After leaving the Supernatural Administration Bureau, Jiang Yan made it home just within the two-hour mark.
Mu Wang was just finishing the last dish, while Chen Xihe was helping out beside him, wiping everything down with a towel—the stove gleamed, and the cutting board was already cleaned up.
By the time Mu Wang brought out the food, Chen Xihe had even finished washing the wok.
Mu Wang really disliked this. He anxiously stopped Chen Xihe: “Don’t do that.”
“Why are you taking my job?”
“These are all things I should do. If you do them, what’s left for me?”
Chen Xihe thought for a moment. “Then I’ll wash the dishes?”
Mu Wang protested, “No, that’s mine too.”
“Can I sweep the floor?”
“No.”
“Clean shoes?”
“No good.”
“Then how about watering the flowers?”
Mu Wang pondered for a while, then compromised: “You take the left side of the balcony, I’ll take the right.”
Chen Xihe sighed with feeling: “I’m not even old yet.”
When all the food was on the table, the three sat down to eat together.
Jiang Yan talked about what she’d seen at the bureau: “Now yao don’t have to hide in the Supernatural Administration Bureau. Feels pretty good.”
“Did you go public?” she asked Mu Wang.
Mu Wang: “The bureau asked me, but I haven’t agreed yet.”
“But my teammates have already guessed.”
Chen Xihe was curious: “How did they guess?”
Mu Wang: “It was just today, after a mission in the jungle. All the bees swarmed around me, and I ran too fast. One teammate secretly timed me and found I was way faster than the world record, so they held a little discussion behind my back.”
“And just as the bureau announced the ratio of yao among psychics, they guessed it was me.”
Chen Xihe: “Are there many yao in the bureau?”
“Not too many, one in forty. There are about two hundred yao in the whole bureau,” Mu Wang mumbled as he ate, “but I rarely go to the bureau and haven’t teamed up before, so I don’t know any of them…”
At this, Mu Wang suddenly perked up, his voice bright: “Except for Sister!”
Jiang Yan replied perfunctorily, “…Mm.”
Chen Xihe smiled at the two of them. They chatted and ate, and in the end, Mu Wang hurried to wash the dishes, while Chen Xihe, unable to sit still, took a watering can to tend to his newly assigned flowers on the balcony.
Jiang Yan sat on the sofa, enjoying her leisure.
She pulled out her phone and started browsing the news, then received messages in the group chat.
Shen Xiaoxiao: “Sister Jiang Yan——”
“The bureau just posted an announcement, ahhhhh! Go look, go look!!”
Pingping chimed in: “The scene is wild.”
Shen Huanhuan added: “It’s a bureau-wide celebration night. A lot of people still can’t believe it.”
Yu Renwan followed up: “Jiang Jiang is the best!!”
Jiang Yan could already guess what had happened.
Most likely, He Qingyuan had posted the announcement based on what they’d discussed. Jiang Yan expressionlessly entered her account, logged into the bureau’s internal site, and clicked into the forum—immediately dazzled by a flood of exclamation marks.
Every refresh brought a slew of new posts, countless threads rising and sinking, all discussing just a few topics—
[Blood petition from one person: Give the bureau to Sister Yan!!]
[Hundred-person blood petition: Make Sister Yan director!!]
[Don’t joke, that’s not an easy job…]
[I really can’t believe it, is this real? Did the official site get hacked…?]
[I called to confirm, it’s real, wuwuwu]
[I feel like I’m dreaming—like, you’re all ready to die, and then someone tells you you don’t have to, and even pats your head QAQ]
[By the way, who is He Qingfu?]
[Supernatural Administration Bureau’s second director: He Qingfu.]
[Even after death, she’s still looking after later generations of psychics. She deserves to be director, wuwuwu]
[I can’t imagine how lively I’ll be the day after tomorrow—]
Though she’d expected it, Jiang Yan was still a little dazed by everyone’s enthusiasm. But thinking it over, she could understand the feeling.
Once psychics joined the official ranks, they became professional psychics, serving the nation.
No matter how dangerous the road ahead, they had to forge on, fighting for those close to them and for strangers alike.
They were indeed brave, but that didn’t mean they weren’t afraid of death.
They were just ordinary people who happened to be a bit more capable.
If they could avoid falling—
If they could avoid falling before the world collapsed, or as the world collapsed, they would want that too.
Jiang Yan casually clicked on a post.
