Alice left the town, following the river upstream.
The pitch-black water was so heavy that not even a single feather could float upon its surface. From the horizon, a tide of crimson light surged forth, stretching the shadows of the trees into jagged black and grey fissures. It looked as if one might tumble into a sunless abyss with a single misstep.
She clutched the Little Teapot to her chest. She was afraid, and she needed something to hold onto.
Even though the Little Crow, the Little Teapot, and Little Candle were with her—along with the tiny, barely-present Gaze Worm—she still felt an instinctive dread toward the eerie forest lining the riverbank.
Wild grass grew exceptionally soft and lush atop humus that had accumulated over eons. Vibrant streaks of green peeked through the withered, iron-like stalks.
Swoosh—swoosh—
Several grey shadows darted through the meadow.
Alice flinched, freezing in place. Her eyes widened with terror as she scanned the gaps between the trees, searching for the source of the sound.
“Don’t be afraid. It’s just opossums,” Little Candle said.
Sure enough, several large rats with white faces and grey bodies scurried out from the blood-stained grass.
Alice, a small and malnourished young girl, paled instantly at the sight of rats larger than cats. What was worse was the way their beady black eyes shimmered with a human-like cunning. When they stood upright, their front paws didn’t curl like an animal’s; instead, they hung at their sides or rested over their bellies, just like a person’s.
The opossums stared at her for a long moment before turning to vanish back into the tall grass.
“Her spring isn’t mature enough yet.”
“There’s no way to use it.”
“We need more springs.”
A spine-chilling discussion drifted from the distance.
Alice continued forward. As she entered a clearing in the forest, she suddenly stopped dead. Her pupils dilated, and her gaze turned hollow.
A pile of jagged rocks surrounded a Sweet Spring. The “water” inside was a milky-white liquid that gave off a cloying, fresh scent.
Clumps of heavy, soft white fruit sat atop the water, constantly secreting white pulp from small holes at their tips. These fruits grew from a massive banyan tree that would have taken over a dozen men to encircle. Its bark was a pale, soft, and grotesque grey. Its wide canopy spread low, dropping twisted aerial roots that crawled across the ground like long, white Calamity Worms.
In the depths of the trunk, Alice could clearly see the bleached skulls and grey fur of opossums!
The bizarre and nonsensical scene overturned her perception of reality. A wave of horror swept over her soul, making her scalp tingle and her back break into a cold sweat.
She hunched her shoulders, trying to slip through the aerial roots. She didn’t expect the slight crunch of her feet on dry leaves to alert the opossums drinking at the spring. They all snapped their heads toward her simultaneously. In an instant, dozens of dark eyes were locked onto her!
The opossums drinking at the spring were all powerful, muscular males; the females and young were nowhere to be seen.
The atmosphere grew incredibly tense. However, the opossums remained motionless, merely watching the young black-haired girl as she hurried away.
Once she had put some distance between them, Alice asked in a trembling voice, “What… what was that?”
“It’s better if you don’t know,” Little Candle replied.
Alice fell silent. After an indeterminate amount of time, she finally emerged from the forest. Ahead of her, the silhouette of a massive city appeared.
The forest exit sat upon a highland bend in the river, providing a perfect view of the bustling scenes within the city. The twilight rays from the horizon turned the normally light-brown terraces into the color of dried blood.
As Alice looked out at the Great City, she first noticed the black river circling it. Freshly turned earth lined the banks. In the fields, the laborers looked miserable and bitter. They trembled with every step, looking as if they were being forcibly pushed forward.
Gigantic, god-like shadows loomed behind them.
These shadows were simple in shape—round, distorted bodies with hollow voids in the center where facial features should be. They floated in the air, extending long, thin tentacles to manipulate the people below.
The workers in the fields were like soulless puppets pulled by strings. They planted cut raw potatoes into the earth, mounded the dirt, and patted it firm.
Their fingers shook; their legs shook. Yet, even when pushed to the absolute limit of exhaustion, they could not stop.
It took Alice a long time to reach the city gates. She was so tired and hungry that she spent the last few hundred meters dragging her feet inch by inch.
There was a checkpoint at the entrance. The guard, wearing a peaked cap, had a wandering gaze and kept nodding off. Every time he was about to fall asleep, he would jerk awake as if bitten by an insect.
