Don’t Discriminate Against Species

Chapter 55 - Imagination Running Wild

The management bureau’s communications team couldn’t voice the bitterness in their hearts.

The moment dawn broke, the media started creating fanfare about pirates encountering a ghost ship, and how the sea pirates’ ship had gone out of order, proactively delivering the pirates to a military vessel for capture. The marketing accounts of these media outlets made this claim with a lot of solemnity and sincerity – the vivid writing and precise depictions forcibly concocted a stimulating, supernatural story about how karma would always catch up.

A meddlesome reporter proposed an interview with the captured sea pirates, but was rejected by the police. Following that, the reporter weaved an even more bizarre story about how the ghosts had frightened the sea pirates till they were in delirium and thus unable to accept interviews with reporters.

Although many netizens felt that these reports were unreliable, glancing through suspenseful and stimulating news articles when bored at work or school could still lift everyone’s spirits quite a bit.

Netizen A says: Sea ghosts are really law-abiding. They didn’t scare these sea pirates to death or eat them. Instead, they let them bump into a military vessel. Aren’t they just seeking out the military when in trouble?

Netizen B’s reply: Ghosts were also once humans, maybe this ghost was a law-abiding human when alive?

Netizens had always had both cute and wild imaginations. After much discussion, there was actually still someone who developed sincere affection for this legendary ghost. This person drew the ghost a cute picture and composed a warm and adorable story. Perhaps the ghost was a soldier who died at sea in a war one hundred years ago. Even if his soul was adrift at sea, he still wanted to protect the civilians at sea. Perhaps he was a warrior who performed heroic acts when alive, and stuck to his roots even after death.

It didn’t matter whether stories were true or not. What was important was whether it was capable of moving people.

An employee of the communications team finished reading the story about a soldier from a time hundreds of years ago turned heroic ghost, and how he protected travelers at sea. The employee was so touched that their eyes had turned red. Sneakily forwarding the story to the cultivators’ forum, the employee took note of the author’s name, and then tipped the author for their comic.

“Why are these netizens so good at composing stories?” The employee rubbed their red eyes before contacting the relevant department to look into the incident.

The answer the employee received was beyond his expectations. He had assumed that this was an ordinary system failure, but the sea pirates really had made a fuss about seeing ghosts. Moreover, it was reported that a professional had checked the instruments after the pirate ship was towed to shore and everything was normal.

Had they really encountered a phenomenon surpassing scientific knowledge?

Although the team’s employees were very doubtful of this, they were extremely proficient at handling this sort of public opinion. First, they got a popular account that promoted science on the internet to compile several famous historical haunting incidents. Then, they posted the truth behind these incidents, thereby conducting a wave of scientific publicity.

Following that, they chose an account with high credibility to publicly state that something had gone wrong with the pirate ship. Coupled with the effects of the ocean currents, the ship drifted to the military vessel. As for why the sea pirates were making a fuss about having seen ghosts, there were two possibilities – one, they had been adrift at sea for too long and ate food that had gone bad, causing them to hallucinate; two, they were attempting to escape legal punishment by feigning madness.

Subsequently, they spread the names of these evil sea pirates, the cargo ships that they had previously looted, and the innocent sailors they had killed. Stunned by the sea pirates’ cruel actions, the netizens angrily cursed them repeatedly for having no humanity. The ghost was then forgotten.

There was nothing in this world that could not be understood using science. If there was, then they would create the conditions for it to become scientific.

“Oh right, I don’t seem to have seen the boss come to work the past two days,” Employee A of the communications team commented after settling the public opinion issue on the internet. “The boss will usually come in person to see how such a thing is handled, but I didn’t even see his shadow the past two days.”

Employee B shook their head. “He seems to have been injured. A lot of the work was handled by the team leaders and Fu ge the past two days.”

“Ai, I’m going to ask you something, you’d better not tell the rest,” Colleague A shifted closer to colleague B and spoke in a low voice. “Do you feel that Fu ge is particularly well regarded by our bureau’s higher-ups?”

“That’s because you don’t know that Fu ge saved the lives of many of the higher-ups,” Colleague B glanced around their surroundings and lowered his voice. “That video of the night of the Ghost Festival – other than the boss, probably no one in the bureau is a match for Fu ge.”

