Beating Instances through Words Left by the Dead

As Wu Chang boarded the ship, the storm dissipated shortly after, and the dark clouds overhead cleared away, just revealing the setting sun.

The orange-red afterglow spilled onto the Vallo ship entering the harbor, as if gilding the hull with a layer of gold, giving it a faintly sacred meaning.

From the crew posting the recorded video on Dik Dok to the Vallo entering the harbor, it took less than an hour to successfully capture the attention of the national media.

When the ship docked, the pier was already crowded with media from all directions, their cameras flashing non-stop, eager to shove the lenses into Wu Chang’s mouth.

Currently in Gao Mu Country, no news could be more explosive than the resurrection of Wu Chang, the great hero of Gao Mu.

Wu Chang did not accept interviews at the port. Claiming physical and mental exhaustion and the need for rest, he refused to answer any questions and checked directly into a suite in a hotel near the port.

However, before entering the hotel, he did make a brief comment, stating that he would accept interviews from the public at six the next morning, in the hotel lobby.

He left ample time, considering the size of Gao Mu Country. Even if someone were located at the farthest end of the country, they would have time to travel by car.

The next morning, when Wu Chang arrived at the hotel lobby, almost everyone who was supposed to come or not was present at the venue.

Those supposed to attend included members from the Star Heaven Group, String Star Gang, and various media outlets. His former secretary and Cyan Dragon were already present, conscientiously maintaining order on the scene.

Those who weren’t supposed to attend included representatives from the Gao Mu Country military, political figures, and representatives from Mid Country.

Of course, some who were supposed to be there didn’t show up.

To create a vivid news picture, the media invited many survivors from the Star Jump, and many survivors who heard that Li Zaisi survived, rushed spontaneously to the scene.

Yet among these people, Wu Chang didn’t see journalist Li Yubin or survivor Cui Chengze.

Clicking his tongue, he mused, ”They claimed they missed me, but their words moved while their bodies didn’t, right?”

During the interview, the media’s primary interest was undoubtedly how Wu Chang survived alone at sea for over twenty days after falling overboard, and how he managed to return to Gao Mu Country on the waves as seen in the video.

Wu Chang had long prepared a set of explanations for this question.

In his account, he fell into the sea to save someone. After falling, he found a life jacket thrown by someone unknown, which allowed him to drift on the waves to an unnamed island.

Relying on the island’s resources and flotsam, he built a simple shelter and attempted to craft a raft to return to Gao Mu Country.

Unfortunately, on his third day on the island, he encountered a massive storm.

At the time, he was on the other side of the uninhabited island and managed to escape by hiding in a cave, but the storm washed away his stored fresh water, his constructed shelter, and his only knife and lighter in the shelter.

Just when he was in despair, he saw a God.

The God claimed to be the Eternal Pure Light. When the Star Jump was lost at sea, she also appeared to guide them.

With the guidance of the Eternal Pure Light, he found a ruin on the island, where he discovered traces of human survival and the tools they left behind.

Using these items, he rebuilt the shelter and crafted a bamboo raft capable of drifting on the sea.

He followed the instructions of the Eternal Pure Light and set out at a specific time. As soon as the raft left the uninhabited island, it encountered a storm. With the shelter of the God, he rode the waves, and when the storm subsided, he realized he had already returned to the offshore waters of Gao Mu Country, where he met the Valro party.

Wu Chang’s recounted experiences were quite bizarre, but with videos of him riding the waves on a raft to testify, the public can hardly refute them.

The people of Gao Mu Country, jokingly referred to as the Cult Museum, were inherently religious. As the great hero of Gao Mu, encountering a shipwreck and having a goddess’s protection seemed quite reasonable.

Though the Eternal Pure Light sounded unfamiliar, it didn’t matter. Once new, twice familiar, even before the New Cosmos Sect became a national religion, their deities’ names were unfamiliar.

They said foreign moons can chant scriptures, the more bizarre the God, the faster the revelation.

After Wu Chang’s interview was released, it was immediately praised by the media as the contemporary Robinson Crusoe tale, and some even considered Wu Chang’s wave-riding journey as a Gao Mu Country version of Moses parting the sea, a mercy from the God.

Subsequent media interviews with other survivors of the Star Jump revealed that many claimed to have vaguely seen a platinum light, like a deity, on the eve of the ship’s rescue.

As the Star Jump returned, survivors discovered that an unknown power had moved the ship; they found themselves out of the Shipwreck Belt and back near the shores of Gao Mu Country.

The great Gao Mu hero Li Zaisi’s return also involved the ship’s movement by unknown forces, and before realizing, they were rescued.

Both events were related to the Star Jump, and the deity, Eternal Pure Light, appeared in both.

The two events matched up, and people immediately solved the mystery.

It turns out the Star Jump’s rescue wasn’t because of the Sea God, but due to that Eternal Pure Light.

The day after the interview, the name of Eternal Pure Light spread throughout the streets and alleys of Gao Mu Country. Everyone, regardless of age, knew of this newly emerged God who sheltered Gao Mu Country.

People of Gao Mu Country had a complex relationship with faith, being both flexibly bounded by beliefs and deeply devout.

Upon learning of the efficacy of Eternal Pure Light, people were eager to change their faiths. Yet, when they rolled up their sleeves and found space at home for a divine statue, they were surprised to discover that the new God had no Church of its own.