Kingdom’s Bloodline

Arc 1: Return of the Blood

“That is why Baudrillard considers 'things' and 'requirements' as false symbols.
He criticized Marx's labor theory of value1, believing he had fallen into the trap of capitalism and political economy.
He then even proposed his own idea of political economy.” Wu Qiren finished his presentation.
He opened up his last slide and nodded his thanks to the teacher and his classmates.
Upon the teacher's signal, he left the podium and awaited the next classmate's presentation.

“Thales!”

The next moment, former postgraduate student Wu Qiren woke up from his dream.

He was curled up, lying in a cold hollowed-out hole in the wall.
He could feel the cold wind blowing from the gaps.

Wu Qiren sighed.
It had been five years but he still dreamt of his past life.
His previous life was boring but it was definitely better than his current miserable situation.

“Thales! Thales!” A large hand stretched into the hole in the wall and grabbed Wu Qiren's ear before roughly pulling him out from that small and damaged place.

It was a dilapidated house.
The bright stars in the night could be seen in the sky through the half-collapsed rooftop but the positions of the stars looked unfamiliar.

Wu Qiren could not hold out against that rough hand as he was only seven years old.

He was dragged on the rough brick floor.
His knees hurt from the friction against the floor but he did not make a single noise.
This was because the cruel Quide was especially intolerant with the wailing of children.
It was said that he once broke the legs of a six-year- old girl who had cried for food.

“I've already asked Rick.
The money you collected was five coppers less than last week! You've stashed some away!” Quide was angry and looked as red as the mane of a lion.
His protruding nose made him look even more ferocious.

Wu Qiren was flung to the ground.
His gray eyes looked at the holes in the walls.
The five beggars living with him in the same house, ranging between age four to ten, all shuddered at Quide's roar.

At the innermost hole was the smallest girl.
The short-haired girl bit hard on her left hand, her face turning red.
She looked at Wu Qiren who was on the floor in fear.
At the hole beside her was Ned, a six-year-old boy who screamed with fright.

The girl was Coria.
Wu Qiren understood the reason she was afraid.

In fact, Wu Qiren's luck that week was good.
He, currently known as the beggar Thales, had obtained thirty-seven coppers this week.
It was eighteen coppers more than the previous week.

However, he only surrendered fourteen coppers to Quide, the head of the beggar trade in a Black Street Brotherhood.
The rest of the money, along with two years of coppers that he had saved, was delivered to Grove Pharmacy.
With the help of the kind-hearted worker Yanni, he bought a course of medicine for typhoid fever.

Thales fed the medicine to the four-year-old Coria.
Having typhoid fever at her age would be fatal without any medicine.

Over the last five years, Thales relived his past memories from the age of two to his current age of seven.
From an ignorant child, he began recalling his past life bit by bit.
The memories appeared fragmented and disordered.
Even then, during these five years, he began to gain more and more awareness as compared to the initial fuzzy stage.
He had a profound feeling when he saw others meet their end.

There were those who died from illness, those who fell to their deaths, those who drowned, those who were hanged, and those who were beaten to death (Thales even saw a crying beggar suffocated to death by a supernatural power from ten meters away once).
The human trafficking business of the Black Street Brotherhood had no bottom line or principles.
Even if they were gangsters, they needed time to hammer out rules and order.
It had only been ten years since they started and expanded.

Additionally, the Blood Bottle Gang, also known as the 'nobles of the gangsters', in its ninety years history, had blood debts with its enemy.

Most of the time when witnessing these deaths, Thales felt helpless.
Even he himself avoided a fatal end more than once by relying on scattered memories of his previous life.

Just like his current situation.

Quide was itching for a fight and was in high spirits.
The look in his eyes was so characteristic of sadistic gangsters: vicious, cruel and sadistic.

“I did not stash any money! It is almost winter.
Fewer people are passing by these three districts…” Thales got up from the ground as he quickly thought of and gave an excuse.

*Slap*

What greeted him was a ruthless slap in the face.
Thales fell back to the ground.

“Hand over the money before I beat you up! Or I could beat you up first until you hand over the money! Take your pick!”

Obviously, Quide did not want to hear his excuse.
The leader of the Brotherhood probably just wanted to extort for some beer money from them.
Another possibility was that he simply wanted to beat somebody up.

“You can also be stubborn.
I love stubborn children the most,” Quide grinned hideously as he started rubbing his fists.

Looking at the large fists in front of him, Thales knew that Quide would not let him go even if he did not say anything.

Quide had tortured a beggar from the fifth room to death the previous month.

Thales held his red and swollen face as he quickly thought to himself.

Normally, Quide did not care about the accounts.
When night fell, he would proceed to the subway's Sunset Pub to hang around or drink.
He would not know how many Midier coppers was one Mindis silver, let alone how much the beggars under his care had turned in.
This was all done by his deputy, the steady and dependable Rick.
Even the shrewd Rick knew that the beggars earned about eight coppers per person every week.

Somebody had told on them.

That was the only possibility.

Thales looked around at the group of beggars.
After getting his money from a rich female noble, he had returned directly to the Abandoned Houses2.
The beggars in the house must have seen this.
In such a grim environment, a child's heart could become even more terrifying than what an adult could imagine.

Quide started to kick again.
Thales secretly protected his abdomen with his elbow.
He used some of his strength and pretended to be in unbearable pain from the kick.
He could not make any sound as Quide loved the screams of children.

“I will speak!” Thales said with a fearful expression.
“Don't hit me!”

“That depends on my mood!” Quide looked around and saw the other five beggars cowering in fear.
This made him feel satisfied as his authority was respected.

“Wednesday morning, I met a noblewoman.
She gave me ten coppers.” Thales spoke as he trembled and hid in a corner.

“I knew it! Begging? It was stolen right? Nobody can hide the truth from me, especially a little thief like you!” Quide rubbed his palms viciously as he prepared for the next round of beatings.
“Take out the money!”

Without even waiting for Quide to raise his eyebrows, Thales then added.
“But I went to Red Street Market!”

“Red Street Market?” Quide lowered his raised hand a little.
“You went to the Blood Bottle Gang's territory?”

“Yes.
We cannot earn much money in our place anymore.” Other than those in the Brotherhood, the brilliant and brave, and those with a specific purpose, there is none that would enter the three districts near the shady street without being cautious.
Even the guards from the city defense team with swords and shields were unwilling to enter such a place full of crime.”

“I got so much money the first day but the Blood Bottle Gang did not appear.
I thought there would be an opportunity the next day.”

“Idiot!” Quide fiercely kicked Thales.
Thales saw Coria tremble at a distance.
He then heard Quide shouted, “Think about it.
How could the Blood Bottle's territory be such an easy pick?”

Thales recoiled back and really trembled.
“Yes.
The next afternoon, the Blood Bottle Gang caught me and hung me up.
I said I was lost but they did not believe me.
I gave them all my money and they still did not let me go.”

“You good for nothing! How did you escape?” Quide spat ruthlessly.

“After that, I said I was Boss Quide's subordinate and they laughed loudly.”

“What?” Quide clenched his fist and grabbed Thales' worn-out burlap collar.
He raised Thales from the corner of a wall and asked, “What were they laughing at?”

Thales shook his head and replied, “I did not understand what they said.