Soon after getting into the Cab, it arrived at the Chaobai River. The smell was fairly disgusting, The water had been polluted with oil and debris from many Tsunami and flood. The Riverfront looked like some of the people were using the water as a dumping ground, the sight was depressing.
"Jin, make sure that we're alone." Wu Hai didn't hesitate after they had found a blind corner and pulled out the two ability dice. As long as he had them in his possession he could always return to his power set. Re-rolling back to his darkness and lightning powers was a lot faster now that he had the cup but he still didn't like changing his ability before he completely understood them. The changes always seemed to prolong his training.
Pulling the Cup, he took a deep breath and tossed the dice in. With a shake, he rolled Wood and Metal.
"Half-way there." Picking the Metal Die back up, Wu Hai put it into the cup and rolled until he got the Healing attribute. It took a few minutes of rolling for him to get what he wanted. Once he had his breath again, he walked up to the riverside and dove right into the water.
"Master Wu!" Jin couldn't stop him.
The Chaobai river had almost always one of the most polluted rivers in all of China, it was very unsafe to be near, let alone in the water.
Circulating his energy, Wu Hai produced a large filter root and watched as a tree grew from the middle of the Riverbed. Soon, its branches and leaves crested out of the water and rose 50 meters into the air. Wu Hai was unwilling to watch the world suffering, if anyone lived longer from his actions then he was okay with the time spent. The happenings in Lunara had been repeatedly told to him, poisons were deadly no matter the place.
He had no quams with leaving something behind. Everywhere that he visited as a child, the group had almost always left something for those that came afterward.
Jin, who had been watching quietly by the side saw a massive tree spring out of nowhere. Very soon after the tree made its appearance, Wu Hai walked out of the river and watched the water around the tree start to clear itself of pollutants.
"Master Wu???" As if it was all he could say Jin's mouth dropped to the floor when he saw the roots of the tree through the once murky, now crystal clear water.
Wu Hai wasn't done, he had a few more ideas to give these humans a fighting chance. A hundred years was far too short to figure out such a massive problem but he could give these people some hope.
"Jin." Wu Hai spoke candidly, "Go back to the Hotel, buy useful things for the time being." Wu Hai handed another sack of gold coins to him, in addition the the bars from earlier that he was going to use at the bookstore. "Have everything brought to the hotel."
"As you wish." Jin was about to ask what he was doing but Wu Hai had already turned back to the River and started to swim away.
Jumping from River to River, soon the entire Hai River Basin was teeming with reporters. Wu Hai planted the water filter trees over the course of the next three days. He could have done it a lot faster if he was took to the air. However, Wu Hai didn't know his way around on the ground and he couldn't fly without attracting even more attention than he already had.
By the fourth day, the Hotel had called Jin's cell phone several times. The merchandise that they had bought was taking up an enormous amount of space, it wouldn't and could no longer fit into the rooms.
"Just give us a the Auditorium, I'd rather not lose anything for the Master." Jin showed his loyalty very clearly. When he spoke of his liege with honorifics and didn't falter, he felt more dignified that he had ever before.
The people at the front desk were sure that Jin was role playing but nevertheless, they complied with the request and closed off the speaking room from the public.
Packages were still arriving, Jin pressed the button on the maintenance elevator.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
On the 5th day, Wu Hai returned to the Hotel.
He found that after several attempts, he could only teleport to places he had been. He had already been to the hotel, so he tried teleporting. In his mind, there was only one problem during his practice attempts. He could never get the altitude correct, so he had to aim and hope for the best.
Upon arrival, Jin's words rang out across the Lobby floor. Wu Hai came through the front door and Jin had been waiting.
"Master Wu, They are talking about the trees on the news." Jin turned up the television so they could hear the reports, it was playing on almost every channel.
"This is Lang Qing reporting from the Hai River Basin at Tianjin. Now, through the Grand Canal, the Hai connects with the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. These two Rivers are among the most polluted waters in all of Chinese controlled territory. In just the last few days, over six hundred strange and bizarre trees of an unknown origin, started growing out from the riverbed and clearing the water."
Miss Qing took a breath before continuing. "Here I have Dr. Hong, a Hydrologist with the State Government." Pointing the microphone toward the Doctor she asked, "Doctor Hong, What can you tell us about these trees and their affect on the water?"
