Chapter 272: Mystery of the Immortal Count

What’s going on? Wasn’t it supposed to be 87? Then why are netizens claiming there are 88 immortals in the footage?

Regaining his senses.

Xu Hao looked at the screenshot again.

He had counted carefully moments earlier—there was no error, and the labels on the screenshot clearly indicated 87, not 88.

“Not this post?”

After confirming that the screenshot in that post was correct, Xu Hao immediately began sifting through other posts—each one showing 87, not 88.

He even purposely sorted them out, and the earliest post still displayed 87.

Not once did a screenshot appear with 88 immortals.

“Could someone be trying to smear Mingsha City’s reputation?”

After a moment’s thought, Xu Hao picked up his phone and said to Luo Peng, “Little Luo, I’ve checked some posts and all the live screenshots show 87 immortals. Can you investigate further and find out what’s really going on?”

“The posts show 87 immortals?”

Luo Peng’s voice was filled with astonishment.

Xu Hao admitted he hadn’t previously looked at video screenshots, but he did recall one clearly marked with 88 immortals.

Now, with keywords about the performance mishap in Mingsha City trending, the original post should still be available—it shouldn’t be unsearchable! “Brother Hao, I’ll check it out and get back to you shortly!”

After a brief pause,

Luo Peng immediately responded.

“Alright!”

About ten minutes later, Xu Hao’s phone rang again; upon answering,

Luo Peng’s voice was thick with self-doubt. “Brother Hao, I just rechecked online posts and they’re all 87, but I distinctly remember a screenshot with 88 immortals. Now I just can’t find it!”

“You saw it with your own eyes before?”

Xu Hao furrowed his brow even deeper.

“Yes!”

“Could someone have deleted the post?”

“That’s unlikely! There were countless posts—far more than just one. It’s impossible all of them got erased.”

Luo Peng added,

“How about this: rewatch the live replay, take a screenshot, and count carefully to see exactly how many immortals there are!”

Xu Hao slowly leaned back in his chair.

“Alright, Brother Hao!”

Luo Peng immediately replied.

“How can this be? This issue affects Mingsha City’s reputation, and I know you wouldn’t miscount, Luo Peng!”

After a long while,

Xu Hao, having reached a dead end, planned to look up more video screenshots online. But as he turned, his eyes caught the two books left by the Daoist Master, sending a jolt through him.

Daoist Master’s books?

Could it be that he was late last night and something unexpected had already occurred? Is today’s 88-immortal screenshot issue linked to that? The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

After all, last night’s Palace Festival caused quite a stir; how could such fuss arise from something so minor today?

Ding, ring, ring. Just as Xu Hao was about to pick up the Self-Cultivation book for a closer look, the phone rang again.

It was Luo Peng calling back! “Brother Hao, this is really strange,”

Luo Peng’s confusion was even deeper than before.

“What do you mean?”

“I just rewatched the live footage with several staff members and counted—it still shows 87!”

“Even the live stream shows 87 immortals?”

Xu Hao paused.

“Yes, Brother Hao. This is extremely bizarre.”

At that moment,

Luo Peng was sinking into self-doubt.

This post had stirred so much commotion and even trended—there must have been plenty of viewer and netizen confirmations. If it were photoshopped, the experts would have exposed it ages ago. How could it possibly be this late?

“By the way, Little Luo, what time did our staff head over this morning?”

Xu Hao couldn’t help but ask.

“This morning… um, Brother Hao, after we got back yesterday, the heads of the subprojects were worried their performances might be compromised, so they returned to the rehearsal hall and stayed overnight. I only learned about it this morning and didn’t think it was a big deal, so I didn’t mention it to you.”

With the situation escalating,

Luo Peng had no choice but to be forthright.

“They stayed all night?”

Xu Hao’s heart sank. In his shock, he was convinced that this uncanny event was linked to what transpired in the rehearsal hall last night.

“Yes!”

“Then… it’s likely a staff member accidentally activated the optical equipment, creating a phantom image. Do this: post an immediate announcement stating that our performance was flawless so netizens and viewers can verify it themselves!”

Regaining his composure, Xu Hao replied immediately.

