Luden finally sees a wall that leads outside; he goes to the wall and follows it until he finds the gates that lead outside, but he encounters a problem: the guards don't allow anyone outside without permission or being an adventurer after some waiting. Luden notices some cars that belong to the guards are allowed to go outside the gate. He waits for a considerable amount of time, finds a perfect moment, slips into one of these cars, and sneaks out of the gates. Once he is outside, he waits sometimes until the coast is clear and sneaks into the forest.
He finally feels free; he feels like a fish in his own element. Finally, he sees the forest and gets excited; Luden goes deeper into the forest but soon realizes that he doesn't know this part of the jungle as part of a pack. He knows that going into another animal's territory means he is challenging that pack or animal. He has to find a solution for this, so he decides to climb the tree and search his way. After climbing a tree, he notices there are no markings on any of the trees that belong to any other animals. He figures since these parts are close to the gates, animals have decided to abandon them because many adventurers pass through here and they may hunt them.
Luden decides that he first needs a new place to stay away from the people, somewhere easy to get to, and, most importantly, somewhere these gang members won't be able to find him.
After checking many places, he finally found a tree hollow big enough to become his home. Secondly, after settling in, he goes on to hunt for items to build a new crossbow and new traps and hunts for some leather to make some pouches and bags for him to store his items. in the forest. He set a goal of obtaining some gold so he could buy some items that intrigued him in the city and, most importantly, buy a chip so he could awaken. And lastly, he goes to the city to cure his hand because he doesn't have any herbs that he can use to heal it, and if it's left like this, it will rot. After making a whole outline of his goal, Luden decided he would do the easy part first.
By dawn, Luden has finished all the easy things, like gathering and securing some food. He also found some boxes that the people threw near the forest and some plastic bags that he can use to keep himself warm. His clothes are insufficiently warm for the night. First, he starts to skin the few rabbits he caught, and he also hopes to find bigger prey so he can make a coat out of its fur.
He also doesn't hope to go to the city again because everyone treats him badly there, and they look down on him or kick him out of any store he enters because of his clothes or because he doesn't have the thing they call money. At night, Luden gathers boxes and tears them down one by one and starts stuffing them into his clothes so he doesn't get cold. Next, he adds leaves and boxes and makes a bed. He wishes he could make fire too because he really liked the taste of the cooked meat he once ate at the gang hideout, and he wishes to make food like that. Raw meat doesn't look as appealing as it used to again. But making a fire here is the worst idea ever because it will attract attention.
After a week of going to the city, finally, after finishing everything, he started to make a summary of a plan to make this thing they called money. He brings out some things he saw in the trash and sorts them out. These so-called papers contain a variety of objects and images. And he even found some thrown books he can use to learn these people's language, although these books are different from each other; with his intelligence, he can figure it out.
After going to the city few times, Luden finally found a way to earn money. he offered escort for the adventurers, guiding them into a forest for a few coppers; at first many adventurers didn't believe him and even beat him, chasing him away, but from time to time, someone accepted his service, some paid some of them even ditched him without paying Even if he escorted them fully, some only paid one or two copper instead of the 15, he asked, from time to time, a few honest adventurers actually paid him for his job well. Slowly, he started to gather the money, and he had something to rely on in order to get these chips. After he paid for the herbs, he treated his hand, started to build a nest for himself, and started to gather things he found in the forest. One day, he found a foot long a box made of rubber that he started to use as a pillow.
He used most of the money on the herb to heal himself, leaving only some coins. He slowly started from there, and he was getting closer to getting the chip. After four months of escaping, he ran into a grave problem when he noticed that his hand started to get darker. Day By day, as time went on, this darkness started to crawl all over his body.
He tried to go to a hospital or any medical center, but he was denied entry. They didn't serve him even after he offered to give the money, so he started saving money to get the chip because he read that it would help, but as time went on, it only got worse. He didn't know too much about medicine. After a month, his health started to deteriorate slowly; he started to feel fatigued over time, and it started to affect his breathing, and this only got worse as time went on. In one month, it reached half of his body.
One day, Luden slowly wakes up from his sleep inside a tree; this is the 4th tree he used; as adventurers found all his other hideouts, and all his stuff was stolen. So he learned his lesson: not to leave his stuff inside so people don't know anyone is living in there. He slowly opens his pale eyes, a contrast to the once energetic kid who chased the wolves, a broken shell of his former self. It's been a month since he started hearing whispers that he didn't understand; they sounded like they were trying to tempt him. Luden looked at his now almost half-black body and knew he had no time left.
Death started to tempt him to finally rest, to close his eyes and leave all of this behind. But as soon as his eyes go cloudy, he remembers a white and black wolf who gave their all for him, someone who he knows is unwanted in this world. After so many interactions with his kind, he felt like they wished he never existed. Every time he offered his service of escorting the adventurers, he did a great job, even more so because the animals became more hostile, so he escorted them and found the best routes and avoided anything dangerous, saving their lives. And he only asks for a few coppers. He learned that these adventurers earn around one gold each time they go out in the forest. Yet they deny him these measly coppers. That idea intrigued him. He told himself, I only want to live. I'm not a burden. I'm doing something in exchange for you giving me money. He kept recalling his family's tales about the humans and how true some of them were. But not all of these humans are bad. Luden met few who actually took the time of their days to help him sometimes. Especially the unawakened ones.
