[Journey to the West spin-off + Mythological Workplace Drama + Journey to the West’s In the Name of the People]
At the meeting to assign blame for the Western Journey project’s mishap, Zhou Xingzhi received an official notice of responsibility:
The White Dragon detained Tang Seng, severely delaying the pilgrimage. The outsourced clerk Zhou Xingzhi was held entirely responsible.
From that day on, Heaven had an outsourced clerk who feared death, knew how to play it safe, and documented everything.
He handled emergencies for Tang Seng, fixed Sun Wukong’s paperwork, secured extra funding for demons who raised their prices at the last minute, and repackaged every out-of-control tribulation as “successfully completed” before Guanyin arrived.
Then he discovered that the pilgrimage to the Western Heaven was no spiritual journey at all. It was a major undertaking involving all three realms, jointly driven by Heaven and Vulture Peak.
The demons had scripts, the immortals had escape routes, and mounts that descended to the mortal realm and ate people were guilty only of “workplace negligence.” Meanwhile, minor demons with no connections were beaten to death on the spot and counted as demon-subduing accomplishments.
The eighty-one tribulations were a trial for Tang Seng and his companions.
The eighty-second tribulation was the shocking case the entire system of gods and Buddhas could least afford to bring to light.
It implicated official positions in Heaven, incense offerings at Vulture Peak, the survival of the demon clans, and the mortal realm’s royal authority.
Investigate further, and the three realms would be shaken.
Stop now, and the people and demons erased from history would forever bear the slander that they had gotten what they deserved.
Zhou Xingzhi had no Golden Cudgel like Sun Wukong, nor the power to overthrow Vulture Peak.
All he had was the stubborn resolve of an ordinary man.
“I’m investigating this to the very end!”
“This time, no one gets to use the lives of the people to pad their own merit.”