At this point, he had no other option—the possibility that the 88th immortal might actually be real, and that the netizens hadn’t miscounted, was too risky to consider.

“Alright, Brother Hao. But… I truly remember that netizen’s screenshot…”

Even as he agreed, Luo Peng’s tone still carried disbelief.

“Fine, let’s do that for now. Let everyone hold on for one more day… After the Traditional Medicine showcase wraps up, everyone needs a proper break. Tonight at 8, all staff in the rehearsal hall must head home—no one stays! Last night they already pulled an all-nighter; we just can’t push it any further today!”

After a brief pause, Xu Hao added,

He would personally go to the rehearsal hall tonight to check out what anomalies had occurred. Otherwise, in the future, trusting that hall would be impossible.

“Alright, Brother Hao!”

Luo Peng agreed without hesitation.

……

Before long, it was 8 PM.

Following the release of Mingsha Tourism’s announcement, netizens plunged into deep self-doubt.

Initially, they didn’t believe it, even thinking Mingsha City was too stubborn to admit defeat.

But when they tried to pull up evidence to refute Mingsha City, they all ended up confused.

Everyone reacted as Luo Peng did—counting the immortals in the screenshots over and over while repeatedly reviewing the live replay.

“What’s happening? I clearly remember 88 immortals—why are there only 87 now?”

“Exactly. After I finished counting, I even liked that post!”

“Worse, when you open those posts, the screenshots still display 87!”

“So what on earth is going on?”

“It’s terrifying!”

“I feel like my memory has been tampered with!”

“A single miscount is understandable, but how can so many people be wrong? And yet, it pushed Mingsha City onto the trending list!”

“What on earth is happening…?”

Thus, amid heated online debates, ‘Collective Amnesia’ became the new buzzword. Both Jinlong Ancient City’s main venue and H Country’s performance lost their luster, receiving no further attention.

……

At the main venue’s backstage command room, the Deputy Leader stared at the computer screen in silence for a long while.

After some time, he turned to the Chief Leader and said, “Leader, I can confirm… there really were 88 immortals, even up to now…”

As one of the Cultural Expo’s key figures, he had been monitoring the sub-venue’s situation closely. So when words about the performance mishap surfaced online, he immediately checked the screenshots! Today’s ancient costume performance at the sub-venue, while not as grand as the previous three, was stunning in its own right—an entirely different style that showcased ancient costumes perfectly. The Chief Leader was extremely pleased.

Thus, he really couldn’t allow anyone to smear the sub-venue’s reputation.

But upon reviewing the evidence, he found that what netizens claimed might actually be true. So he planned to call Mingsha City tonight to get more details.

Who would have thought… things exploded, trending twice and stirring more discussion than the earlier projects—even leaving him completely baffled.

“Are you sure you didn’t miscount back then?”

The Chief Leader stroked his chin and looked towards the Deputy.

“Leader, I’m positive I didn’t miscount…”

The Deputy eagerly nodded.

“Then why is this happening?”

The Chief Leader pointed at the computer screen.

“Uh…”

The Deputy was momentarily at a loss for words, but after a pause he blurted out, “Leader, if it were just me misremembering, it’d be fine—but now so many people are involved, and it even trended! How do you explain this? It’s downright bizarre! And I clearly recall that the last image in the immortal group was of a divine general, but…”

“I believe what you’re experiencing is memory bias!”

He stroked his chin thoughtfully, then looked at the Deputy.

“Memory bias?”

The Deputy was taken aback.

“Yes. Haven’t we seen this before? A great responsibility is bestowed on someone—but textbooks actually say, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’! And also, ‘Man Jiang Hong’ never appeared in textbooks, yet many people believe it does.”

The Chief Leader continued, “Back then, both versions sparked heated debates online, nearly identical to our current situation.”

After a pause, the Chief Leader elaborated on the underlying principles,

“The reason you remember it this way is likely due to the influence of the Original Map. I recall that the original showed 88, but now only 87 remain—plus some individuals deliberately steering the narrative online…”

To him, this was the truth!

“Leader, could it really just be memory bias?”

Hearing this, the Deputy’s expression grew hesitant—his leader’s point seemed to hold some validity.

