At 5:30 in the afternoon, Walker Street was already covered with a layer of deep twilight.

Winter nights always come earlier than people expect, and the lights on both sides of the street have been turned on, and most of the dim light comes from kerosene lamps.

So few households can afford electricity that the dim light coming from most windows isn't even enough to illuminate the snowy streets of Walker Street.

Everything was shrouded in the hazy twilight before the street lights were turned on. Chen Yan walked under the twilight, losing some consciousness due to hunger, and his head became a little painful.

He still doesn't know how he accumulated so much hunger while working at the zoo.

Every time after get off work, the accumulated hunger fills every cell in my body.

This feels really bad.

Fortunately, I'll be home soon.

Presumably Nuomi Guo has already prepared dinner?

What are you having for dinner tonight?

It's amazing how quickly her cooking skills have improved.

Chen Yan got off the bus stop and walked through the Walker Street neighborhood.

Outside the cake shop on the first floor of No. 8 Walker Street, two boys lying on the window attracted his attention.

They were wearing loose, tattered work clothes. Although they were lying on the display window, they kept looking around, as if they were waiting for someone.

Chen Yan was a little surprised, because such children were not common in the first half of Walker Street.

Judging from their clothes and eyes, they are most likely from the second half of Walker Street, or even the lower part of Walker Street south.

Chen Yan passed by them and inadvertently saw the mandibles on both sides of their cheeks exposed due to hunger, and the dark circles under their eyes that he didn't know how to get rid of.

Their expressions seemed very anxious, and it was obvious in their eyes that they were about to lose their patience.

Chen Yan remembered that he had seen such a look before.

Most of the children from the black households in Xiacheng District, those who have been hanging out in the city for as long as they can remember, have eyes like this.

He came to them and said in as calm a tone as possible: "Hey guys, who are you waiting for?"

The two children were startled when they saw him, but they were not scared away by him - everyone knew that Asians were basically the most harmless group on Walker Street and there was no need to be too wary of them.

They didn't answer, they just stood in the snow, looking at him timidly without blinking.

'Another two fish on the beach...' Chen Yan thought to himself, 'just like the corner girls in Xiacheng District.'

"I can give you some food...if you need it." He was not very clear-headed and could only express such simple words.

At the same time, another thought came into his mind:

I am not a kind enough person, and I cannot save everyone. I am still running around all day for my own livelihood. What qualifications do I have to help these children?

This thought flashed through his mind. Chen Yan lowered his head and walked straight towards No. 33 Walker Street regardless of whether the two children wanted it or not.

There were footsteps behind me.

It means they are following.

Chen Yan felt a lot more relaxed inexplicably.

After ten minutes of walking, he returned to his apartment building, turned around and said to them: "Wait a moment, I will bring out some food."

He entered the house, quickly came to the kitchen, and said to Nuomiguo who was baking bread: "I need to get some food, not a lot, one meal is enough."

Nuomiguo didn't say anything, he just packed three pieces of black bread with old newspapers and handed them to Chen Yan.

Chen Yan took the black bread, returned to the platform in front of the door, handed them two newspapers wrapped in black bread, and asked:

"If you don't have anything to eat, go find a soup kitchen at a mission school or a relief tent... Try not to go out in such cold weather."

Not everyone can bear the winter in the empire, and news telegrams will report from time to time about people who unfortunately lost their lives in the cold night.

The two children took the black bread and did not say thank you.

Chen Yan thought to himself that they were still young, maybe they didn't have much contact with their parents, no one taught them, and maybe they didn't even have the concept of "thank you" in their heads.

They did not eat the black bread immediately, but took the black bread and walked towards the lower city.

The figures of the two people quickly disappeared into the increasingly large wind and snow.

The footprints on the ground were soon covered by the wind and snow that started to rise at night.

Chen Yan endured the pain that appeared in his head from time to time, took the bread, returned to the door, and locked the door.

When he entered the restaurant, Ogami and Nuomiguo were already waiting for him at the table.

The kerosene lantern placed on the other side of the dining table provided just the right amount of light. The snowflakes on Chen Yan's body melted into a light mist due to the heating, adding some mist to the light in the room.

Chen Yan was so confused that he could hardly understand the chat between Ogami and Nuomiguo.

I only heard roughly that Ogami found a job as a bodyguard. The employer's name was Leonardo, and he was an ambitious young man.

Nuomiguo didn't go out, she just stayed at home to prepare for the church school lessons.

I don't know where she found the book.

Chen Yan finished chewing the black bread in a daze, lowered his mouth and said with unclear teeth:

"Ogami, I originally planned to go to Xiacheng District to find my third uncle tonight... but I really don't feel well today and can't go..."

Ogami expressed her understanding and asked him to rest more. Her words were relaxed and there was no embarrassment at all.

Chen Yan could barely hear the relaxation in his tone, so he relaxed his slightly nervous spirit.

After relaxing, the mind becomes even more confused.

Chen Yan can no longer remember exactly what Ogami said next.

He only remembered that he had finished his dinner and said good night to them.

He still remembered that he seemed to have smiled at the Nuomi Guo, and then staggered upstairs. He first went to the bathroom on the second floor before returning to his room.

He even forgot to close the door, and only had time to take off his coat before he fell on the bed and fell into a coma.

What he couldn't see was that the muscles all over his body shrank in size, as if his whole body had shrunk.

Only the head seems to be bigger than before. A certain gland in the forehead swells, which not only increases the intracranial pressure and puts more load on the nervous system, but also extracts the energy from the muscles all over the body to use for its own growth.

of food.

That's Chen Yan's pineal gland.

It was only half past six in the afternoon. Although it was already dark, the street lights had not yet been turned on, and the moonlight became the only illumination besides the kerosene lamp.

At this moment, the moonlight shines into the bedroom on the third floor of the apartment building at No. 33 Walker Street. The moment it covers Chen Yan's body, his twisted facial features gradually relax.

It was also at the moment when his body was shrouded in moonlight in reality that Chen Yan opened his eyes in the dream.
Chapter completed!