Striving for Science C113 pt2

Back home, Shen Chang'an couldn't resist the sleepiness anymore, and fell asleep on the bed.

Before falling asleep, he didn't forget to tell Dao Nian, "Remember to wake me up like a prince kissing a princess."

"Okay." Dao Nian gently held his hand, watching him fall into a deep sleep.

Dao Nian stayed with Shen Chang'an for the whole night, the next morning, he leaned down and kissed Shen Chang'an's lips, but he didn't wake up.

After infusing his spiritual energy into Shen Chang'an's body, Dao Nian released his hand and silently walked downstairs.

"Master." Liu Mao walked up to Dao Nian, "Since yesterday afternoon, the little phoenix hasn't eaten anything, should we ask someone from the bird tribe to take a look?"

"No need." Dao Nian glanced at the little phoenix in the bird's nest, "He'll eat properly when Chang'an wakes up."

"Although he hasn't gained sentience yet, he still knows what's good for him." Liu Mao smiled, "Anyway, this little phoenix has been fed fat by Chang'an, he won't starve to death if he doesn't eat for a day or two, how's Chang'an doing?"

"His divine consciousness was forcibly awakened, his internal organs need to be reorganized by spiritual energy." Dao Nian looked at the falling snow outside the window, "He'll be fine."

Once Chang'an wakes up, he can build snowmen with him.

"It's okay, it's okay." Liu Mao's words trailed off, he was afraid that Chang'an would forget this relationship after he recovered his divine body, what would his master do then?

But seeing the calmness in his master's expression, he knew he couldn't say that.

He took the ambrosia that the little phoenix hadn't finished for his reincarnation, turned around and stuffed it into the parrot's beak, "Your kid didn't finish his food, you can have it."

Fei Ying didn't say a word, she just buried her head and drank.

It didn't matter if it was just this morning's mango sago, even if it was from a hundred days ago, she would happily finish it. After drinking the ambrosia, she used her beak to smooth her feathers, "Is Mr. Shen alright?"

Liu Mao shook his head, changed the little phoenix's food, and went out. Seeing Old Zhao humming a tune while secretly pulling up the scallions he planted in the flower bed, he couldn't help but say, "Chang'an is injured, why are you singing?"

"Chang'an is about to recover his divine body and will be able to stay with the Lord forever, of course I'm happy." Old Zhao shook the dirt off the scallion roots, "Let's have scallion noodles tonight."

Liu Mao: "..."

If Shen Chang'an doesn't eat, are they only allowed to eat noodles?

"Have you considered that Chang'an might forget this relationship after he recovers his divine body?"

"He's recovering his divine body, not losing his memory." Old Zhao paused, then pretended to be calm, "Don't talk nonsense, spit, spit, spit, get rid of the bad luck."

"Spit, spit, spit." Liu Mao wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Don't bring up superstition."

"A Kitchen God, a Divine Ox, and they're against superstition?!" Wu Qu walked over, pointing at his phone, "You guys should see what the mortals are speculating about what happened yesterday, it's hilarious."

Old Zhao and Liu Mao glared at Wu Qu, leaning in, "What are they saying?"

Wu Qu opened a post titled "In Memory of My Daoist Friends Who Prevented the End of the World," where the poster vividly described how he and his Daoist friends stopped the apocalypse, weaving in a tale of love and sacrifice, culminating in their collective demise for the sake of world peace.

It sparked countless laughs from netizens.

Netizen 11: Didn't we agree that this would be our eternal secret, and we wouldn't tell anyone until we die?

Netizen 118: I am the jacket the poster is wearing, I can testify, what he said is true.

Netizen 396: Since someone has come forward to tell the truth, I should also tell a secret. Do you remember the end of the world rumors twenty years ago? Actually, the end of the world did come, but we changed the course of the world, so you think it was just a joke.

Netizen 1057: Don't talk nonsense, there's no such thing as the end of the world. Experts have already said that the large-scale failure of electrical appliances across the country yesterday was caused by the movement of planets, which caused magnetic field disturbances. This kind of situation is rare in a thousand years, and it doesn't have any harm to the human body.

Netizen 1066: Brother 1057, you look so serious, like someone who puts screen protectors on the street.

The netizens downstairs continued to brag and boast, some said they were the class monitor of the Immortal Cultivation class, and others said they were actually a Buddhist cultivator, and they had specifically chanted scriptures to pray for world peace yesterday.

Wu Qu also took the opportunity to join in the fun, replying in the post: "Actually, I am the legendary Wu Qu star, the disaster yesterday was too serious, I couldn't solve it either, in the end, it was the Heavenly Father and his boyfriend who together eliminated the big villain, bringing peace to the world."

This comment quickly got buried in countless replies, without attracting anyone's attention.

Netizens will never know that among their joking posts, a few people spoke the truth.

"Sigh, it's so hard to tell the truth, no one believes me." Wu Qu put away his phone regretfully, turning to see Old Zhao and Liu Mao still looking at their phones, "Are you still reading?"

"Who wants to see it, I'm not that bored." Liu Mao stood up straight and turned to leave.

"I should go cook." Old Zhao shook the scallions in his hand, as if he wasn't among the people who were watching the excitement just now.

***

Ordinary people don't know that after the incident, the higher authorities took away all the surveillance videos in Wuming City, and discovered a strange piece of content in the surveillance videos.

Director Wang looked at the gray-clothed man who appeared in front of Shen Chang'an in the video, and then the two disappeared from the video together, his expression was a little heavy.

Soon the video footage became blurry, this was also the moment when the world became chaotic. Later, the surveillance video even stopped working, fortunately, this surveillance camera had a backup battery, which would automatically activate after a power outage.

