In the five thousandth year of the Star Calendar, under the ruthless oppression of the Orc Empire, resistance uprisings erupted continuously across the lands. Finally, after a war that lasted for over a century, the Orc Empire exited the stage of history.

Various races built up their own military forces, forming a fragmented federation.

Orcs were suppressed everywhere and became displaced.

Human Federation, Lower District.

A white-haired child, draped in a dull gray cloak, pulled his hood tight and clutched something firmly in his arms, skillfully weaving through the narrow alleys.

He looked no more than seven or eight years old, not even as tall as the tin trash cans oozing sewage in the alley. Running as if desperate, he dashed into a dead end.

The child stood before a wall nearly two meters high at the end of the alley.

“He ran this way! It’s a dead end!”

“Stinky brat, nowhere to hide now, huh? Dared to steal from the pharmacy while I wasn’t looking? See if I don’t beat you to death!”

Hearing this, Wen Chu clutched the things in his arms even tighter.

He looked at the wall in front of him, listened to the approaching footsteps behind him, and took a deep breath.

Then, with a light leap, like an agile little rabbit, he jumped onto the wall that was excessively high for a seven or eight-year-old child.

Without any hesitation, before the footsteps could get closer, Wen Chu jumped down from the wall again.

His hood blew back with the wind as he fell, revealing a pair of soft, drooping white furry ears under the child’s long white hair.

Wen Chu shuddered and quickly pulled the hood back up. That flash of furry white was gone in an instant.

A confused voice came from behind.

“Huh? Where is he?”

“He couldn’t have jumped over the wall. He must be nearby. Search all the trash cans here!!”

“Move faster! The Archon is about to…”

Listening to the commotion behind him, Wen Chu breathed a long sigh of relief and left this troublesome place.

Great, safe for now.

Clutching the brand-new medicine box and the expired bread he scavenged from the back kitchen of a bakery, he navigated the familiar dim and damp alleys to go home.

The Human Federation was divided into the Upper District and the Lower District, and within the Lower District, there was also a clear distinction between rich and poor.

The place where Wen Chu lived was the slum of the Lower District.

The buildings here were old and low, standing right next to each other, densely packed. From above, it looked like a dusty gray patch.

There was no sunlight. Walking on the road, one could get splattered in the face by dirty water from laundry hanging above. The stench of sewers filled the air, and rats and cockroaches scurried everywhere.

With a coldness completely inconsistent with his age on his face, Wen Chu expressionlessly passed through the weed-overgrown streets and the huddled crowds, finally stopping in front of an old residence.

Before stepping through the door, several continuous cannon blasts—Bang bang bang—were heard in the distance.

Wen Chu was so startled he shuddered, his ears almost perking up, and he gave a little hop on the spot.

He just stole some medicine; it surely hadn’t reached the level of bombing the slums, right?

However, the expected fire from the cannon blasts did not fall.

Through the narrow gap between the buildings, Wen Chu saw colorful fireworks scattering in the sliver of blue sky.

Then came the white doves flying over, and a spirited orchestra began playing the “March of Humanity.” Wen Chu even faintly heard applause and cheers.

Swish—

The window at the foot of the wall near his feet suddenly opened. Auntie Zhang, who lived in the basement, poked her head out while folding paper boxes and gossiped with the thin woman beside her, “The new Archon seems to have arrived? What a grand display.”

The thin woman remained expressionless. “A new official applies strict measures. Maybe tomorrow we won’t be allowed to take manual work anymore. Hurry up and work.”

Hearing this, Wen Chu stopped and greeted them obediently, “Hello Auntie Zhang, hello Auntie Wang.”

Auntie Zhang and Auntie Wang were two middle-aged widows who lived together, renting the basement below his home and doing some manual work to get by.

When Grandma first picked him up, her health was still good. She would go out to collect trash every day and had partnered with them to take on manual work.

But later, Grandma’s health deteriorated. She couldn’t collect trash or do manual work anymore, so she gradually lost contact with them.

Auntie Zhang only then noticed the scrawny child at the door, and a look of worry appeared on her face. “Little Chu, go back and check on your grandma quickly. We’ve been hearing her cough all morning. The building chief said there’s an infectious disease outbreak recently. Grandma Mei’s illness might be contagious too. If she doesn’t get better, they might throw her out.”

Wen Chu pursed his lips, his face turning a few shades paler.

He lost all interest in watching the commotion. With a hurried “Okay,” he quickly entered the building.

Auntie Zhang sighed as she watched his retreating figure. “Poor thing. If Grandma Mei goes, this child will have to go to the orphanage. Should we…”

Auntie Wang didn’t even lift her eyelids. “We haven’t even scraped together enough for next month’s rent tax.”

Auntie Zhang fell silent instantly, looking down at the half-glued paper box in her hand.

After a long while, she cursed, “Those bloodsuckers, they really won’t let people live.”

