The story afterward
The two didn't drive home until late at night.
Yu Miaomiao, wrapped in Jiang Chengyi's coat, looked tired. Her phone was filled with phone calls and WeChat messages from company employees, but she had no intention of calling back.
She tossed her phone aside and moved her left hand slightly.
Jiang Chengyi immediately removed his right hand from the steering wheel and grasped hers.
He asked in a low voice, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
His face was expressionless, his phoenix eyes filled with a deep sadness, but it wasn't that he didn't care about Yu Miaomiao; rather, he was in so much pain and helplessness that he no longer had the strength to control his expression.
Yu Miaomiao shook her head, "No."
Her voice was hoarse, perhaps because she had just been crying, or perhaps for some other reason.
She said, "Jiang Chengyi, you won't die anytime soon."
"Anything can happen in the future. Perhaps there will be new technologies or elixirs that can extend human lifespan."
Jiang Cheng was stunned.
Yu Miaomiao continued, "You still have several decades to live. In these decades, I will try my best to find a way to make you live a long time."
He stepped on the brake and looked at Yu Miaomiao. Her deep green cat-like eyes were looking at him with utmost seriousness. He knew that what his lover said was not comfort or perfunctory, but a real promise.
He opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but didn't know what to say.
The heart that had been numb with pain, making Jiang Cheng wonder if it had stopped beating, started beating again, and a warm feeling welled up inside.
Finally, he bent down and hugged Yu Miaomiao.
"Miaomiao, thank you."
Jiang Chengyi's voice was hoarse, "I was being too pessimistic."
Yes, there are still many years left, and no one can predict what the future holds. Why jump to conclusions so quickly and cause your loved one to suffer?
Yu Miaomiao held Jiang Chengyi's shoulder, tilted her head up and kissed his reddened eyelids, comforting him: "Don't be sad anymore, we will definitely find a way."
Jiang Cheng closed his eyes, then opened them and smiled.
"……good."
For the sake of his loved one, he decided to stop being sad and look forward to a future full of endless possibilities.
Even if that beautiful future may only exist in fantasy.
-
The next day, Yu Miaomiao fell ill.
Jiang Cheng woke up on time and found that the person next to him was burning hot and had a flushed face, as if he had a fever.
He woke her up, "Miaomiao, how are you feeling right now? Are you in pain?"
Yu Miaomiao opened her eyes with difficulty, her expression hazy, clearly disoriented. "My body hurts so much, I can't move... What happened to me?"
Jiang Cheng's heart was filled with alarm bells. Since Yu Miaomiao obtained her inner core, her health had been exceptionally good, and she had never been sick. This symptom was very strange.
Could it be a side effect of the transplant?
Without delay, he dressed Yu Miaomiao and rushed downstairs to the hospital as quickly as possible.
After performing a simple examination on the semi-conscious Yu Miaomiao, the doctor exclaimed, "Strange, since this morning, the hospital has been receiving patients with this condition. She is the ninth one already."
Jiang Cheng held Yu Miaomiao in his arms, his expression serious. "Doctor, she had an inner core transplant surgery. Is it related to this?"
The doctor shook his head. "It's probably not related. None of the patients with the same symptoms have had an inner core transplant."
"However, they all have one thing in common: they had done strenuous exercise the day before."
He then reviewed the medical records of several previous patients, saying, "This one fought a monster, this one climbed a mountain, this one participated in a marathon..."
He asked Jiang Chengyi, "Did she do any strenuous exercise yesterday?"
Jiang Chengyi was silent for a moment, then said, "Last night... I should say I did some strenuous exercise."
The doctor said, "That's right. Let's hospitalize him for observation first, and then we'll find the cause."
Yu Miaomiao lay down on the hospital bed, received two IV drips, and her condition improved a bit. She was no longer drowsy, but her body temperature was still abnormally high.
Jiang Cheng kept a close eye on her condition and immediately noticed that she was conscious. "Miaomiao, are you feeling better now?"
Yu Miaomiao propped herself up on the hospital bed, raising her upper body, her breathing heavy, "It hurts so much."
Jiang Chengyi placed a pillow behind her. "Where does it hurt?"
She frowned, trying to describe the pain: "My veins feel swollen, like they're about to burst."
