Shackles of Humanity

Luo Kai returned to his home, which was now a small wooden cabin with a little yard paved with gravel. Just as he entered the yard, a yellow dog, so mangy its fur was nearly all gone, darted out and greeted him with a friendly wag of its tail.

This dog, which couldn’t have looked any older, was the very one that had dragged Luo Kai out of the reed marsh. If not for the dog, the old fisherman would never have found and rescued him on the beach.

The yellow dog had been wandering among the nearby fishing villages. When Luo Kai saw it, he recognized it immediately and decided to adopt it, giving it the name Old Huang.

Old Huang had no sense of being a guard dog whatsoever. It spent its days running wild outside. Seeing its filthy body again, Luo Kai knew it must have been out making trouble. It wolfed down the rice cake but still wasn’t satisfied. It slunk over to Luo Kai’s feet, whining pitifully, obviously wanting more.

Luo Kai tossed the rest of the rice cakes from his bag to Old Huang, stretched languidly, and walked over to the water vat in the yard to wash up before bed.

When he had given Old Huang a thorough check-up, Luo Kai discovered that the dog wasn’t actually old. It just had a type of skin fungus, which was why it was losing its fur so badly. That, and being constantly filthy, was what made it look so ancient.

Luo Kai had run into the nearby mountain forest to find some anti-inflammatory herbs and had wrapped Old Huang up tightly with them. Perhaps he’d used the wrong kind, because the herbs had no effect. Now, Old Huang was practically a hairless dog and looked quite ugly.

Old Huang was very smart. It could even go into the sea to catch fish on its own and was also an excellent rat-catcher. Ever since Old Huang arrived, there hadn’t been a single mouse in the granary.

In the morning, plumes of cooking smoke rose from within the Small Fishing Village, accompanied by the sounds of children crying and dogs barking. It was peaceful and serene, with the feel of a paradise untouched by the outside world.

Luo Kai was already up. His sleep schedule had grown short; two or three hours a night was enough to keep him energetic all day. He would grow anxious if he lay in bed without feeling sleepy, though he didn’t know why.

First, he practiced his Fist Technique in the yard for a while, then made a simple meal before leading Old Huang out to work the fields.

As he passed the entrance to the village, a huge, bloated steam-powered truck appeared in his line of sight. In front of the truck, the men he’d encountered last night were surrounded by villagers, arguing about something.

Luo Kai walked over and asked an old man who was smoking a long-stemmed pipe, ”Sir, what are these people doing?”

The old man took a few hard puffs from his pipe, PUFF, PUFF, and shook his head. ”Tax collectors. Two hundred pounds of grain per person. Sigh!”

Luo Kai frowned. Two hundred pounds of grain was no small amount for the people of this poor Small Fishing Village. The land here was barren, yielding little grain throughout the year. It was difficult enough just to get by. They barely managed to stay fed and clothed thanks to the subsidies brought back each year by the young people who worked elsewhere.

A savage curse erupted from the crowd. ”Damn it, if you don’t scatter, I’ll fucking shoot you!”

The speaker was the burly man in the headscarf from the previous night. Another, thinner man pulled him back and announced in a loud voice, ”Your village hasn’t paid taxes in three years. Two hundred pounds of grain per person isn’t much, is it!”

The old Village Chief cupped his hands. ”Sirs, you’ve seen our situation. The grain from our fields isn’t even enough to feed ourselves. Where would we find extra to pay taxes? Besides, I remember the Lord of the Commandery City once said that the poor are exempt from taxes. The few fishing villages around here have always been tax-exempt!”

The thin man pulled a document from his bag and declared loudly, ”This is the new tax decree issued by our Great Lord! A military provision tax is being levied, collected per head. Farming households will pay with grain in lieu of money. No one is exempt.”

”Isn’t this leaving us with no way to live!” The villagers immediately erupted, clamoring that they would go to the Commandery City to file a complaint.

Seeing the crowd grow riotous, the thin man just smiled. ”Folks, I know things are difficult for everyone. I’ve found a solution for you. Fifty li from here is the Jiuyuan Farm Stronghold. The Village Chief there is preparing to build a large trading wharf right here. If you’re all willing, the Jiuyuan Farm Stronghold can pay this tax on your behalf!”

From a distance, Luo Kai’s gaze hardened slightly. ’Could there be such a good deal in the world?’ The fishing industry here had long been abandoned. Building a wharf could be a lifeline for the nearby fishing villages, not to mention they were offering to pay the villagers’ grain tax.

The old man beside him noticed Luo Kai’s confusion and scoffed, ”Hmph. They say they’ll build a wharf, but they really just want to buy our land. A few years ago, someone came by to talk about the same thing. Said they wanted to plant some rubber trees here. It takes more than ten years for rubber trees to produce rubber. How are we supposed to live for those ten-plus years!”

”Wasn’t there any compensation?”

”There was. They said we could move to Jiuyuan Farm Stronghold.”

Luo Kai didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but those tax collectors were clearly not good people. He had been in the Small Fishing Village for a little over a year and had no right to voice an opinion. Seeing that the villagers had calmed down and that things would likely be fine, he turned and left.

That evening, Luo Kai went to Wanghai Cliff to practice his Body Techniques as usual. After being tempered by last night’s ferocious Sea Tide, he felt a little different today. His body seemed lighter. He felt like he was walking on air, drifting along effortlessly.

Unfortunately, the tide tonight was much smaller, barely better than nothing. After finishing his training, Luo Kai lay back on a large rock and gazed up at the Starry Sky, searching for familiar Star Constellations, and for the person in his memories...

The Small Fishing Village was silent at night. The impoverished fishermen had no nightlife to speak of; they weren’t even willing to waste candles, so they went to bed as soon as it got dark.

Tonight, a dark cloud hung in the sky, making the moonlight appear mottled. Luo Kai walked on the familiar grassy path, his mood gradually calming.

As he walked, he suddenly spotted a black figure flitting through the village. Luo Kai’s eyesight was excellent, and he could faintly make out a slender woman slung over the figure’s back. His heart tightened, and he immediately bent low and gave chase. He had grown fond of the villagers’ simple honesty and would not allow anyone to harm them.

The black-clad figure was incredibly fast, practically flying over the ground as they raced toward a small grove of trees. The person on their back seemed to weigh nothing at all.

Luo Kai sprinted in pursuit, his body bent low. The effects of over a year of training in Body Techniques were now apparent. His physical condition was on a completely different level compared to his time on Nanya Island. His training in the Mighty Dragon Fist had made his Power increasingly immense, while the Soft Body Technique gave him unparalleled flexibility. At this moment, he was like a leopard cat—nimble, swift, and silent.

As the distance closed, he got a clearer look at the ”woman” on the figure’s back. Strictly speaking, she was still a girl. It was the Village Chief’s granddaughter, Erya. She was twelve or thirteen years old, a pretty and lively girl. Erya was very attached to the ugly Old Huang, but she was a little afraid of the scar-covered Luo Kai, often sneaking over to play with Old Huang when Luo Kai wasn’t around.

Although the figure’s face was covered, their burly physique was unmistakable. Luo Kai recognized him as one of the tax collectors from that day. A surge of anger rose from the bottom of his heart. ’Those guys really are up to no good.’