“What are two talking about together?” Zhang Ke walked into the office. He rapped them on the head with the files he was carrying. “Do your job well, don’t gossip.”

The two people smiled awkwardly. It seemed their words had been heard by Zhang ge. When had his hearing become so good?

“Are you two very curious why I can hear what you were talking about?” Zhang Ke passed them the files. “For people with high cultivation, seeing a thousand li away and hearing from all directions isn’t a problem. Do you think Fu ge heard those words?”

“Zhang ge, we were just a bit curious. We didn’t have other intentions,” Colleague A looked around nervously, scared that Fu Li would suddenly appear. “Given how high Fu ge’s cultivation base is, it’s inevitable for everyone to be a bit curious.”

“The elders have a saying – curiosity kills the cat,” Zhang Ke spread out both arms, one arm resting on each of their shoulders. “There’s another saying – you will get the short end of the stick if you don’t listen to the words of elders. Understand?”

Both of them nodded repeatedly. Even if they didn’t understand, they had to understand it.

“Okay, you guys can consult Fu ge if there’s anything cultivation-related you don’t understand,” Zhang Ke stopped teasing them. “Other things shouldn’t be talked about. This file contains the latest internet safety regulations, read through it thoroughly.”

Seeing that Zhang Ke didn’t intend on continuing to pursue the matter, the two people heaved a sigh of relief. When they looked at the thick safety regulations file, they unexpectedly had a strange mindset of gladly enduring it.

Zhang Ke walked out of the office with satisfaction. These youngsters wouldn’t know what was good for them without some scaring. But it wasn’t like Fu ge would have the leisure to listen to their conversation. He had run into some sort of mishap over the last two days, and not only was his wages deducted till there was almost nothing left, he kept running between the office and the boss’ villa.

Fu Li appeared just as Zhang Ke was thinking of him. Zhang Ke had just arrived at the spiral staircase when he saw Fu Li waving for the fruit tree to lower its head, so that he could pick from the top of the tree where the fruits grew best. It was unknown how many years this tree had been planted at this location. Although it didn’t take on a human form, it did have some intelligence. Usually, anyone who attempted to pluck its fruits would be whipped by the tree’s vines. Unexpectedly, Fu ge was actually able to coax it into lowering its head.

The brilliant red fruits looked extremely tempting. When Fu Li walked over, Zhang Ke thickened his skin and asked Fu Li for some, but was unexpectedly rejected.

The usually generous Fu ge was actually unwilling to even give him one. Had he become stingy from spending too much time with the boss?

“I’m bringing these fruits back for Zhuang Qing to eat. If you like them, I’ll pick a few more for you tomorrow,” Fu Li took out his handphone and glanced at the time. “It’s time to get off work, I’ll leave first.”

“Fu ge, Fu ge,” Zhang ke hurriedly grabbed Fu Li’s arm. “Don’t leave first, I have something I want to ask you.”

“What?” Fu Li took out his handphone and took yet another glance at it.

“It’ll be my sect leader’s 150th birthday in a few days. He has always been a huge admirer of you, would you do me the honor of coming to have a simple meal?” Zhang Ke wanted to take this chance as well to widen Fu Li’s connections in the cultivation world. In the current society, having many friends would give one an easier time. Mingling with only the boss would just turn him into a local Grandet.

“Sure,” Fu Li readily agreed. Zhang Ke took this chance to stuff the invitation letter into his hand.

Public transport didn’t go all the way to Zhuang Qing’s villa, so Fu Li could only alight at an intersection and make his way along a street before walking into the neighborhood. The moment the guard at the gate saw him, he revealed a smile. “Mr Fu, you’re here.”

“Good afternoon,” Fu Li flashed a friendly smile at the guard. After he had taken two steps, he glanced back at the platform the guard was standing on before casually stamping his feet and walking towards Zhuang Qing’s villa.

The management of a high-class villa had especially good attitudes and would smile to some degree whenever they encountered people. Such an attitude made it such that property owners would willingly fork out far higher property fees than those in other neighborhoods.

Hearing the sound of knocking on the door, Zhuang Qing swiftly walked to the door. After pulling open the door, he asked expressionlessly, “Why are you here again?”

“Haven’t we not finished the fish we hooked last night?” Fu Li took out the fruits and placed them on a fruit platter at the side table. “The fruits in the bureau look very good; it’s a pity that no one eats them.”