In the following time, they saw Civil Service Department staff rushing out, people coming and going in the surveillance footage, Shen Chang'an never appeared.

About two hours later, a crack suddenly appeared in the originally empty space, a man with a blank expression came out carrying someone wrapped tightly in a blanket. He saw the man lift his head, as if he had noticed the surveillance camera.

Through the screen, Director Wang had a strange feeling, as if the other party was looking at him behind the screen.

He checked the time, it was exactly when the world returned to normal.

He dragged the progress bar back, the surveillance video showed Master Yun Feng and other masters, although he couldn't hear what they said, he saw the solemn expressions of these masters bowing to the two.

Shutting down the video, Director Wang knows, if this video is given to the higher-ups, it will cause a huge sensation.

Shen Chang'an is still young, he saved the world.

But is this kind of sensation something Shen Chang'an would enjoy?

The office phone next to him rang. Director Wang looked at the caller ID, took a deep breath several times, and picked up the phone. After a brief conversation, the other party asked him if he had noticed anything strange in the video, any people or events.

"For now... we haven't found anything." Director Wang looked at the video where Shen Chang'an suddenly vomited blood, "Due to magnetic field disturbances, some monitoring equipment stopped working at the time, so relying on these videos, we probably won't find any useful information."

When the world faces difficulties, we shouldn't place all our hopes on one person.

No one should bear the responsibility for the world for a lifetime.

Director Wang sat quietly in the room for a long time, finally he moved the mouse and completely deleted the video.

The world is peaceful now, this child is still young, his life from now on should be filled with delicious food and travels to famous historical sites around the world.

After doing all this, Director Wang let out a long sigh.

He didn't know if what he did was right or wrong, but... he felt that as long as Shen Chang'an didn't want to, he wouldn't reveal this secret until his death.

***

The other masters who made the same choice as Director Wang also deliberately avoided mentioning Shen Chang'an's saving the world when reporting to their superiors. They only said that Shen Chang'an had provided great assistance during their summoning of the gods, and they applied for a large sum of reward money for Shen Chang'an.

A young man, enjoying his divine love, shouldn't be burdened by these trivial matters. We old guys are here to handle them.

They didn't tell anyone about what they did, but Heaven knows, Earth knows.

***

On the third morning, Dao Nian kissed Shen Chang'an on the forehead: "You've reincarnated for them for a hundred lifetimes, they're not entirely without merit."

Shen Chang'an had been asleep for three days, and the snow in Wuming City had fallen for three days.

Dao Nian sat on the balcony, watching the snow in the courtyard. If Chang'an didn't wake up tomorrow, he would have to break his promise to take his friend out for dinner.

Footsteps echoed from the stairs.

Old Zhao, who was cooking in the kitchen, stopped what he was doing and rushed out.

The little phoenix in its nest excitedly flapped its wings.

The door gods guarding the entrance, Wu Qu, who was curled up in a corner reading online gossip, all looked towards the stairs.

The young man, wearing pajamas, had jet-black hair and a faint smile on his lips, radiating a more ethereal aura than before.

They all knew that the one descending the stairs was no longer Shen Chang'an, but the Life Dao.

Dao Nian sat in the chair, looking up at the young man standing on the stairs.

The young man turned his gaze towards him, then tilted his head, remaining silent. The room was deathly quiet, everyone hoping he would speak, yet fearing his words.

"I slept for a long time?" The young man looked at Dao Nian, who was sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window. Behind Dao Nian, snowflakes were falling, covering the entire courtyard in a pristine white.

"Not long." Dao Nian's voice was calm, but he crumpled the book in his hand.

"Oh." The young man nodded, walked down the stairs in a few steps, reached the front door, pulled it open, and snowflakes, driven by the wind, landed on his face.

Seeing this, everyone's hearts sank, he... was leaving?

Dao Nian slowly stood up, he took a few steps forward, wanting to stop him, not letting him leave, but looking at the young man's smiling lips, he stopped.

"Uncle Zhao!" Shen Chang'an shouted, "It's snowing so heavily, let's have hotpot tonight!"

After saying that, he beckoned to Dao Nian, "Come on, let's build a snowman."

"Not changing clothes?" Dao Nian walked to his side and took his hand.

"It's nothing, I'm not afraid of the cold anymore anyway." Shen Chang'an smiled and dragged Dao Nian to the snow, his divine body was so useful, he didn't feel cold even wearing thin pajamas in the cold wind.

"Dao Nian." Shen Chang'an helped two large snowmen put on straw hats, turning his head to look at Dao Nian, "Thank you."

"Thank me for what?" Dao Nian reached out to brush the snow off Shen Chang'an's hair.

"Thank you for coming to my side after I was single for ninety-nine lifetimes. You changed my fate of being a single dog for a hundred lifetimes." Shen Chang'an reached out to hug him, "I love you."

Turning around, he wrapped his arms around the person in his embrace. Dao Nian slowly curved his lips, "You're welcome."

"I love you too."

Snowflakes drifted down, covering both of their hair.

"It's a pity I can't grow old with you." Shen Chang'an looked at Dao Nian's hair, which was white with snow, "As compensation, I'll accompany you to the end of the world, okay?"

"Okay."

Dao Nian thought, every winter, when they built snowmen together, it was like they were growing old together.

But a year, ten years, a hundred years, none of that counts as growing old together. Only when we stay by each other's side until the end of the world, that's forever.

"Sir, Chang'an, let's eat hotpot!" Old Zhao stood under the eaves, laughing as he called out to the two.

Shen Chang'an looked up, seeing everyone in the room with smiles on their faces, and the little sparrow that had somehow perched on the parrot's head, peeking out from the corner of the doorway.

"Coming."

Shen Chang'an smiled.

On a cold snowy day, eating hotpot with the people you love and care about is the perfect match.