Sage 1
A CASE FROM A SOUTHERN CITY landed in the SID’s lap. Someone down there was keeping a ghoul as a pet, resulting in negative societal repercussions. Chu Shuzhi took Guo Changcheng on a business trip there, and the two of them were gone for over a month before they finally managed to resolve the issue.
Despite how long Guo Changcheng had been working at the SID, there’d been no notable improvement in his abilities. His colleagues sometimes wondered if he and Xiaomi, the newest member of the team, had been born in the same litter—Xiaomi being a year-old Samoyed puppy.
What the pup lacked in intelligence it made up for in appetite. It had been a stray that someone found and turned in to the police station near Bright Avenue, where it had stayed, unclaimed, for a month…during which time it had eaten the police department out of house and home. The cops had suspected the dog was there as some sort of scam. One thing led to another, culminating in Zhao Yunlan bringing it to 4 Bright Avenue to entertain Daqing.
Xiaomi ate and drank without a care in the world. Chu Shuzhi, before leaving to deal with the pet ghoul, had spent over a month teaching the pup to sit and shake hands, but when he got back, he realized that Xiaomi’s brain was on a timed reset or something. The dog’s only two unlocked skills were once again grayed out and unavailable.
Guo Changcheng and Xiaomi’s shared inability to learn new tricks seemed to hint at a mutual ancestor eight hundred years back.
Luckily, though, Guo Changcheng had a portable magical weapon.
The Netherworld had nearly been destroyed in the catastrophe with Chaos. In the aftermath, Shen Wei had almost single-handedly established a new system for the Netherworld. After that, although he rarely made an appearance or involved himself in its business, the Netherworld no longer dared show him even a hint of disrespect. The Soul-Executing Emissary, whom all Three Realms feared, was now even more powerful and venerated than before; naturally, this meant that collecting lost pieces of souls was effortless for him. All the pieces he collected went straight to Guo Changcheng’s little stun baton to fuel the conversion of fear into power.
Once Chu Shuzhi returned to the office, he started watching stock reviews and scrutinizing the candlestick chart, leaving all the work to someone else. Guo Changcheng, on the other hand, patiently began filling out reimbursement forms and attaching receipts. It took him a long time, so when he went looking for Zhao Yunlan to get a signature, he found the office across the hall locked.
Zhao Yunlan was gone again.
Guo Changcheng ran a hand through his hair. “Director Zhao isn’t here?”
Without looking up, Zhu Hong said, “Officially, he’s off picking up the keys for our new office today and has to do a final inspection. Plus he’s moving today—ugh, why does this always freeze up? I hope we have better internet in the new place.”
Daqing, who was chasing Xiaomi all over the room, screeched to a halt upon hearing this explanation. He looked over and asked, “And unofficially?”
Despite the trace of jealousy in Zhu Hong’s tone, she clearly savored the words as she said, “He got fucked so hard that he can’t get out of bed, duh.”
Shock made Guo Changcheng tremble and miss his chair when he tried to sit. He nearly fell on his ass as it rolled away.
Zhu Hong gave him a bombastic side-eye. “Our boss is that fucking gay. What’s there to be shocked about?” Then, changing the subject, she said, “Hey, how’s the internet for you guys? The speed is really ticking me off today.”
“It’s pretty slow,” Chu Shuzhi agreed.
Lin Jing, whose game was sucking up all the bandwidth, kept his mouth shut and tried not to draw attention to himself. But it didn’t take long before Zhu Hong figured it out and gave him a good smack.
As punishment, Lin Jing’s computer was disconnected from the internet. His only option was to choose from among the offline games on his computer, like Plants vs. Zombies…which earned him another smack, this time from Chu Shuzhi.
Head down on his table, Lin Jing sobbed. “I can’t keep living like this.”
“You’re just too idle. Xiao-Guo, stop writing that report. He’s got nothing to do, so give it to him.”
Guo Changcheng looked at the teary-eyed Lin Jing with a good-natured chuckle. “It’s okay, I’ll do it.”
Lin Jing flopped on the table and stole a glance at Guo Changcheng. A bit of time passed, and then he glanced at Guo Changcheng again. Guo Changcheng was quietly typing away. He was a slow but meticulous worker, so he looked extraordinarily calm.
Unable to help himself, Lin Jing stood up and reached across the desk to pluck a strand of hair from Guo Changcheng’s head.
“Aiyou!” Guo Changcheng yelped, looking lost.
“I’m, uh…doing an experiment,” Lin Jing laughed.
“His hair smells exactly like sheep’s wool when it’s burned,” Chu Shuzhi said, not even looking over. “There’s nothing different about it. It’s just part of his meat sack. He gets one every time he reincarnates, so why would it be special? Shallow.”
“How do you know what it smells like?” Lin Jing asked. “Did you already try burning it?”
Chu Shuzhi’s silence said it all.
“Actually, I still don’t get it.” Lin Jing fiddled with the stolen strand. “How could such a fine young man be…” He sighed. “Xiao-Guo, do you feel there’s anything unique about you? Something different from everyone else?”
Everyone was too afraid of disturbing Guo Changcheng’s peaceful state of mind to dare mention the Soul-Guarding Lamp in front of him. Guo Changcheng, of course, wasn’t sure what they were talking about. Confused, he asked, “Does being a little slower than everyone else count?”
“But…” Lin Jing paused. Guo Changcheng was the wick of the Soul-Guarding Lamp; Kunlun-jun had personally confirmed it. The wick had experienced countless brushes with adversity over hundreds of lifetimes, but his heart always remained unchanged. It had earned merits comparable to Nüwa’s, yet Guo Changcheng himself was unlucky and didn’t lead a particularly auspicious life. He remained quiet and toiled in obscurity, with all his merits going to the Soul-Guarding Lamp.
Lin Jing shut his mouth. If Guo Changcheng found out what he was, what would he think? If he knew that he had collected enough merits over his lifetimes that he should at least be obscenely wealthy, or should’ve even ascended to immortality, but could only be an ordinary mortal in the Reincarnation Cycle because of the Lamp…would he still be so peaceful and happy?
Someone whose third eye wasn’t open, yet who could see through to the truth; someone quiet and unassuming, but blessed with great heaven-given merits. “But what?” Guo Changcheng was no less bewildered.