Chapter 181

Chapter 181

With a creak, Chen Ji pushed open the temple door. The rainwater accumulated on the eaves shook loose a cascade along the corners. The back of Chen Ji's clothes was already mostly soaked by raindrops from leaves along the way, so he didn't mind a bit more.

"Squeak squeak!" A small white ball of fur scurried out from inside the room and planted itself in front of Chen Ji, its tiny paws waving about incessantly. Chen Ji casually scooped it up. The newborn white hedgehog was a tiny, soft bundle; even the spines on its back felt soft to the touch. Chen Ji tapped its nose. As an albino, its ruby-like eyes stared unblinkingly at Chen Ji, not frightening but rather incredibly adorable.

"What's wrong?" Chen Ji was no expert in hedgehog-speak, but the little one could pick up on a bit of human speech—after all, with so many senior members of the household, it had learned a little through daily exposure.

Whether it had something to say or not, the little hedgehog first flopped onto its back in Chen Ji's palm, its pink belly boldly facing the sky. Chen Ji gave it a rub, feeling its plump little belly, and knew it was full.

So it wasn't hungry.

Then what was it?

The little hedgehog usually didn't come out. It had perfectly inherited the shyness common to most hedgehogs. When Chen Ji first started feeding it, he could only see a curled-up ball in its nest and had to coax it out to get the nipple into its mouth. It took a full two weeks of feeding before the little one would show its face, and only after over a month would it venture out on its own to see him.

—It felt oddly rewarding.

The little hedgehog wriggled a few times in Chen Ji's palm, then extended a tiny claw to point in a direction. Chen Ji followed its gesture—it was pointing toward the main hall.

Chen Ji's brow twitched slightly, and he asked with a smile, "Is Grandfather Mountain summoning me?"

The little hedgehog nodded, then shook its head. Suddenly, a voice, cool as a draft, spoke up from the side: "If he's calling you, just go."

Second Master Huang had returned at some point, nestled on a roof beam, speaking gloomily.

Hearing this, Chen Ji nodded. "Then I'll go offer incense to Grandfather Mountain first."

He set Little White down and, paying no mind to his damp clothes, headed straight for the main hall. The door to the main hall was tightly shut. Chen Ji pushed hard to open it, releasing a musty, damp odor. He sniffed, feigning nonchalance as he entered, selected incense, lit it, and made his offering.

Unlike what Chen Ji had expected, the main hall doors didn't close, and Huang Mao didn't appear. He quietly finished the incense offering, even checked the robot vacuum's battery level, and opened the windows one by one. Still, Huang Mao showed no sign of emerging.

Since He wasn't appearing, the stage was his.

As he opened the windows, Chen Ji said with a smile, "I didn't expect the rain to be so persistent these past few days. I'll open all the windows for You, let some air through to prevent mold inside. The smell isn't pleasant."

Outside, heavy clouds still hung low and oppressive. Unfazed, Chen Ji took down the fruit plates from the offering table, fetched water, wrung out a cloth, and wiped the table while casually remarking, "Has Grandfather Mountain still not found Chang Xu?"

As soon as these words left his mouth, even though He hadn't appeared, Chen Ji keenly sensed the atmosphere in the main hall instantly turn gloomy and viscous. Chen Ji pretended not to notice—he was provoking on purpose. He continued, "With this rain, the little animals in the mountains don't dare come out. These past couple of days, when I went out to treat those little creatures, so many had died, rotting where they lay. I just had Second Grandfather and Little Red gather and burn them all..."

Actually, dead animals could be eaten. Death from drained vitality was similar to dying of old age; at most, the meat quality was poor. But this wave had killed too many small animals. The others that could hide did so, and there wasn't time to eat them all. As Chen Ji walked through the mountains, he kept catching whiffs of a foul stench, inevitably near rotting animal carcasses.

That made them no good for eating. Not all animals are scavengers, and leaving them to rot could easily lead to disease. While supplementing food for the mountain animals, Chen Ji had Little Red and Second Grandfather burn the corpses... It was relatively simple. In situations like this, Little Red and Second Grandfather were like flamethrowers with built-in gas tanks. A tap on any part of their bodies acted as a trigger pull, and *biu*—the rotten corpses turned to ash.

Chen Ji's voice echoed in the empty main hall, layered and hauntingly hollow: "Where has Chang Xu gone? Why is Grandfather Mountain so concerned? It's unnecessary, isn't it? No matter how powerful he is, can he really turn the world upside down? This mountain will always be Little Green Mountain, You will always be the Mountain Lord. What difference does his presence or absence make?"

He paused, his tone carrying a hint of teasing, almost muttering to himself, "Could he possibly steal Your divine status?"

The stagnant atmosphere suddenly shuddered. Thunder rumbled outside the window. Chen Ji glanced at the purple lightning streaking across the sky and said helplessly, "Alright, alright, I won't say anymore. Please don't be angry..."

