Myth News Forecast

"Today at 12:30 PM, a three-legged corpse crow will descend upon the city center. Evil spirits will be warded off, and those who see it will receive good fortune!"

"..."

South City, Children's Palace.

Sunlight lazily streamed into the classroom through the cracks in the windows, illuminating every detail of the dust particles floating in the air.

In the corner of the room, Du Wang, dressed in a white training uniform and sporting neat short black hair, was leaning back in his chair, browsing local news on his phone.

However, this news has nothing to do with local life; instead, it's all about supernatural prophecies.

For example, this one.

"At 10:10 AM today, unusual phenomena such as a white crane crying blood and the sun breaking through the clouds will occur in Zhengyang District, suggesting the appearance of a celestial abode. The divination indicates a very ominous sign!"

For example, this one.

"Today, at midnight, ghosts will appear on the night buses in the liberated area. The divination is ominous; be careful with your eyes!"

Du Wang had intended to search for local news, but accidentally clicked on a pop-up window and entered this mysterious website.

These news forecasts used real street and area names, but the content was full of fantastical phrases like "immortal's abode, demons descending to earth."

It was precisely because the content was interesting that he watched it for a while longer.

The website has no name or description; instead, rectangular panels with short titles float on the pure white screen.

Click on each one to see the specific content of these fantastical news items.

The format is also surprisingly uniform: at a certain time and place, demons/ghosts appear, and the divination indicates good or bad fortune.

Du Wang looked through all the news today and found about a dozen articles.

It's mostly about the descent of demons and monsters, described with absolute certainty.

"It's probably a promotional website for some new game."

"It's quite interesting."

"But aren't you afraid of being censored if you use real place names?"

As Du Wang was pondering this, he suddenly heard the sound of a door being pushed open.

Good morning, Teacher Du.

A chubby little boy ran in energetically, followed by several other brightly dressed children and their parents.

The children, the flowers of the motherland, chattered and greeted Du Wang. Du Wang quickly put away his phone, stood up, and smiled as he responded to each of them.

The parents chatted as they sat down on the chairs at the back of the classroom.

"The traffic is terrible today."

"Yes, it usually takes me 20 minutes to get here, but today it took me 40 minutes."

"It seems that several sections of the road have been blocked off by the police."

"Are you making such a big fuss about arresting a suspect?"

Du Wang didn't pay much attention, just watched the students arrive one after another, and only stood in front of them after confirming that everyone had arrived.

"Hello students, starting today, we will learn Tai Chi."

"Let me first introduce Tai Chi. There are five major styles of Tai Chi: Chen style, Yang style, Wu style, Wu style, and Sun style."

"However, what we're learning today isn't one of those five styles, but rather the 42-form competition routine. This Tai Chi Chuan is based on the Yang style, incorporating movements from other styles. It emphasizes continuous, fluid, and natural movements..."

"Before we begin, let me demonstrate for you..."

Having said that, the young man lowered his shoulders and elbows, and cleanly and neatly began his stance.

Immediately following, he exerted force with both feet, demonstrating the right grabbing of the sparrow's tail with the four main forces of peng, lu, ji, and an. Then, he swung his arms in a circle and flicked out the left single whip with an embracing motion.

He performed the entire Tai Chi routine with a perfect balance of softness and strength, his movements were light and agile, his clothes fluttered, and every movement was a delight to behold.

Seeing this, the mothers sitting at the back of the classroom whispered among themselves.

"Teacher Du's Tai Chi is really beautiful."

"Of course, he's a Wuying-level athlete."

"What level is 'Martial Elite'? Does it have official status?"

"Do you know Zhao Wenzhuo? He was a Wuying-level martial arts expert before he started making movies. People like him get extra points on civil service exams!"

"Wow, that's amazing! Then why are you at the Youth Palace?"

"I heard he got a serious illness and stayed in the hospital for two years. He had such a bright future ahead of him."

"Oh, what illness?"

"It looks like a brain tumor..."

The parents' hushed conversation did not affect Du Wang.

After the children finished performing a beautiful set of Tai Chi, their eyes lit up.

Du Wang took a couple of light breaths, patted his chest, and used saliva to suppress the cough that should have come out.

"Alright, would you like to learn this Tai Chi?"

"We want to learn!" the flowers responded in loud voices.

Du Wang smiled and said, "Then let's start by learning the first stance..."

……

……

An hour and a half later.

After the Tai Chi class ended, the children chattered away with their parents.

Goodbye, Teacher Du!

Du Wang waved goodbye, then took his thermos and went into the teachers' office.

As soon as I entered, a middle-aged woman wearing a gray business suit and black-rimmed glasses looked over:

"Hey, Ms. Du, is it okay if we add an extra class this afternoon?"

"Three festivals?" Du Wang hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Thank you, Sister Liang."

Sister Liang laughed and said, "Don't be so polite. It's all because you teach so well that parents are willing to enroll their children in classes."

After saying that, she looked at the male teacher next to her who was watching videos of beautiful women:

"Hey, Mr. Chen, I remember you don't have any classes this afternoon."

"right."

"Then could you please tidy up the classroom at noon and make it available for Teacher Du?"

Teacher Chen rolled her eyes, unsure whether to utter a curse word.

The salaries of teachers at the children's palace are directly linked to the number of courses they teach, but only a minority of families in the surrounding neighborhoods are willing to spend money to let their children learn sports.

Now that Du Wang, a Wuying-level athlete, is competing with them for students, the other physical education teachers are naturally a little resentful.

But Teacher Chen didn't dare to say it openly.

Just recently, a basketball coach made sarcastic remarks in front of Du Wang.

Unexpectedly, during class, Du Wang challenged him to a 1v1 duel.

