The Goddess Has No Interest

The bloodied young man struggles up the Heavenly Stairway. A goddess descends from the ninth heaven and lands before him, her face calm, neither pleased nor angry, just as immortals appear in the fantasies of mortals.

But his impression of immortals is already at rock bottom. "Have you come to kill me?"

"I've come to save you."

"Save me?" The young man looks up at the goddess with a sneer. "I thought you immortals were all so high and mighty, indifferent to the suffering of the mortal world. So why do you have someone like you who meddles in other people's business?"

Yun Wuxin shakes her head. "We are gods created by the offerings and faith of the people. How could we ignore their suffering?"

"Is that so?" The young man looks at her mockingly. "There's been a drought in the mortal world for three years. Where's your rain god?"

"He went down to the mortal realm to undergo a trial of love."

"The great demon Chongming is wreaking havoc in the human world. Why aren't you doing anything?"

"That's not the great demon Chongming," Yun Wuxin sighs. "That's the high god Chongming."

"...I don't understand."

"He fell into demonic corruption for love..." Yun Wuxin pauses. "Never mind. I don't understand either."

"And why is this Heavenly Stairway, supposedly built for mortals to appeal to the heavens, so hard to climb? We... Everyone in our village, except me, died in the end..."

"The Heavenly Stairway is broken."

"Why hasn't it been repaired?"

"The Construction Office's funds were embezzled. It's being investigated."

"How long has the investigation been going on?"

"Three hundred days. In your human world, that's three hundred years."

The young man laughs bitterly. "Why? What are the gods in charge of investigating corruption doing?"

"They're busy hunting me down."

"Why?"

"They imprisoned a mortal girl in the palace, and I helped her escape."

A flicker of astonishment appears in the young man's eyes. After a long pause, he asks, "Can I trust you?"

"Go ahead."

The young man bows to the goddess before him, his broken body dragging across the ground. Every word is soaked in anguish. "The lives of a hundred thousand people in Huaidu. Please, my lady, help us!"

"All right. I promise." The goddess gazes at the flickering lights in the distance. A promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold.

*A story about a goddess setting the workplace to rights.*

Theme: Even in death, the scent of a hero's spirit lingers.