Striving for Science C103

"Old Zhang hangs out with those young ghosts who love the internet all the time, so his way of talking has become just like theirs," Director Wang sighed helplessly to his colleagues. "Luckily, I, Old Wang, am not a stuck-in-the-mud old man. I like to surf the net too, and I keep up with the latest slang. Otherwise, I wouldn't understand what he's saying."

"It seems like Old Zhang is very satisfied with Shen Chang'an's lover." The colleague nodded, "Although the gender is a bit off, as cultivators, we shouldn't be too bound by worldly rules. Who was it who said last time that Shen Chang'an's family ties were severed, that he was heartless and loveless?"

Director Wang glanced at the colleague who was bringing up a sensitive topic, coughed dryly to signal him to stop. "A person's destiny can change, it doesn't matter who calculated it, what matters is, what does Old Zhang mean by telling us this?"

Although their security department valued Shen Chang'an, they had no intention of monitoring him. Whether he was in a relationship or not, it wasn't their business. With Old Zhang's personality, he shouldn't be so nosy.

"Could it be that Shen Chang'an's lover is actually a god?" The colleague imagined an absurd possibility.

"You might as well say I'm going to become a god." Director Wang checked the time, it was almost dawn. He tapped his index finger on the table. "Call Old Zhang and get this cleared up."

"Okay." The colleague agreed and, in front of Director Wang, dialed Old Zhang's number.

The phone rang less than three times before Old Zhang answered. It seemed like he wasn't planning on sleeping tonight.

"I knew you guys would call. Ask whatever you want to ask."

The colleague pressed the speakerphone button, allowing the other people in the conference room to hear what Old Zhang said. His intuition told him that behind Old Zhang's seemingly calm tone, there was a hint of excitement, like he wanted to give them a scare.

"Daoist Zhang, it's like this, Director Wang wants to know why you specifically said that Shen Chang'an is dating a god?"

"Huh? Is there something wrong with that statement?" Old Zhang sounded like he had said something perfectly clear. "I think it's pretty good."

"It is pretty good, we just don't fully understand the 'god' part."

"Oh, it's just the literal meaning." Old Zhang's tone became even calmer. "Shen Chang'an found a boyfriend who's a god in heaven. The message I sent shouldn't have any ambiguity, right?"

Everyone in the conference room: "..."

"God, you mean the god we understand?" After a minute of silence, Director Wang, the highest-ranking person in the conference room, spoke in a weak voice. "Old Zhang, you can't be joking about this."

"Do I look like someone who would joke about this?" Hearing Director Wang's tone, which was both incredulous and hopeful, Old Zhang was satisfied. He couldn't let himself be the only one shocked by this.

"I wonder which divine lord it is in heaven?" Director Wang's mind buzzed for a long time before he managed to regain his composure. "I've lost my mind, this kind of question isn't appropriate to ask casually, it shows a lack of respect."

They didn't expect gods to actually bless them humans with anything, but the fact that a god was willing to date Shen Chang'an, a human, at least proved that gods still existed, and that humans hadn't been completely abandoned by them.

Ever since they could no longer invite gods, the question of whether humans were abandoned by immortals had been a heavy stone on the hearts of cultivators. Now, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Director, don't you think..." The colleague who made the call hesitated for a long time before finally voicing his thoughts. "Don't we look like relatives who rely on connections to secure their position?"

Director Wang: "..."

Although it was true, it was pointless to say it out loud.

We cultivators also have our pride.

After confirming the authenticity of this news, Director Wang didn't dare to publicize it. Firstly, he was afraid of causing trouble for Shen Chang'an, and secondly, he was worried that immortals would think humans were unreliable. So, he only dared to reveal the news to a few masters with high cultivation levels, and then he specially created an encrypted file for it, storing it in the security department's high-security database.

"Director, how many years should the encryption be set for?"

"Let's start with... a hundred years." Director Wang sighed. "A hundred years from now, even if the number of cultivators in the world dwindles, our descendants will still be able to rely on this confidential document to know that gods truly existed."

But who knows, by then, how many people will still be interested in the topic of gods and ghosts?

***

"It's been so cold these past few days." Back home, Shen Chang'an rubbed his hands, which weren't actually that cold, and turned to Dao Nian. "What do you think?"

Dao Nian thought for a moment and took out a piece of silk, the color of a rosy dawn. "Lay this on the bed, and it will make the whole room feel like spring all year round."

"Heh, an air conditioner can do that too." Shen Chang'an didn't take the silk, but turned and went upstairs, leaving Dao Nian standing there, bewildered.

"Sir." Old Zhao crept out from a corner and whispered to Dao Nian, "At a time like this, you should step forward and say you're willing to warm Chang'an's bed, be his personal little heater."

Dao Nian looked at Old Zhao expressionlessly.

Old Zhao coughed awkwardly. "These are just my immature suggestions, you don't have to take them seriously."

After a moment of contemplation, Dao Nian nodded. "You're right."

He then handed Old Zhao a bottle of pills and strode upstairs, eager to become Shen Chang'an's personal heater.

"Are the pills Sir gave you delicious?" Liu Mao leaned towards Old Zhao.

