When there were only a little more than twenty days left before the college entrance examination, everything had returned to its normal course.
The general public went to work and school as usual.
Online discussions about the end of the world that had never actually arrived remained extremely heated.
Some people shared their own encounters with ghosts.
Some analyzed the mountains and Black River that had suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappeared.
Others argued over whether that had actually been the end of the world…
Amid all kinds of discussions, some people also wondered what exactly the enormous humanoid figures that had appeared atop the mountains, entangled with one another, had been.
According to the usual formula in apocalypse stories, when the end of the world arrived, there should always be a hero who appeared to save the world.
But in this abrupt disaster that had appeared and then suddenly vanished, humanity’s power had seemed so small and helpless.
Had they really survived simply because they had been lucky?
Online speculation about the enormous figures came in countless forms.
People had even developed various schools of thought with surprisingly elaborate theories.
But everyone agreed on one thing—
Those figures were very likely the legendary gods.
Enormous limbs of an outrageous size.
Forms beyond human imagination.
Power capable of completely overwhelming humanity.
These were conditions that only legendary gods could satisfy.
While wave after wave of online discussion continued to emerge, the enormous figure known as a deity still stood atop the mountain range.
At some point, the thick black hair that wandered everywhere like enormous branches had already covered the mountains.
The hanging strands dipped into the black river below, slowly rising and sinking within the broad expanse of water.
Along both banks of the silent Black River, there was nothing but the slow sound of the waves echoing.
Until a sudden groan broke the silence.
The black hair hanging in the water seemed to react.
Across the mountains, the countless strands of black hair either slowly writhed or emerged from the calm surface of the water, all turning toward the mountaintops.
Within that enormous, rigid body, a pair of hands suddenly emerged from the inside.
They pushed aside the thick black strands.
Then a nonhuman face emerged through the gap, as though being born.
First the face.
Then the head.
A slender neck.
And then the torso connected to it.
A newborn deity with a body resembling white jade crawled out from the cocoon formed by an enormous mass of black hair.
Its bare feet stepped onto the enormous body beneath it.
Its black-and-red eyes opened in confusion as it gazed around.
After a long while, the confusion in those eyes gradually faded, and they slowly began to move.
Xu Muchan turned around and looked at the long hair hanging behind him.
The hair was incredibly heavy. The strands closest to his body were still of a normal thickness, but the farther they stretched away from him, the thicker they became, like a swarm of snakes after gorging themselves, each one swollen and round from overeating, lazily covering the surface of the mountains.
They also covered the enormous body below.
It was the body of the Wuchang God after being assimilated by the Black River.
The enormous divine body contained the source of the Black River.
Xu Muchan had realized this, which was why he had risked using his black hair to form a cocoon, trapping himself and Wei Xilou together inside it and taking the opportunity to absorb the Black River’s source.
However, the energy accumulated by the Black River over millions of years was far more abundant than he had imagined. Xu Muchan had only absorbed a small portion of it.
But even that small portion was enough for him and his Big Brother to resist the will of the Black River together.
Now that he had regained consciousness, though…
Where was his Big Brother?
Xu Muchan raised a hand and lightly swept it across the black hair at his shoulder.
The black hair neatly severed itself at the neck.
The moment it lost control, the black hair transformed into thick black liquid and seeped into the mountains.
The body of the Wuchang God, previously covered by the black hair, was completely exposed.
Its gray skin had become as hard as a sculpture, while the arms behind it remained frozen in the posture of reaching forward for an embrace.
Xu Muchan knelt halfway down in its enormous palm, extending a hand to cover the hard skin of its face.
He softly called,
“Big Brother?”
As though in response, the motionless heart inside the Wuchang God’s body suddenly beat once.
Xu Muchan’s eyes immediately filled with wild joy.
The black hair he had just cut short surged outward once again, burrowing through the hard skin.
Inside the enormous divine body, it found a human body with an extremely slow heartbeat.
It was Wei Xilou.
The long black hair gently wrapped around his body, carefully dragging him outward.
When it finally pulled him out of the Wuchang God’s body, the tangled black hair dispersed like a receding tide.
Xu Muchan rushed forward and hugged him tightly, pressing his cheek against the chest where the heart was beating slowly.
Filled with joy, he said,
“Big Brother, it’s time for us to go home.”
There were only nineteen days left on the countdown written on the classroom blackboard.
The chaos outside had nothing to do with the high school seniors preparing for the college entrance examination.
Because the previous events had disrupted their studies, almost every student had become tense after classes resumed, racing against time and throwing themselves into their studies.
Even Wei Yao, who had always been at the bottom of the class, became serious.
He no longer went outside to flirt with cats and tease dogs after class. Instead, he held his notebook of mistakes and muttered to himself as he studied.
Whenever he occasionally took a break, he would glance at the empty seat beside him.
Not long after classes resumed, Daoist Priest Yan He had come to the school. Apparently, he had come to request leave for Xu Muchan.
Later, Wei Yao had subtly tried to pry information out of their homeroom teacher.
All he learned was that Xu Muchan had taken an extended leave of absence. If he still hadn’t returned before the college entrance examination, the school would process a suspension of studies for him.
As for where Xu Muchan had actually gone, even their homeroom teacher didn’t know.
He had also tried asking Yan He for information, but Yan He hadn’t revealed much either.
Most of the time, he simply brushed him off with things like, “Study hard and stop poking your nose into things that don’t concern you. When he should come back, he’ll naturally come back.”
The bell signaling the end of class rang.
Wei Yao leaned back tiredly, resting his head against the back of his chair. He covered his face with his test paper and let out a long sigh toward the heavens.
