Chapter 1 The Disappearance of the Golden Rose
1901, Hamburg.
The night on the Elbe River should not have been this quiet.
By today, the rainstorm had already lasted for three days.
All cargo ships in the harbor had stopped sailing. Dock workers hid inside taverns, complaining about this once-in-decades weather. The violent wind stirred the river, sending waves crashing against the shore again and again, as if something beneath the water was struggling to awaken.
But on such a night, in the middle of the Elbe River, there was still one light that refused to go out.
It belonged to a ship that should no longer have been sailing.
The Golden Rose.
Two years earlier, when it first appeared at the Port of Hamburg, newspapers across Europe described it with words that almost sounded exaggerated.
“A miracle born from Eastern wealth and European craftsmanship.”
“A floating palace upon the Elbe River.”
“The Winter Garden of a new era.”
Yet no one denied the praise from the media, because the luxury of this ship truly deserved such admiration.
Golden patterns decorated its black steel hull, while the bow carried the sculpture of a blooming golden rose.
Chinese craftsmen were responsible for the interior carvings, German engineers designed its mechanical structure, French designers created the ballroom, and Italian artists painted the ceiling murals above the casino hall.
It did not look like a ship, it looked more like a palace floating upon the water.
And the man who created all of this came from the distant East.
——Wu Yunheng.
A descendant from a branch family of the Wu clan of the Thirteen Factories of Guangzhou.
When many Europeans first met him, they felt he was nothing like the Chinese merchants they had imagined.
He did not wear traditional robes or keep a queue hairstyle.
Most of the time, he wore a black suit made by the finest tailors in London, carried a jade-inlaid walking cane, and spoke fluent English and German.
He understood European aristocratic etiquette.
He understood finance and politics.
But those who truly knew him understood one thing.
Wealth was never his faith.
Gambling was.
“Mr. Wu, do you truly believe that a person’s luck can decide everything?”
A journalist once asked him.
Wu Yunheng only smiled.
“Since ancient times, it has never been luck that defines a person. It is only when a person places a bet that they reveal who they truly are.”
The journalist did not understand and continued asking:
“Mr. Wu, what if someone loses everything?”
Wu Yunheng answered:
“Then it means they have finally found something truly worth betting on.”
Tonight, the Golden Rose was holding the greatest banquet since its creation.
Inside the casino hall, there was no trace of the storm raging outside.
Crystal chandeliers illuminated the entire hall.
The orchestra played a waltz.
Ladies wore expensive gowns, while nobles held glasses of champagne and discussed stocks, colonies, and the future.
Gathered here were some of the most powerful people of this era.
Bankers, Industrialists, Nobles, Merchants.
They possessed wealth ordinary people could not imagine earning in several lifetimes.
Yet tonight, they still chose to come here through the violent storm.
Because the Golden Rose offered something that no amount of money could buy.
Excitement, the true excitement.
Midnight was approaching.
The sound of the orchestra gradually faded.
Wu Yunheng slowly stood up, and everyone’s eyes fell upon this host from the East.
He raised his glass, the red wine inside shone beneath the lights like a flowing ruby.
“感谢各位今晚光临敝人的黄金玫瑰号。”
(Thank you all for honoring me with your presence aboard my Golden Rose tonight.)
“Everyone here comes from different nations, speaks different languages, and holds different identities.”
“But tonight, we all share one identity.”
He smiled and said:
“Gamblers.”
Soft laughter echoed throughout the hall.
Many nobles raised their glasses in response.
Wu continued:
“Many people believe gambling is a low form of entertainment.”
“They believe gamblers are greedy, insane, controlled entirely by their own desires.”
“But I do not agree.”
He slowly walked across the hall.
“I was born in Guangzhou. My family has witnessed countless merchant ships arriving from across the seas, and we have also witnessed countless fortunes disappear beneath those same waves.”
“Gold, Silver, Silk, Tea.”
“Everyone believes they are chasing wealth. But later, I discovered something: From the moment we are born, life itself is a gamble.”
His voice echoed throughout the hall.
“Investing as a merchant is gambling, A king starting a war is gambling, A sailor sailing toward an unknown ocean is gambling.”
“Even falling in love with someone…Is handing over a part of yourself and betting that the other person will not destroy it.”
The entire hall fell completely silent.
Wu Yunheng walked toward the window.
Outside, the violent rain was striking against the glass.
“Money is the lowest form of currency in this world.”
“Because if money is lost, it can always be earned again.”
“But the things that are truly valuable…”
He turned around and looked at everyone.
“Are the things that can never be recovered once they are lost: Reputation, Love, Life, Even…the soul.”
A roar of thunder sounded.
For a brief moment, lightning illuminated his face.
Some people began to feel that his words were becoming somewhat insane. But no one left,no one argued.
Because everyone wanted to know what exactly this man was planning to do tonight.
Wu returned to the gambling table.
