Striving for Science C75

"Chang'an, you were very sick this time. The master was worried about you and took care of you day and night without rest." Shen Tu saw the situation was not right and quickly stepped forward to help Dao Nian, "Look how happy he is to see you awake!"

Shen Chang'an nodded dazedly, rubbing his head. "On the plane... how is there a bed?"

"Oh, this is Sir's private plane, it's normal to have a bed." Shen Tu secretly glanced at Dao Nian's expression, seeing that he wasn't unhappy with his explanation, he continued, "Why don't you rest for a while? You have to report back to the department tomorrow. You're in such a bad state, you can only take another day off."

Hearing the word "sleep," Shen Chang'an drifted off to sleep. Dao Nian extended his index finger and gently tapped it between Shen Chang'an's brows, slowly injecting spiritual energy into his body.

"Sir, since the remnant of the Great Dao has disappeared, why is there still a restriction left by the Great Dao on your body?" Seeing that Shen Chang'an had fallen asleep, the smile on Shen Tu's face disappeared. "Could it be... that there is more than one remnant of the Great Dao?"

Otherwise, how could the remaining remnant easily appear and be caught by Sir?

"It's fine." Dao Nian placed Shen Chang'an's hand inside the blanket and said calmly, "The Great Dao gave me the best gift. I'll tolerate his remaining remnant playing hide-and-seek with me."

"Gift?" Shen Tu's mind couldn't quite grasp it. "What gift?"

Dao Nian didn't speak. He looked down at Shen Chang'an on the bed, his eyes filled with tenderness.

Shen Tu seemed to understand something, but he didn't want to understand, so he looked up and to the side.

***

Shen Chang'an felt like he was woken up from a daze to eat, someone carried him to brush his teeth, wash his face, and wash his feet, then stuffed him back into a warm and comfortable bed.

His body cycled between fatigue and comfortable sleep, as if only sleep could replenish the lost strength in his body.

"Chang'an has been sleeping for two days and two nights. What did he do? Why is he so tired?" Shen Tu squatted by the door, munching on melon seeds, and said to Yu Lei, "While we were gone, did any other species come to visit?"

"Yes, the elder of the Beast Clan yao came to apologize every day, and the elder of the Bird Clan wanted to come and see that... little phoenix." Yu Lei frowned. "Also, the King of the Underworld sent a divine tablet a few days ago, saying he had important matters to report."

The Underworld has a special status, guarding the six realms of reincarnation. Although in human literary works, the Underworld is often portrayed as a lower realm, in reality, the Underworld and the Heavenly Realm are on equal footing.

Now that the Heavenly Realm has perished, the Underworld is still intact, which shows the special nature of the Underworld.

"The six realms of reincarnation have their own laws. Mr. Shen never interferes with the affairs of the Underworld. The King of the Underworld should understand this. What could he possibly want to see Mr. Shen for now?" Shen Tu paused his melon seed cracking and shoved the lazy snack box filled with melon seeds and shells into Yu Lei's hands. "Let's go, we'll report this to Sir."

Yu Lei: "..."

Why does everyone get to see Mr. Shen, while I get stuck with the snack trash?

***

Using his mortal body and the power of word magic to try to break the restriction left by the Great Dao on him, if he were an ordinary human, he would have died of exhaustion the moment he uttered those words.

He only guessed about Chang'an's identity, and it wasn't until last night that he was truly certain.

The Great Dao had long foreseen that the human race would prosper, so he bestowed this life force upon humanity. He is the Heavenly Dao, and as humanity develops, their slogan is "Man will conquer Heaven."

Chang'an was born... to be his nemesis.

He can restrain his power, restrain his abilities, and even potentially destroy him. When a new order is born in the world, the Great Dao can be reborn, and humanity will only think that they have ushered in a new era in the apocalypse.

As for the possibility that the new order might cause the extinction of countless creatures in the world, the joys and sorrows of these creatures hold no weight in the Great Dao's heart. He never has and never needs to consider them.

The life force created by the Great Dao himself is not actually the life force of all things, but his own. And to him, this life force is nothing but a killing force.

But thinking of the spiritual blessing Chang'an had poured everything into giving him, Dao Nian pressed his hand against his chest. There was no heart in his body.

Until two nights ago, when he placed Chang'an's blessing into his chest, the blessing grew within his body, becoming a golden, pure, beating heart.

"Chang'an, will you... kill me?"

The sleeping Shen Chang'an couldn't answer Dao Nian's question.

***

The next morning, Shen Chang'an, who had caught up on his sleep, climbed out of bed and had just finished breakfast when Shen Tu shoved him into the car.

"Chang'an, you're going to be late."

"Wait, I have something to tell Dao Nian…"

"Hey, don't wait, you can tell him tonight when you get back." Shen Tu closed the car door. "I put the gifts you got for your colleagues in the trunk, we'll take them up together later."

If he kept talking, some things would be exposed.

As soon as Shen Chang'an returned to the office, he was warmly welcomed by his colleagues. Of course, the most popular thing was the gift he brought.

"You were gone for so long, we almost thought you'd stayed in the capital and wouldn't come back." Chen Panpan said, "We went to eat cold pot fish the other day, even the owner was asking where you went?"

"No way, after I went to report my work, the leader thought I was too handsome, so he sent me back." Shen Chang'an said with a chuckle, "So I can only retire with you guys."

"Ugh, I told you not to hang out with Ding Yang all the time, you wouldn't listen. Look, you haven't learned anything except his shameless ways." Chen Panpan put a box of cookies on his desk. "Try these, my friend made them."

Shen Chang'an reached out and took a bite, it tasted pretty good.

