SOP CH22: Flower Foam Flooding the River

Diamonds’s mind was in utter chaos as he stared at Madam Spades, temporarily struck dumb.

He recalled the scene when he first met Madam Spades. Back then, Hearts had been defeated in his bout against the 2030 Branch Director Monkey Face, and Diamonds had just undergone the surgery to donate his organs to Hearts, leaving his health in terrible shape. The Clepsydra rebels had suffered a devastating blow, with many members defecting. One fighter had wept to him: “Mr. Diamonds, Boss Hearts is comatose, and now the Group is cracking down hard. Many of our people have been captured, and the rest stay trapped in that dilapidated church all day without enough food or water. Clepsydra is on the brink of disbanding!”

Back then, Diamonds was in wretched spirits, slumped groggily over the small oak table outside the bar, waving a hand dismissively: “What are you shouting for? Do you take me for the God of Wealth, expecting banknotes to fly out if you just bow down and pray?”

Poker Bar had only just been erected, nothing more than a bare, hollow shell, lacking furniture and decor of every kind. Diamonds was already exhausting every ounce of strength just taking medication to suppress the aftereffects of the organ transplant, with not a spare penny to spend on renovating the bar or recruiting more rebel fighters. The Clepsydra member pressed urgently: “Mr. Diamonds, I know everyone is tight on funds, but without money, we truly can’t take a single step forward!”

Diamonds remained limply sprawled: “Then don’t take any steps. I don’t even have enough money for myself, and was thinking of borrowing from you! Look at our bar, we don’t even have the funds to hang a signboard. I’m just a commander with no troops.”

Right at that moment, a calm, composed voice suddenly came from the side:

“If that is the case, if I invest right now, does that make me a shareholder in this bar?”

The two turned toward the voice, only to see an elderly woman pausing before the bar. She wore a solid black bustle skirt and a black veil, the sliver of skin visible beneath the veil pale as grave wax.

That was the scene when Diamonds met Madam Spades for the very first time.

She had appeared out of nowhere, wrapped in deep mystery, yet Diamonds had felt no repulsion in his heart, instead finding her oddly like an old acquaintance. Like a widow with wealth rivaling nations, Madam Spades effortlessly produced a massive sum of money, renovating Poker Bar and rallying Clepsydra’s morale. When Hearts recovered from his injuries and returned to the rebel army, he was dumbfounded to find that Clepsydra members were no longer short on food or water, working with exceptional vigor, even dyeing their hair in dazzling rainbow colors like a pack of rowdy, spirited punks.

Diamonds had previously investigated Madam Spades, learning her true name was “Daisy Spades.” Spades meant the playing card suit, but also referred to shovels or digging tools, perhaps hinting that her ancestors were gardeners who cultivated herbs. He guessed she had once been a renowned apothecary in history, yet failed to uncover further records.

Yet Madam Spades had finally provided an even more outrageous answer:

She was the Director of the Time Entropy Group’s 1805 Branch.

Diamonds felt the world spinning around him. Clutching his forehead, he asked:

“Madam, you aren’t… joking, right?”

Madam Spades looked surprised. “What joke? Was the me you knew fond of cracking jokes, and not the Director of the 1805 Branch?”

Quicksand blurted out: “Far from having that identity, we’re actually the Clep…”

Before he could finish, Diamonds reacted with lightning speed, grabbing a scone and stuffing it into his mouth. Quicksand went silent instantly, working his jaws like a hamster.

Clutching his forehead, Diamonds felt caught on the horns of a dilemma. The two of them had crossed through the time labyrinth to save Madam Spades’s life, never expecting her to be an enemy boss.

Chewing on the scone, Quicksand leaned close to Diamonds’s ear, muttering indistinctly: “It’s your fault for not doing a proper background check. What now? How about we don’t save her and jump right back to 2026?”

Diamonds lowered his voice: “Since we’re already here, shouldn’t we probe the situation before heading back? So what if she’s the 1805 Branch Director? With my skills, I can even turn the chief cleaner to our side!”

Quicksand sneered coldly, speaking around a mouthful of crumbs: “Pure hot air.”