Even renting a house required paying a 20% rental tax. Buying a house was out of the question; with purchase tax, property tax, land tax, and so on stacked up, the price of a house could double.

Raising a child required paying birth tax, child-rearing tax, etc. Grandma Mei had to collect trash at her old age just to scrape together the child-rearing tax.

Because the previous Archon preached humanitarianism, factories were not allowed to hire workers under 14 or over 50, so people like them didn’t even have the chance to work.

Not only that, but it was heard that some time ago they were planning to implement an air tax. Anyone breathing the air on this land would have to pay tax.

However, before this tax law could be implemented, the Archon suddenly changed.

“Cough… cough cough cough!”

The soundproofing here was terrible; the coughing from upstairs could be heard clearly.

Auntie Wang’s dry, thin fingers quickly folded the paper boxes. Pursing her thin lips, she looked at the iron bars of the window and the dilapidated brick road. After a long while, she whispered, “How much is cough medicine?”

“Market price is one hundred, but I know a friend in the black market who can give a 15% discount. There are also expired ones; expired ones can go for 50% off.” Auntie Zhang understood immediately.

She looked upstairs, where there hadn’t been any movement for a long time, then looked at Auntie Wang and probed, “Shall we pool some money?”

Auntie Wang hesitated for a moment, her hands pasting boxes even faster. “…Let’s wait until Little Chu comes down.”

She didn’t know if it was an illusion, but Auntie Wang felt her own throat was itching a little too.

First floor.

After entering the room, Wen Chu quickly took off his cloak and headed straight for the bed in the center of the one-room apartment. “Grandma, I’m back. I brought you medicine. I brought all the medicine.”

On the bed, the white-haired old woman was leaning weakly against the headboard. Seeing him return, she tried hard to squeeze out a smile. “Little Chu… cough cough cough!”

“Don’t talk!” Wen Chu anxiously stepped forward to support the old woman.

He dumped everything from his arms onto the bed and asked anxiously, “Medicine, I brought it all. Which one can cure the illness?”

Grandma Mei looked at the bed full of medicine, forgetting to cough for a moment. She was stunned for a long time before speaking, “How did you get this?”

Wen Chu stammered, his rabbit ears drooping guiltily. “It was just… no one wanted it, so I took it.”

The people in the pharmacy were all busy outside, no one was watching the shelves. Indeed, no one “wanted” it at that moment.

But he was illiterate and didn’t know which one could cure a cough, so he simply took one of everything he could grab, which was why he accidentally got caught.

Grandma Mei: …

Looking at the bed full of brand-new medicine, Grandma Mei knew exactly what kind of “no one wanted it” situation it was.

She sighed. “How did you take it?”

“Just like this.”

As soon as Wen Chu finished speaking, the white-haired child vanished from the spot, replaced by a palm-sized lop-eared rabbit nestled by the bed.

The little rabbit shrank its furry body. “I just waited next to the pharmacy like this. When they came out, I rolled in, and then turned into a human inside—Waahhh!”

Before he could finish, he felt his four paws go light. He was actually picked up directly by Grandma.

Grandma Mei’s face was exceptionally serious. “Little Chu, I’ve told you many times, you are an Orc. You absolutely cannot reveal your identity, otherwise cough cough cough… you will be executed cough cough!”

Wen Chu was anxious. “I know, I know. I promise just this once. It was because they saw my tattered clothes and wouldn’t let me into the pharmacy that I thought of doing this. Haven’t I returned safely now? Grandma, you take the medicine first.”

Grandma Mei sighed and put down the little lop-eared rabbit.

In the end, it was because she, an old woman, was useless. At the end of the road, she couldn’t even afford a bottle of medicine and had to let a child go steal.

“When I get better and save enough money cough cough cough cough… you will go with me to the pharmacy to apologize cough cough cough!”

While coughing, Grandma Mei searched through the items on the bed.

Vitamins, digestive tablets, melatonin, glucose…

Grandma Mei’s hand paused.

The last one, lutein.

Wen Chu must have taken things from the health supplements shelf; none of them were for treating her illness.

“How is it? Is there anything usable?”

Wen Chu had already turned back into human form. The lop-eared rabbit boy looked at her eagerly with a pair of round blue eyes.

Grandma Mei’s hand paused for a moment, then a kind smile appeared on her face.

She picked up the bottle of vitamins and said softly, “Yes.”

Wen Chu instantly became happy, bouncing over to get a cup and pour hot water, muttering, “Great! Grandma, you’ll get better after taking the medicine. I also found bread today. It was just thrown away, not dirty. I brought it all back. I also heard Auntie Wang say the new Archon has arrived…”

He handed the water cup to Grandma, already starting to look forward to life ahead. “Will the new Archon let me go to work? If I can make money, I won’t be afraid of you getting sick anymore—Achoo!”

Grandma Mei took the medicine and frowned at him. “Why are you starting to cough too?”

Wen Chu rubbed his nose and mumbled, “Just an accidental sneeze.”