“Are you here to visit a sick person or to freeload meals?” Zhuang Qing was angered just speaking about this. Fu Li said he would cook yesterday afternoon but nearly burned down the entire kitchen. Because of this, the fire alarm in the villa rang continuously, involving a bunch of management staff.

“Don’t be so harsh,” Fu Li was peeling the fruits. “There is no perfect yao in this world, my culinary skills are just a bit poorer…”

“Are your culinary skills the only aspect that’s a bit poor?” Zhuang Qing snatched the peeled fruit from his hands. Bringing it to his mouth, he took a bite out of it before walking towards the kitchen with a snort. Who knew what sin he had committed his past life for him to work himself to death managing such a mess. Someone capable of fighting finally came after much difficulty, but even then he couldn’t be worry-free.

Despite living for four thousand years, Fu Li couldn’t cook, had terrible handwriting, and was wasteful with money. He practically had no strong points!

With practiced motions, Zhuang Qing killed the fish by cutting open its abdomen and then descaled it. He expressionlessly poured hot oil into the wok. Taking care of him? In the end, he was still the one who ate more fish and shrimp than him. Just playing Tetris was enough for him to shriek loudly. That four thousand years he’d lived had completely gone down a dog’s stomach.

After frying the fish chunks, he placed the fish in front of Fu Li with an unsmiling face. “Pad your stomach with it first.”

Returning to the kitchen, Zhuang Qing’s brows creased. Was he lacking in self-respect? Why did he have to fry him fish chunks before the meal was even done?

Was he sick in the head?

Braised fish, fish steamed in broth, pickled vegetable fish, fish head with diced hot peppers.

The table was covered in fish. With much self-awareness, Fu Li went into the kitchen to scoop the rice and take the chopsticks. After the tableware was properly arranged, Fu Li suddenly thought of something and took out three jade bottles. “For you.”

The three bottles were neatly placed on the table. Zhuang Qing lowered his eyelids. “Why did you bring more of this back? Didn’t I tell you I don’t need to drink it?”

“This has to be drunk continuously,” Fu Li pushed the bottles towards Zhuang Qing. “The humans nowadays put in too much effort into opening up nature for development, so the quality of spiritual essence isn’t as good as it was before. I can only wrong you by giving you these to drink.”

Zhuang Qing stared at the spiritual essence in front of him and tried very hard to appear as if he didn’t care.

Fu Li glanced at him. He pointed at the braised fish in the center. “This fish is really fat, when did I hook such a fish?”

“Naturally, it was me who hooked it,” Zhuang Qing replied expressionlessly. “Don’t talk when you’re eating.”

Fu Li gave Zhuang Qing a lot of face and polished off a great half of the braised fish. He started chattering again. “With how outstanding you are, there’ll definitely be many females wanting to be your mate when your final transformation is over.”

“My career hasn’t been fulfilled, what mate?” Zhuang Qing looked at Fu Li from the corner of his eyes. “You have such an inclination?”

“That girl from Affinity Moon Hotel, and that Fu Si are both quite good,” Zhuang Qing put down his chopsticks. “The cultivation world doesn’t oppose human-yao romance now, you can look for them.”

“Not suitable,” Fu Li shook his head. “Human lifespans are a short hundred years. It will not be a good match, both for them and me.”

“So you mean to say that you’ll be with them if their lifespans are suitable?” Zhuang Qing stood up expressionlessly. “Wash the dishes after you’re done eating.”

“I’m laying out my reasons for you, not that I want to be with them,” Fu Li stood up and tidied the table. “Forget it, it won’t make sense to a minor like you.”

Zhuang Qing ignored him, his face cold.

“That Fu Si doesn’t have any relation to me either, he was just implicated in a scheme. The moment I removed the Shen’s bubble from his mind, he and I became nothing more than strangers,” Fu Li carried the dirty dishes into the kitchen and started washing them.

Zhuang Qing looked towards the kitchen, seeing only Fu Li’s back as he tied the apron around him with a lowered head. Zhuang Qing listened to the unknown tune Fu Li was humming as he walked to the study. He took out several ancient texts that contained historical records of the human and cultivation world.