Wiping away cold sweat, Diamonds crossed his legs, plastering an easy smile on his face as he struck a posture for a long conversation. He asked: “Madam, though I know you well in the future, out of politeness I never dared pry into your past, until you encountered danger in this era and vanished in the future. Although it is somewhat impolite, to better ensure your safety, we would like to know more about your situation. Would you be comfortable answering?”

“Since you are friends from the future, I shall certainly hold nothing back.”

Diamonds took a deep breath: “Thank you, Madam. What I want to ask is: when did you become the Director of the 1805 Branch?”

“Heh heh, while titled Branch Director, it is truly more of an honorary post.” The copper kettle bubbled over the fire. Madam Spades’s gaze grew distant, the deep ravines of her wrinkles shifting between light and shadow in the firelight. She said, “I am merely… obsessed with pharmaceutical sciences, unwilling to concern myself with worldly matters, while the Group is willing to act as my agent, supplying all the raw ingredients needed to refine my remedies. We simply maintain a cooperative relationship.”

Quicksand muttered indistinctly: “Helping a tiger do evil.”

Diamonds grabbed a cucumber sandwich and shoved it into his mouth. This time, Quicksand fell completely silent. Fortunately, his speech was so muffled that Madam Spades didn’t catch what he said.

“This is an era where empiricism and reason intertwine. In the past, Hippocrates believed the human body consisted of blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile, treating ‘melancholia caused by an imbalance of black bile’ with highly toxic hellebore, causing countless people to lose their lives. But now, people measure the world with reason. The phlogiston theory has been overthrown, and the law of conservation of mass has become the new standard for apothecaries. With the assistance of the Time Entropy Group arriving from the future, this era is destined to undergo a tremendous transformation!”

Madam Spades spoke with delight, starlight seemingly swirling in her eyes. The two could not help but freeze in surprise; it was the first time they had ever seen Madam Spades so passionately stirred.

The chime of a mantle clock echoed lonely through the manor. A mechanical maid presented a plate of candied orange peel. Diamonds casually picked up a slice and put it into his mouth, yet tasted no sweetness, sensing only bitterness. He asked:

“So that means the Group took an interest in your talent and bestowed the title of Branch Director upon you?”

This was much the same situation as Monkey Face, Director of the 2030 Branch. Monkey Face and Madam Spades were both originally from humble origins, elevated due to their abilities, only to turn around and become corporate agents exploiting those below. Thinking of this, aside from sighing, Diamonds could not help wondering where the boundary between the lower tier and the upper tier truly lay. The perpetrators had once been victims, and the enemies they fought against seemed like future versions of themselves.

Madam Spades smiled and nodded: “Rather than talent, it was more like luck. I was merely one of the fortunate ones among those seeking the truth, someone who happened to hit a straight-up bet.”

With a wave of her hand, a mechanical maid presented a silver platter, pulling back layers of velvet cloth to reveal a small transparent vial filled with liquid. The liquid was utterly bizarre, belonging to no known color in the world, neither water nor dew, looking from afar like distant hills after fresh rain, or morning light swirling within. Diamonds asked, “What is this?”

Madam Spades answered:

“This is the physical substance of time.”

Diamonds and Quicksand were stunned.

“The acquisition of this substance was entirely accidental. One night several months ago, I tied a triangular crystal flask to a kite and flew it during a thunderstorm, capturing ‘aether.'”

“You did the exact same thing as Benjamin Franklin.”

“Heh heh, indeed. But I achieved a different result. When distilling gentian root, I introduced aether and the Stone of Zeus, or what you people from the future would call lodestone powder, resulting in this substance. When I touched it, a marvelous phenomenon occurred: I seemed to experience a brief lapse of memory, no, rather, it stopped my personal time. Memories flashed back frame by frame, even seeming to flow in reverse. Thus, I became certain: I had discovered a physical form of time, a substance, or what might be called a time fragment.”

The two listened in utter bewilderment. Madam Spades continued smiling at them, looking like an aged, flawless portrait. Her words were full of antiquated notions firmly believed by people of the past, yet viewed as misconceptions today. But standing upon the foundation of those misconceptions, she had achieved a discovery far ahead of her era. Quicksand asked, “You discovered physical time? That is absurd.”

