A Lifespan of Thirty-Six Thousand Days

2024-07-31

A Lifespan of Thirty-Six Thousand Days

The night was desolate, and a cold wind blew.

A bank of dark clouds drifted back and forth, blotting out the bright moon so completely that only two or three stars remained shining.

In Donglai Commandery City, two shadows stretched longer and longer in the firelight on an empty street.

The two men wore blue uniforms and carried sabers at their waists. Each held a lantern and scanned their surroundings from time to time.

The older of the two, a middle-aged man with a short beard, sniffed through his cold nose and shivered in the wind.

"Brr. Why's it so cold tonight? I should've had the wife pack me a thicker coat."

Song Changming glanced at the man's thin frame beside him but said nothing.

No matter how cold the night grew, they still had to patrol the streets.

The lantern flame swayed as his gaze swept the alleys on either side of the street. He silently reckoned the time. It should be around midnight.

[Today's assessment: An uneventful day. Lifespan +5. Gained the temporary status "Going Nowhere."]

Just as expected. Song Changming noticed the prompt appear in his mind right on time, his expression unchanged.

It was his twelfth year in this world. Everything from his previous life had grown increasingly hazy in the depths of his memory.

He only remembered that he had probably died from overwork during a late-night shift, then crossed over to this place.

With a thought, a small, translucent panel appeared before his eyes.

Name: Song Changming

Lifespan: 36,002

Spirit: 7

Root: 10

Related constitution: Hydrophobia (gray)

This relatively simple status panel had crossed over with him. By now, he had examined it countless times and knew it inside out.

The lifespan shown on it was thirty-six thousand days—nearly a hundred years!

Even in the era of his previous life, a century was an exceptional lifespan for an ordinary person. Few truly lived that long.

In this life, that was even more true. By ordinary standards, reaching fifty or sixty was already cause for a joyful funeral. People would be delighted with that much and hardly dared hope for a full century.

In fact, he was now eighteen, and those eighteen years were not included in the figure.

Those thirty-six thousand days were his remaining lifespan.

For every day he lived, he accumulated a certain number of days of lifespan.

Simply put, the longer he lived, the more time he had left.

Day after day, little by little, he had amassed nearly a century of lifespan.

This ability, his alone, was undeniably powerful. As long as time kept flowing and the days continued to pass, he was, in theory, immortal!

When he first realized this, his joy had been accompanied by other thoughts.

In his previous life, he had died suddenly while still young, just as his career was flourishing, bringing his brief life to an abrupt end.

Yet in this life, he had been given what seemed like an inexhaustible lifespan. To him, it felt like compensation arranged by some unseen hand.

Of course, to truly live forever, he first had to avoid getting himself killed.

With this ability, he could withstand the ever-present cuts of time's butcher knife. But countless accidents and illnesses could still take his life.

For that reason, he had spent these years watching his words and actions, speaking and doing as little as possible. He never invited trouble and put safety above all else.

Today, Song Changming looked at the neat figure of thirty-six thousand in the lifespan column. Along with a deep sense of accomplishment, he felt a great weight finally lift from his heart.

"At last. I've saved up enough."

From the moment he crossed over, he had known there was another powerful aspect to this ability.

By spending thirty-six thousand days of lifespan, he could return from the dead, no matter how grave the illness or what other cause had killed him!

When he first arrived in this world, that resurrection had nearly exhausted the remaining lifespan from both his lives combined, leaving him with less than ten years.

Only now had he finally saved enough to reach that figure again.

With one extra life in reserve, I can finally make a few changes. I don't have to go out of my way to avoid everything anymore. As Song Changming weighed his options, possibilities began stirring in his mind.

He had lived in this world for more than a decade and had long since become part of it.

He might have accomplished little all this time, but that did not mean he wanted to go on living this way forever.

After all, this world was far from ordinary...

As he thought this, shouts suddenly sounded ahead. Song Changming looked toward them at once.

At the corner of the long street, several figures appeared from nowhere, tangled together in a deadly fight.

Song Changming instinctively grabbed Li Fu'an beside him.

Only then did Li Fu'an notice the gang of violent men who had suddenly appeared ahead. He shuddered so hard he nearly dropped his lantern.

"They're from the Qinghe Gang!" Li Fu'an had lived on Houli Street for over a decade and knew the area inside out. He immediately recognized one side of the brawl.