In fact, he had long since read these books countless times to identify the yao descriptions that matched the characteristics of Fu Li’s original form. In human mythology, the book <Classic of Mountains and Seas> was most widely circulated. It was difficult to tell if its content was authentic or a sham. Some were real and some were fake, but there was no yao in the legends that resembled Fu Li.

He flipped to a random page, on which was an image so abstract it appeared warped. Zhuang Qing smiled self-mockingly. All that was recorded in this book were things that existed several thousands of years ago. Fu Li was just a more-than-four thousand year old yao, one who had even lived deep in the mountains these few years. How could human records have any information related to him?

He flipped through the yellowed pages of an ancient book bound with thread. This book detailed many interesting stories in the human world that had no basis. The majority of them were fabricated by humans and had little cultural value. This was why they had long died out in the human world, apart from the few in his hands.

He flipped to a page. An extremely uninteresting story was recorded on it.

During the Xin dynasty, a physician encountered a rabbit who was carrying a man and spoke human language. When the greatly alarmed physician came to, he couldn’t tell if it had truly happened or if it was a dream.

Xin dynasty… that was approximately the tenth year of the Common Era. This dynasty was a short-lived one in history, and there were extremely few records related to it. How would it be possible for these phantom stories to be passed down?

All those stories about peasants meeting yao and scholars encountering amorous ghosts had long since lost any novelty. Most of them were nothing more than stories fabricated by sour scholars who fantasized about having an encounter with a beautiful woman.

“Zhuang Qing,” Fu Li stood by the door and knocked on the door. “Rest early, don’t forget to drink the spiritual essence. I’ll go back first.”

“Wait,” Zhuang Qing took out his handphone. “Turn into your original form.”

“Huh?” Fu Li stared blankly. “What do you want to do?”

“Didn’t you feel that you were a mysterious rabbit?” Zhuang Qing said. “I’ll take a picture and take my time to investigate.”

Fu Li awkwardly transformed into his original form. Zhuang Qing took photos of him from every angle before carrying the rabbit to the table and properly placing him down on it. “If you stay in your rabbit form, I can lend you the couch in my living room for you to sleep on.”

“Forget it,” Fu Li jumped off the table, turning into his human form. “I still prefer sleeping on a bed.”

Bang.

Fu Li looked at the door that had mercilessly slammed shut behind him. Shrugging his shoulders, he sighed. “Yao in their rebellious stage are really bothersome.”

Zhuang Qing stood behind the windows and watched Fu Li slowly walk out the neighborhood before pulling the curtains close.

When Fu Li reached the entrance of the neighborhood, he discovered quite a few people surrounding the place. Even the police had rushed to the location.

“These scum drunk drivers really just harm others and themselves,” Peng Hang took photos of the incident. Lowering his head, he looked at the platform for guards ahead. If not for the platform serving as a momentary obstruction, the drunk driver would have knocked into the guard at the gate.

For neighborhoods like these with luxurious villas, there would be at least four guards on duty at every entrance. If a vehicle were to directly knock into them, several human lives could be lost.

The forensic scientist who was collecting evidence and taking photos of the scene spoke to Peng Hang. “Captain Peng, looking at the tire marks at the scene, the driver didn’t brake.”

“Son of a b*tch!” Peng Hang cursed lowly. “If you want to die, die on your own. Don’t harm others.”

“Captain Peng, lower your voice a bit, there are still members of the public around us,” The forensic scientist spoke softly. “For better or worse, endure it till we return to the station. You can continue cursing then.”

Peng Hang took two deep breaths. “What condition is the injured resident in?”

“According to the people on the ambulance, the victim has good luck. When the car was heading towards him, he took a tumble for some unfathomable reason and coincidentally evaded the car that was heading towards him. He has an injury on his back from skidding, but it’s not serious.”

“Good.” Beside him, a colleague from the traffic bureau was collecting evidence. The intoxicated driver had already been sent to the hospital. Feeling somewhat jittery, Peng Hang grabbed at his inch-long hair. With a turn of his head, he discovered a familiar silhouette among the crowd of people.

He hurriedly squeezed through the crowd and called out to Fu Li. “Mr Fu, you live here?”

He had still been doing physical labor at a construction site a few months ago, but he was now already living in a high-class villa? He must have struck some top prize at the lottery?

