Although over a hundred years had passed, the layout of the city had completely changed.
However, Isaac could still barely find traces of the old days... after all, this port city was where he was born.
Annan followed closely behind him, watching as Isaac, familiar yet sowhat unfamiliar, crept into one alley after another, pondering and reminiscing, searching for the long-gone mories.
"I still rember this place... this used to be a broken wall."
As Isaac walked through the alley with Annan, he gestured in the middle of the alley, "It was only about a ter high, and for so reason, there was a depression on top. It looked like it had been smashed by a long-handled hamr."
"Breaking the wall but not completely smashing it?"
Annan jokingly asked, "That sounds quite convenient for escaping over it. If you ambush at the corner of the wall, you might even be able to counter-kill a few."
"Maybe that’s exactly what happened."
Isaac nodded in response. He reached out to touch the surrounding beautiful and tidy white stone walls, feeling nostalgic, "If I rember correctly, this place used to be residential houses. These walls were covered in filth, besides dried blood, there were also excretions. And marks drawn by thieves and pirates—used for conveying ssages and also by undercover agents to exchange information.
"Now, it has turned into a bakery. The one next door has beco a shop selling shell products... what’s it called, a souvenir shop?"
Isaac spoke as he hurried forward.
He was not seeking a response from Annan.
It was just that everything around him had changed drastically compared to the city of his childhood mories.
It wasn’t until this mont that Isaac clearly realized sothing.
That was, since Isaac had left this city... until his death and subsequent rebirth, he had never returned.
The "Black Sail Town" before him was not the sa as the "Hongfan Town" in his mory.
The people of the past were gone, the buildings were gone, even the town’s na had changed... other than being geographically the sa place, Isaac could hardly find any traces of the old days.
Annan cast his gaze on Isaac walking ahead, focusing intently on him.
But Isaac paid no attention to Annan.
He just looked around... as if trying hard to dissect the projections of the old days.
But the more he tried to recall the past, the paler his words beca, "I still rember this place... ah, yes, that’s right. This wasn’t a square originally, there were two walls here forming a sharp-angled alley, and a pile of garbage was stacked here. We called this ’Stench Alley.’ Gangs used to just dump bodies here, and after they rotted, they would emit a terrible sll.
"I also rember... right, this alley here, originally there lived an old man with a sick mind. The children on this street were all afraid of him, so said he ate children, others said he killed. There were also those who said he was an old assassin who failed to kill a wizard.
"But I wasn’t afraid of him, because I heard that he used to be an inventor, and later due to so offense or another, he fell into madness and possibly pretended to be insane, but who knows..."
Isaac spoke very fast. And it got faster and faster.
His pupils trembled slightly, as if he were sowhat confused and sowhat panicked.
Excitent, tension, nostalgia, sadness, unease... the strong emotions that constantly changed overwheld Isaac’s mind.
Even Isaac himself did not know what the surging emotions inside him were exactly.
"Black Sail Town" in so ways, had not changed much from "Hongfan Town" over a hundred years ago.
The fish market was still foul. The gambling dens still dealt in human lives. Pirate gangs of all sizes were still rampant everywhere. People coming and going were just as nurous as before.
So beca rich overnight, while others beca penniless in an instant. On one hand, under the deterrence of the mounted police and the gangs’ "enforcers," everyone enjoyed a relatively safe and stable life in the sunlit areas... but as night fell, it would turn into a chaotic and rowdy lawless zone.
Everything was much the sa as before.
But...
The shabby alley had beco tidy, and the dirty, outdated houses had been leveled and rebuilt. People no longer dressed as they had over a hundred years before; children no longer wandered the streets pushing carts laden with various fish; children controlled by gangs, begging or stealing, were also gone.
At least visibly, "Black Sail Town" had indeed improved greatly.
However, it was completely different from the "Hongfan Town" Isaac rembered.
Isaac suddenly beca silent.
Without saying a word, he carefully took Annan through every street and alley of Black Sail Town. It was as if he was lost, constantly doubling back on himself; it was as if he had a clear goal, searching for sothing.
Suddenly, Isaac stopped.
Appearing before Annan was the middle-aged man who had been beaten up and then dragged behind a horse.
The man’s face was a bloody, fleshly blur, almost unrecognizable from his original appearance. Gravel embedded in his flesh, perhaps even in his bones.
He might already be dead, or perhaps just unconscious. He was tied under a street lamp, head drooping.
And a little boy, loosely tied at the ankles with a rope, alongside a little girl who was similarly bound, were being led side by side by a tall, thin man wearing a white mask with an exaggerated smile.
The tall man placed his hands on the shoulders of the two children. Or rather, he lightly placed them around their necks.
His hands were so large, it looked as though they could easily snap the children’s necks. His brown eyes seed like congealed, dried blood.
Yet the two children were neither sobbing loudly nor displaying any hysteria.
The little girl simply hung her head, quietly sobbing, while the little boy watched the possibly dead middle-aged man with a complex gaze — mixed with sadness, resentnt, and pain.
A circle of people had gathered around.
The ones closest in were leaner n with relatively darker skin. They all wore loose jackets with many tal zippers, their hands expressionlessly clasped behind their backs.
There were also a few extrely tall and heavyset n and won, each with a strange spiked plate hanging on both shoulders, similar to machine gun bullets.
And behind the tall man stood a group of croupiers, n and won alike, all of whom were quite well-built, with a mysterious air and attractive faces.
Although this was Annan’s first ti seeing this scene.
Thanks to Isaac’s tales of his "childhood," he imdiately recognized it — this was the "gambling stall" that Isaac had ntioned.
...But hadn’t the owner of that gambling stall been killed along with his entire family?
"Are they still operating?"
Annan exclaid, "That’s really an old established store."
"...No."
Isaac suddenly spoke.
His voice was deep: "We’ve already passed that gambling stall earlier... it has now been converted into a clinic.
"And this place... this place, a hundred years ago...
"...was my ho."
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