Side Story 1: The Most Despicable Man In The South Sea

Side Story 1: The Most Despicable Man In The South Sea

This story is about two people and a corpse.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

As usual, I wont cut to the chase. Ill start with something minor.

There were thousands of Malay aboriginal tribes scattered in the southern jungles of Perak. These southern jungles covered a wide expanse, including areas around Johor. The vast expanse of primitive rainforests gave birth to several fleeting civilizations.

Among these thousands of tribes, the natives in one tribe had a special tattoo. The extremely complex pattern had lasted for more than two thousand years. Western explorers who did research on tattoos and local customs couldnt deduce the origin of this pattern. It wasnt a symbol of productive activity, a mythological story, or an obscure spell or symbol.

In the seventeenth century, a piece of human skin with this tattoo on it was sold to England and accidentally seen by a priest in the Cardinals Court. This priest had been a cartographer before he decided to follow God. He was surprised to see the traces of advanced map-drawing skills on this tattoo that had been passed down generation by generation for two thousand years.

Thats right. The tattoo pattern was actually a two-thousand-year-old map that showed the entire archipelago around Borneo before the sea level rose.

At the end of the seventeenth century, research on ice ages appeared in Europe. During the third ice age, the water level was much lower than it was now and the shapes of all the islands at that time were different from the current ones. This information was enough to prove that this map was drawn very early.

In the native language of the local people, this tattoo was called gonka. Gonka was actually a psychedelic drug there. After taking it, the native people would rush into the fire and dance in it until they died.

Gonka was highly addictive and most people would commit suicide after taking it for three consecutive years. It was said that if those who tried to kill themselves were saved in the end, this map would appear in their minds. As a result, there was a saying that this picture came from the underworld.

The gonka basically went extinct eight hundred years ago and was rarely seen in the rainforests. Maybe there were still some in the depths of the rainforests, but no one had confirmed it. There were few people who remembered the process for preparing and consuming it. The question of whether they could see this map in a hallucination had also become a mystery that could never be verified.

What made people very concerned was that there was a strange mark on this human skin map.

The person who drew this map two thousand years ago made a mark at a certain location that was in the depths of the rainforests. What was there?

Since the seventeenth century, a total of five expedition teams had entered the rainforests in southern Perak to find this location. Three expedition teams didnt reach their target destination before the rainy season. The other two teams didnt reappear after entering the rainforests, so the final result was unknown. After that, people called the location ghost spot, and the expeditions stopped ever since.

At the end of the eighteenth century, the western countries rekindled their interest in the gonka map after gonka was re-discovered in western Perak. The Westerners took the gonka powder and saw the map when they were dying. Moreover, it was said that they even saw some images that had never been passed down in the world.

In order to reach the ghost spot on the gonka map and verify whether those images were true, gonka rewards were established.

In the end, the rewards were exchanged for two thousand photos. The rewards were then cancelled and these photos were sealed in the archives.

Thats it. Our story has an inextricable link with the gonka rewards.

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At the end of the twentieth century, Malacca, Perak.

Zhang Haiyan, who was known as the most despicable man in Southeast Asia's history, was perverted, spoke before thinking, and had no credibility at all.

His famous pet phrase was: Im so shameless that I can carry a tree on my face and theres big shit under mens knees. (1)

He wasnt like other Chinese people after he went to the South Sea. He didnt start a family or run a business. He lived in the city, but no one knew what he was doing every day. Sometimes, he didnt show up for three or four months, but once he did, he often shocked everyone with his actions.

Zhang Haiyan had done countless notorious deeds, but they were all undignified or disgusting. The most infamous incident was him robbing the dung truck. He robbed the dung trucks for six consecutive weeks, but no one knew what his purpose was.

Some said that he was actually very decent in private. Others had seen him looking at the sea from a big tree. China was on the other side of the sea in that direction, but no one knew who he was thinking about.

In physiognomy (2) terms, Zhang Haiyans eyebrows were curved like willow leaves, which made him look charming instead of frivolous. His eyes were as deep as bottomless pools, remaining smooth so long as it didnt rain. If he felt touched, the ripples would go straight to the bottom of the pools.

In laymans terms, you would see waves of emotions in his eyes, but his eyebrows rose and sank in a way that was provocative. As a result, his face gave off a sinister appearance.

Hua Qingzi, a Chinese fortune teller who built the first Taoist center in the South Sea, said that Zhang Haiyans face seemed like he was someone who carried a huge secret but didnt reveal it.

A Chinese medicine doctor named Lao Ka, who was from Fragrant Herb Hall and lived next to Hua Qingzi, said that Zhang Haiyans face showed he had shenkui (3). He thought a lot and was often anxious, which damaged his heart and spleen. This became an illness that inhibited the blood flow in his veins.