She had experienced similar pain before.
This happens when you consume too much Moon Dew before you have an inner core.
Jiang Cheng tried to analyze, "Could it be that you accidentally ate some food with too much spiritual energy?"
Yu Miaomiao thought for a moment and replied, "I've never eaten it."
As they were discussing, the doctor pushed the door open and came in.
"The cause of the illness has been found!"
He said, "You guys should look at the headlines."
Yu Miaomiao opened the Monster Headlines with a puzzled look, and the first news item was a standard sensational headline.
[A resurgence of spiritual energy? A major global upheaval may be imminent!]
She clicked on it and found that spiritual energy stations all over the country had detected a significant increase in spiritual energy concentration, ranging from a minimum of two times to a maximum of dozens of times.
She scrolled to the bottom and found the data for City A. Today's spiritual energy concentration was five times higher than yesterday's.
Jiang Cheng also opened Toutiao (a Chinese news aggregator), and the effects of the rising spiritual energy were also reflected in human news.
[Attention Jiangxia District residents! Three wild boars have escaped from the zoo. Please lock your doors and windows and minimize going out.]
The green belts have grown wildly overnight, making some roads impassable.
[Early ecological protection measures are showing results; a national first-class protected animal has appeared in the wetland park]
At this point, the doctor spoke up: "I suspect that the concentration of spiritual energy has increased dramatically, and the increased metabolism caused by strenuous exercise has led to the absorption of too much spiritual energy at once, which is why you are experiencing symptoms such as weakness in your limbs and distending pain in your meridians."
Subsequent detailed examinations confirmed the doctor's diagnosis.
Since it wasn't an illness, the doctor prescribed some medicine to soothe Yu Miaomiao's meridians and sent her home.
In the car, Yu Miaomiao rolled the window up as wide as possible, felt the air outside, and sniffed, "Why can't I feel any increase in spiritual energy?"
As Jiang Chengyi drove, he said, "I have read the relevant literature. Through the excavation of various historical sites, scholars have deduced that the concentration of spiritual energy began to decline at a slow rate about 3,000 years ago. By 600 years ago, the concentration of spiritual energy had become so thin that it was almost non-existent. Because there was not enough spiritual energy to stimulate the relevant sensory organs, the monsters born after that have lost the ability to sense spiritual energy."
Yu Miaomiao asked, "So, if I'm stimulated by a sufficient concentration of spiritual energy, I'll be able to sense it?"
Jiang Cheng nodded slightly. "Very likely."
The car made a turn and then braked suddenly.
Ahead, a tall camphor tree lay broken and lying across the road. Its branches and leaves were so lush that it was startling, and many leaves were a tender green, clearly having just sprouted.
Beside it was a double-flowered cherry blossom tree. Although it was already November and the flowering season had long passed, its branches were covered with varying shades of pink, and the fallen petals were quite beautiful.
Crowds gathered in the middle of the road, noisily taking photos and checking in.
A reporter happened to be passing by, and her voice came into the car.
"Dear viewers, I am currently at the cherry blossom tree site on Wenzhi Street. According to videos taken by netizens, we can see that this cherry blossom tree was less than three meters tall yesterday with sparse branches and leaves. Overnight, it grew to five meters tall and was covered with beautiful cherry blossoms, which is truly breathtaking. The camphor tree next to it also broke and fell to the ground due to the excessive weight of its newly grown branches and leaves..."
Yu Miaomiao stared at the cherry blossom tree, lost in thought, seemingly pondering something.
Jiang Cheng took advantage of this time to ask for leave from school. "Miao Miao seems very interested. Shall we go down and take a look?"
Yu Miaomiao looked away. "Let's go home."
They took a different route home, and Jiang Chengyi immediately noticed the fish tank that was completely overgrown with aquatic plants.
He removed most of the water plants, leaving enough space for the two little goldfish inside.
He and Yu Miaomiao caught these two goldfish together and had raised them for many years.
Yu Miaomiao ran into the study, where the sound of clattering keyboards soon filled the air.
Jiang Cheng assumed the other person was dealing with company matters and didn't disturb them, so he started cooking.
After he finished, he knocked on the study door. After a while, Yu Miaomiao came out, her eyes sparkling, looking very happy.
