"Eh...Brother Mangrel...?" Seeing Mangrel's exhausted, yet calm face, Mars walked to him hurriedly.
Mangrel stated straightforwardly: "Do you know any way to get out of the alley, excluding the normal entrance?"
Listening to Mangrel's serious question, Mars understood that something was happening. Mangrel was covered in blood too, looking like he had committed a murder recently.
A normal person would be freaked out, but Mars felt a sense of naturalness instead. He got covered in blood all the time.
"No...There is no other exit in the alley..."
Mangrel found falsehood in Mars's voice, but he continued questioning.
"Have you ever gone to the end of the alleyway?"
Thinking for a second, Mars responded: "I tried...but as I go deeper, black miasma starts to appear from everywhere."
"Then, is there a place to hide somewhere around here? I am being chased by a few people, you should hide too. If not, they will kill you along with me." Mangrel worriedly looked at Mars.
Understanding what Mangrel said, Mars grew serious, while feeling a little tingly in his heart. The fact that Mangrel brought trouble to him was overwritten by him worrying about his well-being.
"There is one. It's the place where I live." Mars said with a little pride on his face.
"Ohh, let's go then. They might come at any moment, so we should hide for a whole day. Thanks, you saved my life." Mangrel said with a happy expression.
Mars smiled hearing Mangrel's gratifying voice. Leading him to his self-proclaimed house quickly. The fact that his life was in danger, made him feel anxious.
Along the way, Mangrel picked up the algaeist flower, from within the stomach of the corpse.
"What is that?"
"A red flower," Mangrel answered nonchalantly.
"...."
Going even deeper into the alley, Mars suddenly stopped.
Looking around, Mangrel found nothing unique in the area. The same gray wall and penchant smell of the corpses.
"This way." Mars turned towards the wall, Making Mangrel stare at the wall to see any difference.
'Ah...The cracks make it hard to notice. The shape of the cracks here is suspicious.' Mangrel didn't even need to think, to guess what it was.
A secret door.
Pushing the corner of the crack, Mars skillfully inserted his fingers in order and held the bent wall. Putting aside the wall, which was around an inch thick, Mars showed the entrance to Mangrel with a smile.
"...I was wondering what you did in the blue month, to guard against the rain. But now I understand." Mangrel looked at the entrance, which was around a meter in size, and Mars.
Entering through the entrance, Mangrel heard Mars placing the wall back in its place.
Even after the wall was placed, the room that Mangrel entered did not grow dim.
Looking around, Mangrel found himself in an ordinary hall, made of wooden frames. Light entered through the gap between the windows, it was just enough to light up the room.
'As I thought, he did lie. I could have gotten out of the alleyway, through this house. Well, the result was to be expected, with the amount of trust I have formed between us.' Mangrel did not show his thoughts on his face.
Mars's home was an uninhabited house, which had all of its windows and doors sealed off by wood sealings.
To get to the other side of the alleyway, through this route. The door or the window has to be broken, in other words, giving up on Mar's only house.
People would grow suspicious if the window of a house that was sealed for years suddenly broke. This would lead to the house being investigated, there was a high chance of them finding the back route to the alleyway.
It was apparent why Mars didn't want to tell Mangrel about this place. Only exposing its existence, after Mangrel used a roundabout way. The indirect threat to his life played a major role too.
"It's a nice house. Is this where you got this dagger?" Mangrel passed the dagger back to Mars while still looking around.
"Yes, it was stuck in the wall, on the first floor," Mars answered passively, before looking at the bloodied dagger in his hand.
"...What exactly happened?" Mars could not contain his curiosity.
"I was attacked by some gangster, I killed two of them and then, ran away," Mangrel converged the event into a single line.
"And now those other people are behind you?" Mars guessed the other part of the story.
Mangrel nodded his head, and then drowsily questioned: "Is there a place where I can rest?"
Mangrel has been pushing himself again and again for a while now. If he did not rest properly, he might just lose consciousness from overwork.
"On the first floor," Mars answered immediately.
Before leaving, Mangrel seriously reminded Mars: "Don't head out or make any sound for a while."
"Okay." Mars obediently responded.
Climbing up the steps, Mangrel arrived at the room above. Choosing any random spot, Mangrel laid down like a dead body.
'Beginner cultivators cannot sense past hard objects. This place is out of their reach, but I will have to move quickly to execute my new plan.'
'There are many risks, but I have to take it for me to move to the next step.' Mangrel closed his eyes slowly, entering deep into slumber.
.....
Clank!
A glass broke into many pieces, flying through the air.
"You couldn't find him?! He is just a kid! Where can he hide in this city?!" The leader, Jwarlen, angrily berated the man before him.
The man could only take a beating passively. He had gone even to the deeper part of the alleyways but found nothing in the end. Blood flowed down his face, from the cut on his head formed from the broken glass.
For the first time in five years, Jwarlen lost his men so unexpectedly.
To be killed by a kid, who hasn't even grown up to 15 years old!
Thinking about the scene where Mangrel instantly stabbed the dagger into his man's neck, Jwarlen felt his eyes squint. There was no hesitation to be found in his movement at all.
Jwarlen had seen many things while controlling his criminal gang, but it was his first time seeing such an event.
'A kid who can wield a dagger so skillfully and already have a temperament of a killer. He is talented, but I can't let him get away, I have to maintain my influence among everyone below me.' Jwarlen glared at the kids in the cage, in the corner of his room.
Killing Mangrel would not bring back his lost honor, but it would at least lower the degree of damage received to his influence.
'I have a life force physique in my hand. So now I can negotiate the cultivation technique from those guys.' Anticipation rose within Jwarlen. He was not satisfied being just a mortal.
Who doesn't want to live for long?
At that moment, suddenly, Jwarlen heard the sound of wood breaking.