Xingfu

Laying her back against a wall, was a young girl around the age of thirteen to fourteen. The girl had short, dirty, brown hair and brown eyes, wearing unwashed and ragged clothing.

While she sat on the sidewalk to the busy areas around the city, all she had with her was a small, yet badly damaged cardboard box around the size of a mug that could fit in the palm of her hand.

As minutes and hours ticked away, around five people had thrown a quick coin into the box as they walked by.

Peering into the little box and seeing how much she made in eight hours at the least, there was only five measly coins.

As the sun already set and the air around her became increasingly chilly, it was already time to leave that spot and head back into one of the alleys a while away that connected to a pathway to her "Home"

She wanted to stay a while longer and get more money before going back, but it would be even worse if she didn't return on time.

Using her bruised and scarred arms to lift herself up off the ground and stand, she swiftly picked up the box and limped one of her legs all the way to another area while trying her best to ignore any of the sharp or sudden spikes of pain that happened every now and then.

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On the way back to just another wretched place, she wondered what she had done wrong to deserve this.

Apparently, her parents had disowned her and kicked her out, even though she couldn't even see them when she was told that she had been kicked out. Then, it only got worse as she had gotten kidnapped by someone who had a fair share of experience around the underworld. Even if the guy didn't have any influence or power over anything in the underworld.

Although she had one of her legs broken to stop her from escaping far, and her newfound friends encouraged her to keep trying her best, what was the point of it all?

However, she couldn't complain. If anything, they would probably tell her that she a quite lucky. To only have to sit around with a box for coins, while other were dragged off to who knows where, destined to never return. And if they did return, they would never be the same as they once were.

As the young girl walked into a disgusting alley filled with bags of trash and foul smells, it was after some point that she made it to the spot where she was to return to.

It was a darkly shaded clearing at the end of the alleyway, crowded with many more children. Some were her age, while other were younger. The youngest of all of them was around four years old!

Just as she spotted another young girl with black hair, before she could sit down, a large man got in between them and rudely snatched the box of coins.

The fat man dumped out the five coins into his hand and showed an ugly expression of dissatisfaction, but still stuffed the mere amount of coins into his pocket.

Seeing that look on his face, she already knew he was going to get angry before he even did anything.

In a moment, the fat man threw the box at her face, which caused her to automatically close her eyes, and then hurled a slap towards the girl's face. The instant the slap hit her face, the sharp sound resonated within the air and a red mark was left on the side of her cheek.

Then, the man angrily yelled, "Your lucky that you made it back just in time, otherwise, I would've had you beat to death..!!!", before plodding away.

The girl with black hair sat in wait for the chubby man to disappear from their sights, before getting up and hurriedly running up to the young girl.

"Xingfu, are you okay..!! I'm sorry... I couldn't do anything....!"

Although the black haired girl only watched as she was slapped, Xingfu didn't hold any resentment towards her. It wasn't like she had done anything different while watching other kids get beat or taken away.

"Don't worry, Buxing. Everyone here would've done the same."

Xingfu just gave Buxing a pat on the back and they both sat down to eat the dried bread they were given. As she glanced around, she sighed at how everybody was.

Despite the fact that they were all in the same boat, they ignored or even fought with each other, only staying in small groups with the kids they knew. It was hopeless to get them all to treat each other fairly, and there would be no use to it.

After she and Buxing finished the bread, they both huddled somewhere against the walls, as there were no actual places to sleep.

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As the secluded area in the alleyway began brightening up with sunlight, kids began grabbing their containers and such for collecting coins, and staggered out to find a good spot. The fat old man had just arrived as well and was sitting on a chair in the corner watching them leave.

Just as Buxing left, Xingfu quickly tried to follow after, but was almost immediately pulled back by the chubby man sitting down and Buxing didn't seem to notice as the girl had continued walking away and couldn't be seen anymore.

As she turned to look at the fat man, she saw that he had a wide grin while looking at her from above and a frightening look in his eyes as he stared at her.

Just as she looked at his eyes form into horizontal crescents, she felt a bone chilling feeling in the back of her mind. Just moments later, she was quickly dragged and thrown into some sort of vehicle before fainting.

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In what felt like a mere moment to her, since she had fainted, and abruptly gained her consciousness back, seemed to be quite an amount of time since her surroundings were completely different.

However, she had tried to move but it felt like her limbs and body were tied down to something. Unfortunately, a cloth had been tied around her eyes that blocked out her sight, so she had no idea where she was.

Suddenly thinking back to everything, perhaps this is what was happening to the kids that got dragged away? It was highly possible that this was what others had experienced.

Click-

The recognizable sound of a door opening was heard just before multiple foot steps began tapping on the floor approaching closer to her. Then, a squeaking noise like a rolling wheel of some sort.

The same terror that lingered at the bottom of her soul was gradually increasing as the room was dead silent despite people inside the room along with her.