“When will these days finally end?!”
Wen Dajiang snatched the test paper off his face and pointed at the countdown.
“There. Once it reaches zero, we’ll finally be free!”
As he spoke, he glanced at the empty seat beside them and muttered,
“The college entrance examination is almost here. Xu Muchan isn’t really going to skip it, is he?”
Wei Yao tilted his head and looked toward the empty seat.
“I don’t know. I’ve sent him so many messages, and he hasn’t replied.”
The two looked at each other and fell silent.
Then He Jiaqi, sitting in the row ahead, suddenly turned around with his phone in hand.
“Check the group chat.”
Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang inexplicably pulled out their phones and opened the four-person group chat.
They immediately saw the latest message.
It was from Xu Muchan:
[Thanks for your concern. I’m fine. I’ve finished dealing with things at home. I’ll be back at school tomorrow.]
Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang exclaimed simultaneously,
“Fuck!”
Wei Yao immediately sent a voice message.
“Seriously? You’re coming back to school tomorrow?”
Wen Dajiang followed right behind him.
“What have you been doing? You scared the hell out of us. We thought something had happened to you.”
He Jiaqi sent a huge compressed file into the group.
[The latest notes and a collection of some of the more useful question types.]
Xu Muchan watched the messages continue appearing one after another in the group chat.
After replying to each of them, he finally put down his phone and looked toward the person lying quietly on the bed.
It was only after leaving the Black River’s territory that he realized how much time had actually passed.
Wei Xilou was still unconscious, but his heartbeat was very steady.
Xu Muchan knew that it was only a matter of time before he woke up, so this time he wasn’t particularly worried.
He first contacted Jinqingqing to retrieve the belongings and phone he had left with her.
Then, together with the housekeepers, he cleaned the house and settled Wei Xilou in properly.
Only after all that did he finally have time to contact Wei Yao and the others.
“Big Brother, I’m going back to school tomorrow. After that, I won’t have time to stay with you every day.”
His fingers gently brushed over the man’s cold face.
Xu Muchan’s eyes curved mischievously as he lightly touched his lips to the man’s.
“If you want to see me all the time, you have to wake up soon.”
The man lying on the bed showed no reaction whatsoever.
Xu Muchan pressed his lips together unhappily, then turned around to wash up and rest.
After getting a good night’s sleep, Xu Muchan packed his schoolbag early the next morning.
After saying goodbye to Wei Xilou, he left for school.
Xu Muchan, who had disappeared for so long and then returned, naturally received an enthusiastic welcome.
Even their homeroom teacher, Wan Zheng, had a smile on his face. He gently comforted Xu Muchan and told him not to put too much pressure on himself during this final stretch.
Xu Muchan nodded and returned to his seat.
Wei Yao immediately stretched out his long leg and kicked Xu Muchan’s desk.
He leaned half his body over.
“You finally came back. Want to go out for a late-night meal after school tonight to celebrate?”
Because their study schedule was so tight, the school had resumed evening self-study as well. By the time they finished, it was already after ten.
Xu Muchan was speechless.
“Didn’t you say studying has been really intense lately?”
Wei Yao grinned and draped an arm around his shoulder.
“You have to balance work and rest. So, are you going? If you are, I’ll have the barbecue place reserve a table for us first.”
Xu Muchan nodded.
“Sure.”
“I’ll ask around and see who else wants to go. You have no idea how hard I’ve been studying lately. I’m practically suffocating…”
Wei Yao continued chattering to Xu Muchan while his fingers flew across his phone, asking in the class group chat whether anyone wanted to go out for a late-night meal. He would treat everyone.
Everyone had clearly been pent up for quite some time.
Celebrating Xu Muchan’s return to school was also a good excuse to relax, so messages of enthusiastic agreement immediately filled the group chat.
“We’re definitely going to have some fun tonight.”
Wei Yao propped up his crooked chair with his leg.
He raised his head and was just about to shove his phone in front of Xu Muchan so he could see the messages in the group when the crooked chair was suddenly pushed with tremendous force.
The entire chair tipped over, and Wei Yao fell flat onto the floor.
“Fuck! Who ambushed me?!”
His tailbone hurt terribly.
Wei Yao sat on the floor in agony for more than ten seconds before gritting his teeth and getting back up.
Furious, he scanned everyone around him, trying to find the culprit who had ambushed him.
But everyone looked at him innocently.
Someone even joked,
“Brother Yao, you couldn’t even sit properly. How can you blame someone else?”
Wei Yao picked up his chair and rolled his eyes.
“Bullshit! Someone definitely pushed me.”
Could he really not tell the difference between falling on his own and being pushed?
Unfortunately, even after the young master Wei’s sharp eyes swept over every suspicious candidate, he still couldn’t find the person who had ambushed him.
Everyone looked at him righteously, wearing expressions as though they were just waiting to watch a good show.
Wei Yao scratched his head, dropped back into his seat, and asked Xu Muchan beside him,
“Did you see who pushed me?”
Xu Muchan glanced at him.
After hesitating briefly, he still shook his head.
Wei Yao couldn’t figure it out at all.
“That’s really strange. I clearly felt someone push me…”
Then he thought of something.
His expression immediately became frightened as he cautiously glanced around.
“Don’t tell me the place is haunted again.”
Xu Muchan silently looked at him but didn’t respond.
Fortunately, the bell for the next class soon rang.
Young Master Wei finally put his mind back on his studies and stopped obsessing over who had pushed him.
Xu Muchan twirled his pen between his fingers, moved his lips slightly, and muttered under his breath,
“Childish.”