"Baji-Baji—"
Lin Yuan strolled unhurriedly along the riverside path, the steady clack of plastic slippers on concrete growing more languid with every step, carrying his mood ever further into laziness.
It was already mid-August, the season when heat should have reigned, but evening was drawing near and a breeze rose off the river, cool and refreshing. After a short walk the gloom that had gathered while he was cooped up indoors had blown clean away.
In truth the good humour owed less to the wind than to the vacation that was almost upon him. A perfectly ordinary maths teacher in a perfectly ordinary high school, apart from the daily pleasure of herding his little lolis and shotas, the two long holidays every year had been a major reason he chose the profession in the first place.
"Where should I go when break starts? The copy of *The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4* I just bought is still wrapped; Zhou Wei keeps nagging me to climb some mountain with him, and then there's…"
With nothing else to do he began to plan the coming weeks, only to discover that, although the holiday was long, the list of things he wanted to do was longer; the more he calculated, the tighter time seemed to grow.
"Sigh—why can't summer vacation last four months? Then—huh?"
Just as he was about to voice the usual complaint that no one ever answered, something up ahead snagged his attention.
Less than a hundred metres away a girl in a long skirt stood at the water's edge, facing the river, motionless.
Lin Yuan took two steps closer; when he could make out her expression he started.
Her face was grief-stricken, eyes glistening with tears—clearly some great sorrow weighed on her.
That, however, wasn't what shocked him. What made his heart lurch was the stretch of river in front of her.
The river itself was unremarkable, but this particular reach was notorious. A sharp bend and an old, man-made pit beneath the surface created a deceptive pool that looked calm yet was savagely dangerous. Every summer brought fresh drownings, and the spot had become a favourite with those who sought to end their own lives.
"No—!"
The thought jolted him; he sprinted forward.
"Don't—don't do anything rash!"
The girl turned at his shout, her sorrow replaced by bewilderment.
"Whatever it is, we can talk—ah…!"
Days of heavy rain had left the bank slick with mud. Still reciting the suicide-prevention lines he half-remembered from television, Lin Yuan never watched his footing. Two steps later his feet shot from under him, he tumbled, and a splash echoed.
The sudden cold told him he had plunged into the deadly pool. He thrashed wildly, but the flood-season current was fiercer than ever; invisible undertows seized him. After two strokes he was already being dragged to the bottom.
Above, the surface glittered like bright glass; below, the riverbed gaped like a black-mawed beast and swallowed him whole.
"Help—!"
He tried to scream, swallowed only a mouthful of muddy water; darkness rushed in, and he knew no more.