The Great Weeping

Along the great river that flowed through and interconnected the four mainlands, a small, enclosed basket drifted on the water's surface.

It had traveled far from the Tianxu Continent, carried by the currents toward an uncertain fate. 

'What kind of messed-up joke is this?' the baby inside the cradle thought, clutching the green substance in both hands.

His tiny face bore a bored expression after days of uneventful floating, the monotony of the river's current doing little to ease his frustration.

He opened his small jaw, revealing the pill in his mouth, now slightly smaller than before.

A faint smacking sound followed as he rolled the pill around with his tongue. 

'I can't tell much since it's happening so slowly, but even the pill is gradually shrinking,' he thought, feeling the pill's texture with his tongue. 

'But this truly proves I'm in another world. I've been suckling on this pill nonstop for about four days, I think—since I don't have any teeth to break it up.

Still, it's kept me alive. I'm not full in the least, but I'm not starving either. And since I haven't eaten anything else, I haven't pooped or peed even once,' the baby thought, his tiny mind processing the bizarre situation. 

The sunlight seeped through the small holes of the woven basket, casting soft, dappled patterns on the baby's tiny form.

After spending what felt like hours observing his surroundings and pondering his strange circumstances, he soon felt the weight of exhaustion settle over him. 

With nothing else to do in the confined space and no way to act on his limited capabilities, he let his heavy eyelids droop and drifted back into a deep sleep.

Sleep, after all, was the only escape he had in this fragile, helpless state. 

Soon, day turned into night, and days began to pass in a monotonous rhythm.

The baby followed the same routine—waking up, suckling on the pill, observing his surroundings, and then drifting back into sleep. 

The basket, carried by the currents, floated aimlessly wherever the waves took it.

There was nothing but endless water stretching in every direction—a vast, unbroken expanse that seemed to go on forever.

Time blurred as the baby and his fragile cradle drifted through the sea, isolated and adrift in a world of blue. 

Thud

After exactly two weeks and four days of aimless drifting, the basket finally made contact with something solid, jolting to a sudden stop. 

The abrupt motion stirred the baby from his slumber, his tiny body shifting slightly inside the confined space.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the endless journey across the water had come to a halt.

'Hmm, wha—what?' the baby murmured, his tiny eyes fluttering open.

The outside of the basket was still pitch dark—whether it was still night or he had drifted into a confined cave where light couldn't reach, he couldn't tell. 

Yawn 

He stretched his tiny hands, the movement stiff from days of inactivity, before trying to examine his surroundings.

'Did I finally get somewhere? Well, that would be nice if that's the case. My last energy pill is barely holding on,' he thought, rolling the nearly depleted pill in his mouth with his tongue. 

It was the last remnant of what had kept him alive, and he could feel it shrinking with every passing moment.

After fully waking up, he tried to figure out what could be done next, but there wasn't much he could do with his tiny, helpless body.

He knew he had arrived somewhere—the sounds around him were different now, unfamiliar. 

Maybe he was in a jungle or some kind of forest, but that was all he could guess.

Without someone or something to assist him, he would remain trapped in the basket, lying there until the end of his short life.

The thought was grim, but with no way to change his situation, all he could do was wait and hope. 

As he spent some time pondering how to get out of his predicament, an idea suddenly popped into his mind. 

'What is a baby capable of? What is his greatest asset? It's not cuteness—it's his cries.

A baby's expression of hunger or pain, amplified by their shrill, piercing voice, is impossible to ignore,' the baby thought. 

He had never cried in his current lifetime, nor had he tried to, but considering his limited options, he couldn't think of any other way to draw attention.

With no alternative, he decided to prepare himself for what he was about to do. 

Cough, cough, inhale

"Uwahhhhhhh! Uwahhhhhhhhh! Arghhhhhhhhhhh! Arghhhhhh!"

 he cried—aggressively. No baby before him had ever cried the way he did. Even an expert wouldn't have been able to decipher what the baby was upset about. 

Was it hunger? Pain? Or perhaps a protest against human society as a whole? His cries were raw, piercing, and filled with an intensity that echoed through the area, reaching every nook and cranny, demanding attention.

The relentless crying continued, stretching from minutes into hours.

With each passing moment, his cries grew more intense, more aggravated, until it sounded less like a baby and more like a demon had possessed one, mimicking its cries in the most unsettling way possible. 

The sheer dedication and effort he put into his wailing were enough to make anyone who heard it panic, the disturbance echoing far and wide, impossible to ignore. 

Soon, there were sounds heading in his direction—footsteps, rustling, and voices, all rushing toward the source of the disturbance.

When the baby heard this, he finally stopped his crying, his tiny chest heaving from the effort. 

'Witness in awe the power of a newborn that could drive a full-grown adult insane,' he thought proudly to himself, a strange sense of accomplishment washing over him despite his dire situation. 

Shortly after, the basket began to shake, and he could feel himself being lifted once more.

After weeks of being confined in darkness, the cover of the basket started to slowly lift, revealing the outside world.

Though it was still dark, the faint light that seeped in felt like a revelation after so long in isolation.