Salted Fish Chapter 1: Hostage

He Became a Salted Fish After Inheriting Millions of Secret Arts

by Lips Are Lost 0

Year: 2021

Genre: BL, occult, magicians, England, western, comedy, fantasy, mages, wizards, police, London, crimes, blood, gore, cannibals

Novel Status in Country of Origin: 80 Chapters, Complete

Translator: Addis

Editor: GaeaTiamat

~~~~Brought to you by ExR~~~~

 

SUMMARY:

In Victorian England, occult practitioners and the Nightmen Police, who hunted occult practitioners, were at odds and engaged in a fight to the death. Legend has it that one of the occult practitioners was a mysterious merchant who ran the world’s largest underground black market in the occult arts, offering a variety of rare treasures. Word says that the Nightmen have a newly appointed young detective whose decisive actions have solved many cases, and occult practitioners are terror-stricken hearing his name.

Duan FeiZhou: Good, both are me.

He transmigrated to this era because he accidentally clicked on an email titled “Congratulations on your million-dollar inheritance” and confusingly agreed to join the Nightmen’s side to fight against the occult practitioners.

Who knew that the next day he would inherit a mysterious inheritance from his uncle – the owner of the world’s most prominent black market of secret arts underground trading… This was a bit awkward.

Duan FeiZhou decided to stay away from the strife to avoid falling off the horse and became a salted fish.

On the one hand, crazy black market customers hope that the black market will close down as soon as possible. On the other hand, the Nightmen are negatively idle, hoping that he is quickly fired. However, the more he rushed customers, the more the business of the black market became red hot. The more negativity, the more he was promoted in the Nightmen.

Seeing that the double-sided was becoming a bigger hassle, he was afraid his mask would fall off..

The Scotland Yard’s NIghtmen Leader, code name Z, has white hair, blind eyes, mechanical prosthetics, metal spine, all from war damage; his hobby is hand-rolling cigars, and if he can not save the hostages, he will shoot them together with the criminals. His highest ideal in life is to exterminate all the occult practitioners in the world.

He thought he had a heart of gold with a painful past, but step by step, he was impressed and conquered by the new young Nightman… He also reformed him.

Until one day, he learned that the young man who tugged at his heartstrings was his lifelong enemy – the owner of the world’s largest underground black market for secret arts.

Z: Oh well. 

 

Note: This novel has actual historical figures appearing; please do not take it seriously. It contains content that may be physically uncomfortable, such as eating ashes mixed with rice (laugh).

Chapter 1: Hostage

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

What was the most stylish way to live in 1893 London? Drinking black tea from the East Indies, smoking tobacco from the New World, reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels, and taking a steam-powered dirigible to go on a trip.

However, those fashionable things had nothing to do with Duan FeiZhou.

While four million people in London were singing the praises of Her Majesty’s glorious reign, Duan FeiZhou was standing in Aberdeen’s poorest and most neglected streets, 500 kilometers from London, and being held hostage by a thin rat-faced man whose life was at stake.

As one hand strangled Duan FeiZhou, the other held a wand against his temple. The rat man shouted, “Don’t come any closer! If you move, I’ll blow this kid’s head off!”

Duan FeiZhou was confused, “Brother, I just saved your life, and this is how you return the favor?”

“Shut up! Or I’ll blow up your head right now!”

“But won’t you not have a hostage if I die?”

The rat man froze when he realized that he had a point. Then he got furious and pointed his wand at a stone not far away.

With a deafening bang, the stone split into pieces and turned into powder.

Immediately, Duan FeiZhou didn’t dare speak again.

This was to come true, ah?

If there was a god in the world, Duan FeiZhou would like to ask him to teach him, an excellent young man from 21st century China, why he would fall into such a situation.

Three years ago, he was a medical student in the prime of his life. One day, he received a scam email titled “Congratulations on your million dollar inheritance.” He wanted to delete the email, but he was taking a boring class at the time. He read the email from beginning to end with patience, as he had nothing to do anyway.

The email was written in English, and was to the effect that a distant relative of Duan FeiZhou’s who lived overseas had passed away and left a considerable inheritance, then named him as the heir.

