Joe fell ill.
He was the second weakest guy in the gang, and since Paper was abducted, he became the weakest. He was fine on the night he came back from the square, but the next day, Snaketooth found Joe lying motionless on the hay with a faint sound coming from his mouth. His cheeks were terribly red.
"He's been infected by the cold plague." Sunflower touched Joe's forehead. "His head is very hot."
"Am I... going to die?"
Snaketooth opened his half-closed eyes and asked softly.
No one answered.
Cold Plague was an extremely difficult disease to deal with. Once infected, one could only rely on their body to resist the cold. However, people with good health would rarely be affected by the cold. Generally, those who got sick were weak and weak, so very few patients could survive. For Rats, being infected with cold plague was basically a death sentence.
"I'm going to find Kanas," Snaketooth broke the silence.
"What for?"
"Ask him to give Joe more food." He stood up abruptly. "I've heard that if you catch a cold, you'll have a better chance of surviving if you can fill your stomach and keep your body warm."
"He won't give it to you." Tigerclaw shook his head. "We all know what kind of person he is."
"That's right. Maybe he'll beat you up." Sunflower gathered the hay. "Rats don't feed useless people."
"Joe isn't useless," Snaketooth retorted. "He can read!"
"Just a few. What's the use of them to Kanas? What he wants are people who can fight, rob, steal, and dig. "
"..." Snaketooth gritted his teeth, turned around, and walked straight to the room of the manager of the Endless Alley. He wanted to try, even if he would be beaten out by Kanas with a stick.
But to his surprise, Kanas did not come back.
"You're lucky." Tigerclaw grinned when he brought the news back to his companions. "Otherwise, we might have to take care of one more person."
Sunflower sighed. "When we distribute the bread, let's give some to Joe. Let him eat more."
But Snaketooth did not feel lucky. He faintly felt that something was wrong.
It had been less than an hour since he had reported the news to Blood Hand. It could be understood that he had not returned last night to discuss countermeasures, but it was already noon today. No matter what, they should have finished discussing, right? Furthermore, he took the opportunity when his subordinates opened the door to sneak a peek inside. In the end, he discovered that not only was Kanas gone, but even his lover was gone.
Not long after, the gang began to distribute food. Snaketooth noticed that it was distributed by Kanas's trusted aide this time.
What he got was still half a piece of black bread.
…
Four days later, not only did Charle's condition not improve, but it also worsened.
Yesterday, he could still shout that it was cold, 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," Sunflower rubbed her belly and said listlessly.
In the past few days, they had given half of their food to Joe. If not for that, he probably wouldn't have been able to survive until now. Tigerclaw, who was usually full of energy, looked a little weak.
Kanas had not shown himself for the past few days.
More than a hundred Rats gathered in the room began to discuss this, but it was just a discussion. After all, food was still distributed as usual, but today, the noise was especially loud.
Today was the day of the distribution of relief food.
"I'll go to the square." Snaketooth hesitated for a long time and finally bit his lip. "There's not enough bread for us to eat. If we can get a bowl of hot oatmeal, Joe might be able to survive."
"Are you crazy?" Sunflower glared at him. "Don't forget what Kanas warned us. Do you really want your mouth to be sewn shut?"
"The premise is that he knows that I've sneaked away. Now we don't even know where Kanas's people are. Maybe the mayor will really attack them!"
"But his subordinates are still here. Do you think they'll let you go if they find out?" Sunflower looked at Tigerclaw. "Don't just stand there, tell me about him."
"I'll go with you," Tigerclaw suddenly said.
"You —"
"Maybe the food distribution has already been ruined, or maybe the nobles just want to put on a show. If there's no food at all, it won't be a violation of Kanas's warning, right?" Tigerclaw twitched his mouth. "Besides, I'm strong enough to carry Joe back and forth. It won't take long. Kanas isn't here now, and his cronies are hiding in his room. No one will notice us."
"This..." Sunflower hesitated.
"You stay here," Snaketooth said. "In case someone asks, we'll have an explanation. Just say that we had diarrhea and went to find a place to squat. Don't worry, it won't take us long to come back. "
"All right, then," she said, looking around. "Come back as soon as you can."
...
Snaketooth and Tigerclaw slipped out of the wooden house and ran along the alley. The snowflakes under their feet soaked their trousers, and the cold wind blew on their faces like knives. Even so, they did not stop running. Panting, they rushed to the square and found that the wooden platform was surrounded by nearly a thousand people!
They were really giving out oatmeal!
They hurriedly ran over, but were stopped by two guards in brown uniforms. "Go that way. No pushing or shoving. Otherwise, you'll be disqualified."
It was not until then that Snaketooth noticed that wooden fences had been erected around the podium in the center of the square. The people were like a folded dragon, moving forward through the fences one by one. Guards with strange iron rods stood at regular intervals. They seemed to be the guardians of order. People were driven out of the line from time to time.
"My friend is sick... Can you help us? Please!" Snaketooth knelt down in the snow.
"He's been hungry for days and needs food!" Tigerclaw knelt down as well.
"What's wrong?"
"It's... the cold plague."
One of them reached out and lifted the unconscious Joe. "Leave him to me. You go line up."
"This..."
"He knows the way back, right?" the other guard said. "Even if he doesn't, you can come here to find him."
As they spoke, the guard had already carried Joe away.
"What should we do?" Snaketooth and Tigerclaw looked at each other. No one had expected things to turn out this way. They had thought that the other party would either be indifferent or let them go around the fences to get the oatmeal first.
"Let's go back first," Snaketooth decided after thinking for a moment.
"What? Go back?" Tigerclaw was surprised. "We don't want the oatmeal?"
"It'll take us at least an hour to get there. Accidents might happen if we wait too long." Snaketooth nodded. "We'll sneak out in the evening to take Joe back."
Tigerclaw reluctantly looked at the wooden platform where the porridge was being distributed. "Well... okay."
There was one thing that Snaketooth did not say. Now that the announcement of food distribution had come true, what about the other two pieces of news? Would they also come true?
He had a feeling that Black Street was about to usher in a big change.
Returning to the Endless Alley, the two sneaked into the house quietly, but they were suddenly shocked.
They saw Sunflower hanging at the door with her hands tied behind her back. She was standing on a wobbly stool while Kanas' men stood beside her and looked at the two of them with a sneer.
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