Chapter 25: I Have No Money, I’m Really Poor
The sun had set; the sunset painted most of the sky, dyeing the blue into a romantic pink.
After a day of fruitless effort, Mu Mu sat on a bench by the roadside, a nutrient solution tube—his lunch—in his mouth, tapping his brain computer, replying to Zheng An’s message.
Seeing Zheng An’s message asking him to come home, Mu Mu chewed on the plastic tube, hesitated, wrote, and deleted before replying that he would be a little late and would continue searching.
Didn’t he want to go home? Actually, he did. After a half-day of effort with nothing to show for it, anyone would be frustrated, and Mu Mu was no exception.
But their current situation didn’t allow him to retreat at the slightest difficulty. If he couldn’t find work on these two streets, he would go to the next.
Even if the shops on the next street didn’t need him, he could go to other districts tomorrow. He would consider today’s failure as elimination. Liuli Star was so big; he would find a job.
He had found a job before. It was only a little more difficult now; it would get better.
After drinking the nutrient solution, Mu Mu cheered himself up. He was easy to comfort.
He didn’t delay; he left immediately, crossing two streets, arriving at a street he hadn’t been to during the day.
Unlike every other street Mu Mu had been to, this street had dark-toned lights, mainly navy blue and purplish-red, with strange and uniquely decorated storefronts, strangely eerie.
Based on his past work experience, Mu Mu guessed these were similar to the nightclubs he had worked at.
But to truly call them nightclubs wasn’t quite accurate.
On the nightclub street he had worked on, no matter how unique the storefront was, there was always a wine bottle logo on the sign.
It was said that this was a logo specially designated by the current ruler of Liuli Star after he came to Liuli Star, apparently for easy recognition.
Whether it was true or not, Mu Mu didn’t know. But every shop on the nightclub street did indeed have this logo.
However, of these shops that looked like nightclubs and bars, only two out of ten had the wine bottle logo. Mu Mu couldn’t accurately determine what these shops did.
This wasn’t Mu Mu’s fault. Since leaving the orphanage, he had been struggling for survival, rarely interacting with peers, and had no friends his age. Naturally, he didn’t know about these strange shops, which were trendy entertainment venues among young people in the Empire.
To be honest, Mu Mu momentarily considered retreating.
He glanced back in the direction he came from, then looked at the only two shops he could identify, hesitating for a moment before deciding to try the two shops that might be nightclubs.
This street was just as lively as the nightclub street Mu Mu had worked on. Fashionably dressed young men and women walked in pairs, shoulder to shoulder.
Mu Mu had mobility issues and walked slowly. When he encountered groups of people blocking the middle of the road, he couldn’t get them to move, so he patiently went around them.
What should have been a straight path became a curve, making him walk farther and even crossing to the opposite sidewalk.
Mu Mu looked at the red sign across the street, let out a deep breath, and was about to cross the road when he was stopped by a tall young man walking towards him.
What could he do? He had to politely step back, standing on the steps in front of the shop that had already closed its door, letting the young people pass first.
But these overly fashionable young people didn’t pass quickly, as Mu Mu had expected; instead, they stopped in front of him, forming a semicircle and surrounding him.
Mu Mu was short, only about 178cm tall, with a pretty, cute baby face. Due to malnutrition, he barely weighed over 100 pounds, looking thin and small, not as strong as a well-developed subhuman.
The seven or eight young people surrounding him were all over 180cm tall and, while not as muscular and imposing as the thugs who had evicted them from their apartment, were still healthy and strong adults.
The night was dark. These people were like a wall, surrounding Mu Mu, blocking most of the streetlights and distant lights behind him, making it difficult for him to see their faces clearly.
But their brightly colored hair—yellow, red, or white—and their outrageously fashionable clothes and shiny metal accessories made Mu Mu think they were no good.
Mu Mu hadn’t been surrounded like this in many years, the last time being at the orphanage.
The memory of being beaten as a child surfaced, the pain and fear manifesting in his adult body.
Mu Mu flinched, taking a step back; his back bumped against the metal door behind him. It wasn’t very painful, but the sudden impact slightly calmed him down.
His clean, clear black eyes scanned the people in front of him with a mixture of alertness and panic.
“I’m sorry, you’re blocking me, could you please move?” Mu Mu’s voice trembled with nervousness.
