Striving for Science C40 pt1

"What's wrong with being a passerby? Even in martial arts novels, the most powerful masters are often the inconspicuous monks who sweep the floors," Shen Chang'an coughed, interrupting the argument between the master and disciple.

"According to national regulations, people cannot enter another person's private space without their permission. Additionally, we respect religious beliefs, but public preaching is prohibited. If you two Daoist masters have any questions, you can discuss them privately."

It's fine to fight inside, just don't drag him into it.

"Young man, I see you have extraordinary potential. Are you interested in studying Daoism with me?" The old man quickly changed his words, turning the religious argument into an academic one. "Daoism is also a part of philosophy. We can discuss the philosophy of life and the meaning of existence together."

Shen Chang'an: "Thank you, but I may not have the talent to be a philosopher."

The old man seemed unwilling to let go of his plan to discuss the philosophy of life with Shen Chang'an, and continued to persuade him, "Come with us, I can offer you a high salary..."

"Forget it. Your dilapidated Daoist temple doesn't even get a few incense-burners a year. You're barely surviving thanks to the association's support." The yellow-robed Daoist glanced at the car parked by the roadside. "I think you should go back soon. An extra hour means an extra rental fee."

"Yeah, when you rented a car to pick up clients, didn't you almost get into a fight with someone over an hour's rental fee?" The old man was a little embarrassed to be exposed by his rebellious disciple, and retorted, "If it weren't for those useless senior brothers and sisters you mentioned, you would have been beaten to tears by the taxi driver."

General manager Wang stared blankly at this scene. He just wanted to call the police and have the troublesome Daoist arrested. How did things turn into the old Daoist wanting to take Mr. Shen as his disciple? He turned to look at Mr. Shen, who was completely bewildered, clearly caught off guard by this sudden turn of events.

"Mr. Shen?" Manager Wang walked over to Shen Chang'an. "There are people coming and going outside. Why don't we go inside and talk?"

Hearing the words "go inside," the yellow-robed Daoist's eyes lit up, his gaze fixed on Shen Chang'an, as if Shen Chang'an wouldn't agree, he would force him to agree.

Pretending not to see the yellow-robed Daoist's gaze, Shen Chang'an nodded, "Okay."

Manager Wang breathed a sigh of relief. The police car and the police were standing at the entrance. If someone with malicious intent took a picture, saying that someone from their company had committed a crime, it would affect the entire company.

The group entered the reception room. The yellow-robed Daoist took the opportunity to take out the compass hidden in his sleeve, but the needle on the compass remained motionless. His face grew increasingly grim, and he didn't even hear the police asking him to put away the compass.

How could this be?

This building is completely devoid of any ghostly aura, it's very clean.

"Impossible, this is impossible..." The yellow-robed Daoist shook the compass in his hand. "It must be broken."

Entering the reception room, the old man glanced at the yellow-robed Daoist who was still fiddling with the compass. "I thought you had made some progress after being out there for so many years, but it seems you haven't changed much. You've been making a scene at the entrance of this company for so long, haven't you noticed that there's no ghostly aura here?"

The yellow-robed Daoist froze. He looked up at the old man, "You knew all along?"

But why was his senior so certain that there was an evil ghost here, and that he would gain countless merits by capturing it?

Over the years, the old senior had guided him countless times, never making a mistake. Why was there such a clear error this time?

"Your reputation has grown outside these past few years, but your skills haven't improved. I don't know what you've encountered, and I don't want to get involved. Out of our past master-disciple relationship, I'll give you a piece of advice. Those who are too stubborn will never have a good ending."

"You're not stubborn at all. You even burn paper money for pitiful ghosts." The yellow-robed Daoist's mind was already unstable, and hearing the old man say this, he couldn't help but retort, "Have you lived a life of wealth and luxury by being tolerant and gentle all these years?"

"Forget it." The old man sighed. "There's nothing more to say between us. You have to walk your own path from now on. I hope the next time I hear about you, it's not bad news."

