Chapter 68 Part 2
Shi Xuan nodded, scrolling through his recommended videos.
Then his eyes widened.
On screen was a handsome young man, performing a vibrant shamanic dance, similar to the Nuo opera exorcism ritual, a fan-made video of Wu Heng, set to music.
The teachers nodded appreciatively, he danced so well, and the young people today looked healthy and beautiful, a good era.
Shi Xuan swiped to the next video.
Wu Heng appeared again, connected with a young woman, teaching her how to burn offerings for her parents who wanted a grandson.
He paused, then swiped again, another Wu Heng video, telling Su Chenyu he would become half-human, half-fish.
A student down below said, ‘The algorithm seems to recommend based on user preferences.’
Shi Xuan: “…”
Yes, he was interested in these.
‘Haha, that’s enough, we’re content,’ the oldest teacher smiled, standing up and smoothing his bloodstained long gown.
A lost generation, finding solace and hope in glimpses of the future.
The teachers stood and looked at the beautiful buildings on screen, the school motto on the wall, so familiar.
Their school might be destroyed, but their ideals lived on, rebuilt from the ruins, enduring, eternal.
Wu Heng, standing at the top of the human tower, took out ginger slices from his pouch and tossed them to the cheering crowd.
The sun shone brightly on him, his sweat-glistened skin almost glowing.
Wu Heng looked at his arm, then up at the sky, squinting.
His power seemed to have increased.
Tourists scrambled for the ginger slices, their faces flushed with excitement.
Wu Heng lightly stepped onto the shoulders of the performers below, gracefully descending from the eight-meter high tower, the Nuo opera procession continuing, their journey through the eighteen villages.
The tourists, awestruck, clutching the ginger slices, declared, “Worth it! This trip was absolutely worth it!”
Wu Heng returned to Nan Nuo, exhausted. Zhou Yi brought him food.
Ignoring his sweat, he ate quickly, his phone charging beside him, starting his live stream.
He saw the comments about the fog at Jiaming High School dissipating.
The principal connected and asked urgently, “Doctor Wu, can we enter now?”
Wu Heng looked at the school on screen, the fog indeed gone.
“No, their souls need to return by themselves. You can’t retrieve them with their physical bodies. Something needs to… guide them back.”
This was soul retrieval, calling the souls back, not fetching them.
The anxious parents immediately thought of their black pets.
Those with elderly parents even offered to bring their black donkeys.
A parent’s love. Wu Heng quickly finished his meal. “Let me teach you how to fold paper cars.”
[Doctor Wu worked so hard today, dancing and traveling all afternoon, his stamina is incredible.]
[I understand the parents, their children have been unconscious for days!]
[Where are the snakes today? I always see them in his live stream. That white one loves stealing food.]
[I want to learn how to fold paper cars!]
Wu Heng took a small piece of yellow paper, his fingers moving deftly, then with a push, formed a car.
A true origami artist.
“Fold seven each,” Wu Heng instructed, “Write your children’s names, birth dates, and student IDs on small pieces of paper and put them inside the cars.”
“And… make them twenty times larger.”
The parents immediately bought large sheets of paper, spreading them on the ground, and clumsily started folding, finally finishing after much effort, the Taoist priest burning them.
Several school buses appeared on the school’s sports field. The students’ souls, overjoyed, rushed towards the buses and found their seats.
‘Goodbye, teachers,’ they said, no longer afraid of the blood-stained figures.
They had watched a movie together, after all, a bond formed.
‘We’ll study hard when we get back, no more slacking!’
‘Go, and live good lives,’ the teachers said, smiling as they watched the buses leave.
Then, satisfied, they turned to the waiting Yin messenger.
‘We’re ready now, Master.’
Yuan Song, his lantern in hand, looked back at 014, who was perched on the wall, observing, “We need to go to the Special Events Management Bureau at the police station first before we can go to the underworld.”
The lead teacher was surprised. ‘What?! Yin messengers and the police working together now? Haven’t they gotten rid of these superstitions yet?’