Doctor Hong fixed his coat and adjusted his seating, "Well, I'm not an Arbor. However, we've taken samples from the soil and water, then we ran them through our labs, machines and databases. So far, we cannot identify the species or anything about them. We know little about them in actuality, they grew very fast, are virtually indestructible and are cleaning our rivers so quickly that the pollutants are no longer seen with the naked eye." He leaned forward and cleared his throat. "Frankly, I'm amazed at the tree's effect on the water this soon after their introduction to the environment, it leaves me with a little concern but we do however believe that.. perhaps they were all once a species that flourished on this continent but laid dormant all.."
Jin turned off the Television and started to praise the work his Master had done. "The people are already happy but I doubt that it will help. With all the garbage, its only a matter of time before the trouble you went through these last few days will be for naught." Jin was being pessimistic but he didn't hold anything back.
Wu Hai stroked his chin.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
On their way back to the room, the Hotel manager had been very polite but still sounded frustrated. It was impossible for Wu Hai to gauge the level of absurdity a Hotel Manager had to deal with but he didn't want to be the cause.
"Ahh, Mister Jin, Master Wu.. This way please." The Hotel manager showed them to the auditorium with the deliveries. "When can we expect someone to start loading these things up?" He had to ask, It was his job.
"I can have all of this cleared out in no time, give me a few minutes and I'll come to settle the bill. We have somewhere to be." Walking into the auditorium, the door closed behind him and Wu Hai started waving his hands.
In less than a few seconds, the place had been cleared. When the manager walked back in a minute later, he was forced into a double take. "Where did everything go, I've only been gone less than a minute." He wasn't dumb but very quickly he decided to play dumb. There was no reasonable explanation for what had just happened. "Ehh, It doesn't matter. Thank you for staying with the Orange Hotel. What else can I do for you?" Really unsure of how to proceed, the Manager just thanked the Men for taking care of it in such an orderly fashion and then went back to his desk while rubbing his head and didn't wait for an answer.
Jin and Wu Hai stood in the elevator as it rose through the floors. "Master Wu, What is next on your Agenda?"
"You said trash is a problem here? What sort of trash and where? Are you talking about people or garbage like the trash at the River?" Wu Hai really didn't want to start a fight with people that he didn't understand.
"Like the trash from the River. There are some problems with this though, the entire world produces hundreds of thousands of tons of trash, every day. It's insurmountable and never ending." Jin wanted to see what Wu Hai had in mind but it was already a problem that a large portion of the earth's scientists were working on and with little success.
"What is the bulk of the refuge? That plastic stuff, right? Why don't they just reuse it?" Wu Hai pulled out a science book about plastics and another about recycling. There were some drawbacks and eventually the good would be outweighed by the bad. Even recycling created toxic wastes, all it really served was to remove some but it would not put a dent in the daily accumulation of garbage, there was always more on it's way.
"Your people have the knowledge but they choose to ignore it?" Wu Hai was starting to get the mental picture that Jin was trying to paint for him.
With a sneering look, Wu Hai looked over at Jin. "Why don't the people of this world care about the consequences of their actions for the future? I just read this plastic book, it says that all plastics can be recombined and reused. I realize that recycling plastics creates toxins in the air but why don't they just filter them before they hit the open air? They could collect everything that was toxic and incinerate it so that it never harms anyone."
"Master Wu, We tried that as a people but the cost of moving the trash, transporting it and separating it makes it a task most are not only unwilling to do but they never even consider doing it because its inconvenient to use that system. The costs out weight their desire to clean up the trash." Jin did his best to explain, he was never a great student but he was very observant and had lived on the streets long enough to appreciate a clean area.
"We use to collect recyclable materials and reuse them but the pollutants just became more complicated or invisible until they built up in our bodies." Jin didn't think Wu Hai would have any solutions, the solution Wu Hai stated as a valid one, just an expensive one.
"I can't solve this worlds money problems and even if I tried it would just make things worse. I could stop the factories." Before Wu Hai could continue, Jin stopped him.
Jin stopped him and said, "You can't shut down the factories, they will just build another one. If you did shut down the factories, the people themselves would hate you. You'd have almost every human in this world searching for you and calling you the enemy. Don't even joke like that, if the government heard you they'd hunt us both down like terrorists."
