In Rum Town, under the setting sun, the shadows on the ground were exceptionally long. As a gathering place of people in the southern region of the Gamma Empire, this place was famous for its delicious rum.
Countless merchants, no matter how busy they were, would all come to Rum Town. They would try their best to deliver the rum to the other towns of the Gamma Empire to obtain high profits.
Because of the prosperity of business, the human traffic in the whole town was extraordinarily high. Although the sun was setting, the bustling night in the town was only beginning.
In Rum Town, there was a remote area that was regarded as the waste field of the entire town. Tons of household waste and industrial waste would be piled up here every day. Over time, it formed a trash mountain.
Normally, other than the garbage transporting staff, no other town residents would show up at this trash mountain. Sometimes a few homeless people passed by, but even for them, it was difficult to endure this filthy and chaotic environment. They wouldn't be able to stay for long before they left in a hurry.
However, just as the night was about to fall, there was another lively scene inside the trash mountain pile...
"Carl, it's getting dark! We have to go back as soon as possible. Otherwise, if we are caught by the dean, he will punish us and not let us have dinner!"
A girl with short dark green hair and white linen clothes shouted at the boy in front of her, who was constantly overturning the garbage.
"Okay! I got it!"
The boy named Carl impatiently put down the things in his hand. He had searched in the trash mountain for such a long time but found nothing useful, which made him very unhappy.
Carl wanted to vent his anger, but he didn't dare to be angry with Sofia, who had just reminded him. There was a tacit rule among the children, which was that it was better to provoke Carl, the leader, than to provoke Sofia when she was angry.
Looking up at the almost-dark sky, Carl shouted to the side, "Arthur! Send the signal. Let's call it a day. Let's go back to the orphanage!"
Hearing Carl's shout, Arthur, who was also buried in the garbage dump, wiped the sweat on his forehead with his dirty right hand and then whistled loudly.
In the quiet trash mountain, the sound of whistling drifted out in all directions. After a while, the other six figures came from different directions.
Carl first glanced at the people who had come from the back. After making sure that everyone had returned, he was relieved.
Although the trash mountain was quiet and deserted, its surface area was slightly large. If one was not careful, they might get lost in the maze made up of garbage. Sometimes even picking up things could cause the garbage to fall from a high place and bury people underneath in an instant.
As the leader of this group of children, Carl was responsible to take them back to the orphanage intact after taking them out to scavenge in the trash mountain.
For this group of children, who were only 15 or 16 years old, the trash mountain could be an extremely dangerous area, as all the residents of Rum Town had strictly prohibited their children from approaching.
The parents even said things like, "If you don't listen to me, I will throw you into the trash mountain," to threaten the children.
Only Carl's group of children was different. Since they were little, they had already lived in the only orphanage in Rum Town. The trash mountain, which was regarded as a forbidden area by the residents of Rum Town, became the precious back garden of Carl's group.
The back garden was extremely important to Carl and the others.
Different from the other children in Rum Town, the children in the orphanage did not have parents to dote on them, high-quality toys, or a good education.
What they had were merely the love and care for each other as well as the time they spent together in the trash mountain, which made their special childhood.
All the orphanage gave Carl and the others was three meals a day to keep them alive. But what child does not want to eat snacks? What child does not want to wear new clothes? What child does not want to have their beloved toys?
For Carl and the others, who were still young, the only way of gaining income was to find some trash that was still in good condition in the back garden. Then, at a low price, they would sell it to the merchants in Rum Town to make new products.
That was also the reason why Carl became a little irritated because he had gotten nothing today.
"Have you found anything useful?" Although Carl did not find anything himself, he still had a glimmer of hope for the other children.
Unfortunately, after hearing Carl's question, the seven children who came later all shook their heads with faces full of dirt.
Carl sighed helplessly, waved his hand, and told everyone to go home with him.
"Carl! Carl!" A thin little boy in a shabby gray cloth gown with red hair ran up to Carl from behind.
