Decaying World-Chapter 1

The night was black as ink.
A single, bean-sized orange flame burned quietly in the darkness.
It seemed to be the only light in the world.
The flame flickered and swayed, as if a breath could snuff it out. Fragile.
In the faint glow it cast, a young man sat silently, his face pale and his eyes bloodshot.
He was about fifteen or sixteen years old, with plain, unremarkable features. He bit his lower lip slightly; its color was faint, as if he'd recently lost a significant amount of blood.
His hair was long, fine, and jet-black, tied back in a simple high ponytail like a woman's. He wore a long, gray-brown cotton robe with centipede clasps that reached his knees, covering most of the matching trousers beneath.
Knock, knock, knock.
A light tapping came from somewhere in the darkness.
Knuckles on thin wood, especially clear in the quiet.
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound came again.
The young man by the flame trembled but made no sound. He'd heard it, clearly, but had no intention of responding.
"Are you asleep?" A sigh came from outside the door. An older, middle-aged woman. She hesitated, then turned and slowly walked away.
Only when the footsteps faded completely did the young man let out a breath.
He held out his hands, cupping the flame gently, feeling the faint warmth on his palms. A relaxed expression finally crept across his face.
"Xiao Hui, you shouldn't have lit the lamp," a hushed voice whispered from behind him.
[TN: "Xiao" means "little" or "young" and is an affectionate prefix used to address someone younger or of lower social position.]
"Lighting a lamp attracts things that shouldn't come. Nighttime is different from the day!" The voice approached slowly. Then, on the other side of the flame, a weary female face—bearing a seven-tenths resemblance to the man—emerged from the shadows.
She watched him with concern.
"What's wrong? Can't sleep again? You've been waking up startled in the middle of the night these past few days. Did something happen during the day?"
"Mom, why are you awake too? I kept the lamp dim on purpose so I wouldn't wake you," the man said apologetically. "I just... haven't been sleeping well lately."
The middle-aged woman sighed and gently patted his shoulder.
"It's my fault for being useless, for not being able to move us into the inner city... Otherwise, it wouldn't have come to this..."
She didn't continue, but the worry on her face deepened.
"It's alright, Mom. You go back to sleep. I'll just sit for a little while longer and be right back to bed," the man forced a smile, trying to appear fine.
"Alright. Your father has to supervise the workers at dawn. I need to get some more sleep, or I won't be able to get up." The woman nodded and went to the door to check that it was securely fastened. Then, in the darkness, she fumbled for and pinched a purple-black stone hanging on the wall.
After confirming there was nothing wrong with the stone, she turned. With a rustle of clothing, she went into the inner room. Soon came the wooden creak of a bed and the mumble of an old man turning over in his sleep.
Silence returned.
The young man remained seated alone, his mind flashing through the dream-like scenes of the past few days.
He'd been dreaming every day. Or perhaps it wasn't a dream at all, but another life he'd once lived.
In that world, there were skyscrapers, cars, and airplanes. Humanity ruled the planet and was reaching for the stars. Even commoners didn't have to worry about food or drink; most people passed their time with smartphones and computers.
Nothing like the present, where life was so difficult.
The young man stretched out his index finger and, on the dimly lit ground, gently wrote two words—Lin Hui.
This was his name, and the only mark of his existence in this lifetime.
Erasing the marks, he let out a soft breath, stood, and carefully moved away from the flame to the room's door and windows.
He found a few small holes in the thin window and peered outside.
The Lin family lived in a large compound. The entire extended family numbered several dozen people, making them one of the most populous clans in the area.
What reflected in his eyes now was a traditional, four-sided Chinese courtyard.
The courtyard had rockeries, ponds, large trees, and pavilions—it wanted for nothing.
But all of it was shrouded in a thin, gray-white mist.
This was called the mist.
The environment Lin Hui lived in was extremely troublesome.
Or perhaps 'troublesome' wasn't the right word. 'Dangerous.'
During the day, all sorts of bizarrely shaped creatures roamed outside the city. At night, the mist enveloped everything, and strange, terrifying dangers of all kinds drifted about.
