Striving for Science C27 pt1

"I-I'm scared," the little gourd, who had been so spirited just moments ago, whimpered, burying his face in his mother's shoulder as he watched Shen Chang'an. "He's a big baddie, so scary."

“Hmm, this baddie is too big, so you little wizards need to work together to defeat him.” Shen Chang'an ignored the adults who were arguing, and said to the children who were crying, “As long as you wave your wands and say, 'Surrender, pumpkin baddie,' he won't be able to come out and do evil.”

“Re-really?” Little Gourd clutched his wand, looking eager to try.

“Of course.” Shen Chang'an pressed the troublemaker firmly to the ground, preventing him from getting up. “Hurry, hurry, little wizards, the warrior needs your help.”

The adults present gradually realized that the troublemaker's appearance was so terrifying that even they, the adults, felt a sense of dread, let alone the children nearby. Was this person trying to eliminate the children's psychological shadows?"

Sure enough, a few brave children waved their wands, pointing at the plague ghost and chanting, “Change, change, change, into a pumpkin. Surrender, pumpkin baddie!”"

“Alright, thank you for your help, little wizards. This bad pumpkin has been subdued by me, the warrior. Now I'm going to hand the bad pumpkin over to the police officers.” Shen Chang'an turned to the adults around him and asked, “Does anyone have rope? I'll tie his arms first, to prevent him from throwing things around and causing more trouble.”

“Here, here.” A supermarket owner squeezed into the crowd, holding out a long rope. “Is that enough? If not, I'll get you a few more.”

“Enough, enough, we're just tying up a person, not wrapping a rice dumpling.” Shen Chang'an took the rope and skillfully tied up the plague ghost.

“Hey, young man, you're a martial artist, aren't you? Your movements are even more skillful than our local butcher tying up pigs.”

The plague ghost was furious upon hearing this. These ignorant commoners, daring to compare him to a lowly pig? He wanted to look up and see who was speaking, but as soon as he lifted his head slightly, Shen Chang'an slapped him down.

“Behave yourself, don't look around!” Shen Chang'an quickly tied the plague ghost's hands to his body and said to the onlookers, “Everyone, please make way, I'm going to take this person to a less crowded place, so as not to scare the other children.”

Seeing his security maintenance badge, the crowd had no objections to his actions. Besides, the person was so disgusting that most of them, even if they had a desire to watch the spectacle, were repelled by his repulsive appearance and readily agreed to let him take the person to the police.

At this moment, the supermarket owner brought over a large snakeskin bag. He put the snakeskin bag over the plague ghost, instantly covering most of his body.

It's better to cover up anything that's unsightly.

The plague ghost!

He's a plague ghost!

The plague ghost, who had struck fear into countless hearts, did not deserve this treatment. These people must not know his power. From his initial swaggering arrogance to being mocked, watched, and ignored by humans, to being knocked to the ground by humans, the plague ghost, only three days old, had experienced the highs and lows of his ghostly life, all the sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy flavors.

The moment he was covered by the dirty snakeskin bag, he exploded in rage. His five senses and six faculties merged wildly with all the ugliness of human emotions. He wanted the whole world to be enveloped in disease and suffering.

However, just as he was about to unleash his power, someone suddenly slapped him hard on the back. This slap carried an endless aura of auspiciousness, shaking his five senses and six faculties, even his divine body was struck.

It was the human who had just beaten him senseless!

The plague ghost sensed that this human not only had the aura of merit and auspiciousness behind him, but also a mysterious and terrifying power. This power was like an endless abyss, and if he dared to harm this human, he would be swallowed by this power and vanish into thin air.

Seeing Shen Chang'an escorting the plague ghost away, Gao Shujuan reached out to stop Chen Panpan and Ding Yang, who wanted to follow: “There's just been a commotion here, you two stay here and talk to the patrol officers, I'll go and have a look.”"

Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was distracted, Gao Shujuan took out two anti-fouling charms and threw them into the air. The charms moved without wind, dispersing the green mist in the air.

