Chapter 199 - 145: Case Closed, Prequel: ’A Born Criminal’ (2)

There weren’t many belongings left behind, only a single letter.

The letter said that he had a grandmother and a father, and that he should go to Linlan City to seek them out once he grew up.

Sun Jiang decided it was time to leave.

In the middle of the night, he snuck out of the prison. The guards he passed seemed unable to see him, not until he was far away.

Outside, Sun Jiang kowtowed three times toward the prison before disappearing into the darkness.

Inside the office.

The warden stubbed out his cigarette, tossing it into an ashtray overflowing with butts.

He smacked his lips and said,

"That troublesome thing is finally gone."

"Yes, yes, he is," the guard agreed dejectedly.

"Yes, my ass!"

the warden suddenly cursed.

The guard looked completely baffled.

The warden fell silent. After a long moment, he lit another cigarette and said,

"Forget it."

"He didn’t belong here."

...

Sun Jiang was out. It was his first time traveling alone, and everything he saw was a novelty.

The outside world wasn’t as dangerous as the warden had said.

He walked and played, enjoying himself wherever he went. The warden had given him a lot of money, so he never had to worry about food or expenses.

He even made a few friends—some street kids. They had stared, drooling, as he ate a steamed bun, so Sun Jiang gave them some. Just like that, they became good friends.

When they learned Sun Jiang was heading to Linlan City, the street kids took him to the train station and pointed it out on a map.

Sun Jiang said his goodbyes.

He began his journey to Linlan City.

Linlan City was far, yet not so far.

Sun Jiang hopped onto a train—a coal train.

As the train chugged along, people would occasionally pop up behind it, bending over to pick up lumps of coal from the tracks.

Some were even bold enough to climb onto the coal train itself, but as soon as one did, he saw Sun Jiang. The two stared at each other, speechless.

The man ignored Sun Jiang. Thinking it looked fun, Sun Jiang joined him in pushing coal off the train.

Sun Jiang didn’t count how many trains he rode, nor how many days had passed.

But soon enough, he arrived in Linlan City.

Following the address, Sun Jiang found an elderly couple. They were a poor family.

According to the neighbors, their circumstances had been decent before, but then their son fell into debt and went into hiding, only sending a little money back from time to time.

Debt collectors had emptied their home of everything. They even lost the house.

Left with no choice, the old couple could only live out in the desolate countryside.

Sun Jiang thought for a moment, then used what little money he had to buy some things. He left them at the door of their thatched hut, knocked, and then hid.

The old woman opened the door and, utterly terrified, cried out that there was a monster.

A few days later, he did it again.

Until one time, Sun Jiang was caught in the act. The door opened, and the old woman’s eyes met his.

The next second, the old woman shouted.

"Old man, it’s not a monster! It’s a fair-skinned little boy!"

It was strange. Although it was the first time they had ever met, a sense of familiarity and closeness made them subconsciously feel that this was their own grandson.

After he revealed his identity, Sun Jiang moved in with them.

The old woman told him not to steal.

She said this as she toiled in the fields night after night, explaining that money earned through labor felt more reassuring to spend.

Sun Jiang didn’t understand. To him, all money was the same.

He had been to the wealthy districts and seen how those people spent their money. They had far more money than his grandmother, and they spent it with just as much peace of mind.

’So why bother working so hard?’

Later, his Grandpa died.

He was heading to the vegetable patch at night when he missed a step, hit his head on a hoe, and died on the spot.

His grandmother cried herself half-blind.

Sun Jiang still didn’t understand. Why work so hard for so little money? It had cost his grandpa his life.

Until...

「That year.」

As the saying goes, if you walk by the river long enough, you’re bound to get your shoes wet. Having rarely used his Skill, Sun Jiang was unexpectedly caught during his first attempt at stealing.

But it didn’t matter.

Sun Jiang expertly followed what he remembered hearing back in the day. He covered his head, curled up, and lay on the ground.

Just like before, a flurry of kicks and punches came his way. Sun Jiang was used to this. He silently counted the number of times he was kicked.

Unlike before, the beating stopped halfway through.

"I’m so sorry, so sorry! This is my little brother. He’s made a mistake, I didn’t watch him properly..."

A flower-selling girl came over, shielding him and begging for forgiveness.

The man grumbled and cursed as he went through Sun Jiang’s wallet.

Inside was the money he had stolen from a total of four people.

The man’s eyes lit up. He coughed, then nonchalantly stuffed all the money into his own pocket and said,

"I’ll just take my money back and we’ll call it even..."

As he spoke, he made sure to glare at Sun Jiang.

"Stealing at such a young age! You’ll definitely end up in prison when you’re older!"

What he didn’t know was that Sun Jiang had just come from prison.

And Sun Jiang had no idea who this girl claiming to be his sister was.

Seeing the man leave, the girl stood up, looked at Sun Jiang, and pouted.

"You’re Grandma Zhang’s grandson, aren’t you? You’re so young... you must be two years younger than me. How could you be stealing here!?"

"From now on, you’re not allowed to..."

Sun Jiang didn’t understand any of it.

Back then, all he thought was that this girl was so noisy and so fierce, that she didn’t hold back at all... but that she was also very pretty.

The girl grabbed him by the ear and dragged him in front of his grandmother.

His grandmother beat him with a broom, and so, Sun Jiang stopped stealing.

Though he still didn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to.

「The days passed one by one.」

Spring passed into autumn, summer into winter. Year after year, day after day.

Sun Jiang behaved himself. He diligently planted vegetables, diligently sold vegetables, and sometimes helped sell flowers.

He thought this kind of life was pretty good, too. At least he wouldn’t starve.

He even found a friend of his own.

It was a homeless man who lived in the sewers.

The homeless man would say with a smile,

"This is my castle. It’s just built underground."

Sun Jiang thought that made sense, and the two of them got along very well.

Until one day...

When he went to the sewers, he discovered something new in the normally dry passage where the man lived.