This all implied that although he looked handsome, he had a dysfunction down there.

These rumors and criticisms werent important anymore because Zhang Haiyan was looking at the onlookers from the execution stage. He was naked and had his butt sticking in the air because his head was stuck in the guillotine. This guillotine had been used for a long time and was actually a soil slope in a market square. It was said that a wooden base guillotine would be built here in a few years.

Youve guessed it. He was about to die.

The executioner hadnt arrived yet. According to Zhang Haiyans previous experiences of watching people get beheaded, the executioner would arrive about an hour late since the sun was too bright today.

The blade stopped right before it was about to cut through Zhang Haiyans neck. If it had been a quarter of a second later, the blade wouldve hit him.

At the same time, he heard a voice say, How much is this person?

Zhang Haiyan looked up with much difficulty.

Because of the backlighting, he could only see the silhouette of the person who was pulling on the rope that could end him.

Despite this, he was still able to recognize that it was the white man in the monastic clothes just now. He had long hair and a slender figure.

In Malacca, if the death row prisoners didnt commit very serious crimes, they could be redeemed with money. The charges against them were clearly marked with prices, but the price of death penalty crimes like selling illegal alcohol was very high.

The price to redeem Zhang Haiyan was twenty-one shillings, which was about the price of two pints of rum. The white man obviously thought it was a high price since he began bargaining with the executioner.

The white man spoke very horribly about Zhang Haiyan and found countless reasons to belittle the merchandise. The most outrageous reason he came up with was that Zhang Haiyan had shenkui.

Throughout the whole process, he had been pulling on the rope. As long as the transaction failed, he would probably let it go immediately.

Finally, Zhang Haiyan was sold for ten shillings. As the crowd dejectedly dispersed, the white man flipped open the lock of the guillotine and released Zhang Haiyan.

Zhang Haiyan sat back against the guillotine. His neck was red and his entire back was sunburned and peeling. The white man smiled at him.

Zhang Haiyans first thought was to run before the other party started explaining why he wanted to buy him and why he wanted to save him. That way, the whole thing could be over. But when he looked at the shackles around his feet, he felt that he could wait until the other person started talking and uncuffed the shackles before he ran away.

The white man came to stand in front of him and introduced himself, Im Madison. Im a missionary. Are you Mr. A Bin?

Can you uncuff me first? Zhang Haiyan smiled at him, appearing very gentle and harmless. There was a dazed look in his eyes as if he couldnt believe he got to survive this.

No. The shackles are worth six shillings. Youre only worth four shillings. Breaking these means that its a failed transaction. You have to carry them with you until we reach an agreement, Father Madison said as he squatted down and looked at the places where Zhang Haiyans hands had been gripping. The wooden posts were completely cracked.

Father Madison said, It seems that Mr. A Bin didnt need our help since he could have saved himself. Youve got some skills. I shouldnt have thought youre only worth ten shillings. I should have agreed to buy you at twelve shillings just now.

Zhang Haiyan squinted his eyes. Indeed, as Madison had said, he did have ulterior motives for doing this. It was risky to try and dodge the guillotines blade with his ability, but it wasnt as risky as playing with fire.

But the people here had regarded him as a perverted madman for a long time. How did the white man know that he was actually an incredibly amazing boy?

What do you want? Zhang Haiyan asked.

Father Madison continued, Mr. A Bin, Ill cut to the chase. I bought you because I hope that you can give birth to a child for me.

Zhang Haiyan had originally come up with a hundred possibilities of what this man would say, such as taking him to the rainforests to be his bodyguard or guide. This was because Zhang Haiyan had gathered a lot of information before, which could be useful should he choose to divulge it.

But when he heard such a request, he was still stunned.

Huh? What? What do you mean?

****

TN Notes:

(1) There is a Chinese idiom, There is gold under mens knees, which means that men have dignity and shouldnt beg others easily. I suppose Haiyan tweaked the idiom because he didnt care about any of that.

(2) Physiognomy is the practice of assessing a persons character or personality from their outer appearanceespecially the face. Wiki link here.

(3) Shenkui was an idiopathic form of anxiety seen in China, which is accompanied by backache, fatigability, insomnia, vertigo and weakness; it is attributed to excess loss of semen or passage of whitish urine, sexual dysfunction, excess masturbation, intercourse, and nocturnal emissions. Link to dictionary definition here.

(4) Apam balik is a dessert common in many varieties at specialist roadside stalls throughout Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Wiki link here.

(5) The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. Wiki link here.

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Tiffanys Notes: The award of dramatic entrance once again goes to Zhang Haiyan lol.