Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

The Flower Reef case was such a famous case in 1906 that most people in the South Sea (1) had heard about it. Throughout 1906, a total of twenty-seven ships went missing on the route from Xiamen to Malacca, twelve of which were passenger ships with more than a hundred people.

All these missing ships had passed near Flower Reef. There were no warning signals before the disappearances, the weather was good, and there weren’t any debris, corpses, cargo, or extortion demands from pirates afterwards. Everything was silent, as if these ships had never existed.

People said that there was a flood dragon entrenched in the sandy sea near Flower Reef that swallowed boats, ate people, and made the sea muddy, which was why the fleet avoided going near it.

In November of that year, a fog settled on the sea’s surface. Most of the ships on the Malacca route had been diverted to Mayu, so only a few cargo ships carrying the sacrifices and worship goods for the dragon mother still passed through Flower Reef.

The crews on those ships started to witness strange phenomena.

Some of them saw numerous people’s shadows standing on Flower Reef amid the thick fog. There were thousands of them standing there with their heads down, just like water ghosts looking at their hometowns. The sight was enough to make people shudder.

In order to find out the truth, the South Sea Maritime Affairs Office established the South Sea Archives. They investigated strange things that happened in the South Sea and gathered the stories into volumes, which became known as the “South Sea Volumes”. They recruited sailors and merchants from all over the world to relay news and information. The first major case they handled was the Flower Reef case.

Zhang Haiyan, whose original name was Zhang Hailou, was among the first group of spies to enter the South Sea Archives. He was trained at the age of sixteen, and originally thought he would go into maritime inspections to work for foreigners in the concession (2). What he didn’t expect was to be sent to Perak (3) to work as a foreign agent on such short notice.

When people in Perak pronounced the word “lou”, it sounded like “yan”, so his name became salty (4). His nickname had also changed from “Lou Ghost” (probably because he liked to work at night and rest during the day) to “A Bin”.

He was tall, so the military uniform he wore made him look like an outstanding man in Xiamen, but to the people in Perak, he looked like a mad man wearing strange clothes.

He was stationed in Malacca with Zhang Haixiá during the same period, so in order to have Zhang Haixiá’s name match his own, he gave him the nickname “Zhang Haixiā” (5). The two were about the same age and worked together, so it felt extremely “fishy” whenever they gave out their names.

When the two of them set foot on Flower Reef, it was already 1916. Zhang Haiyan jumped onto the reef, straightened his military cap, and lit a cigarette. The sea breeze was very strong and ended up blowing the smoke he exhaled into a thin line that passed through the corner of his mouth.

Zhang Haixia followed close behind, dragging a fisherman with him, who ended up getting thrown onto the reef.

Even after traveling on a boat for two weeks, Zhang Haixia’s skin was completely unaffected, and he looked more youthful and handsome than before. It annoyed Zhang Haiyan to no end. Meanwhile, the other party was staring at the cigarette in his mouth with an annoyed look on his face. It was obvious that Zhang Haixia disagreed with his bad habit of smoking while investigating.

“Don't worry, these things happened ten years ago. Any clues that can survive here for ten years won’t be destroyed by a single cigarette.”

“Your cigarette…” Zhang Haixia still kept his eyes on the cigarette in Zhang Haiyan’s mouth. “I already recommended some other tobacco to you that won’t make me feel so disgusted. The smell of your cigarette is going to distract me.”

Zhang Haiyan sighed. He had no other choice but to toss his cigarette down onto the reef.

The fisherman had obviously been abducted and looked around at the reef, shivering. This person was named Chen Libiao, and he was one of the crew members who had witnessed the “water ghosts looking at their hometowns” from this reef ten years ago.

There was a reason he had been brought back to this reef. Ten years ago, a drunk Chen Libiao was with another fisherman when they saw hundreds of ghosts on the reef looking at their hometowns. His colleague dared to get closer and see what was going on, but Chen Libiao wasn’t as drunk as him and sobered up once he got close. The other fisherman went onto the reef, but after the fog subsided, both he and the ghosts had disappeared. The fellow never appeared again.

According to Chen Libiao, when you approached the reef, you could see the water ghosts standing next to the water. They were covered in salt-encrusted scabs, and their faces were blue. They were all dead and coated in salt, but had completely disappeared after the fog had cleared.