“Alright, I’ll have a psychological expert explain what memory bias is to the netizens and public! The hard-earned reputation of the sub-venue cannot be allowed to crumble. If this goes on, the Traditional Medicine showcase might be buried in all these speculations!

I just checked tomorrow’s Traditional Medicine showcase schedule, and there’s nothing too exciting—merely some history of traditional hospitals and introductions to classic medical texts!”

After a brief pause,

The Chief Leader decided to stop dwelling on the memory bias controversy. Tomorrow afternoon, after the sub-venue’s Traditional Medicine showcase concludes, he’ll host the closing ceremony at the main venue. That will mark the end of this Cultural Expo.

No doubt about it,

if it weren’t for Mingsha City, Long Kingdom would have been a complete disaster. It was Mingsha City that preserved Long Kingdom’s honor.

“Alright, Leader! I’ll have the psychological expert post the announcement immediately…”

Mentioning the final performance segment, the Deputy brightened and quickly added, having seen the advanced schedule for the Traditional Medicine showcase—it did seem a bit dull.

……

Meanwhile, in H Country, “You guys win, alright? You had to resort to such petty tactics to disgust people!”

Reading the comments on an online forum,

Park Qi Ye slammed his fist onto his desk.

In his view, claims of memory confusion and the switch from 88 to 87 immortals were nothing but a rigged stunt by Mingsha City, using paid posters!

He simply couldn’t believe that so many netizens could miscount.

“President, I agree!”

Beside him, Cui Xiaozhong looked equally frustrated. Frankly, after watching Mingsha City’s ancient costume performance, their reaction was that there was no need to compete further!

They admitted defeat!

Yet, Mingsha City still pulled off a stunt! In their eyes, it was a deliberate provocation—as if to boast, ‘Look… even though our performance won, it still wasn’t spectacular enough. We need more buzz.’

“It’s so frustrating!”

Bang! Park Qi Ye slammed another punch.

“President, I bet with Mingsha City’s nature, tomorrow’s Traditional Medicine showcase will also feature some gimmicky tricks designed to mislead people!”

After a brief pause, Cui Xiaozhong added,

“It’s certain! First they couldn’t even reach Jixia Academy, then it was Chuan Yun Cave, and today another person popped up—who knows what mischief they’ll pull tomorrow!

These are clearly contrived acts, yet netizens take them seriously!”

Park Qi Ye’s voice turned increasingly cold.

Last night, he even consulted a famous national magician.

The magician told him that with today’s technology, if one planned it in advance, creating a cloud cave over the Long Kingdom’s Palace Festival was entirely possible. With that, Park Qi Ye had completely labeled Mingsha City as a fraud!

“President, if only we had been there in person, we would have exposed the tricks of Long Kingdom’s sub-venue immediately!”

Cui Xiaozhong nodded in agreement.

“No way, we can’t just let Mingsha City continue like this…”

Park Qi Ye ground his teeth so hard the sound echoed.

“President, what exactly do you propose?”

Cui Xiaozhong, unable to hide his anticipation, looked towards Park Qi Ye. He was sure that if there was a way to take down Mingsha City, he’d act without hesitation. “Contact the World Magic Organization tomorrow and inform them that for next April’s World Magic Competition, we are willing to transfer the hosting rights to Mingsha City! Let Mingsha City run the competition.”

After a brief pause,

Park Qi Ye expressed his thoughts,

“What? Transfer the hosting rights of the Magic Competition? President… this is something we fought so hard to secure!”

At these words,

Cui Xiaozhong couldn’t help but interject,

“The World Magic Competition is held every four years—a true spectacle in the magic world that draws countless visitors. Its economic value even surpasses that of the Cultural Expo! Mingsha City already has a lot of buzz; handing the Magic Competition over to them would be like handing international tourists over on a silver platter.”

“Hmph, opportunities to host the Magic Competition are precious, but have you thought… if a magician were to perform all of Mingsha City’s bizarre stunts from these days at the competition, wouldn’t it bring Mingsha City crashing down from its pedestal?”

Park Qi Ye’s lips curled up in a cold smile.

“Brothers, Lao Ba’s in excruciating pain—half his face is swollen… That’s all for tonight’s chapter; I’ll continue later.”