It had been up for only half an hour and already had over five thousand replies, with everyone sharing their excitement, joy, sadness, and grief.
“The moment I saw the announcement, I bawled my eyes out. I haven’t cried like this since I was an adult.”
“Same here, it was so sudden, but something like this can only be sudden.”
“I feel the same, like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulders.”
“Recently, energy fields have been popping up all over the country. Even though they’re always dealt with quickly, I can feel everyone’s exhaustion. I haven’t gone on vacation with my parents in ages—now I finally can.”
“Same, I can finally take my annual leave.”
“Hahahaha, I was thinking, with no more turbid qi, no more energy fields, and spirits harder to pollute, will we all be out of a job? Hahahahaha.”
“Wow, what a happy daydream (?”
“Turbid qi will come back eventually, but for now, we can finally breathe easy.”
“@Jiang Yan, thank you, Sister Yan.”
Seeing the mention, Jiang Yan casually replied: “You’re welcome.”
The next second, her phone suddenly froze.
It took a full minute to recover. Jiang Yan frowned, fiddled with it for a while, and finally checked her backend messages—her comments and mentions were all at 999+.
Jiang Yan clicked in.
Everyone’s comments were full of excitement:
“Alive, alive, caught her alive!”
“Screenshot for posterity.”
“Hehe, screenshot set as wallpaper~”
Seeing that last comment, Jiang Yan was even more certain of her decision tonight.
She’d known it—if her true body was ever exposed, it would end up as the phone wallpaper for countless psychics. She’d already seen through these humans’ ways.
Jiang Yan spent the whole night browsing the forum. The other two didn’t disturb her; everyone kept to their most comfortable way of getting along.
When she got tired, Jiang Yan washed up and went to bed.
The next morning, as soon as she opened her eyes, she got a message from He Qingyuan.
He had already repaired the replica bridal gown, just waiting for her at the Yao Management Department.
After breakfast, Jiang Yan didn’t delay. Bathed in the morning sunlight, she arrived at the Yao Management Department.
She went with Mu Wang and Chen Xihe.
When she arrived, the twins, Yu Renwan, and Pingping were already there.
“As soon as I got your message, I came right away!” Shen Xiaoxiao rushed up to hug Jiang Yan. Jiang Yan patted her back, noticing how tense she was—her over-the-top energy was just nerves.
Thinking of this, Jiang Yan looked around.
After a glance, she couldn’t help but laugh softly.
Aside from herself, everyone here seemed nervous.
Shen Huanhuan asked He Qingyuan, “Are you sure there won’t be any problems?”
“There won’t,” He Qingyuan assured her. “I had a lot of people run simulations—there’s no problem.”
Shen Huanhuan breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang Yan gave everyone a reassuring smile, then followed He Qingyuan into the Yao Management Department, up to the second floor.
He Qingyuan had already explained the process to Jiang Yan, so she didn’t waste words. After checking the replica bridal gown, she immediately cut her palm and pressed her blood-soaked hand to Bai Ze’s physical body.
Within seconds, a faint golden light appeared on Bai Ze’s body.
As time passed, the golden light grew brighter and brighter, but Jiang Yan didn’t feel any discomfort. She only felt her soul wrapped in a warm energy, suddenly growing lighter and lighter, until she became so light she drifted free.
Jiang Yan’s soul completely separated from her true body.
She flew toward the millennia-old bridal gown, and just before fully merging, she glanced back to see her old body had already turned into a talisman.
A talisman shimmering with radiant light.
He Qingyuan stooped to pick it up, tears streaming down his face.
[Attack Rune]
[Can shatter half the turbid qi in Huaguo (the land where this yao was born).]
[If used by another yao, can help upgrade their abilities.]
*
With the rune in hand, everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Jiang Yan slept for a day. Since her new true body’s lifespan was four thousand years longer than her soul’s, and with the help of many high-level runes, her soul fused rapidly with her body and she woke up early—otherwise, she might have slept for months.
Jiang Yan woke at dusk.
By then, He Qingyuan had copied nearly a hundred runes. In the bureau’s main hall, teams came in one after another to collect runes and left, ready to take them all over the world.
When Jiang Yan entered the hall, all eyes turned to her.
Someone’s eyes instantly reddened.
Jiang Yan wasn’t used to such scenes, so she explained, “It’s an exchange of benefits. No need to thank me.”