After Chen Libiao returned to China, he informed the South Sea Archives that he was the only one who had been on Flower Reef at the time of the incident. Ten years later, he was the only informant they could find.

Zhang Haiyan looked at Chen Libiao, “Where are the ghosts?”

“It's been ten years. Maybe they got tired of standing, so they all left this place.”

“Stop lying. I bet you killed your fellow back then and threw him into the sea. Then you lied that he was taken away by ghosts. Based on the way you’re talking now, you look more and more like a murderer. Maybe I should just shoot you on the spot, so I can go back and close the case.”

Chen Libiao looked at Zhang Haiyan fearfully and immediately shook his head.

“Call out the ghosts if you don't want to die!” Zhang Haiyan shouted.

Although it was almost dusk, the visibility around the reef was still very high. Not only were there no water ghosts, but it could be said that there was nothing around at all.

Chen Libiao was trembling all over, and obviously terrified of this reef. He looked around and said softly, “The last time I was here, I saw the ghosts in the fog. Once the fog subsided, there was nothing.”

“Fog? When does it become foggy?”

“The wind will stop before the sun goes down, and then the heavy fog will show up. Around midnight, the wind will rise again, and the fog will be blown away. It was at this time when we saw the water ghosts before.”

Zhang Haiyan took out his pocket watch and looked at it. There was still about half an hour before sundown.

This pocket watch was the standard equipment of the South Sea Archives, and all the maritime personnel were given one. There was a hermit crab pattern on it, and the watch was considered priceless in this era. But his pocket watch was blue while Zhang Haixia’s was white.

Zhang Haiyan glanced at Zhang Haixia, who was already carefully examining the cracks in the reef and ignoring them.

Chen Libiao was covered in a cold sweat as he anxiously looked between Zhang Haiyan, the setting sun in the west, and the sea around him. He was obviously very terrified.

After watching this back and forth a dozen times, Zhang Haiyan became a little irritated and waved his hand. Chen Libiao quickly fled back to the barge that had brought them over. “Thank you, sir, for having mercy on me!”

As Chen Libiao jumped onto the boat, the boatswain–who had been cursing the whole time– turned and shouted to Zhang Haiyan, “Sir, how long are you going to stay on the reef?”

“Why, boatswain, are you afraid as well?”

“Sir, we’re more afraid of you. Please let us anchor three hundred steps out. When you want to come back, just call us over again. If you refuse, we’ll wait here, but we won’t ever go up on the reef."

Zhang Haiyan laughed. Since the establishment of the South Sea Archives, he had encountered lots of incredible things, such as Maleficium (6) and keeping little ghosts (7). But most of them were man-made tricks, and all the strange situations and bizarre magic had actually come from the human heart. He didn't believe that what had happened on Flower Reef could escape this pattern.

“After you toss some bottles of wine up to us, you’re free to do whatever you want. But if you don’t arrive here thirty minutes after I send a smoke signal, you’ll never get another job in Malacca.”

Before Zhang Haiyan finished speaking, the boatswain had already thrown all the wine and rice bags onto the reef. By the time Zhang Haiyan went over to pick them up, the boat had already left the reef.

Without a boat, there was no way to get to any of the land around the reef. Zhang Haiyan suddenly found himself trapped on an isolated island surrounded by the sea.

When all you could see in the distance was endless water and you were alone on an isolated island, it didn’t matter if you had excellent skills. In the face of nature, people were so small.

When the waves hit, Zhang Haiyan suddenly became a little unsteady. He immediately shifted his eyes and found that his feet were still stable, but the rolling waves caused the illusion that the reef was moving.

He opened a bottle of wine and took a sip before he heard Zhang Haixia shout in the distance, “Can you go downwind?”

Zhang Haiyan secretly cursed in his heart as he turned to sit behind a section of reef and waited for the fog to come.

He and Zhang Haixia had been working together for a long time, so he was very familiar with his temper. Zhang Haixia’s nose was very sensitive, so Zhang Haiyan’s smoking and drinking habits were pure torture for him. A lot of times, Zhang Haixia wished he could wash Zhang Haiyan’s body and get rid of all the smells. They could usually live in peace as long as Zhang Haiyan sat downwind of him.

As expected, Zhang Haixia left him alone after that. Zhang Haiyan watched the sun slowly sink into the sea in the distance as thick clouds gathered on the horizon. The dying rays of light slowly turned red as they were hidden by the clouds, making it seem as if the clouds were on fire. The sea breeze also gradually died down.