Diamonds mused, “No. Although it sounds like an Arabian Nights fantasy, perhaps she truly stumbled upon the doorway to truth by pure coincidence. In this era, people consider ‘aether’ to be the medium through which light and fluids propagate. In modern optofluidic experiments, photons confined within quantum microcavities can exhibit liquid-like behavior. The temporal fluid she discovered can be seen as a form of condensed aether, freezing spacetime within fluid through quantum interactions.”

“What a bizarre discovery,” Quicksand folded his arms and evaluated.

“Yet in reality, this crude and accidental discovery likely altered the course of history drastically.”

Diamonds looked dead serious, his gaze piercing into Quicksand’s face like a pair of awls.

“Haven’t you realized it, black-hearted employee? This means the Time Entropy Group was inspired by Madam Spades. She is the pioneer of time-jump technology.”

That night, a violent storm descended. The moisture of the River Thames mingled with coal smoke, churning upward as streetlamps flickered like swaying drunkards through the veil of rain. Diamonds lay upon the guest bed prepared by the mechanical maids, smelling the scent of aged sweet grass, feeling utterly devoid of sleep.

Suddenly, a faint knock sounded on the oak door. Diamonds looked toward the sound, seeing Quicksand holding a mint pillow, wearing his star-patterned bathrobe, standing expressionless in the doorframe.

“What’s wrong? Afraid of thunder, can’t sleep?”

“I genuinely can’t sleep. The bed here is too large, you can roll all over it, and I’m not used to it,” Quicksand said. He had grown accustomed to squeezing onto a cramped single bed.

“Truly hopeless. Giving you luxury and you complain instead,” Diamonds said, rolling over in bed. “Come on over. I happen to have some insomnia myself.”

Quicksand walked over, slipping unceremoniously into the covers and claiming four-fifths of the territory. He suddenly braced one hand beside Diamonds’s pillow, casting a shadow over Diamonds.

“What, going to interrogate me again?” Diamonds looked up at him, his gaze calm, the diamond stud gleaming. Looking down past his shirt collar, one could see a fair section of his neck and the faint brand near his collarbone.

Quicksand suddenly yanked his shirt open, his fingers tracing downward to halt over that Penrose stairs brand. His voice turned cold: “This is the mark of the Time Entropy Group’s labor caste. You were a slave of the Time Entropy Group?”

“So what if I was? I’m an emancipated serf now, capable of being your master. What complaints do you have?” Diamonds glared at him.

Quicksand suddenly bit down hard on his neck. Shuddering in pain, Diamonds gritted his teeth and yelled: “What kind of madness is this now!”

Quicksand said: “I am not mad. I am merely expressing my dissatisfaction rationally. I also wanted to see if this mark was drawn on, and if it could be washed off with water.”

“With your saliva?” Diamonds shoved him away. “The bed is large enough. Stay away from me.”

Quicksand did not listen. He pulled the wool quilt over both their heads. There was no light in the dark, yet his eyes shone crystal clear like colored glass. Beneath the covers, he whispered softly:

“Sleeping separately isn’t safe. I suspect Madam Spades arranged this intentionally. This manor is massive; she could easily station five hundred axemen outside every room.”

“Where would she get five hundred axemen?” Diamonds remarked. He thought to himself that while five hundred axemen might not exist, Quicksand himself was an unruly employee capable of cleaving him with an axe at any moment. So he asked, “You don’t trust Madam Spades?”

“Seeing that she truly exists, I am glad you didn’t lie to me. But she is our enemy, and she concealed her past from us. I fear she might be the snake from the fable of the farmer and the viper, biting the one who revived her. Are we truly going to save her?”

“If she’s a snake, you’re an ungrateful wolf, beating your boss and demanding wages every day, never giving me peace. Forget it, let’s just take things one step at a time.”

Diamonds said. Just then, they heard a gentle knock on the door, like rain tapping against window glass. Diamonds slipped out of bed and opened the door, only to find a timid maid standing outside.

In a manor populated by mechanical maids, her presence was an utter anomaly. She wore a black dress, a cotton apron bearing traces of kitchen smoke, and a mask woven from multiple layers of gauze. The skin visible outside the mask was ulcerated, resembling cracked mud baked under a scorching sun.

