Prologue

Volume One: Remembering My Youthful Wandering

The weather had long since turned to winter, yet there were still quite a few couples by the lake in Central Park, bundled up thickly, walking together in each other’s embrace.



“You’re a good person.” The woman softly let out these five words, making Wu Shan smile bitterly inside.



The woman seemed to notice Wu Shan’s misunderstanding and immediately corrected herself, “I really mean it, you truly are a good person. We’ve been together for so long, I know it.”



Wu Shan leaned against the railing by the lake, raised his head to look at the overcast sky, and said, as if asking a question or perhaps just talking to himself, “Isn’t it good to be a good person?”



“Of course it’s good, it’s just that sometimes you’re a little too good! I hope you’ll only be good to me, and for my sake, stop doing all those messy things, okay? Otherwise, we can only break up.”



Wu Shan hesitated for a moment, finally lowered his head in dejection, and said, “Alright then.”



A faint smile finally appeared on the woman’s tense face. She was just about to speak when suddenly a cry for help rang out.



“Help! Someone’s fallen into the water!”



The woman stared at Wu Shan. Wu Shan sighed bitterly in his heart, “Heavens, are you messing with me?” He spread his hands helplessly at the woman, stepped back step by step, then turned and sprinted toward the lakeside.



“Wait for me!” These two words drifted in Wu Shan’s heart, but in the end, he didn’t say them out loud.



The woman looked at Wu Shan as he left, showing a trace of helplessness. She watched as Wu Shan took off his shoes and coat and leapt into the icy water. There was a hint of admiration in her eyes, but in the end, she still left resolutely.



Wu Shan was actually a decent swimmer. Driven by the urge to save people, he quickly rescued the first child from the frigid lake, drawing cheers from the lakeshore, and then the second. By this time, Wu Shan was already exhausted.



“There’s still one more, there’s still one more, please, save him!” A girl pleaded desperately. Wu Shan’s lips were purple, and he weakly waved his hand, indicating that he was powerless. But the girl just kept begging.



Wu Shan looked up, the figure by the lake was already gone. He gritted his teeth and dove into the water again, but no matter what, he couldn’t find the last child. He couldn’t give up, he kept searching, searching!



His body was already numb, his consciousness gradually fading.



Vaguely, he still remembered someone telling him, “Be a good person! That will make you happy.”



Wu Shan felt his body becoming heavier and heavier, sinking constantly toward the bottom of the lake, but the artificial lake, which shouldn’t have been that deep, seemed to have no bottom at all.



“Boundless compassion for those without connection, great empathy for all beings, infinite merit, instant Buddhahood.” In a daze, an incomparably vast voice echoed in Wu Shan’s ears, and Wu Shan finally lost the last bit of consciousness.