Here, people relied on the city's high walls to avoid monsters and disasters during the day. At night, they relied on the Tuyue jade talismans received from the inner city government to protect their homes, daring not to go outside.
This was all the information Lin Hui had dug up from his memories after regaining his clarity these past few days.
And this wasn't even what he found most bizarre.
Hisss.
Lin Hui carefully used his finger to widen the peephole so he could see more clearly.
The scene in the courtyard outside was completely different from the Lin family's actual compound during the day.
Yes, completely different.
Although the Lin family was a large clan, their courtyard wasn't so exquisite. The decorations and repairs were all basic, functional. Nothing like the courtyard before him now, which had the extravagant style of a wealthy family.
Things like ponds, rockeries, and pavilions were luxury items that required constant maintenance by hired help to keep them clean. How could his Lin family possibly afford them?
But now, in the thin mist, what Lin Hui saw was so clear, so real.
Gulp.
Lin Hui swallowed unconsciously.
He was terrified.
If he'd seen this common, everyday sight before awakening his past life's memories, he might not have been so frightened.
But only after awakening did he clearly understand what these things he was seeing truly represented.
This was one of the greatest 'weirdnesses' of this place.
Every night, under the shroud of the pervasive mist, the scenery outside the house would be different.
Going out at night was forbidden. Aside from those wandering, mysterious threats, this was the biggest reason.
Every night, after the fog enveloped the world outside the window, it would first thicken, then slowly thin out. Afterward, the scenery people could see would always be different.
So far, Lin Hui had seen at least several dozen different styles of strange courtyards from his home.
Sometimes they repeated, but most of the time they changed.
All sorts of ancient, Chinese-style courtyards swapped in and out, all of them in a state of disrepair and decay, clearly untended for a very long time.
Standing at the window, Lin Hui just watched the outside quietly, unmoving, like a statue.
He waited until the mist outside slowly began to thicken again. More than an hour passed before it thinned once more, finally revealing the Lin family's original courtyard.
Everything quietly returned to normal.
At this moment, the light of dawn slowly brightened the east. The entire courtyard, as if nothing had happened, returned to normal.
Seeing this, Lin Hui let out a long breath and slowly backed away, returning to the oil lamp.
Puff.
He blew out the lamp in one breath.
He watched as white daylight slowly filtered through the window, illuminating the room. Behind him, he could faintly hear his parents getting up and the sound of them dressing.
He knew that a new, busy day was about to begin.
The Lin family lived in the outer city—the outer city of Tuyue.
Tuyue. This was the name of the city they lived in. It was an extremely vast urban area, divided primarily into two major sections: Inner and Outer.
The Inner City was the prosperous core. Safe to live in, abundant in resources, and rumor had it that it was a 'mist-free zone'—an absolutely safe area where the mist never appeared, even at night.
The Outer City was where they lived. It wasn't a single region, but a vast area composed of many miniature towns built around the Inner City of Tuyue.
Between each small town were large swaths of farmland, vegetable plots, orchards, and various processing workshops.
The town the Lin family lived in was called Xinyu Town. To outsiders, they were still people of Tuyue, but internally, they were considered residents of the outermost suburbs.
"Why are you still standing here?" From the inner room, his father, Lin Shunhe, emerged, draping a gray-white coat over his shoulders. He fastened the centipede clasps on his chest with one hand while the other held a dark brown wild boar-hide vest, worn on the outside for warmth.
"Couldn't sleep, so I just stood for a bit," Lin Hui turned and forced a smile. He didn't want his parents to worry.
"Sigh..." His father seemed to think of something upon seeing him. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped.
He had a dull face, dark skin, and a sturdy build, with graying hair. His job was as a supervisor at the town's oil-pressing workshop. His wages weren't high, but they were by no means low—more than enough to support a family of three.
If this were a normal world, such a life would be considered quite good. But the problem was, the world they lived in wasn't normal.
Sighing, Lin Shunhe said nothing more. He put on the vest, unlocked the door, and pushed it open to leave.
