Striving for Science C50

The room was enveloped in a thick fog of vibrant colors. Shen Chang'an reached out for the little person for a long time, but couldn't grasp it. Suddenly, his expression changed. Perhaps it wasn't Dao Nian who was a yao, but a ghost who was trying to harm him.

Thinking about this, he staggered to his feet, his eyes scanning his surroundings with a wary gaze. "Get out! Stay away from him!"

Seeing Shen Chang'an shielding him, looking like a ferocious dog, Dao Nian turned to Old Zhao with a cold voice, "What did you give him?"

"I just gave him some Changbai Mountain fairy mushrooms, the kind that invigorate the body and mind." Old Zhao pondered for a moment, then slapped his forehead. "Oh no, I forgot Mr. Shen is human. Humans can't eat this kind of mushroom, they might get a little poisoned."

Watching Shen Chang'an throwing punches and kicks at thin air, Old Zhao's voice trembled slightly. "Really, just a little..."

"This thing has a slight toxicity, but he'll be fine after a good sleep." Old Zhao shrunk his slightly chubby frame, avoiding Dao Nian's gaze. "If it was truly harmful to humans, I wouldn't have dared to give it to him."

Dao Nian ignored him, reaching out to knock Shen Chang'an unconscious.

"As long as I'm here, none of you can touch a single hair on his head!"

Dao Nian paused, his gaze fixed on Shen Chang'an, who seemed a little off. His half-closed eyes slowly opened, and he looked up at the person standing in front of him.

In his pupils, he saw Shen Chang'an's complete form.

"Dao Nian, don't be afraid." Shen Chang'an took a deep breath, watching the little figures dancing on Dao Nian's body transform into three-headed, six-armed monsters. The wings on Dao Nian's back had become blood-sucking skeletons.

Dao Nian met Shen Chang'an's gaze, and through his eyes, he saw the world inside Shen Chang'an's mind.

It turned out that in Shen Chang'an's eyes, they were surrounded by monsters. These monsters had gaping maws, all wanting to devour him, the one sitting in the wheelchair.

"Get away!" Shen Chang'an reached out and grabbed a giant eagle, its wings stained with blood, its blood-red eyes filled with greed and desire for Dao Nian's flesh.

"Crack." Shen Chang'an tore the eagle's wings apart with his bare hands. Blood splattered across the ground. He wiped his face, his gaze fixed on the monsters around him, still roaring and contorting. "Your Dad has never been afraid of anyone. If you have the guts, let's go outside and fight."

If he couldn't even protect his best friend, what face did he, Shen Chang'an, have to stand in this world?

Suddenly, a malevolent ghost leaped out from the crowd of monsters. Shen Chang'an couldn't stop it in time. Seeing the ghost about to pounce on Dao Nian, he threw himself onto Dao Nian, shielding him from the attack.

"Ah!" Shen Chang'an let out a scream. He looked up at Dao Nian, whose face was pale, and gave him a faint smile. "Don't worry, I…"

Before he could finish, his head tilted, and he fainted.

Liu Mao, Shen Tu, Wu Qu, and the others heard the commotion and came out. The scene they saw was Shen Chang'an jumping around in the air, then collapsing onto the master, with a look of relief on his face, as if to say, "You're alive, that's all that matters," before passing out.

Did he just single-handedly perform a melodramatic tragedy?

"Has Mr. Shen been watching some heroic, tragic love story lately?" Shen Tu used his divine sense to communicate with Liu Mao. "Did Old Zhao secretly give him some alcohol?"

Liu Mao stealthily took a few steps back. "If you have the guts, go ask the master yourself."

Shen Tu glanced at Liu Mao, took a deep breath, and... also took a few steps back. He didn't have the guts.

"Master, it seems Chang'an has fallen asleep." Old Zhao saw Shen Chang'an "die" with a relieved smile, his body trembling. "He's fine, he'll be back to normal tomorrow morning."

"I know." Dao Nian severed his psychic connection with Shen Chang'an. He lowered his head and adjusted Shen Chang'an's "death" pose, making him look more comfortable in his "death." "From now on, you can't give him these things anymore."

"It was my oversight." Watching Shen Chang'an bouncing around everyday, almost making him forget that Shen Chang'an was human, not a god.

Humans have short lifespans...

Uncle Zhao glanced at Dao Nian, who had allowed Shen Chang'an to run wild for so long, and felt a deep unease. Humans have short lifespans, yet the master values him so much. When Mr. Shen grows old and faces death, will the master change the rules of human life and death, keeping Chang'an here?

But would Chang'an be able to accept such a long and meaningless life?

"Master, I'll take Chang'an back to his room…"

"No need." Dao Nian stopped Old Zhao's outstretched hand and vanished with Shen Chang'an before Old Zhao's eyes.

After Dao Nian disappeared with Shen Chang'an, Liu Mao and the others who had been hiding in the corner sneaked out.

"Old Zhao, what did you do to Mr. Shen?" Liu Mao recalled Shen Chang'an's earlier appearance, "Mr. Shen doesn't seem quite right."

"I accidentally let Chang'an eat some mushrooms that humans shouldn't eat too much of."

"No wonder there are fewer humans worshipping you now." Liu Mao raised an eyebrow, "As the Stove God, you make food that can poison people. Who would dare to believe in you anymore?"

"Well, I was once glorious." Old Zhao held up the empty bowl on the table, "It's better than being nameless and faceless on the list."

Seeing that their conversation might veer towards "My ancestors were once rich" territory, Shen Tu said, "You two should say less. If you wake Mr. Shen up..."

