Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
In this list of nas, what Ren Suo needed to do was find soone "easily susceptible to faith" who also resided in Baiyun City.
Aside from nas, gender, and health status, the list included an extrely important indicator: Faith Level.
Faith Level represented whether a person was open to adopting new beliefs, the complexity of their beliefs, and the firmness of their faith. It was distinguished not by nurical value but by color.
In fact, most people have faith; atheism is a form of faith, as is the Science God Cult—conviction is the source of faith.
Blue indicated an unfirm belief and complex faith, aning they believed in everything yet nothing at all—utilitarians, who constituted the majority. They might pray to Buddha and burn incense when it served their interests.
Red signified devout, singular-focused faith, often seen among theists and mbers of political parties committed to building a better society.
Yellow lay between blue and red, representing a relatively firm belief that didn’t categorically deny other faiths. These individuals were often full of hope and love for life. Their faith was usually rooted in ideals, love, or family—their spiritual pillars. They might not be well-off, but they were certainly in touch with happiness.
Orange was the most special. It symbolized an unstable psychological state, perhaps due to heartbreak, illness, life’s uncertainties, or even ntal health issues like depression, all leading to a chaotic Faith Level.
Ren Suo suspected Ren Naiser deliberately used a lottery to select the lucky ones, possibly because there were too many Earthlings. This might have been the only way to narrow down the targets enough to accurately assess their Faith Level.
However, this didn’t an red should be avoided, or that blue was the easiest target for Gifting Hope.
According to the Faith Level descriptions, blue utilitarians tended to take the benefits and walk away without fully committing to the faith. Conversely, if one could shatter the faith of a devout red, planting a new belief would be easy.
Yellow Faith Levels, on the other hand, were the real challenge. These individuals weren’t overly ambitious. Being easily content, their faith was very hard to shake.
Those with orange Faith Levels were most likely to develop a new faith. Their psychological state was unstable, and they were often in distress, badly needing ntal support to find the reason and courage to continue striving in life.
Put nicely, it was providing tily help; put poorly, it was taking advantage of their vulnerability.
The minor task didn’t specify the consequences of failure, and Ren Suo didn’t currently care about success or failure. Still, it wouldn’t be bad to physically and psychologically heal soone while completing the task.
Thus, Ren Suo first filtered for Chinese nas, then for orange Faith Levels, and finally clicked on each one to see their location.
Yet, quite a few people had chosen Zhao Zili, this dark horse. Even with so many restrictive conditions, the list still spanned several pages.
Moreover, the list lacked addresses. However, there was a globe on the screen; when Ren Suo clicked a na, the person’s coordinates would appear on the globe, but this took a few minutes. That was why Ren Suo had been searching for hours without finding a suitable candidate.
Ren Suo thought he might have to spend another afternoon on this. But a few minutes later, he found a suitable candidate—
Ning Hai, a resident of Baiyun City.
Ren Suo was slightly startled. The na... seed familiar?
But he didn’t dwell on it. He zood in on the globe and discovered that Ning Hai was not only in Baiyun City but also lived in Longkou District!
It’s you!
Ren Suo needed to choose a target to serve as the landing coordinates for Zhao Zili’s arrival. Naturally, this target would also be the first person Zhao Zili treated.
Whether the target would beco a True Believer was of no concern to Ren Suo.
If successful, it was like they were paying a dical fee. If it failed, they got sothing for nothing. Ren Suo would foot the bill, at worst losing the "Zhao Zili" alt account.
What mattered was that this person lived in Baiyun City!
At dusk, Ning Hai returned ho from the market. As he reached an intersection, he accidentally bumped shoulders with a passing auntie. The auntie was fine, but his hand jerked, and apples spilled from his plastic bag.
"Oh, I’m sorry." The auntie quickly squatted down to help Ning Hai pick them up. Ning Hai wasn’t angry. "It’s fine. This intersection is narrow; it’s easy to..."
"Hmm? Is that you, Xiao Hai?"
Ning Hai looked up, a faint smile on his lips. "Aunt Ren... Long ti no see."
Aunt Ren placed the apples back into his bag. "The last ti I saw you was... after the college entrance exams, right? When I accompanied my son to that university application advisory eting the school held? Heh, I still rember the class president used you as a positive example. Not like my rascal, who could only get into a university in Lianjiang."
