Rebirth Into My Second Chance novel Chapter 303

But I couldn't speak it yet. If I was going to live here for a while, I had to try to communicate with them.

I knelt, reaching out to a little girl, but she flinched and pulled her hand back.

“I’m here to help you.”

I didn’t know what I could do to help, but I knew I had to earn their trust first.

They all exchanged uncertain glances before scattering, their bare feet moving quickly.

The people here didn't even have shoes.

I asked the boatman, “Is there anywhere to buy shoes and socks around here? Do people not wear them?”

The boatman looked down at his own bare feet. “If we had shoes, who wouldn’t wear them? There are no shoes for sale here.”

With that, he poled his raft away, a solitary figure on the vast Saltmere River, like a ferryman for hire.

There was a single bridge, but the toll to cross it was about two hundred dollars. The people here might not even earn that much in a year, so everyone relied on the rafts.

Just as I was wondering where to even begin, feeling foolish for my impulsive decision, I realized that in this world, changing anything was next to impossible.

The gate on the other side of the bridge opened. A convoy of cars drove across and stopped right beside me.

Lily stepped out, dressed in black leather from head to toe, her eyes hidden behind sunglasses. I quickly ducked behind a low-lying house, hoping she hadn't seen me.

She had her people go door-to-door, handing out goods.

But the residents only stared at the items Lily’s people offered, too hesitant to take them.

Lily scanned the crowd, then got back in her car without saying a word, carrying herself with the air of a queen demanding fealty.

She was just like Princess Harriet.

After they left, the muddy road was scarred with deep tire tracks.

The girl’s mother shook her head.

I froze. This sprawling city had no hospital? Did that mean these people were just left to die?

“The raft. Can it take us to the hospital on the other side?”

The mother nodded, a glimmer of hope in her eyes, but it vanished in the next instant as she shook her head again. “No, I don’t have any money.”

I realized then that a person’s lowest point truly is having no money.

The greatest pain is watching someone you love suffer because you can't afford to save them.

“I have money. Just get her to the hospital!”

I picked her up and started running. We had to get to a hospital as fast as possible if she was going to have any chance of survival.