The royal capital, the Underground City.
The rebuilt Underground City had taken on an entirely new look, and the people living there had gradually adapted to their peaceful new lives, leaving behind the dark days of the past. The residents of the Underground City were absolutely among the strongest supporters of Queen Hiss.
Grandma Linda from Scar Alley had once again set up her bread stall early in the morning as usual. She had done this every day for decades, even back when the Underground City was still shrouded in chaos, and not once had any blind fool from the gangs come looking for trouble. There was no special reason for it—it was simply because of Grandma Linda's own kindness.
The place was called Scar Alley because the gang that once occupied it had a rule: every gang leader had to leave a scar more than ten centimeters long on their face.
Over the decades, Scar Alley's gang leaders had changed more than ten times, but none of them had ever thought about disturbing Grandma Linda. That was because Grandma Linda was famous throughout all of Scar Alley as a good person. Homeless children, starving beggars, even down-and-out gang underlings—Grandma Linda would always lend them a helping hand.
Too many people had received Grandma Linda's kindness. Even several gang leaders themselves had once been helped by her. As a result, not disturbing Grandma Linda became an unspoken rule of Scar Alley.
However, a few years ago, after the strong intervention of the council, the entire Scar Alley gang was uprooted. No matter how you looked at it, a gang was still a gang.
Grandma Linda still set up her stall every day, but the kind-hearted old woman had been very happy these past few years. She could feel that the lives of the people in the alley had improved. Her failing ears had not heard the cries of starving children for a long time now. Instead, there was far more laughter and joy.
However, just as Grandma Linda finished placing the freshly baked bread on display that day, a cloaked figure suddenly rushed past her, knocking her off balance and sending her tumbling to the ground.
Old as she was, Grandma Linda held her aching waist and took an entire minute to stand back up. But the moment she did, she was shocked to discover that half the bread on her stall was gone.
"Oh dear, poor child. There's no need to run so fast. You should've taken more instead. In times like these, there are still children who can't get enough to eat?" Grandma Linda didn't care at all about the stolen bread. Instead, she worried about the child who stole it. With Her Majesty the Queen's support programs in place, if there were still children going hungry, then that child must truly be in difficult circumstances. The thought left her uneasy.
...
Meanwhile, the figure carrying a large paper bag nervously looked around at the entrance of an alley. After confirming there was no one nearby, the figure pulled up the hood of the cloak and hurried deeper into the alley with the paper bag clutched tightly.
The council's purge of the Underground City had been extremely thorough. After eliminating a large number of gangs and criminal forces, many houses and courtyards had inevitably been left vacant. The people of Paradis Island didn't care much about housing prices, and very few were willing to move into the Underground City anyway, so a huge number of homes remained empty. This gave certain people an opportunity.
Inside a dilapidated little courtyard that had been abandoned for years—
"Phew, that wasn't easy. We can finally eat our fill today. Porco, come eat some bread!" Pieck let out a relieved sigh as she removed her dusty cloak. Then she pulled all the bread from the paper bag in front of her. Having gone hungry for so long, Pieck immediately grabbed a loaf and stuffed it into her mouth.
Porco also walked into the courtyard at that moment. Unlike Pieck, however, his face was filled with worry.
"Pieck, this can't continue. We have to leave this place!"
Pieck chewed on the bread in big bites while casually grabbing another loaf and shoving it into Porco's hands.
"There's no point rushing. We're in the very center of Paradis Island right now. Even if we want to run, we first need to figure out where to run to. Don't panic. Let's eat our fill first."
Porco said, "How can you still be so carefree? Aren't you worried about our families? And Falco and the others too!"
Pieck replied, "Worrying won't help. Better save the energy and eat more. Besides, the ones who conquered Marley are still Eldians. Blood relatives, you know."
Veins bulged on Porco's forehead. Was this really the wise Pieck he used to know?
"We're Marleyan Warriors! We've been fighting for Marley this whole time! How could those Eldian Revolutionary Army people possibly treat us well? In their eyes, we're all traitors to the Eldians!"
But Pieck couldn't be bothered responding. Her stomach had been burning from hunger these past few days. She needed to eat more.
Seeing that Pieck ignored him, and with the fact that he himself had also been starving for several days, Porco could only angrily bite into the bread in his hand.
For a while, the only sound inside the courtyard was the noisy chewing of bread.
"Mmph! Cough, cough!" Pieck's face suddenly turned red. She quickly put down the bread and continuously pounded her chest. She had clearly choked.
At that moment, a hand brought a bowl of white rice porridge to Pieck.
Pieck hurriedly accepted it and took a huge gulp before finally recovering. The porridge was surprisingly sweet.
After setting down the bowl, Pieck grabbed another piece of bread. She still wasn't full. Casually thanking the person, she was just about to continue eating.
"No need to thank me~"
The familiar voice instantly made Pieck freeze. The bread stopped halfway to her mouth.
Th-That voice… so familiar!?
And the white rice porridge just now? Wait! She had been the one who went out looking for food today. Porco hadn't gone anywhere. So where did the porridge come from?
Pieck stiffly turned her head.
As expected, beside her sat Yago with a smile on his face.
Then she looked toward Porco. Porco himself had also frozen in place, because two cold blades were pressed against his neck and the back of his head.
A-Five stood behind Porco, gripping blades in both hands.
Pieck's pupils contracted, and her body instinctively twitched, but Yago immediately reached out and pressed down on her shoulder.
"Pieck-chan, don't be impulsive."
Swish!!
More than ten figures suddenly flipped onto the rooftops surrounding the courtyard.
Over a dozen fully armed soldiers, aimed dozens of gleaming Thunder Spears at Pieck and Porco. Having witnessed the destructive power of the Thunder Spears before, Pieck immediately didn't dare make any reckless moves.
"Ah, isn't this Yago-san? Long time no see." Pieck forced a smile.
But Yago smiled as he replied,
"Yeah, long time no see, Pieck-chan. How could you run around carelessly? You're unfamiliar with the place—what if you got lost on Paradis Island? If you wanted to come out and play, you could've just told us. There was no need to sneak out."
Pieck smiled on the outside, but inside she was already cursing nonstop. She hadn't expected the internal chaos on Paradis Island to end so quickly, nor that she and Porco would be captured this soon.
But before Pieck could say anything else, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her fingertip.
Yago somehow had a dagger in his hand now. He lightly sliced her fingertip, and a drop of blood stained the blade.
Pieck was horrified. She immediately used her willpower to suppress her body's subconscious urge to transform into a Titan.
Yet Yago didn't care in the slightest. Instead, he raised the dagger with interest and examined the blood on it.
"The power of the Cart Titan."
Then, under everyone's gaze, Yago directly brought the dagger to his mouth and swallowed the drop of blood.