Reversing Falsehood and Preserving Truth: All Gods and Gods Are in My Hands

The school bell rang, and the math teacher pushed up his glasses, his gaze sweeping across the class like a searchlight, finally locking onto Zhao Lei, who was just about to drift off to sleep and play cards with the Duke of Zhou:

"New student, come up here and solve this quadratic function extremum problem on the blackboard."

Zhao Lei sprang up with a "whoosh," peering over the blackboard. The graph of the quadratic function looked like gibberish to him: "Teacher, what is this thing? This line is curved like the fried dough sticks my mom makes, there's no 'straightest' part!"

The whole class burst into laughter, and the math teacher, adjusting his glasses, sighed: "Pay attention in class!"

Zhao Lei scratched his head and chuckled. While the teacher turned around to write on the blackboard, he secretly made a face at Lu Yu, mouthing "I'll treat you to spicy strips after school," perfectly embodying a restless and academically challenged student.

As soon as the school bell rang, Su Wan dragged Lu Yu to a deserted corner outside the school building, holding a newspaper in her hand: "Take a look at this!"

The headline in the corner caught my eye: "Explosion at a car repair shop caused by aging wiring; no casualties reported."

Accompanied by a photo of a collapsed wall and a blackened shop, it is indeed Lao Zhou's auto repair shop.

"This wasn't an explosion at all!" Lu Yu frowned, his voice low and urgent with disbelief. "Last night was clearly a monster attack. We saw Old Zhou fighting that thing with our own eyes. The wall was smashed down by the monster..."

"This is a correction to the rules of the world." Liu Jing's voice suddenly came from a distance. She was standing not far away, her skirt fluttering in the wind.

"Not only do human authorities deliberately cover up these kinds of bizarre events, but the rules of the world themselves also actively correct themselves, altering the memories of those who are unaware and erasing the physical traces left by the spirits, making everything 'logical' and avoiding causing large-scale panic. Just like after Lin Xi and Zhang Hao disappeared, no one except us remembered them, and the same goes for the car repair shop incident."

Lu Yu turned to look at Liu Jing, his pent-up doubts surging up instantly: "Lin Xi...you were clearly not far away yesterday, with your abilities, you should have been able to save her..."

Liu Jing sighed and said softly to Su Wan, "Su Wan, you should go home first. I need to talk to Lu Yu alone for a bit."

Su Wan nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then quietly left.

The two walked to the sycamore tree in the corner of the playground. Liu Jing gently pinched her fingertips, and a faint incantation appeared. An imperceptible energy quietly enveloped the surroundings, instantly shutting out the noisy cicadas of summer. Only the sound of their breathing remained, and even the rustling of the leaves in the wind seemed distant.

"The Lin Xi you see is not the real her." Liu Jing's voice was a little deeper than before.

Lu Yu's pupils contracted slightly: "What did you say?"

"The real Lin Xi was taken to Yanjing by the Shouzhen Bureau the night before last," Liu Jing said slowly.

"The day before yesterday, she was sketching outside the school after class when she accidentally witnessed a phantom devouring passersby. She was so frightened that she called her father crying, but she didn't expect that her father was also a phantom. The content of the phone call agitated her father, causing him to trigger a mutation in his physical form in his office, which led to a small-scale phantom riot, which was noticed by the people from the Guardian Bureau."

"The Bureau of Guarding Truth?" Lu Yu asked instinctively.

"It's an official department that specializes in researching and combating ethereal beings and protecting humanity," Liu Jing explained. "They were afraid that Lin Xi would be targeted by other ethereal beings, since she knew about their existence. To the ethereal beings, she was an 'anomaly,' so they secretly moved her away. The 'Lin Xi' in the class yesterday was an illusion created by the Shouzhen Bureau using special abilities, with the aim of observing the aftermath of the riot. Unexpectedly, an ethereal being jumped out—Zhang Hao's sudden confession wasn't sincere at all; it was just a prelude to devouring her."

She added, "More importantly, the Bureau of Guardians of Truth discovered that the will of the ethereal spirits can even influence the judgment of the world's rules. Even though Lin Xi is still alive, because the ethereal spirits believed she had been devoured, the world's rules still erased all traces of her in this city, which has never happened before."

Lu Yu suddenly recalled the warning text messages and quickly asked, "Then... are you aware of the anonymous text messages I received yesterday?"

"I know." Liu Jing nodded. "The Bureau of Guardianship noticed you when they were watching Lin Xi's illusion. You have the power of truth left by your grandmother, which clearly proves that you are a pure human and is also the most sensitive 'abnormal signal' for the ethereal spirits. The Bureau of Guardianship is afraid that the power of truth in your body will trigger the devouring instinct of other ethereal spirits at the school. After all, the population here is too dense. Once a chain reaction of anomalies is triggered, the consequences will be unimaginable, so they sent you a text message to remind you."

"Then someone like Zhang Hao is a spirit, right?" Lu Yu pressed, his eyes filled with urgency, wanting to understand the true nature of this monster.

"Zhang Hao is considered an ordinary ethereal spirit, but he has evolved a step beyond his kind." Liu Jing's tone became serious as she lightly tapped the trunk of the paulownia tree with her fingertips. "Let me first tell you about the most core characteristics of ethereal spirits. Remember them; they can help you save your life."

