"No! Absolutely not! I would never give Jessica to you!" Rebecca panicked and took two steps back to protect Jessica, leaning against the wall. She forcefully tucked Jessica behind her and looked at Valcke with a resolute tone.
Over the years, she had heard many rumors about Valcke. Countless women in the miners' family area had fallen into his hands, and none of them had a good ending. He had not even spared little girls.
Just recently, a girl under twelve years old became pregnant with his child, but he kicked her in the stomach while drunk, killing both her and her unborn child. The girl was used by his gambling father to pay off debt, she was just a child! If Jessica fell into his hands, she couldn't imagine what would happen, so she would rather die with Jessica!
The henchmen standing behind Valcke laughed along, their eyes brazenly scanning Rebecca and her daughter. Such a widow and her child were the easiest to bully, especially since they were somewhat attractive. If their boss didn't fancy them, they might be able to get them. This kind of thing had happened many times before.
Not far away, some people stood at the door of the black houses looking this way, but their expressions seemed somewhat numb. They just stared blankly, without any anger or excitement, and without any expression at all.
The path, paved with black gravel, was riddled with potholes. A rainstorm two days ago had left some potholes filled with black puddles, blending seamlessly with the surrounding black houses, making it resemble a mine pit standing on the ground.
…
"Little Amy, are you sure it's this alley?" Mai Ge pushed his bicycle, turning back to ask Amy, who was sitting on the back seat.
"Yes, Daddy, this time I'm absolutely sure Jessica's house is in this alley." Amy nodded earnestly.
"Okay, let's go take another look." Mai Ge nodded with a smile. Although he wanted to complain that Amy had said the same thing three times before, but she was his little fairy after all. What could he do? He still had to push the bicycle forward and carefully avoid the puddles.
Having grown accustomed to the bustling streets surrounding Aden Square, he still found it somewhat difficult to adjust to the scene in this slum. Even in this Chaos City, many people still lived in poverty and hardship.
…
"That's not up to you. Paying back debts is written in the laws of Chaos City. If you can't pay, I can take your things to pay off your debt. I don't want anything in this dilapidated house of yours. The only thing that looks valuable is this little girl." Valcke shook his head and looked at Jessica with a smile. "Do you know how much money you owe me? I'm a good person in every way, except that I'm too kind. After all, I'm a noble level two knight. I have pity on you, so I'm making this request to you. Otherwise, even you would be mine."
"My husband died in a mining accident two years ago, and I borrowed 20 gold coins from you to pay for his burial…" Rebecca clenched her fists, trying to suppress her grief and anger.
"Twenty gold coins? Ha, two years have passed, and with interest compounding, you now owe me a total of 500 gold coins, and that's after rounding down. Tell me, is your daughter worth that much? Have I been too kind to you?" Valcke said with a cold laugh.
"Yes, Lord Valcke is the kindest person in the world!"
"Only someone as generous as him would be. If it were me, I'd have to take both mother and daughter."
The henchmen joined in the jeering, their rude laughter sounded extremely harsh.
Valcke's smile grew even brighter, he seemed quite pleased with the compliments, watching Rebecca await her answer.
"How...how could it be 500 gold coins!" Rebecca looked at Valcke in disbelief, shaking her head. "Impossible! I only borrowed 20 gold coins from you, how could it become 500? You can't talk nonsense like that! I'm going to the City Lord's Mansion to report you!"
"This is the IOU you signed and sealed back then. It clearly states in black and white that the monthly interest is half. It's already ballooned to over five hundred gold coins. Even if you take it to the City Lord's Mansion, I'll still win. The City Lord's Mansion will even help me force you to repay the money and make you hand over your daughter to me as collateral." Valcke waved the IOU in his hand and smiled sinisterly. His underlings laughed along with him.
Rebecca looked at the IOU in Valcke's hand and the grating laughter of those people, feeling as if the whole sky had collapsed. The noisy, piercing laughter around her seemed to be tearing her eardrums apart, and she subconsciously hid Jessica even further behind her.
Jessica looked up at Rebecca, who was completely panicked. Her little face showed fear, but she didn't cry. She reached out her little hand and held her mother's hand tightly, wanting to give her some warmth and support.
Rebecca froze for a moment, then looked down at Jessica and suddenly gripped Jessica's small hand tightly, as if grasping at a last straw. Coming to her senses, she looked at Valcke and said, "Lord Valcke, please give me a little more time. Inspector Woodrow said that my husband's pension and the child support payments for these years will be issued soon. It will definitely be more than 500 gold coins. I will definitely repay you in full then. Please let us go, please let Jessica go. She is just a child, a five years old child."
"You're really naive." Valcke chuckled, shrugging. He took two steps closer to Rebecca, leaned in, and whispered in her ear, "Inspector Woodrow is my uncle. He told me personally that the pension for the miners who died in the mine accident that year has already been paid out, along with the compensation and funeral expenses. However, you won't get any. Even if you wait until you die, you'll never receive the money your husband earned with his life. Because that money never belonged to you lowly black rats. I'll make good use of your daughter. If she lives a few more years, may be she can even have a child."
"How could this be..." Rebecca's pupils gradually dilated as she looked at Valcke's ferocious smiling face in front of her. Her already sickly complexion grew paler and paler, and all her strength seemed to have been drained away. She could no longer support her body and slowly sat down on the ground against the wall, as if even her soul had disappeared.
"I heard you took a dragon coin to buy medicine a few days ago. You had money for treatment but not money to pay me back. That's not right. Consider the rest of the money, except for this little girl's, as interest." Valcke waved his hand, and two burly men stepped forward to search Rebecca.
"You're not allowed to bully my mother! You bad people! If my Daddy was still here, he could send you flying with one punch!" Jessica rushed out from behind, spreading her arms to protect Rebecca.
"Go ahead and let that short-lived bastard crawl out of his coffin and beat us up!"
The crowd burst into laughter. One of the burly men ripped the purse from Rebecca's waist. The purse ripped open, and with a clatter, a handful of gold, silver, and copper coins fell to the ground, some jumping into the puddle.
"Idiots, pick it all up." Valcke frowned slightly, annoyed, and the burly men hurriedly bent down to collect the money.
"No, this isn't my money. Someone lent it to me, and I have to return it..." Rebecca struggled to stand up, but Valcke stepped on her shoulder.
Valcke grabbed Jessica's chin with his other hand, grinned maliciously at Rebecca, and said, "I said it's mine, so it's mine. From today onwards, she belongs to me too."
A gold coin jingled as it rolled forward, followed by a burly man covered in tattoos, bent over.
The gold coin struck a wheel, spun around, and came to a stop.
The burly man's face lit up with delight, and he reached out to pick it up.
But just as his hand touched the gold coin, a foot slammed down, as if struck by a heavy hammer, crushing the large hand into the black gravel.
"This is my money."
A somewhat cold voice rang out, accompanied by a loud scream.