"My friend is a big demolition tycoon, she's very beautiful, and her family probably has tens of millions, maybe even close to a hundred million in assets. When she came to our department to hang out with me a while back, she thought you were pretty good and wanted to be friends with you." Chen Panpan said after Shen Chang'an had eaten two cookies. "Guys are lining up to chase her from the beginning of the street to the end, are you interested?"

"Cough, cough, cough!" Shen Chang'an choked on the cookie crumbs, his eyes watering. He took several sips of water before he could swallow. He shook his head repeatedly. "Panpan, next time you say something like this, can you give me a heads-up?"

"A girl with money, a career, and looks, you really aren't considering it?" Chen Panpan said, "You know, to protect your privacy, my girl treated me to a seafood feast, and I didn't even give her your contact information."

"A woman that rich, a man would be under a lot of pressure being with her…"

"Nonsense, a man who says that is just sour grapes." Chen Panpan rolled her eyes. "It's not like she'd even look at any man."

Ding Yang instantly cowered: "I was wrong, I was wrong."

Shen Chang'an coughed: "Panpan, please tell your friend I'm sorry, I don't have any plans to be with a girl."

"You're... a single-minded person?" Chen Panpan suddenly realized. "That's okay, it's good to get to know each other and be friends."

"Chang'an, are you really going to give up on this rich and beautiful girl?" Ding Yang was a little regretful. "I've seen Chen Panpan's friend, she's tall and beautiful, and she's not the kind of girl who's spoiled and arrogant just because she's rich. If you were with her, you could at least save yourself twenty years of struggle. If I could look as good as you, I would have already started eating soft rice*."

TN: an idiom for a man who lives off a woman's money

"Well, I don't really need to, because I'm already eating soft rice." Shen Chang'an said half-seriously, half-jokingly. "I'm eating my friend's soft rice."

Hearing this, Xu Ze, who was sitting next to him, looked up at Shen Chang'an.

"This is the first time I've met someone who eats soft rice and is so open about it." Ding Yang thought of the beautiful house where Shen Chang'an's friend lived. He wanted to eat soft rice like that too. 

"Since you're not willing, I can only go back and persuade my friend to give up this idea." Seeing that Shen Chang'an wasn't at all moved by his friend's conditions, Chen Panpan sighed, "Some men are attracted to her money, but she doesn't care. She's attracted to you and wants to win you over with money, but you're not moved. Sigh, human hearts are so complex.

What's so complicated? It all boils down to looks." Ding Yang raised an eyebrow. "If Chang'an looked like me, would she still be interested?"

Chen Panpan: "That's definitely not possible."

Shen Chang'an listened to their bickering, suddenly feeling dizzy, almost falling headfirst.

"Shen Chang'an, are you alright?" Xu Ze reached out to support Shen Chang'an's arm. "Your face looks a bit pale. Didn't you eat properly in the Imperial Capital?"

"It's nothing." Shen Chang'an leaned against the table, shaking his head. "Maybe I've been sleeping too much lately, and my brain is a bit foggy."

Ding Yang made Shen Chang'an a cup of sugar water: "Have some sugar water."

"Thank you," Shen Chang'an took a few sips from the cup, his complexion gradually returning to normal. He heard that a man who had failed to confess his love was threatening to jump into the river, and they needed to go check it out.

Shen Chang'an didn't want to stay cooped up in the office, so he volunteered to go to the scene. Seeing that he had recovered his usual spirits, his colleagues agreed.

When he arrived at the scene, there were already many onlookers gathered around. The man, with one foot on the bridge railing, yelled at the police trying to persuade him, "I want to see Lili, without her, what's the point of living!"

The onlookers pointed and gossiped, some saying the man was shameless, some saying he was lovesick, but most were just sighing, wondering which girl had been cursed with eight hundred lifetimes of bad luck to be entangled with this kind of man.

"This kind of man, he definitely wouldn't want to die," an old woman watching the scene, tucked her hands into her sleeves and said to the people around her. "His voice is so loud, and he's gripping the railing so tightly, he's clinging to life."

"I really want to kick him off," another bystander, a burly man, said. "Anyway, this bridge is only a few meters high, he won't die from the fall."

Pushing through the chattering crowd, Shen Chang'an heard a beautiful girl's voice.

"Whether you jump or not, I won't agree to be your girlfriend."

"I'm not your mother, why should I put up with you?"

"Your mom knelt before me begging me to be your girlfriend. You don't care about her, you just yell and scream at me to be your girlfriend. What kind of man are you?"

"Don't worry, even if you jump down and drown, only your parents will be sad for you." The girl was wearing a mask and glasses, not afraid of others taking pictures of her with their phones. "I don't want a man who wants to die as my boyfriend. I'm afraid that if it gets out, my other friends will laugh at me for having bad taste."

After saying that, she pulled the woman kneeling before her away, got into her own car, and drove off.

Everyone stared blankly at the departing sports car, then turned to look at the man sitting on the railing. Was he going to jump... or not?

Taking advantage of the man's stunned moment, Shen Chang'an quickly rushed out, pulling the man hard off the railing. The man's head hit the ground with a dull thud.

"Son, why are you so foolish? That kind of woman, rich but heartless and frivolous, what good could she possibly be?"

Hearing his mother's words, Shen Chang'an remained silent.

Birds of a feather flock together. If he were a member of that girl's family, he might take this opportunity to kick this guy a couple of times.

After the farce ended, Shen Chang'an walked back along the river path. After walking for a while, he noticed something was wrong. Wuming City's environmental pollution wasn't serious, so why was the river water dark as ink?

And those large red flowers on the riverbank, they were all handmade, why couldn't he see a single leaf?

He stopped and looked carefully at the surface of the water. He didn't know if he was seeing things, but something seemed to be struggling beneath the water. Was it... a fish?

On the other side of the river, two people were slowly approaching. The person in the lead was...

Dao Nian?!