I was stunned. I admit I’m a bit of a plebeian and my grades weren't great—but I was a science student, for crying out loud! Seeing an ancient Egyptian skeleton extract the DNA of my mountain-sized boyfriend just felt… wrong. You can just *pull* DNA out like that?!
Ren Xing shot me a sidelong glance. "Of course not. This is just a magnified three-dimensional projection."
Holy crap! I’ve only ever seen that in movie special effects! You might as well have told me it was my boyfriend’s actual DNA! Is it really okay for ancient Egyptians to come pre-installed with such advanced tech?
Ren Xing huffed. "Two-thirds of ancient witchcraft and Daoist arts are correct, while eight or nine out of ten modern scientific theories are wrong. We simply tend to call the rules we can explain and understand 'science,' and the phenomena we can't explain 'witchcraft.' But perhaps the reason witchcraft seems ridiculous or even terrifying is simply due to our own ignorance. Just because we can't decipher it doesn't mean there isn't a logical set of rules behind it."
I still couldn't believe it. "You’re using witchcraft to… understand his DNA?"
The mummy’s hollow eye sockets stared at me for a long while before he suddenly realized something. "You mean the Life Line."
"The Life… Line," I repeated blankly.
He humbly swept his hand across that endless red double-helix beam of light. "Every form of life in this world was born here. The lotus, the butterfly, the bird, the fish. We observe all things in the world and through them, we come to understand God. In fact, we are fortunate enough to harbor some of God's secrets within our own bodies as well." He bowed to me.
I didn't understand.
"The Alu gene sequence," Ren Xing explained. "Only a small portion of every human's genetic code can be expressed. The rest doesn't participate in life activities at all and is considered junk. Within that junk, the most frequently repeated sequence is the Alu code. In truth, that sequence belongs to God. It’s the default configuration humans received when they were created. If there were a way to make the Alu sequence express itself, we would evolve into inconceivable beings."
A flash of realization sparked in my mind. "You?"
Ren Xing nodded. "Me."
"Your genes were fully expressed, so you became near-divine?"
He gave a faint smile, his gaze incredibly gentle. "Lu Daoshi gave me the genetic key, and he was punished for it. I must save him, and I must do everything in my power to change all of this. Last time, Lu Daoshi gave us the spark of fire; this time, he gave us the power to become gods. I don't want this eon to end in such a muddled, senseless way—Ye Xiao, perhaps the two of us are already the last two humans left in this world." He turned his gaze toward my mountain-like husband, watching him for a long time, before giving me a punch on the shoulder. "Don't let our myth end in a tragedy."
With that, he yanked Lao San—who had been clinging to Old Liu's body and wailing his eyes out—down from the mound, leading the snot-nosed kid toward the exit. "We still have to find the rest of the Great God's body parts scattered across the lands. Time is running out. Jörmungandr has already smelled his blood."
"Be careful."
He waved a hand dismissively. "I won't fall until the mission is complete. Once the Royal Physician finishes sorting through this, we’ll have his genetic code and all his body parts. Then we can find a way to stitch the severed pieces back together. Since Zhang Litian could condense Gungnir from a single drop of your blood, there’s no reason we can’t repair him."
I looked back at the mummy, who was magnifying, inspecting, and organizing the DNA light projection frame by frame, then turned to watch Ren Xing’s retreating figure. I felt a profound sense of reverence for that hardworking pile of bones and the disappearing back. One of them had died over five thousand years before me, living in an era of stone and pottery where even bronze was rare, yet his understanding of the world was far deeper and broader than mine. As for Ren Xing, I felt he possessed the very quality Lu Daoshi hoped to see in me. Lu Daoshi had always held expectations for humanity; I think the person he was waiting for was someone like Ren Xing—perhaps just one among the masses, perhaps possessing countless human weaknesses like me, but someone who could emit a spark of light even in the darkest abyss.
The thing Lu Daoshi called a "miracle."
I didn't know if that thing existed within me.
I bypassed the Royal Physician, who was busy working on the craggy mound of earth, and walked to a corner where no one could see me. Then, I gently buried my face in the velvety meadow. Breathing in the fine, lingering scent of the green grass, I gripped the soil tightly and began to cry silently.
