I, the only superpower on earth

Chapter 138: Navalli Evans (Part 2)

When Navalli was ten years old, Navalli's mother, Estrella, returned to the small village of Catemaco, Veracruz, but with it, she had already lived in the United States. Settlement news.

Estrella also came from this small village, but she has no interest in inheriting her mother's wizarding profession, and her attitude towards Aztec mythology is like that of any ordinary Mexican—subtly aware, but alienated boring.

At her age like Navalli, at a time when universal education in Mexico had not yet reached a small place like Catemaco, and there was a small plague in the village, despite the ritual demands of grandmothers from superstitious elderly villagers It is more prosperous, but because of the crop failure and the young villagers occupying the mainstream of the village's public opinion on the epidemic, the food offerings that grandmother can harvest are far less than usual. Therefore, Estrella had to go far across the mountains and leave The village is under the fence of my aunt's family.

My aunt's family lived in Acapulco. It was the most prosperous era at that time, with resort hotels flourishing and tourists flocking. The aunt and uncle are working as waiters and logistics supervisors respectively in a hotel, and their children are in elementary school.

For Estrella's arrival, they didn't show much favor, but they took her in out of kinship, and provided meals and a residence of less than four square meters. Despite this, they did not give Estrella the opportunity to receive an education, and made it clear to her that they could only raise Estrella for a maximum of five years, and every time spent on her during these three years They will keep the money firmly in mind. During these five years, it would be best for Estrella to find a job to support herself, to be independent from this family—and, after that, to pay back the money they spent on her as soon as possible.

For Estrella, a ten-year-old girl who just came from a small backwater village to such a big city, her aunt's cold and decisive words were full of oppression—however, for some reason, she This is as sweet as candy.

Perhaps it is also because Navalli's grandmother's teachings to her have also played a deep-rooted role in the development of her personality. Even if the Aztec mythology and the divine power of the main god Tezcatripoca are abandoned, they are subtly influenced. During this period, there was no kindness and tolerance, and the concept that the Aztec gods "never give grace to mortals unconditionally, and must exchange wealth and hope with blood sacrifices" has been deeply implanted in her heart. Estrella not only I didn't feel that the aunt's family's statement was too cold and heartless, but felt relaxed about it.

She agreed to the terms of her aunt's family without hesitation, and ate plain rice there for more than half a year. At the same time, Estrella would sneak out of the house every day when her cousins ​​carried their schoolbags to school, and wandered the streets, looking for an opportunity to make money.

But she is just a child under the age of eleven, with a thin body, yellow skin, and her hair is laid down in locks, which looks like it has not been washed-because the aunt's house even pays for the water bill. It was recorded that every time Estrella entered the bathroom to take a bath, they would silently record the duration of the flush, and then add a few tenths of pesos to that thick accounting book.

So, the dirty kid Estrella just walked around Acapulco, searching tirelessly. Finally, after half a year of searching, he finally got the simplest job—— —The Postman Newsboy.

Every morning, she needs to go to the distribution center to pick up hundreds of newspapers. According to the address provided there, she looks for the owner of each newspaper in the streets and alleys of Acapulco. It takes more than ten hours at the beginning, and she finally becomes proficient in the process. After getting up, Estrella can control the time within five hours, arrive at the distribution center after five o'clock in the morning, and finish the work in the morning.

Estrella earns about five pesos for a newspaper delivery, which is about as much as an adult Mexican spends on food every day.

And in the afternoon, after finishing a day's work, she would find a way to buy some cheap raw materials to make items related to the Aztec mythological rituals that her mother taught her in memory—such as incense, or obsidian knives, Or a skull stone.

Unexpectedly, the sales of these things were not bad. At that time, Mexico had not yet experienced the peso financial crisis, and Acapulco was still booming. Tourists from all over the world came to this seaside resort city. So Estrella also took this opportunity to sell a lot of "handicrafts" made by herself.

In the following time, she spent less and less time at her aunt's house, and she could basically solve three meals a day by herself, but the small house of less than four square meters provided by her aunt was still the only one she had in this city. Shelter, so whenever night comes, after Estrella closes the stall, she will return to that dark and damp room, constantly calculating in her mind today's income and expenses, and make sure that the aunt's family has spent so far The money on my body can be completely covered by the income on hand, and I can sleep peacefully after that.

A year later, Estrella had amassed a sum of about 1,000 pesos from newspaper deliveries and sales, which she kept close to her.

According to Estrella's calculations, the amount he should pay to his aunt's family so far does not exceed three hundred pesos. But one day when she was eleven and a half years old, when she woke up in the morning, Estrella found that the place where she kept her underwear next to her body was empty.

Estrella rushed out of the room that could not be called a "bedroom" like a madman, faced her aunt who was making tacos in the kitchen, and approached her, with anger in her eyes:

"Money...my money, it's all gone!"

"Estrella, what are you talking about?"

With a pensive expression as if waking up from a big dream, the aunt put down the taco that was being wrapped in her hand, and asked Estrella slowly.

"That money - far more money than you spent on me, I go out at five o'clock every day to deliver newspapers, set up a stall in the afternoon and sell it until late at night, all the money you earned was taken away by you, right?!"

