If Chen Huadong had been in the shop right now, he would have recognized that the Japanese-style pretty girl sitting across from the Bartender Lady and drawing the attention of every otaku in the place was none other than Mukaiji Nanako, who had been learning Chinese from him.
Yet the Chinese coming from her mouth no longer carried even a trace of its former awkwardness. It was more standard than that of Old Zhang, who had lived in the alley next door for seventy years.
"He is your father, but not mine." The Bartender Lady finally put down her phone and looked at Mukaiji Nanako across from her. "My history stretches back far longer than that of any of you."
"But now you are one of us." Mukaiji Nanako smiled. "Thanks to the development of literature and the birth of movies, anime, and games, their spread is faster than any known religion in the world. How could those obscure stories carved into stone tablets compare with carefully crafted entertainment? Any popular video on YouTube or Bilibili can get millions, even tens of millions of views. In the past, achieving that kind of effect would have required thousands upon thousands of missionaries working for years... Take you, for example. In your original pantheon, you were merely an insignificant character, a stepping stone on a hero's road to fame. Yet with the popularity of Marvel comics and films, your name became a household one."
"Yes, that's right. But thanks to popular culture, my identity changed as well," the Bartender Lady said coldly. "I became one of you."
"That sort of thing does happen." Mukaiji Nanako nodded. "In fact, every myth and legend undergoes repeated reworking as it spreads. Sometimes it is to adapt to local customs; sometimes it is the result of