The River of Styx was black, but the riverbank was pure white sand.
“This is the shoal of souls.”
The Main God said: “Before you woke from the River of Styx, you should have seen the memories of your original world. That is the initial you, the truest you, and also your starting point.”
“The River of Styx is not something anyone can walk just because they want to. Waking from your memories means you have already passed the first trial.”
Gong Ze asked: “What if I hadn’t woken up?”
Main God: “Then you would have sunk completely into the River of Styx, just like every dead soul, sinking to the bottom of the river, obtaining eternal sleep.”
Gong Ze: “…”
So??
So I almost died?!
So you fucking didn’t have any safety measures at all, and I really unknowingly walked a full circle through death?!
Gong Ze directly gave a “heh,” looking at it with a half-smile: “So if I hadn’t woken up, you weren’t planning to just leave and save yourself the trouble, right?”
Main God: “…”
The ball of light guiltily fell silent. A few seconds later it slowly opened its mouth to change the subject: “When you walk out from the River of Styx, you arrive at the shoal of souls. Walking along the shoal, you will see other life memories. Keep walking and walking, and you can return to the source.”
Gong Ze let out a loud cold scoff at its behavior of refusing to speak and playing dumb.
Main God: “…”
The Main God could not help retorting: “Ordinary people cannot pass through the River of Styx! I believed you had the quality, and besides, without me leading the way in front, you could not have walked from the River of Styx onto the shoal of souls at all!”
It had already done enough. It was a rare honest god among Main Gods who would fulfill promises. Other Main Gods were all old shady bastards who played tricks! Be content!
And Gong Ze smiled: “Explain. Keep explaining.”
Main God: “…”
Damn, hurry up and send this brat away! Looking at him really makes me upset!
The Main God, who liked to act cool, could not even maintain its ethereal voice. It was so angry it wished it could just ditch Gong Ze here and turn back home.
But thinking that it was at least a god, and Gong Ze did have a prior agreement with it.
Forget it, forget it.
The golden ball of light aggrievedly endured.
“Once you reach the shoal of souls, there’s no problem. You walk straight along this road. When you see the memories of the worlds you conquered all disappear, and discover that before your original world’s memories, the various important time periods of your life in your original world will appear.”
As a smart person, Gong Ze instantly understood.
“I can choose one to go back to?”
“Correct.”
The Main God gave an affirmative answer.
All the eyes on its wings looked at Gong Ze together. It both admired Gong Ze’s ability and felt a bit regretful. If Gong Ze could submit to it, perhaps he would become its greatest aid, collecting more world energy for it.
But then it thought of Gong Ze’s prickly personality.
Main God: emmm…
“When you see the time point you most want to return to, hold tight your teacher’s soul, and then you can return to the original world together with him.”
Gong Ze fell silent. After a moment he clenched his palm, feeling the warmth, his lover’s pure white soul. He sincerely said to the Main God: “Thank you.”
The Main God, who had never heard Gong Ze say a single nice word to it, was actually very moved for a moment.
When it came back to its senses, the Main God felt speechless again.
It could not have been Stockholm-syndromed by Gong Ze’s scolding, could it?
The golden ball shuddered and said in a strange, quiet tone: “…Nothing. I am only abiding by the contract… Walk forward. Only the souls of the dead can reach there. It actually repels me. I cannot continue to guide you, but remember this!”
The Main God’s voice suddenly turned serious.
“Absolutely, absolutely do not touch other worlds’ memory fragments along the way out of impatience, or you will transmigrate into the world you conquered!”
“Also, we will not meet again in the future.”
“Gong Ze… I wish you get what you desire…”
“…”
The golden six-winged ball of light disappeared on the dim shoal of the River of Styx, leaving only a faintly melancholy lingering sound.
Gong Ze unexpectedly found that toward this bastard Main God who had kidnapped him, he had developed a tiny bit of parting sorrow. He lowered his head and looked at the glow leaking from the gaps of his fist. Under his forehead hair, his eyes smiled gently.
“Teacher, I’ll take you home.”
The white light brightened and dimmed, as if a person in a sweet dream was breathing.
Gong Ze withdrew his gaze, his expression solemn and resolute.
His feet stepped over the pure white fine sand. Beside him was the endless, dark, silent River of Styx. The cold air had no trace of wind, and there was no sound of water either.
Looking over, it was like a scene that only a horror dream core should have.
Soon, a faint light appeared on the road ahead.
Gong Ze discovered a very magical sight. On both sides of the road ahead grew strange blue plants. The plants had no leaves, only a slender stem, as tall as a person.
The whole body was blue and glowing, and at the top grew a huge oval ball.
The ball had vertical line-like patterns.
Like a fruit, yet also like a flower bud.
Gong Ze furrowed his brows and hesitated for a few seconds. Thinking of the Main God’s words, he still walked over.
Just as his footsteps approached, the flower bud at the top of the strange plant suddenly slowly opened, revealing a soft ball of light inside. And from the light, Gong Ze saw scenes of him and Feng Yuan together.
Seeing Feng Yuan’s face, Gong Ze’s heart felt as if poked by something soft, moved endlessly.
He slowly walked past. The buds on the tall stems along the roadside all bloomed together. The light within showed the final ending of him and Feng Yuan.
In that world, he and Feng Yuan ultimately married and raised Gu Panpan together.
He knew Feng Yuan resisted having children, so they never had a child even into old age. Fortunately, Panpan was there.
Although early on Feng Yuan’s parents—Mama Feng and Papa Feng—still wanted Feng Yuan to give birth to a biological descendant of the Feng family. Of course, they also liked Panpan very much, but Panpan was, after all, a Beta and a child with no blood relation.
However, several years later, not only had Feng Yuan come to treat Gu Panpan as his own child, even the Feng couple called him “eldest grandson” at every turn and never mentioned a biological grandson again.
“It’s all because Panpan is sensible…”
Gong Ze murmured.
That was his first time being a father. He still remembered that Panpan had been clever since childhood. Not only did he take good care of himself, he also knew how to worry for the adults.
Knowing Feng Yuan and he did not want other children, while the Feng elders kept urging, Panpan studied hard and performed well. Whether it was schoolteachers, Jiang Lin’an and Ji Huai, or the surrounding neighbors, all praised this child as filial.
In order to max out the mission, Gong Ze had to have a job. He began helping Feng Yuan handle assets and manage the Feng family company. The two of them were busy flying all over the country.
At that time, it was Panpan who accompanied Mama Feng and Papa Feng.
Once, the old couple went mountain climbing. Papa Feng fell and lost consciousness. Mama Feng nearly fainted from anxiety. Seventeen-year-old Panpan not only called an ambulance, but because the ambulance could not drive up the mountain, he carried Papa Feng on his back. Drenched in sweat, gritting his teeth, he actually carried the man from the mountaintop to the foot of the mountain.
Panpan injured his knee because of this, and his heart was overloaded, sending him into emergency rescue as well.
By the time the two of them rushed over, the awakened old couple was holding Panpan and weeping.
At that moment, even a biological grandson would have been no more than this.
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