"First, the ethereal 'Schrödinger state'—"

Before their devouring instinct is triggered, they themselves are unaware that they are ethereal beings, let alone understand what ethereal beings are. They go to school, work, make friends, and even experience their own joys and sorrows, just like ordinary people, completely oblivious to their own ignorance. Without breaking that 'trigger point,' such as making them aware of the existence of ethereal beings or through strong emotional stimulation, no one can distinguish between a human and an ethereal being.

"Secondly, the loss of control after the mutation—"

The ethereal beings themselves lack true self-awareness and genuine emotions. Once triggered by stress, they instantly mutate, becoming like zombies, uncontrollably devouring humans. They treat this as a "correction of anomalies," believing it assimilates all those "in the know," maintaining the world as "normal" in their perception. Even their closest relatives, once their instincts are triggered, will show no mercy.

Third, the reason for Zhang Hao's evolution—

Ordinary ethereal beings, upon their first mutation, act solely on instinct. However, Zhang Hao's attacks are highly targeted; he uses confessions to attract attention before suddenly striking, indicating he is "smarter" than his kind. The Bureau of Guardianship speculates that he previously devoured humans, absorbing fragments of their consciousness, which explains his rudimentary scheming abilities and heightened aggression.

Fourth, the existence of the executor—

If ordinary Void Spirits fail to devour humans, they will attract the 'Executors,' the kind you encountered last night. They are the core fighting force of the Void Spirits; few in number, but with diverse abilities, they specialize in eliminating any 'escaped' humans and those like us who can fight against the Void Spirits.

Lu Yu felt a chill run down his spine, and subconsciously clenched the ancient coins in his pocket, feeling the cold lines on his fingertips: "Then why are the world's rules... helping the ethereal spirits cover it up?"

"The rules of the world are like a machine that strives for a 'perfect closed loop.'" Liu Jing looked at the distant horizon, her tone tinged with melancholy. "Its core is to maintain the 'stable operation' of the world, but the exposure of the ethereal spirits will break this stability. Therefore, the rules will actively erase the traces of the ethereal spirits' existence, correct all 'abnormalities,' and allow most people to live in a 'normal' understanding, thus preventing the collapse of order."

She paused, then added, "But don't think that ethereal beings only appeared in recent years. Archaeological discoveries by the Bureau of Truth Preservation prove that they have been hidden among humans since ancient times. However, they are difficult to detect because they are covered by the rules of the world. They have followed human civilization like shadows to this day, but in recent years, the mutations have become more and more frequent."

Lu Yu felt a chill run down his spine and asked again, "Then what was the ability you used last night?"

"I am a guardian of truth and an inheritor of the Great Dao of Purification. I use the power of the Great Dao of Purification." Liu Jing's eyes became more solemn. "Legend has it that the True Martial Emperor of Taoism was ordered by the Primordial Heavenly Venerable to sweep away the evil spirits in the human world. After the pacification, he injected a portion of the power of purification into the world, which formed this Great Dao."

She looked at Lu Yu's pocket: "And your grandmother was the inheritor of the True Dao. The True Dao originated from the ancient creator goddess Nuwa. After she completed the creation of humans and mending of the sky, she integrated some of her primordial power into the world, forming this Dao. However, it seems that she used some method that I don't understand to seal the True Dao into that ancient coin and gave it to you."

"You know my grandma? Then do you know why she suddenly disappeared two years ago?" Lu Yu pressed, his tone urgent.

"Your grandmother was an important member of the Huaxia Shouzhen Bureau. She suddenly disappeared two years ago. The Shouzhen Bureau searched for a long time but found no clues. I was also sent to look for her, but to no avail." Liu Jing's voice softened.

As Lu Yu stroked the patterns on the ancient coin, his grandmother's words before she disappeared, "Xiao Yu has grown up and will soon be able to take care of your parents," suddenly became clear, and his eyes welled up slightly.

"Are these statements about the Great Dao and the ethereal spirit all the research findings of the Bureau of Guarding Truth?"

"Yes." Liu Jing nodded. "The Bureau of Guardians of Truth gathers humans with special abilities and grants them the status of 'Guardians of Truth.' Your grandmother was one of the most powerful Guardians of Truth."

The evening breeze rustled through the leaves of the sycamore trees. "Lu Yu! I bought the spicy strips! The classic kind, five cents a pack, more for the same price!" Zhao Lei's cheerful voice barely penetrated the energy of the incantation, clearly very close yet seemingly coming from a great distance.

Liu Jing raised her hand to disperse the energy, and the sound of cicadas once again filled her ears.

Before the energy completely dissipated, Liu Jing looked at Lu Yu and said softly, "Oh, right, there's one more thing. In this world, most 'people' are spirits; the proportion of real humans is extremely small. According to the statistics of the Bureau of Guardian of Truth, the number of spirits is at least several thousand times that of humans."

Lu Yu froze, nearly dropping the ancient coin in his hand.

He stared at Liu Jing in disbelief, his throat tightening, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly: "Several...thousands of times?"