Yuan Song: ‘…’
Yin messengers were still ghosts, despite not fearing the police’s righteous energy, it was best to be discreet.
That was the advantage of being a Live Impermanence. His soul could interact with the police without any problems.
These intellectuals should have reincarnated, but they were somehow sent to the school, trapped, someone must be behind this.
But they cooperated with the Yin messenger, replaying those videos of a happy future in their minds before entering Yuan Song’s lantern, which instantly became heavier.
Yuan Song returned to 014’s side, ‘Master, I’ll share two souls with you.’
One out of ten, as agreed earlier.
014 said, “No need.”
Yuan Song was surprised, this workaholic, always complaining about his job, turning down free merit points?
Something was wrong, this wasn’t like him at all.
Yuan Song: ‘It’s still this month, should I add them to next month’s quota then?’
014 said, slightly annoyed, ‘No, I don’t want any, they’re all yours.’
Then he added, ‘Haven’t you heard? ‘Even pigs can fly with the right wind.’ Back when I died, eighty years ago, ghosts everywhere, easy merit points, I could just pick them up while sleeping…’
‘My rank shot up like a rocket back then. You can’t reach my level, no matter how hard you try.’
Yuan Song, looking at the spirits in the lantern, said, ‘That’s… nice.’
014, after a pause, nodded, ‘Indeed, very nice.’
The ideal work ethic was minimal effort, maximum results.
School buses emerged from the school, the parents squinting, they couldn’t see clearly, just blurry figures.
Wu Heng stretched. “Whip them with scholar tree branches, that’s all.”
The parents and the netizens watching couldn’t see them, but the practitioners and Taoist priests present were drenched in cold sweat.
The school gate was swarming with the students’ souls, like dismissal time, a potential disaster zone if any of them turned vengeful, yet they were docile as rabbits now.
The practitioners had no solutions, but Wu Heng, miles away, had easily solved it.
They wanted to recruit him so badly.
The parents, also unable to see the souls, blindly whipped the air with the branches they had prepared.
‘Ah—!’
Cries of pain echoed as the students’ souls, clutching their backsides, rushed back to their bodies.
The students woke up, exclaiming, “I shall study for the rise of China!”
“From today onward, I’ll strive for excellence, a strong youth makes a strong nation!”
The parents holding the branches: “…”
What?
After having their souls wander for days, why this sudden surge of patriotism? Should they still whip them or not?
[Hahaha, they’re all so motivated now! Shouldn’t they be traumatized after being out of their bodies at school?]
[What happened in there? Someone tell us what they saw!]
[I suddenly want to send my son there to experience this.]
Wang Pengzheng’s parents, seeing the students waking up, energetic and motivated, turned to look at their son.
Wang Pengzheng, hugging Hei Bao, “What?”
They thought, perhaps they should have let Pengzheng stay unconscious a bit longer, Hei Bao wouldn’t have injured its leg.
The school gate was a scene of heartwarming reunions.
He Yunxiao, watching, suddenly remembered Xi Xi. She went with Da Bai to the well behind the school, to purify the black mist.
Seeing that the fog was gone from the live stream, he figured it was safe now, he should go and pick them up.
As he drove towards the school, passing by Shi Xuan’s house, he almost didn’t recognize it, “Driver, back up, let me take another look.”
The driver reversed, and He Yunxiao peered out the window.
He rubbed his eyes, “Holy crap, wreaths?!”
Vaguely seeing funeral wreaths and chanting Taoist priests, his mind raced.
It looked like a funeral, but also not quite.
As his driver continued towards the school, He Yunxiao quickly sent a message in the group chat.
[He Yunxiao: @SX, why are there wreaths at your house? Is your father dead?]
Only two possibilities. He Yunxiao chuckled and sent a voice message, “Congratulations, Young Master Shi, your father kicked the bucket, freedom! CEO Shi now!”
Li Hao and the others, seeing the message, immediately chimed in with their congratulations.
Shi Xuan: “That’s my funeral.”
