Paperweight's Backstory / 镇纸背景

Paperweight's backstory.

Paperweight was born in the countryside in northern Bauhinia. His parents died when he was really little, and he was often bullied in the orphanage, so one night he stole a bag of buns and a bag of water, and ran all the way to the Mountain Temple, half begging and half stealing along the way after the buns ran out.

At the Mountain Temple, the master accepted him out of sympathy. He learned and mastered Wood-style martial arts. When he grew up, his master sent him to join the army. Afterwards, he was recruited into the Ministry of State Security under Whiteout, where he'd been working ever since.

One day, he received orders from above to shoot Whiteout. He obeyed without question, chasing her to the Fantoni border on a snowy night and shooting her just as she was about to cross the border on a bike.

As Whiteout fell off her bike, Paperweight realized for the first time what he had done. He saw Whiteout like his mother. And now she was dead, and he did it. Because he was under orders? But what did she even do?

Paperweight decided to investigate. He tore through the country and beyond, chasing anything that might prove Whiteout's innocence. His colleagues ostracized him, called him mad, suspected treason — who are you to disobey orders? Whiteout's guilt was proven through and through. They dumped Paperweight in a dead-end public post meant for newbies and burnouts, dealing with harmless nonsense like kids finding nukes in basements. It was pointless work, far from the real jobs done by plainclothes agents, but it put him in front of a lot of confused civilians, from whom he could take bribes. A lot of them. His wife left him, taking their young daughter, and later died. The girl barely remembered his name.

The only person left willing to work with him was Halcyon. In his quest to vindicate a dead mole, he had failed to notice the living one right beside him. Halcyon also knew about his bribe-taking, and would sometimes use that as leverage to get things.

Years later he got his own apprentice Goose, and Halcyon got Pumpkin. Paperweight disproved of Pumpkin, wondering what Halcyon saw in a doormat.

At one point, he took a month's leave to attend his master's funeral at Mountain Temple. Master was like a father to him. For the second time in his life, Paperweight had lost both his parents.

After A Nuke from Moreland, his career was completely over. Halcyon's attempted defection was the final blow to his already-in-the-dirt reputation. Not only that, he was also diagnosed with chronic leukemia. He refused treatment, retired early, and packed his stuff to a villa in Fanton he bought with his bribe money where he planned to spend the rest of his life. He called Goose to drive him there, and along the way, told her about his desperate search for Whiteout's innocence. Paperweight's Roadtrip tells that story.