"What time?" Shen Yun could only agree. He was extremely curious about the situation in the Otherworld, and even a little worried. Little Nine's strength might be second to none on Earth, but the Otherworld meant the unknown.
"Later tonight. She should arrive in East City around midnight," Zhong Huiyun said, an apologetic look on her face. "The Director also has an urgent mission, so she might have to leave before six tomorrow morning."
"It's fine," Shen Yun waved a hand. "I'll just wait at my sister's place."
It seemed he wouldn't be able to go back for the time being. However, Shen Yun's mouth twitched as he glanced outside at the media reporters packing the hospital so tightly that not even water could seep through.
"Perfected Shen, why don't you say a few words to everyone?" Zhong Huiyun noticed his discomfort and suggested with a smile. "If you don't say anything, we won't be able to get these media friends to leave. After all, you are the hero who saved East City."
By now, the entire sequence of events was crystal clear. Not only had Shen Yun dealt with the majority of the suspects, but he had also rescued the thousand-plus missing people. He himself was one of the newly ascended Golden Core masters on a global scale. The buzz surrounding him was absolutely unparalleled. It was no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the entire world were focused on him.
Shen Yun hesitated for a moment before nodding. He knew he couldn't hide from this.
Seeing him relent, Zhong Huiyun quickly went to make arrangements. Ultimately, she only let in a portion of the most reputable media outlets, and she only permitted one pretty young female reporter to hold a microphone in front of him.
"Excuse me, Perfected Thunder, do you have anything you want to say to everyone?" the young reporter asked, her expression excited as she posed the one and only question she was allowed to ask.
At this moment, countless people across the world were watching Shen Yun on their televisions. They gazed at this protagonist of the new era, their hearts filled with longing and anticipation. What were they expecting him to say? Heroic declarations? Cultivation insights?
Shen Yun looked into the camera, many thoughts flashing through his mind. In the end, he spoke slowly.
"I believe... whether one can cultivate or not... our future lives will be better than they are now, and better than the past. So... all everyone needs to do right now is live well until that time comes. Just like our parents and grandparents did decades ago, we must get through this difficult period."
This was his truest thought when he had first crossed over. If he didn't have the Bodhi Branch or Little Nine, he would have had no choice but to live in a refugee camp, hoping—as an incredibly ordinary person—that the times would change for the better.
"..."
The young reporter in front of him couldn't react for a moment. Her mouth hung slightly open, but the words were stuck in her throat. Looking into Shen Yun's sincere eyes, an unusually bitter and sorrowful feeling suddenly welled up in her heart for some unknown reason.
"This is truly... the most inspiring dose of chicken soup for the soul I've heard since the revival of Spiritual Qi," she tried her best to squeeze out a smile, but her eyes were slightly red.
This wasn't chicken soup for the soul. It was toxic chicken soup!
In this era, not having the aptitude for cultivation was the greatest tragedy. One's life, status, and future could no longer be guaranteed. They didn't know what they had done wrong, why they were suddenly inferior to others, or how they could change things. Resentment, struggle, and unwillingness—absolutely none of it helped.
Yet Shen Yun, this favored son of heaven and pioneer of the era, used his very first words on camera to advise people not to give up hope for the future. It was like a rich person telling the poor to live happily.
Only—what else could he say? Cultivation wasn't money that could be shared. The only thing Shen Yun could offer to the public was a bowl of toxic chicken soup like this.
So, the young reporter finally couldn't hold back her professional instincts and asked the question she truly wanted to ask.
"Perfected Shen, do you know the death toll in this incident? How are we supposed to live well until that future you spoke of?"
This question was somewhat sharp. Beside them, Zhong Huiyun's expression changed slightly, but this was a global live broadcast. They couldn't do anything about it now.
Shen Yun remained silent for a moment.
"Master, there are currently 336 confirmed dead," Little Nine reported the number. "However, the death toll is still rising."
He thought, "Over three hundred people..."
"I don't know," Shen Yun did not say the number out loud because it was meaningless. Staring directly into the camera, he said calmly, "But I believe that there are already many, many people in places we cannot see, searching for the answer to this question. And I will join them. This is not my mission as a Golden Core Cultivator, but my responsibility as a member of Huaxia."
This was the answer Shen Yun gave. It was also the answer people wanted to hear. When that young reporter asked the question, she simply wanted to know one thing: whether the Cultivators, who were already akin to gods, would abandon them.
"Alright, the interview ends here. Perfected Thunder also needs time to spend with his family," Zhong Huiyun interjected to maintain order, worried the situation would spiral out of control again.
However, the words Shen Yun had spoken were spreading across the globe at an astonishingly frantic pace. Countless people were discussing it online.
"Even though I don't know if Perfected Thunder's words are true, having this attitude is enough."
"Did anyone else just burst into tears like I did?"
"I'm a Cultivator, but my wife, my kids, my parents—none of them are! So no matter what, I will fight with my life to protect them!"
"Perfected Thunder's own family can't cultivate either."
"We're actually well off. Things are much worse abroad. So keep fighting to live. I believe the country and Perfected Thunder will work hard to make everything better."
"Come on, let's down this bowl of toxic chicken soup together!"
As the first to steal the limelight among all the global Golden Core masters, Shen Yun's words actually represented more than just himself. He served as the representative figure of a new ideology.
From now on, ordinary people, as well as those Cultivators who didn't want to detach themselves from the masses and still felt a sense of belonging to society, would take Shen Yun as a role model. They would ostracize and condemn those who only wanted to become immortals and remain aloof from worldly affairs.
This was especially true for the people abroad, where order had collapsed and they could only live humbly under the oppression of Cultivators. They were desperate for Huaxia's Perfected Thunder to establish a moral order among Cultivators.
However, the current Shen Yun clearly hadn't realized that his words would have such a profound impact. He still thought that answer only represented his own personal stance.
So, when facing his sister's question later, Shen Yun merely teased, "Even if it's just for you, I have to try my best to figure out a way."