Legend Management Bureau Chapter 15

[ … words ]

On the seventh day since Operator Du Yu entered the legend, the entire Legend Administration was in absolute chaos.

It was supposed to be an unprecedented day. A Super A-Class mission executed by a completely inexperienced rookie had achieved a rare ninety-four percent completion rate. This was one of the highest records since the founding of the Legend Administration, and for some unknown reason, the completion rate was still climbing.

Even so, not a single person in the Legend Administration could bring themselves to smile.

Shortly after Du Yu was stabbed in the abdomen by the Youqiong tribesman, the Legend Administration lost his video feed.

Nine hundred years ago, Zhan Qisheng had voluntarily cut his own feed, throwing the entire Legend Administration into a panic. Now, nine hundred years later, Du Yu’s feed was also lost. This strangely familiar yet entirely different situation left everyone in the Legend Administration on edge.

“Could Du Yu… be dead?” an employee finally could not help but ask.

Dead?

When Du Yu’s screen went dark, Dong Qianqiu sat by his physical body without saying a word, meticulously cleaning his wounds.

At this moment, Dong Qianqiu looked inexplicably heartbreaking.

‘Dead?’ she thought. ‘How could he be dead? His physical body is still breathing steadily, and he still owes me a cup of coffee. How could he possibly be dead?’

Dong Qianqiu blamed herself deeply. If she had not insisted on making Heng’e fly to the moon, Du Yu would not have been injured, and perhaps he would not be missing right now.

“Let’s go,” Seventh Lord Xie Bian said, waving to Fan Wujiu. “I just had my dear grandson Jin and the others check. Du Yu isn’t dead.”

Fan Wujiu nodded. The matters here had come to an end; the next thing to consider was how to recruit Du Yu to their side once he returned.

The two walked out the door together. Xie Bian stretched lazily. “That felt like watching a really long movie. I haven’t applied a face mask in so long, my skin is getting terrible.”

“Is that so?” Fan Wujiu replied dismissively. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly turned back to ask Xie Bian, “By the way, did you check WeChat Moments yesterday?”

“Moments?” White Wuchang Xie Bian looked confused. “What about it?”

“Wu Gang.”

“Wu Gang? What about Wu Gang? Can’t you just finish your sentence all at once?”

Xie Bian grumbled at Fan Wujiu while pulling out his phone. Opening his Moments, he saw that Wu Gang had posted a picture of the Moon Palace last night. The faint silhouette of Fairy Chang’e could be seen in the image, accompanied by a caption:

“Oh my god! Fairy Chang’e suddenly seems like a completely different person! I’ve been here chopping the laurel tree for hundreds of years, and for the first time ever, she came out to ask if I was tired and even gave me some osmanthus cake! So who was that haughty Fairy Chang’e who always ignored and scoffed at me before? Can someone please tell me what on earth happened?”

“Hahahaha!” Xie Bian burst into laughter. “Isn’t this great? Chang’e’s temperament has changed. She’s no longer that infamous gold-digger. Wu Gang’s good days have finally arrived.”

Fan Wujiu did not reply. He did not care about Chang’e. He simply gave Xie Bian a cool glance and said, “Du Yu’s abilities are very important. We need to recruit him as soon as possible.”

…

Du Yu felt an agonizing pain all over his body, as if he were about to die.

He struggled to open his eyes and found himself lying in a cave. The walls of the cave were exceptionally smooth, clearly not naturally formed.

“Where… is this?” Du Yu tried to climb up, but a sharp pain shot through his abdomen.

“I suggest you don’t move around. I didn’t treat your wound. If you thrash about, you’re very likely to die,” a cold voice drifted in from the cave entrance.

Du Yu turned his head and saw a man dressed in black standing at the entrance. He looked down at his own abdomen; sure enough, the blood had only temporarily coagulated. The gash left by the Youqiong’s stab still bloomed vibrantly, glistening like a delicate red flower.

Unsure of the current situation, Du Yu quietly called out for Dong Qianqiu.

“By the way, I temporarily severed your connection with the Administration. So right now, they can neither hear your voice nor see your video feed.”

Clutching his lower abdomen, Du Yu struggled into a sitting position.

“Who exactly are you?”

“Who am I? You should have guessed by now.” The man turned his head, revealing a pair of unfathomable eyes.

“Zhan Qisheng…”

“That’s right. It’s me.”

Du Yu had never expected to meet Zhan Qisheng in such a manner.

“What do you want?” Du Yu asked.

“I only want to ask you a few questions.” Zhan Qisheng slowly walked toward Du Yu. “If your answers satisfy me, I will let you go back. If your answers displease me, I will end you right here.”

Hearing this, fury surged within Du Yu. This Zhan Qisheng was speaking far too arrogantly.

“End me right here? Who do you think you are?” Du Yu said through gritted teeth. “Don’t think that just because I’m injured, I can’t beat you. I’ve only ever heard of veteran employees bullying rookies, but I’ve never heard of an ex-employee bullying a rookie!”

