Beast Tamer, Wither Skeleton's Storm Journey

"Grandma, aren't we going to pick up trash today?" Ming Li widened his eyes and looked at his grandmother who was sorting out his clothes, and asked in a low voice.

Grandma gave her a new dress, which was made of old cloth but clean and tidy.

"Today, Mingli is going to another place," said Old Lady Li, and took out a card. It was a bank card of the Federation. This was the first time Mingli had seen it.

"Grandma?" The four-year-old Ming Li didn't understand anything. He just took the things his grandmother handed over and looked at Grandma Li in confusion.

"Wait a minute, there will be an uncle to pick you up. You should remember that he was the third uncle who gave you candy in the store we went to last week."

Mingli remained silent, letting her grandmother play with him like a doll, turning him left and right and helping him organize his clothes.

"Are we going to separate, grandma..." Ming Li suddenly said, and at the same time, a pair of golden eyes looked at old lady Li.

"Yes, life is full of separations. It's time for us to separate," said Grandma Li, wiping Mingli's tears and said, "Don't cry, child. How can I bear to leave you?"

"But I don't want to leave grandma!" Ming Li cried even harder when she heard this. She hugged old lady Li's calf.

"Okay, be strong!" Grandma Li seemed angry and spoke in a heavier tone. Mingli choked and stopped crying.

"Grandma is going to a more distant place, but I can't let you go, so I have to find a place for you to go," said Old Lady Li, rubbing Ming Li's head.

"Will you go to the orphanage in Midtown? If you're lucky enough to be adopted by a gentleman in Midtown, you can live a relatively stable life."

"If you are unlucky, you will only be sent to the lower city to get an ID card, but at least you have an identity."

"At least, you won't go back to the dead in the slums." Grandma Li seemed to be choking with sobs. She picked up Mingli, picked up the clothes, and walked out the door.

"Child, live on in this sad world, be selfish, and fight for what you can."

"Grandma can only accompany you here."

------

Mingli got on a dilapidated van and followed a bearded man to the central city.

Ming Li was a little restless. She leaned against the dirty car window and stared at Grandma Li who was getting smaller and smaller.

"grandmother!"

She shouted, but only saw Grandma Li waving goodbye.

The familiar scenery on the roadside quickly receded, and soon they arrived in an unfamiliar area. Mingli felt extremely scared. She was uncertain about the future and sad about leaving her loved ones. She was now very confused.

She didn't recognize anything around her, the city wall in the distance, the screaming crowd, the stench, the glaring sunlight that made people feel upset.

Mingli curled up her legs, rolled herself into a small ball, covered her face and secretly wiped away her tears.

"Stop the car and check! Hey, isn't this Xiaowen? Do you have more goods this time?"

At the checkpoint leading to the downtown area, a pair of law enforcement officers stopped the broken van at the checkpoint set up at the door. A man who looked like the captain came out and kicked the glass of the van.

"Hey, brother, here are the tickets, please take a look." The driver was holding the ID card of the downtown area, with a paper bag underneath.

The team leader took the paper bag, weighed it, then pinched open a corner of the bag, looked at the color of the banknotes inside, and nodded with satisfaction.

The person from the downtown area didn't even look at his ID card. He just scanned it on the barcode scanner next to him and was allowed to pass.

"Thank you, brother. I wish you success in your career and all the best. I'm leaving now." The driver flattered him with a smile and then drove away.

After entering the lower city, the environment was obviously much better. At least the road was not bumpy anymore. This was the only thing Mingli could feel.

The buildings seemed much taller than those in the civilian area, but Mingli didn't like it. She felt it was too depressing here. The buildings were like giant beasts that devoured people, forming a steel jungle.

"When you get to the orphanage, don't act so sad," the driver in front suddenly said. Ming Li knew he was talking to him.

"If you cry here, if the law enforcers on the road see me, I might be shot as a traitor. The law enforcers in the middle city are not like those in the lower city." The man said, glancing at Ming Li through the rearview mirror.

Ming Li replied with a "hmm" and wiped the tears from her face. She stopped crying, but her eyes were still red.

"Mrs. Li is so good to you that she gave up all her life savings just to help you make a social leap."

The driver in front took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, lit it, and exhaled a puff of white smoke.

"If you're lucky, you might even become a big shot in the middle class. I might have to look up to you in the future."

Mingli was just dazed, she didn't understand at all, she was just thinking about her grandma. Seeing that she didn't respond, the driver stopped talking and waited for the traffic light, smoking silently.

Soon, after passing through another door, Ming Li saw a vast expanse of green.

"Uncle, what is that? Is it a big grass?" Ming Li pointed at a tree and asked.

"What big grass?" The driver was stunned by his question, looked in the direction he pointed, and then laughed.

"That's a tree, kid," the driver said, flicking the ash out of the window.

"If you could go to school, you would learn this quickly."

"go to school?"

"Yes! Learn the knowledge that humans have accumulated for thousands of years and take control of your own future. If you are lucky enough to become a beastmaster or a qi refiner, you will be able to rise to the top even faster."

Taming beasts? Refining Qi?

Mingli didn't understand these things. How could she understand them when she saw the tree for the first time?

Rolling down the car window, there is no sour smell of garbage from the slums, no disgusting fermentation smell, no stench, no fumes and gasoline smell from the downtown area. Here there is only the fragrance of flowers, plants and trees, and the gentle and refreshing breeze of the early morning dew.

＜It smells really good＞

Ming Li was like a fish coming ashore for the first time, greedily breathing in the fresh air.

Soon, the van stopped and Ming Li came to his senses and found himself in front of a yard.

"We're here, get out of the car," the driver said, opening the door and walking towards the trunk. Ming Li also got out silently.

She looked up at the words on the gate. She couldn't read, but she knew that she might have to live here in the future.

"Let's go! Go inside!" The driver took the rag bag that Grandma Li had prepared for Mingli and pulled Mingli into the orphanage.

Mingli followed him timidly into the yard, holding the corner of his clothes and looking at the surrounding environment.

The orphanage is composed of an older four-story building on the edge of the central city, surrounded by walls on three sides and a small courtyard.

There were two other people in the orphanage yard, one looked no more than ten years old, and the other looked about seventeen or eighteen years old, almost 20 years old, both boys.

Following the driver into the orphanage, I met the director of the orphanage, a young man who looked less than 30 years old.

"Dean Chen Ye, we have a child here. Do you want him?"

Ming Li was led to Chen Ye. Chen Ye stretched out his hand, lifted Ming Li's face and looked into his eyes. Ming Li looked at the middle-aged man in front of him with some fear, but he did not dodge.

Chen Ye suddenly touched an acupuncture point on Ming Li's head, and then felt her pulse. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, but he pretended to be calm.

The driver next to him looked left and right and said, "Director Chen, our eldest brother said that the child is healthy."

"If you don't want them here, we will send them to another orphanage with more children."

Chen Ye waved his hand and said, "Eh? Who said we don't want it? We want this child. Go back and tell your eldest brother that he's done with the favor."

Chen Ye said, touching Ming Li's head