“What is it? Is something the matter?” Diamonds asked.

The maid’s gaze shrank back timidly: “L-Late night intrusion… forgive my rudeness. May I ask, the g-gentleman who arrived with you, have you seen him?”

“What, doing a bed check?” Diamonds pointed into the room, smiling. “He’s in my bed.”

At that moment, two buttons of his red shirt were undone, exposing a patch of pale skin marked by teeth imprints, his face flushed with a faint blush from punch, the diamond stud gleaming like a demon’s eye, thoroughly suggestive. The maid could not help blushing, constructing a scandalous picture in her mind, before stammering:

“I am terribly sorry to h-have disturbed you two… I brought two glasses of warm milk seasoned with cinnamon, please take your time enjoying them.”

Diamonds took the tray from her hands and set it on the table, yet grabbed her wrist just as she was about to leave. “Are you a maid in this manor too? Are you the only non-mechanical servant here?”

The maid lowered her head: “Yes. Madam Spades has mechanical attendants provided by the Time Entropy Group, keeping me as the only unaugmented living human.”

“Judging by your appearance, did you work in the mines before?”

The maid suddenly covered her pitted, cratered face in shame, looking like a rotting tomato, the consequence of living in high-radiation environments. “Actually, even without working in the mines, we would still turn out like this. Where else could we go? Merely living in the nearby shacks causes our skin to peel and ulcerate day by day. The people back where I come from all say this is a badge of honor brought by labor; unlike the medals noble lords wear on their chests, our medals show on our faces.”

Diamonds fell silent for a moment, then asked: “What are you mining?”

“Sir, I do not know either. I heard it is an ore similar to pitchblende, but containing mutated aether isotopes. The Group says it is honorable work, and the mined minerals will be used to sustain the energy consumption of time-jump technology. With time-jump tech, all suffering, strife, hunger, and cold in the world will vanish in the past.”

The maid’s eyes sparkled like a pair of bright glass beads. Curled up in the bedding, Quicksand said nothing, thinking to himself: Liars. The Time Entropy Group are far greater swindlers than Diamonds.

Diamonds’s gaze was complicated, his eyelashes casting soft shadows over his face in the dim firelight. He asked softly:

“Then how do you feel about Madam Spades?”

The maid’s cheeks flushed: “Madam… is a kind person. She provided me with food and shelter.”

“Even though the cause of your misfortune, your ulcerated face, and your lifespan shortened by radioactive ore, all stem from her?”

Tears welled in the maid’s eyes, looking like a forest critter startled by gunshot.

Diamonds did not press further, shifting the conversation:

“What is your name?”

“Morana. Madam took me in when I was working in the mines, and said it was the name of a goddess.”

Diamonds remained noncommittal, merely looking at her with a smile. It was indeed the name of a goddess, but specifically the goddess of death in Slavic mythology.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the shadows:

“Morana, what are you standing there for?”

The voice was piercingly cold, like the clatter of a frozen sheet of iron hitting the ground. The two turned their heads to look, only to see Madam Spades standing in the darkness, lips pursed tight, cold glints flashing in her eyes.

Seeing her, the maid trembled all over:

“I’m, I’m sorry, Madam. I came to bring warm milk to the two gentlemen.”

“Delivering milk is one thing, but you seem to have uttered words that should never have passed your lips. Come here, I have something to say to you,” Madam Spades said, striding forward and seizing her wrist.

Diamonds was startled to see a carriage whip in Madam’s hand, the cowhide mottled with bloodstains, exuding an unmistakable horror. He stepped forward and said:

“Madam, there is no need to blame her. We were merely chatting for a bit, and I was the one who initiated the conversation.”

Madam Spades glanced back. Diamonds caught a faint glimpse of the skin beneath her black veil, shriveled and wrinkled, pulsing like a toad. Diamonds was taken aback, seeing a sinister expression on her face for the very first time. Madam offered a smile that was both gentle and chilling:

“Friend from the future, Morana is an adopted daughter I took in. You need not interfere in my family affairs. If an undisciplined child like her leaked the Group’s secrets, what would become of us? What she needs is a little discipline.”

