Chapter 442: This Is My Heavenly Kingdom (End of Book 3)

"Who would want your body?"

Zeng Qing's tears stopped. She rolled her eyes, grinding her teeth.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before both bursting into laughter.

"You won, Zeng Qing."

Yan Jing smiled. "You bet everything you had. Congratulations on backing the right horse."

Zeng Qing's eyes instantly welled up again. Fighting back tears, she said softly, "It wasn't me who won. It was us."

"I've contacted some people inside. Keep your head down once you're in there. Don't cause trouble, you hear me?"

"Is Fourth Master the kind of person to cause trouble?"

Yan Jing widened his eyes.

Zeng Qing's lips curled into a smile. "Alright, alright. How could our Fourth Master be that kind of person?"

"It's just that those blind fools keep bumping into him. I just hope our Fourth Master reins in his temper and lets them off the hook."

"I suppose I can agree to that." Yan Jing crossed his arms and nodded.

Seeing Yan Jing like this made Zeng Qing want to cry again. She hurriedly changed the subject. "Is there anything you want to eat? I'll have someone send it in. The policy here allows family members to bring food."

Yan Jing shook his head. "No. But there is something I'd like you to look into for me."

"Tell me."

"God Storage Land. Have you ever heard of it?" Yan Jing asked. "I want to gather some information about it."

Zeng Qing frowned at the name. She muttered it a few times before saying, "I actually think I've heard of that somewhere..."

"I'll go back and check. I'll let you know tonight."

Early tomorrow morning, Yan Jing would be sent to the Great Prison.

"There's no rush."

Yan Jing smiled. "Just have Mr. Luo write me a letter when you find out."

"Write a letter..."

Zeng Qing muttered, then nodded. "Right. I'll get it done."

They chatted for another ten or twenty minutes. When visiting hours ended, Zeng Qing finally left, looking back at him with every step.

"I'm leaving, Mao Si. Take care of yourself in there. I'll definitely get you out."

"Yeah. You take care, too."

Yan Jing nodded.

Yan Jing stayed in the Inner World from the afternoon deep into the night.

Zeng Qing had spread the word that he was accepting visitors.

Quite a few people came.

Li Zhiyuan, Tianwei, the Sanitarium Group, even Yaoguang and Tianquan—along with Mao Si's two older brothers.

"Take care of yourself in there, Old Four."

Hu Laosan brought Xiong Er along. Between the two of them, one now managed the Plague's operations while the other had opened a small noodle shop.

Xiong Er didn't say a word. He stared at Mao Si for a long time, looking somewhat awkward. Finally, he shoved a card through the gap in the window, only for Yan Jing to slide it back.

"They don't allow passing things here, Second Brother. Keep it. I'll be fine."

Yan Jing smiled.

Xiong Er looked even more awkward.

He looked entirely different from the violent, ruthless debt collection boss he used to be. He kept wiping his palms on his pant legs, as if afraid he had gotten flour on them.

Hu San nudged him with an elbow. "Come on, does Old Four even need that? He could wipe us out eight hundred times over with just one finger."

"Old Four, we're heading out. Take care. We'll be waiting for you to get out."

Hu San threw an arm around Xiong Er and led him away. When they reached the door, he paused and looked back at Yan Jing. "Third Brother doesn't dare make grand promises about your two older brothers looking out for things out here. After all, neither of us did a very good job of it before. But Old Four... thanks for carrying this family."

"Don't mention it."

Yan Jing smiled.

The door closed.

Yan Jing hopped off the stool and walked back into his holding cell.

The world grew quiet again.

To be honest, the time he had spent in the Peace Heavenly Kingdom wasn't short, and his strength had grown far more here than in the previous two domains. Yet, those people were all the friends he had made here.

It was a place where friendship was hard to come by.

Yan Jing leaned quietly in the corner and closed his eyes to rest.

He couldn't shake the feeling that he had changed somehow—specifically, ever since the system notified him that he had obtained a True Soul.

It wasn't just that he was beginning to understand emotions he had previously found obscure and baffling.

It also made him recall memories he had forced himself to forget.

Memories from before he had transmigrated into this world.

Those memories, which had plagued him for so long, now flooded back into his mind, bringing a dull ache to his heart from time to time.

Before his eyes, a familiar blaze seemed to flare up once more...

So blisteringly hot, so searing. Just being near it made it hard to breathe.

Sweat gradually beaded on Yan Jing's forehead, and even his exhaled breaths seemed to scald.

The fur on Mao Si's body grew drenched, and Yan Jing felt his entire body turn impossibly heavy.

In his dizzy, feverish daze, he suddenly heard a voice. "Four... Four..."

A frigid liquid seeped through his fur down to his skin. The long-lost sensation of coolness made Yan Jing open his eyes. He saw Papa Rat frantically wiping him down with a rag.

"Pops..."

Yan Jing tried to push himself up, but his hands met freezing water. Only then did he realize he was lying in a basin full of cold water.

