Just as we were about to eat, the song "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond" started playing; it was my mother's personal terminal ringtone.
"Hello? Yes, oh, it's Xiaoyuan."
Wu You remained seated, but he could clearly hear a somewhat aged and hoarse voice coming from the other end of the phone.
He exchanged awkward pleasantries with his mother.
'Wow, my cousin has gotten so old!'
His parents' youthful appearance often gave him the illusion that many things hadn't changed.
But what is the reality?
Having traveled through the universe and various worlds, Wu You's perception of time has become very different from that of ordinary people.
Everything in the Earth Sphere has long been on track.
But Wu You couldn't relax; the immense pressure kept the entire upper echelons of the Divine Realm very busy.
A terrifying theory has already been proven.
If this universe is destroyed, then the beings on it will be like skinless hair, and their very existence may be erased. The few who manage to escape and reach the realm of true gods will only be able to flee to other worlds and become homeless dogs.
For this reason, he once frantically searched for the existence behind the main god, but the main god was like a machine with a set program, only able to operate on its own.
He had also found other worlds of similar level, but their conditions were even worse than his own, and he couldn't find a "savior" for those worlds.
He had personally visited the "reality" where the Supreme God selected reincarnators; it was nothing more than another version of his own universe.
In the Samsara Squad, the Central Continent Team and the North American Team have completely become Wu You's undercover army. The other Samsara Worlds are also filled with their own dispatched "special agents," as well as various mythical projections or clones.
Human governments in the Earth Sphere have changed hands time and again, until now.
The history of the Divine Realm is already an established "official history".
Wu You is never idle; in fact, he is getting busier and busier, and there are not many days like today when he can go home for a meal.
"Aunt, my father... he's gone..."
After exchanging pleasantries on the phone, Zhang Xiaoyuan paused for a moment before uttering this sentence in a low voice.
Wu You was taken aback. Uncle?
"Clatter".
The mother's personal terminal slipped from her hand and fell onto the table, but she quickly picked it up.
Zhang Xiaoyuan on the phone seemed to have heard the sound as well.
"Aunt, are you still listening?"
"Listening... When did this happen? Why weren't we notified before?"
The mother's eyes had already begun to redden, and she was suppressing a sob.
"It was an acute illness, it came on quickly, just last night, and I didn't even have time to tell you. Dad passed away peacefully, surrounded by eight generations of his family..."
The mother was already sobbing softly, while the father, Wu Jianguo, was comforting her.
Wu Jianguo picked up the phone.
"Xiaoyuan, we're coming right away."
After hanging up the phone, Wu Jianguo glanced at Wu You.
Are you going or not?
"go."
Wu You stood up in silence.
The family lost their appetite for lunch and got up immediately.
Although Wu Jianguo and Zhang Guihua usually live like ordinary people, buying things and taking cars as usual, Wu You did not let them do so this time. Instead, he took his parents and disappeared the moment they stepped out the door. When he stepped out the other foot, they had already stepped into Zhang Xiaoyuan's house.
Zhang Xiaoyuan had a very large business a few years ago, involving the fabric industry on several planets, but he has been retired for more than 20 years and has handed the business over to his descendants.
But the Zhang family's residence was undoubtedly quite large.
The house is a villa, with the front door open, and there are many relatives and friends in the yard and inside the house.
There were at least a hundred people.
Zhang Guojun lived to be 186 years old, which is considered a long life for an ordinary person on Earth in this era.
In a world that values procreation, Zhang Guojun, who is nearly 200 years old, already has an eighth-generation descendant, making it an eight-generation household.
However, ever since my cousin Zhang Xiaoyuan left, all our relationships have become distant.
These are all nominally Wu You's relatives, and at least one bloodline can be traced between them.
Wu You looked at them carefully one by one, but unfortunately, he didn't recognize any of them.
All the relatives and friends were startled by the sudden appearance of three living people, but they were not too frightened.
After all, the times on Earth have changed. Magicians and immortals are everywhere, fantastical creatures roam the ground, and even the true gods are high above. Now, at most, it's like being scolded from behind while doing homework—startled but not afraid.
But the somewhat noisy conversation suddenly fell silent.
The fact that they can appear in this way means they're definitely not ordinary people; it seems like a very important person has arrived.
"You are... my cousin, and also my aunt and uncle?"