Carl raised his eyebrows, wiped the dirt on the boy's face smilingly with his hand, and asked, "Ron. What is it? If we don't go back now, the dean won't let us have dinner!"
"Hahaha, little Ron, are you hungry? Go to Carl and ask him for candy!" Joel, who had always been good friends with Ron, laughed at him from not far away.
Upon hearing that, Ron blushed and said in a low voice, "No, I'm not," and looked at Carl with respect.
"Carl, today I went to the top of the garbage heap and found a group of soldiers outside the back garden!" Ron was relatively thin and flexible, which also gave him the advantage to be able to easily climb to the top of the trash mountain.
Carl answered in surprise, "Soldiers?"
Carl turned around to take a look and asked, "Tom, Jerry, the two of you were in charge of the same area with Ron today. Did you see this?"
Tom and Jerry were biological brothers of this group of children, which was rare. They were abandoned by their parents when they were born and were sent to the orphanage in Rum Town.
Tom and Jerry nodded. Although they couldn't climb to the top of the trash mountain like Ron, when they got a little higher, they saw a large group of people in military uniforms gathering around the trash mountain.
Carl then looked at Vivian, who hadn't said anything. She was a cute little girl who looked like a doll. Chris, a boy with a dirty braid and brown skin, had also been silent.
Both of them shook their heads. They did not find anything unusual in the area in which they were in charge.
"That's strange... This group of military soldiers is usually in charge of public security. Why do they have time to come to the trash mountain today?" While Carl was thinking in his heart, the children were about to reach the exit and they encountered the military soldiers!
"Carl!" Arthur, who was the same age as Carl, saw him approaching the exit and had no choice but to shout.There was no stipulation in Rum Town that the town residents were not allowed to enter the trash mountain, so Carl and the others were frequent visitors to the site.Then suddenly, this group of military soldiers appeared for no known reasons. If Carl's group were to be seen by them inexplicably, it would only cause unnecessary trouble!Carl frowned. He could think of things that Arthur would take note of. After spending so many years in the trash mountain, he knew the area like the back of his hand and knew where the various escape routes were. What made him reluctant to leave was that he wanted to find out the reason for the abnormal behavior of this group of soldiers."Forget it! I can come back tomorrow!" Gradually, they could hear the noises from the group of military soldiers. Carl pointed to the side in time and motione
Carl and the other two had heard of the fairy tale of The King and His Sword, but they had always treated it as a myth.But now, all of a sudden, the dean talked about the warriors of War Spirit and specifically mentioned The King and His Sword. The three of them were so smart that they immediately grasped the key to this matter."Could it be that King Caesar is a War Spirit warrior?" The three of them asked in unison.The dean nodded with a smile, drummed his fingers on the wooden table in front of him and said slowly, "Let's start with the catastrophe in the story... The so-called catastrophe refers to an alien tribe—the Zergs, which have nothing to do with those little bugs we see in our daily life..."At this point, the dean slowly rolled up the sleeve on his right hand and the sight that greeted them, made them take a deep breath.They had never imagined that under the dean's loose robe, his arm was marked with sp
Early the next day, Silas roused the three of them from their sleep. He kept urging them to wash up quickly so they could leave."Silas, it's just an aptitude test. Why are you in such a rush?" Carl complained as he rubbed his bleary eyes unhappily.Silas chuckled. Then he shook his head and kept pressing them to be quick."This aptitude test is a big annual event for people from all towns! Do you think that only young people will be going to the test spot?"Carl pursed his lips but did not utter a word. He trailed behind Silas. Aside, Arthur and Sofia looked at the upset Carl and smiled.The smell of alcohol still lingered in the morning air. Carl and the others, walking in the streets of Rum Town, discovered something different today."Sofia, usually, shops on this street should be open, right?" Arthur swept his eyes across the buildings on both sides and asked with some uncertainty.Sofia n
