Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The elevator descended smoothly. The man was absorbed in his phone, scrutinizing the public opinion about Shen Wang.

Unlike the comments in Shen Wang's live broadcast, at this moment, various social media platforms were filled with curses against Shen Wang, which slightly lifted the man's gloomy mood.

Just a few scrolls down, he encountered some bizarre comments.

[Believe it or not, from today onwards, I'm a hardcore fan of Shen Wang!]

[Reposting this about Brother Shen can keep the jerks away and bring love.]

[Thanks to Brother Shen for opening the doors to a new world for me, much appreciated [smile].]

The man was utterly confused, frowning and cursing under his breath, "What's wrong with these people? What kind of nonsense is this?"

Just as he uttered the last word, the elevator doors opened, and he stepped out without a second glance.

He walked for a while before realizing something was amiss. The usually short elevator corridor seemed unusually long today.

Despite it being a bright afternoon, his surroundings were pitch black, as if he couldn't see his own hand in front of him.

A primal fear of darkness, embedded in human DNA, caused the man's heart to race. He tried to turn on the flashlight on his phone, but his trembling hands failed him repeatedly.

Using the faint glow from his phone screen, he noticed that his phone had somehow lost all signals.

No signal – then what were those comments he just refreshed? An eerie chill pervaded the air, cold sweat trickling down his spine, his hair standing on end, his face ashen.

[They say this guy is no good. As long as there's money, he's willing to do anything, even sell his soul.]

[Just trash, really disgusting. I hope he dies soon.]

[A waste of air when alive, a waste of land when dead. His mother should never have given birth to him.]

[Disgusting. Such a person even has a wife and child. His wife must be no better to marry him. Two rotten people can only raise another rotten person, a new generation of filth.]

[Just die already.]

Shen Wang has neither a wife nor children; who are these people cursing? Sensing something amiss, the man tried to exit the social media app, but his fingers seemed to move on their own, refreshing the feed once more.

On the screen, different accounts began posting the same phrase at exactly 04:44:44. Even the time on his phone mirrored this eerie coincidence, showing 4:44:44 precisely.

[Die die die die die]

The same three words, perfectly aligned in row after row, flooded from countless accounts. The man's pupils dilated in shock.

As he held his breath, the relentless chants of 'die' seemed to leap out of the phone, forcefully invading his eyes.

[Why don't you just die?]

[If only you were dead...]

In that moment, fear was drained from his body, leaving only one thought: "It would be better if I were dead..."

"Justice!" A resounding voice suddenly shattered the darkness. The man jolted, wrenching himself from the bizarre trance. His colleague was gripping his wrist tightly, "What are you doing by the window? Half of your body was leaning out. If I hadn't grabbed you..."

Only then did the man realize he was standing at the edge of a fourth-floor window, with bright sunlight pouring into the corridor.

"That was dangerously reckless," his colleague murmured, with a hint of sarcasm. "Your latest story has made a huge splash—over a million reads, hundred thousand likes and shares... It's caused such a stir, you'll surely get a hefty bonus."

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, the man glanced at his phone, suddenly reluctant to face the consequences of his orchestrated public opinion.

The phone's sleek surface was sticky with sweat. Gathering courage, he unlocked the screen with his fingerprint.

[Support handing Shen Wang over to the police. Extortion should get him in deep trouble.]

[And he's still streaming. Can't you women have some dignity? Falling for any handsome guy, even lowlifes like him.]

[Shen Wang is from C City, and there aren't many people there who can just dish out 15 million like that. Has no one figured out who that 'kind-hearted person' is?]

The man, relieved, asked his colleague, "Did you feel like it was particularly dark in here just now?"

His colleague looked puzzled. "No, not at all. Maybe there's something wrong with your eyes?"

What had just happened felt like an illusion, leaving no trace, but the man was acutely aware that if his colleague hadn't woken him up, he might have jumped out of the window.

Suddenly, he remembered a phrase that echoed in his ears: "You're surrounded by a ghostly aura, not long to live..."

When he first heard it, he thought Shen Wang was cursing him for knowing the truth. Now, he wasn't so sure.

Then there were those strange comments in the live stream... He suddenly realized he might have overlooked something crucial. Ignoring his colleague, he walked out in a daze.

"Zhengyi? Liu Zhengyi?" The colleague watched his back, spat dismissively, and muttered, "Old hyena, bound to get his comeuppance."

Shen Wang didn't stream for long. When the barrage of insults turned into pleas for connection and flaunts of wealth, he ended the stream.

Before logging off, Shen Wang saw over 99+ message notifications. He paused and opened the list.

He reported and blocked those who cursed vulgarly without a second glance; those who insulted more subtly even caught his interest for a moment before he dismissed them.

To someone who didn't care, these words were inconsequential.

Clicking on one particular message, Shen Wang paused.

It was from the underage student he had connected with. The boy had sent a long message.

Shen Wang summarized it: The boy had a talk with his mother and found out he was indeed adopted. Remembering how he had troubled his adoptive parents and that his birth parents had died in a car accident protecting him, he felt he was wasting time.

He decided to disconnect from the internet, study hard, and become someone useful to society, to repay both sets of parents.

At the end of the message, the boy expressed gratitude and apologized to Shen Wang.