“Many people have asked me why I spent such an enormous fortune to build the Golden Rose.”
“Tonight, I shall give you the answer.”
Applause filled the hall, the glasses touched together.
At eleven fifty at night, the gambling table at the very center of the casino was finally opened.
Everyone turned their eyes toward it.
Wu sat at the end of the table.
At this moment, there was no gold in front of him.
There's only a single document.
Seeing this scene, one nobleman laughed.
“Mr. Wu, What are you planning to use to shock us tonight?”
Wu did not answer, he simply placed his hand gently upon the document lying on the table.
“Ladies and gentlemen, during the past two years, we have gambled many things.”
“Land, companies, and works of art.”
At this point, he paused.
“But have any of you ever considered one question?”
“If a person already possesses everything…”
“Then what else can he gamble?”
The hall became quiet.
Some people were smiling.
Some were waiting for Wu’s answer.
Wu picked up his pen.
At the bottom of the document, he wrote down his own name.
Then, he pushed it into the center of the table.
“Tonight…”
“I bet the Golden Rose.”
Some frowned.
Some were shocked.
But most of them were excited.
Because they knew this ship itself was already a priceless fortune.
However, in the next second…
Wu continued:
“Not only this ship.”
“But everything aboard it.”
For several seconds…
There was only silence.
Then laughter erupted throughout the hall.
Every guest present believed this was merely an exaggerated expression from this Eastern merchant.
The lights inside the casino suddenly flickered.
Outside the window, thunder roared.
The midnight bell rang aboard the ship.
The gamble had officially begun.
The casino hall quickly returned to its previous excitement.
For these people standing at the very top of the world, danger seemed like something only ordinary people needed to worry about.
They controlled banks, companies, even the fate of countless people.
They were used to being the ones who created the rules, so none of them had ever imagined that one day, they themselves would become part of the rules.
The first round, Wu lost, applause filled the hall.
Some people laughed and joked that this host from the East had finally encountered a worthy opponent.
The second round.
He lost again.
Then the third round, the fourth round.
The owner of the Golden Rose seemed to have lost all the luck he once possessed.
But strangely…
There was not the slightest trace of panic on Wu’s face.
He simply sat there calmly, drinking his tea, watching one card after another being revealed. Until someone finally could not resist speaking.
“Mr. Wu.”
“You have already lost a great deal tonight.”
Wu raised his head.
“A great deal?”
He asked softly.
The nobleman laughed.
“Is that not true?”
“Your wealth, your works of art, and now even your ship.”
After hearing those words, Wu only looked toward the window.
Outside, the shore of the River had already completely disappeared behind the storm.
After a moment he said:
“But sir…the game is not over yet.”
1:00 A.M, Someone finally noticed something was wrong outside the windows.
A lady stood in front of the glass.She stared outside for a long time, then asked:
“Why have we not reached the shore yet?”
The people around her laughed, believing she was simply too nervous.until more and more people walked toward the windows.
The laughter gradually disappeared.
Because outside…there was nothing.
No Port, No lighthouse, No city.
Only endless black water.
As if the entire world had disappeared, leaving behind only the Golden Rose itself.
For the first time, those people who stood above everyone else began to feel fear.
They all looked toward Wu.
“What is happening?”
Someone demanded.
“Mr. Wu, what exactly have you done?”
Facing the anger of the crowd…
Wu simply remained quietly seated at the gambling table.
He looked at the contract in front of him.
After a long silence, he finally whispered:
“It seems…it has accepted.”
The hall became silent.
“Accepted?”
Someone asked.
“What accepted?”
Wu did not answer.
Because at that exact moment, every light inside the casino hall went out.
One minute later, the lights returned. But everyone discovered, Wu was disappeared.
And inn the center of the gambling table, a gambling chip no one had ever seen before had showed.
It was a deep crimson chip.
And engraved upon its surface, was a rose.
2:17 A.M., this was the last recorded moment in human history when the Golden Rose was ever seen.
According to the later testimonies of workers from the Port of Hamburg, the last thing they saw was the light of the Golden Rose shining through the storm.
It was still bright.
Then a bolt of lightning struck, the entire ship vanished in the middle of the Elbe River,as if it had never existed at all.
The next morning, local authorities organized one of the largest searches of that time.
They searched the entire section of the river, but the result was something no one could explain.
No fragments, no bodies, not even a single trace left behind by a shipwreck.
The Golden Rose, the miracle once known as the “floating palace upon the Elbe River”, together with all 273 people aboard. ,had disappeared completely,.
The official record eventually named it: “The Disappearance of the Golden Rose, 1901.”
However…
For more than a century afterward…
An old legend continued to spread among the sailors near the Elbe River.
If, on a stormy midnight, you hear the whistle of a ship that should not exist within the fog…
Do not search for it or answer it.
And Remember, never accept an invitation from it.
Because that means, The Golden Rose has found its next guest.
