The pain lasted all night, but the next day she felt much better, only for her stomach to start rumbling again.
Alice left early in the morning, heading to the garbage heaps to find food.
On any other planet, if such a young child were found scavenging in the trash, people would surely pity her, perhaps even take her in to care for her properly. But this was a low-level planet, and it was different.
Most people living on low-level planets could barely manage their own lives, let alone spare any sympathy for others.
However, she had more time today. After tirelessly searching the garbage heaps for half the morning, she surprisingly found a nutrient paste. She glanced at the time and realized it was expired.
But for her, it was still great!
With her hunger appeased, Alice didn't stop. She continued to rummage through the garbage. By the end of the morning, she had found several more expired nutrient pastes.
Her hands were small and couldn't grip the nutrient pastes well, but she could lift up her little shirt and scoop them in.
What she didn't expect was to run into someone as she was holding up her shirt, ready to leave with her meager haul.
It was a man in his thirties, or rather, a vagrant.
His sharp gaze fixated on the nutrient pastes tucked into her shirt.
Alice sensed danger, cautiously took a few steps back, then turned and ran as fast as she could.
Fortunately, the vagrant behind her didn't chase. She ran a good distance before looking back and seeing that the vagrant had already gone back to searching the garbage himself, not bothering to steal her nutrient pastes.
Alice breathed a sigh of relief, cradling her nutrient pastes as she returned home.
But no sooner had she entered the door than she bumped into her fierce father.
The man with a face full of scars merely gave her a cold glance and then walked away.
Alice exhaled in relief and quickly took her nutrient pastes to her small room.
The silver lining in this terrible home was that she had a small room to herself.
Alice placed the nutrient pastes in her room, then, thinking better of it, quickly hid them. These were likely her lifelines.
After hiding them, Alice finally had the presence of mind to plan for the future.
The situation was clear: she had died and been reborn as a child. In this life, her parents were still terrible, but fortunately, the era she lived in now was far better than the apocalypse.
There was a garbage heap not far away, full of discarded waste. If the garbage from this era could be sold, she might be able to make her first pot of gold by scavenging.
Most importantly, she wanted to go to school!
She was still young and probably not yet of school age. If she started saving now, she might be able to afford to attend school!
The thought of attending school made Alice's small chest swell with excitement. Happiness!
However, she still needed to find out where the schools were in this era and how much tuition cost so she could start saving in advance.
She couldn't pin her hopes on her "trash" parents, as she suspected they wouldn't care for her.
Being so young, earning money by scavenging would be difficult. Therefore, she needed to prepare early and earn as much as she could, so that by the time she reached school age, she would have enough saved to attend.
Alice made silent plans and, in the afternoon, set out with her soft, wobbly steps. She ambled around outside, pretending to just be exploring, quietly observing the neighbors.
People in the slums were generally irritable and tended to mind their own business, but occasionally there were kind and amiable individuals. For instance, the old man on the east side of the street always smiled at her when they met.
Alice didn't act rashly. She observed quietly for a week. After a week, she finally gathered her courage and asked the old man for information.
From the old man, Alice learned a lot.
For example, she learned what era it was, that those floating vehicles were called hovercars, and the flying objects in the sky were aircraft. The nearest kindergarten cost one hundred star coins per semester. The best kindergarten was in the city center, but children like them couldn't attend those, as they were too expensive, costing ten thousand star coins!
Alice also inquired about earning money by scavenging in the interstellar era. The old man was surprised but quickly understood.
He felt great sympathy for Alice being born into such a family. During his free time, he personally took Alice to the garbage heaps, teaching her how to identify different types of waste, which could be recycled, which couldn't, and which were hazardous and should be strictly avoided.
Alice was a quick learner. From that day on, she began to scavenge quietly.
Initially, she was only a little over a year old, so small that she couldn't walk steadily. Hauling large pieces of garbage to sell was impossible. She could only pick up small items and sell them bit by bit.
Time passed day by day, and Alice gradually grew. Over the years, Alice was able to collect more and more garbage. She was also clever; she salvaged wheels from the garbage heaps and modified them into a small cart. Pulling the cart to sell garbage daily greatly increased her efficiency.
By the age of three, she was finally able to attend school. Alice brought out her little piggy bank and counted her savings again and again. The tuition fee for enrollment was finally enough. That night, as she slept, the little girl giggled happily, revealing her tiny white teeth.
In this life, she could finally go to school and wouldn't be illiterate.
However, she hadn't expected that on the first day of school, she would be rejected. The reason was that children needed the consent and accompaniment of a guardian to enroll.
Alice felt like the sky had fallen. She looked longingly at the teacher, but the teacher told her to go home and bring her parents to register her.
Alice was reluctant to leave, knowing that her "trash" parents would absolutely not care for her, let alone take her to school.
She even dared not let her alcoholic father know she had money. If her father found out, he would most likely take away the tuition fees she had worked so hard to save.
After much deliberation, Alice finally summoned the courage to approach the old man. She wanted him to pose as her guardian and take her to school.
However, the old man refused this proposal. More accurately, he couldn't help her.
In the interstellar era, everyone's identity was recorded by the central mainframe. To register a child for school, one had to be the child's legal guardian. Otherwise, the person accompanying the child could be mistaken for a human trafficker and be arrested and jailed.