The basketball coach agreed without hesitation.

I thought it would be a piece of cake.

As a result, in front of parents and students, he was outscored 21-2 by Du Wang with a long-range three-pointer, causing him to break down on the spot and choose to resign.

From then on, everyone knew that although Teacher Du appeared kind on the surface, he was actually vindictive and even more petty than the abbot.

So much so that physical education teachers would give way to Du Wang whenever possible, fearing he might challenge them to a one-on-one fight.

After all, winning this kind of thing doesn't bring you any prestige, and losing it makes you lose all face—it's a pure loss-making business.

"Thank you for your help, Teacher Chen."

Upon hearing Du Wang's voice, Teacher Chen instinctively smiled and said, "No trouble at all, no trouble at all."

Shortly after, Du Wang sat down at his table and took out a thermos containing his lunch.

Then he took out a medicine box from the drawer and carefully placed the pills one by one.

"Temozolomide, Levetiracetam, Dexamethasone..."

These are all medications he took after surgery.

After quickly swallowing the medicine on an empty stomach with water, he couldn't wait to open the thermos.

Large slices of tender meat, bright yellow eggs, and emerald green cucumbers came into view, neatly arranged on top of the rice, their fragrant aroma whetting the appetite.

Du Wang picked up his chopsticks and slowly ate the food, his mind completely focused on tasting it, just like a devout believer.

However, right after finishing his meal, his stomach churned violently.

He quickly got up and went straight to the bathroom.

"vomit!"

In the cubicle, Du Wang vomited up the food he had just eaten.

There was even yellowish-green bile splashing onto the rim of the toilet.

"Another waste."

Du Wang sighed, his mouth full of bitterness, and began cleaning the toilet.

Not long after, he stood in front of the mirror.

The young man in the mirror had well-defined features, an outstanding appearance, and fairly thick hair.

Only his lips and cheeks appeared thin and pale, suggesting a lack of nutrition.

Du Wang carefully pulled out a handful of hair, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a few strands left in his hand.

He then rinsed his mouth with tap water, stuffed a sorghum candy into his mouth to neutralize the bitterness, and then returned to his desk.

The lunch break at the Children's Palace lasts for one and a half hours.

However, he was not sleepy at all today, so he turned on the horror movie he hadn't finished watching yesterday and continued watching it.

Double Vision.

"..."

"A serious illness is a prerequisite for becoming an immortal."

"Only during a serious illness can a person truly awaken to the truth."

In the movie, the protagonist is discussing with the professor the logic behind a murderer removing the victim's internal organs.

Du Wang was completely absorbed in watching.

At this time,

Suddenly, a low-frequency tinnitus sound appeared, and it was very noticeable.

"Buzz—"

Du Wang suspected that there was something wrong with his phone, but the tinnitus did not lessen at all after pausing the movie.

He suspected it was a side effect of the medication, or perhaps he was just too tired, so he rubbed his ears and looked up at the sky outside the window.

Unexpectedly, their gazes suddenly met a pair of dark, cold eyes.

In those eyes, you could also see a strange pair of pupils, one large and one small!

Du Wang's heart pounded twice, and the chair beneath him slid backward a short distance.

As the distance increases, the main body of those eyes comes into view.

A strange three-legged black crow was perched on the plastic shelf of the desk next to mine, tilting its head and staring at me.

It is about the size of a palm, with most of its feathers being jet black, and only a small portion having pale red edges.

"What kind of bird is this? A new species, or a genetic mutation?"

Du Wang's thoughts kept popping up, but they were quickly burst like balloons.

He suddenly remembered the strange news forecast he had seen that morning.

"Could there really be a three-legged carrion crow?"

He opened his mouth, as if to speak up and warn the others.

But the three-legged corpse crow's eyes suddenly began to dart around as nimbly as a swimming fish.

In an instant, Du Wang's body froze on the spot, unable to move.

Immediately afterwards, he saw the crow's eerie eyes circling each other and constantly touching.

Like two soap bubbles, after breaking through a certain critical point, they unexpectedly blend together.

Immediately afterwards, their pupils, one dark and one light, nested into a ring, transforming into a pair of eerie double pupils.

Du Wang blinked in surprise.

Even the three-legged, two-eyed crow blinked.

The next second, it flapped its wings twice and crashed into us at an extremely fast speed.

Du Wang instinctively reached out his hands to block, but only felt a gentle breeze on his face.

"Where did you go?"

He lowered his hand and looked ahead again, but the strange bird had vanished without a trace.

Du Wang turned to look at his colleagues and found that everyone was still busy with their own things, as if they hadn't seen what had just happened at all.

So he spoke, asking in a hoarse voice, "Sister Liang, did you see a crow fly in just now?"

Sister Liang looked up, her tone puzzled: "No, I closed the window this morning, how could a bird have flown in?"

Du Wang turned around and looked out the window.

Sure enough, the windows were tightly closed, and a cool breeze wafted through the office along with the low hum of the air conditioner.

The office windows haven't been open since this morning, and we've been relying on air conditioning to cool it down.

Where did that three-legged crow fly in from?

How did it disappear?

Or was it all...an illusion?

But the doctor clearly said that his brain tumor surgery was successful, so how could he still be seeing hallucinations?

Just as Du Wang was wondering,

Suddenly, fragmented words appeared in my mind.

[The wandering soul becomes the Corpse Crow. The Corpse Crow governs death and is of yin essence. It resides in the moon, illuminating from the new moon. Having received the yin light of the Jade Light, it moves the Dipper and the moon.]

The corpse crow thrives on yin energy and must devour evil spirits.

[Possesses the ability to control ghosts, and can avert death and prolong life.]