They didn’t quite understand.
But someone still caught the point: “You brought back the rune, right?”
Jiang Yan nodded.
“Isn’t that enough?”
A girl kept wiping her tears. “You’re too modest, really. You don’t have to be—just this much is more than enough.”
So Jiang Yan said no more.
Half an hour later, all the runes had been distributed. Planes took off one after another, flying to neighboring countries, to the seas, to even farther places.
In Huaguo, the turbid qi was the first to be cleared.
Two teams of psychics posted in the massive group chat: “North of the Qinling Mountains is back to normal.”
“South of the Qinling Mountains too.”
He Qingyuan took out the energy detector and found that no matter how he moved it, the needle didn’t budge.
There were no more abnormal energy sites in Huaguo.
The bureau’s main hall went silent for a moment, then erupted in thunderous cheers.
“Fantastic!!”
“It’s not moving, really not moving!”
“Am I dreaming? Pinch me!”
Everyone hugged each other, trying to put their feelings into words, but everything boiled down to just one phrase—
“It’s so good.”
Shen Huanhuan patted Jiang Yan’s shoulder, signaling her to say something in the group. Jiang Yan, feeling a bit swept up in everyone’s emotions, took out her phone, thought for a moment, and simply wrote:
“Very good.”
She put her phone away.
Huaguo was only the beginning.
Tonight was destined to be remembered.
Two hours later, more and more messages poured into the group.
“All energy fields in Country X have disappeared.”
“Country M is back to normal.”
“The eastern sea neighbor is back to normal.”
“The southern sea neighbor too!”
One team added, “I saw a blue whale greeting us—the splash when it jumped was several stories high.”
Jiang Yan: “Take a picture for us.”
Half a minute later, the ocean at night and the beautiful blue whale were shared with everyone.
The world was beautiful.
And so was humanity in this moment.
Jiang Yan lowered her eyes.
Because some countries were too far away, the bureau used a few transmission talismans to send runes across thousands of miles to local psychics. Eight hours later, nearly every team had checked in.
With the rising sun.
Everyone silently counted down in their hearts. When the last team posted in the group, the bureau erupted in the most excited cheers ever.
After the excitement came tears.
The global supernatural resurgence had lasted half a year. Everyone had given their all, fighting through each challenge, suppressing their anger and resentment, showing only their brightest side to teammates.
It had been the deadliest half-year in the bureau’s history. Nearly everyone had lost their closest teammates, nearly every team had been left incomplete.
They would remember that sense of incompleteness.
Now the dust had settled.
He Qingyuan slowly stood, staggering as he walked outside. Cheng Guang hurried to support him.
The sunrise outside was magnificent.
He Qingyuan gazed at the world’s breathtaking dawn, countless faces flashing before his eyes, finally settling on one gentle, lively face.
“Life is but a gap, fleeting as morning and evening.”
His eyes grew damp.
“What are you muttering about?” Cheng Guang dragged his increasingly nostalgic shifu home. “It’s freezing—your body can’t handle all-nighters anymore!”
Cheng Guang supported his shifu as they walked ahead. Jiang Yan was a few meters away, her family and friends right beside her.
Shen Huanhuan and Shen Xiaoxiao chatted quietly, Yu Renwan hugged Xiao Wa, Pingping fiddled with her long needle.
Chen Xihe carefully took in the modern world, Mu Wang lowered his head, deep in thought.
Jiang Yan asked him, “What are you thinking about?”
“About what to have for breakfast,” Mu Wang replied. “Sister, do you eat youtiao? I just learned how to make them, but it takes a while.”
Jiang Yan: “No rush, we live together anyway.”
She motioned for Mu Wang to look at the clouds. Mu Wang immediately looked up, and Jiang Yan stretched out her finger, encircling a cloud in the sky, then snapped her fingers.
The cloud instantly vanished before Mu Wang’s eyes.
He looked at Jiang Yan in astonishment. “That’s…”
Jiang Yan: “Spatial annihilation.”
Seeing Mu Wang’s dazed look, Jiang Yan couldn’t help but ruffle his hair. “Let’s go home.”
Mu Wang quickly pulled Chen Xihe along to catch up.
Warm sunlight shone on everyone, and each of them got what they wanted.
Companionship and reunion, forgiveness and new beginnings.
The sigh of the new world fell, and the old world cried out once more.
[End of the main story]