Chapter 32: Color

Under the bed, Wu Yi and the young man didn’t even dare to breathe.

The moment their eyes met the prisoner’s, their hearts slammed violently, and the swelling blood vessels throbbed so hard they nearly burst their temples.

……

Blood flowed down from the prisoner’s forehead, past his unblinking eyes, and dripped to the floor.

Because of his research into those forbidden books, he had already endured endless torment.

The executioner had told him that if he betrayed his accomplices, he could be spared… might even be rewarded with gold and silver.

He was done! Done with the whippings and starvation.

He no longer wanted to glimpse the world beyond the prohibitions, no longer cared to know what color the ocean was.

All he ever wanted from his research was a better life.

And now that a better life was right in front of him, within reach—he only had to sacrifice two pitiful souls…

Two rats that broke in uninvited and trespassed into his home!

At that thought, the world suddenly seemed to clear up for him.

He patted the dust off his filthy clothes and slowly stood up.

“Sir, I—”

He had already prepared the words to denounce them, but just as he was about to speak, his eyes landed on the book on the table.

When he had first entered the room, that book had been open.

Which meant… they had read it.

The candle on the table had already burned down several segments—far more than could’ve melted in just a short while.

They had clearly come here at night more than once.

These two little rats weren’t thieves.

They came to read the books.

They… were interested in his research?

……

The prisoner suddenly felt a sting in his nose.

He never dared to hope that anyone else in this world might share his vision of the world beyond the prohibitions, might understand his research… He knew such thoughts were heretical, a straight path to the stake.

Yet now, with death at his doorstep, two spirited little rats had crawled into his stinking study and opened the pages that held his life’s work.

His failure of a life, which no one had ever cared about, suddenly felt like it had meaning.

The Divine Court’s soldiers would soon burn this place down, reducing all his efforts to ash.

But if these two children somehow survived, maybe… just maybe, someone would remember the research he left behind—remember that stretch of blue sea, clear as the sky.

“What were you about to say just now?”

The scar-faced officer sat down at the table, his fingertips lightly tapping the surface—each tap like a strike to the prisoner’s nerves, injecting fear straight into his spine.

“Nothing.” The prisoner lifted his head. “Kill me.”

“No need to rush.”

But the officer only smiled, amused.

He stood two fingers up on the table, like a mischievous little puppet.

That puppet strolled lightly across the tabletop, step by step…

It circled around once, then again, and again, the circle shrinking smaller each time—until it reached the candle.

The officer dabbed a finger into the wax.

The still-sticky, low-grade candle wax clung to his fingertip, white and greasy like wet ashes.

“Looks like we won’t be alone tonight… will we?”

He blew on the wax to dry it, then flicked it at the prisoner’s terrified face.

Then, with deliberate leisure, he lit the candle.

“Come now, let’s enjoy this romantic evening together.”

He gave the prisoner a sunny smile.

“Clang—”

A heavy greatsword was suddenly drawn, catching the candlelight in a blinding flash, pointing straight at the space under the bed.

“Search! There are rats under there!”

……

The young man bit down hard, his whole body trembling with fear.

It was all his fault. He knew that if he hadn’t brought Wu Ye here tonight “to see something new,” the two of them wouldn’t be caught in this nightmare.

He should’ve known. He did know those tattered books were forbidden texts, things strictly banned by the Divine Court—visions of the world beyond the bounds…

How could seawater possibly be blue?

God had said it himself—seawater is black.

No matter where you go, the sea is black, and it never changes.

The truth was right there, whispered in his ears.

And yet he had still sought out these sinful ideas, these wicked temptations that led people to ruin…

Now look at him, branded a heretic by the Divine Court.

They were going to burn him at the stake!

But even if he was guilty—what did Wu Ye do wrong?

He had only brought him here because he was disturbed by the evil visions he’d seen, hoping someone could share that burden with him…

That was all. He just didn’t want to face it alone.

He was a damn bastard.

“—Search!”

With the officer’s order, iron boots thundered toward the bed.

The young man shrank back with all his might, feeling like his body no longer obeyed him.

His conscience screamed at him to stand up, to tell the truth, to take the punishment he deserved.

But his body refused.

That was survival instinct.

He didn’t want to be burned alive.

That was the worst kind of death—suffering unimaginable agony, hearing your own fat crackle and pop, your body melting in fire…

It was too terrifying!

He nearly wet himself. Tears dripped onto the ground, one by one.

And then—

That small, thin figure squeezed past him.

……

Wu Ye rolled out from under the bed.

He straightened his frail little frame and patted the dust off his clothes.

His bones poked out under his skin—who knew how long it had been since he’d eaten a proper meal.

But his young voice rang out, loud and clear.

“Grilled squid—does it taste good?”