The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 778 I'll fix you, will you do me a favor?

"did you find it?"

"found it!"

Full of confidence, Shen Le jumped to the ground, grabbed an entrenching tool, and shoved it forcefully into the earth. Heat flowed down the tool into the ground, and the earth beneath his feet quickly responded:

A vibrant spirituality, the shock and anger of being disturbed, the unease of being discovered, and even the feeling of being like a small animal, cornered, back arched, ready to pounce...

"This is it, right down here. Hey, I'm telling you, get out! Get out now! Forget about the excavator! Get everyone out of here first!"

The tracks and bucket seemed to be stuck or tangled by something, making it difficult to move forward or backward.

Not only that, but gusts of cold wind enveloped everyone present, and the tracks emitted a sound as if they were being gnawed at.

Squeak, squeak, squeak...

The operator, sweating profusely, frantically cranked the control lever, but the excavator wouldn't obey him at all. Hearing Shen Le's call, he felt like he'd been granted a pardon, jumped off the vehicle, and ran back as fast as he could.

Gu Yulin and the local guy worked together with Shen Le to first drive the ordinary people away from the construction area, set up a cordon, and then had one person on each side of the cordon.

"Shen Le, be careful! Stay away from the excavator! That thing can tip over!"

"rest assured--"

Shen Le waved to them from afar. Directly in front of the excavator, a pit had been dug, 10 meters long, 5 meters wide, and no more than 1 meter deep.

Although it's not deep yet, if we keep digging, the pit walls will eventually collapse, causing the excavator to become top-heavy and fall over.

He had witnessed this kind of thing more than once. The one that left the deepest impression on him was the "building collapse" in Shanghai, where water seeped into the foundation pit next to the building, causing the completed building to flatten completely on the ground...

"Leave it to me, no problem! I won't let anything happen to it!"

Shen Le knelt down on one knee, one hand on his knee and the other on the ground. After a moment, the ground began to move quietly, creating a slightly downward slope behind the excavator.

As the excavator sank deeper, it slowly reversed on its own, maintaining its balance without showing any sign of tipping over.

Once the excavator had retreated to the foot of the mountain, Shen Le let out a long sigh of relief and pressed both hands firmly to the ground. Soon, the earth in front of him began to ripple and surge outwards, layer upon layer…

"Come out, come out... You can't escape... Come out obediently, and we'll talk..."

He had a powerful force under his command that constantly resisted his earth-shattering magic.

Shen Le focused his mind slightly, first spreading his mental energy, penetrating in all directions, encircling the hills in a large circle, weaving a defensive net so that the "thing" inside could not escape;
Then, it contracts inwards, circle by circle, compressing its range of motion. Next, it flattens a layer of soil, throws it outwards, flattens another layer of soil, and throws it outwards again…

It was thrown out and piled up to about two meters thick, forming a mound of earth around it. Suddenly, the resistance from his men became fierce, even showing signs of a fight to the death.

The scorched earth rubbed against each other, making a cracking sound as porcelain shards sprang out. Tiny porcelain particles almost grazed Shen Le's cheek, but fortunately he turned his head in time to avoid the accident.

Gu Yulin, watching from afar, was terrified.

"Mr. Shen, if it doesn't work, we'll take it down! We'll use other methods! We're professionals, we have many ways to control it!"

"It's alright! I'll talk to it some more!" Shen Le shouted back. He paused, focused his senses, and finally understood why the creature below was resisting so fiercely:

"Oh, I see. The sun is making you uncomfortable, is it? Then I'll stop for now and have them bring the stuff over to shade the pit. Or shall we talk again tonight?"

The Special Affairs Bureau has a set procedure for dealing with these things that are associated with yin energy, and even has corresponding equipment.

As soon as Shen Le shouted, poles were quickly erected around the pit, and then a layer of geotextile-like fabric was quickly covered over the poles.

As soon as a black cloth was put on, Shen Le immediately felt the resistance below decrease by more than half; with the black cloth hanging down all around, the resistance below almost dropped to zero.

Shen Le could even feel the little guy at the bottom of the pit sigh with relief... and then, little by little, it cautiously poked its head out.

