Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Night had fallen, and Nanshan Town, which should have been settling into its usual tranquility, was instead plunged into chaos.

Of Nanshan Town’s nearly one thousand Inspectors, all except for the Guardians stationed at the mines were mobilized overnight on Li Jinghong’s orders.

Teams of Inspectors went door-to-door, searching every house. Afterward, they would thrust lifelike Wanted Orders into the hands of the bleary-eyed commoners.

A generous reward—an amount most commoners couldn’t hope to earn in a lifetime—coupled with the lure of a lifelong exemption from Forced Labor for one’s entire family, sent Nanshan Town into a complete uproar that night.

And at Li Jinghong’s behest, this uproar was rapidly spreading beyond Nanshan Town to the entirety of Qinghe County.

As one of Qinghe County’s Inspectors, Chu Mu was naturally among those mobilized by Li Jinghong’s command.

Having been promoted from an ordinary Inspector to a team leader officially in command of a dozen or so men, he now held a small measure of power in Nanshan Town.

He could now act with much more ease within the Inspection Office.

Before today, Chu Mu would have surely been delighted by this.

But the shocks of the past hour had been far, far too great for him.

’The understanding of this world I’ve spent months building has been shattered in an instant!’

’Power, status... it all seems so insignificant compared to that higher level—the Extraordinary.’

This much was clear just from looking at Li Jinghong—the County Captain and a Thousand Households, the highest-ranking military officer in Qinghe County.

’If it were just a few ordinary Rebels, would he be making such a huge scene?’

A significant portion of his actions had already exceeded the authority of a County Captain, making his intentions crystal clear.

Chu Mu cradled his Long Saber, leaning against a corner of the wall as he watched the bloody scene before him with a blank expression.

The old man’s corpse had been slit open from chest to stomach. Under Li Jinghong’s watchful gaze, the Inspection Office’s forensic doctor steeled himself and continued to dissect the body.

Though the man had been dead for some time, the blood that flowed was still shockingly vibrant. It gushed from the incisions, ran down the sides of the wooden table to stain it crimson, and seeped into the floor below.

In the dim dungeon, the scene was both jarring and horrifying.

Chu Mu watched with intense focus, not looking away for a single moment, as if determined to sear every last detail into his mind. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

And that was, in fact, exactly what he was doing.

Li Jinghong had ordered the old man’s body dissected, clearly unwilling to overlook even the slightest possibility.

’The old man himself probably never imagined that, so long after his death, he’d be dug up for such a meticulous... slicing and dicing.’

Chu Mu watched in silence. In a way, he almost hoped Li Jinghong would find something in the old man’s corpse.

Even if whatever Li Jinghong discovered had nothing to do with him, at least Li Jinghong was... tangible, someone within his reach, not some remote and incomprehensible power beyond his understanding.

This Otherworld version of an autopsy lasted for over an hour, by which point the old man’s body had been dismembered and dissected into fragments.

The thick stench of blood filled the cramped dungeon, mingling with the stagnant, musty odor to create a nauseating miasma.

"Put the body back together and hang it on the memorial archway on the Northern side of town."

"Once the body is reassembled, Wu Shuo, you’ll take some men and stand guard."

Li Jinghong glanced indifferently at the pieces of the corpse, uttered the command, and then turned and left.

"How long will it take to reassemble?"

Only after Li Jinghong had departed did Wu Shuo step forward to ask the forensic doctor.

"Sir, it can be reassembled within an hour."

The forensic doctor quickly replied.

Wu Shuo frowned. After gesturing for the forensic doctor to get started, he said nothing more, walked to the side, and sat down, becoming as silent and still as a statue.

Clearly, the events at Fengyue Tower had been a major shock not just to Chu Mu, but to all the other Inspectors who had been involved.

Chu Mu hesitated for a moment, then walked over to Wu Shuo and asked tentatively:

"Squad Leader, what did the Thousand Households mean when he mentioned... the Nanshan Li Family?"

"I don’t know."

Wu Shuo let out a long breath, glanced around, and lowered his voice. "All I know is that for as long as I’ve been an Inspector, our County Magistrate and County Captain have both been surnamed Li."

"Seems to be the same for many of the surrounding counties, and even the Commandery City."

"Our current Thousand Households was assigned here six years ago. The rumor is that the previous Thousand Households was his uncle, but who knows if that’s true..."

Chu Mu frowned as his mind returned to the scene at Fengyue Tower. He’d seen it with his own eyes: when the Resentful Soul appeared, its first target had been Li Jinghong.

But a CRACKLE of electric light had instantly shattered the Resentful Soul to pieces.

It was obvious that Li Jinghong possessed some kind of defense against mystical Attacks like those from the Resentful Soul.

Furthermore, when confronting the Resentful Soul, Li Jinghong had invoked the Nanshan Li Family for support.

This was a clear indication that the Nanshan Li Family Li Jinghong mentioned must be an existence on a completely different level.

For a Clan on that mystical, Extraordinary level, their focus would inevitably be on matters of the mystical and the Extraordinary.

Mundane affairs would likely be nothing more than a side concern.

’And judging by Li Jinghong’s greedy attitude toward the mystical and the Extraordinary...’

’...it’s clear that within this so-called Nanshan Li Family, he isn’t highly regarded. He might even be considered insignificant...’

’So... the mundane world... is controlled by a higher level of the mystical and Extraordinary?’

As he pieced together these speculations, Chu Mu felt a sudden sense of clarity.

’If I look at it that way, everything that seemed irrational suddenly makes sense.’

’The production and transportation at the mines... it doesn’t matter that it defies worldly logic, as long as it serves the interests of the mystical and Extraordinary.’

’Wantonly exploiting the lower classes, treating human lives as disposable, pushing the people to revolt time and again... it all seems to defy the logic of worldly governance, but as long as it serves the interests of the mystical and Extraordinary, who gives a damn about a few human lives?’

His mind involuntarily turned to the father of his body’s original owner. One thousand men sent for Forced Labor, plus their Inspector escorts—not a single one had returned alive!

Moreover, from what he’d heard recently, Qinghe County was not an isolated case.

In the surrounding counties, it seemed that all the men conscripted for Forced Labor by the Commandery City, along with their Inspector escorts... were gone for good.

’Could this, too, be serving the interests of that higher, mystical, Extraordinary plane?’

Suddenly, Chu Mu’s scalp prickled with dread. If everything was truly as he suspected...

’...then this world...’

Chu Mu raised his head, as if to look at the night sky, but his eyes met only the mold-stained ceiling of the dungeon.

’A world shrouded by the vast, mystical net of a higher power, where everything and everyone exists only to serve that mystical, Extraordinary plane!’

Chu Mu’s face turned pale.

’If that’s really how it is, then this Inspector’s uniform, this seemingly decent power and status... it’s all just a colossal joke...’

...