Seeing the other person happy, Jiang Chengyi couldn't help but smile as well, "Did the company receive a big order?"
She shook her head. "It's not a company matter."
What is that?
Yu Miaomiao revealed a rare sly look, "I'll tell you in a few days."
-
The few days Yu Miaomiao mentioned actually amounted to a month.
In the past month, news about various strange phenomena has been increasing. Jiang Cheng has seen the changes in the spiritual energy concentration in City A, which has increased 80 times compared to the beginning.
Yu Miaomiao stayed in her study the whole time, didn't even go to the company, went to bed very late, and made frequent phone calls.
However, his mood became increasingly depressed and dejected. Every time Jiang Cheng asked him, he only received the answer "It's nothing".
His anxiety grew.
That evening, Jiang Chengyi, as usual, pruned the overgrown pothos in the corridor while observing the activity in the study.
He could hear Yu Miaomiao talking on the phone; through the heavy wooden door, he could occasionally catch a few words.
"Really?"
Do your friends know?
Any clues are welcome.
"OK, thanks."
Yu Miaomiao's voice grew softer and softer. After hanging up the phone, she slammed her fist on the table a few times, followed by silence.
Jiang Chengyi's hand was already on the doorknob. He wanted to push the door open immediately, ask her what had happened, and comfort her.
Just then, the door opened, and Yu Miaomiao stood behind it, her breath low.
Jiang Cheng asked cautiously, "Miaomiao, are you alright?"
"fine."
Yu Miaomiao let out a heavy sigh. "I'm going out for a bit."
She walked past the other person, went to the door, and began to put on her coat.
Jiang Cheng couldn't help but chase after him, "What is it? Can't you tell me now?"
Yu Miaomiao turned around. Her face was pale, but her eyes were bright, filled with a determined look of desperation.
"Wait for me a little longer. When I come back, whether I succeed or fail, I will tell you everything."
After saying that, she pushed open the door and walked out.
-
Jiang Cheng stood there, his mind replaying Yu Miaomiao's last glance, his thoughts swirling.
Finally, he entered Yu Miaomiao's study.
The two knew each other's passwords, so Jiang Chengyi easily unlocked Yu Miaomiao's computer.
The first thing he saw was a paper interface. He scrolled to the top and saw the title: "Reconstruction of the spiritual energy concentration in the late Eastern Han Dynasty based on carbon-14 dating of bamboo and wooden slips from the Western Jin Dynasty in Luoyang". He flipped through several other papers, all with similar themes, such as "Estimation of the surface spiritual energy concentration in the Central Plains in 200 AD - Based on the elemental anomalies of bronze artifacts from the Han Dynasty tombs in Xuzhou".
A question arose in Jiang Chengyi's mind: why did Yu Miaomiao need to check the spiritual energy concentration from so long ago?
He opened his browser again, and the interface was still densely packed. He randomly clicked on one, which was a forum that only monsters could enter, and the title of the post was very long.
[Li Tao, what changes will this recent resurgence of spiritual energy bring to the world? Will the human Taoists who can cultivate, as described in elementary school textbooks, become a reality?]
There are many comments below:
[Hilarious! Even if the spiritual energy concentration increases a hundredfold, humans still can't cultivate. Meridians are fundamental; do ordinary people even have them?]
[Seconded. While an increase in spiritual energy does have some benefits for the human body, cultivation is nonsense.]
Not necessarily. My grandfather said he once had a Taoist friend who lived for three hundred years.
Is your grandfather out of his mind?
My grandpa isn't stupid, your dad is the stupid one for giving birth to such a big idiot like you.
[I am XXXXX]
...
The two sides argued fiercely until a reply appeared:
[Please stop arguing, everyone. This is what I research. All I can say is that, according to verifiable historical documents, when spiritual energy reaches a certain concentration, a very small number of exceptionally gifted humans can indeed cultivate. However, the methods for absorbing and circulating spiritual energy have long been lost and are unlikely to be rediscovered. Therefore, it's practically equivalent to humans not being able to cultivate.]
The following is overwhelmingly in agreement.
Jiang Chengyi seemed to have a premonition of something. His hand holding the mouse trembled slightly. He scrolled to the bottom and saw the last reply.
YM: [What if?]
An unbelievable guess welled up in his mind.
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