“Police officer Peng,” Fu Li smiled as he greeted Peng Hang. “I live in the company’s staff dormitory, the company’s boss lives here.”

Fu Li could visit the boss at his personal residence not long after joining a company – it seemed he was very highly regarded by his superiors. Peng Hang didn’t know why he had stopped Fu Li either, so now that he was faced with Fu Li’s smile, he felt a bit embarrassed.

“An incident happened here just now. Mr Fu should pay attention to safety when walking at night.”

‘Thank you,” Fu Li nodded. “I will remember it.”

If he knocked into someone else’s car and damaged it, he wouldn’t be able to compensate that person.

Peng Hang finally finished settling everything at the scene and lay down in the car, itching to just fall asleep straight away. He had already been working overtime for more than thirty consecutive hours. All of a sudden, he sat up straight on the chair, scaring the colleagues seated beside him.

“Captain Peng, what’s wrong?”

“If you guys saw a ton of people crowded around a certain area, with police officers present at the scene, would you take a few more looks out of curiosity?”

“Any living person will have some sense of curiosity. Even if they didn’t run over and join in the excitement, they would still give it a few glances, right?”

Yes, this was the reaction the majority of the people would have. Even if they didn’t join in the liveliness, they would subconsciously give it a few more glances. He finally understood what was off – Fu Li had zero interest in the car accident from beginning to end. When he spoke to him, he didn’t give the scene a single glance.

That young man Fu Li didn’t seem to have a sense of curiosity. The woman who attempted to jump off a building, the python, the landlord, the car accident…

Peng Hang touched his arms. This Fu Li seemed a bit unusual.

In many cases, someone who spoke too confidently would very easily have their faces slapped.

The previous night, Fu Li had solemnly vowed that Fu Si was just someone who had been implicated in the scheme. But the next day when he went out to investigate a certain haunted school, he bumped into Fu Si on a flight of stairs.

Fu Si was accompanied by a group of school leaders. Zhuang Qing was beside Fu Li, and the school headmaster was personally showing them the way.

“Chief Zhuang,” Fu Si had dealings with Zhuang Qing in the business world, so he amicably shook hands with him. After that, his gaze landed on Fu Li, an absent-minded look crossing his face for a moment. “This is?”

“My assistant,” Zhuang Qing retracted his hand, his expression icy. Even Fu Li’s name was not introduced.

“Chief Zhuang’s assistant looks very familiar, I seem to have seen him somewhere,” Fu Si passed his name card to Fu Li. “I hope we will have an opportunity to collaborate in the future.”

Fu Li accepted the name card. “It might be because I have a common face.”

The other people at the side: …

Good looking people often felt secure because they had something to lean back on – despite being good looking, he still claimed to be a man with a common face. All these shameless people.

“You’re very good at making jokes,” Fu Si’s gaze was very gentle. Whenever he directed all his attention at a certain individual, that individual would have the misconception that they were loved. Such a man was very well-liked by both women and men.

“Chief Fu, please take your time. We still have something to attend to, so we won’t keep you company,” Zhuang Qing gave Fu Si a small nod. There was a hint of arrogance in his courteous manner. However, given Zhuang Qing’s status in the business world, such an attitude would be perceived as good manners and gracefulness.

When people had different statuses, others would interpret their actions differently.

“Please,” Fu Si took a step to the side. He turned, sending Zhuang Qing and Fu Li up the stairs with his eyes, his gaze glued to Fu Li.

Just as Fu Li was about to turn the corner, he came to a halt and glanced down, coincidentally meeting Fu Si’s eyes.

Fu Si stared blankly, a tinge of confusion and unfamiliarity in his eyes.

“Goodbye,” Fu Li smiled at Fu Si before catching up to Zhuang Qing.

Fu Si opened his mouth. He wanted to reply, but felt a momentary dizziness. When he regained stable footing, he felt slightly dazed.

“Your mind should not be wandering during work hours,” Zhuang Qing stood outside the rooftop door and lifted his chin. “Open the door.”

The headmaster took out a silver key and prepared to step forward, but was stopped by Zhuang Qing.

“Don’t move,” He took the silver key from the headmaster’s hands and passed it to Fu Li. “You go.”

When Fu Li took the silver key, he added another statement, “It won’t be easy for your imagination to run wild when you’re occupied.”

Fu Li: ?