Zhan Qisheng let out a cold laugh. He extended his left hand and gave a casual wave. With a deafening boom, a massive crater was blasted right into the solid stone wall of the cave.

“Holy crap!” If Du Yu weren’t injured, he would have jumped up in shock. Someone who could shatter a stone wall with a casual wave—did such a person really exist? Could it be that this perfectly hollowed-out cave was carved out by the man standing before him?

Zhan Qisheng said, “The biggest difference between you and me is that I spent four thousand years comprehending the Great Dao of Time. I endured countless hardships to cultivate from a mere mortal into a True Immortal. But to my surprise, after my ascension, there was no suitable position for me among the celestial ranks. As a cultivator who could travel through time at will, the Legend Administration became my only choice.”

“But you betrayed them, didn’t you?”

“Betrayed?” Zhan Qisheng pondered for a moment. “That’s a good word for it. Is that how they describe me now?”

“Is it not true? You broke away from the Legend Administration and left this place in a complete mess.”

Zhan Qisheng glanced at Du Yu and said coldly, “A mess? Let me ask you this. How did you feel when you forced Heng’e to fly to the moon?”

“I…” Du Yu hadn’t wanted to recall it, but with Zhan Qisheng bringing it up, his thoughts instantly flew back to the previous night—a stunning beauty, eyes brimming with warm tears, soaring straight toward the moon.

“Were you happy?” Zhan Qisheng pressed. “Do you think you were doing the right thing?”

“I didn’t think about right or wrong. I was just following the progression of the legend…”

“What a joke!” Zhan Qisheng shouted angrily. “If one day, a few assassins from the ‘future’ told you that you were going to destroy the world, and therefore they had to kill you right now, would you just obediently go to your death?”

“That… that’s not the same thing at all…” Du Yu argued. “If Lady Heng’e hadn’t flown to the moon, it really would have led to the wrongful deaths of countless people…”

“It is the exact same logic! No matter how many people die, what does that have to do with Heng’e? The people thousands of years later will die, yet they place all the blame on a weak woman from thousands of years ago. What kind of logic is that?! Why must their lives be dictated by a legend, entirely stripped of the right to choose for themselves?!”

The more Zhan Qisheng spoke, the more agitated he became, and the entire cave began to tremble slightly.

“Zhan Qisheng, you’re crossing the damn line,” Du Yu said softly. “I gave you some respect, but you just won’t drop it, will you? Do you think I wanted to come here? What do you think I came thousands of years into the past for, fighting for my life in this near-suicidal ‘Da Yi Shoots the Suns’ mission?!”

Zhan Qisheng snapped back to his senses and looked at Du Yu, not understanding what he meant.

“I’m just a mortal!” Du Yu shouted weakly. “At the end of the day, all those gods lied to me! Do you think I had a choice?! Ever since I died, I was dragged around by a bunch of strangers right into this legend! I am not like you! If I didn’t follow their arrangements, I would be stuck here forever! I didn’t even have the right to remain a ‘human’! And you’re here giving me a damn lecture about who’s right and who’s wrong?!”

Du Yu reached out a trembling hand, pointing at the massive hole Zhan Qisheng had just blasted, and continued, “You can split a mountain with a single palm strike, but what about me? It takes me two damn slaps just to bust open a watermelon! There are dozens of people up and down the Legend Administration; who exactly do you think I can afford to defy? Every single one of you bosses me around, and then one by one, you come out to condemn me! What gives you the right?!”

As if realizing something, Zhan Qisheng turned back to Du Yu and said, “Since you are so dissatisfied, why don’t you join me? We can stay here in the ancient era, free from anyone’s control. Wouldn’t that be liberating?”

“Liberating?” Du Yu’s lips were pale, and he let out a cold scoff. “It’s exactly because of this ‘liberation’ you’re talking about that I was dragged here by force! Forced to make Da Yi shoot down the suns, forced to make Heng’e swallow the elixir and fly to the moon! You might be free, but what about me? You want a mere mortal like me to stay in this ancient era crawling with demonic beasts. Is that what you call ‘liberation’?”

Zhan Qisheng seemed lost in thought. He looked at Du Yu without saying a word.

“You are resentful, and so am I,” Du Yu said through clenched teeth. “Don’t force all the blame onto me! If you’re so aggrieved, then go destroy the Legend Administration! Is holding a wounded mortal hostage in a cave the full extent of your abilities?”

Seeing that Zhan Qisheng did not answer, Du Yu paused before continuing:

“Yes, I admit it. I feel terrible about Da Yi and Heng’e’s ending, but I had to do it. Because I don’t have the power to change their fate! For me, this was done with a group of gods holding a knife to my throat.” Du Yu looked at Zhan Qisheng, still clutching his lower abdomen. “This is a trolley problem. You put me on the tracks and forced me to choose between running over Da Yi and Chang’e, or running over the people of the world. And I know that no matter what I choose, I’ll be cursed for it… But this train was originally supposed to hit the two of them anyway! So I could only make this choice! I can’t just divert the train to hit the people who were supposed to survive just because I got close to those two!”

Zhan Qisheng listened quietly to Du Yu’s words, deep in thought.