Having been lying in bed, Quicksand sat up warily. He heard the clanking footsteps of mechanical soldiers echoing from all around, surrounding the manor like an iron wall.

“Good night, gentlemen. May you sleep soundly with pleasant dreams tonight.” Madam Spades left behind a mysterious smile, turning to depart.

The maid Morana was led away, leaving Diamonds and Quicksand behind in the room. Considering they could not alert the enemy prematurely, they knew this was not the best time to strike.

Yet throughout the following night, they doubted this decision multiple times. They heard the sharp crack of a whip tearing through the air in the parlor, stroke after stroke ripping the silence of the night to shreds. An even more piercing sound drifted in: Morana’s weeping shrieks. Madam Spades’s silhouette danced behind the drapes, hysterical and utterly insane. In silence, Diamonds buried his face in his palms, contemplating whether his decision to travel to this era was like opening Pandora’s box. The Madam Spades they had come to save might very well be a sinister, deeply hidden demon.

Early the next morning, the two entered the parlor, the air filled with the toasty aroma of baked bread. Madam Spades sat at an acanthus-carved table, sipping lemon black tea from a bone china teacup. The brutality of last night seemed not to exist, while the maid named Morana was nowhere to be seen.

“Good morning, gentlemen. Did you sleep well last night?”

Diamonds and Quicksand exchanged a glance. Far from sleeping well, they had stayed awake the entire night. Looking at Madam Spades again, they only felt her smile was like a cake left out too long: a hardened outer crust of icing, yet rotten to the core inside.

“Madam, Morana…”

Madam Spades placed a finger to her lips, shushing them, and said with a smile: “Gentlemen, there is no need to concern yourselves with her affairs. You came here to safeguard my safety, did you not? Do not let trivial matters disturb your peace of mind.”

Quicksand suddenly spoke up: “The Madam we know is not someone who severely punishes servants over minor faults.” Madam Spades chuckled: “People always possess several faces. When one scarcely understands oneself, can you truly claim to know every facet of another?”

Quicksand knitted his brows: “Forgive my bluntness, Madam, but what are your thoughts on this ‘physical substance of time’ you discovered? This discovery is a double-edged sword. It could bring calamity to the future and plunge the world into chaos. Millions of children like Morana will not find happiness in the future; instead, they will be trapped in cages set up by the Group even further back in the past.”

A dark glint flashed through Madam Spades’s eyes for an instant, her smile retaining a cloying, sour edge:

“No, your perspective is far too pessimistic. I still believe my invention is magnificent.”

Quicksand was left speechless, at which point Diamonds stepped in to smooth things over: “Madam, this kid is just a hot-headed youth, please don’t take it to heart. Do you have any other groundbreaking inventions? The two of us would love to admire them.”

Leaving behind the suffocating atmosphere of the parlor, the two were guided by Madam Spades to the pharmaceutical display gallery.

The Spades family had long been renowned for pharmaceuticals. Upon stepping into the gallery, sunlight slanted through stained glass, dust motes dancing in the air like flakes of gold leaf. The walnut cabinets held a dazzling variety of concoctions: deep purple gentian infusions, pale green chamomile extracts, amber laudanum, and countless other remedies whose names they could not identify.

Seeing this, the two marveled in wonder. Diamonds asked Madam Spades: “May I ask, Madam, do you have any medicine here that can strengthen the body and improve physical vitality?”

Seeing the two shower praise upon her collection, Madam Spades’s displeasure evaporated completely. She smiled and asked, “Strengthen the body?”

Diamonds coughed twice on purpose: “To be completely candid, I have been frail and sickly since childhood, delicate as a weeping willow. My family physician has recently gone missing, and I haven’t taken medication for several days, so I wanted to ask if you have anything suitable.”

He paused to think, then added, “Preferably in varied flavors so it doesn’t taste awful. Fresh fruit or red wine flavors are fine by me, and pills like Skittles would work too.”

Madam Spades chuckled: “I do have some, but I will need to rummage through the inner chamber, which will take a bit of time. Why don’t you look around here first while I retrieve them for you?” She pointed toward a medicine cabinet. “There are some novel and amusing remedies here that are completely harmless to the human body. If you are interested, feel free to try them.”

