Chapter 462 Persistence

Joe fell ill.

He was originally the second-to-last weakest guy in the gang, but after Bai Zhi was kidnapped, he became the weakest one. There were no problems the night he came back from the square, but the next day Snake Ya found Joe lying motionless on the hay, moaning vaguely, and his cheeks were horribly red.

"He was attacked by the cold epidemic," Kui touched Qiao's forehead, "his head was severely burned."

"Am I... going to die?"

He opened his half-lidded eyes and asked softly.

No one answered.

Cold epidemic is an extremely difficult disease. Once you catch it, you can only rely on your body to fight it off - but people with good health rarely get cold. Generally, those who get sick are those with weak body and energy, so it is very difficult to deal with it. Few patients survive. For rats, contracting cold plague is basically a death sentence.

"I'm going to find Kanash," Snake Ya said, breaking the silence.

"What are you doing with him?"

"Please give him more food to Qiao," he stood up suddenly, "I heard people say that if you can fill your stomach and keep your body warm when you get cold, your chances of surviving the cold will be much higher."

"He won't give it to you," Tiger Claw shook his head, "We all know what kind of person he is."

"That's right, you might even get a good beating from him," Aoi gathered the hay, "Rat never raises a useless person."

"Qiao is not a useless person," Sheya retorted, "He can still read!"

"There are only a few, and are they of any use to Kanash? What he wants is someone who can fight, rob, steal and pickpocket."

"..." Snake Ya gritted his teeth, turned around and walked straight towards the Wuwei Alley manager's room. Even if the opponent would beat him with a stick, he still wanted to give it a try.

But surprisingly, Kanash did not come back.

"You're lucky," Tiger Claw grinned when he brought the news back to his companions, "otherwise we might have had to take care of one more person."

Aoi sighed, "When the bread is distributed, let's share some with Joe so he can eat more."

However, Snake Ya didn't feel lucky, he vaguely felt something was wrong.

It only took less than half an hour to report the news to Xue Hand. If he didn't come back last night, it could be interpreted as discussing countermeasures, but it was already noon today, so the discussion should have been finished, right? Moreover, he took a peek inside while his men were opening the door, only to find that not only Kanash, but also his lover was missing.

Not long after, the gang began to distribute food, and Snake Ya noticed that this time it was distributed by Kanash's cronies.

What I got was still half a piece of black bread.

…

Four days later, Joe's condition not only did not improve, but worsened a lot.

Yesterday he was still yelling about how cold it was, but today he couldn't even speak. His bright red face began to turn pale, and his breathing became weaker and weaker.

"We tried our best." Aoi said listlessly, rubbing her belly.

In the past few days, they had given half of the food to Joe. If not for this, he might not have been able to survive until this point. Tiger Claw, who was usually energetic, looked a little weak.

Kanash has not shown up these days.

The more than a hundred mice gathered in the room began to discuss this, but it was just a discussion. After all, the daily food was still being distributed as usual, but the noise today was particularly loud.

Today is the day when relief food is distributed during the preaching.

"I'm going to the square," Snake Ya hesitated for a long time, and finally bit her lip and said, "There's not enough bread for us to eat. If we can get a bowl of hot wheat porridge, Joe might be able to survive."

"Are you crazy?" Kui glared at him, "Don't forget what Kanash warned us. Do you really want to have your mouth sewn shut with needle and thread?"

"The premise is that he knows that I have escaped. Now the people in Kanash don't know where they are. Maybe the city lord will really take action against them!"

"But his men are still here. Do you think they will let you go if they are discovered?" Aoi looked at Tiger Claw, "Don't just stand there, tell me about him."

"I'll go with you," the latter said suddenly.

"you--"

"Perhaps this grain release has been disrupted a long time ago, or maybe the nobles just want to show off. If there is no food at all, it doesn't violate Kanash's warning, right?" Tiger Claw curled his lips, "And I He is strong enough to carry Qiao back and forth, and the journey won’t take long. Kanash is not here now, and those cronies are huddled in his room warming themselves by the fire, so no one will notice us.”

"This..." Aoi hesitated.

"You just stay here," Snake Ya said. "In case anyone asks, it would be nice to have an explanation. Just say that we had diarrhea and went to find a shelter from the wind. Don't worry, it only takes so long to get back from there. .”

"Okay then," she looked around, "go back quickly."

…

Snake Fang and Tiger Claw slipped out of the wooden house and ran along the alley. The snowflakes raised under their feet soaked their trousers. The cold wind blew on their faces like knives, but even so, the two did not stop. Panting, they rushed to the square and found that nearly a thousand people had gathered around the wooden platform!

They were actually handing out wheat porridge!

The two of them ran over quickly, but were stopped by two guards in brown uniforms, "Go from that side, no pushing or crossing, otherwise you will be disqualified from receiving."

Only then did Snake Ya notice that wooden fences had been erected around the podium at some point in the center of the square. People were like a long folded dragon, advancing along the passage enclosed by the fences. Guards with strange iron bars stood at regular intervals. They seemed to be the maintainers of order, and from time to time someone was driven out of the team.

"My friend is sick...can you help us, please!" Snake Ya knelt down in the snow.

"He has been hungry for several days and is in urgent need of food!" Tiger Claw followed and knelt down.

"What disease?"

"It's... cold epidemic."

One of them reached out and lifted up the unconscious Joe, "Leave him to me, you go and line up."

"this--"

"He knows the way back, right?" Another person said, "Even if he doesn't know, you can still come here to find him."

While talking, the guard had already carried Qiao away.

"What should we do?" The two looked at each other. No one expected that the result would be like this. According to their thoughts, the other party would either be indifferent or let them bypass the fence and go in first to receive the wheat porridge.

"Let's go back first," Sheya decided after thinking for a moment.

"What, go back?" Tiger Claw was stunned, "You don't want to drink porridge?"

"It will take us at least half an hour to wait in line. If the time is too long, accidents may happen," he nodded. "We will sneak out to pick Qiao back in the evening."

Tiger Claw reluctantly glanced at the wooden platform where the porridge was being served, "Then... okay."

There is one sentence that Snake Ya has not said yet. Now that the announced distribution of relief food has come true, what about the other two news? Will it also come true one by one?

He had a vague feeling that the underworld might be about to undergo a big change.

Returning to Wuwei Alley, the two of them quietly slipped into the house, but were shocked.

I saw Kui hanging at the door with bruises on her face, her hands tied behind her back, and a rickety bench under her feet, while Kanash's men stood beside her, looking at the two of them with a sneer on their faces.

"Hey, are you back after eating and drinking?" (To be continued.)