Raindrops continued to fall incessantly on the street. Even in a crime-ridden place like Hell's Kitchen, the cold, continuous downpour had significantly reduced the number of gang members usually roaming the streets.
On the damp asphalt, arguments and curses occasionally erupted from the taverns lining both sides. Now and then, a few individuals who had overdosed could be seen slumped beside trash cans, their faces sporting empty, foolish grins.
"We're here," Nicole said, leading Matthew into a park. The area was crammed with densely packed tents, leaving almost no room to step.
Matthew noticed most of these tents were crude and dilapidated. Many had long lost their waterproofing, some being just tattered canvas and plastic sheets.
He could easily imagine what it would be like for the people living there when it rained. Rainwater would likely seep in everywhere, leaving the occupants soaked and directly immersed in cold, muddy water.
'Neither in my past life nor this one was this a life fit for humans,' Matthew thought. Especially in December, these drafty tents offered no protection against the cold.
'Perhaps after one winter, the number of homeless people here would "naturally decrease" significantly,' he mused grimly.
"You mean... you live here?" Matthew asked, looking at a yellow tent situated in a low-lying area. It was already submerged in ten centimeters of water.
'Could anyone possibly live in a place like this?' he wondered. 'Especially someone suffering from a fever due to an infected wound...'
Pulling open the tent, Matthew looked inside. The moment he peered in, he didn't clearly see the figure within. Instead, a swarm of flies almost plastered itself against his face.
After shooing away the insects, Matthew continued to look. By now, the tent was already filled with rainwater.
Submerged in the water was a woman who had long since stopped breathing. Her pale skin was soaked, her clothes disheveled, and some parts of her body were swollen from being submerged, indicating she had been dead for some time.
On the corpse's thigh, a festering, pus-filled wound was exposed to the air. Beside the body, several used 'balloons' floated, appearing to have been used recently.
"..." Rainwater dripped from the edge of his umbrella as Matthew remained silent. He wasn't purely good, but neither was he utterly evil.
'As a certain game character once said, the world isn't black and white, but a delicate shade of gray,' he reflected. It felt like accidentally encountering an injured kitten, sending it for treatment out of kindness, only for it to ultimately die anyway.
A pang of regret hit him for having personally intervened yet failed. This feeling was distinctly different from the indifference one might feel towards the tragedy of a stranger.
The moment Nicole saw the corpse beside him, her cries tore through the rain curtain. Disregarding Matthew's attempts to stop her, she rushed into the tent, desperately trying to embrace the cold body.
Watching the small figure wailing in the tent, Matthew remained silent for a moment. He then pulled out the few banknotes he had originally intended for buying alcohol from his pocket.
He gently placed the money on a rusty iron box inside the tent. Having done all this, he turned to leave.
However, he hadn't walked far when he heard an argument erupt behind him.
"Hey! Nicole! Don't be scared~~ It's me, your good neighbor Roy."
"Now, give me the money he put here. Don't try to fool me, I saw everything! That idiot, in his great kindness, pulled out five hundred dollars from his pocket for you!"
"Isn't it a coincidence~~ these five hundred bucks are just enough to pay back your mom for renting my tent!"
"Give me back the money! This tent was given to me by Old Carter! It's not yours to rent!" Nicole argued, her voice choked with sobs.
"If I say it's mine, then it's mine... You, ahhh!!!"
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!! You little bitch! You dare to bite me! I'll sell you to the Red Light District!"
*Smack*—a crisp slap cut through the sound of the rain and reached Matthew's ears. Turning around, he saw a gaunt, emaciated man, looking as if he'd walked straight off a zombie movie set.
The man stood in the rain, struggling with Nicole over the five hundred dollars Matthew had left in the tent. Nicole, knocked to the ground, looked at the figure who had always protected her, now lying motionless.
She froze for a moment, then, as if driven mad, lunged at Roy! Her small body was like a young beast, imbued with an unusual ferocity and madness.
But reality wasn't a shonen manga. No matter how fierce she was, how could her frail body contend with an adult?
*Thud*! Roy easily lifted his foot and kicked her away! Just as he watched Nicole scramble out of the muddy water, about to mock her further, the scene before his eyes abruptly changed.
'What's happening... why has everything gone black?'
'I can't... breathe!'
'So warm... are these, my insides?'
In the darkness, Roy's cervical spine snapped. His head completely pressed into his chest, resembling a concave shape.
All of this happened too suddenly. Roy himself didn't even react until two or three seconds later when he 'thumped' to the ground, lifeless.
Matthew pulled out the banknotes stuck between his knuckles and put the money back into his pocket.
"I've suddenly changed my mind," he said, his voice eerily calm amidst the pattering rain, without a hint of fluctuation. "Living in a place like this, even if I gave you money, you wouldn't be able to keep it."
"So, I'm giving you two choices now."
"First, get up and come with me. As planned, I'll be opening an orphanage soon, and you can live there."
"Second, stay here and fend for yourself."
"Choose."
Nicole, already soaked to the bone, looked at Roy's grotesque corpse on the ground. She then turned back to gaze at her mother's remains in the tent.
After a moment of silence, she turned and re-entered the tent. Fumbling through the accumulated rainwater, she retrieved an old, moldy photograph.
She carefully wiped away the stains from it, then walked towards Matthew without any hesitation.
But this was Hell's Kitchen. Coming in was easy, but getting out was hard. Not only were there street-level gang members, but also some unexpected 'enemies'.
On the deserted street, a group of armed figures burst out from the alley ahead, blocking their path. Matthew looked back and saw that their escape route was also blocked by another group of people.
"OI! Stop right there! I've had my eyes on you since you walked in!"
"You must be Matthew Lawrence, right?" The speaker was a bald man, powerfully built and burly, a towering figure well over two meters tall.
On his fleshy face, a knife scar ran across both cheeks, looking particularly hideous. In his hands, he held a World War Two-era heavy machine gun, its heavy ammunition belt slung across his back, yet he didn't seem to feel its weight at all.
"From now on, I ask, you answer... If there's one question I'm not satisfied with, I'll stuff all these bullets into your head!" As he spoke, he rattled the ammunition belt slung over his body.
"First question, where's my brother Pete? What did you do with him!?"
Matthew, facing over a dozen dark muzzles simultaneously pointed at him, inexplicably curved his lips into a slight smile. "Your brother? Are you talking about that scrawny, idiotic Pete?"
"Oh, him... he's doing fine..." Matthew raised his hand and glanced at his watch. "At this time, he should be locked in a room, testing drugs."
"What? You want to be a lab rat with him? No problem, no problem~ I can pull some strings to get you to jump the queue."
~✦~ End of Chapter ~✦~
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