I grinned with a wide mouth, and looked elsewhere, and then back on his little head again. My voice was light and full of teasing.

“Nana big sis…..hmm…..Maybe I have bad memories, or did someone really swear that he doesn’t want an older sister? Oh I must have heard something wrong, but who cried like a baby earlier? Nope, that was not a baby, but a little man!”

Rene’s face was flushed with redness, and looked so embarrassed that he didn’t know where to lay his eyes on.

“I didn’t cry! Who would cry over a slow turtle like you!”

“Um-hum….I didn’t say that was you, why clarify so fast?”

His face was the color of tomatoes.

“LiNa, stop it!”

I shook my head slowly. “Nope, it’s Nana big sis. Remember to call me that from now on.”

Seeing how much he struggled with embarrassment just made my day. I couldn’t help but laugh until my stomach hurt. I laughed so hard that my tears were flying all over the place.

“Jeez, if you want to avenge what I had done to you, that’s more than enough.” Rene pretended to be mad.

I took a deep breath, and finally stopped teasing that poor little boy.

“Deal. From this moment on, let’s forget all the past disputes. You are now my little brother!”

Rene’s eyes glittered, and seemed to water up, but since he was a little man, he held it back and made a cold face.

“Who wants to be your little brother anyways?”

“Are you sure? I give you five seconds before taking it back. Sometimes I can be pretty stubborn, if I take things back, there will be no turn around.”

One second……

Two seconds……

And…..three seconds…….

“Fine, just to make you less noisy, I will take it.” His cold face didn’t last long, until a big grin appeared showing two rows of white teeth.

We giggled like someone who lost his brain. A few demons occasionally glanced at us. They must be wondering if the flood had driven us crazy. Who would laugh like that in the middle of the night?

“How many cards have you made so far?” Rene finally calmed down from laughing and whispered.

I thought for a moment.

“Four. We already used up the twelve cards, these four won’t last that long. If I work another twenty pounds tomorrow, that would be five.”

“I bet that book is full of your records. The guards must have really hated your face by now, considering how much paper you had wasted.”

I pouted. “Not my fault, those coins are super heavy.”

“Most demons unload a full basket once a day, and that should be about a hundred pounds. Only newbies need to unload that many times and still haven’t received a card. I will not be surprised if one day they charge you a paper fee.”

Rene couldn’t help but sighed. “You spent ten days and only made four cards. Aye……what else can I say?”

“I already tried.”

I lowered my voice. “Don’t you have some more in the Central Base? Let’s go get those.”

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“About eight of them, but how the heck should we sneak in? Please don’t tell me you are going to piggyback again. If we are discovered by the gang, even if we don’t die, there would be some cracking of bones.”

Rene was right. Although his wounds were recovered, he still couldn’t walk and run like a normal person. If something happened, there was no way for him to escape.

“Rene, how about I go by myself? If you tell me where those cards are, perhaps I can find them?”

“You really got guts to go to the Central Base on your own. If you get caught, do you know the consequences?”

I bit my lips. “A broken arm or leg?”

“And some ribs.”

I swallowed a bit, and shivered a few times.

“What’s the big deal about the gang being so savage? Are they hiding a deep secret in the Central Base? That’s why they don’t want anybody there?”

“Not that I know of, or it can be as simple as obeying the rules. Headman Daoba is weird tempered. He hates it when someone breaks his rules. There is one way though to get out of it.”

My hope was up, and super curious.

“What is it!?”

Rene shook his head, and closed his eyes a bit.

“Never mind.” He said.

Now that little boy really got me curious about how to get out of capture. “Just tell me already. Never stir up someone’s curiosity and leave it hanging mid air.”

He gave a long sigh as if I was the reason why it wouldn’t work.

“The only way is to have a secret exchange with Headman Daoba, but in your case, it wouldn’t work at all. Daoba only likes beautiful women.”

What the fudge!?

I wasn’t that dumb to not understand what Rene was saying. Who the heck wanted to make that kind of exchange? That was against all my morals. I would rather break all my bones instead. Good thing I didn’t even have to worry about this possibility because of my below average appearance. Being plain wasn’t all that bad, at least no one would take advantage of me in this way.

I pushed his forehead with my finger.

“Ouch!” He squeaked.

“You are only a kid, what are you thinking in your little head!”

Rene rubbed his forehead and pouted. “I am only telling you the truth, so you know what’s going on and the danger behind it.”

Ever since coming to the Aniesian Continent, there were dangers all around. It was better to know there was a chance to risk something than waiting to die. My ability to crack rocks wasn’t mature enough to feed two mouths, so it was a must to go get those eight cards.

“I can start cracking rocks tomorrow.” He suggested.

“Nay, just concentrate on your meditation. By the way, how is it going?”

Rene was silent for a brief moment. “Like usual, not much to say.”

I patted his shoulders and smiled.

“Don’t overworry about food. All will be good in the end. Days are much better than before. Plus I am here, so you just do what you need to do.”

Rene was playing with his fingers and slowly looked down.

“Nana big sis, do you really want to go to the Central Base?”

I nodded lightly.

He was a little sad. “What if you get caught?”

“Then there will be no one to supply you with food, right?” I giggled a little, but then got serious about his worries because I knew that wasn’t what he meant. That little man was plainly worried about me, and of course he won’t admit it.

“I will be extra careful, I promise. Okay?”

“You are stubborn at times.”

“Yes, so just tell me what you know, and where you had hidden the cards and how to get to the Central Base.”

Rene spent quite some time explaining everything. We sat isolated from the crowd and lowered our voices, so that no one could overhear us. It turned out that the Central Base was just another sinkhole in the boundary mountains, and the entrance and exit were guarded by the gang members.

He found a sharp stone to draw out the route, and showed the right direction and the number of bases I had to pass in order to get to the Central Base.

“That is a lot of bases to pass. I will have to leave early when there are less guards around, not that they care much about me, but it’s better off not to attract too much unnecessary attention.” I said.

He tapped the tip of the stone at the destination on the ground. “Right at the entrance is a huge stone ax embedded halfway in the wall. One time Daoba was so angry at someone that he threw an ax over, and it cut through the wall and got stuck there ever since. No one can take that thing out.”

That must be a real strong man, which was not surprising considering he was the headman.

“The gang changes shifts every eight hours. The only chance to get into the Central Base is during the midnight shift, all because of Bobbi. That dude tends to take naps from time to time. Jeez, how the hell can he sleep standing up with his eyes open. He’s a cool dude. One time I called his name, and he freaking just stood there staring at me blankly. I thought he was joking, so I pushed his arm and he woke up being shocked and begged me not to tell Daoba. Poking on someone’s back is never my thing. Your best bet is to make it there 4 hours before dawn, that’s when most people are deeply asleep.”

“So how do I know if he had fallen asleep?”

“When he stops blinking for more than 2 minutes.”