Suddenly Wu Hai started having headaches, he knelt to the floor in pain. "AHH!" Wu Hai cringed. The Dreams he had experienced started to feel more like memories flooding his mind, memories that he didn't make. His pain levels increased and faint images started showing up in his mind.
Xuan Kim Li and Jigui had spend a lot of time discussing such topics, it had jostled loose a cluster of memories about complicated or complex solutions to various problems.
"T-Theory..craft..ing" Mouthing the word, Wu Hai held his head as the pain continued. He pulled out a Healing potion and Drank it. "What does theorycrafting mean?"
"AHH!" The pain came again, only this time, more memories came in like a tsunami instead of a gentle flood. Wu Hai remembered his past life.
The details were hard to gather at first but the important stuff immediately started to course through his consciousness. Jigui's Sister in Shanghai. Her house near the Hujiali district.. his niece and nephew.. and his vile boss Sheril. Tears swept across Wu Hai's face before he had a chance to complete his thoughts.
It was unsettling for Jin as they rode the elevator, Wu Hai's flashes of memories were triggering his abilities. Wu Hai sparked and the loose charge blew out the lights in the elevator.
"How could I forget these people? They were so important to me!" Wu Hai kept mumbling to himself, the elevator door opened and he walked to the coach in the room.
"I can remember a lot of things but it's unfamiliar and hard to contextualize. I.. I died." Wu Hai had a pained expression on his face. There were strange sensations he couldn't place. He picked up a pen instinctively and started to write a few things down. It seemed to help him some, after a few minutes, he got up with a different look on his face.
Jin opened the door so they could make their way to back into the elevator.
"Jin, call us a Taxi. I have somewhere I need to visit, I need you to come with me and I need you to nod and agree with whatever I say when we get there. Can you help me convince the person I'm going to meet of my honesty?" Wu Hai didn't know if his perceived memories were actually real but he had to do it.
Family was Family no matter what world they were in.
"Hujiali District. Here is the address..." Passing the address over to the cabbie, they sat in the back and Wu Hai explained.
"We're going to see my Sister. She thinks I'm dead. Actually, I'm pretty sure she was at my Funeral." Wu Hai was explaining to Jin but the Cab Driver was floored and nearly choked on his cigarette.
Jin was at a loss. 'Earlier Wu Hai had said he was from another world and yet, his Sister is here?' Going with it, he just nodded and said, "Yes, Master Wu."
When the Sedan stopped outside of the house, Xiu Ying was already outside pruning her roses. The Sun was on her face as she looked up at the Taxi in front of her house. She didn't seem alarmed but when Wu Hai started walking up, she dropped her pruning sheers.
Wu Hai might have been born in another world but a soul carries it's imprint. He bore the spitting image of Jigui in his childhood years, Xiu Ying didn't know who the young man was but he felt like family at first glance.
"Young man.. Who.. are you? What relationship do you have with Quanli Jigui?" Xiu Ying was one of the people who really valued family. 'If Jigui had an illegitimate son, he might be .. .no.. it couldn't be.'
"I think I am Quanli Jigui, I think.. that maybe I reincarnated." He got straight to the point.
"That isn't funny. Is this some sort of sick prank? My brother died. You might look like him but you're not him." She refused to believe him right off the bat. Xui Ying pulled the phone from her pocket and was about to call the police when Wu Hai stopped her in her tracks.
"Hey, Monkey.. Wanna Chase the Spider?" Wu Hai said something that Xiu Ying had not heard since she was a child. It was a phrase that he saw in his dreams a lot, Jigui would always call her a Monkey and chase him around the house with a fake spider, terrorizing her until their Father caught him.
Breaking down into tears, she started crying. "Is it really you?" Unable to control her emotions she rose to her feet, only to collapse in tears and try again. Wiping the tears from her eyes as fast as she could, she ran up to Wu Hai and wrapped her arms around him tightly.
The Disbelief she previously had evaporated with the wind. "What happened? They said you died! They held a funeral at sea, no one was invited. They've been keeping everything that happened so quiet." She rubbed over his face, "Your nephew and niece missed you." She squeezed his cheeks to make sure it wasn't a dream. Sniffling like a child missing her parents, she wiped her face then invited Wu Hai and Jin inside. "Sit, the kids are at school. They will be back in a few hours." Taking a tissue from the box she kicked Jin off the couch and sat beside her brother.
