Bilgewater

Bilgewater, inside a tavern beside the Slaughter Docks.

The Proprietress said to a drunken man in his early twenties, "Roland! You have to leave. I'm closing up."

The drunkard named Roland shouted, reeking of alcohol, "It's only midnight and you're closing? It's not like I'm not paying you! I'm the best harpooner in Bilgewater!"

The Proprietress yelled impatiently, "Come back when you've paid me back for the drinks you owe me. You have to leave. If you don't, I'll throw you out."

Roland staggered out of the tavern, clutching his bottle, and muttered, "It's only a few Gold Coins. Once I get back from sea and earn some money, I'll make you lie in my bed!"

A broken voice came from up ahead. "No! Pyke! You can't do this! I warned them! They wouldn't listen!"

The voice was abruptly cut off. Roland staggered over, and found nothing but a cold corpse at his feet!

At the sight, half the alcohol in Roland's system seemed to vanish. "Duke! Damn it, I've got to get out of this godforsaken place!"

Just as Roland lifted his foot to leave, the sound of waterlogged boots squelching came from behind him.

Trembling all over with fear, Roland drew the curved blade at his waist and gripped it tightly. He shouted, "Who's there? Stop hiding! Get out here, in front of your great lord Roland!"

A hoarse voice sounded by his ear. "You look familiar! Oh, right! You were there that day, too!"

Waving his curved blade, Roland shouted, "Pyke! You damned drowned wretch! I have nothing to do with you!"

Pyke said nothing. He slashed Roland's arm with a single blow, nearly severing it!

Roland tossed aside his bottle, pulled the pistol from his coat, and roared viciously, "Come on, then, you filthy drowned wretch! I'll give you a taste of my bullets!"

Roland had spent all his savings to buy the pistol on the black market. It was a Piltover gun, and it packed a punch—one shot could take a life. Roland had made quite a bit of money with it.

Roland took aim at Pyke's figure and fired! He laughed as he said, "How's that? Bullets don't taste so good, do they?"

After firing, Roland immediately ran into an alley. He had grown up in the Slaughter Docks, and as a child had accidentally discovered an abandoned sewer passage leading to the Upper City. No one else knew about it. Just as Roland was about to crawl into the sewer, a blade stabbed out through his belly. Ignoring his wounds, Roland crawled inside. He knew he'd be safe once he made it through. There was a hospital beside the sewer's exit, and Roland had practically grown up there. He knew the owner very well.

Roland crawled through the sewer. Normally, he would have reached the hospital by now, but the wound in his belly had left him barely conscious. He bit his tongue to clear his head and forced himself toward the exit. He snarled, "Pyke! What a rotten day. I ran into that damned drowned wretch! Just wait until I recover—I'll make you pay!"

In an ordinary little clinic in the Upper City, Old Jack was engrossed in a book when someone knocked on the door and shouted, "Old Jack, you bastard, open up! Help me, quick!"

Old Jack put down his book and opened the door. Roland was lying on the ground, his face pale. The wound in his belly had soaked his clothes with blood, and his arm was barely attached, with only the bone holding it together.

Old Jack dragged Roland into the clinic and mocked him. "Roland, who did this to you? Weren't you supposed to be the best harpooner in Bilgewater?"

Through clenched teeth, Roland replied, "That damned bastard Pyke did this. I ran into him at the docks. Enough talk—save me, quick!"

A smile appeared on Old Jack's face. "Don't worry. Leave it to me."

Meanwhile, far away, on a planet called Earth.

Jiang Chuan was playing a game with his friends at an internet café. He shouted angrily, "Is Pyke cheating? He killed me from full health! How are you supposed to play against that?"

The word "Defeat" appeared on the computer screen. Jiang Chuan set down his mouse and said bitterly, "That was my promotion match, damn it." He waved to his friends. "My luck's been awful today. I'm not in the mood to play. I'm heading out."

After leaving the internet café, Jiang Chuan lit a cigarette and looked at the fine drizzle before him. "Why's it raining again? I'd better hurry home. I don't want to catch a cold."

As a proud member of the post-90s generation, Jiang Chuan lived a fairly comfortable life. After graduating from university, he found a relatively easy job. He spent most of his monthly salary on himself but still managed to save a little. The only sad thing was that he didn't have a girlfriend. He had been on countless blind dates arranged by his family, but still hadn't found anyone suitable.

The rain grew heavier. Jiang Chuan took shelter beneath a big tree in the park. His cigarette had gotten soaked, so he pulled out another and lit it. Watching young couples run along the road to escape the rain, Jiang Chuan sighed. "Sigh, I should've joined more clubs back in college. What a waste of this handsome face."

Jiang Chuan noticed a Little Girl beneath the tree across the way, crying with a teddy bear in her arms. He walked over, draped his coat around her, and crouched in front of her to comfort her. "Hey, kiddo, you shouldn't stand outside in the rain. You'll catch a cold. Where are your parents?"

The Little Girl sobbed, "Wah... I got separated from Mom and Dad. I can't find them..."

Jiang Chuan carried the Little Girl to the nearby police station. "You can wait here for your parents, kiddo. Your uncle's going to head off."

He wrapped his coat snugly around the Little Girl and left the police station. The officers could take it from here.

The rain was too heavy, so Jiang Chuan had to find a big tree in the park ahead to shelter under. He lit a cigarette to calm himself down.