"Leave it. Let's go back and report this to Patrol Guard Headquarters. The Patrol Captains can decide whether to send out the patrol guards." Song Changming made the decision on the spot.

He had been a Night Watchman for only a little over a year and was still half a newcomer, but the rules he had lived by for years would never allow him to get involved in something so dangerous. He should not even have stopped to look.

Besides, those were the rules here.

They worked for the government's Patrol Guard Headquarters and wore sabers at their waists, but at most, they could intimidate petty thieves and ordinary civilians.

The feuds between the city's gangs were not theirs to interfere with.

Put plainly, they lacked the standing.

"Right, let's go! Quick! Sharp eyes you've got, lad." Coming to his senses, Li Fu'an turned and hurried away, afraid they would be caught in the crossfire.

Donglai Commandery City had eight main streets dividing it into eight large districts, each with its own Patrol Guard Headquarters responsible for local security.

Song Changming was currently a Torch-bearing Night Watchman with the Houli Street Patrol Guard Headquarters. His position barely counted as a government job.

The two soon abandoned their night patrol and hurried back to headquarters.

Other Night Watchmen were already there reporting the gang fight. The two of them had arrived rather late.

There were fewer people at Patrol Guard Headquarters late at night than during the day. In the main hall, only a few armored patrol guards sat by the candlelight, snacking on dried fruit and chatting.

Even after hearing the Night Watchmen's reports, they paid the matter no mind. Not one looked the least bit tense.

A broad, burly man lay on a lacquered hardwood bench. With his eyes half-closed, he waved a hand casually.

"I know about it. Call everyone back. You can rest tonight. I'll have work for you in the morning."

Song Changming and the other Night Watchmen acknowledged the order and left at once.

The Houli Street Patrol Guard Headquarters had a strict hierarchy. At the top, overseeing everything, was the Director.

Under the Director were six Patrol Captains, and the man on the bench was one of them.

With the Director absent, those Patrol Captains made the decisions. Torch-bearing Night Watchmen like them had no choice but to obey.

"Thanks to that gang, we get off early tonight. I'm going home for a couple cups of hot wine to warm myself up." Outside Patrol Guard Headquarters, Li Fu'an looked to be in high spirits. He called a farewell to Song Changming and went on his way.

"With a fight that big, we'll probably have plenty of bodies to collect in the morning. Better get home, wash up, and sleep."

"True enough."

The Night Watchmen finished talking and each headed home.

Song Changming yawned and set off in another direction.

Though he worked around Houli Street, he did not live there.

Houli Street was fairly prosperous, and his family could not afford a house in the area.

He quickened his pace through several narrow streets and alleys, deliberately steering clear of the gang fight he had seen. He walked for nearly an hour.

As he approached the edge of the city, the streets grew steadily more run-down. Grand residences and courtyards vanished, as did pavilions and towers. Only scattered, aging houses of stone and wood remained.

Baiyi Street was the poorest and most outlying of the eight districts.

Its residents generally had neither connections nor money. They were people at the bottom.

It was now deep into the night, and all of Baiyi Street lay in darkness. Most people here rose with the sun and rested when it set; nighttime was for sleep.

He passed through several alleys and by an old tree with a crooked trunk. The occasional cry of a stray cat or dog reached his ears.

Soon, a few small rooms separated by partitions came into view. Their lower walls were daubed with mud, their upper sections covered with wood, and a sturdy fence enclosed them.

Song Changming glanced around and, finding nothing amiss, went to his parents' room. Only after faintly hearing the even sounds of their sleep did he return to his own room, reassured.

Baiyi Street had its own Patrol Guard Headquarters, but public safety here was still the worst in the city. Petty thieves were especially numerous.

At least the city's gangs set rules and followed them. Their actions had patterns one could trace.

Petty theft struck without rhyme or reason and was impossible to guard against. A few chicks his family had been raising had been stolen just days ago. That said it all.

After a quick wash, Song Changming lay down on his bed, his Side Saber, which he always carried, beside his pillow.

It was a habit of his. He was hardly a proper swordsman, but most of the time he kept his saber close. It made him feel a little safer.

"Once I've saved a bit more money, it'll be time to make some real plans."

Song Changming looked at the Side Saber beside his pillow. With the reassurance of an extra life, his thoughts wandered far that night before he finally fell into a deep sleep.