*I want you to come back. I’m terrified of the brutality of the apocalypse and my own cowardice, but I don't know what to do. Everyone is working so hard, but I’m just a bystander. I’m still so useless.*
*I wish you were by my side…*
I stayed buried in the grass at the foot of the mountain for a while. After a good cry, I felt slightly less suffocated. Opening my eyes, I unexpectedly saw a newly sprouted mushroom. A drop of water sat atop its cap—it seemed to be one of my tears.
I gave it a gentle flick. "At least you kept your word."
Just then, Lao Da called out to me from a distance. "Come over and take a look!" He sounded very happy.
As I ran over, I felt the ground beneath me shudder violently. Many rocks tumbled off Old Liu’s body, nearly crushing us. The Royal Physician’s lower half was smashed apart again; feeling sheepish, I picked up his tibia, wiped it on my T-shirt, and handed it back to him.
"What was that just now?"
Lao Da’s expression soured slightly. I still remembered the composed, scholarly aura he had back at the university, but now he frequently showed this look of alarm. Although he still hid it well in front of me, always chatting and laughing with elegance, that confidence was now weighed down by a heavy uncertainty. Knowing he couldn't hide the truth this time, he pursed his lips and shook his head. "The Midgard Serpent."
We all chose silence. In the days to come, it would only grow more restless, right beneath our feet.
"What did you want me to see?"
Lao Da cheered up again. "This place is practically a museum."
He opened a space before me. I stepped inside and found that it actually had walls. Not just walls, but sculptures too. Two figures, their features heavily weathered and unrecognizable, sat upon thrones. "This is…"
Lao Da said with a beaming smile, "It's you two."
I was touched, but… "His skirt is a bit long…"
Lao Da smiled regretfully. "No, that’s not his. That’s yours."
"..."
Lao Da: "But given your personality, you probably rarely walked the earth in the form of a goddess, except perhaps during the matriarchal period. You were always competitive, trying every means to prove you were superior to Father. But Father couldn't be subordinate to you, so the two of you ended up confusing the simple ancient laborers who saw you."
"Uh…"
Lao Da: "Unfortunately, there weren't many civilizations that figured out your gender. Perhaps only the Babylonians honestly recorded that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were a pair."
Me: "They also tended to exaggerate my heroic deeds."
Lao Da: "No. The gods in myths were always incredibly violent. That wasn't an exaggeration at all."
Me: "..."
After that, I spent my time lingering in front of those ancient sculptures. I didn't know why Old Liu had the hobby of collecting them. Lao Da believed that looking at this past history might help me remember something, but because I always looked lost, he had to take matters into his own hands. He began deciphering the ancient scripts on the statues and steles, hoping to find Old Liu’s true name. I simply spent my time looking up at those weathered or broken sculptures.
It was strange; they had actually once been us.
We looked… surprisingly…
"Surprisingly what?"
"…Divine." After saying it, I startled and whipped my head around. "Senior Brother!"
Lu Daoshi was standing behind me, hands lazily stuffed in his pockets, looking relaxed.
I was so happy to see him!
I felt there was a damn good reason he was called the protector and guide of humanity! A damn good reason!
I vented my woes to him. "Lao Da found these statues and thinks Old Liu’s true name might be carved here!"
He chuckled. "And what have you discovered?"
Lao Da’s voice drifted over from the distance, sounding amused. "Star charts; annual documents measuring water levels; decrees regarding marriage; sacred peace treaties; requests for more… lettuce to grow next year?"
They found it heartening. I did too, at first. But as I laughed, the smile faded. I sat down by Old Liu’s feet, huddling there listlessly. Senior Brother sat down beside me. Lao Da’s footsteps gradually faded away. In this long corridor filled with sculptures from different eras, only the two of us remained.
"I don't know if I can pull this off. I feel like I’m pathetic. I can't save Old Liu, and I certainly can't save the world or stop Orochi," I said honestly.
"You definitely can." Lu Daoshi looked at me. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have accomplished a single thing in this entire life. Think about it—how trivial your life has been. Eating, drinking, being a shut-in, being poor, having bad grades… even in video games, you’re a total klutz who gets called an idiot by elementary schoolers. If nothing unexpected happened, you would have spent your life in mediocre toil. You’re quite tragic."
I felt dejected. I knew Lu Daoshi was right.
"But you don't need to feel too inferior. Many, many people in this world go their entire lives without ever accomplishing a single thing."
