Shrouded Seascape - Chapter 486: God Said

Weary and scrawny, Lylejay meandered along the streets in the harbor district of Stalagmite Island.

His steps were light as though he was treading on cotton, yet there was nothing he could do about it. He hadn’t eaten for three days, and his body was barely holding up by surviving only on water.

After walking for about half an hour, he finally arrived at a narrow alley by the dockside, a favorite haunt for sailors.

However, there was no sailor in sight at this time. Instead, only scantily clad women filled both sides of the alley as they lifted the pink curtains in front of their doors and engaged in conversation.

“Sigh, now that the governor has launched a war, all activities at the docks have stopped. We lost our customers too. If this goes on, I’ll be scavenging dead fish by the shore soon,” one of the women lamented.

“Please. At least you had business yesterday. I haven’t got a single one in three days,” another complained and let out a sigh. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Lylejay. “Look, that blond kid’s back.”

The prostitutes collectively shot piercing glares of hostility at Lylejay. After all, there was no need for reason to harbor hatred for a fellow competitor.

“Kid, save yourself from the trouble and stop coming here. There’s barely anyone left who wants to have fun with us women, let alone men,” one of the prostitutes taunted. Her words were immediately followed by collective laughter of mockery.

Lylejay pretended that he didn’t hear them and pressed on feebly. His need for food outweighed his pride.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as a feminine figure approached. It was a sailor who had once patronized Lylejay.

However, before he could even reach out to the sailor, another more delicate and handsome man flung himself into the sailor’s arms.

A hint of dejection flickered across Lylejay’s face. His eyes turned red with unshed tears, and he continued down the alley quietly.

He had lost his customer.

No business meant no food, and no food meant death.

He had entered this line of work because he had no money for food. He was lured by the promise that he would never have to go hungry again if he was to enter this industry. However, here he was, hungry and famished.

Wandering aimlessly through the street, morning soon slipped by, and Lylejay was now even weaker than before.

He dragged his feeble body slowly out of the alley and onto the docks. He wanted to examine the authenticity of the words the prostitute had said earlier—if there were really dead fish to scavenge by the shore.

However, disappointment suffused his face as he arrived at the shore. Apart from the trash bobbing in the wave and the air reeking of the nauseating scent of decay, there was nothing.

Once again, he returned to the harbor’s grimy corner that was redolent of human waste. He wanted to try his last resort to satiate his hunger. If he was still not able to have any food today, he might not even have the strength to walk tomorrow.

The first thing that came into sight was a filthy garbage heap and two men amidst it. Their bodies exuded a disgusting stench as they rummaged through the refuse.

Disappointment crossed Lylejay’s face, and he continued forward. The garbage heap he was thinking of had already been occupied by others with the same thought as him.

As he trudged forward, he soon caught a whiff of the aromatic smell of freshly baked bread. His eyes lit up in hope.

He turned the corner and a bakery stood before him. The golden loaves peeking through the glass window had Lylejay salivating. However, the price tag on it dashed his hopes. Even the cheapest black rye bread was 20 Echos for one small loaf, and he didn’t have even a single Echo in his name.

Lylejay wanted to leave, but then he noticed that the bakery’s portly owner had his back against him and was fussing over the oven.

Stealing is wrong. Lylejay could still remember the words his mother had instilled in him. But, he was famished, really.

The pangs of hunger overruled Lylejay’s morals. He sidled up to the bakery and stealthily reached out a hand for a piece of fish-flavored bread.

He touched it! The bread was still radiating warmth, having just been brought out of the oven not too long ago. The heat itself seemed to have reignited strength in Lylejay’s weakened body.

Bang!

A boot-clad foot sent Lylejay flying away.

“How dare you steal our bread? Do you have a death wish?!” a clean-dressed, chubby teenager roared. He looked to be about thirteen to fourteen years of age, and he charged at Lylejay with his friends. They showered Lylejay with a flurry of punches and kicks.

The commotion attracted the attention of the baker. He walked to the front of his shop and slightly straightened a misaligned loaf before advising nonchalantly, “Son, don’t hit him here. It’s bad for business.”

“Okay! Got it!” The chubby boy nodded. Holding Lylejay by a leg, he dragged Lylejay toward the nearby alley and his boisterous friends followed right after.

Hurled into the dim recesses of an alley cluttered with trash, Lylejay huddled and curled up against the grime. Tremors seized him as the circle of boys closed in on him.

Extreme fear filled Lylejay’s gaze as he watched the baker’s son pick up a table leg with a protruding rusted nail.

“Please, I’m begging you. Don’t hit me. Use me instead. It’ll feel good. Please, just don’t hit me,” Lylejay begged as his trembling hands pulled down his pants. Then, he turned his rear toward them and lifted it.

The boys were initially taken aback by Lylejay’s action, but soon one exclaimed, “I know this kid! He’s a male prostitute!”

Disgust immediately marred the boys’ faces. They rushed toward Lylejay and started raining down punches on him with all their might.

“How disgusting! Why is trash like you still alive in this world!”

“Selling your body to feed yourself? Can you still even call yourself a man?!”

“You worthless scum!”

Lylejay clutched his head and cried out in despair, “I’m hungry! I just wanted to eat. Mom, help!”

Soon, Lylejay’s cries ceased; he was too weak to utter another word. When the boys finally stopped their physical assault, Lylejay lay motionless on the ground, his entire body covered in bruises.