After Madam Spades left, Quicksand leaned close to Diamonds, whispering sullenly in his ear:

“When I questioned that old witch just now, why did you stop me?”

“Idiot, we are under someone else’s roof right now, can’t you restrain yourself a bit? This is practically the heart of the 1805 Branch, with mechanical soldiers covering the grounds outside like mountains and seas. We cannot act rashly. Let us observe first.”

Diamonds said as he picked up a potion vial. The liquid possessed a color like red wine, bearing a label: “Rainbow Eggplant Juice.” Diamonds took a sip, let out a burp, and actually exhaled a plume of multicolored smoke. Seeing this, Quicksand remarked, “Boss, you are blowing rainbow smoke.”

Diamonds grabbed another vial and shoved it into Quicksand’s mouth. Taking a gulp, Quicksand spun around dizzily, mumbling:

“Little people… so many little people dancing.”

Diamonds said, “That’s mushroom broth.”

Every potion here possessed curious effects, many evoking fairytale-like visions. The two sampled them for a while, having the time of their lives, until Madam Spades returned holding a glass bottle. Finding them dizzily holding hands and dancing a ballroom waltz, she smiled: “Had enough fun? Mr. Diamonds, here is the body-strengthening medicine you requested.”

Diamonds took the bottle. Although he had hauled off a batch of medicine from Hua Tuo, he had no intention of passing up a chance to fleece Madam Spades. The concoction was deep purple, emitting a sharp reek of evaporating alcohol once uncapped, reminiscent of some special gentian tincture. He took a sip, instantly feeling warm all over, his muscles and bones loosening considerably.

“Truly worthy of Madam. The medicine shows results with a single sip.”

Madam Spades smiled gently: “While harmless, this potion is somewhat unstable. A small taste will suffice, so it is best not to overindulge.”

After she departed, Diamonds and Quicksand left the manor to wander the streets.

During the daytime, the streets were slightly damp, the cobblestone paths glistening with moisture. Women carrying galvanized pails selling milk, gentlemen in powdered wigs, and girls peddling violets could be seen, far livelier than the night before. Strolling along, Diamonds took another sip of the potion, savoring it before remarking, “The flavor is quite decent, like aged medicinal liquor, far better than her palate two hundred years later.”

Before long, however, sweat beaded on Diamonds’s forehead, and he muttered, “Strange, this medicine seems to carry heat, making my whole body flare up.”

Quicksand eyed him askance. Seeing him restless, picking up his pace, and unbuttoning two collar buttons while still complaining of heat, Quicksand observed: “Boss, don’t tell me you took the wrong thing and drank an aphrodisiac vigor tonic.”

Diamonds’s face turned pale: “What nonsense are you spewing. Madam clearly stated this is a physical vitality potion.”

Quicksand remarked, “Depends on whether it vitalizes the upper body or the lower body.”

Diamonds was rendered speechless. Quicksand added coldly: “I know this trope. I read this exact scenario in Clubs Cat’s web novel stash. Next, you are supposed to force a kiss on me, claiming it was ‘the medicine’s fault.’ Let me state this up front: I will not help you vent your lust. If you dare try, I will sue you for workplace harassment.”

Diamonds snapped: “I am utterly done with you! Was your brain cracked by that falling signboard? What on earth are you thinking about all day!”

He swung a punch, intending only the playful force he normally used when bickering with Quicksand, yet it effortlessly smashed through a wall brick. Only now did Diamonds realize that what he had swallowed was genuinely a potion capable of instantaneously augmenting muscular strength. Staring flabbergasted at his fist, he threw a few experimental jabs into the air, instantly feeling gusts of wind whistle past, and marveled:

“No way, it seems Madam Spades didn’t deceive me. Not only does this potion relieve pain, it actually enhances the body. If I drink ten vials of this, won’t I become a legendary boxing king?”

Seeing this, Quicksand felt a flicker of envy and said, “Let me taste it. I want to be a boxing king.” Diamonds retorted, “In your dreams. Didn’t you just call it an aphrodisiac? No way am I letting you drink it.”