Du Yu could feel his physical condition deteriorating, but furious at Zhan Qisheng’s attitude, he kept pushing. “You’re the one who derailed this perfectly normal train in the first place, and now you have the gall to question why I put it back on track… Zhan Qisheng, what makes you any different from me… You…”

Du Yu coughed, causing his wound to tear completely open. He curled up, slumping to the ground.

“Is that so? To think there was someone like you in this world,” Zhan Qisheng muttered to himself, looking at Du Yu. “Very well. Let me see just how far you can go…”

Du Yu wanted to say something else, but his consciousness was already beginning to fade…

…

“Assistant Dong!” an employee shouted. “We’ve got Du Yu’s feed back!”

Dong Qianqiu dropped everything and immediately sprinted to the screen.

“Thank goodness… Thank goodness…” Dong Qianqiu stared at the monitor, but her worry flared again. Du Yu was collapsed on the ground, completely unresponsive to her calls, and the blood from his abdomen had stained the floor red.

“Quickly, initiate recall mode!” Dong Qianqiu toggled the switches on the instrument panel beside the display, instantly shifting into work mode. “Cleanup team, reconfirm the Taishu energy! Soul Summoning team, begin the recall immediately!”

“Report! The estimated Taishu energy generated from this legend traversal is zero!”

“Report! The soul summoning is ready!”

From top to bottom, everyone in the Legend Administration sprang into frantic action.

“Assistant Dong! You might need to come take a look at this!” an employee noticed something strange and called out to her.

“Whatever it is, put it aside for now. I need Du Yu to come back alive!” Dong Qianqiu was not distracted and continued to operate the screen.

“Assistant Dong! This is genuinely bizarre!”

Dong Qianqiu bit her lip and shouted, “All team members, continue with the recall procedures! I’ll take a quick look and be right back.”

She hurried over to the employee, who was responsible for the post-mission cleanup of the legend.

“What is it?”

“Assistant Dong, the legend completion rate has hit ninety-eight percent, and it’s still growing!”

“What?!” Dong Qianqiu gasped. “Ninety-eight percent? Isn’t that the highest completion rate since the founding of the Legend Administration? But Du Yu clearly isn’t participating anymore, so how can the rate keep rising? Switch the feed over to my screen right now!”

Not daring to delay, the staff member quickly adjusted the monitor.

An elderly man appeared on the screen, followed by several attendants. They were walking briskly toward Da Yi’s village.

“Is that… Emperor Yao?” Dong Qianqiu instantly recognized the old man in the footage.

The elder led his entourage into the village, going door to door to inquire about the one who had shot down the suns. Without exception, the villagers told him that the archer was named Da Yi. However, even after scouring the entire village, no one knew where Da Yi had gone.

“Emperor, must you absolutely find this Da Yi?” an attendant asked.

“Indeed. The moment I heard someone managed to shoot down the suns, I immediately set out from Pingyang. It took two full days to get here. No matter what, we must take the man named Yi from this village with us. I intend to make him an official. This is not just a simple gesture of gratitude for saving the common people, but a masterstroke to stabilize the hearts of the public!”

“I see, Emperor.” The guard nodded in understanding. Whether Yi had actually shot down the suns or not wasn’t the point. The important thing was that they absolutely had to take a man named Yi from this village. Once this act was publicized, the entire world would praise Emperor Yao as a wise and benevolent ruler.

“Reporting!” A guard walked over and bowed to Emperor Yao. “We’ve asked around. Across all the neighboring villages, there is only a child named Houyi!”

“Houyi?” Emperor Yao raised an eyebrow. “Are you certain there’s no one else named Yi?”

“Positive. The Da Yi who shot down the suns has completely vanished. Now, there’s only this child with ‘Yi’ in his name. According to the villagers, this Houyi had a very close relationship with Da Yi, the sun-shooter.”

“Excellent. I shall make this child an official. Release the news. Tell everyone that the person named Yi from the village has been taken away by the Emperor.”

“Understood!”

Dong Qianqiu stared at the screen as the completion rate hit ninety-nine percent. What on earth was going on? Houyi? Da Yi?

She immediately opened an encyclopedia app on her phone and performed a detailed search on the legend of “Yi Shoots the Nine Suns.”

As it turned out, the widely known tale of “Houyi Shoots the Suns” was merely a rumor. The one who truly shot down the nine suns was Da Yi. Houyi, on the other hand, was the ruler of the Youqiong State during the Xia Dynasty. Because he worshipped the sun-shooter Da Yi, he changed his own name to Houyi. Legend had it that Houyi was also incredibly skilled at archery, which caused people over time to gradually confuse Da Yi and Houyi. So, was it Da Yi who shot down the suns, or Houyi?

The era was too ancient, and no one could remember the truth anymore.

Thus came the legend of “Houyi Shoots the Suns.”

Dong Qianqiu watched helplessly as the completion rate on the screen hit one hundred percent, and the entire monitor lit up with a brilliant golden glow.

“The first one hundred percent in history…”

“Assistant Dong, Du Yu’s soul has returned!” a staff member shouted.