Charles was taken aback. After all this time with him, it was the first time Lily had asked for a salary.

  “You used to just drag me along whenever you wanted to buy something,” he remarked.

  Lily drooped her ears and explained, “I saw James’s wife giving stale bread to those poor refugees from Shadow Island, and I want to do the same.”

  “Mr. Charles, let’s help them! They’re so pitiful! I saw some of them so hungry they were digging through garbage for scraps that even rats wouldn’t eat. It’s so sad!” Lily tugged on Charles’s fingers, her voice pleading.

  “Can you really help that many people?”

  “Well... even if I can help just one, it’s better than nothing! It’s really hard to be hungry, and I heard there have been many dead bodies in the sewers lately.”

  Charles thought for a moment and wrote a check, handing it to Lily. “Here’s your money. Don’t take it all out at once; have that brat Deep help you open a bank account.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Charles! You’re so kind!” Lily exclaimed, excitedly grabbing the check and quickly scampering off with her mouse friends.

  “Is our money enough? Just giving it away to that little troublemaker?” Richard’s voice echoed in Charles’s mind.

  “That’s her rightful pay. What she does with it is her business. Echoes won’t benefit us, and besides, we won’t be here much longer,” Charles replied, pulling out his sketchpad to start drawing.

  As Richard’s voice faded from his mind, Charles’s prosthetic limb suddenly moved on its own, picking up another brush and starting to paint with both hands.

  Two brushes filled the canvas, gradually revealing a joyful family of four. However, except for one young man, the faces of the other three remained blurred.

  Charles thought Lily’s matter was settled, but that night, his gunner returned in tears.

  “What happened?” Charles set down his brush and asked the weeping white mouse.

  “Waaah... they... they stole my bread! I told them to come one by one, but they wouldn’t listen and tried to take my money too!”

  “Is everyone alright?” Charles lifted Lily, checking her for injuries.

  “I’m fine! My friends bit them! But Mr. Charles, why did this happen? I was just trying to help them,” the upside-down Lily questioned.

  Seeing she was unharmed, Charles set her down. “There’s no point in questioning it. Just don’t go back next time. Save that money for snacks instead.”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Lily frowned, sitting on the carpet and playing with her tail. She couldn’t understand why, when she was only trying to help, they would steal her bread.

  As time passed, the brown mice nearby curled up together on the carpet and fell asleep, yet Lily remained puzzled.

  Watching her troubled expression, Charles shook his head, set down his brush, and picked her up again, walking to the window.

  “Do you think that because you see them as pitiful and help them, they should be grateful to you?”

  “Yes! They’re hungry, and I gave them food! They should say thank you, right? That’s what good people do.”

  “Who told you that just because someone is pitiful, they’re a good person? Some people are so desperate to survive that they don’t care about good or bad anymore. Just staying alive is a struggle for them.”

  Charles watched a seven or eight-year-old beggar using a blade to cut the clothes of a sailor, his bright eyes devoid of innocence, filled instead with greed for money.

  The next moment, the sailor noticed the beggar and picked him up, throwing him harshly to the ground, showing no regard for the child’s age as he kicked him hard in the chest.

  The surrounding crowd remained indifferent, merely parting slightly to avoid the blood that might splatter from the thief.

  The bleeding boy trembled as he crawled toward an old man smoking a cigarette, his bloodied lips seeming to plead for something.

  The old man glanced at him coldly, tossing his cigarette butt into the filthy water in front of the boy, then stood up and walked away.

  “In this world, we can only protect ourselves, and at most, those close to us. We can’t handle others’ affairs. They may seem pitiful, but who isn’t pitiful in this world? Just living is a form of suffering.”

  Charles stroked Lily’s smooth fur along her back.

  The little white mouse in his hand clutched tightly, staring at the unnoticed thief on the ground.

  Just as Charles thought he had convinced his gunner, Lily squeaked a few times, and the brown mice lying on the carpet sprang into action.

  Soon, Charles saw them dragging the small boy into a corner by the street.

  Lily pushed Charles’s hand away, looking up at him and shaking her head vigorously. “Mr. Charles, you’re wrong! Daddy told me that a person lives in this world not just for themselves; people must help each other to make the world better!”

  Lily jumped from Charles’s hand to the ground, her emotions flaring. “Even if they don’t say thank you, I still want to help them! Mr. Charles, don’t stop me!”

  Seeing the little mouse so riled up, Charles chuckled softly. “I won’t stop you. If that’s what you want to do, go ahead. Just remember to buy some fish and mushrooms for those people; that’ll help everyone. Bread is too expensive, and even the cheapest black flour is grown in fresh water.”

  Lily’s expression shifted from surprise to determination as she nodded vigorously and dashed out the door.

  Watching the bustling street outside the window, Charles let out a slow breath. Lily’s character was nobler than his.

  That day’s events quickly faded from Charles’s mind. No matter how Lily’s charity work turned out, as long as she was happy, that was enough.

  However, as time passed, a legend began to circulate in the port district.

  A tale about the “Mouse Angels,” who were said to be the guardians of street children and beggars, distributing food to the hungriest of children.

  “Well done this time,” Charles remarked to the white mouse next to him, who was gnawing on an oyster in the warm room.

  Lily giggled. “I took advantage of their sleeping time, giving food to each one so that no one would go hungry!”

  Charles continued his artwork, feeling that as long as Lily was happy, the money was well spent.

  “Mr. Charles, what do you do at the beach while you’re sleeping?”

  Lily’s question made Charles pause his brush. “You saw me at the beach? When?”

  “Uh-huh.” Lily nodded her little head. “My friends saw you several times, jumping across the rooftops!”