Aunt looked at her, frowning visibly:

"Estrella, are you questioning me?"

She picked up the kitchen knife next to her, and said to Estrella calmly and calmly:

"Estrella, don't challenge the world of grown-ups with a child's cognition. This is Acapulco—how much do you think a room that can accommodate people is worth? We'll save you from that cluttered It is worth more than 500 pesos to be taken in in a small village - what's more, you have a small room that belongs to you in this home?

"One thousand pesos, is that expensive? In my opinion, it's only enough to cover your living expenses here for more than a year. And my child, your brother - I want to send him to study in the United States , for your family, shouldn't you contribute more?"

Estrella fell silent for a moment.

It wasn't because her aunt's words made her understand the cruelty of reality, but because the kitchen knife in her hand that was cutting towards the chopping board brought her back to calm and rational.

Estrella returned to his room without saying a word.

But—just after the sound of cooking sounded again in the kitchen, she took the things she had packed quietly and left the house, and decided not to come back again.

...

Estrella did not find a place to live that day.

The business was not good that day. Although she sold in the square all day, she only got a few pesos in her account. Including the income from delivering newspapers in the morning, she had less than ten pesos in savings.

Although this money can also allow her to find a place to rest overnight in the cheapest hotel in the city, but by the next day, she might not be able to spend any money to eat.

So that night, Estrella chose to spend the night on the street.

In Acapulco at that time, the night was already showing its fangs. When night fell, the streets and alleys would become places for drug addicts and anti-trafficking drug shellfish, and gunshots rang out from time to time.

Estrella had heard about such a situation occasionally, so she deliberately chose a remote alley, emptied a trash can, and spent the night in it.

The wind was not too cold that night, and Estrella went to bed early. Although the stench from the trash can always surrounded her, Estrella didn't feel any discomfort because she was already used to being surrounded by similar stench at her aunt's house.

In a trash can in a Mexican alley, Estrella fell into a peaceful sleep.

But in the middle of the night, the silence was broken.

Estrella, whose head was leaning against the inner wall of the trash can, was suddenly awakened by the sound of people outside the trash can.

"……this……"

"...A new item..."

Listening to those voices in a daze, some of them were similar to "trading" and "methamphetamine", which made Estrella wake up in horror, and the sleepiness that had just been disturbed and had not completely dissipated suddenly disappeared. She thought of the gossip she heard on the way to the paper delivery and the stalls in the plaza, and knew that she had fallen into Acapulco's notorious underground joint trading scene, but that was where she chose to sleep things that are best avoided.

Estrella prayed frantically in her heart, hoping that she would not be discovered by the two people who traded outside, but at this moment, because she was too nervous, her head hit the inner wall of the metal barrel slightly.

The conversation outside the trash can stopped in an instant.

Instead, there was the sound of some kind of metal mechanism being pulled apart, and the sound of slowly approaching footsteps.

Estrella held his breath for a moment.

Then, she suddenly knocked over the trash can, and bounced towards the direction of the footsteps over there——when the footsteps outside the trash can became embarrassing and moved to the two sides, her body was like a skunk They also got out of the mouth of the barrel and rushed out of the alley.

"Bang bang bang—"

There was continuous pistol shooting sound behind her, probably because she didn't expect the person who got out of it to be so small. In addition, Estrella bent her body deliberately, and the bullets grazed the top of her head and passed through the side. On the walls, "rusting" dust kept falling.

And at this moment, Estrella had already turned the corner and ran out towards the street outside the alley even more crazily.

The two chatters rushed out of the alley, watched as Estrella, who had already run away, fired a few more times unwillingly, until all the magazines were emptied, and Estrella disappeared completely. , just put away the empty gun unwillingly, and quickly shifted the position.

...

Estrella ran tremblingly, even though he knew that there was no more gunshots behind him, he didn't dare to look back, for fear that turning back would consume his energy and let those two people catch him.

It wasn't until he ran seven or eight hundred meters and detoured several intersections that Estrella panted heavily as if about to cough out his lungs, and took a rest on the side of the road.

After the incident just now, Estrella didn't dare to rest in the open air on the street anymore. However, the exhaustion coming from inside her body at this time made her unable to continue to move, keep awake, and walk around.

Estrella looked left and right, and then she spotted a target.

——It was a shimmering backyard, and inside the yard was a building that seemed to be several stories high.

Estrella gritted her teeth, supported her exhausted body, and rolled over the fence of the yard. As soon as he landed in the yard, he breathed heavily again.

She staggered to the front of the yard, and turned in through the dimly lit window. Inside was a downward step. Estrella walked down the steps slowly. Inside was a wine cellar. A square of wooden barrels are neatly arranged, big and small, and they are piled up in the wine cellar, making the place full of rich aroma.

"This is where I want to be."

A hint of surprise flashed in Estrella's heart.

Then, with the last bit of her strength, she quietly removed the wooden barrels on the lower level of the wine cellar, moving them out a few decimeters, and she lay behind those wooden barrels, pillowed on the dust and wine stains. Above, fell asleep like this.