The chubby boy panted heavily from the “exercise,” but he appeared unsatisfied. He looked around him and picked up a twenty-centimeters-long rusty ship nail from the ground.

“Hey, this should be enough, right? He could die,” one of the boys with a mole at the corner of his lips was reluctant to exacerbate the situation.

“So what if he dies? People die in the docks every day. Plus, he’s just a thieving male prostitute. Bad people like him don’t deserve to live.”

The chubby boy approached Lylejay, grabbed the latter by his golden hair, and yanked his head up.

Lylejay’s swollen eyes looked at the chubby boy lifelessly. His eyes were no longer filled with fear and had been replaced by numbness. Parting his mouth to reveal missing teeth, Lylejay trembled as he spoke, “What… What did I… do wrong? Why… Why are you… doing this to me?”

The chubby boy raised his right hand and thrust the ship nail into Lylejay’s right eye. Then, he lifted his knee and placed it on the nail head, forcefully driving it deeper into Lylejay’s skull.

The rusty nail pierced into Lylejay’s brain, and the chubby boy threw him back onto the ground. The onlooking boys immediately crowded around and showered the chubby boy with praise and compliments. After all, none of them would dare to commit murder themselves.

Meanwhile, Lylejay lay among the trash in a terribly weakened state. His life force was rapidly draining out of him. His vision started to blur, and then he saw his deceased mother walking toward him. She had come to take him away.

If I die, I will no longer feel hunger or cold. I can even see Mom again… The corners of Lylejay’s lips curled upward into a faint yet radiant smile on his bruised visage.

“Hey… Hey… Can you hear me?” a fuzzy voice suddenly sounded in Lylejay’s ears, dispelling the gradually sharpening image of his mother.

“No! Mom! Take me with you!” Lylejay cried out with the very last ounce of strength he had.

Suddenly, a gentle ball of light enveloped Lylekay, and his battered body rapidly healed.

When Lylekay finally came around, all his wounds had vanished. Even the pain that was coursing through his body was gone.

Lylejay rose to his feet and stood motionless as if listening to something.

Suddenly, he extended his right hand and gently pushed against the dirt-stained wall beside him. It collapsed instantly.

Lylejay’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at his hands. He was bewildered by the sudden power he had acquired. The next moment, he erupted into tears.

In response to the concerned voice in his mind, Lylejay shook his head and wiped away his tears. “It’s nothing… I was just thinking that if I had had this power back then… perhaps my mom wouldn’t have died.”

Lylejay stuck close to the wall and moved slowly toward the entrance of the alley. Occasionally, he would nod and converse with the voice in his head.

“Who are you? How should I address you? GK? Can I call you God?

“Your voice is so beautiful, God. I love hearing it.

“God, you’re great. I like you.”

At this point, Lylejay had already emerged from the dark alley and onto the main street. The enticing aroma of bread assaulted his nostrils once again.

Eyeing the golden loaves of bread in the distance, Lylejay involuntarily licked his lips as he made his way towards the inviting aroma.

The plump boy, having returned home, was animatedly chatting with a woman and laughter punctuated their conversation.

Upon noticing Lylejay’s approach, a look of shock flashed across the boy’s face, and he briskly exited the bakery.

Confronted by the boy’s aggressive advance, Lylejay’s initial instinct was to shrink back and escape. However, he suddenly stood his ground, and he lifted his head gradually. His eyes transformed from avoidance to a deep, burning resentment.

He lifted both hands and pushed the boy away.

With a loud thump, the boy was embedded into the bakery’s wall, and his blood painted the entire wall crimson. He was dead

“My son!” a woman cried out as she rushed out of the bakery.

The cry of endearment stirred an unfathomable sorrow in Lylejay. In an attempt to silence her, his newfound powers acted with fatal precision; a slight pinch turned her head paper-thin.

“Maya!” The baker’s eyes turned red with fury upon witnessing the death of his wife and son. He brandished his revolver and charged out of the shop.

With another effortless gesture from Lylejay, a chilling crack echoed as the baker’s robust frame compressed to the size of a watermelon, drenching the scene in a grim cascade of blood.

Lylejay walked toward the bakery stand, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath before clasping his hands together. “Thank You, God, for this bread You had bestowed upon me.”

He started his meal from the finest loaf of white bread and accelerated his pace as he progressed, eventually almost choking on the crusty edges.

Half an hour later, Lylejay was fully sated. He let out a long and deep sigh. Having appeased his hunger, a sense of profound contentment washed over him.

“God, is there anything you need my help with? I’ll do anything for you.

“Rescue you? Of course. God, I’ll find a way to free you!”

Lylejay’s consciousness returned from his old memories. Tears welled up in his eyes before uncontrollably streaming down his face.

“I’m sorry, God… I couldn’t save you from your confines,” Lylejay lamented, his voice laced with evident sorrow and anger. “It’s all because I’m useless…”

At that moment, despite being over a hundred years old, Lylejay was no different from his past ten-year-old self.

Charles paid no attention to Lylejay’s soliloquy. He blinked before Lylejay and raised a tentacle adorned with eyes.

On the brink of death, Lylejay’s eyes suddenly glimmered with a golden hue. Summoning the very last ounce of his strength, he bellowed at the dome ceiling overhead, “God said: Let there be light!”

And… light dawned over the Subterranean Sea.

Cosyjuhye’s Thoughts

No wonder he’s so obsessed over the Light God. That’s a really sad back story though D: