The Alchemist’s Poison

The Poisoned River

Near Jakarta’s sprawling industrial district, a river once known for its shimmering clarity and teeming life now lay sick and poisoned. The water slithered through the cracked earth in a sickly, toxic shade of green. Decades of unchecked waste had turned this river, once a lifeline for the communities around it, into a poisoned vein coursing through the city’s underbelly.

Factories owned by the Nine Dragons syndicate loomed like dark sentinels along the banks. Their chimneys spat black smoke, blotting out the sky, casting a permanent gloom over the once vibrant ecosystem. The air was thick with acrid fumes—chemicals mixed with the putrid scent of decay. Floating on the surface of the river were dead fish, their pale eyes staring into the void, drifting aimlessly in the toxic flow.