A faint, intermittent fluctuation of consciousness, filled with confusion and sorrow, was slowly spreading from the bottom of the pit:

"Why... are there two..."

"Same...why not me..."

"...Only one can be kept..."

Perhaps he was beaten into submission, or perhaps during the previous confrontation, he sensed Shen Le's power, the strength of which could suppress him with a flick of his wrist.

When the little guy emerged, he was no longer agitated or aggressive; he simply showed a quiet spirituality and circled around.

Shen Le sighed, picked up his entrenching tool, and strode forward according to the location he sensed with his mental power:
"Don't run away! Stay here and don't run! I've come to you, I think I can help you..."

Shovel after shovel, digging down with force. With each shovelful, a huge chunk of soil, far exceeding the weight that an entrenching tool could lift, was scooped up.

Guided by his spiritual power, Shen Le was not afraid of being too rough in his work and damaging the cultural relics lying below; he just kept digging down with all his might.

After digging seven or eight more times, he gently jumped into the pit, brushed aside the soil, and picked up a fragment with a bluish-white glaze and a lustrous texture:

"Found you. -- The others should be nearby too, right? Don't worry, it'll be quick, we'll find them all soon..."

He held the porcelain shard in one hand and pressed the other hand against the ground, gently releasing heat. Silently, the hardened soil trembled, turning into extremely fine dust that scattered in the air.
After the soil disappeared, a large number of broken porcelain pieces were piled up on top of each other in the pit, with various colors, shapes and patterns.
Then, the shards in Shen Le's palm trembled slightly. Soon, a very small portion of these shards resonated with the porcelain fragments in his palm, rising continuously upwards:
"They're here, they're here... Good, come to the top, come to me..."

Shen Le closed his eyes slightly, his mental energy spreading into countless strands, trying to touch each piece of broken porcelain, separating them, and protecting those resonating and rising porcelain pieces from damage during the collision.

About fifteen minutes later, the broken pieces of porcelain were laid flat on the ground, and even though they had been buried for a long time, their once elegant curves could still be seen.

Perhaps it was spirituality, perhaps it was yin energy, perhaps it was something else, that had always protected it, ensuring it never lost its luster and possessed a unique glow. Shen Le carefully put on gloves and moved them one by one, spreading them outwards in a ring from the bottom:
“I see, I see… You were once a bottle, a very beautiful bottle… truly beautiful, without a single flaw…”

The glaze is of uniform thickness and color throughout the bottle mouth, body, and bottom.

Although it wasn't the standard color of "the sky clearing after rain and the clouds breaking through," this flowing color, like the first hint of dawn on the horizon, captivated Shen Le even more.

The porcelain shards vibrated gently, as if somewhat bewildered, even a little aggrieved. That mournful, indignant voice began to chant repeatedly:
"Why...why...only one of the two can live...two identical ones, only one can remain..."

"I know, I know." Shen Le sighed, spreading her spiritual power to carefully envelop them and comfort them:

"It's not your fault, really, it's not your fault. The rules were wrong back then, the people who created you, the people above them, the people who controlled them were wrong..."

The porcelain shard lay flat, as if it hadn't heard anything, or as if it had lost the ability to accept Shen Le's words and couldn't give any response.

After a while, they trembled slightly, then began rubbing together rapidly again. Porcelain dust fell in a flurry, and Shen Le, feeling a pang of heartache, quickly separated the pieces one by one.

"Don't say that, don't say that. It's all in the past—okay, advising someone to be magnanimous is like being struck by lightning, but what I want to say is that the people who hurt you back then are all dead, dead for at least several hundred years."

The porcelain vase that was kept and then given away—I don't know where it went; it might even be gone now. But you're still here. I'll fix you, okay?

He repeated these words over and over. Finally, the resentment, anger, and resentment gradually subsided. In their place emerged a timid, sprouting consciousness, like spring grass:

"?"

It wasn't a complete sentence; in fact, the porcelain shard hadn't yet grown strong enough to possess a complete consciousness.

But it still wanted to be whole, still wanted to be better—poor child, a child created and then destroyed…

Shen Le sighed and reiterated her message:

"Yes, let me fix you. I've fixed many things, many things like you, things that were once broken, things that were once powerless... Let me help you, okay?"
"You're not broken, you're just... temporarily separated. Let me help you find your whole self again, and then, will you do me a favor?"

