A story about a retired big shot who takes in a child raised by hand and later returned to the mountains, only for the child to come knocking, and about casually saving the world along the way.
Blurb under construction????
Brew a cup of hot tea, adjust the office chair to the sunniest spot, and unfold the newspaper. Zhu Bai settles in to slack off.
The transparent pages display today's headline: [Countdown May Have Sped Up? How Much Longer Does Our World Have?], accompanied by a photo of a gigantic clock at the edge of the horizon. Without even blinking, Zhu Bai folds the page shut, then opens it again.
The next article reads: [The Pope Has Passed Away; A Million People Organize a Mass March of Their Own Accord].
Zhu Bai takes one second to inspect the pope's carefully tended lamb's head. This profoundly significant, time-honored sheep's head will be on the successor's shoulders in a few days. Come to think of it, he and this pope still have some unfinished business...
Zhu Bai is about to turn the page when he hears another sound mixed in with the believers' prayers playing from the electronic newspaper.
An explosion goes off in the distance. Black smoke billows upward, with what appears to be fire flickering within it. The ruins of a high-rise tumble down through the smoke. He shakes his head regretfully and looks at the live headline: [Breaking! The Aquiva Building Has Collapsed, ]
He turns the page again.
At last, the newspaper shows something he is actually interested in: [Reform: Early Pension Payments? A Guide to the New Rules]
Retirement. Zhu Bai studies the article closely, takes a sip of tea, and sighs:
Young people see the world about to end and naturally want to do something to save it. But for a little office worker like him, he'd rather know whether retirement or the end of the world will come first...
·
An uninvited visitor, covered in blood, collapses at Zhu Bai's door. The visitor looks at him, eyes still as clear as the ones that once intoxicated Zhu Bai. Zhu Bai smiles and gently scoops him up by the waist
and sets him down in the middle of the hallway, then closes the door.
Many years later, Zhu Bai is pinned to the bed by his visitor, struggling desperately: No, that's not what I meant back then...
Theme: Know yourself
