Chat group, swap bodies with Alicia at the beginning?

Because she often robbed the rich to give to the poor, she had a high reward among the rich people in Dusk Street, at least by Pado's standards.

Then, nothing happened as imagined.

The cat with its eyes closed did not feel the chasing, yelling, and scolding that it used to feel - but which is rare nowadays. It just felt the warm and gentle touch on its head.

I carefully mustered up the courage to look up and saw the pink girl squatting nearby, caressing me with her delicate hands.

...It's quite comfortable.

Feeling that rare feeling, although Padu was still full of fear in her heart, she subconsciously narrowed her eyes, revealing an expression like a cat being stroked.

For some reason, I felt comfortable all over.

Hanging around in places like Dusk Street for years, even if one's skills become more and more agile, it is inevitable that many scars will be left on the body - of course, Pado has long been accustomed to enduring pain.

But now, she felt that the pain that usually made her grimace when touched seemed to be gradually disappearing.

"Yeah~ all right."

"The face is very important to girls. If there are scars on the face, it will not look good."

With her cheek lifted up, the fairy-like girl looked at her with a satisfied expression, then smiled and said, "Get up, the ground is still very dirty."

"..."

Paduo was pulled up in a daze and didn't come to her senses for a long time.

"Well, let me introduce myself first."

"Ailishiya - as you can see, I am a beautiful girl as gorgeous as flying flowers. Of course, you can also call me Jiang Qiao, it's all right, just call me whatever you like." Supporting her slender waist, the pink girl casually introduced herself.

After hearing the sweet voice, Paddo finally learned the name of the owner of the crystal flower and came back to her senses. She was a little surprised:

"...Won't you hit me and scold me?"

"Hmm~ Do I look like a bad guy?"

"I stole your things."

"Well, this is indeed not a behavior worthy of praise, but it doesn't matter. I forgive you."

"As for this crystal flower... do you like it?"

"..."

Paduo looked at the crystal flower in her hand, not knowing how to describe her feelings at the moment.

She really likes this thing.

If life wasn't a constraint, the cat might prefer to keep this thing in his hands and preserve it as a "treasure".

Seeing the girl's reluctance, [Alicea] smiled:

"In that case, I'll give it to you."

"Eh!?"

"Is it really possible?"

Paddo widened her eyes. Although she felt extremely surprised, she was also a little bit unbelievable.

This crystal flower looks very precious, right?

Even without identifying the material, she knew it was definitely not made of glass.

Did the other party actually give it to me directly?

"of course."

"But from now on you'll have to follow me."

Mr. Jiang immediately revealed his true intentions.

After hearing this, Maomao immediately realized: Why is your map of Yan State so short? It turns out that it is a map of me!

Well, if that's the case then you're going to be disappointed.

For a crystal flower, you sold yourself out. I’m not that cheap a cat!

You know, I, Pado, am a person of Twilight Street when I live, and I am a ghost of Twilight Street when I die! I am devoted to Twilight Street and will never waver, so -

"You don't want to? What a pity, I originally wanted to give this crystal flower..." The girl showed a regretful expression while holding another crystal flower, with a look of regret on her face.

But the next moment, a black shadow as nimble as a cat flashed by, and the crystal flower disappeared.

The chestnut-haired girl carefully put the two crystal flowers into her arms, afraid that they might be damaged, and came close to [Alishia]. She showed a very flattering expression and said attentively:

"Hehehe, sure, sure...why wouldn't I be unwilling?"

"Sister Ai Li, whatever you say is what I'll follow you from now on."

At this moment, Padua looked like a dog...well, should I say a cat's leg!

This sister named Alicia looks like a beautiful and sweet person, and she is even very generous. Wouldn't she be stupid if she didn't stick with such a rich man?

Since she has invited me, Padu doesn't mind being Sister Ellie's cat at all.

In this way, maybe she can really live the life she dreams of in the second half of her life - a dream life where she can eat her fill every day and have a good nap?

And unlike those bad rich guys, they are both girls and don’t need to worry about the chastity crisis at all!

...Well, there's nothing to worry about, right?

——Although she had no idea what Maomao was thinking, Jiang Qiao felt very happy.

The goal of coming to Twilight Street this time has been half achieved.

Although Maomao is not the person who can help as he said, with Maomao's current ability, he can only be regarded as a handyman in the Fire Moth.

But just because she is a cat, Jiang Qiao, as [Alicia] at this time, would not continue to keep Paduo in Dusk Street.

After all, the environment in this place is not very good, and Maomao has to risk her life to survive here - she can see wanted posters of Pado on the streets.

Under the influence of the new Ruler of Law, this situation will only become more serious over time.

Being able to capture the cat before finding Aponya is a pretty good sign.

Jiang Qiao returned to Smailo's hardware store with the cat.

It looked like they had finished talking.

"Little Paddo?"

Smailo saw the girl behind Jiang Qiao, who was hiding her face with a cloak, and recognized her identity at a glance. He sighed in understanding:

"Yes, the most famous pickpocket in this Dusk Street is this kid."

"Little girl, can you let her go?"

"Although little Padu is a pickpocket, he is a rare good kid in Dusk Street."

She is known as the 'righteous thief' among the lower-class residents. Many residents of Dusk Street who have been helped have a good impression of this little girl. Although Smailo is not the type of person who has been helped, as one of the few clear streams in Dusk Street, he also likes this little girl very much.

After knowing that it was Paduo who stole Jiang Qiao's things, he wanted to plead for mercy.

