Countdown: Humanity's struggle to survive against yesterday

"Could there really be immortals in this world...?"

But soon, he began to doubt himself.

Others may not know, but he himself is very clear that although he has cultivated Taoism for seven or eight years and has not achieved anything else, his materialistic spirit has become more and more steadfast.

For him, cultivating Taoism was not like metaphysics, but more like a deep philosophical study.

As the saying goes, "The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name..."

Chang Niankong watched carefully for a while. Except for the initial moment when his pupils couldn't help but contract a few times, he gradually calmed down.

"If even the world can regress, then this kind of individual mutation doesn't seem so unacceptable..."

After seeing Zhang Jimin put down his backpack, raise his camera, and go down to take pictures, Sun Fumin quietly approached Su Mian.

"Old Su, writing in your diary on your phone again?"

Upon hearing the sound, Su Mian quickly covered her phone to her chest, looked up and glared at Sun Fumin, clearly displeased.

One reason was that she was unhappy that he always tried to peek at what she was writing.

Another point of contention was that he called Lu Xue "Xiao Xue" but called himself "Old Su," which showed a complete lack of tact.

"roll……"

"Okay!"

Seeing Su Mian's cold gaze, Sun Fumin chuckled and turned to look at Lu Xue.

"Xiaoxue, shall we go to the 'Farewell Ceremony' later?"

Lu Xue: "Is it that ritual that recently spread from Europe?"

Sun Fumin nodded and held up his phone for Lu Xue to see: "Look, there's an event in Mengjin Town tonight. Local netizens say people from both sides of the border will come to participate, it'll be very lively."

Lu Xue stared at her phone for a while and saw that the venue was mostly set up. The scene was festive and lively, with a strong local ethnic minority flavor. Curiosity appeared on her face.

"But I still need to study 'milk' every day."

As she spoke, Lu Xue lightly kicked the dog cage on the ground, looked around, and found that no one was paying attention to her. Her face showed great distress.

"Brother Sun, I'm so annoyed. I've been studying this stupid dog for two months, and it's still the same. I don't want it anymore."

"Hehehe..."

Upon hearing this, Sun Fumin grinned and laughed.

He knew, of course, that Lu Xue was just saying that in anger, but the thought of making a 20-year-old girl spend every day with a pet dog for the past two months made him want to laugh.

"You're hilarious, you don't even know how to help me..."

When Lu Xue saw Sun Fumin laughing heartlessly, her willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed, and her eyes were full of resentment.

"Alright, alright, stop bothering me. We're going to an event tonight, so let's relax and maybe we'll come up with some new ideas."

"this……"

Lu Xue glanced at Su Mian, who was engrossed in recording something, then turned to look at Zhang Jimin, who was taking pictures, and quickly shook her head.

"No, no, unless Team Leader Jiang goes too..."

"Then I'll talk to Xiaoning about it later..."

After saying this, Sun Fumin looked at Chang Niankong, who was a few steps away, grinned, and walked over. "Perfect, I've already thought of a reason. We have a new teammate joining us, right? We need to have a team-building activity!"

"That works too..."

Seeing this, Lu Xue really didn't know what to say.

"Master Chang, Master Chang, may I call you Old Chang?"

Chang Niankong smiled faintly: "As long as Boss Sun is happy."

Sun Fumin stepped forward, took out two cigarettes, lit them, and offered one to Chang Niankong and the other to himself. "Have one..."

"good……"

Chang Niankong replied, reaching out to remove the one that was pointing at Sun Fumin, "But I'm not lit."

Sun Fumin's eyes flashed with surprise for a moment, then he quickly took out a lighter, lit it, covered the flame, and handed it over.

Chang Niankong also covered his hand with his hand, and after lighting his cigarette, he patted Sun Fumin's hand twice.

"An old student..." Sun Fumin thought to himself.

Chang Niankong took a deep breath, his movements very elegant, and then slowly exhaled, even blowing out a smoke ring.

"what?"

Upon seeing this, Sun Fumin was even more surprised. This was no ordinary veteran; he was clearly a master.

"Does Boss Sun have something to say?"

Chang Niankong noticed that Sun Fumin was staring at him without changing his expression. After taking another deep drag of his cigarette, he asked calmly.

Sun Fumin chuckled sheepishly and asked curiously, "Old Chang, the internet says you're a top student, is that true?"

"What does it matter if it's real or fake? Even if this isn't an era of great regression, I've already entered the Dao. What use are these identities?"

"Old Chang, you're really good at taking things easy..."

“No wonder it is said that cultivators have a transcendent state of mind. Fame, fortune and education in the mortal world are not worth mentioning at all in your eyes,” Sun Fumin said enviously.

"Not entirely..." Chang Niankong's eyes were calm, and his tone was sincere. "My state of mind is not detached. The old abbot of Sanqing Temple has always said that I can't become a true Taoist. Do you know why?"

"The former abbot of Sanqing Temple!"

Sun Fumin naturally knew who it was, but he didn't expect Chang Niankong to suddenly change the subject, so he asked, "Why?"

"Because I'm even more greedy..."

"What do you mean by that?"

This time, Chang Niankong gave an awkward smile. "Since you know me, you must have seen others digging up my past online. For the past 30 years, I've always thought I had an exceptional memory, and with this ability, I've always believed there's nothing I can't do."

And that was indeed the case; I easily obtained fame, fortune, and academic qualifications. But soon, I discovered that these things weren't challenging at all…”

Sun Fumin pursed his lips upon hearing this, and Lu Xue, who had been secretly watching the scene, also pursed her lips after hearing it.

However, when the two thought that these words came from Master Chang's mouth, and considering his photographic memory, it seemed as if they were talking about something trivial rather than something from Versailles.

Chang Niankong didn't know why he felt this way, but seeing Jiang Ning busy on the playground, he suddenly wanted to say more.

"Others are greedy for good health, fame and fortune, but I am probably greedy for the future... I can't really say what this future is, I always think I'll take another look, take another trip, and there will definitely be better scenery in the future."

Sun Fumin grinned: "I get it. It's like I started going on blind dates when I was 20, and I got married when I was 28. I always thought the next one would be better, but in fact, the best ones have already been taken."

"Boss Sun's example is very apt!" Chang Niankong nodded.

Sun Fumin: "So, does this mean that ordinary people have ordinary worries, and smart people have smart people's worries?"

"That makes sense!" Chang Niankong nodded again.

"Hey! Brother Sun...you're not married yet?"

Hearing this, Lu Xue couldn't help but chime in.

Even Su Mian glanced at Sun Fumin with curiosity.

In their minds, Sun Fumin was good-looking, had high emotional intelligence, and was also intelligent. He was friendly with everyone and had a lively personality. They thought he wouldn't have trouble finding a wife, so why was he still single at almost 30?

"Xiaoxue, your brother doesn't mind an older man dating a younger woman, how about we give it a try..."

"Sorry, you guys continue your conversation..." Lu Xue bent down, picked up the cage containing the dog "Milk," and quickly walked towards Su Mian.

Chang Niankong couldn't help but laugh when he heard this, one hand hanging down naturally, the other holding the peach wood token at his waist.

"Boss Sun is truly a genius..."

"Stop talking about killing people instantly, Lao Chang, do you know how to play mahjong?" Sun Fumin said, and very familiarly put his arm around Chang Niankong's shoulder.

"How so?" Chang Niankong asked naturally, not minding at all.

"Hehe, I challenge you as the Mahjong King of Sanmiao Village..."