After the charms exhausted their spiritual energy, they fell to the ground. Gao Shujuan was about to leave when she saw a three or four-year-old child staring at her with bright eyes.

Gao Shujuan: "..."

The child bent down to pick up the talisman paper, then tossed it into the trash can with his short little legs, his small eyes filled with disdain for the adults' careless behavior.

Gao Shujuan covered her face and walked away. When she found Shen Chang'an, he had tied the plague ghost to a tree. He was squatting nearby, playing with his phone, a half-empty bottle of mineral water at his feet.

"Chang'an, stay away from that... thing." Gao Shujuan wished she could pull out hundreds of talismans and stick them all over the plague ghost's body.

"It's okay, the police are coming soon." He had washed his hands with mineral water, but still felt uncomfortable. Thinking Gao Shujuan was disgusted by the person's appearance, he said to her, "Aunt Juan, I'll stay here and watch."

Gao Shujuan hesitated, her eyes darting between Shen Chang'an and the plague ghost, who was writhing but unable to escape. Her heart was churning like a stormy sea.

Plague ghosts are sometimes called plague gods because they not only bring death and disease, but can also come and go without a trace, transforming into nothingness. However, this plague ghost, subdued by Shen Chang'an, was unable to transform, let alone escape.

From the moment she first met Shen Chang'an, Gao Shujuan was stunned by the merit that surrounded him. Even if a person started doing good deeds from the day they were born, they couldn't accumulate this much merit.

Later, she spent the night searching through ancient texts and discovered that someone with such powerful merit could only be a ten-life merit body reborn. Such individuals have dedicated themselves to good deeds and made significant contributions to humanity in almost every lifetime, earning this kind of merit body, a sight rarely seen in a thousand years.

Even more shocking was that the entire cultivation world had failed to discover such a promising talent. No cultivators were sent to protect him, allowing him to grow up alone. Before he reached adulthood, he wasn't devoured by demons and monsters as a nourishing tonic. It was truly a blessing from heaven.

"Chang'an, what do you think... what is this person pretending to be?" Gao Shujuan asked.

"I don't know what kind of thing it is, but it looks disgusting." Shen Chang'an kicked the plague ghost with his toes through the plastic bag. "What's your name?"

Ignorant mortals, I am the Plague God! You treat me with such disrespect, I will bring down divine punishment upon you!" The plague ghost roared, "You will regret this!"

"God?" Shen Chang'an looked at this mentally ill man with disdain. "Looking at you, dirty and disgusting, you don't look like a god, more like a ghost."

In the pantheon of deities, evil gods are still gods. The plague ghost calling himself a god wasn't wrong, after all, he was born from heaven and earth, unlike ordinary ghosts and monsters.

But after Shen Chang'an mocked him as a ghost, Gao Shujuan clearly felt a surge of ghostly energy in the plague ghost, while the spiritual energy and evil energy bestowed upon him by heaven and earth diminished.

This newly born plague ghost had transformed from a plague god into a complete plague ghost.

Gao Shujuan was a member of the cultivation world. Although only in her forties, she had already achieved equal status with senior cultivators and witnessed many strange and extraordinary events. But what she saw now still made her gasp in shock.

The prophecy of the ten-life merit body was truly powerful, no wonder it was a sight rarely seen in a thousand years. If Buddhist cultivators discovered Shen Chang'an, they would probably cry and beg him to practice Buddhism, striving for the rise of Buddhism.

"Aunt Juan?" Shen Chang'an noticed that after he mocked the delusional man as a ghost, Aunt Juan's expression became strangely peculiar, as if he had suddenly turned into a shiny gold ingot, something precious and desirable.

"Ah?" Gao Shujuan snapped out of her daze. "You're right, ugly and troublesome, isn't it just a ghost?"

Shen Chang'an: "..."

He felt something was strangely off.

"Woooo woooo..." The plague ghost struggled for a long time, but couldn't break free. It felt a sense of despair. Was its glorious life destined to end in such a pathetic and humiliating way?

