Shrouded Seascape - Chapter 514: Tragedy

Donna felt something amiss and picked up her apples before grabbing Nene’s hand, preparing to leave with her in tow.

Just then, the child suddenly collapsed on the floor with a thud.

At the sight, the wailing woman made a move. Ignoring the stares of the people in the alley, she charged at Donna, who stood the closest to her, and snatched the two apples in Donna’s arms with her filthy hands. The woman’s fingers—caked in dirt—gripped the apples tightly as she ran toward her husband and son.

“Stop right there! Do you not fucking hear me?! You better stop!” the chubby police officer exclaimed.

However, the woman ignored him completely and took big bites of the apple before chewing frantically on it. Then, she pried her son’s mouth open and spat the chewed apple bits into her son’s mouth.

“You son of a bitch, I’m a fucking police officer! How dare you ignore me?!” the chubby, burly man exclaimed and raised his gun, aiming it at the woman’s head.

The man next to the woman spread his arms wide, shielding his wife. He sounded incredibly anxious as he exclaimed, “Please spare us, Your Excellency! It’s been days since we had a decent meal, and my child has ended up passing out from hunger…”

The chubby police officer’s expression briefly revealed joy upon getting called “Your Excellency.” However, he quickly assumed his previous expression and said, “Ahem, at least you’re sensible. Anyway, stealing is prohibited in my territory, do you hear me? Whoever is daring enough to disobey will be shot!

“I’m the police officer here, so you better listen to me!”

Donna looked anxious as she walked over to the chubby, burly man and said, “Officer, I don’t think we should let them off so easily. She stole from me, after all.

“I know that she’s suffering, but shouldn’t she compensate me at the very least?”

The chubby police officer seemed annoyed by Donna’s remark; he reached out casually to grab an apple from Donna’s arms before pushing her away. “Scram, you better scram. You’re hindering the investigation of a police officer here.”

The chubby police officer took a bite of the apple in his hand, and then he turned to the man, asking, “Where did you come from?”

The man glanced at his wife, who was still feeding their son, and replied, “We’re from Ebony Mist Island.”

“Ebony Mist Island? Why did you come here, then? Why not stay on your island?”

The man trembled at the chubby police officer’s remark and could no longer contain his emotions. His voice trembled, and he seemed to break down as he said, “We couldn’t stay there. The light in the sky killed too many people. It was fine in the first few days, but the corpses started rotting.

“A plague ended up spreading on the island, threatening the lives of the few remaining survivors. The survivors that are still on the island… I think all of them are dead by now…”

Everyone in the alley, whether they were sellers or buyers, felt as if there was a heavy lump in their chest. The light in their eyes dimmed, and the cacophonous din in the alley vanished at the man’s recount.

It was mandatory to wrap oneself up pretty tightly to prevent the encroachment of the spores, so the World’s Crown ended up having quite a number of survivors. In fact, the majority of the deaths were mostly because of the mushroom’s collapse.

However, not every island was as lucky as the World’s Crown. The denizens of the World’s Crown had heard about entire islands becoming desolate after their denizens were annihilated by the “death light,” but they had only heard about it in rumors— they truly didn’t expect to encounter a survivor from those islands.

“Can you even imagine it? The harbor is full of rotting corpses, and with no one collecting them, the entire island is filled with the foul stench of corpses! Even the water sources have been contaminated!!”

“We just want to live?! Is it too much for us to survive?! What wrong have we done for that ‘death light’ to kill us like we’re nothing?!” the man wailed, prostrating on the deck of the dilapidated boat.

“As far as I can remember, Ebony Mist Island has a population of several million people, am I right? To think that they’ve all died… what a tragedy,” the chubby police officer said, sighing. He tossed the apple core into his mouth and chewed on it for a moment before swallowing it down.

The chubby police officer then pointed at the docks with his pudgy finger and said, “All right, all right, stop crying. I’m not going to punish you. Our boss said that the island needs people. Go register at the docks. You’ll get work and food to eat.”

The man’s eyes were instantly ablaze with hope. He thanked the chubby police officer multiple times, expressing his immense gratitude before using the final vestiges of his strength to maneuver the boat toward the nearby docks.

The small fishing boat slowly made its way to the docks, and peace returned to the alley once more. Everyone resumed their own business, and the alley soon became bustling.

The man had left with his wife and son, but the topic that they had brought up lingered in the alley. The mutterings of the sellers nearby entered Nene’s ears.

“That family was lucky. At the very least, they managed to escape from such a horrifying place. I really didn’t expect that the entire population would end up getting annihilated. What a tragedy…”

“That’s not all; more islands have become desolate. My little brother works at a telegraph office, and he told me that it’s not just Ebony Mist Island.

“Fortunately, God Sparkle is here to help, and islands with survivors on them will eventually receive seeds from God Sparkle. If an island has yet to rebuild its telegraph tower by now, then we can only assume the worst. I’m sure there aren’t many survivors left on that island.”

“Yeah, so many things happened so fast the moment the ‘death light’ appeared. I also heard rumors about a certain island in the Eastern Seas. Apparently, the island had quite a few survivors at first, but something from the sea came ashore and devoured the survivors.”

“Sure, the dead are unlucky, but it’s not like the survivors are lucky. Have you heard? Yesterday, more than a dozen people jumped into the sea from the docks; some were holding their children in their arms before plunging into the depths.

“After discovering that they were the only survivors of their entire family, they found it too difficult to live and decided to follow their deceased relatives.”

“I’m not going to lie: I don’t know whether it’s better to live or to die. The ‘death light’ has claimed my husband’s life. If it weren’t for my two children, I’d want to off myself as well.”

“You better not think too much about it. You should buy a drawing of God Sparkle from me and place it in your room. Pray to her, and she will bless you.”

Nene’s eyes reddened slightly at their conversation, and she felt a lump in her heart that she couldn’t quite remove. She turned and saw her mother cursing viciously in a low voice. Nene had no idea whether she was cursing the chubby police officer or the woman who had snatched her apples to feed her son.

Nene tugged at her mother’s sleeve gently and muttered, “Mommy, they’re so pitiful…”

“Who isn’t? Does their plight justify stealing?” Donna replied. Then, she hugged the two remaining apples tightly and pulled her daughter to the other side of the alley to sell the apples.

It wasn’t until evening did the two remaining apples were finally traded. A sailor had offered three bags of savory cookie crumbs, and Donna accepted the offer, seemingly not caring even if the cookies were mere crumbs; they just had to be edible.

The mother and daughter pair decided to call it a night, retreating into their tiny room in the harbor district. Donna pulled down the curtains and shut the door tightly.

There was a pot full of boiling water on the table. Donna sprinkled some of the savory cookie crumbs on the boiling water before adding a few tiny pieces of dried fish and seaweed. Soon, a pot of delicious porridge was ready.

The two ate with relish and even licked the pot clean. Under the current economic climate of the World’s Crown, it was a blessing to eat one’s fill.

Donna’s gaze landed on her daughter just then. She was reminded of what had happened earlier and felt extremely aggrieved.

“I’m sorry, Nene. Perhaps no one would bully us anymore if I could just find you a new father, but… I don’t think anyone is going to be interested in me.”

Nene’s heart throbbed in pain upon seeing the tears on her mother’s face; she raised her hand to wipe away Donna’s tears and said, “Mommy, don’t cry. It’s okay. We don’t need a new daddy to protect us. We still have Sparkle, and Sparkle will protect us.”

Donna sniffled and smiled wryly. “That’s right, God Sparkle will protect us. Come, take out that drawing. Let’s go and pray earnestly to God Sparkle. Sparkle is a good god, and She brings hope to everyone.”