He suddenly had a mischievous idea. Why not pretend to be fooled, and go to the line with the scammer?

So he easily clicked on the link in the email.

When he opened his eyes again, he was a Victorian soul.

Nowadays, transmigration was getting more impolite. At least he should be killed by a big truck first, right?

This body’s real name was Leo Chester. He had lost his mother in childhood while his father was a doctor who ran a private clinic. Duan FeiZhou took over their son at that moment.

He thought he could inherit his father’s legacy and get on top of his life after transmigrating, but unexpectedly, several unlucky patients died in a fire. The deceased’s family blamed the fire on the doctor’s careless use of matches and demanded a high amount of compensation.

After compensating the deceased’s families, Duan FeiZhou’s inheritance was only eleven shillings. ¹

He didn’t know much about the pound’s purchasing power in this era, but he had read the Sherlock Holmes series. At the beginning of A Study in Scarlet, Watson explained that his income was eleven shillings and sixpence for a day. ²

In other words, Duan FeiZhou’s entire family inheritance, and people’s daily wages was about the same minus the sixpence.

…How could he live?

He had no home to go back to, and with those few coins in his pocket, he couldn’t afford a hotel, so he had to rent a room in the most run-down, poorest neighborhood in the city of Aberdeen – Mire Street.

Mire Street was dark and desolate. It hid the dirt and grime like a nasty sore in that bright and shiny city. However it was indispensable, just as the most beautiful palaces need garbage bins. It housed all the trash that the rest of the city had abandoned, and the poor people who couldn’t afford to live in the sun.

Duan FeiZhou lived in this trash bin for three years.

His only means of earning a living was his medical knowledge. Although he only had a year or so of college, his clinical experience was basically zero. The good thing was that his primary patients were the residents of Mire Street who wouldn’t pick and choose.

Duan FeiZhou’s arrival was like a blessing from heaven for these poor people who couldn’t afford to pay for their daily life. They also couldn’t afford to pay any medical expenses, and Duan FeiZhou was too embarrassed to ask for more money from them, so he only charged a few shillings for each consultation, sometimes not even making any money.

Unknowingly, he had become an unlicensed black doctor. Becoming Mire Street’s well-known “miracle doctor” was ironic.

Pull the timeline back to the morning of that miserable day.

Duan FeiZhou was awakened by a loud knock on the door in the foggy morning before the sky was fully lit.

“Doctor! Please open the door, Doctor! My father, he…”

Duan FeiZhou threw on a patched coat and opened the door with a yawn.

Outside the door stood a petite young girl with a flushed face, and tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Doctor, please come to my house! My father, he…he…”

Duan FeiZhou pressed his hand on her shoulder. “Ruth, calm down. Speak slowly.”

The young girl choked up, “When he was unloading, a container came loose and fell. His leg…”

He didn’t wait for her to finish. Duan FeiZhou put his jacket on, turned back to the room and pulled out a medical kit from under the bed.

“Let’s go.”

The young woman nodded in a panic, and led the way for him.

Ruth Roberts lived at the other end of Mire Street, and when Duan FeiZhou arrived at her house, a crowd of people, partly Mire Street residents and partly air terminal stevedores in work clothes – Ruth’s father’s workmates – had gathered outside the dilapidated shack. ³

When Ruth’s father’s workmates. saw Duan FeiZhou, they automatically moved aside like Moses parting the Red Sea.

“It’s Doctor Chester!”

“The doctor is here! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!”

Duan FeiZhou pushed the door open and entered. The small room was unlit, and Ruth’s father, Mr. Roberts, was lying on the bed, covered with a thin blanket, the bottom half of which was soaked in blood.

Mrs. Roberts sat at the head of the bed, as she sobbed and whimpered.

Her ten-year-old son, Edward, held her arm with a stony expression unsuited to his age, and didn’t say a word.

Mrs. Roberts stood up, her face brimming with tears. “Doctor, please help my husband…”

Duan FeiZhou lifted the blanket, and Mr. Roberts let out a groan of pain. His right leg was almost a pile of mush from the knee down, and it was hard to tell where the bone was and where the muscle was. Someone had bandaged him perfunctorily, but the technique wasn’t satisfactory.

“Did he receive treatment?” Duan FeiZhou asked.

Ruth nodded tearfully. “Dr. Stone from Wharf Street looked at it briefly, but he asked for a lot of money. We couldn’t afford to pay for it, so we had to carry Dad back…”

“I can’t keep this leg.” Duan FeiZhou said. “It had to be amputated.”

