Don’t Ask Me Whats Going On

"So I'm transmigrating into... No one?"

Thank you for your understanding!

"I didn't -"

Please hold while a suitable destination identity is found for you!

"What do you mean hold? Hold where??"

_-_-_

So that was how Shen Yuan wound up in Luo Binghe's dreams.

It wasn't so bad actually. Luo Binghe's dream realm was his Underground Palace, plenty of space for Shen Yuan to hang out and avoid Binghe as much as possible.

He never got thirsty or hungry ...he was a little bored though. He didn't dare poke around too much. He watched any memories that happened to play out but he was worried he'd be caught if he went looking for more. (Also he was already trespassing in Binghe's head, he didn't want to be any more rude!)

That's also why he avoided Binghe directly. A master of the dream world like him could reorder everything, every puppet and scene whenever he liked. Shen Yuan was fixed, unchangeable and surely Binghe would notice if he got a good look at him.

He had no idea how long he'd been here, wandering the paths of Binghe's mental palace. Hopefully the system that had dumped him here was quick about coming back.

_-_-_

Of course he couldn't hide forever.

He walked right into a party one day. A wedding maybe? It was raucous with people everywhere drinking and eating and laughing.

There wasn't a dining hall here before which meant ... there's Luo Binghe, across the room holding hands with a woman the both of them in red, her face still veiled. Definitely a wedding.

He tried to leave- but the door is gone from the wall behind him. It's suddenly very quiet, and when Shen Yuan turned around the party was gone. It was just him and Luo Binghe.

The Demon Emperor closed the distance between them in a heartbeat.

"So," he said casually. "Who, or what, are you?"

Said customers being college students XF and SY (idk why I love this trope) studying for their exams in the bar because all of the good study spots are taken, and home is for procrastination.

SY’s paying for everything because he’ll be damned letting XF crash at his place to study (SY has his own apt but XF lives in the college dorms and got stuck with the world’s shittiest roommate) so they brainstormed the perfect study place for like a week before XF jokingly mentions a host bar. Things spiral and somehow they end up at one—surprised they were even let in—sitting at a table and studying.

(I KNOWW gay host clubs aren’t like,, a thing but ykw this is fictional whogaf)

Because they’re first timers obviously they can’t stay for as long as they’d like, but honestly it was the best study session they’d ever had—even if they got weird looks. SY’s holding his head in his hands because one of the worst ideas he’s ever humored turned out to be good.

ANYWAYS eventually XF figures out how much SY’s been spending (because SY’s got big bucks) and he’s like “dude, why did it we just rent one of the normal spots out and study there?” And SY nearly punches him in the face.

This audio is very much gold lolol

Second read of svsss: "It's great to reread the book and see all the subtle references and foreshadowing. I do wish this book had more content of the female characters, but it's understandable for a danmei to be male-centered."

At the time, I was also working at a pawn shop, and people would sometimes sell us teeth that had gold fillings, and one of the employees would remove the gold and then we were to dispose of the teeth, but I collected them in my own little tin at work to practice with(ethically-dubious, keeping people’s teeth without permission). One day, someone was at my desk and found my little tin of teeth and freaked out and threw them all away and I was very sad.

On break one day, hiding in my car as per usual, I innocently attempted to shove a handful of loose tip money in my glove compartment, i.e. a Later Me problem. However, when the door fell open, a bag of absolutely wretchéd (human?) teeth shamelessly presented itself with a hearty CLUNK as the drawer slammed open from the weight.

I contemplated the bag of teeth as it settled, gently clacking, telling me... something.

First thought: Well, of course there's a bag of teeth in my glove box. Not a modicum of shock. It felt... inevitable. Oh yeah, here's the teeth. The teeth compartment. There they are. A mysterious bag of (extremely filthy? HUMAN??) teeth is confusing and potentially threatening to most, sure. But I know who I am.

More importantly, I know who I'm married to.

Gathering up the precarious bag of (fake human? yes??) teeth, I sent my spouse this image and the following question:

So there I sit, baking in my hot car, a bag of Somebody Else's Teeth on my lap, awaiting a reply from my spouse like an urgent telegram. Against all sense and propriety I open said bag and start fishing through my treasure, holding them up to the light like a jeweler for inspection.

The teeth (pleasantly cool in my sweaty palms) are upsettingly - and unquestionably - human. Heavy as pearls, hard as hell, slick as bone china. The base of each tooth is coated in a sticky red substance, which I scrape off to properly examine. Somewhere, the Law and Order theme is playing. Ice T shakes his head at my folly.

The phone, and my spouse, remain silent.

