Chapter 435: Sewer Rat

"Wait for me here for a while."

The drizzling rain dripped down. Having not been taken care of for a long time, his already messy hair was soaked by the rain, sticking to his scalp in a pathetic manner.

"Blood-Nosed Rat" Jieli greeted his two subordinates behind him, then dived into the dark and cramped alley in front of him without looking back.

He had to go back to his nest to get money.

The two adventurers he met earlier must have held back; after all, according to normal circumstances, if a hoodlum like him accidentally offended big shots like them, he basically wouldn't live until the next morning.

No one would care about a rat in the sewer dying in some corner where the sun couldn't find, and they were the same.

Yet he was still able to breathe the dirty and smelly but wonderful air in the alley right now.

"Praise the great Goddess of Luck!"

Jieli couldn't help but sigh in his heart, while deciding to take the "security fee" he had managed to squeeze out of a few households during the day tonight and find a casino to show his piety.

But before that, he had to spend money to treat the injuries of his two brothers whose arms had been snapped.

Of course, calling it "treating injuries," in reality, it was just going to some unlicensed clinic opened in the alley to wrap a few bandages. After recovery, they would likely have to carry sequelae for the rest of their lives.

Regarding this point, Jieli knew very well in his heart.

After all, his nose bridge, which was already completely crooked, was treated at this clinic back then.

Jieli certainly wanted to go to those clean and bright large clinics in the Cormorant District, or even the White Cliff District, and even see a doctor in the church.

But he had no money, and no qualifications to enter.

Right now, he could at least accept some treatment that looked somewhat reliable, and the cost was within an acceptable range. Even if there were some sequelae, it was better than being disabled for a lifetime.

Jieli's rat nest was located deep in a street called "Eel Alley" in the Saltwater District. The residents living here were as slippery and dark as eels, breathing and surviving against the dirtiest corners.

Under his feet was garbage and decaying wooden boards that had been piled up for who knows how many years, looking like mud. The air always drifted with a damp smell of urine, which was fermenting in the rain at this moment, appearing even more pungent.

Jieli had long been used to it. His short and thin figure was like a rat shuttling through the garbage. Every fork and every corner in the cramped alley was firmly remembered in his mind.

Before long, he returned to the door of his small hut.

Calling it a "small hut," in reality, it was just a dead corner sandwiched between a crooked, moldy wooden wall and the wall of the stone house next door. The "gate" was an old cabin board he didn't know where he found, which was firmly locked with a rusty iron chain at this moment.

Jieli fumbled in his crotch, took out an equally inconspicuous small key, approached the gate and fiddled with it twice, unlocked it, and took off the iron chain.

Then his body pressed against the door, his knees against the bottom left corner of the wooden door, his right hand inserted into the door gap, his hands and feet exerted force upward at the same time, and then he used his body to push the door inward.

Accompanied by a "click" sound, the wooden door finally opened an opening large enough for people to pass through.

There was no light in the house, it was dark and narrow, and rain seeped down from the cracks in the roof, dripping into an earthen jar that Jieli had prepared before going out, which was already filled with a small layer of rainwater at this moment.

Naturally, there couldn't be any luxurious furnishings inside. A simple wooden bed no bigger than a coffin, a cloak with unraveled threads and patches, a wooden barrel turned upside down to serve as a table, and an earthen jar with cracks on the surface that served both as a chamber pot and for rain protection were all his belongings.

It was absolutely not decent, and it had nothing to do with comfort and safety.

But it was also the only habitat for this little rat who grew up in the alleys of the Saltwater District, the only place that truly belonged to him.

Out of caution, Jieli, who walked into the house, did not act immediately, but just stood in place and waited patiently for a few seconds, then carefully turned around and poked his head out of the door, looking left and right, confirming that there were no followers.

Only then did he walk quickly to his broken bed, crawled on the ground, and reached his hands deep into the bedding made of moldy straw and smelly, tattered wool rags.

Fumbling slightly, he took out a money bag that looked a bit shriveled on the outside.

Not feeling at ease, he turned his head back to confirm twice in the direction of the door, only then using his body to block it, pouring out a few coins flashing with golden light from the money bag.

Stuffing a few gold coins deep into his underwear, Jieli stuffed the money bag back into its original place, and even carefully tidied up the straw and cloth on it, letting the bed return to its original state.

Only then did he get up again and walk in the direction of the door.

Jieli's savings were not much, or rather, with his living habits, even if he wanted to save money, he couldn't save it at all.

Just these few gold coins were all he had managed to save over the years by occasionally relying on luck to run into fat sheep.

In the past, he probably wouldn't have been willing to use them at all.

But right now, the situation was different.

On one hand, he was about to make a name for himself, and having finally gotten two subordinates, he naturally had to take on the responsibility of a "boss."

Watching himself spend money to treat their injuries, according to the rise of those big shots he had heard from bards, his two subordinates should be able to understand how much he had paid for them, and then completely surrender, becoming his most loyal subordinates.

On the other hand, to some extent, he was already an external member of the Great Shark Gang.

Once this matter passed, Jieli would officially have an organization.

In the future, just relying on collecting security fees for the big brothers, the oil and water he could get would be enough for him to spend the night in the tavern, comfortable to the extreme.

Thinking of the beautiful life in the future, Jieli couldn't help but grin, even the dull pain in his nose bridge on a rainy day seemed to be relieved a lot.

The ill-fitting leather boots stained with mud suddenly stopped.

"Blood-Nosed Rat" Jieli stood in front of his wooden hut, his body suddenly solidified.

As his nostrils flared, his eyebrows frowned subconsciously.

Although it was very weak under the dilution of the rain, he smelled a bloody smell like rust.

Thanks to his experience of growing up in chaotic alleys, Jieli was particularly sensitive to this smell.

Alarm bells rang in his heart.

His brain was thinking rapidly about the current situation, but the expression on his face returned to normal within a few breaths, pretending he didn't know anything.

But just as he was thinking of pretending he hadn't discovered anything and continuing to move forward.

The shadows deep in the alley behind his body suddenly squirmed.

"Swoosh."

A cold metallic light flashed by.

A cold, large hand reached out from the rain behind him, tightly blocking Jieli's mouth, leaving only a fleeting whimper from the scream that followed.

Hot blood gushed out from his throat, blending with the cold raindrops, adding a few more shades of blood red to his already soaked collar.

His feet kicked the ground wildly, his hands clawed upward at the arm that felt harder than steel, but his vitality was rapidly passing away along with the fresh blood gushing from the wound in his throat.

The body that was originally struggling in severe pain gradually convulsed.

A pair of eyes first contracted and became bloodshot, and then expanded and lost focus along with his helplessly drooping arms.

Ten seconds, or maybe a few minutes.

When Jieli's body center of gravity gradually moved backward and he was knocked down into the mud, he truly became a corpse.

"Hoo..." ===== CHAPTER 436 =====