Chapter 462 (1/2)

Chapter 462: The Determination

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

Joe fell ill.

He was the second weakest in the group before Paper was kidnapped, and since then he had become the weakest. Joe was fine the night he came back from the square. But the next day, Snaketooth found him lying motionless on the hay, moaning vaguely and with bright red cheeks.

“He was infected by the cold plague,” Sunflower said while touching Joe’s head, “and his head is burning hot.”

“Will I… die?”

Joe, squinting his eyes, asked softly.

No one answered.

The cold plague was an extremely stubborn disease, and once contracted, you can only rely on the body to resist the infection. However, people who were physically fit seldom suffered from the cold—those who were infected were generally weak, so very few patients could survive it. It was essentially a death sentence for Rats.

“I’ll go and look for Kanas,” said Snaketooth, breaking the silence.

“What do you want him for?”

“To beg him to give Joe more food.” He stood up. “I’ve heard that the chance of survival is greater if the patient is kept warm and adequately fed.”

“He won’t give you any food,” Tigerclaw shook his head and said. “We all know what kind of person he is.”

“Exactly, you may even get beaten up by him,” Sunflower said while gathering hay. “Rats never feed any useless person.”

“Joe isn’t useless.” Snaketooth retorted. “He can read!”

“Just a few words, and of what use is that to Kanas? He wants people who can steal and rob others.”

“…” Snaketooth clenched his teeth, turned around and walked towards the manager’s room in the Endless Lane. He had to try even if he would be beaten up by Kanas with a stick.

Surprisingly, Kanas was not back yet.

“You’re lucky.” When he brought the message back to his companions, Tigerclaw grinned. “Or we may have to take care of another one.”

Sunflower sighed. “Each of us will give a portion of our bread to Joe later when it’s time for the bread distribution so that he can eat more.”

However, Snaketooth did not feel lucky at all. He could feel something was not right.

“It’d only take half an hour to send the message to Bloodyhand. It’s understandable that Bloodyhand didn’t come back last night due to the discussion of countermeasures—but it’s already noon, the discussion should have been finished by now.” Furthermore, when his men opened the door, he took a peek and realized Kanas and his lover were both missing.

The gang started to distribute food not long after, and Snaketooth realized that it was distributed by Kanas’ confidant.

What he received was nothing but half a slice of brown bread.

…

After four days, Joe’s condition was still deteriorating.

He was yelling that he felt cold yesterday, but he couldn’t speak a word today. His once pink cheeks started to turn pale and his breathing was getting weaker.

“We’ve tried our best,” Sunflower said languidly with her hand on her stomach.

They had given half of their food to Joe in the past few days. If it was not for them, he might not have lived this long. Tigerclaw, who used to be very energetic, was starting to look feeble as well.

Kanas had not shown up these past few days.

More than a hundred Rats gathered in the room and started to discuss this matter. But it was just a discussion—after all, they were still getting food as usual. However, it was especially noisy today.

It was the day of free food distribution, as announced.

“I’ll go to the square,” after a long contemplation, Snaketooth clenched his teeth and said. “We need to eat more than just bread. Joe might be able to last if I could get a bowl of hot oatmeal for him.”