"Phew, no luck fishing tonight at all..."
On the pitch-dark street, a man carrying a long, black bag sighed as he walked. The rushing Klein River was by his side, and the young man lived nearby. He had just spent the entire day fishing before heading home.
The rivers in Saint Nali are plentiful, many of which naturally lend themselves to fishing. However, a few years ago when factories began to surround Saint Nali, many fishable rivers became incredibly dirty. Many fish that were once abundant in the river disappeared without a trace.
Nevertheless, since the implementation of the environmental conservation laws, the entire environment in Saint Nali underwent a transformation akin to purification. Fish populations reappeared in the rivers, which meant the dedicated fishermen of Saint Nali no longer needed to travel great distances to fish in the outskirts.
Strangely enough, the environmental laws were initially enacted smoothly. This was due to favorable policies toward businesses that chose to relocate, along with substantial environmental subsidies, all in an effort to reduce emissions.
The businesses readily agreed. It was said that they had purchased an extremely clean source of energy from the South Continent. This allowed them not only to keep their factories in place but also to profit from the government subsidies.
But for some reason, this month, the winds of opinion seemed to have shifted, and the entrepreneurs started to become discontent again...
But let’s set aside those underlying stories for now and turn our attention back to the young man who was ready to return home, fishing gear in hand.
At this moment, his bucket was empty, void of fish or any other aquatic creatures. It was as if announcing the fruitlessness of his day’s fishing efforts...
Yes, he had come up empty.
The gentleman felt quite dejected, standing on the dark street, heaving a sigh. He glanced around and suddenly noticed a small tree with ripe fruit in front of a shop that had already closed. The man’s eyes flitted, and he approached the tree, gingerly picking a small, unripe fruit and placing it in his hand.
The fruit was completely green and visibly unripe, far from being ready to eat.
But the gentleman didn’t mind, as he picked two or three fruits and put them into the bag that was meant for the fish. Touching the bag that had been empty just a moment ago and now had some contents, he patted his stomach contentedly and continued walking toward home.
A cold breeze blew from behind, startling him to the point he spun around and shouted. But only the still-tumultuous Klein River responded to him, with no other sounds.
He let out a slight sigh of relief and slowly walked to the edge of the Klein River, scrutinizing the swiftly flowing water.
The water quality of Klein River was very good, but generally, no one wished to fish there as the current was too fast and didn’t provide conditions suitable for fish.
After looking around and not finding anything, he sighed and was about to leave. However, illuminated by the moonlight falling from the sky, he suddenly saw the shadow of a tail-flipping figure swiftly passing by underwater. The size of the shadow was large and thick, appearing to have two heads.
"Water... Water Ghost?"
He inhaled sharply, his body moving forward instead of back, his hands bracing against the riverbank railing as he leaned out to look into the distance, watching the shadow grow further away.
"Could it be some kind of big fish? What a pity it’s too quick; otherwise, I could have tried catching it."
No sooner had he spoken his thoughts than a screech sounded from behind him. As the noise reached his ears, he suddenly felt a chill at the nape of his neck, and his viewpoint began to spin rapidly.
Gazing blankly as his own head separated from his body, which leaned over the railing, he watched his head spin and fall towards the water.
The last thing he saw before his vision plunged into darkness was a three-headed shark creature opening its foul-smelling mouth toward him.
The real Water Ghost... was behind him all along...
With this thought, darkness engulfed his sight, his body on the bank losing control and tumbling into the river, soon devoured by the myriad shadows in the water, leaving nothing behind.
Yes, the first two fleeing shadows that the Fishing Man had seen were Moli, carrying Fisher on her back as she fled. In the water, the swimming speed of the Whale-man Species was fully utilized, yet, at that point, Moli wasn’t even at her top speed.
As she moved forward, the blue currents in her eyes swirled continuously; she was, in fact, Healing Fisher’s wounds at the same time.
There was no other option; Fisher’s injuries were simply too severe. He had already lost too much blood, and if she carried him across Saint Nali without tending to his wounds, he would likely be dead by the time they reached the shore.
However, Healing Fisher greatly slowed Moli’s progress in the water, resulting in the creatures behind them biting fiercely, unable to shake them off.
"Fisher, you must hold on..."
Moli glanced sideways and saw that Fisher was still managing to breathe, even if with difficulty, in the water. Relieved, she finally started to speed up. Luckily, Klein River only had one channel, but if Moli had been navigating one of the other intertwined rivers, it was likely she would have become lost.