Reborn, I Became a Male God - Chapter 57

What a coincidence—Shen Ze happened to be handling some business in the capital over the past two days. Once he found out the hospital address, he rushed over by taxi. Pushing open the door to the hospital room and seeing Jing Ling’s condition clearly, his vision went black—he almost couldn’t bear the blow.

“My little ancestor! Weren’t you perfectly fine when we talked on the phone last night? It hasn’t even been that long, and now you’re like this! What on earth did you do?!”

Shen Ze was completely overwhelmed. His way of addressing Jing Ling had gone from “young master” to “little ancestor.” And wasn’t he just that? Usually cared for with extreme caution, and yet just one moment of inattention had resulted in a major incident.

After roaring, he finally noticed that apart from Jing Ling and Tan Yunshu, there was also a stranger in the room—a man who was now looking at him with a guilty expression. Shen Ze was about to ask what had happened, but before he could speak, the man said, “I’m sorry…”

From him, Shen Ze learned the ins and outs of what had happened. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say. Jing Ling had been injured while saving someone. In such a situation, what could he say? That he shouldn’t have stepped in to help?

If it hadn’t been for him, those two children—who together were just five years old—would likely have said goodbye to this world.

Everyone has different values, and the law doesn’t require people to act heroically. Minding one’s own business without harming others—that’s how many people live. Shen Ze admitted he wasn’t that indifferent, but he also couldn’t do what Jing Ling did, sacrificing himself for others. So even though he was deeply worried this might affect Jing Ling’s future, he had no ground to criticize what he had done.

Shen Ze sat by the window and silently watched Jing Ling for a long time before suddenly lowering his gaze and letting out an almost inaudible sigh.

But Jing Ling still heard it and felt a bit uncomfortable. To the people he had saved, he might be a hero who appeared out of nowhere. But to those close to him—like Yunshu and Shen Ze—he only ever made them worry.

Although he had great confidence in his own physical condition and didn’t take this level of injury seriously, Yunshu and Shen Ze didn’t know that. From their perspective, this was a serious injury.

“Yunshu, Ah Ze,” he called their names, “I’m sorry for worrying you. I promise that if anything similar happens again, I will make sure to do my best to protect my own safety!”

He didn’t say he’d guarantee something like this wouldn’t happen again—because deep down, he knew he could never stand by and do nothing. If he encountered something like this again, he would still step forward.

He still remembered how, in the beginning, after suffering under the Tan family, his heart had turned dark and twisted, and he had become a cold, selfish person. Only after traveling through one world after another and meeting all kinds of people did his mindset start to change. If ordinary people could risk their lives to save others, and he—with all his skills—only ever thought of self-preservation, wouldn’t that be a bit ridiculous?

“I know my body best. At most, I’ll be healed in two months.” He tried to reassure the two of them—only to earn two simultaneous eye rolls.

On Weibo’s 24-hour trending list today, roughly a third of the posts were related to the movie Island. Scrolling through, the top posts were all tagged with #Island, though two of them stood out as different.

North of the Arctic: Went to see Island with my girlfriend today. She’s a bit timid and kept jumping into my arms from fright. You all know how guys are—hard to resist temptation. But I’m a coward too and didn’t dare go too far. Just took advantage of the darkness to steal a few touches and kisses. We were really getting into it when the guy sitting next to us suddenly said, “You guys know about infrared night vision cameras, right?” I instantly lost the mood. Later, I checked with the cinema staff, and turns out—it’s true! Even with the lights off, the security room can see everything crystal clear! To all the bros who’ve done questionable things in cinemas… are you all doing okay? 

The poster was a nobody with barely any followers, but within just a few hours, the post had tens of thousands of comments, and over twenty thousand likes and reposts. In the comments, many users who had once done questionable things in cinemas chimed in with their own experiences.

Another trending Weibo was a news report from a media outlet.

Capital Weekend V: [Mother fails to hold onto two children, both fall from fourth floor of mall] The incident occurred at Hualian Plaza in the Cuihu District of the capital. The children fell from the 4th floor but were fortunately caught by a courageous bystander. Both children are safe and unharmed. The young man who stepped in to help was sent to Cuihu Hospital by police. According to reports, he suffered severe injuries, including a comminuted fracture of the arm. At the time of the incident, the two young children were being carried by their mother. When one slipped and fell, the mother tried to grab them, resulting in the other also falling. [Video]

The accompanying video was taken on a phone. The footage was blurry and filled with screams—clearly recorded by accident. It started with a shot of a public area in the mall, but very quickly a dark shape fell from above. The person filming instinctively followed with their phone and accidentally captured a few crucial moments: a blur dashed in from near the door and caught the falling object near the elevator. Just seconds later, another object fell—it was also caught, though this time the person failed to hold it steadily and it slipped to the ground. Luckily, the height wasn’t too great.

Everything happened too fast to see clearly. Only after watching the video to the end did viewers realize that what had fallen were two children, and the blur that rushed in was a tall young man.

If not for the lack of professional filming equipment, one might have mistaken it for a movie scene—because that kind of reaction speed was beyond normal human limits.

The comments under this Weibo post were deeply polarized. On one hand, people were praising the selfless bravery of the young man. On the other hand, there was a surge of vicious outrage directed at the children’s mother. People were saying she was unfit to be a parent, blaming her for nearly costing the children their lives, and even going so far as to say she should’ve jumped down too. The hatred was overwhelming—some commenters even called for the mother to be “torn to pieces.” Any user who tried to offer a different perspective was immediately bombarded with personal attacks.

After Capital Weekend posted that Weibo, several other media outlets reposted it. The comments were largely the same as those under Capital Weekend’s coverage—almost all one-sidedly blaming the children’s mother.

Jing Ling didn’t see the post until that evening—it was Shen Ze who discovered it and brought it to him. After reading several related Weibo posts and the accompanying comments, Jing Ling was so angry he kicked the bed’s steel frame hard enough to dent the board beneath. The loud bang startled both Tan Yunshu and Shen Ze, and they immediately forgot all about the news discussion and instinctively checked whether the bed was broken. When they saw the bulging metal underneath, they exchanged glances and fell into silence.

Jing Ling didn’t pay attention to their reactions—he was still seething. He was furious enough to want to drag out those media outlets twisting the truth and beat them senseless.

He had traveled through many worlds, most of which were rife with gender discrimination and deeply unfriendly toward women. Whenever a woman made a mistake, her gender would always be highlighted for criticism—“female driver,” “female teacher,” “female worker.” But when men did wrong, they would be referred to simply by their profession—“a driver,” “a teacher,” “a worker.”

He had personally experienced the incident at Hualian Plaza and knew the full story inside out. The accident was caused by the father’s negligence—the mother wasn’t even present at the time. But how did the news report it? They pinned the blame on the mother, who wasn’t even on the scene, and made her the target of tens of thousands of hateful netizens!

“Yunshu, help me post a Weibo,” Jing Ling said through gritted teeth.

Tan Yunshu, a little confused, stood up and looked from the dented bed frame back to him. After a few seconds, she came to her senses. “Oh, okay.” Once she understood why Jing Ling wanted to post, she used his account to write and publish a Weibo post.

Jing Ling—Second Most Handsome Under the Heavens V: Some media outlets, in their effort to grab attention, fabricate stories without even understanding the truth of the incident. Is there any shred of professional ethics left? @CapitalWeekend @PingchengDaily @XingyuanMetropolitanNews