[Brother Shen, I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have cursed you, especially not bringing up your parents... I was too thoughtless before...]

Shen Wang calculated and found that in the original fate of this young man, he would have continued his reckless ways, failing to get into university and starting work early.

At thirty, his foster mother fell seriously ill. Only then did he discover his true origins and matured, but it was too late. He couldn't gather enough money for his foster mother's medical expenses and lived with regret for the rest of his life.

Now, the young man's destiny had shifted.

He would study hard, get into a decent university, make good friends, and after graduation, he would work hard. When his foster mother fell ill, he managed to treat her with his savings and money borrowed from friends.

He would have a fairly good future.

"It's all about timing and fate," Shen Wang mused with a slight smile. Many people believe that destiny is unchangeable, but in reality, destiny is in one's own hands. Every decision made shapes a person's life.

And cultivators, they contend with fate itself.

Replying casually with a message encouraging diligent study, Shen Wang then put the matter out of his mind.

"Finally cleared all those annoying little red notifications," Shen Wang logged out of his account, just as his phone started to ring.

"Hello, is this Mr. Shen Wang?"

"What is it?" Hearing this voice, Shen Wang glanced at the unfamiliar number and raised an eyebrow.

"Good day, Mr. Shen, I am the person you were just connected with. My name is Liu Zhengyi." Liu Zhengyi, regretting and feeling awkward about his previous disrespect towards Shen Wang, forced a smile and reminded, "The one in the suit, who asked you several questions. You said I was surrounded by an ominous aura... Do you remember me?"

"I'm not senile yet," Shen Wang replied irritably, "Get to the point or I'm hanging up."

"Wait, wait, Mr. Shen, please don't hang up!" Liu Zhengyi raised his voice to stop him, knowing he had offended Shen Wang first and dared not get angry, he asked in a lower tone, "You said I was surrounded by a ghostly aura and my life is in danger. Do you have any solution?"

Shen Wang chuckled, drawing out his words meaningfully, "Has he come for you?"

"Master Shen! Master Shen, please save me!" Upon hearing Shen Wang's words, Liu Zhengyi's last bit of doubt vanished, and he cried out for help, his voice shrill, almost piercing Shen Wang's eardrums.

Shen Wang, slightly annoyed, moved his phone away and said with a smile, "There's a saying, 'Saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda.'"

Liu Zhengyi's eyes lit up: "Thank you, Master Shen, I knew you were a man of high morals and great wisdom, and you wouldn't just stand by and watch someone die..."

"But I don’t help the destitute," Shen Wang leisurely added the rest of his sentence, "My fee for a reading is two thousand, but since you're in such a plight, I'll give you a discount..."

Hearing the first part, Liu Zhengyi tensed, immediately thinking of the fifteen million Shen Wang had received from the Tang family. Before he could worry further, he heard "two thousand" and a discount!

Liu Zhengyi was immensely grateful and hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you, Master Shen, thank you..."

"After the discount, it's two hundred..."

Liu Zhengyi was so elated he felt like he was dreaming.

"Thousand."

With his smile freezing on his face, Liu Zhengyi's mouth hung open in disbelief: "How much?!"

"Two million," Shen Wang emphasized and repeated.

...Two million!

Liu Zhengyi, red in the eyes from either anger or excitement, had struggled for years in C City, using unscrupulous means to amass a fortune of four to five million. And now, Shen Wang dared to demand half of it in one go!

If not for Shen Wang's esteemed status as a master, he would have already cursed out loud.

Standing stiffly for a while, Liu Zhengyi finally gritted his teeth and said, "Master Shen, this price is too high. I don't have that much money. Can you give me another discount?"

"Take it or leave it. After all, it's not my life that's at stake."

With that, Shen Wang hung up the phone.

Listening to the busy tone, Liu Zhengyi was so angry he ground his teeth: "Two million! You might as well be a robber! C City is so big, there must be Taoist temples and monasteries. I refuse to believe you're the only one who can solve this problem!"

Unaware of Liu Zhengyi's rage, Shen Wang thought himself kind-hearted and merciful for only asking a mere two million!

Little did he know the other party would be ungrateful... Shen Wang shook his head in resignation: "A miser blinded by money, his life hanging by a thread, and still all he thinks about is money."

But thinking about Liu Zhengyi's facial features and the heavy aura of resentment surrounding him, Shen Wang was intrigued.

"Ghosts have ranks, starting with the relatively harmless earthbound spirits."

"Incapable of physical contact with the living or objects, yet able to affect the mind and health, the vengeful spirits kill through illusions."

"Ferocious ghosts can directly interact with the living and kill them."

"Followed by the formidable lesser demon kings... and ultimately, the great demon king, a legend."

"Five ranks in total."

"In modern society, vengeful spirits are rare and fierce entities, requiring the combined efforts of several ordinary cultivators to subdue."

"Given the intensity of the ghostly aura on Liu Zhengyi, normal cultivators wouldn't cope; it would take the older generation or a genius like Gu Dongting to handle that spirit."

"It might even be at the level of a ferocious ghost."

"Shen Wang's asking price of two million is indeed fair, without a trace of personal vendetta."

"Sadly, Liu Zhengyi missed his chance. Shen Wang thought indifferently, hoping he could live a few more days, praying for him."