"Stop that kid! He took my wallet!" An old woman screamed as a little kid suddenly pickpocketed her.

Although the old woman screamed for help, no one actually came to her aid and caught the kid. Why you ask? Because things like this were normal in this place called "Krieglen."

Krieglen was a district in a thriving country called Gizgarde. But unlike the rest of the country, crime and poverty was extremely prevalent in Krieglen, and the government couldn't even do something against it. At least, they choose not to.

Mending the economic problems of this district was out of the question and reconstructing this ruin of a city would be too expensive. So instead of using the people's money to fix the economy...the government officials chose to pocket the funds instead. Why waste it on a hopeless place, right?

Another thing was that Krieglen was dominated by groups of companies that were even much powerful than the government. To say that the government officials were independent individuals would be a joke, since they were like dogs to their owners—they wouldn't dare go against these hegemonies.

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With the wallet that the kid took, he ran at his full speed. With this, he wouldn't have any issues regarding rations for at least 4 days.

"hwoo-hwaa-hwoo-hwaa"

The kid gasped for breath as he continued to run, he then entered an alleyway. Inside, 3 grown men who looked like crooks could be seen at the end of the alleyway. Two men squatted while one seemed asleep. The kid stopped when he was close enough to the men.

"Hey Art's here, wake Clint up." A man with a scar on his left eyebrow that reached unto his eye spoke as he blew smoke out of his mouth.

There was no such thing such as a name for the little kid since he was born in Krieglen, so the people who took him in called him Art instead.

"Do you have something for us Art?" Another fellow then approached the kid and took the wallet from his hand. "Let's see what you have here—"

"I'll be the one to do the checking Mellow, sit down." The man named Mellow who took the wallet from the kid's hand earlier was suddenly pushed aside by another fellow who looked like he just woke up. The man rubbed his eye and yawned as he opened the wallet.

"Let's see what you have here..." Clint opened the wallet to inspect how much was in it, but he was flabbergasted from what he saw. "What the fuck is this? Nothing's in here!"

"You playin' with us huh? Is that how it is now?" Clint continued shouting.

It was true that one shouldn't mess with someone who just woke up. Clint then spoke again. "Did you take the things inside this?!"

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"N-no, I didn't take anything inside that." The little kid finally spoke. Beads of tears started to form on the kid's eyes.

"Don't fuck with me brat!" Clint threw the wallet into the little kid's face and continued his squabbling. "There's obviously something here before, or did you forget that we're the ones feeding you and your useless friends?!"

"B-but I didn't touch it." The little kid began to cry.

"Where did you learn to lie huh?!" Clint fumed with anger and violently slapped the kid, which made the little kid plummet to the ground. Because of this the kid began to sob.

"Stand up brat, I'm not done with you yet!" It seemed that Clint was still not done on releasing his anger. He spat on the kid as he relentlessly beat him.

"Haha! Do you see now why Clint should be done one doing the checking?" The man with a scar on his left eyebrow laughed as he pointed his finger toward Clint's direction.

"Isn't he a bit excessive though?" Mellow replied.

"Things like that are necessary. Not only to discipline the kid, but to also make an example to the others that keeping things from us would be courting death."

"I didn't think about that. Well, I guess that's fair." Mellow spoke as he stood up. He stretched then continued to speak. "I'll be heading out for now, don't go overboard on the kid, aight?" 

"Yeah-yeah, I'll keep that in mind." The man with a scar on his eye replied. Mellow left the alleyway and he continued watching the kid get beaten. A smirk then formed on his face, it looked like he was entertained to see the kid getting beat.

Ten minutes passed and only then did Clint slowed down on beating the child who couldn't even put up a fight.

The man with a scar on his eyebrow walked towards his accomplice and patted him on the shoulder.

"C'mon Clint that's enough." He encouraged Clint to stop and that it was time to leave.

"I hope you learnt your lesson brat." Clint moved away from the kid as he wiped his sweat and spat on the kid for the second time before leaving the alleyway.

The little kid continued to sob, his body became swollen due to the excessive beating he got earlier.

As Art cried, he saw the wallet beside him. A calling card could be seen from it, that card looked like it was going to fall soon since more than half of its body was not in the wallet.

Naturally, the little kid saw the card and he took it from the wallet.

"Endless Mist Corporation?" Art read it out loud, he then picked up the wallet and opened it.

Art became surprised from what he saw, how come the wallet had something in it now? In fact, it wasn't just something. The wallet was packed with cash.

'Did sir Clint made a mistake?' Art stood up. He limped as he tried to chase after Clint and the man who had a scar on his eyebrow.

But suddenly, something covered his vision. A black bag was on his head and he felt like he was being carried.

'Am I getting abducted?!' Art realized that he was getting abducted. He immediately screamed and asked for help. Unfortunately, he was in Krieglen.

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A few hours later and Art woke from his sleep. He heard the murmurs of voices.

"Lowborn subject taken as of Day 258, Year 3020."

'What's happening?' Art spoke in his mind. He was confused as to what was happening in his surrounding. He tried moving, but Art felt like his whole body was strapped into something. He then heard a voice again.

"First Tiazine Multimunex intake, dosage of 5ml."

This was the last thing that Art heard before the thing that covered his head was removed. He saw a man who wore a gas mask beside him a female who also wore a gas mask walking towards him and had a thick syringe on her hand. She approached Art and injected him in his neck without any forewarning.

"WAAAHHHHHHHH"

The medicine that flowed in his blood made Art's veins to bulge and palpitate. It gave Art abnormal levels of pain, which was more than what he could handle. Art soon passed out due to the extreme pain.