Padu was obviously familiar with this hardware store uncle who was hanging out on Twilight Street, and said cheerfully:

"Hey, Uncle Smailo, don't worry. Sister Ellie is very nice to me. Now I'm following her!"

"That's right, that's great."

"Dusk Street has been getting more and more chaotic lately. It would be a good idea to leave this place early."

Smailo nodded with some relief, then sighed: "That child Weierwei has already told me."

"You want to find that nursing home, right?"

"Well, the person I'm looking for is called 'Aponia'."

After hearing Jiang Qiao's goal, Maomao was a little surprised:

"Hey, Sister Ai Li, you wanted to find her..."

In fact, Aponia's private sanatorium was one of the targets of her poverty alleviation assistance. After robbing the rich to help the poor, she would often send some dry food and other things and secretly put them in the storage room of the sanatorium.

She didn't have much contact with the caregiver, or rather, she deliberately avoided contact with her. Although Abonya looked gentle, for a child like Pado who grew up like a wild cat, she was quite intimidating.

If they were caught by the other party, they would be scolded for a long time at least. Cats who have had similar experiences still have psychological trauma when they think of Abonya.

"I don't know much about the sanatorium, but it seems that the situation there is not very good recently... You can try to get the details from little Padu. Haha, she is the most well-informed person in our Dusk Street and the one who is most familiar with this place."

"Yeah, leave it to me. I may not be good at other things, but when it comes to being familiar with Twilight Street, no one knows it better than me."

After saying that, Maomao laughed and said:

"Hey, Sister Ellie, you told me earlier that you wanted to find a nursing home. I'm the best at this kind of thing."

"I'll lead the way. Um... it's better not to take the main road."

Leaving the hardware store, Padu, who was walking in front, volunteered to lead the way, muttering to herself.

"why?"

"Recently, Twilight Street has become more chaotic than before. I don't know what's going on. Some of the hooligans who used to be relatively quiet have started to openly block the Huangni Avenue and attack others. Now everyone on Twilight Street is in a state of panic."

"Is it related to the sanatorium?" Jiang Qiao keenly noticed something.

"It seems a little bit. Some people say that it's because that nursing home randomly admitted patients that the epidemic outside was brought in... Oh, I think it must be the bad guys in the rich area who are causing trouble. There is no epidemic at all. We often go to that nursing home. Isn't it completely fine?"

Following behind the nonchalant cat, the pink girl frowned slightly.

He remembered that Aponya often meant well but ended up with bad results.

In fact, Jiang Qiao also encountered some individuals carrying particles of the Rulers along the way to Dusk Street, but after arriving at Dusk Street, the proportion was obviously higher.

Jiang Qiao originally thought it was due to the atmosphere of Dusk Town, but through what Padu said...

Putting aside what she was thinking, the girl said casually:

"Come to think of it, shouldn't the small road be more dangerous?"

"That's true, but the path we're talking about is actually rarely known even to the locals. Don't worry, we found it secretly when we were buying goods here. We used it to avoid being hunted down by the bad guys many times."

With that, Padu, somewhat complacently, climbed up a very dilapidated ladder and said, "Follow me closely, Sister Ellie."

——Indeed, few people would know about such a passage. After all, the so-called "path" of the cat is completely connected by various holes and rooftops. It is difficult to call it a "road" in the conventional sense. If you insist, it may be more like a path that a cat would walk.

But it does have its advantages, such as being sufficiently concealed.

Jiang Qiao, who was following Padu, felt like she was playing some stealth game.

...Well, I think it would be faster to just take the main road.

But it is indeed a very novel experience.

The only drawback may be... there is a lot of dust.

"Cough cough~" The pink girl coughed after dusting herself off. A green light flowed across the surface of the incomplete emerald green ring between her fingers, and the choking particles gradually disappeared in the breeze.

Finally, after following Maomao over several buildings and across several rooftops, Jiang Qiao finally heard some good news:

"Okay, Sister Ellie, we're here."

At Pado's suggestion, he saw the destination of this trip - the sanatorium in Abonya.

Needless to say, it is as shabby as this dusk street, but it looks quite simple and clean, and it can be seen that someone cleans it regularly.

"Many homeless children and patients in Dusk Street are taken into the sanatorium by Sister Abonya. Although I don't want to get close to her, Sister Abonya is indeed a rare good person, but she is a bit wasteful. Food is obviously a very precious thing in Dusk Street, but every time I come here to find some leftovers to fill my stomach when I don't have any harvest, I can see leftover food. Hey~ it tastes pretty good."

Due to the scarcity of supplies and extreme poverty, the residents of Dusk Street are always particularly thrifty with food. They don't even need to wash their bowls, and after checking they might even find that a corner is missing from them.

In this kind of situation, "leftovers" seem to be something you can only find in the trash cans of the rich.

"Hey, what happened?"

Paddo, who was the first to climb into the sanatorium, was stunned for a moment when she saw the somewhat messy sanatorium, as if it had experienced some kind of riot.

The interior of the sanatorium is not as neat as it looks from the outside, and is full of traces of violence.

"There are signs of a struggle and blood... This bullet hole... is from a pistol bullet."

Alicia, who followed in, approached the pillar and gently stroked the bullet marks and holes left behind. At the same time, traces of the gears belonging to the Herrscher of Reason appeared in her eyes, and she quickly captured other traces inside the sanatorium.

"Not that long ago... maybe just a few hours ago."

"Phyllis, is there anyone else in the nursing home?"

"Ah... Let me see!"