Chapter 5: Young Boy Shiyuan
In Ground City, most houses were like Swiss cheese—full of holes!
Even though the Floating City had finally settled down, the terrified folks below were still too chicken to linger right under it, fearing that any minute now, a chunk of rock would crash down on their heads.
Just before dawn, the first earthquake in a millennium rocked the Floating City, bringing havoc and despair to the residents below.
Many lost their lives.
And even more were gruesomely pinned down by collapsed buildings, leaving Ground City awash with the sounds of wailing and howling.
The relief efforts from the Immortal Gate were late to show, and the air was thick with complaints, shouts, and the occasional shove, floating above the city like an unwanted cloud.
In the midst of the chaos, no one noticed a wisp of green smoke drifting down into a heap of ruins.
Maybe it was just meandering a bit too far, because the wisp’s outline grew fainter, as if it were about to vanish entirely.
But in the blink of an eye, that green smoke disappeared like a magician’s trick.
Suddenly, the entire sky lit up with a flash of white!
People blinked and then found their vision back to normal.
Strange happenings? Sure! But who had time to worry about that? As soon as they saw the city guards rolling in with a fresh batch of disaster relief supplies, everyone rushed like it was Black Friday.
It was every man for himself!
At that moment, a young boy materialized out of thin air among the rubble.
With black hair and dark eyes, he looked quite handsome—if it weren’t for his tattered clothes that made him resemble a little beggar.
His expression showed confusion.
He peered around, his pale face slightly flushed from the unknown surroundings.
Fear crept in.
It was as if his memories had decided to play hide-and-seek, leaving his brain a blank slate—only remembering his name: Shiyuan. Everything else? Total blackout.
As for how he ended up here or what he was supposed to do next? No clue!
Just then, his stomach growled like a bear waking up from hibernation.
He was hungry!
Driven by primal instincts, he wanted to leave the ruins and hunt down some food.
But, surprise! His limbs felt as useful as wet noodles, and he clumsily struggled to scale a pile of rubble, exhausting what little energy he had.
Before long, sweat was pouring down his forehead.
He was on the brink of collapse.
“Heh… heh…”
Crouching down for a breather, he finally managed to scramble to his feet and stagger toward a section of the area that looked less like a disaster zone.
Surely, there’s food there, right?
A bald man in a silk robe had been sneaking peeks at Shiyuan for quite a while.
Seeing the boy wobbling like a tiptoeing tightrope walker, the bald man rushed over with a friendly smile.
“Hey there, little brother! You must be starving!”
He spoke with all the sincerity of a kid trying to sell you a used bike.
Shiyuan instinctively nodded.
Empty stomach and just spent a ton of energy, he was indeed done for.
The bald man sighed, “This disaster has taken many lives. Where’s your family, little dude? How about I take you to find them?”
Shiyuan blinked in bewilderment.
Family? What’s that?
He shook his head.
The bald man’s expression turned into a drama queen mode, “Poor kiddo! How about this? There’s a tea shop nearby. I’ll take you there to drink some water and munch on some baked cakes.”
Shiyuan didn’t have a single bit of skepticism towards this suddenly appearing bald man.
He was as clueless as a newborn—plus, he was hungry—so he had no second thoughts about following the guy.
Upon arriving at the tea shop, the bald man tossed a Spirit Coin into the air like a pro, and the waiter came over with a beaming smile, presenting a pot of tea and a large plate of steaming meat.
“Dig in, kid! You must be famished.”
Shiyuan wasted no time, diving headfirst into the feast, cleaning the plate of meat like it was a Sunday dinner—leaving not a single drop of gravy behind.
The bald man chuckled, “Slow down, kid! No one’s racing you.”
“Waiter, another plate of baked cakes!”
“Right away!” chirped the waiter.
Before you could say “whoa there,” Shiyuan polished off the new plate in record time.
The bald man’s mouth twitched a bit; he hadn’t expected this kid to eat like a ravenous beast.
“Wow, this kid must be a reincarnated glutton! Ha-ha!”
Finally, Shiyuan tilted back the whole pot of tea like it was a refreshing beverage on a hot day. Once he patted his belly, signaling he was full, he wobbled back to his feet, ready to leave.
But this time, the bald man freaked out.
He rushed in front of Shiyuan, grinning widely, “Hey, little bro! I have a place where you can eat to your heart’s content every day. Want to check it out?”
Shiyuan blinked, clearly puzzled.
The bald man internally rolled his eyes with a “dummy” look on his face, then pulled out a shiny Spirit Coin from his pocket.
“Look at this! It’s called a Spirit Coin. To get food in this world, you gotta spend these bad boys. Got any Spirit Coins?”
Shiyuan shook his head.
Since his consciousness had switched on, he was just a heap of rags with nothing else.
The bald man seemed to make sense.
Earlier, he had seen him hand a Spirit Coin to the waiter to score food, after all.
After some deliberation, Shiyuan finally asked, “How can I get Spirit Coins?”
The bald man grinned, “Super easy! Just follow me, do some work, and I’ll give you Spirit Coins. Then you can trade them for food. How about it?”
Without even thinking, Shiyuan nodded enthusiastically.
“Sure, I’ll go with you!”
The bald man exclaimed, “Great! It’s a deal then! C’mon, let’s head to my place so I can treat you to a feast to celebrate our new friendship.”
“Awesome!”
True to his word, the bald man escorted Shiyuan to a house on the edge of Ground City that hadn’t been touched by the falling rocks.
Everything was intact, which was a relief.
He told Shiyuan to rest inside while he took off somewhere on “business.”
After waiting around three or four hours, the bald man returned, lugging a massive bag of food.
“Feast time!” he announced.
Shiyuan, with a digestion superpower on his side, had already processed the breakfast and was ready to devour whatever the bald man brought.
Not knowing why, as he munched away, his eyelids suddenly felt heavy, and his vision became a fuzzy cartoon.
“Thud…”
The boy collapsed on the ground, clutching a half-eaten baked cake.
The bald man’s once-kind face suddenly went cold.
“See? I told you to eat slowly; now look!”
Two guys burst through the door and stuffed the unconscious boy into a black cloth-covered cage.
“Fifty Spirit Coins. Cash and carry,” the bald man said.
One of the guys tossed him a bag.
The bald man caught it, tossed it a bit in the air, felt the weight, and a goofy smile spread across his face.
Two hours later, a caravan sporting some random merchant’s flag trundled out of the city.
The guards gave a half-hearted glance after receiving their bribes and waved them along, completely oblivious to the higher-than-usual wagon they were passing through.
That’s because the bottom had a hidden compartment, and poor Shiyuan was snugly tucked inside!