The porcelain shard finally fell silent. A thought, a mixture of longing, hesitation, and a faint hope, returned, cautiously touching Shen Le:
"..."

Shen Le breathed a huge sigh of relief. Thank goodness, it was finally settled, and the little guy finally allowed him to fix it! He quickly pulled out his phone and called Gu Yulin:

Bring the tools over!
Bring me the workbench!

Bring the ultrasonic cleaning tank over!
Oh, and we need a generator too, or you could just bring me a battery to power it...

【No need! I'll provide the power!】

Qingdeng, who considered herself Shen Le's bodyguard and never left his side, jumped out and shouted. Shen Le quickly pressed her back down.
"No! You stay put! If you make a rumble of thunder or a flash of lightning, people will be scared to death!"

He set up a workbench under the black tarpaulin, carefully placed the ceramic pieces one by one into the cleaning tank, first turned on the ultrasonic cleaner to clean them, and then glued them together little by little.

Following standard operating procedures, label the fish, boil the fish maw glue, combine them, attach the clamps, and fix them one by one;
With a slight concentration, mental energy seeps into it, drawing moisture out of the applied fish glue little by little, helping the glue to dry quickly and become firm.
Once one piece is firmly glued, move on to the next, then the next, then the next...

Under the black, geotextile-like special covering, one cannot see the changing sky, nor can one feel the changes of yin and yang brought about by the rising and setting of the sun and moon.

Shen Le's hands flew as he busied himself. He worked for half a day and a whole night before finally stopping, emerging from under the veil, stretching, and looking up at the sky.

The edges of the deep blue, velvety sky were already tinged with a pale, fish-belly white. And beneath the veil behind them, a similar light shone, subtly echoing it.
The pale blue porcelain vase was perfectly preserved, its glaze lustrous and smooth. At first glance, not even a trace of repair could be seen.

Shen Le carefully applied a layer of special pigment to the surface of the fish maw glue, and then sprayed on a layer of glaze to make the appearance of the gap consistent with the color of the porcelain bottle.

Once the porcelain was restored to its original state, much of the chilling and sorrowful atmosphere had dissipated. In its place was a peace that had been long suppressed and could finally be released.

The restored porcelain vase stood quietly on the workbench, radiating a faint yet vibrant aura, like new grass sprouting in spring after winter.

"Is this okay?"

Shen Le gently cupped the bottle in his hands, speaking softly to it and to his companions beside him.

Beside him, the local special affairs officer was busy setting up various instruments and quickly measuring the porcelain vase:
"That's enough! That's enough! The energy level is within the limit! The aggression level hasn't exceeded the warning line!"

"Considering that although it was frightening before, it hasn't actually harmed anyone, it only needs to register, undergo general education, and then it can move freely!"

Shen Le nodded and smiled at him. "Hmm, this porcelain vase's spirituality is still a bit weak; it probably can't run around much. It might need to be contained by the Special Affairs Bureau for now."

Alternatively, he could find a spot in the Special Affairs Bureau's storage room to sleep for a while. Of course, before that, Shen Le would also demand his payment:
"Now, it's your turn. We agreed I'd repair you, so you'll do me a favor," Shen Le said softly to the porcelain vase. He brought over a large box of pottery shards and placed it on the workbench.
"Come on, do you see it? It was also burned here, or at least in this area, maybe a little earlier than yours, or maybe many years earlier."

"You're familiar with this place, could you tell me where the kiln it was born in is?"

The restored porcelain bottle trembled slightly, and a ray of light gently swept across its surface.

Its lingering, now re-emerging spirituality resonates and merges with the spirituality on the pottery house.

On this land, an aura that originated from the same source, yet was even more ancient and elusive, was stirred and rose up in wisps—

After a moment, the light from the bottle stabilized and pointed to the most remote corner of the five kiln sites that had not yet been excavated.

A clear thought entered Shen Le's mind, carrying an unequivocal direction:
That's it.

"We found it."

Shen Le took a deep breath, nodded slightly to Gu Yulin, and was full of confidence:

"This is the last kiln."

(End of this chapter)