Luden comes back to his senses, gathers all his stuff from the boxes and plastic bags, including his pillow, puts it in a torn bag he found, and walks outside slowly. He scans outside; he is extra careful these days because he saw one of Baha's gang members in the forest a few days ago, which made him fear that they had found out where he was. Yesterday, he changed his tree two times to make sure.
Once he is postive he is secure, he starts to look for a safe place to hide his belongings.
After a half-hour search, he finds a tree with a hole unoccupied by any rodent and shoves his things inside. Right after he is done with his routine and makes sure everything is ready, he climbs a tree big enough to use as an advantageous point to find his location next to the city. After he finds the city border, he starts climbing down to get near the city wall.
He slowly starts making his way near the wall while constantly checking his surroundings. He suddenly hears a footstep and instantly goes into hiding, burrowing himself into a bush and stopping his breathing.
A few seconds later, he hears a man's voice: "Hey, I'm sure I have heard something from here," which is getting nearer and nearer.
Then comes another voice: "Are you sure, man?"
The first man replies, "Yes, I'm sure. Who do you think I am?" The man approaches the bush, looks around, sees nothing, and starts tapping the ground.
The second voice comes again. "Did you find anything??"
The first man responds, "No, but I swear I heard something." The second man suggests they keep searching the area just to be safe.
The boy waits until the men are out of sight before cautiously emerging from the bush and continuing on his way, relieved that he wasn't discovered. He makes a mental note to be more careful next time to avoid any close calls.
Once he gets near enough, he spots a man wearing guard clothes.
As he watched the guard patrol the area, a sense of unease washed over him, reminding him of the danger that still lurked ahead. The boy quickly changes direction, determined to avoid any potential trouble and continue on his journey unnoticed.
He gets ready to continue; just as the boy is about to continue, a hand grips his shoulder. The boy, horrified, looks to the left only to see a man wearing green clothes start materializing out of nowhere and coming out of his stealth.
He hears the hoarse voice, "He, he, he. Finally caught you, little dog; the boss will be happy." The boy's heart races as he realizes he has been caught by one of the dangerous figures from his past. He knows he must think quickly to escape this perilous situation.
He tries to scream, but the man puts his hand in his mouth. He tries to scream, but the man puts his hand in his mouth to silence him.
The boy gets dragged to the forest, horrified.
The man walks more than the distance the Luden used to walk from the forest. Finally, they hear squalls of an animal, and a party of 17 people surrounds a big pig that is 3 meters tall, taking turns stabbing. The man who brought the boy stands nearby and watches them until, after minutes, the pig falls down.
The party gathers, and a man of 2 meters with a bald head, black eyes, and a body full of muscle, wearing black leather armor and carrying a great axe, walks by the pig and inspects it. He is Baha, the boss of Baha's gang. Others stand in respect and watch him without making a sound. A man of short build with long black hair walks to the man.
"Boss, how is it?" asks the short man.
"Gahhh... It's ruined. Whichever bastard went too hard on this pig and damaged the leather?" The boss asks while looking at his men.
The short man looks around nervously before responding, "I'll find out who did it, boss. It won't happen again." The boss nods in approval and walks away, leaving the short man to handle the situation.
All the other men lower their heads.
The short man asks. "How much do you think it will be worth?"
"1 gold," the boss answers while greatly disappointed they spent an hour fighting it for this much money only.
The short man sighs and begins to assess the damage, realizing the mistake that was made. He knows he will have to work extra hard to make up for it. The boss watches from a distance, hoping that this incident will serve as a lesson for his men in the future.
The boss speaks something in the man's ear, and the man nods in response before turning to address the rest of the party. The group then begins to make preparations to transport the pig back to their campsite.
Finally, the man spots the man who brought the boy.
"Why the hell are you here? Who will scout the area?" shouts angrily
The man answers hurriedly. "I was a boss, but look who I ran into."
The boss finally notices the boy, and finally, a bright smile passes on his face. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the little doggy who's been caught…"
The boy becomes horrified and tries to struggle, but to no end.
The boss walks into the boy, crouching down enough to meet him eye to eye.
"What an ugly piece of shit you are," the man says, then angrily yells, "So you have been avoiding us, huh?"
The boy tries to answer, but only a growl comes out at him.
The man has enough and punches the boy in the stomach, making him faint.
"What the hell? Why is he so weak?" The man inquires and opens whatever clothes the boy has to check his wounds, only to see his body is half filled with gangrene, and frowns at the short man.
"What kind of half-assed thing did you do when you cut his left hand, you stupid dimwit? The boy is as good as dead now, and we can't use him anymore."
The short man shrinks his head. "Boss, I swear I did everything by the book. I. I even made the little shit faint when I did the job."
"Enough!" "No more words from you. You are as useless as them. The boss yells at him.
"Look at him with one eye. One hand. Limping. A body Full of Gangrene that eats his body. How am I supposed to use him now?? I had great plans for him, you know; now he is as good as dead," the boss comments under his breath.
*Good for one last Run I say" muttered Baha under his breath "take him with us he has work to do"