"That was a long ti ago... I haven’t been in touch with them for a while," Ning Hai said. "I’m actually a bit surprised you still rember ."
"What are you talking about? Don’t you rember your Auntie Ren?"
"Pfft. Well, Aunt Ren, you and Ren Suo did get into a big argunt right there at the eting. It’d be hard for anyone to forget that."
"It was because he started playing on his phone while they were talking..." Aunt Ren said, a bit sheepishly, then quickly changed the subject. "You’ve graduated by now, right? Are you back here to work?"
"...For a few reasons."
Ning Hai stuffed two apples into Aunt Ren’s bag, turned, and started to walk away. Aunt Ren quickly called out, "Hey, you! Co over for a al soti! You can teach our girl how to fill out her college applications, how about that?"
"She’ll definitely ace her college entrance exams and get into a great university and program!" Ning Hai called back loudly.
When Ning Hai got ho and opened the door, he heard a thud from inside. He didn’t pay it much mind and called out loudly, "I’m back! We’re having potato and chicken curry tonight! I put the apples in the fridge; we can eat them after dinner."
He washed the vegetables, peeled potatoes, heated the wok, lit the stove, and cooked rice. Soon, Ning Hai had a table full of dishes ready. They didn’t glow, nor did they emit a fragrance so captivating it would make you want to strip. It was just a very ordinary ho-cooked al.
Ning Hai dried his hands and knocked on the bedroom door. "Xiaoxiao? I’m coming in."
Upon entering, Ning Hai saw the quilt thrown off the bed and the wheelchair toppled over. His sister, Ning Xiaoxiao, lay on the floor, her face hidden beneath her long hair, completely silent.
Ning Hai didn’t speak. He righted the wheelchair, gently picked up his sister, and placed her in it. He brushed her ssy hair aside and, casually picking up a hair clip from the table, fastened it for her. "It’s not pretty when it’s ssy," he said. "Let’s eat."
He pushed Ning Xiaoxiao to the dining table, served her rice, and placed a piece of potato in her bowl. "The potato is really flavorful. This is my masterpiece."
Ning Xiaoxiao quietly picked up her bowl and began to eat. As she ate, tears trickled down her cheeks and fell into her bowl. "Brother," she whispered, "am I holding you back?"
"That’s not a word you use for family."
"But if it weren’t for , you’d be in Sky Capital pursuing your career, not back in a third-tier city like Baiyun, freelancing and spending all day taking care of ! You’re a graduate of Sky Capital University!"
"Before any of that, I’m your brother first."
"You must regret it, right? Regretting coming back to take care of , this good-for-nothing! You said your boss appreciated you during your internship, that you had job offers before your senior year even started! You said—"
"Didn’t you take your antidepressants today?" Ning Hai put down his bowl. "I’ll get them—"
Ning Xiaoxiao grabbed Ning Hai’s arm, tears streaming down her face. "I took them! I did! I’m asking you, if you had to take care of for the rest of your life, would you regret it?"
Ning Hai looked at his sister and sighed softly.
Ning Xiaoxiao’s hands trembled. "You regret it! You must regret it! You hesitated! You wavered!"
"Yes, I hesitated." Ning Hai squatted down, gently wiped away Ning Xiaoxiao’s tears with his finger, and tucked her long hair behind her ear. "I wavered too. Sigh, it doesn’t look good when it’s ssy."
"You do regret it!"
"I don’t regret it." Ning Hai gently took Ning Xiaoxiao’s head in his hands, touching his forehead to hers. Their eyes were inches apart, seeming to reflect each other’s innermost thoughts. "Look at , Xiaoxiao."
"I wavered because I am willing, because I love you. It’s easy to make a pledge in a fleeting mont. When making grand vows of eternal love, one rarely considers the possibility of betrayal."
"But only a promise one is willing to spend a lifeti fulfilling warrants contemplation and hesitation. Only a belief that has wavered and then held firm can be called true conviction."
Seeing his sister finally calm down, Ning Hai picked up her bowl. "Tired, huh? Let get you so more rice."
"...Just a small half-bowl."
"Alright."
But as Ning Hai turned with the bowl in hand, a humanoid figure of Light and Shadow began to converge before him. A righteous, majestic voice echoed through the space, like light piercing dark clouds—
"In the na of the great being of sacred, benevolent love—"
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