"Next, Carl, Arthur, Sofia, Glew and Harry, come in!""It's your turn!" Silas nodded at them, motioning them to enter according to the instructions of the staff."Carl! Whatever happens, believe in yourself!" Unexpectedly, just as Carl was about to walk into the room, Silas suddenly reminded him loudly, just like what the dean had done.Carl looked back at him, rubbing his head in a daze. Both Silas and the dean had especially reminded him that, but he really could not figure out the reason.The others had already entered, but Carl was still at the door. "What are you doing?! Come in!" The soldiers in the room urged him impatiently.Carl curled his lips in disdain, but did not protest. All the soldiers here looked fierce, so he could only say in his heart, "A wise man submits to circumstances." Then he went to stand beside Arthur and Sofia."Carl, the people's arms in this room are embroidered with a shiel
When he put down the pen, Carl seemed to have lost all his strength. The soldiers beside him pushed him away and drove him out of the area.The crowd of onlookers would point fingers at those who failed the aptitude test, either sympathetically or sneeringly. But overall, they felt it was a pity.After all, Rum Town was a small town. A few more War Spirit warriors would be of great help to its residents.Those who failed the test sneered scathingly at Carl."Humph, I knew that the guy from the orphanage would not have the aptitude of War Spirit!""Sure thing. That guy always wants to push himself forward and stand out from the others. But now, he still ended up as a common soldier and has to report for duty in the army like us!""But three orphans went in, right? Is he the only one who failed?""Really? I heard that only those who passed the test could stay in that room and those who failed it
Carl watched them from the window for a long time. Finally, the noisy crowd outside began to move into the courtyard. It seemed that they were done congratulating Arthur and Sofia.Looking back at the clock at the head of the bed, Carl said in his heart, "It's time for dinner..."Sure enough, after a while, Vivian knocked on the door and called him, "Brother Carl, the dean asked us to go down for dinner. To celebrate Brother Arthur and Sister Sofia's success today, the chef has made a lot of delicious food for us!"...Carl pulled himself together and opened the door with a smile. Looking at the adorable Vivian, he could not help reaching out to rub her hair and she responded with a lovely smile.They went downstairs, laughing and chasing each other all the way, but Carl suddenly stopped before the dining room.Carl stood outside the lively dining room and felt a sudden inexpressible loneliness. Vivian bou
As soon as Carl got into the back garden, he was immediately shocked at the change in the surroundings and cried out in his heart, "What happened? Is this our back garden?" He looked around, trying to find any familiar landmark."Oh, my god, these people must have too much free time..." Carl could not help exclaiming in astonishment. The previous garbage hill had been turned into neatly organized garbage cubes, which were then stacked into endless orderly garbage walls."No! These people could not have come here merely to help us tidy up the back garden!" Among the walls, Carl recognized some old junk that had been buried at the bottom of the garbage hill.The garbage hill had been scavenged through. No one would do this even if he wanted to sort out the rubbish.Carl continued to explore. Sure enough, some of the rubbish that was familiar to him were placed outside, in orderly rows."What's this?" Carl looked at the i
"This is a War Spirit warrior......" Carl looked at the War Spirit warrior before him with eyes that shone. It was obvious that he did not have any weapons in his hands and waist earlier!But at this moment, with a flash of silver light, two peculiar-shaped pistols appeared in his hands. It was so magical that it was hard for anyone to fathom this exceptional skill, except for the warriors of the War Spirit!At the moment when Carl was still in a daze, the warrior had taken aim at the extraordinary bug with his two guns, as it struggled in the same spot."Silly boy, why haven't you left yet?" When he was about to pull the trigger, the War Spirit warrior suddenly hesitated. Looking back, he found that Carl was still standing in the same place, so he immediately roared.Unexpectedly, when he turned around and wanted to shoot again, there was a sudden clicking sound. With a huge tug, the extraordinary bug managed to pull out its sharp