Qiao fell ill.
He was already the second weakest guy in the gang, and since White Paper was abducted, he had become the weakest. There was nothing wrong the night he came back from the square, but the next day, Snake Tooth found Qiao lying motionless on the hay, uttering faint groans, his cheeks frighteningly red.
"He's been infected with the cold plague," Kui touched Qiao's forehead. "His head is burning up."
"Will... I die?"
He opened his half-closed eyes and asked softly.
No one answered.
The cold plague is an extremely difficult disease to deal with. Once infected, one can only rely on the body to resist it—but those with strong bodies are rarely frostbitten. Generally, those who are ill are those who are weak, so few patients survive. For rats, contracting the cold plague is basically a death sentence.
"I'll go find Kanash," Snake Tooth broke the silence.
"What for?"
"To beg him to give Qiao more food," he stood up abruptly. "I've heard people say that if you catch a cold, if you can fill your stomach and keep your body warm, the chances of surviving will be much higher."
"He won't give it to you," Hu Zhao shook his head. "We all know what kind of person he is."
"That's right, he might even beat you up," Kui gathered the hay. "Rats never raise useless people."
"Qiao isn't useless," Snake Tooth retorted. "He can still read!"
"Just a few words, and what use is that to Kanash? He wants people who can fight, rob, steal, and pickpocket."
"..." Snake Tooth gritted his teeth and turned to walk straight towards the room of the manager of No Tail Alley. Even if he was beaten out by the other party with a stick, he wanted to try.
But unexpectedly, Kanash did not return.
"Consider yourself lucky," when he brought the news back to his companions, Hu Zhao grinned. "Otherwise, we might have to take care of one more."
Kui sighed, "When the bread is distributed later, let's all give some to Qiao and let him eat more."
However, Snake Tooth did not feel lucky. He faintly felt that something was wrong.
It had been less than half an hour since he reported the news to Bloodhand. If he didn't come back last night, it could be understood as discussing countermeasures, but it was already noon today, so shouldn't they have finished discussing it? Moreover, he took advantage of the opening of the door by those subordinates to take a peek inside, only to find that not only Kanash, but even his "lover" was gone.
Before long, the gang began to distribute food, and Snake Tooth noticed that this time it was distributed by Kanash's cronies.
What he got was still half a loaf of black bread.
...
Four days later, Qiao's condition not only did not improve, but worsened a lot.
Yesterday he could still shout that he was cold, but today he couldn't even speak. His red face began to turn pale, and his breathing became weaker and weaker.
"We tried our best," Kui said listlessly, touching his stomach.
These days, they had given half of their food to Qiao. If it weren't for that, he probably wouldn't have lasted until now. Hu Zhao, who was usually energetic, also looked a little weak.
Kanash had not shown his face these days.
The hundred or so rats gathered in the room began to discuss this, but it was just discussion. After all, the daily food was still being distributed as usual, but today's noise was particularly loud.
Today was the day for distributing relief grain during the proclamation.
"I'm going to the square," Snake Tooth hesitated for a long time, finally biting his lip. "The bread isn't enough for us to eat at all. If we can get a bowl of hot wheat porridge, Qiao might be able to survive."
"Are you crazy?" Kui glared at him. "Don't forget how Kanash warned us. Do you really want to have your mouth sewn shut?"
"The premise is that he knows I sneaked out. Now, Kanash doesn't even know where he is. Maybe the city lord is really going to attack them!"
"But his subordinates are still here. Do you think they will let you go if you are discovered?" Kui looked at Hu Zhao. "Don't stand there like a fool. Tell him something too."
"I'll go with you," the latter suddenly said.
"You guys—"
"Maybe this grain distribution has already been ruined, or maybe the nobles just want to pretend. If there's no food at all, it doesn't count as violating Kanash's warning, right?" Hu Zhao curled his lips. "And I'm strong, I can carry Qiao back and forth, and it won't take too long. Kanash isn't here now, and those cronies are all huddled in his room warming themselves by the fire. No one will notice us."
"This..." Kui hesitated.
"You stay here," Snake Tooth said. "In case someone asks, it's good to have an explanation. Just say we have diarrhea and are looking for a sheltered place to squat. Don't worry, it only takes this long to get back from there."
"Okay," she looked around. "Hurry back."
...
Snake Tooth and Hu Zhao sneaked out of the wooden house and ran along the alley. The snowflakes kicked up under their feet soaked their trouser legs, and the cold wind blew on their faces like a knife, but even so, the two did not stop. Panting, they rushed to the square and found that the wooden platform was already surrounded by nearly a thousand people!
They were really distributing wheat porridge!
The two rushed over, but were stopped by two guards in brown uniform. "Go from that side, no pushing, no cutting in line, or you will be disqualified from receiving it."
Snake Tooth then noticed that wooden fences had been erected around the speech platform in the center of the square at some point, and people were advancing in order along the passages fenced off by the fences, like a folded dragon. At intervals, there were guards standing with strange iron rods. They seemed to be the maintainers of order, and people were being driven out of the line from time to time.
"My friend is sick... Can you help us, please!" Snake Tooth knelt in the snow.
"He's been hungry for days and desperately needs food!" Hu Zhao followed suit and knelt down.
"What disease?"
"It's... the cold plague."
One of them reached out and picked up the unconscious Qiao. "Leave him to me, you go queue up."
"This—"
"He knows the way back, right?" the other said. "Even if he doesn't know, you can come here to find him."
As he spoke, the guard had already carried Qiao away.
"What to do?" The two looked at each other. Neither of them expected the result to be like this. According to their idea, the other party would either be indifferent or let them bypass the fence and go in to receive the wheat porridge first.
"Let's go back first," Snake Tooth decided after thinking for a moment.
"Huh, go back?" Hu Zhao was stunned. "No porridge?"
"It will take us at least half an hour to get to our turn, and accidents are easy to happen if it takes too long," he nodded. "We'll sneak out again in the evening to pick up Qiao."
Hu Zhao looked at the porridge-distributing wooden platform reluctantly. "Okay then..."
There was one more sentence that Snake Tooth didn't say. Now that the distribution of relief grain during the proclamation has come true, what about the other two news items? Will they also come true one by one?
He vaguely felt that Black Street might be about to usher in a major change.
Back in No Tail Alley, the two tiptoed into the house, but were suddenly shocked.
Kui, with a bruised and swollen face, was hanging at the door, her hands tied behind her back, stepping on a wobbly stool, while Kanash's subordinates stood beside her, looking at the two with a sneer.
"Yo, you're back full?"