Chapter 51 - Imperial Family Insignia

Dai Chen explained to both Li Jie and the maid miss Xiao Chu that there are only two entrances to the slums, one is at the front and the other is at the backside of the wall, the front entrance is only open for those noble family's servants to dump garbage and the backside entrance is used to dump useless humans by the same noble families but it is done discreetly, as for us residents of the slums, except for some special figures who are favored by the noble families to perform various tasks such as slavery and selling of humans and their body parts, and various other disgusting acts, hearing this Li Jie felt repulsed towards those who perform such horrendous acts.

Then Dai Chen explained that it is normally impossible to get out and get inside the slums as he does, but he is aware of an entrance thanks to his younger sister, which is hidden quite cleverly was found by Dai Chen's younger sister who as he says is the most intelligent of them all, without her permission, I am not allowed tell this secret passage to anyone else, because according to her, that the moment the secret passage is found will lead to a miserable fate for us and those of the slums, which Dai Chen wasn't able to comprehend.

At first, his younger sister was against the idea of Li Jie coming to their place but Dai Chen convinced her somehow, and It is because of Li Jie's age as well as his generosity towards Dai Chen, that she agreed.

"Brother Li Jie and miss Xiao Chu, I hope you don't tell about this secret passage where I will be taking you to anyone", asked Dai Chen with sincerity.

Li Jie and Xiao Chu both vowed to never disclose about the secret passage to anyone.

Dai Chen believed them but he still had to do this as it was his younger sister's order, thought Dai Chen a bit embarrassed.

It was then that first Dai Chen looked around to check if anyone is snooping around, after checking the whole area around them to be clear, he asked both Li Jie and the maid Xiao Chu to follow him.

All three of them sneakily first got near the wall and then Dai Chen changed the direction, he was heading to the forest where they saw a huge rock, behind which Dai Chen asked both of his companions to follow him, and when they came behind the rock, they asked Dai Chen, what to do next, because they couldn't see any entrance and the wall was quite far from the entry point, so they both wondered, just how will we enter and then as if to curb their curiosity, Dai Chen picked out an insignia which had dragon's figure ingrained in it, it was made of gold and had colorful lines ingrained in it, which formed some kind of symbol he didn't recognize and it had a luster, which would arouse greed in one's heart.

Looking from behind them, the shadows were stupefied because unlike Li Jie and his company, these shadows were experienced veterans who had worldly experience, by looking at the insignia, they recognized it in one glance, that it was the insignia of the imperial family and that too it was only carried by the direct descendants of the current king.

"Just where did this kid get the insignia, looks like those who say that the water in the slums is deep, and if one peeks through it, they will find themselves in the abyss is not without reason, anyway our mission is only the safety of young master, nothing else should be of our concern", said the shadow in lead.

Dai Chen then placed the insignia on the rock and recited some kind of incantation which sounded gibberish to Li Jie, after which the rock changed and it was as if it came to life, patterns started to form on the rock, which Li Jie noticed and found them to be formations as it was explained to him by his master.

After the patterns were completely formed on the rock, they started to shift, and only after sometime when the patterns turned still, that a small gate opened on the rock, which was something to marvel at, for both Li Jie as well as the maid Xiao Chu, but unbeknownst to them the most shocked were the shadows following them, their eyes were popping out from the ridiculous scene they were witnessing, "Just what kind of friend did the young master make from the slums", thought the shadow who was in lead.

After the gate opened, Dai Chen asked both his companions to enter, so that he can then close it from inside, to which both of them nodded but unbeknownst to them, some shadow figures started entering the entrance that was opened on the rock discreetly without either three of them noticing anything wrong.

Dai Chen then lead them inside the secret passage to the exit, which took some time for them to walk and when they reached what felt like a dead-end, Dai Chen again placed his medallion and recited the incantation, on the wall and the same as before, first the patterns were formed and then they started juggling around, after sometime when the patterns turned still, that the entrance was opened.

With the opening of the wall, all three of them were hit with an unpleasant pungent smell which made the maid Xiao Chu and Li Jie scrunched up their nose instinctively, only Dai Chen looked okay with the smell because he was used to it, before even properly entering the slums, Li Jie and the maid Xiao Chu couldn't believe if any human can even live in this place but they didn't want Dai Chen to feel bad, so they endured, and asked him to take them to his home.

Dai Chen felt elated that neither of his companions despite bearing the unbearable smell didn't mock him or the slums, to relieve his companions Dai Chen said that this is the waste area in the slums, here it smells bad all the time, the place where their home is doesn't smell at all and his siblings, especially his younger sister likes to be clean and neat, and according to his younger sister, one should wash themselves and everything of theirs daily, if not it's possible for one to easily contact sickness, while the residents of the slums don't wash themselves daily, it is different with his younger sister who is a complete hygiene freak.

Hearing Dai Chen, both the maid Xiao Chu and Li Jie felt relief from the bottom of their hearts, they didn't want to be rude but in their heart, they knew, if they stayed more longer in this horrible place where it smells horrible, they might lose their sense of smell.

Both the maid Xiao Chu and Li Jie urged Dai Chen to take them to his home faster, so all three of them rushed towards Dai Chen's home.

Unbeknownst to the three of them, the shadows who were following them were also repulsed by this smell.

"Damn Damn Damn, no matter how many times I come here, this place stinks like hell always, does the whole continent shit at this place," said one of the shadows.

"Well technically the whole continent does shit in this place", joked another shadow.

"Stop it, you two I know you two better than anyone, despite the smell, you both must be joyful of returning to your home because you both were born here and I remember it was sir patriarch who rescued you both when he was young, but that doesn't mean you have time to be distracted, just focus on young master's safety", said the shadow who was leading.

"You don't have to worry boss, all of our attention will be towards young master", said one of the shadows.

The shadow in lead nodded and said "Remember not to act in any way unless the young master's life is threatened in any way, and everything that we have observed so far will be reported to Sir Patriarch.

Dai Chen who was moving around in the slums to go back to his home with his companions, Li Jie noticed that there was no street, no straight land, the land was jagged and there were all sorts of garbage lying around, what surprised Li Jie was that there were mountains of garbages on which many tents were built, and according to Dai Chen's description, those tents were houses built by the residents of the slums.

Li Jie couldn't believe even after seeing everything from his eyes, "Just what have the people here done wrong to live here, no one deserves such a painful life", thought Li Jie.

His eyes were filled with pity, the garbage which many cannot even bear for a bit of it to be in their house is now just everywhere here, and the worst part is the residents have to live in this garbage.

Li Jie thought, "why does no one save them".