"A-He, you haven't eaten yet?" his mother, Yao Shan, called as she followed him.
"Not eating. I'll grab a bite from the public meal at the workshop." Lin Shunhe didn't look back. He waved, crossed the courtyard, opened the main gate, and quickly disappeared outside.
[TN: "A-He" uses the Chinese prefix
ā
(a or ah), an affectionate and informal term added before a name to show intimacy and endearment.]
The courtyard had now returned to the Lin family's original appearance.
A white stone well, two crooked, dark-barked trees, and a set of gray stone tables and stools. The tabletop was even carved with a blurry chessboard and some faint black characters.
An uneven earthen wall enclosed the perimeter. The corners were piled high with firewood, old furniture, and farming tools.
Lin Hui watched his father leave, then also grabbed a coat and slowly walked out.
His mother chased after him and stuffed a vegetable bun into his hand. It was steaming hot and carried the faint aroma of vegetable oil. He devoured it in just a few bites.
"If you have nothing to do, go outside and get some sun. I have to go to work in a bit, too. I'll be back in the afternoon," his mother said. She'd changed into a bright white cotton skirt, put on her sleeve protectors, and slung a small satchel over her shoulder, ready to leave.
Lin Hui remembered that she worked at a clothing workshop in the town. She was a veteran employee and had been working there for over ten years.
"The owner's daughter is coming for an inspection today. I'll find a chance to ask about your situation, see if there's any hope. Don't be anxious just yet," his mother carefully instructed.
"Okay." Lin Hui nodded.
Before awakening his memories, he'd reached the age where he should be out working and earning money.
Because he hadn't learned any skills and had been muddle-headed, he only snapped out of it when he finally awakened. By then, it was already a bit late.
His parents had recently been busy trying to arrange a job for his future.
Seeing his expression, his mother looked left and right, then leaned in close and whispered mysteriously.
"When I say don't be anxious, I'm not just comforting you. Your father took on a private job a while back—don't you dare tell anyone. He finished the job yesterday, and the client promised to secure a top-notch position for you..."
"A private job!?" Lin Hui's expression changed. If he were caught, there'd be serious trouble.
"Just don't tell anyone, and it'll be fine. Don't worry, plenty of other workshops around here have done it," his mother said, clearly accustomed to it.
Lin Hui said no more. The deed was done; nothing he said now would change anything.
There were more than ten workshops, large and small, in this town. If one were to really investigate, supervisors from many of them were probably guilty. A single crackdown would catch a whole bunch.
He was just worried about the risk... The oil workshop his father worked at was town property. If he were discovered, the consequences would be far more severe than taking a private job from a private workshop. He could even be exiled to the wastelands as cannon fodder.
"Your father should be bringing back news today. Just wait patiently. If you have nothing to do during the day, you can walk around the neighborhood, stretch your body. Just remember to come back immediately when you hear the bell," his mother continued.
"Okay... I know." Lin Hui's mind was in turmoil. He could only nod.
He'd been hit by a massive influx of memories these past two days. He had no concrete plan for himself or his future. He could only take it one step at a time.
He watched as his mother, Yao Shan, quickly combed her hair, fastened it with a bean-pod jade hairpin, and hurried out the door.
Lin Hui followed her into the courtyard and stood at the gate, looking out.
Outside was a wide, horizontal dirt road. The roadside was dotted with sparse green grass. The road surface was uneven, with puddles in some places—it had clearly rained recently.
Rows of houses connected to the dirt road, like sesame seeds on a curving line, stretched into the distance from his current vantage point.
The houses were large and small, some made of earth, some of stone courtyards. But all the houses had one thing in common—they were all built with high surrounding walls.
By now, there was already a good deal of traffic on the road: pushcarts and oxcarts hauling goods, horse-drawn carriages carrying people, children herding chickens and ducks out to forage, and, most numerous of all, people leaving their homes to work in the town center.
Lin Hui stepped out, breathing in the faint, fishy smell of the yellow mud, and followed the road toward town.
On both sides of the road, between the houses, were large fields and vegetable plots. Some people were already in the fields, beginning their labor.