The reception room fell silent. Shen Chang'an sat in the corner, gleaning some information from the conversation between the master and disciple. This yellow-robed Daoist's talent shouldn't be considered particularly good, otherwise his master wouldn't have said such things.

But he saw in this yellow-robed Daoist a cultivator's arrogance towards ordinary people. Perhaps in his eyes, ordinary people weren't worth a second glance, and even cultivators who were less skilled than him were objects of his disdain.

Such a person, perhaps after a period of self-deprecation, would become extremely arrogant after achieving success.

"These two Daoist Masters, it seems today's events were all a misunderstanding." Shen Chang'an gave a harmless smile. "The rumors about this company being haunted have long been investigated. It was just that the computer system was infected with a Trojan horse. After patching the system vulnerabilities, all those ghostly phenomena disappeared. This Daoist Master probably heard those rumors online and believed them to be true."

"Nowadays, some unscrupulous self-media outlets love to sensationalize things to attract public attention and discussion." Shen Chang'an glanced at the manager Wang sitting beside him. "Daoist Master, you keep coming to the company's front door, claiming there are ghosts. This is a huge impact on the company's reputation. The company's management can sue you and demand financial compensation."

The Daoist Master in the yellow robe glanced at Shen Chang'an with the corner of his eye, but said nothing.

"But as a practitioner, how could you believe those online rumors and confidently claim there are ghosts here?" Shen Chang'an shook his head and sighed. "Although you may have good intentions, there are too many online rumors about ghosts. If you believe every single one, wouldn't you…"

Shen Chang'an didn't finish his sentence, but the Daoist Master in the yellow robe felt he was calling him an idiot.

"Are you mocking me?" The Daoist Master's inner anger, like a small flame meeting oil, flared up. "Do you think I'm one of those brainless fools?!"

Manager Wang silently nodded beside him, thinking the Daoist Master was not only foolish, but also a bit neurotic.

"You don't know anything, I have…"

Shen Chang'an pretended not to care about the answer, but the other party swallowed his words halfway through. He felt a little disappointed. It seemed this Daoist Master was indeed backed by someone else, and this person knew that Chen Yuan's soul had been lingering around the company.

If he hadn't come to this company a few days ago, only Zhang Gu would have come to collect the ghost. In the end, would Chen Yuan have been taken away by Zhang Gu, or would his resentment suddenly erupt, turning him into a vengeful spirit and injuring Zhang Gu?

"When did this Daoist Master start coming here to cause trouble?" Shen Chang'an quietly asked Manager Wang.

"It's infuriating to even talk about. The night you helped us find the vulnerability, in the early morning, he told the company's security guard that there were ghosts. After the security guard chased him away, he came here every day to cause trouble." Speaking of this, Manager Wang still felt a chill. Thankfully, Mr. Shen found the company's problem that day, otherwise he might have really believed the Daoist Master's words.

He came the night he left with Zhang Gu and Chen Yuan, the otaku ghost?

Was it a coincidence or did he plan it?

"That night was when the vengeful spirit awakened. You delayed me from catching the ghost…"

"Daoist Master, please be clear-headed. Our company has no ghosts." Manager Wang couldn't take it anymore and retorted. "You've lied so much, you even believe it yourself?"

The Daoist Master in the yellow robe wanted to scold the other for being ignorant, but thinking that there was indeed no ghostly aura in this company, his face turned pale and he said after a while, "Maybe the ghost saw someone coming to catch him and escaped beforehand."

He felt a little uneasy saying this. A wronged spirit, if it wants to become a vengeful spirit that harms others, must have the right time, place, and people. If even one of these conditions is not met, it cannot become a vengeful spirit.

If the ghost left this company, the possibility of it becoming a vengeful spirit would be greatly reduced. But who took the ghost away?

He didn't believe that the senior would deceive him, so something must have happened.

“Have any other masters come to your company recently?” He looked at Manager Wang, still unconvinced.