He scowled and pulled a thumb-sized black granule from his shirt. With a look of disgust, he threw the tick-like, biting creature away.
However, the moment it left his hand, the black granule reappeared on his body. It phased through his clothes like a phantom, clinging to him like a cancer.
Alice followed the rules and registered at the guard post before walking into the city.
It was a grey city. Everything was grey—the streets, the walls, the roofs, the lead drainage pipes, even the faces of the people.
Alice was starving. She stood in front of a Restaurant, watching the residents pull out glazed shell coins to pay for their meals. Some, upon receiving their food, were also handed a black granule.
As she stood there hesitating, the citizens carrying trays of food took a massive interest in her. They crowded around, whispering and pointing.
“Look, a newcomer!”
“Did she come from one of the nearby towns?”
“Looks like she hasn’t got a cent to her name.”
“I bet she’ll go for a loan.”
“I bet she won’t.”
“Open the books!”
“You got it!”
Quickly, a circle was drawn on the ground with chalk and split down the middle. People around her began placing their bets, and shell coins rained down like a heavy downpour.
Alice didn’t understand. Her eyes scanned the crowd. She noticed that some people had strings of shell coins hanging from their waists. Others had nothing at all, but their bodies were covered in black granules or shadow monsters—spiky black porcupines, fat black snakes, or sharp-beaked Sailfish. These monsters were constantly pricking and biting them, making them shriek in agony.
Even those with nothing still placed bets. They pressed their palms together and prayed to the void; soon, shell coins would fall into their hands, but the shadows behind them grew larger, slowly taking shape.
Alice felt so hungry she was lightheaded—hungrier than she had ever been in her life. But she had no money.
She considered asking the restaurant server for just one potato. No meat—just a small shadow tick in exchange.
Or perhaps she could dig through the trash for scraps. Judging by how lavish the dishes looked, even the leftovers would be better than anything she ate in the town.
While she wavered, she heard Little Candle’s voice in her ear.
“You are the Savior! Whatever you want to eat will appear!”
Alice’s eyes lit up. A smile touched the corners of her mouth as she thought: I’m hungry! Food, food, appear now!
Shing!
A large bucket filled with fried chicken and fries appeared in her hands, complete with napkins.
“Wow! This is so much!”
Alice took a bite of a chicken piece. Beneath the crispy skin was a thick, rich sauce and piping hot steam.
It was delicious. She had never tasted anything so good in her entire life.
The young black-haired girl tore at the chicken with her small, snow-white teeth. She chewed greedily, tears rolling down her dirty cheeks and washing away small patches of grime.
The roof of her mouth was slightly scalded, tingling and painful, but she couldn’t stop eating.
“Mmph… so good… how can there be food like this… Is this how a Savior is treated? It’s so good to be the Savior…”
Seeing the girl manifest food out of thin air and devour it, the crowd erupted into a mix of joyful cheers and dejected sighs.
Where there are winners, there are losers.
Several people burdened with heavy debts were suddenly seized by horrifying shadow monsters. They were manipulated like puppets and began wobbling toward the city gates. It seemed they were off to plant potatoes.
Alice walked down the street. Casinos lined the road; the sound of dice and tiles clattering was like a mountain collapsing, an avalanche of stone.
People were constantly losing themselves, led away from the casinos by shadow monsters.
The shell coins served as both currency and gambling chips, creating a crisp, cheap clatter as they were lost and won amidst the drinking and revelry.
Little Candle, Little Teapot, and the Little Crow huddled together to discuss.
“Their values are distorted,” Little Candle said.
“Forced redistribution?” the Little Crow asked.
“Too many people would die, and it wouldn’t pass the Ethics Committee’s review,” the Little Teapot replied.
“Do you have a better idea, Lord Aurora?” the Little Crow asked.
“Let me think… Let’s set the authority to zero.”
“Good idea. But we’ll need the help of Lord Infinite.”
The three nodded. The Little Crow flew to the side of the road, picked up a stray shell coin in its beak, and flew back.
The Little Teapot’s body fractured into a sprawling network of light. One fragment flew into the shell coin, merging with it before vanishing into the void.
Then, Little Candle spoke to the Gaze Worm.
“I need the help of ‘Lord Infinite,’ Wang Yue.”