"You're finally awake."

Papa Rat let out a sigh of relief. His very next move was to chuck the rag right into Yan Jing's face, fuming. "What the hell were you messing around with this time, you brat? Do you have any idea you almost cooked yourself alive?"

"Cooked?"

Yan Jing looked down at his body and realized much of his skin had turned pale, as if it had been roasted over a fire.

"Sorry, Pops..."

Yan Jing wiped his face with the rag and sat up, rubbing his still-scalding temples. "I thought it was just a dream. I didn't expect it to end up like this."

Seeing him like this, Papa Rat immediately turned to grab a fresh rag. He handed it to Yan Jing, his expression grave. "You need to be careful from now on."

"At our stage, getting trapped in a delirium during a dream is incredibly dangerous."

"No one can bypass their consciousness to directly control their body. Consciousness is always the medium we use to wield control."

"If you fall into a dream but lose control of your consciousness due to violent emotional fluctuations, your body will simulate the dream. It produces the exact same physical effects as actually being in that environment."

"It's fine for ordinary people. Their bodies aren't strong enough to complete that simulation, so at most, they startle awake."

"But at our stage, we have abundant weird energy inside us, and our physical tolerance is extremely high. If the dream environment is exceptionally dangerous and realistic, we can easily suffer critical injuries just from dreaming."

"You'll only wake up once the power in your body is depleted to a certain point."

Realization dawned on Yan Jing.

So that was why.

They really weren't kidding when they said having an elder in the house was like having a treasure.

He had advanced too quickly, leaving massive gaps in his basic knowledge. Thank goodness for Papa Rat; otherwise, who knew how long it would have taken him to figure it out.

"I understand, Pops."

Yan Jing nodded.

"Sigh... I thought you'd finally grown up, but you're still as reckless as ever. What are you going to do when you go to the Great Prison..."

Papa Rat sighed, his little face scrunching up in worry.

Yan Jing smiled. "It was bound to happen someday, Pops."

"..." He fell silent for a moment. "True."

After a brief silence, Papa Rat nodded, his expression softening a little. "So what exactly happened just now? What did you dream about?"

"Fire. A massive fire."

Yan Jing's gaze grew distant.

He then looked at Papa Rat. "Pops, what do you do when there's a problem you can't solve, but also can't avoid?"

He hoped to get some answers from the wise man sitting in front of him.

Just like most sons would.

Books say that the relationship between a father and son generally goes through several stages:

Adoration, misunderstanding, gradual understanding, and finally, admiration. The wisdom brought by the passage of time rarely has anything to do with a person's abilities or how much money they make. A qualified father offers advice that guides a child out of their confusion.

"If it's a problem you can't solve and can't shake off, then just let it be."

Papa Rat looked at Yan Jing. His nearly blind eyes were dim, but his gaze was crystal clear. "Then put it on your back and keep walking forward."

"Time and fate will give you the answer."

"Just like they did for me this time."

Yan Jing understood.

He knew Papa Rat was talking about himself.

He had carried the problem of the Peace Heavenly Kingdom on his back for over two decades.

And finally, he had waited until Luo Sheng and Yan Jing came along.

"I get it."

Yan Jing nodded, then looked back at him. "In that case, Pops..."

Pausing for a second, Yan Jing smiled. "I'm going to keep walking forward."

"..."

Looking at Yan Jing's smiling face, Papa Rat felt as if he had been transported back to the very first time he laid eyes on this son of his.

That tiny, fluffy silhouette gradually overlapped with the figure sitting in front of him.

In the end, he nodded. "It's fine if you walk slowly. Either way, you're moving forward."

"It's fine if you stumble, too. When you get tired, sit on the ground and rest. Once you've rested enough, stand back up."

"As you move forward, time keeps moving too. There's no shame in not being faster than time."

Having delivered his final piece of guidance, he stood up and walked toward the tiny hole he had personally dug in the bottom right corner of the cell.

Neither of them brought up how exactly Papa Rat had snuck into the cell; it was a mutual, unspoken understanding.

In truth, before Yan Jing had been arrested, the two of them had agreed not to see each other again to minimize the fallout.

But Papa Rat had come anyway in the dead of night.

Because he felt this would be the last chance he'd ever get to see his son in this life.

Just as he'd said, time was always moving forward.

With Mao Si leaving, he might be gone for five years, or perhaps fifty.

He was just a rat.

An old rat knocking on death's door.

Before his life came to an end, he simply wanted to look at his son one last time.

However, upon actually seeing Yan Jing, his mood was surprisingly alright. He didn't feel as sad as he had imagined.

There was no shame in not outrunning time.

Just knowing that the people he cared about were moving forward was enough.

"Pops!"

Just as Papa Rat was about to squeeze through the hole, Yan Jing stood up and called out to him.

Papa Rat stopped and looked back.

"Be happy!!"

"Pops!!"