Chasing and tussling along the way, they gradually reached the harbor. A forest of masts stood in the distance, cranes hoisting wooden barrels swaying back and forth. Quicksand wanted a taste of the potion, but Diamonds refused to yield it. Having sprinted for a bit, Diamonds’s body burned with unbearable heat like scorching fire, so he simply stripped off his coat. Right then, Quicksand lunged at him. Diamonds stumbled several steps and tumbled backward into the sea.

The sun hung high in the sky, searing and harsh. Light danced across the waves, looking as if a sheet of crushed glass floated on the water’s surface. Soaking in the sea, Diamonds’s mind cleared slightly, yet a strange hallucination seemed to blossom: the glittering points of light resembled constellations, or countless fragments of time swirling around him. He froze in a trance, as if beholding an infinitely vast time labyrinth in which he was hopelessly lost.

Sinking into the depths of the sea, he saw innumerable visions emerging from the points of light: at times gathering everyone before Poker Bar for a photograph, Madam Spades, Hearts, and Clubs Cat clustered together, smiling at him behind the lens; at other times holding a file-axe as he strode through streets in torrential night rain, ruthlessly slaying opponent after opponent. All memories would freeze on that final moment: corpses strewn across a desolate, chilling landscape, playing Russian roulette as he spun the cylinder with a bloodstained hand, followed by blinding white light swallowing the world, while that child named Yunshi smiled at him.

Every nightmare began with that smile, and ended with that very same smile. Diamonds suddenly felt dizzy, an overwhelming ache surging into his chest, perhaps an emotion called sorrow and despair. The potion’s blistering heat and the seawater’s chill intertwined around him, ghosts of the past dragging his limbs into the deep. Strength suddenly deserted him, and he sank beneath the waves.

Suddenly, a pair of arms reached down, seizing him with powerful strength and hauling him out of the water.

Dripping wet, Diamonds opened his eyes in utter bewilderment. He felt warm breath washing over his face as someone domineeringly blanketed him in shadow, pressing against his lips, prying past his teeth, and rudely tasting the saliva within.

The person was none other than Quicksand. His expression remained cold and unfathomable, impossible to read. Diamonds’s mind went completely blank, and only after several seconds did he shove Quicksand away with force, shouting:

“What are you doing!”

The skin on his lip had been bitten open, stinging with every pulse. Diamonds had no leisure to blush, overwhelmed by pure shock. Quicksand’s head was supposed to be empty, yet he had somehow learned such wicked habits, like a blank canvas quietly splattered with dark ink.

Quicksand wiped his mouth, speaking with righteous indignation: “Who told you not to let me taste the potion, sneaking the whole drink for yourself? Having no choice, I could only taste the flavor inside your mouth.” He then added, “Extremely bitter, tastes like gentian root.”

Diamonds was utterly flabbergasted: “If you wanted a taste, go ask Madam Spades! Why taste it from your boss’s mouth?”

Mimicking a cartoon villain, Quicksand let out a sinister chuckle: “Begging her would be far too subservient. Snatching it from you lets me hold my head high.” Taking a deep breath, Diamonds was left speechless in the end, covering his face. Faced with such a blockhead, he did not know whether to flare up in rage or laugh it off. Finally, he muttered, “You stole my first kiss.”

“You stole mine too,” Quicksand stated. Diamonds sneered coldly, “You brought that entirely upon yourself.”

Soaking in the sea, the two sneered at each other like drenched chickens, devoid of romantic atmosphere, leaving only mutual irritation. Quicksand was the first to swim ashore, splashing water toward Diamonds, who remained in the waves. The two began a water fight, snapping at each other like vicious dogs.

Until a certain moment when Diamonds snapped back to reality, realizing the dizzying hallucinations from earlier had vanished. The sea remained the sea, shimmering with ripples, the roar of the waves ancient and unchanging.

Turning his head, the phantoms of Madam Spades, Hearts, Clubs Cat, and Yunshi were gone without a trace. The past could not be reclaimed, the future could not be foretold; he possessed only the fleeting present.

Looking down at the water’s surface, Quicksand’s reflection shattered among the undulating waves, with only the reflections of countless rays of sunlight clustering around him: lonely yet brilliant, like gold foil scattered across a grand festival, or petals of crushed flowers strewn over a funeral casket.