Tide of Filth

The world is swallowed by black sludge, and every surviving patch of land relies on luck. The boy Chi drifts in from the sea, covered in filth yet miraculously alive. He clutches a wooden spear of unknown origin, his mind empty—no name, no past, just an empty shell. He is taken in by the stilt-built settlement of Lianyun Port, along with a few others: the scavenger boy Xiao Zhao, searching for his mother's belongings in the ruins; the medicine girl Fa Ling, waiting for her sister who disappeared ten years ago; and the sturdy sailor Wei, who just survived a shipwreck and doesn't know where to go. The barrier protecting the town from the filth is collapsing, and its guardian can barely hold on. The wooden spear, impervious to the black sludge, and Chi's ability to see strangers' memories by picking up certain objects—these things together suggest that his past may lie deeper within the filth. The story begins at Lianyun Port and ends with departure.