"Delicious." Old Zhao hid the pills. "But I won't give them to you."

Liu Mao: "..."

These gods, they're so wickedly clever.

***

When Shen Chang'an returned from his shower, he found a panda on his bed. The panda had all four paws resting on the pillow, its fluffy head tilted towards him, perfectly embodying the phrase "cute and cuddly."

"Didn't you bring out the spring-like bed sheet?"

The panda rolled over on the bed and snuggled into Shen Chang'an's arms.

"Cuteness overload, cuteness overload." Shen Chang'an rubbed Dao Nian's ears. "You, why are you so shameless now?"

"As long as you're happy, I can be shameless." The Dao Nian-panda nuzzled Shen Chang'an's cheek. "It's cold, let's sleep together."

"Sigh." Shen Chang'an hugged the panda, feeling like a powerless emperor, completely captivated by Dao Nian's ability to shapeshift, unable to even get angry.

After they lay down in bed, Dao Nian, the heater, did a great job, so they played a word game for a while.

For example, they'd spell out a Q, then another Q.

***

The next morning, Shen Chang'an, with a rosy complexion, sat in Shen Tu's car on his way to work at the Civil Service Department, his steps light as if he were about to fly.

His colleagues all teased him, saying he was glowing with love and that he should treat them to a meal.

"Treat you to a meal?" Shen Chang'an nodded. "Sure, what do you all want to eat?"

"I'm not picky, whatever you treat us to, we'll eat it." Ding Yangyang said with a grin. "But you have to bring your lover."

"Right, right, that's the key point." Chen Panpan chimed in, joining the chorus of excitement.

Sitting in the corner, Master Gao Shujuan watched these ignorant youngsters, silently shaking her head and sighing. Ignorance truly is bliss.

She had received the news last night and was so excited that she couldn't sleep a wink. When she got up this morning, her dark circles were even worse, making her look several years older.

Now, hearing that Shen Chang'an was taking his beloved to treat their department colleagues to a meal, a sense of "So even gods are so down-to-earth" washed over her.

In her decades of life, the most extraordinary person she had ever met was probably Shen Chang'an.

He could summon spirits and ask about the world, he could defeat plague gods, his whole being radiated a dazzling golden light of merit, yet he lived an ordinary life. His existence seemed to tell every cultivator that as long as they lived long enough, miracles would always happen in the world.

***

"Shen Chang'an! Shen Chang'an!" A furious voice roared in the void, calling out Shen Chang'an's name. He writhed in pain in the air, his body disintegrating and reforming again and again, until finally, he coalesced into a complete human form.

After removing the soul-splitting technique embedded deep within his soul, the man's face was pale, and even his soul power had weakened. He never imagined that after scheming for thousands of years, he would almost fall into Shen Chang'an's trap.

Shen Chang'an is currently just a mortal body, unable to fully grasp the Great Dao of Life, and naturally doesn't understand sorcery. So when he took Shen Chang'an to expose Dao Nian's true identity, he had no guard against him whatsoever.

But Shen Chang'an, who should have been ignorant of the arts of sorcery, had cast a soul-splitting spell on him, and he hadn't noticed a thing.

Over the years, he watched the Life Dao reincarnate as a human again and again, and each time, he let him die in solitude. In the bustling human world, the Life Dao experienced all the pain that humans could imagine.

But what he didn't understand was that, despite the unsatisfactory life in each reincarnation, the Life Dao still didn't give up on this world, as if the deceit and betrayal he had experienced didn't exist.

In the previous ninety-nine times, he watched the Life Dao be torn apart by chariots, beheaded, even burned, hoping he would become disillusioned with the living beings of this world, but he didn't.

Not once.

This life is the Life Dao's last chance, and it's also his last chance.

He had thought that the Life Dao and the Heavenly Dao shouldn't meet, and even if they did, it would be to clash and kill each other. But why could the heartless Heavenly Dao tolerate Shen Chang'an, and even after knowing Shen Chang'an's true identity, still choose the most disadvantageous path?

How ridiculous, the Life Dao and the Heavenly Dao actually fell in love.

Two Daoist paths destined to be incompatible from the moment of their birth, yet they fell in love?

He had schemed for so many years, endured so much pain and torment, and all because of their love, it had all become a joke.

If not for the meddling of the Life Dao, this disgusting and ugly world shouldn't have existed in the first place.

Those ignorant things think he hates Heavenly Dao, but what he truly hates is the Dao of Life.

A world like this, if it's destroyed, so be it. Why waste a hundred lifetimes of reincarnation to save it?

"You." The man shattered the void, appearing before the old woman at the head of the bed.

The old woman at the head of the bed knelt before a dilapidated stone statue, using a brush to touch up the paint that had faded beyond recognition. When she saw the man appear, she carefully put down her brush and looked at him with fear and trepidation.

"What's the point of patching up a god statue without divine power?" The man kicked the statue with his toe, and it split in two, falling into the dirty mud.

"Because of human offerings, you, the bed-side goddess, had a bed-side god to keep you company, and because of human forgetfulness, the bed-side god disappeared." The man sneered, "If you truly cared, you should have let this world disappear sooner, so I could create a world for gods."