"Xiao Hui, ah. Haven't been sleeping well lately, or what? How come your face is so pale?" Not far down the road, an old, white-bearded man who was weeding looked up and asked.
His name was Li Quanzhong, and he lived to the right of the Lin family compound. He was a long-time neighbor. His only son worked as a barber in the town.
"Yeah, been sleeping poorly... Got a bit of a headache," Lin Hui gave a random excuse.
"You've got to be careful then. Go back and drink some more hot water. If it's really bad, go get some Blessing Meat to eat. You'll get better faster," Li Quanzhong said with a chuckle.
Blessing Meat...
Lin Hui's heart stirred.
The population of Tuyue was enormous, with the outer towns being the most populous. Logically, in an era with such backward productivity, maintaining such a large city should be an extremely difficult task. But this was precisely where the strangeness lay.
The city government office would periodically distribute something called Myriad Blessings Meat.
It was a type of meat that smelled and tasted very fragrant. No one knew what kind of creature it was cut from. Every person could receive a large piece, over ten jin, every month.
But that wasn't the main point. The main point was that this Myriad Blessings Meat, besides sating hunger, could also cure all illnesses.
No matter what the sickness was, as long as you ate a small piece, you'd soon be cured without even needing to see a doctor.
Lin Hui returned to his senses, chatted idly with old man Li for a few more sentences, and then continued down the dirt road.
He hadn't walked long, however, before he saw a crowd of townspeople gathered outside a small courtyard up ahead.
Several of his cousins from other branches of the Lin family were also there, watching the spectacle. When they saw him approaching from a distance, the kids scattered, pulling at the corners of their eyes and making faces at him. One of the bolder ones even spat in his direction from afar.
Lin Hui feigned a lunge, scaring the kids into running away.
His branch of the family was just average within the large Lin clan. The reason he was so despised by these kids was that, before his awakening, he'd been a complete failure. He had no skills and no looks.
Compared to the others his age, Lin Hui was just a good-for-nothing idler who lay around at home all day doing nothing.
In an era where both adults and children had to work just to survive, being a leech who lived off his parents was something to be looked down upon.
After chasing the kids away, Lin Hui walked closer, standing at the edge of the crowd and stretching his neck to look inside.
As he watched, he faintly heard a few people to his right whispering. Words like "mountain demon," "peach tree spirit," and "revenge."
A few aunties to his left were quietly moving their lips, chanting some kind of prayer in unison.
Further in, two tall, broad constables in black uniforms, like two walls, blocked the townspeople who were trying to watch.
The two of them chatted in low voices as if no one else was around, speaking in some local dialect he couldn't understand at all.
Lin Hui looked further inside, dimly seeing the courtyard's main gate wide open. There were faint traces of blood on the ground.
A human leg, gnawed down to white bone, was clearly visible from the doorway.
"Still looking!" A nearby bare-bottomed kid, who was craning his neck, got his ear grabbed from behind by his mother and was forcefully dragged away.
"There—this is what happens when you fail to replace the jade talisman on time. Dare to touch it again and see what follows."
"Ow! It hurts, it hurts! I won't, I'll never do it again, ah!" The child's miserable cries faded as he was dragged away.
Lin Hui watched the mother and son leave. Dressed in his gray robe, he was inconspicuous in the similarly dressed crowd.
"This wasn't about the jade talisman," a low female voice suddenly said from the side.
Lin Hui turned his head and saw a tall woman in a gray robe and black leather pants, who'd walked up behind him at some point.
The woman's face bore some resemblance to his. Her hair was simply tied up in two buns. She was currently holding a soy sauce bottle, clearly on her way back from the general store.
“Let’s go — stop staring. This family was struck by a Door-Breaching Ghost during the day.” The woman was Lin Hongzhen, the eldest daughter of the Lin family’s main branch and Lin Hui’s cousin, one year his senior.
"Door-breaching ghost..."
Lin Hui repeated the name, his expression turning grim. This was a general term for all the monsters and beasts that attacked humans during the daytime, not a literal ghost.