Winner
Sam Foy and the Cricket Emperor
Yan Mong H
rologue
wea
“
Dig! D
o, Group 5: Fiction, Ying Wa College
P
“
Dig!”
A deep voice shouted from a far corner of a beach surrounded mostly by cliffs. A short, fat man
ring an expensive suit stood in a dark secluded sandstone cave. He cried again.
ig Faster!”
The little fat man who just cried had a short moustache, probably an English man. Right in front of him, the
sandstone cave extended to be much bigger, and wider, and wooden torches were stuck in the side of the cave.
Then in people’s fear, millions of insects were crawling slowly on the walls: crickets. There were shovelling
sound of spades, crushed in wet sand. In the darkest corner of this strange cavern, a secret tunnel under the
beach grew every day, larger and larger, by mind-controlled minions of humans.
“
I will not fail,” thought the fat man.
“
I cannot fail.”
1
Sunset
A sip of black coffee dripped into Sam Foy’s mouth from a white tea cup. Soothing cool winds with a soft
touch of seawater brushed lightly on his skin. Warm, blazing orange sunlight flooded into the outdoor café near
a crystal clear golden beach at Yalong Gulf of Sanya. Opposite him was a casually dressed, white-haired man
around his sixties. Below their bodies were high wooden chairs with soft cushions to lean on. They were silent
for a moment, enjoying the beautiful sunset.
Sam Foy was a poorly dressed lad, well built, with a few scratches or bruises from side to side. You could
see that he was not that poor, even though he was dressed in that way, as in an open menu standing straight on
the circular table revealed high priced drinks. No poor, nor even average men, would purchase these drinks. It
was a fine, quiet evening.
“
Ahh…what a relaxing evening!” Sam said, with a rather deep voice.
“
Yes.” The old man replied. “I agree.”
“
Imere, you really have changed.” Sam Foy said again after a pause, “I’ve always thought that the Eternal
Amulet of Yangtze River can cure brain sickness, this proves I’m right.”
Sam Foy was an archaeologist. Last year he and Imere went to the Yangtze River and found the Eternal
Amulet, the elixir of life.
The old man, Imere, replied again with a thin smile on his face, “I haven’t felt any better, I’m still in the
same old freckled body. I’m getting old. That’s what I think right.”
The silence continued. The sun seemed to stop sinking in the calm sparkling sea.
Two men in black suits walked in a dark corner of the café, unnoticed. They sat down silently, then one of
them with a pair of faintly triangular black glasses and an older looking man tapped his finger on the table.
Strangely, the other one did it after a few seconds, in the same rhythm.
They talked silently for a while, and then the older man took out a case and took a piece of paper out of it.
Then, Sam Foy noticed them for the first time.
“
This is the case that was troubling us.” The older one was Chinese, as evidenced by the heavy accent in his
speech.
“
We’ll find help for you.” The other one answered.
“
Good luck.” The older man said.
And then he left. Just as the older one left the café, the other one read the paper given to him.
Just stupid news, Sam Foy thought and then drank some coffee again just as he thought no trouble would
come to him this evening. Troubles seemed to be attracted just as the thought came in to Sam Foy’s mind.
The suited man came to his side. Sam Foy looked at him. “Can I help you?” He asked.
“
Yes.” The man replied, and then gave him the paper. “We want your help, desperately, in disappearing
cases.”
2
Manuscript
Thump, thump, thump…