a farce; I had no particular feelings about it.
After that, following two days of travel, we arrived at District Twelve.
The residential area of District Twelve was much larger than District Thirteen. Although the garbage processing factories provided many job opportunities, there were too many applicants for too few positions, and the competition for garbage collection was fiercer than in District Thirteen. To quickly gather supplies for the next district, we were tired of collecting garbage and decided to upgrade our profession, embarking on the classic journey of pickpocketing and petty theft for strays.