An elderly man stepped forward, his voice tinged with uncertainty.
After Zhang Xiaoyuan's business grew, many members of the Zhang family went to other planets. Only Zhang Guojun and Zhang Xiaoyuan, who later returned after retiring, remained on Earth.
We originally came back to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with our ancestor Zhang Guojun, but we ended up seeing him off on his final journey.
"Are you Tianbao?"
Wu You looked at the old man with a rare surprise.
This was the one who gave him the biggest headache back then, that little devil Zhang Tianbao. However, he was completely subdued by the Lion-faced Garuru, and from then on, he didn't dare to go to the Wu family during summer and winter vacations.
Zhang Tianbao rubbed his hands together somewhat nervously.
The three members of the Wu family were exactly the same as I remembered them, as if time had bypassed them.
He recognized her immediately, but was also a little hesitant to acknowledge her. Nevertheless, he stepped forward.
"Yes, it's me, Uncle. You haven't changed at all!"
The old man in front of me seemed to overlap with the mischievous child in my memory.
His mother patted the old man's head, just like she did when he was a child.
"Good, good, Tianbao! Your great-aunt hasn't seen you for so many years."
Little did they know how incongruous this scene appeared to others.
"Aunt, Uncle, Xiaoyou, you've come!"
The elderly Zhang Xiaoyuan came out of the house and seemed somewhat excited when he saw the three members of the Wu family.
With his gray hair and age spots all over his face, it was hard for Wu You to connect the robust, tough retired soldier he once was.
A younger person nearby quickly helped him up, afraid that he would fall.
"Come, come, don't sit outside, come inside!"
There were quite a few relatives and friends in the house, and the relationship was closer than with those outside. They were also much older than those outside.
When Zhang Guihua entered the lobby and saw the ice coffin, she could no longer hold back her tears.
Zhang Guojun lay peacefully in the ice coffin, like a sleeping old man.
He actually looks younger than his son, Zhang Xiaoyuan.
Wu You couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart.
Are you sad?
Perhaps so, but how intense was it? He couldn't say for sure himself, but he knew that his loved ones were lying in front of him.
"Aunt, Dad won't be happy if he knew you were crying like this..."
Among those present, besides the Wu family, only Zhang Xiaoyuan was qualified to persuade Zhang Guihua. However, Zhang Xiaoyuan's wife happened to be on another planet and hadn't had time to return.
Wu Jianguo saw cigarettes on the coffee table next to him, picked one up, took one out, and started smoking again after quitting for decades.
However, Zhang Guihua's crying suddenly stopped.
She turned her head and looked at her son, Wu You.
"Son, Mom knows you're a capable person, but I need to ask you for a favor today!"
"good!"
Before his mother could even say what she wanted, Wu You loudly agreed.
The people inside the room were chatting quietly or browsing the internet on their personal devices.
At this moment, everyone's attention was drawn to this place, including the younger generation in the courtyard who gathered at the entrance.
They had all heard of the Wu family to some extent.
Knowing that the older generation of the Zhang family actually had powerful connections, the ancestor's sister's family was a capable family. It was said that they were high-ranking members of the Ten Thousand Beasts Manor in the old Earth era, a level that ordinary people dared not even dream of.
The Zhang family's business network never relied on the Wu family's connections, but it's undeniable that they definitely benefited from them.
Wu You ignored the distant relatives around him, and did not use any fancy magic as others had guessed.
He only uttered one name.
"Mollian".
"exist!"
Almost as soon as Wu You finished speaking, a clear and melodious female voice, like that of a lark, responded.
There were no exaggerated special effects, no dazzling lights.
A stunningly beautiful woman dressed in a classic white robe, with a pair of deep black wings behind her, appeared beside Zhang Guojun's ice coffin.
She was kneeling on one knee in front of Wu You.
Morrigan, the goddess of war and death!
The air inside and outside seemed to freeze for a moment. Almost everyone knew the goddess Morian, including the Zhang family.
A fake? Absolutely impossible, especially on Earth.
No one would dare to do that!
After eliminating all other possibilities, the last one, however absurd, can only be the truth.
'This really is the goddess Morrigan!'
I pinched my thigh, couldn't believe it, and compared the results online... All these feelings intertwined and ultimately culminated in one emotion: astonishment.