What kind of identity does this human who caught him have, why is he so powerful?

Shen Chang'an and Gao Shujuan didn't wait long before Captain Li arrived with his men. Seeing that the people following Captain Li were in plain clothes, Shen Chang'an thought they were undercover agents and didn't ask any questions before handing the person over to them.

These people opened the burlap sack, looked at it excitedly for a few moments, then covered it back up. One middle-aged man was particularly excited, shaking hands with Gao Shujuan: "Maste... comrade, you've done a great service by catching him this time. You've worked hard, worked hard!"

"No..." Gao Shujuan laughed awkwardly and turned to look at Shen Chang'an. "Leader, this has nothing to do with me. Chang'an subdued this bad guy."

"This is..." Zhao He's cultivation was shallow, but he was good at handling interpersonal relationships, so he was specifically in charge of dealing with unconventional incidents in the security department. He turned to look at Shen Chang'an, who was handsome and tall, with a face that would appeal to young girls. Thinking he was a junior from Gao Shujuan's sect, he smiled and said, "Truly, each generation has its own outstanding talents, surpassing their predecessors. This young comrade is the hope of our future!

"Thank you for the praise, leader." Shen Chang'an blushed slightly. He had only done something within his capabilities, why were they praising him as if he had saved the world?

"No, no, no praise." Zhao He patted Shen Chang'an on the shoulder. "Such a ferocious thing, you were able to subdue it single-handedly. This shows that we have successors!"

Shen Chang'an: "..."

Does the Civil Service Department really have such a hard time keeping talent? He caught a troublemaking bastard, and his superiors are praising him like this. Are they worried he'll jump ship?

Listening to these two talking past each other, yet not revealing anything, Gao Shujuan coughed lightly: "Director Zhao, you can take him now. I'll give you a detailed report later. It's not late yet, Chang'an has worked hard all day, he should go home and rest."

"Yes, yes, yes." Zhao He nodded quickly. It was rare for the cultivation world to produce such a capable junior. Zhao He was worried that he would exhaust too much spiritual energy catching the plague ghost and damage his foundation, so he quickly said: "Young comrade, go home and rest. Don't neglect your health. Take a day off tomorrow, I'll ask for leave for you from the leadership."

"Huh?" Shen Chang'an turned to look at Gao Shujuan. Was there some kind of misunderstanding?

"Chang'an, you go home first. Get a good rest tomorrow and come back to work the day after." Gao Shujuan gave him a friendly smile. "Director Zhao is right, a young person's health is the most important thing."

"Oh." Shen Chang'an guessed that their superiors had other secret work to discuss, so he left very understandingly.

As he walked through the square, several parents of children saw him and came over to thank him. Most of the children were already asleep, nestled in their parents' arms, sleeping soundly.

Looking at their peaceful faces, Shen Chang'an couldn't help but smile: "It's good that the little ones had fun. It's getting late, take the children home early to sleep."

"Little brother, thank you so much for what you did just now." The parents of the child who had turned Shen Chang'an into a pumpkin walked over. The little, squat gourd clung to his father's shoulder, sleeping like a little pig, his small, demonic wings on his back askew.

The child's father was full of gratitude: "If it weren't for you, our little one would have had nightmares when we got home. Instead, he's dreaming about catching bad guys with the pumpkin warrior."

"Children need to be spirited." Shen Chang'an chuckled, waving to the child's parents. At this time of day, the bus was long gone, and there were many people hailing taxis near the square. Should he walk back or ride a bicycle?

Every time he was in this situation, he envied those who had cars.

The tree yao under the office building said he was a great ten-life merit body. Now that he thinks about it carefully, besides not being afraid of ghosts, it's useless.

He's still a poor dog without money or a car, can't fly or teleport, and can't escape the need to take the bus.

"Sigh." Shen Chang'an sighed to the sky. So what's the use of not being afraid of ghosts? They can't give him money to spend.