Mrs. Roberts drew a cold breath, and almost fainted. “Can’t you do anything about it?”

Antibiotics hadn’t been invented in this era. If it continued, the whole leg would be infected, and Mr. Roberts would be dead by then. Amputation at least had the chance of saving his life.

In bed, Mr. Roberts opened his eyes. He fought through the pain, and said to his wife and daughter, “Listen to the doctor, all of you!”

His wife was in tears. “But if the leg is amputated, you’ll be…”

Mr. Roberts put on a forced smile. “I’m lucky that I wasn’t killed on the spot like the other two. Even if the leg is amputated, in the future I can still be fitted with a mechanical prosthetic…”

A stevedore came into the room, and handed Duan FeiZhou a small leather pouch that jingled. Duan FeiZhou opened it and saw that it was filled with coins, all in pennies and tuppence. ⁴

“This is what a few of us workers have put together, Doctor. Please make sure you save Roberts!”

Duan FeiZhou pulled on the leather bag’s drawstring. “What did your foreman say? No compensation?”

The stevedore spat. “That bastard said the container came loose because of the workers’ negligence and carelessness. He also said it was good that we didn’t have to pay for the damaged goods. In fact, we have long reported the deterioration of the rope, but the top didn’t take it seriously. Anyway, even if something happens, they aren’t the ones who die…”

“Hmph. Capitalism.” Duan FeiZhou snorted lightly, and opened the medical box. “You all go out. I’m going to do the operation.”

The surgery lasted for two hours, and because there was no anesthetic, Mr. Roberts had to endure the pain and have his bloody leg sawed off while he was awake. That morning, his screams could be heard throughout Mire Street. However for Mire Street, that sound was just a daily concerto. There was no shortage of miserable beings on the street.

After the operation, Duan FeiZhou washed his bloody hands in a bucket of water. Mr. Roberts passed out, and Duan FeiZhou was about to call his family into the house when he heard a low voice outside the door.

“… Mom, I’ve thought about it. I’m going out to make money. The owner’s wife at the Peacock Bar said that if I go to her place…”

“No! I will never allow my daughter to do that dirty business!”

“But Dad won’t be able to work in the future. How are we going to live in the winter?”

“Sister, don’t worry, I’ll be eleven soon, and I can go to the factory. I’ll make lots and lots of money!”

“Yes, Ruth. If we work together as a family, what difficulties can we not overcome?”

Duan FeiZhou pushed out the door. The family stopped talking, and stared at the floor absorbed in their own thoughts.

“The surgery is done.” He said, as he pretended not to have heard the family’s argument.

He briefly explained a few post-operative precautions, and Ruth nodded as she listened. To cover up her embarrassment in front of the family, she stammered, “Doctor, let me take you home.”

She offered to carry Duan FeiZhou’s medical kit, and the two walked side by side to the other end of Mire Street.

The city was waking up in the morning light, and although Aberdeen wasn’t as prosperous as London, it was one of the largest cities in the north. The residents of Mire Street were flooding the streets to start their day’s work. They were poor but no less energetic than the gentlemen and women who lived in the posh neighborhoods.

When he arrived at his doorstep, Duan FeiZhou pulled out the small money bag given to him by the dockworker and placed it in Ruth’s hand.

Ruth was terrified. “This is for your consultation!”

“You need it more than I do.”

“No! Doctor, you have worked so hard. You deserve this!”

Duan FeiZhou forcibly closed her palm. “Then I’ll lend it to you. When your father gets better and can work, it’s not too late to pay me back.”

Ruth’s eyes turned red, and she turned her back to wipe her cheeks with the corner of her coat.

“Thank you, Doctor Chester,” she said as she sniffled.

Duan FeiZhou took the medical kit, said goodbye to the young girl and turned back into the house.

He never locked the door. Since the house was empty, even thieves didn’t bother to patronize such a doghouse.

However, after he set down the medical kit, Duan FeiZhou was keenly aware of a cold breath on his back.

Someone had hidden in the house while he was out.

A hoarse male voice sounded behind him, “You are the best doctor on this street?”

Duan FeiZhou pondered and said, “Considering that I am the only doctor on this street, I guess so.”

“My companion is injured. Please heal him.”

“What if I say no?”

A flying knife swept across Duan FeiZhou’s cheek, sliced off a few hairs at the temple, and nailed them to the opposite wall. Into the wood.

 

Duan FeiZhou turned around and said in a righteous and dignified manner, “Good man, spare my life!”