"They missed you, it was awful when you... died. The company said that you killed yourself so they didn't pay out any life insurance. The company accused you of everything.. it was a mess." Xiu Ying explained only to have more questions herself. "So you reincarnated, How does that work?"
Wu Hai didn't even know where to begin, he just threw his hands in the air. "I don't know how I reincarnated, Just that I did." He spoke as clearly and honestly about it as possible. He hadn't discussed his reincarnation with anyone before, not even when he thought his dreams were nightmares. Master Jiang had hinted at it but Wu Hai had kept it secret. "I also know that I died, although I didn't know that until today."
Showing concern about what was going to happen, he knew it could be problematic but this distant family was wildly important to him now that it wasn't just a dream. Continuing with his rant, Wu Hai added, "I won't be able to stay in this world much longer before people take notice of me."
Wu Hai came to a decision, he grabbed Xui's hand. "Sister, When I leave, I'm going to a place that makes this World, look like it had gone through an disaster." His voice was pressuring but not pointed. "Pack your things, I want you to come along with me.."
He didn't elaborate and Xiu Ying was curious about the other world but she couldn't leave. "Leave this world? Come with you? Another world? I just accepted that you were reincarnated, and now you want me to leave to another world, with you? What do you think this is? A light novel?" Xiu Ying was more than a little angry, she was being asked to abandon her heritage, home, career and friends. "What about my Kids?"
Opening his palm he started to produce flowers. They grew directly from his palm and it shocked her. "Sister.."
When Xiu Ying looked up, she saw what was happening in his hand. "What?.."
"This is just the smallest of things I can show you from that world. Did you see the news this week? Those trees that cleaned the rivers, they came from me. They are called Dodona Trees, the place I want to return to doesn't have nearly as many humans and the air doesn't stink. My Master is over three hundred years old, the people in this world never lived past a hundred and thirty. What do you have to lose when you have so much to gain back by simply believing in me?" The more Wu Hai talked, the less she spoke and the more she thought.
"I still have to learn to control my ability so that I can return to my world, I somewhat came to this world by accident. This world doesn't need it's humans but the humans need this world. If they kill it, they all die, I can't watch that happen. I had to do something, even it its just this." Finishing up his speech, Wu Hai hugged his Sister.
"I've been practicing, I think I'll be able to leave within a week. I already have some ideas about how to get back I just haven't tried them yet in case it succeeds." Wu Hai let go of her hand, "When that time comes, I'll gather those who are coming with me."
"Jin, give my sister your phone number and lets get back to the hotel. I want to plan this accordingly." Wu Hai looked at his partner and then back to his sister.
"I can give you a ride to your hotel?" Xiu Ying tried to help but was rejected.
"Get packed, don't tell your kids their leaving, they might struggle. Just make them pack all their favorite things. We won't be returning, so choose well" Wu Hai tucked something into his sisters hand and whispered softly into her ear.
The Driver had been waiting about twenty minutes when the doors closed in the back of the car.
"Orange Hotel" Jin instructed the Driver. "Master Wu, when we arrive in your homeland. Will we be welcomed? We are after all, from different worlds." Jin posed a very good question.
"I am unsure but I know that you're better off coming with me. My sister, I don't want to imagine her kids dying shortly after her from old age. So, I hope they are coming with me. I'm not so sure about Xuan Kim Li, we haven't spoken yet and he still thinks I'm dead." Wu Hai gave all the details he could recall to Jin. It felt a little meaningless but the information helped motivate to Jin.
The cab driver managed to maintain a straight face after hearing their conversation and got a nice tip.
When Wu Hai handed him a bar of gold, he also gave him a healing potion and asked him to drink it on the spot.
The Cabbie hesitated but he had just been given an impossible tip. After swallowing the potion, he felt his breathing get better very quickly. "Thank you!" The cab driver was so happy he got out of his car and left it there, along with his Cigarettes.
He had quit his job.
"Master Wu, you should refrain from doing this too often. We're attracting attention." Jin warned Wu Hai, got into the drivers seat and parked the car.
"I understand but I'm at a point where I almost don't care. This world has too much wrong with it, if I didn't share a history with this world, I would probably eliminate it's people to save the Earth." With a stern and serious face Wu Hai slapped the elevator button.