"Crack!" A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. Jiang Chuan jumped, remembering what his primary school teacher had said: you shouldn't stand under a tree during a thunderstorm. He flicked away the ash and said dismissively, "It can't be that dangerous."

Sometimes, disaster struck in an instant. A bolt of lightning split the sky and hit the treetop. Jiang Chuan, standing beneath it, was struck.

As he died, Jiang Chuan looked at the bolt of lightning and muttered, "Damn it!"

Jiang Chuan's soul floated out of his body. Looking at his shattered corpse beneath the tree, he stood helplessly, surrounded by nothing but black and white. As he hovered over his body, uncertain what to do, another bolt of lightning struck his soul. Jiang Chuan was about to curse when he realized this bolt was clearly different from the first. The first had carried the might of heaven and destruction, while this one felt more like... salvation!

The lightning carried Jiang Chuan's soul away. Looking down at the city beneath him, Jiang Chuan felt heartbroken. Thinking of his elderly parents at home, he cried, "I died just like that? What will Mom and Dad do? I haven't even gotten to enjoy this world!"

The bolt of lightning seemed to have a mind of its own. It stopped above Jiang Chuan's home, and Jiang Chuan drifted inside. Seeing the cake on the table, he remembered that today was his birthday. His father sat quietly on the sofa, reading the newspaper, but kept watching the door from the corner of his eye, waiting for Jiang Chuan to come home. His mother was in the kitchen, cooking his favorite dishes. Looking at his father's aged face, Jiang Chuan remembered playing games while riding on his shoulders as a child. Whenever he came home from playing outside, his mother always had his favorite food waiting on the table. Later, when he grew up and got a job, he'd grown annoyed by his mother's reminders every time he left home.

Watching his parents smile, Jiang Chuan wept. "I think it's been a long time since I came home... Dad! Mom! Your son is leaving. I won't be able to stay by your sides anymore..."

Jiang Chuan's consciousness gradually faded. Memories from his childhood slowly came to mind: laughing as he played with his father, his mother comforting him after he fell off his bicycle for the first time, the first time his father hit him, and how guilty his father had looked afterward...

"Is this what they mean by your life flashing before your eyes? Dad, Mom, I'm sorry. If there's another life, I'll still be your son. I'll take good care of you both."

Jiang Chuan's Mother looked anxiously out the window. "Dear, why does my eyelid keep twitching? Do you think something's happened to Chuan?"

Jiang Chuan's Father took off his reading glasses. "You silly old woman, what are you talking about? Chuan said this morning he'd come home for dinner tonight. Don't think about bad things. It's his birthday today. Don't say anything unlucky."

Jiang Chuan's Mother picked up the phone. "But I feel so uneasy. I don't know why. I need to call Chuan and check on him."

The phone rang and rang. Jiang Chuan's Mother paced anxiously around the room. "Why isn't that child answering? Old man, try calling him."

Jiang Chuan's Father had just taken out his phone when Jiang Chuan's call came through. "See? He was calling me just now. You wouldn't have gotten through anyway."

"Chuan, where are you? Your mom's getting worried. Hurry up and come home."

"Hello, sir. This is Shijiang Police Station."

"The police? What did Jiang Chuan do?"

Jiang Chuan's Mother asked worriedly, "Did the police arrest Chuan? I knew something was wrong when my eyelid kept twitching today. Ask Chuan what happened, old man. Did someone bully him?"

Jiang Chuan's Father said, "Don't panic. Let the officer finish speaking first!"

"Officer, what did my son do?"

"Sir, your son hasn't done anything wrong. It was raining heavily, and Mr. Jiang was taking shelter beneath a tree when he was struck by lightning. By the time we arrived, Mr. Jiang had already..."

Jiang Chuan's Mother snatched the phone away. "Officer, are you sure that was my son? Could you have made a mistake?"

"Ma'am, we found Mr. Jiang Chuan's ID... Ten minutes ago, Mr. Jiang registered at the police station after bringing in a lost Little Girl. It's very hard for us to accept that we've lost such a good person..."

Jiang Chuan's Mother burst into tears. "Chuan! My son! Heaven isn't fair!"

Jiang Chuan's Father took the phone. "Officer, we're coming over now. Please give me the exact address."

After the officer gave him the address, Jiang Chuan's Father hung up, put on his coat, grabbed his car keys, and took Jiang Chuan's Mother to the place where Jiang Chuan had died.

The heavy rain continued to fall. As Jiang Chuan's Father looked at his son's corpse, the white hair on his head seemed to grow whiter. The grief of losing his only child in his old age made the old man's back stoop even further.

Jiang Chuan's Mother held Jiang Chuan's body and wept. Even as she fainted, she couldn't believe that the son who had called her that morning was now lying in her arms without a breath.

A police officer brought the Little Girl over and said to Jiang Chuan's Father, "Sir, Mr. Jiang saved this Little Girl. Our investigation found that her parents died in an accident a few days ago. She ran away from home today to look for them. Please accept our condolences."

Jiang Chuan's Father picked up the Little Girl and said to the officer, "Officer, could we adopt this girl?"

Looking at the elderly man before him, the officer said, "Sir, that shouldn't be a problem. It's hard for us to believe that heaven could do something like this, too."

Watching this scene, Jiang Chuan's soul, on the verge of disappearing, showed a faint smile. "Dad, Mom, now I can leave in peace."

The Little Girl waved at Jiang Chuan's fading soul, as if saying goodbye.