Carrying the cloth, hands clasped behind his back, he leisurely left the hall, strolling like an old man out for a stroll.

The moment he stepped out, the main hall doors slammed shut with a loud crash.

Chen Ji turned back in surprise, then shook his head with a smile.

Sure enough, the rain began to fall again.

Chen Ji looked at the sky and returned to his room via the covered walkway—he needed a bath and some tonic soup to replenish his energy.

Who knows how many more animals would die?

His earlier words contained some genuine intention to persuade Huang Mao to stop this rain—it benefited no one and only worsened His own situation... But unfortunately, Huang Mao wouldn't listen.

He had no way to deal with this rain. He was just a human. Even if he knew a few charms and minor tricks, he was still human. He lacked the power to confront a deity head-on.

Since He was determined to persist, Chen Ji could only do some damage control afterward.

After his bath, Chen Ji simmered some ginseng chicken soup on the stove and went to sleep quietly.

***

"Damn this never-ending rain!" Granny Zhang cursed as she locked the windows, shaking them for good measure, then went to check for leaks in the roof.

Normally, a small leak was no big deal, but now it was different. Leaks could be deadly. She cursed, "What wicked thing is behind this vile trick? Why doesn't Heaven strike it dead with lightning!"

The chickens in the nearby coop clucked incessantly, making Granny Zhang's heart ache—was the coop leaking?

But she didn't dare go check and could only continue her stream of curses.

The city hospital was packed again. Medical staff hurried about, beds being wheeled one after another to the emergency room. Many young people, faces pale, waited outside the pharmacy to pick up medicine: "This rain is too weird... Last time I got caught in it, I fell sick. Now it's raining again, and I feel like I can't even stand..."

"Huh?" another young man said in surprise. "You too?"

"Yeah?"

The two exchanged glances. The young man covered his chest and coughed twice. "Hey, bro, same here! This rain is seriously weird. I'm a delivery guy. Last time it rained, I didn't think much of it, but that night almost everyone in my building was down..."

Many delivery workers rented shared apartments. Nowadays, regulations were strict, so once a suitable place was found, it would be filled by delivery personnel. His entire building was rented by delivery workers sharing rooms. For those running deliveries, who didn't brave wind and rain, logging tens of thousands of steps daily? Who paid much attention to a bit of rain? But that day, nine out of ten people in the building were bedridden. Anyone would find it strange.

They had even investigated back then—whether the tap water quality caused mass poisoning, or if a nearby chemical plant was leaking toxic gas... They checked everything; nothing was wrong. It was all normal. They could only chalk it up to coincidence and let it go.

But after that day, everyone clearly felt weaker. Before, running hundreds of orders a day was tiring but doable. Now, forget hundreds; exceeding a hundred orders was exhausting enough.

With today's rain, most people still didn't pay it much mind, including him. He was still rushing deliveries in the rain when suddenly he felt dizzy and his vision blurred. By the time he realized it, he and his bike had taken a nasty spill. The weirdest part was he couldn't get up right away. Someone brought him to the hospital for emergency care. They rushed through various tests, worried about internal bleeding or brain hemorrhage from the fall, but aside from scrapes, there was nothing wrong.

Now he was in line to get medicine.

"Don't know what kind of cursed luck this is!" the delivery guy complained.

Hearing this, the young man felt his eyelids twitch inexplicably. He suddenly remembered something, pulled out his phone, and scrolled through it several times before saying, "Maybe it really isn't our problem..."

He handed his phone to the delivery guy, who glanced at it, eyes widening, then said dismissively, "What kind of nonsense is this? How could this be possible..."

It looked like someone would do anything to build a following.

The young man said quietly, "I didn't believe it at first either... But you have to admit, doesn't it seem a lot like that's what's happening now?"

He gestured with his chin, indicating for the delivery guy to look. The delivery guy looked up and saw the overwhelming number of people seeking medical treatment.

That moment of shock made the delivery guy say doubtfully, "Impossible, right... If this were really happening, wouldn't the authorities do something?"

The young man said, "They'd definitely have to handle it, right? Maybe they're still investigating."

The young man scrolled down on his phone. The Taoist priest who made the post had also shared some dietary recipes for nourishing qi and strengthening the body below, but without any links or hidden promotions for specific brands of medicine, which made it seem more credible. The young man muttered as he screenshotted the recipes, planning to try making one at home.

The delivery guy blurted out: "Bro, forward me that post. I'll try making some nourishing food too... Man, I really feel weak."

"Sure! Let's add each other!"

The delivery guy returned to the dorm, and sure enough, everyone was sprawled out again. As soon as he entered, he heard a chorus of groans. Holding the ingredients, he asked his roommate, almost instinctively, "Did you get caught in the rain again?"

The one wrapped in his blanket groaned in response, "What the hell is going on... Am I really this weak now..."

He lifted the ingredients in his hand and said, "Stop whining. Today I’m making you all some ginseng chicken soup to help you get your strength back..."

"...You're a lifesaver! I owe you big time!"