Xiao Daidzhao

Growing up with eccentric materialistic parents who left him in the care of his grandfather for a job overseas, Zhang Heng had learned to adapt and be unfettered by the oddities and challenges in life. But he would soon learn the baffling truth about the world he thought he knew when one day at midnight time froze and he found himself in a world so quiet and still it was deafening. That night, he discovered that he had 24 hours more than everybody else and thus, marked the beginning of his adventures. The mysteries surrounding his newfound ability only deepened when a strange old man claimed to have given Zhang Heng that ‘gift of time’ and recruited the young man to participate in a cryptic ‘life-changing’ game on his behalf. Little did Zhang Heng know that accepting those terms meant embroiling himself in many versions of reality and exposing himself to the hidden secrets of the world—a decision he could never undo.

48 Hours a Day

The air on the deck grew uncomfortable. The contentious scene everyone expected to happen when Orff showed up did not come to pass. Instead, like an apathetic old man, Orff kept retreating as the gunman advanced towards him, as if he was about to fall off the cliff.

Even though Goodwin believed that he was going to win since the beginning, he had not expected things to go so smoothly, and it was making him feel uneasy.

Orff turned to the crew and said, "That's right. All of you have reasons to feel disgruntled. It has been a really difficult time, both for all of you and for me. But what I want to say is that from today onwards, these difficult days will be behind us. You've been wondering what I'm up to recently, and I think it's time I tell you."

Black Sail XXII