Update following yesterdays:
ICD has officially been removed from POPO’s shelves so I’ve also removed the link from the TOCs. Thank you to those who reached out and offered an alternative, I appreciate the effort. I also posted help on NUF in which a kind nuffian managed to offer several alternatives and among them, a couple had complete OCR-ed raws until World 6!! And so I’ll be using a combo of two links to translate until the end of ICD. (PS I won’t be posting those links onto TOC because they are 3rd party sources)
Please note that I don’t claim that this new source I’m using is 100% accurate because I judged it based on 3 chapters I screenshotted yesterday and out of all the links provided, it was the most accurate and complete.
So rejoice for there will be a proper ending to ICD after all!! Woohoo!ヽ(；▽；)ノ
PS For those who sent me dytxts (since there were a couple) It is NOT complete. I repeat, this source does NOT have complete OCR chapters. Please do not just rely on this one source to read from.
The warm tongue made contact with the swollen frostbite on He Sinian’s hand. Although the barbs on the tongue felt like painful pierces, the pain was not worth mentioning compared to the warmth that she brought.
After seeing the kitten merely licking his hand weakly without showing any intentions of eating, he realized that such a small kitten might not be able to eat bread.
He didn’t mind stuffing the loaf of bread that Chu Jiao had licked but did not eat, into his mouth, because he was no longer a spoiled child. Besides, the constant shift between starvation and eating his fill made him cherish every bit of food he could gather.
“Then, should I find you something to drink?”
He Sinian gently placed the kitten back into the shoe box, and even pulled off the tattered scarf he wore around his neck that he had picked up from somewhere, covering Chu Jiao with it. Then, he started looking inside the trash.
This was an old urban area whereas the city had been rapidly developing. Many old buildings were being demolished continuously and not too far away, large-scale central business districts were being developed, leaving behind garbage for the city to pick up. Hence, the ‘rats and ticks’ who could only beg for a living slowly went into a continuous decline. The area they were in right now, was coincidentally a grey area with countless alleys and the people living in this area were mostly old residents waiting to be paid with demolition money. The environment was extremely nasty in general.
“I’ve found it!” Chu Jiao opened her hazy big eyes and looked at the little boy who was running towards her not too far away.
A cat’s eyesight differed greatly from that of a person’s. They had a wider field of vision and greater sensitivity to light, but they were nearsighted and were unable to capture views that were too far away, so because of that, everything she saw right now was a blurry sight.
“Here, quick, drink this, it’s milk.” It was a carton of milk that some kid had only drank a half of before throwing it away. He Sinian cautiously poured a little on the palm of his hand and put it in front of Chu Jiao.
“Meow~”
This time, the scent of milk assailed her nostrils, Chu Jiao felt her stomach rumbling from hunger, so she stuck her tongue out and lapped at the milk.
He Sinian looked at the kitten who had buried her head in the palm of his hand and gently stroked the kitten’s soft head with his other hand.
Chu Jiao didn’t resist, instead, she rubbed against his hand.
It was as if He Sinian had obtained a precious treasure as he revealed a precious smile that he hadn’t shown for a long time.
One person and one cat divided and drank the half carton of milk, before He Sinian carried Chu Jiao back to his own den.
Yes, it was a den located under the overpass, made up of old cardboards to block the chilly wind.
The trafficker who abducted him back then, initially wanted to sell him to a childless couple in the mountains, but because He Sinian pretended to act crazy and foolish along the way, ruining the man’s ‘attempt to do good’, the man simply threw him aside at the roads of M city, selling him to a criminal gang who begged and pilfered as a way of living.
This gang mainly wanted to exploit the sympathy people had for kids so they trafficked and picked up orphans, posing them as their own children, and forced them to beg together as a means to make money. If they were the nimble type, they would then be nurtured as a budding thief, relying on their petite figures to steal the belongings of people who had their guards down through the crowds of people in shopping malls.
He Sinian knew that stealing was wrong, but he was afraid of having his legs broken and having to beg for money as a cripple. He looked mediocre pressed in between the bunch of children, but in fact, he was actually trying to find a way to survive.
Located under the overpass was actually a paradise for the homeless as a large hole on the bridge was able to accommodate dozens or hundreds of people.
He Sinian was reluctant to leave the kitten in the cold rubbish dump, so he secretly tucked her into his tattered padded jacket.
It had already gotten a bit late, and in the silent night, the wanderers had also fallen asleep early..
He Sinian swiftly walked across the disarray of people lying on the ground, and returned to his own little den.
“Uncle Wang, I’m back.”
The neighbor at the side greeted him. He was the beggar who had taken him and who he shadowed as a beggar.
When the man saw him return, he hummed in acknowledgement and closed his eyes, immediately falling asleep.
That was also the reason why he didn’t escape.
M City wasn’t big, but it wasn’t by any means tiny either. It was just a small third-tier city, and the beggars were inextricably linked to each other. If he wasn’t fully prepared, he would have been caught and taken back here before he could even reach the train station to escape.
“Meow~” Chu Jiao popped her head out of the boy’s lapels and raised her pupils to look around.
“Shh-“
He Sinian quickly covered Chu Jiao’s mouth and stuffed her into bed with him.
“Kitty cat, be good ok. Don’t make a noise~”
He hadn’t reached adulthood yet, so his childlike heart still looked favorably upon fairy tales.
Because of this, he believed that the kitten could understand his words, so he talked to and treated her as if she was a close companion.
Chu Jiao became silent obediently and nestled back into the boy’s arms.
The night was deep.
He Sinian, who had always been unable to sleep because of his living environment, had finally sunken into the deepest slumber he ever had in his whole life tonight, holding a fluffy kitten in his arms.
Chu Jiao closed her eyes and followed suit as well, but because of this, she failed to realize that the bright moon hanging on the dark sky had sprinkled the two of them with a halo of light, making them look brighter and more limpid than their surroundings.
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