He spoke quickly and urgently, his already unusual intonation becoming even stranger, his words blending together, making him sound incoherent. Anyone could tell something was wrong with him.
Sure enough, the young people froze for a moment, then burst into laughter.
The young man with yellow hair in front of Mu Mu leaned down, looking at Mu Mu, who was backing away, his eyes wide, as if he wanted to stick himself to the iron door. He sneered, raising the corner of his lip.
He used his right hand, adorned with metal rings, to grip Mu Mu’s chin, rudely lifting Mu Mu’s face up and down, as if examining something.
The young man’s grip was strong; he didn’t hold back. He pinched Mu Mu’s chin like a pair of pliers, as if trying to crush the bone. The pain made Mu Mu’s eyes redden.
He used his left hand to grab the man’s wrist, and his other hand to try and pry the man’s hand from his chin, mumbling, “Let go! It hurts! Let go!”
Another young man approached from behind the yellow-haired man, whispering, “Bro, is it him?”
The yellow-haired man nodded in response.
He used his free hand to grab Mu Mu’s hand, which was clutching his right wrist, twisting it backward, dislocating Mu Mu’s arm. The searing pain caused Mu Mu to cry out, tears streaming down his face.
The yellow-haired man, dragging and shoving Mu Mu, led him into a dark alley.
He violently pushed Mu Mu against the wall. Unprepared, Mu Mu’s forehead hit the wall with a “thump,” and most of his cheek scraped against the rough surface. A burning pain spread from his cheek.
“Who are you? I don’t know you, why are you hitting me?” Mu Mu asked loudly.
“Hehehe,” the yellow-haired man leaned close to Mu Mu’s ear, a low chuckle escaping his throat, “You don’t know us, and we don’t know you.”
“If you really want to know, you’re just unlucky. We were bored and wanted to play a robbery game, and we happened to meet you.”
“So, you became our lucky winner!”
Hearing “robbery,” Mu Mu’s vision went dark. The hand holding the brain computer under his other hand clenched into a fist, pulled close to his chest.
“I don’t have any money, I’m poor, really, very, very poor. Maybe you…” He wanted to say, “Go rob someone else,” but then remembered that robbery was illegal; if someone else was robbed, they would be just as scared as he was. He quickly changed his words.
“Robbery is bad; it’s illegal. Please let me go; I won’t tell anyone, okay? Please.”
Mu Mu begged bitterly, only to receive a hard press on the back of his head.
His scraped cheek was pressed hard against the wall, the rough particles of the brick feeling like hot irons, searing themselves into his skin.
“Too much talk. You’re lucky we picked you tonight. Behave yourself, and hand over the brain computer.” The yellow-haired man leaned close to Mu Mu’s ear, threatening, “If you cooperate nicely, we’ll let you go unharmed.”
“If you don’t cooperate…” The yellow-haired man deliberately drew out his words, making Mu Mu’s heart pound.
“Then you’ll just suffer a little flesh wound, we can’t have a night without a little fun, can we?”
The yellow-haired man straightened up, his hand on Mu Mu’s head tightening, fiercely grabbing his soft black hair, and banging his head against the wall like a bouncing ball.
“Kid, what’s it going to be? Money or a beating? Choose.”
The blows made Mu Mu dizzy and nauseous. He felt a warm liquid flowing down from the repeatedly bumped area, smearing his eyelids, preventing him from opening his eyes.
Pain and fear caused his thin body to tremble uncontrollably. He clenched his lips tightly, not saying a word.
His right hand, pressed against his chest, clenched into a fist, pressed close to his chest, as if trying to bury the brain computer on his wrist in his flesh.
“Hey! Talk! What are you playing dead for!?”
Seeing that the person under his control remained silent, the yellow-haired man lost patience, tightening his grip, lifting Mu Mu’s hair to bring his face closer, and glaring at his damaged face.
“Weren’t you pretty talkative just now? I let you choose, why aren’t you saying anything? Choose!”
Mu Mu felt his scalp was about to be ripped off. Opening his mouth resulted in a painful groan.
He struggled to open his eyes. His undamaged half-face was normal, but the other side was a blurry red; the yellow-haired man looked ferocious and terrifying, like a Zerg.
Mu Mu gritted his teeth, shook his head slightly, and softly said, “I have no money, I’m really poor.”