“No, no.” Manager Wang was exasperated by him. He stood up and said to the two police officers, “Police officers, I have some work to take care of. Someone from the company will be here to handle this.”

“Okay.” The two police officers also felt a little sympathy for the manager of this company. Plus, this branch was brought in through investment promotion, providing jobs for some local people, so they didn't want to make things too difficult for him.

Seeing Manager Wang leave, the yellow-robed Daoist suddenly stopped making a fuss. He turned to look at Shen Chang'an: “Could it be you?”

“Yes, it's me.” Shen Chang'an nodded. Just as the yellow-robed Daoist was about to change his expression, he continued, “Didn't I tell you just now that I found the system problem in this company?”

“That's not what I'm talking about.” The yellow-robed Daoist suddenly remembered that although his master was useless, he would never deliberately say that a random passerby had good potential just to undermine him. “Did you take that ghost away?”

“Daoist, don't joke like that.” Facing the two police officers' scrutinizing gazes, Shen Chang'an looked shocked. “What ghost? What era is this? There's no such thing as ghosts in the world.”

Seeing Shen Chang'an's helpless expression, the two police officers had to say, “This is a staff member from the Civil Service Department.” Their department's usual work is to debunk superstition and promote science to the public. How could they be involved with ghosts and spirits?

In the end, the yellow-robed Daoist was taken away by the police. Because of his bad attitude and refusal to admit his mistake, he was detained for seven days, fined 1500 yuan, and even made the local newspaper.

A rumor quickly spread locally, saying that there was a fake Daoist who was scamming people. He would take out a talisman and have people smell it, which would make them lose their senses and give all their valuables to the fake Daoist.

This rumor spread quickly, especially becoming a hot topic among the middle-aged and elderly population. Real Daoists were caught in a bind by this rumor. Daoists with online platform accounts came out one after another to educate netizens on “how to expose fake Daoists” and “what to do when encountering fake Daoists,” trying their best to address the recent rumors.

Shen Chang'an didn't pay much attention to these online matters. After returning home, he discussed it with Uncle Zhang and Yan Yin. Both of them were people in the metaphysics circle, so it would be much easier for them to investigate the yellow-robed Daoist's past life.

“Sigh.” Uncle Zhang glanced at the otaku ghost sitting on the sofa, munching on his food. He couldn't imagine what it would be like if he turned into a vengeful spirit.

Noticing Uncle Zhang looking at him, the otaku ghost looked up and smiled at him.

Uncle Zhang: "..."

“Let's say, for example, that the person behind the Daoist calculated that Chen Yuan might become a vengeful spirit, so they sent the Daoist to capture the ghost. But did they consider that the Daoist might not be Chen Yuan's opponent at all, and might even become Chen Yuan's nourishment?” Zhang Gu thought for a moment. “No matter how you think about it, that person has bad intentions.”

“Maybe he actually wanted the Daoist to become nourishment.” Shen Chang'an frowned. “I have a feeling that the person behind all this actually wants Chen Yuan to become a vengeful spirit.”

“What good would it do him if Chen Yuan became a vengeful spirit?” Uncle Zhang said. “He can't eat or drink, and he can't be used as a servant ghost. A ghost with a special birth chart like Chen Yuan, if he becomes a vengeful spirit, it will only cause endless trouble. If the underworld's ghost messengers can't handle it in time, I don't know how many people in the metaphysics world will have to be sacrificed to subdue him.”

"However, according to the Book of Life and Death, his lifespan hasn't ended yet. If he truly turned into a vengeful ghost…" the Yin officials wouldn't be able to discover it in time. By the time they realized the severity of the situation and rushed over, it would probably be too late. Thinking about this, Zhang Gu's face turned extremely ugly. The person behind this, their intentions were truly malicious.

"Doing something so harmful to others and not beneficial to oneself, not only harms one's Yin virtue but also incurs karma. What is that person trying to achieve?"

"Normal people can never fathom the thoughts of a madman." Shen Chang'an turned to look at Yan Yin, who had remained silent, "Master, what are your thoughts?"