He still missed bits and pieces of Xiamen. He hadn’t returned for many years. He remembered that before he left the mainland and came to Malacca, his master— the woman he called godmother— asked him if he could live alone in Malacca for thirty years. He agreed, thinking it wasn’t a big deal. Now that he thought about it, however, he realized that he had been too naive. At that time, he didn’t understand what thirty years meant to a person.

Even if he had received enough training and could get along well with the local people, a person floating in a foreign land couldn’t completely settle down. There was always a strange feeling that made him think he didn’t belong here.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that Zhang Haixia was with him, he would have escaped and returned to China many years ago.

He had forgotten what his godmother had said at the time, and could only remember that Zhang Haixia wouldn’t let him agree. But at the time, he only knew that his godmother had been very kind to him, so he would do what was asked of him.

After he nodded, his godmother handed him a piece of paper, which he drew a circle on. His godmother looked relieved as she touched his head, and then went to see a play. The next day, he was put on a ship to the South Sea and traveled all the way to Perak.

After boarding the ship, he found that Zhang Haixia was already there. When he asked why, it turned out that Zhang Haixia had become extremely anxious when he found out Zhang Haiyan had drawn a circle, and felt like he was going to lose a lot of hair. Zhang Haixia had a weird personality and didn’t have any friends besides Zhang Haiyan. He couldn’t accept that he wouldn’t be able to see his best friend for thirty years, so in the end, he had no other choice but to draw a circle and follow Zhang Haiyan.

Zhang Haiyan was rather happy when he found out the truth. He thought that Zhang Haixia was just being a loyal friend, but now he understood that this wasn’t Zhang Haixia being loyal. It was Zhang Haixia willing to go to hell with him.

When the two of them were on the boat to Malacca, Zhang Haixia was furious and wouldn’t talk to him. As a result, neither side addressed the issue. At that time, he was too young to care at all, but now that he was older, he realized how long thirty years were and why Zhang Haixia didn’t want him to leave.

That fucking white piece of paper had me sign my life away!If I violate it, I’ll go to jail when I return to Xiamen.

As he was thinking this, the sea in front of him slowly became hazy. He took a deep breath and found that the air was thick and salty—the fog was about to come.

He stood up, took a sip of wine, and straightened his military cap. It was already dark by this point, and the sun was only a thin line on the horizon. He lit a lantern and turned his head, finding that Flower Reef had instantly been covered in a thick fog that had drifted up from the sea.

Zhang Haixia was already engulfed in the thick fog, so Zhang Haiyan couldn't see him clearly. He raised the lantern and started to walk towards him while saying, “Don’t start looking for the ghosts, we have to stick together when it gets foggy.” But as he spoke, he suddenly saw that where there had only been Zhang Haixia’s shadow in the fog before him, now there were dozens of shadows. They were all standing there with their heads down, just like ghosts.

As Zhang Haiyan narrowed his eyes and froze for a moment, more and more shadows appeared in the fog. He couldn't see clearly in the impenetrable fog, but he could tell that the densely packed figures had him surrounded.

<Table of Contents><Chapter 2>

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TN Notes:

(1) It’s called “Nanyang” in Chinese. It is a sinocentric Chinese term for the warmer and fertile geographical region along the southern coastal regions of China and beyond, otherwise known as the ‘South Sea' or Southeast Asia. Wiki link

(2) Foreign concessions were enclaves occupied by a foreign power in China in the 19th and 20th centuries. Wiki link

(3) Perak is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Wiki link

(4) In Chinese, “hai” means “sea”, and “yan” means “salt”. Therefore, the Chinese characters of Zhang Haiyan literally look like “Zhang Sea Salt”.

(5) Zhang Haixiá. “Xiá”(侠) has the meaning of “hero”. “Xiā” (虾) means “shrimp”. Therefore, the Chinese characters of Zhang Haixiā literally look like “Zhang Sea Shrimp.” (I’ll just use “Zhang Haixia” in the future because it’s easier that way.)

(6) Maleficium is an act of witchcraft performed with the intention of causing damage or injury. In general, the term applies to any magical act intended to cause harm or death to people or property. Wiki link

(7) Keeping little ghosts, or raising ghosts, refers to the act of adopting and supporting the soul of a child who has died or died prematurely. People who do this worship little ghosts and hope their wishes will come true. It is considered sorcery.