Li Ang said calmly, "That's quite a melodramatic story."
"It is melodramatic," Zou Zhengze smiled and said. "When I came to terms with it and returned to that city, I discovered she had completely left. I started looking for her, wanting to apologize. It's just that when I heard news of her again, twenty years had already passed. Naturally, she had become a wife and a mother. I didn't hate her for it; on the contrary, I felt genuinely happy for her and wished her well.
"I began collecting their household trash. People can lie and deceive, but their trash does not. I saw her kitchen waste and knew she still liked millet porridge for breakfast, and still enjoyed sweet and sour ribs and sautéed meat with mushrooms. I saw her shopping tags and knew she still preferred Bee Flower Sandalwood Soap and Peony Hand Cream. I knew they went to a concert hall once a month, and every Wednesday night, they would dance slowly in the living room to music from the vinyl record player. Seeing her living well made me very happy."
"If that's really the case," Li Ang asked, "why would you then attempt to harm them?"
"Just like I said before... because of love." Zou Zhengze gave a bitter smile. "Do you know about the Chinese Heterodox Academy?"
Li Ang nodded.
The Heterodox Academy, or Society of Extraordinary Matters and Phenomena, traceable back to the Qin and Han dynasties, is one of the earliest superhuman organizations in this country formed by Slaughter Game Players. Ancient 'Necromancers,' or 'Players,' naturally established contact with rulers after acquiring superhuman powers. However, the royal family also possessed top-tier Players. Consequently, the Necromancers' several attempts at usurpation failed. Ultimately, under the guidance of royal Transcendents, an organization named the Heterodox Academy was established.
This organization was loyal only to the current rulers. When the Slaughter Game began and Spiritual Energy resurged, the Heterodox Academy was responsible for recruiting civilian Players and assisting the royalty in eliminating demons roaming the world. When the Slaughter Game ceased and Spiritual Energy withered, the Heterodox Academy took on several responsibilities. They compiled books, mapped demon atlases, and recorded missions. Furthermore, they attempted to bypass the Slaughter Game to document and transmit superhuman powers despite the depleted Spiritual Energy. This could also be understood as transmitting their teachings.
After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Slaughter Game initiated less frequently and on a smaller scale, signifying the withering of Spiritual Energy and the gradual recession of superhuman elements. The Necromancers of the Heterodox Academy inherited their traditions from bamboo scrolls. Although they weren't like fish in a dried-up pond waiting to die of thirst, they couldn't develop much either, and their presence became increasingly negligible.
By the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing dynasties, the nation was in turmoil, and the era of Immortal Path Termination had arrived. The Heterodox Academy was reduced to a mere handful of members, with a warehouse of dust-covered bamboo scrolls in the Forbidden City. New rulers, unfamiliar with surges of Spiritual Energy, held a passive or even negative view of the Heterodox Academy's work. Consequently, a large number of bamboo scrolls were lost or destroyed. The Slaughter Game's mission logs, the records of superhuman power transmission, and the demon atlases were thus lost to history.
Only when, as the saying goes, 'ten thousand willows greened in the spring wind, and all the realms under heaven renewed,' did the nearly defunct Heterodox Academy finally regain vitality. Amidst the widespread destruction of old temples and mountainous retreats, they opportunistically collected scattered bamboo scrolls, replenishing their archives.
Seven months ago, when the Slaughter Game started on a large scale again, the Heterodox Academy, with its strong historical reputation, stepped back onto the historical stage as an intelligence support institution assisting the Special Affairs Bureau. It can be said that the existence of the Heterodox Academy is a blessing from its long history, a legitimate and inherent advantage for the nation's strategic planning. After all, it had a glorious past.
Even on forums where most Players gathered, the Heterodox Academy was considered among the most mysterious and ancient organizations, the kind that came with its own awesome, retro background music and a fully maxed-out reputation meter.
But what does that have to do with you, Zou Zhengze?
Facing Li Ang's puzzled gaze, Zou Zhengze sighed. "Just yesterday, I entered someone's scripted mission mode. After eliminating the resentful spirit of an ancient Necromancer, I discovered a huge secret about the Heterodox Academy.
"Besides recruiting Players from the public, exterminating demons, and compiling books, they are also burdened with a heavy responsibility—that is, guarding death."
Guarding, death?
Li Ang faintly felt as if he had grasped the overall essence of something.
"As a Player in the Slaughter Game, you must have killed modern resentful spirits, right?" Zou Zhengze continued. "Aren't you curious why those resentful spirits told you that the afterlife is empty, with no Ghost Officials to apprehend them, no Underworld Yin Court for judgment, and no Six Paths of Reincarnation?"
He spoke with a foreboding tone, "Because ever since the penultimate large-scale Slaughter Game ended, the entire Underworld Yin Court has been missing for over five hundred years.
"Ever since then, the Six Paths of Reincarnation completely halted. When mortals die, their souls are unable to reincarnate. Instead, they fly towards the Extreme North Outer Space. There, they are ground into pure Soul Fragments, mixed thoroughly, and remolded into entirely new souls that bear no resemblance to their former selves."
At this point, Zou Zhengze's face showed fear, his body trembling uncontrollably. "When the Six Paths of Reincarnation were still operational," he said, "no matter how many times a Soul underwent reincarnation, drank Mengpo Soup, walked the Netherworld Path, or crossed the Spider Lily Sea—
"through cycles of death, rebirth, and revival—
"memories would alter, yet the essence of the soul would persist. You would always remain you."
Great terror lies between life and death. All human civilizations around the world, throughout their historical development, have held the most devout fear and reverence for the afterworld.
From ancient times to the present;
From the barbaric Cannibal Tribes of Papua New Guinea in the Pacific to the modern American New York Metropolis;
From the war-torn Middle East to the solemn and sacred Vatican.
In different eras, different languages, different cultures, different races, and even with different levels of education, all humans believe, deeply believe, and hope in the existence of human Souls, to lessen the fear of facing death.
The start of the Slaughter Game, for the first time, truly proved the existence of the soul. But before those in the know could rejoice, the crushing reality became hard to bear. Humans have souls, but after death, these souls are crushed into fragments. There is neither hell nor heaven; the so-called peace after death is bullshit. Death is just that—ceasing to exist, forever.
Li Ang was silent. Although from an external perspective, whether a soul is crushed into fragments or undergoes reincarnation makes little difference to the overall functioning of the living world, for individual humans, the difference is immense. To those preoccupied with the integrity of the soul, the afterlife becomes a realm of utter despair.
"After death, the Soul is obliterated into fragments, its spirit utterly dispersed, and you cease to exist in this world," Zou Zhengze said gravely. "The only way to avoid your soul from being shredded is to become a Lone Ghost. And to become a Ghost, there are two ways: one is to die with immense unresolved injustice and sorrow, and the other is to be informed about how the afterlife operates."