Three days later.
"What a beautiful day."
Jiang Qiao got out of bed and opened the window. The sky was bright with sunshine, and he felt wonderful.
Setting aside the ragged beggars on the streets, the city was quite nice. A few Vicious Ghosts still roamed around killing people at night, but at least it was nowhere near as absurd as Tanjung Sepat.
There weren't any strange creatures like mermaids hiding in the sewers, either.
All in all,
it was a relatively safe city.
"According to the information I got, the Heaven-Bearing Society's ship will reach Songka Port today."
The hotel was not far from the docks.
The streets along the way were deserted, with hardly anyone in sight. The businesses had all shut down, but most of their doors stood open.
Why?
Thieves, of course!
You didn't think public safety was good these days, did you?
The owners had fled.
Who knew when they would come back?
City Hall had all but stopped functioning, too. It barely dealt with anything that happened on the streets anymore.
The entire city
had only half its population left.
And it had fallen into near-total lawlessness.
Under those circumstances, breaking down a door and taking things for free was already fairly restrained.
That was thanks to the supernatural.
No one wanted to make a big commotion for fear of attracting a Vicious Ghost's attention.
So they came and went in a hurry.
Quite gentlemanly, really.
"Damn it!"
"You bastard!"
When Jiang Qiao reached the docks, he found them unexpectedly lively. Quite a few dockworkers, dispatchers, and even some sailors who had yet to leave were gathered there with nothing to do.
Some had started drinking early in the morning and were already dead drunk.
Others were playing cards.
And the stakes looked