After a very thorough examination, I come to a comforting conclusion: these are, in fact, (almost) entirely fake human teeth, likely blanks to use as replacements for the unteethed. The red substance is apparently wax, possibly to sort and display said chompers. This does not at all explain why they are, again, in my fucking glove box.

The phone finally beeples, and I shove the handful of teeth in my jacket pocket: another Later Me problem. Right now, knowledge is paramount.

The first message is not enlightening.

Spouse: OH NOOOO YOU FOUND THEM

me: ????????????

Spouse: I'll explain when you get home

me: ??????!!!!!!!!

SPOILER ALERT: My spouse purchased the teeth at an estate sale for a dentist who'd recently passed. They happened to borrow my shitbox car that day and shoved the bag in the glove box to keep it hidden. A clear failure, as I don't know how you forget a bag of teeth in someone else's car, but that's not my mystery to solve.

It turns out my spouse had a plan for those teeth. And O! what a plan it was! You see, we'd recently purchased The Property: a strange house built by an unbelievably creepy (and now thankfully deceased) mechanic in the early 50s. Not fun creepy, like my bag of teeth. More "Why is there a hatch cut into your roof" or "What is that secret compartment for" and "Why are there printouts of police codes everywhere." This is important, because...

...The Spouse's plan was to take these teeth and hide them throughout The Property. The very large, multi-structure Property we'd barely explored. They swore up and down they would never have shared their provenance with me; it was intended I would find each tooth over the course of years, growing more frustrated and confused every time a molar showed up in the attic or garage or Hatch or any number of infinite hidey-holes we now possessed.

This was a great plan, for sure. 10/10. And it might have worked, if they could hold it together long enough to fool me (doubtful). But I don't think it would have, because after all:

you've seen the jokes. india is "dirty", indians are "everywhere", why don't they fix their own country. ok. let me tell you why, and what's happening right now while nobody's watching.

first, the history you skipped: britain ruled india for two centuries and drained it. economist utsa patnaik's research estimates around $45 trillion in today's money was taken. the india that got independence in 1947 was one of the poorest countries on earth. every "why is india like this" question starts there. you don't get to profit off a robbery and then mock the crime scene.

now, what's happening RIGHT NOW:

in may the question paper for NEET leaked. that's the national medical entrance exam. over 2.2 million students took it. cancelled. years of studying, families' savings poured into coaching, gone overnight because someone sold the paper. students died by suicide after. these were kids who wanted to be doctors.

and out of that came a protest movement. a gen z group called the cockroach janta party, started by a 30 year old named abhijeet dipke, got 22 million instagram followers within DAYS. they've been doing a sit-in at jantar mantar in delhi demanding education minister dharmendra pradhan resign.

and then there's sonam wangchuk. if you've watched 3 idiots, he's the real engineer the character was based on. built solar schools in ladakh. invented ice stupas so himalayan villages have water. spent his whole life on education. he's 59 and he's been on hunger strike for 17+ days now. reporters went to see him this week and he was too weak to talk. and the troll armies are calling him "anti national" and "foreign funded". a man starving himself for other people's children. that's the thing here, anyone who asks a question is suddenly a traitor.

it's not one incident, it's everywhere you look:

• infrastructure worth thousands of crores failing within months of the ribbon cutting. tunnels collapsing in regions where heavy rain is a guarantee, not a surprise.

• youth unemployment near 10% for ages 15 to 29, 13.6% in cities. in a country of 1.42 billion where more than half the population is young.

• only about the top 3% of indians earn above 10 lakh a year. meanwhile billionaire wealth keeps ballooning and the headlines celebrate it.

• manipur burned for over two years. an ethnic conflict, tens of thousands displaced, and the prime minister barely said the word manipur while it happened.

• journalists raided. critics' houses bulldozed. activists sitting in jail for years without trial under laws like UAPA. our press freedom ranking has cratered.

• even the petrol is a fight now, ethanol blending pushed through while drivers complain about their engines and get no straight answers.

and through all of it, the PM, who came to power on religious polarisation (americans, sound familiar?), travels abroad for photo ops and has not held one single open press conference in over a decade. not one.

what i'm asking:

if you're not indian: share this. our media mostly won't cover any of it because the big outlets are owned by the same billionaires the government serves. the only reason wangchuk's fast is getting any coverage is people refusing to look away.

if you ARE indian: speak up even if you're comfortable. especially if you're comfortable. join the protests. add to this, correct me, translate it. staying quiet is a choice when nothing in this post touches your life.

india is not "dirty". india was robbed, and it's being robbed again, from the inside this time. but it's also the country where a 59 year old will starve for strangers' kids and 22 million young people will rally behind a party literally named after cockroaches, because cockroaches survive everything.

we can still save her. but only loudly.