This didn't comfort me at all, because those many people were all dead now. Only Ren Xing and I were left to save the world, and only I was left to crack the code of Old Liu’s true name. It was as if the whole world had tilted and was resting on me, and I was such a fragile foundation. I had many, many flaws, and selfishness was one of them. To be honest, I didn't even care if I could save the world; I just wanted to save Old Liu.
"None of that matters," Lu Daoshi told me. "Since ancient times, the sharpest and most brilliant minds have tried their hardest to hide one thing from all of humanity: there is no meaning to being alive. They laugh, they cry, they succeed or fail, they mock the summer cicada for not knowing the passing of seasons. But look—in an instant, it’s all gone." His gaze became incredibly pitying. "So, the apocalypse isn't such a tragic thing. It’s like when the bar closes, I leave. When the people are gone, they’re just gone."
I told him that was the most malicious thing I had ever heard. Nothing before it compared, and nothing after would either. "I thought you had a very high opinion of humanity."
"I do. I love them very much. You must realize that we gods are no different from them. We don't even have the power to leave. Chaos and Order fight eternally; there’s no meaning in that either. I’ve felt that way for a long time."
"Then what do you find meaningful?"
"You." Lu Daoshi stared at me with a beaming smile. "You."
He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. "Ye Xiao, I used to be your… neighbor. When Liu Wukong was out conquering everything, I was in my cave, agonizing over my thoughts, so things were very peaceful between us. When I realized my thinking was also meaningless, I went outside and found you playing amidst the lava. You were happy, Ye Xiao. You were a fool; your IQ was low, and you were overly emotional. You were essentially a pile of junk that Liu Wukong had discarded. But you were happy. You ate sulfur in the bay while waiting for him to return. When you saw him, you’d be overjoyed; when he fed you, you’d practically blow bubbles from happiness. When I told you that you were something Liu Wukong didn't want, you cried and chased him for half a century. And then, something miraculous happened—you forgot everything and happily pressed your head against his again, screaming with joy. I have never seen a creature as happy as you."
He slowly exhaled a puff of smoke. "So I thought, it’s a good thing that the summer cicada knows not the seasons. The thing that every one of us, even the gods, spends everything to pursue—it’s right there in you."
"What thing?"
"Happiness," Lu Daoshi said. "So, I wanted to see what kind of happiness a group of little people made in your likeness could create."
"First of all, I don't feel happy." I looked at the distant "Big Liu" and couldn't help but start crying. "I think I have terrible luck."
"Because your happiness is always brief and trivial. When you recall those moments, you can't find any meaning in them."
I rolled my eyes at him. "You just said that there’s no meaning to life, even for gods."
"Because meaning is always found in what we leave behind," he said. "Look, everyone in this world lived trivial lives. Eating, drinking, sleeping, raising children… even the heroes and generals only had a few short decades, which to you are but moments forgotten in the blink of an eye. But do you know how many miracles I’ve seen along this journey? I saw cities and sprawling roads emerge from a patch of mud. I saw those little people build pyramids and a Great Wall that were thousands of times more magnificent than themselves. I saw them create writing, mathematics, and monarchies out of nothing because they worshipped the gods, and finally use tons of books to liberate their souls. I saw them look up at the stars and leave behind calendars and codes of law, and learn to use currency and open banks during their long voyages. Even as I stand at the end of history looking back, I want to kneel before them—and every single human was just something like you. When they were creating history, they never thought about being remembered for eternity; they only thought, *If I can do this, I’ll be happy.*"
I let out a long "oh."
Lu Daoshi patted my shoulder encouragingly. "So, try to give all your trivialities a happy ending—a massive HE that can serve as the footnote to your life. A once-in-a-lifetime achievement. Don't worry about anything else. If anyone remembers this apocalypse in the future, when they think of Ye Xiao, they’ll say, 'Oh, this is what that person did,' just like they say there is a Great Wall on the surface of China."
I clenched my fists, finally gathering the courage to speak my heart: "I just want to be able to… to date Big Liu again! I want him to stand up again and call me…"
I really couldn't bring myself to say "kiddo"!
Lu Daoshi laughed. "Then go do it. Let all other voices and pressures vanish into ash. Let’s have you two fall in love one more time." His long fingers, holding the cigarette, pointed toward the long row of statues fading into the darkness. "Look, there are so, so many people who used the most enduring art to carve your likenesses, simply hoping that you two could be happy until the very end."
***
**Glossary**
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