After the initial shock, everyone was filled with a variety of complex thoughts.
Morrigan ignored everyone else; she only had eyes for her lord and his parents.
Wu You ignored the others.
"Let the underworld send my uncle back."
Morian stood up, glanced at the old man in the ice coffin, and then disappeared from the spot.
She went in person.
In the underworld, a soul recording room exclusively for humans, the officer was asking Zhang Guojun a question when suddenly the goddess Morian appeared and then vanished.
Before he could even utter the words "My Goddess" to himself, he discovered that the person he had entered had also disappeared.
Just a few seconds later, when Morian reappeared, there was an old man's phantom beside her wings.
"Nationalist Army!" "Dad!" "Grandpa!"...
Zhang Guihua and the others shouted excitedly as soon as they saw the illusory figure.
The old man's soul seemed not to have grasped the situation yet, but upon hearing many familiar voices, he came to his senses and looked around.
They were all his relatives.
Then look at the ice coffin in the center of the hall; isn't that my own dead self lying there?
"Sister, Jianguo, Xiaoyuan, Xiaoyou, Xiaobao... you're all here..."
The dead cannot communicate with the living, but those who stand in the shadow of the wings of the goddess of death are not affected by the laws of the world.
"Uncle, wait a moment, I'll bring you back to life now."
Even though he hadn't seen his uncle for many years, Wu You still considered him an important relative.
Upon hearing this, Molly didn't wait for Wu You to give any further instructions and waved her arm.
The ice coffin opened automatically.
The intense cold air inside suddenly wafted out, causing those nearby to shiver violently.
At times like these, it seems as if a sense of returning to normal arises.
The next step is to put Zhang Guojun's soul back into his body and then mobilize his life force to revive his body.
Everyone noticed this, and Zhang Guojun, being a ghost, naturally noticed it as well.
"Xiaoyou, no need."
The people around her, who were filled with complex excitement, were all stunned when they heard this, and even Morian's movements stopped.
She looked at Wu You questioningly.
"Why? Uncle, if you're worried about the underworld, you can rest assured. They won't dare say anything there, and from now on you won't have to worry about your lifespan!"
Wu You's words were spoken with great conviction, giving the listener the feeling that what he said was the truth.
Zhang Guojun's soul shook its head and smiled.
"Xiao You, although I don't know the details, I know you definitely have the ability. I do know the goddess Morian. Thank you, but it's alright!"
"Nationalist Army, you..."
"sister!"
Zhang Guojun interrupted Zhang Guihua.
"Sister, I've lived long enough, so long that sometimes I can't even remember which generation of my descendants I have. Books say that everyone wants to live forever, but when I reached 150 years old, I had already become indifferent to death."
"Xiaoyuan, Xiaobao, forgive my selfishness. I've been worrying for almost two centuries, and I'm tired... Going to the underworld and starting a new life journey might be the best choice."
"Sister, Jianguo, Xiaoyou, I'm sorry to have let you down!"
Zhang Guihua opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but no sound came out.
Wu Jianguo simply smoked a cigarette and nodded toward Zhang Guojun's soul.
"It's alright, Nationalist soldiers. We were selfish..."
Wu You felt a mix of emotions. He looked at his uncle, the man who used to take him around setting off firecrackers.
Inside and outside the house, some people were puzzled and others were full of longing when Zhang Guojun refused to be resurrected or live forever. It seemed that only those who were closest to Zhang Guojun could understand.
"Uncle, I respect your decision!"
Although I don't want to be resurrected, a brief reunion is still necessary, and this time is mainly reserved for my parents and my cousin Tianbao.
Wu Youze came out of the house, with Molly An following closely behind. She merged one of her feathers into Zhang Guojun's soul.
"Tell me, is immortality and eternal life a good thing or a bad thing?"
Molly tilted her head and thought for a while.
In the past, she would have definitely said it was a good thing, but what just happened made her think that way.
After a long pause, she concluded that neither of these two answers was the standard answer in this situation.
"have no idea!"
Wu You shook his head with a smile, but the smile seemed somewhat forced.
He didn't go back into the house, but instead chose to leave, leaving Molly to take Zhang Guojun back and his parents home when the time was right.
Wu You suddenly felt a sense of unease, perhaps thinking that as time went on, he would become more and more afraid of going home.
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