The two of them shut their mouths. They weren't afraid of Mr. Shen, but they were afraid of the Master.

Wu Qu had only been here for a short time, and although he had seen the way Shen Chang'an and the Master interacted, today was the most shocking.

He had heard many rumors about the Master: he disliked noise, disliked creatures getting close, was stoic, and certainly didn't care about the affairs of living beings.

In the eyes of both gods and yaos, the Master was the embodiment of Heavenly Dao, a symbol, an existence that had gained sentience but lacked joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness.

But today, when he saw the Master reach out to hold Shen Chang'an, preventing him from falling out of the wheelchair, a thought suddenly crossed his mind: did the Heavenly Dao Lord truly lack emotions, or did other living beings simply assume that he had no emotions and shouldn't have any?

When living beings encounter misfortune, they curse the heavens for being blind and the Heavenly Dao for being heartless. But what is having emotions?

Allowing living beings to take without restraint, ultimately exhausting the energy of heaven and earth, leading to the final demise of all living beings, is that having emotions?

To make the world run in an orderly manner, with birth and death, is that being heartless?

***

That night, Shen Chang'an slept very restlessly. One moment he was the prince of a giant kingdom, the next he was a pitiful young man waiting for a knight to rescue him.

He lay on the windowsill, waiting and waiting, finally a knight came, but unfortunately, this knight had a disability in his leg, he couldn't climb the tower to save him.

"Brave young man, please jump down from the tower, I will catch you."

"What if you can't catch me?" Shen Chang'an asked in a loud voice.

"If I can't catch you, I will use my own body to protect your safety."

Shen Chang'an hesitated for a moment, but still didn't jump.

"Brave young man, please believe me, I am the knight who came to save you."

"I came for you…"

That sentence, "I came for you," kept circling and echoing in his mind. When Shen Chang'an opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful and exquisite ceiling, and... Dao Nian's expressionless face.

He abruptly sat up from the bed, his brain momentarily starved of blood, dizzy and disoriented, he stumbled towards the ground. Luckily, Dao Nian was sitting beside him, so he fell into Dao Nian's arms, a little below his chest, a little below his abdomen.

Dao Nian smelled clean, but the position was a bit awkward. Shen Chang'an propped himself up with his hand and sat upright, pretending nothing had happened: "Dao Nian, how did you get into my room?"

"Do you need me to help you recall?" Dao Nian didn't seem to find the position where Shen Chang'an had fallen into his arms awkward at all. He looked at him calmly, waiting for his reflection.

"Last night..." Shen Chang'an suddenly remembered. Last night, he and Uncle Zhao were caught by Dao Nian while sneaking food, and he also discovered that many monsters wanted to eat Dao Nian. In the end, he used his body to block the fatal blow for Dao Nian...

He touched his back, it was clean and dry, without any pain.

Shen Chang'an felt like his memory was a bit off: "What happened last night?"

"You ate the poisonous mushrooms cooked by Old Zhao and had hallucinations." Dao Nian handed him a glass of water: "Drink it."

"What is this?"

"Poison to cure poison," Dao Nian said, his face cold and hard.

Shen Chang'an picked up the bowl and drank the water inside in one gulp. Hmm, this is pretty sweet.

"Was the noodle good?" Dao Nian asked.

"Good, good." Shen Chang'an was an honest child.

"Want more?"

"No... no more." Seeing Dao Nian's face getting worse, Shen Chang'an felt that if he dared to say "yes," Dao Nian might fly out of his wheelchair and smash his head.

"You've grown up, you even know how to sneak snacks with Old Zhao." Dao Nian put the empty bowl aside. "You're so capable, you can continue eating tonight."

Shen Chang'an shook his head violently. He never wanted to be so humiliated again.

“Last night…” After a while, seeing that Dao Nian’s expression had returned to normal, Shen Chang’an whispered, “No one else knows about the things I did after I started having hallucinations, right?”

"What do you think?" Dao Nian lifted his eyelids and glanced at him, "Heh."

Shen Chang'an: "..."

"Oh my god, I've made a fool of myself." He mumbled under his breath, "I told you uncle Zhao's friend is unreliable. Fresh mushrooms in the middle of winter, claiming they're from Changbai Mountain. These hallucinogenic mushrooms are clearly from Yunnan, a fake and inferior product, they're deadly."

"You." Dao Nian sighed, listening to Shen Chang'an's mumbling, "Alright, go back to sleep."

"Is uncle Zhao alright?" Shen Chang'an lay down in the covers, his big eyes looking at Dao Nian who was tucking him in, "He ate more than I did last night."

"He's fine, he won't die." Dao Nian patted him, "Shut up and sleep."

"Oh." The hand that Dao Nian patted him with seemed to have magic, Shen Chang'an fell fast asleep in an instant.

***

In the kitchen, Shen Tu looked at Old Zhao who was eating from a large basin: "Old Zhao, keep eating, there are five basins left. Mr. Shen is so generous to you, giving you so much of this rare fairy mushroom, are you touched?"

"Ugh!" Old Zhao covered his throat and vomited into the trash can.

He didn't want to hear the words fairy mushroom anymore, he didn't want to touch this thing for another five hundred years.

"Continue." Dao Nian, his face expressionless, appeared at the kitchen doorway. "Eat more of what you like, don't stop.

Old Zhao: "..."

The biggest regret of his life was bringing a human child to eat indiscriminately, especially this one, who was raised by the Master.