Chapter 1165: Cheshire

"By the floating crystal dust inside my body."

After showing Li Ang and the reporter her arm, which was covered in dense, deep-cyan blood spots, the girl explained in a low voice, her expression causing the reporter to gasp in horror:

"I was born in the floating crystal mining district. Even before my mother gave birth to me, I was already filled with this dust. These things are a part of my body."

"Grandma said that floating crystals have an attractive property. Once activated, these tiny fragments spontaneously gravitate toward larger, homologous floating crystal masses. Every year, people in the mining district die because they get too close to operating floating vehicles, causing the floating crystal dust in their bodies to be pulled out, shattering their throats and lungs."

"The floating crystals in the Kingdom of Ke Luoke are kept in a low-intensity activated state year-round. The closer I get to them, the more painful my body becomes. So, as long as I try a few more times, I will definitely be able to find the location of the Ke Luoke palace."

So, this is the method she uses to find it...

After hearing the girl's method for locating the palace, even though he had steeled himself, Li Ang could not help but fall silent.

Although the girl hadn't deliberately described the life she and her brother led before escaping Cheshire, it wasn't hard to imagine the kind of existence they had endured based on these occasional, fragmented revelations.

"I have a few more questions to confirm."

After a moment of silence, Li Ang asked again:

"The Kingdom of Ke Luoke has over eight hundred districts, each with floating crystals embedded beneath them. How can you be sure that the ones attracting you are the ones beneath the palace?"

"By the mining district's serial number."

The girl answered calmly:

"Because floating crystals have an attractive property once activated, to avoid mutual interference, the floating crystals beneath those districts are mined using different methods. The explosive ratios, mining machinery, and cleaning agents all differ."

"Theoretically, the floating crystals mined from each district are unique. My family was from Mining District 1. Grandma heard the mine supervisor say that the floating crystals mined from District 1 are exclusively supplied to the district where the royal family resides."

I see...

Li Ang nodded slightly after hearing her explanation. The reporter, finally recovering from her shock, stepped forward and gripped the girl's thin, terrifying arm, speaking incoherently:

"How could they do this?! Those floating crystals are actually... you... does it hurt?"

"It doesn't really hurt."

The girl shook her head at the reporter's question:

"I'm young, so my body can still grow. As long as I eat enough, I can endure the effects of this dust. It's only when my bones stop growing and my organs stop increasing in volume that they will start to wear down my body."

"Wear down?"

"It means rotting away."

Pointing to the blood spots on her arm, the girl answered in a steady voice:

"Uncle Mazibi told Grandma that once my body stops growing and the rate of cell replacement slows down—insufficient to replace the cells affected by this rejection—these spots will grow from the size of rice grains to the size of beans."

"Then, because the skin beneath them can no longer be maintained due to the rejection, large areas of ulceration will appear. After about a year, when these ulcers grow to the size of pigeon eggs, my internal organs will also begin to ulcerate, and I'll likely die within half a year."

"..."

That means from the moment she stops growing until she is tortured to death by this dust, she only has a year and a half left?

Looking at this girl, whose expression remained abnormally calm—as if she weren't talking about herself—the reporter's hands clenched tightly.

"Then... how old are you?"

"Fourteen."

Fourteen... Hearing her answer, the reporter bit her lip and looked away, no longer able to bear looking at her.

Even with adequate nutrition, a person's rapid growth phase usually ends by seventeen or eighteen; some girls stop growing as early as fifteen or sixteen.

If this child is the same, her life has already entered a countdown. In less than a year, she might begin to suffer from the pain, followed by rotting away until she dies.

So, although she looks underage, she has actually entered a countdown, much like an elderly person nearing the end of their life, about to reach the end of her own...

"Then... you... you..."

The reporter, shocked by the cruel reality, could only utter a few broken words before covering her mouth, unable to ask anything more. Li Ang took over the questioning:

"You've already left the mining district. Can't the dust left in your body be metabolized over time with medicine or other methods?"

"Uncle Mazibi tried; it's useless."

The girl shook her head:

"The activation method for floating crystals involves connecting to a certain form of energy. Uncle Mazibi said that the human body also contains energy that can be directly absorbed by floating crystal dust."

"Children like me, who have dust in their flesh and organs, are actually considered lucky. Those who have floating crystal dust in their brains and nerves can't even control their bodies; they die as soon as they are born."

"Who is this Uncle Mazibi you mentioned?"

"Uncle Mazibi is a scholar from the Kingdom of Ke Luoke."

At the mention of Ke Luoke, the girl's eyes turned cold, but then she added with a hint of complexity:

"He was originally sent to treat the supervisors, but after seeing our situation, he seemed to have a falling out with them. He stayed in Cheshire and treated many miners for free. My brother and I were able to escape because he helped us."

"And where is he now?"

"I don't know. He's probably dead."

The girl's expression was somewhat desolate:

"His health wasn't good either. He had been grazed by a floating vehicle in the mine, and his lung injury was even worse than Grandma's. By the time my brother and I escaped, he was already coughing up blood every day."

"..."

Hearing this, Li Ang closed his eyes and fell silent again. The reporter, having regained some composure, asked with reddened eyes:

"Then... if you don't go down into the mines... what do the Ke Luoke supervisors do? Do they attack you directly?"

"No. The Ke Luoke supervisors only care about whether the mining district is operating normally and that no one leaves without permission. They don't care about anything else."

The girl gritted her teeth:

"Although they don't attack, plants can't grow in Cheshire or the other large mining districts, and there are almost no animals. Everything, including food, has to be traded for with the floating crystals we mine!"

So, if they don't want to starve to death, they have no choice but to go down into the mines to extract floating crystals?

After understanding the "operating" model of Cheshire, the reporter bit her lip until it turned white. Li Ang sighed internally, took out a small silver knife, and cut the ropes binding the siblings.

"I accept the deal you proposed."

(End of Chapter)