Yan Jing smiled warmly.

Papa Rat scurried out through the hole, walking away without ever turning back.

Six o'clock the next morning.

The Peace Heavenly Kingdom's number one national media outlet!

Live broadcast.

Crocodile's figure appeared on the podium.

At this moment, the area outside the Peace Mansion was densely packed with a massive sea of people.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the sharp-suited Crocodile.

"Citizens of the Peace Heavenly Kingdom, I am Crocodile, the current Acting President of the Peace Heavenly Kingdom."

Crocodile's gaze swept over the crowd, and he said softly, "We gather here today to judge the greatest sinner in the history of the Peace Heavenly Kingdom."

"Simultaneously, we are here to celebrate our survival of the greatest crisis our Heavenly Kingdom has ever faced."

As his words fell, a burst of green light erupted against the dimly lit horizon in the distance.

A colossal, writhing plant came into everyone's view. Thick, towering walls had been erected all around it. The reason the green light bled through was that workers had used machinery to bash a hole right into the enclosure.

Countless spores were visibly pouring out from the breach.

The moment they saw that plant, pure, unadulterated hatred flashed in the eyes of the crowd. Many began cursing violently, while others unfurled protest banners.

Ultimately, all their voices melded into a single, roaring chant: "Chop it down! Chop it down! Chop it down!!!"

Crocodile spoke softly, "Thanks to our suppression and screening efforts, only this final Origin Plant remains! Once we chop down this last one, the plant disease will cease to exist!!"

"Chop it down! Chop it down! Chop it—"

Below the Peace Mansion, the roar of the crowd grew louder and louder, like a torrential flood surging into the distance.

Timing it perfectly, Crocodile raised his microphone. "As for this plant that endangered the Peace Heavenly Kingdom..."

"I announce..."

"...Chop it down!!!"

The roar of chainsaws echoed from afar. Bathed in the glow of weird energy, the massive green plant came crashing down, dissolving into countless motes of green light.

The crowd below immediately erupted into a wild frenzy of celebration.

[The current Mutation has perished.]

[Maximum Mutation progress: 72.3%.]

Yan Jing stared calmly at the prompts appearing before his eyes.

He was currently walking through a dim, winding corridor. Heavy Electronic Shackles bound his wrists and ankles as guards escorted him upward.

The light gradually grew brighter until he finally stepped out behind Crocodile, fully exposed to the public eye.

Instantly, the crowd that had just been a sea of joy erupted into a barrage of insults far more vicious than the ones they had hurled at the Origin Plant!

Spit, eggs, and even gun-like devices were aimed and fired wildly at Yan Jing.

Of course, all of it was completely intercepted by a pale blue barrier that had risen in front of the Peace Mansion.

Crocodile spoke up once more. "In addition to eliminating the Origin Plant, today we must also pass judgment on the mastermind behind this entire crisis! The most despicable criminal! The great sinner of the entire Peace Heavenly Kingdom—Mao Si!!!"

"Kill him! Kill him! Kill him—"

The mob below roared in fury.

Crocodile declared, "According to the first law of the Peace Heavenly Kingdom, anyone who severely endangers the safety of the Kingdom and its citizens... is sentenced to the harshest penalty!"

"Exile to the Great Prison!!!"

"Exile! Exile! Exile!!!"

The crowd burst into ecstatic cheers once again. Many people held hands, singing and dancing in the streets.

"Before your exile, Mao Si... do you have any last words?"

Crocodile turned to look at Yan Jing.

Behind Yan Jing, a swirling vortex portal slowly materialized and began rotating, fueled by intense surges of weird energy from the four eaves of the Peace Mansion.

Yan Jing gazed out at the clamoring masses below.

He remembered the previous owner of this body, that frail little kitten, and the vision he used to dream up with his father down in the sewers.

["There will always be a place where everyone can eat their fill, sleep well, and the world will become a wonderful place," Big Rat read from a fairy tale book.]

["How does the world become wonderful?"]

[Mao Si asked in a soft, milky voice.]

["Someone has to stand up and take the initiative to change it. That's the only way it gets better."]

[Big Rat answered softly.]

["Will we be able to eat our fill then?"]

[Mao Si swallowed hard, his mouth watering.]

["Yes."]

["Okay! Then I want to be the one who makes the world better!"]

I want to be the one who makes the world better.

Yan Jing suddenly laughed.

Looking out at the crowd, looking at everything unfolding before him, he raised his shackled hands high into the air. "I am Mao Si!!!"

It didn't matter if no one understood.

It didn't matter if no one got it.

He was going to shout that little kitten's name for the whole world to hear.

"I am Mao Si!!!"

Yan Jing screamed again, as if declaring it to the entire universe.

Beyond the screens and scattered among the crowds, those who truly knew him were shedding silent tears.

"This is my Heavenly Kingdom."

Yan Jing murmured. Then, he turned around and leaped into the swirling vortex.