In those seventy years, Pangu went down to the Mortal Realm many times.
When he didn't, he read reports.
——
The day before every interest payment, he went through the world's accounts from start to finish.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Qianhui.
It was that he didn't dare not look.
Late just once, and this world would belong to the Creditor.
——
[This Period's Interest: Paid]
For billions of years, not a single payment had been late.
Every period, he set the interest aside first.
Only the divine power left over could be traded for the compute the world needed to run.
No matter how much tax came into the money accounts, it couldn't fill that gap.
With a little less compute, the world wouldn't stop right away. People could still work, it was just harder to concentrate, and remembering the same thing took more effort.
Some regions sat at the bottom of the standard range for a long time; in places that couldn't hold up, even the climate, immune systems, and newborns' survival were affected.
The harder people's lives were, the less room they had for happiness. Divine power income couldn't rise, and the next period's compute couldn't be afforded.
The interest had never been late.
The cost had always stayed in the world.
——
In the ninth year, Pangu took that list out of his drawer.
The first person's illness had still not been cured. After the records of reassignment and care, there was now a death notice.
Pangu wrote the date next to the name.
The mirror had shown him this outcome long ago. They had tried to avoid it, and still couldn't.
He looked at it for a long time.
——
In the fiftieth year, before going down, he said to Wanquan: "This time, don't even arrange my route."
Wanquan said: "All right."
Pangu put on a mortal body and used an ordinary name.
No one knew it was him.
He settled in a small town.
That year, the town's granary burned. A man was accused of arson, but couldn't produce any evidence that he hadn't been there when it happened.
In the past, a case like this would have been closed that same night.
This time, he was held for eleven days, then released after a detention review. The case kept being investigated. From filing to the not-guilty verdict, eleven months in all.
——
But letting him go wasn't the end.
During the eleven days he was held, he had no income; after he got out, some employers wouldn't take him back because the case wasn't closed. The granary didn't go back to the way it was because of a verdict. Some people in town still remembered his face and looked twice when they saw him.
——
When he picked up his not-guilty verdict and walked out of the Court of Inquiry, someone was waiting at the door.
Not family.
A Circulation Officer, already holding an approved subsidy form.
Pangu stood across the street, holding a roasted corn he had just bought, watching them talk from the other side of the road.
——
"Compensation for eleven days of detention, and for the effect on your livelihood afterward."
"Compensation and a business recovery subsidy have both been approved."
"Sign here."
——
The man stood there a long time.
"I thought once I got a not-guilty verdict, I'd be fine."
"The case is over. You still have a life to live."
The Circulation Officer held out the form.
"Those days don't come back. This at least lets you get back to work."
——
[Detention Compensation: 11 days]
[Business Recovery Subsidy: Approved]
[Disbursed by: Temple of Welfare]
——
Qianhui had opened that column.
Fifty years ago, the books didn't have that column.
Fifty years ago, that column was called [Major Case Rapid Resolution Bonus].
——
Some people in town didn't accept it.
"It never used to take this long."
Pangu took a bite of corn.
Nice and chewy.
——
The seventieth year:
Paying interest, cutting supply, worsening lives, not enough divine power coming in——the vicious cycle dragging the world down was finally reversed.
The Mortal Realm at this time:
The purification loop had cut down on wasted consumption, and the allocation network meant supply no longer looked only at whether the total was enough.
Regions long short of compute gradually recovered. People found it easier to concentrate, and easier to remember what they'd learned. It didn't learn anything for them, but it let the effort they had always put in leave more behind.
The environment stabilized, the body's resistance to disease improved, and together with medical care and basic security, most illnesses could be treated before they got worse. Average lifespan passed a hundred.
The legal code and the allocation network were linked, and the gap between rich and poor didn't widen again.
Crime still existed, but some of the hardships that used to push people into crime could now be dealt with early, instead of waiting to settle accounts after the fact.
People no longer had to spend all their strength just barely staying alive.
Nor did anyone end up smiling all day because of it. Most of the time, they still just worked, rested, and lived.
But a job finished, a child growing up safe, a hard problem with someone willing to work on it together——there were more things than before worth feeling at ease and glad about.
The divine power those positive emotions produced was traded back for more ample compute, which let the next stretch of days keep going too.
——
For the payment in the seventieth year, Pangu went through the accounts from start to finish the day before, as always.
When he was done, he didn't put the report away.
He looked at it for a long time.
——
Shunyi came in to change the tea.
"Master, do you want to go over it once more?"
Pangu looked down at the last line.
[This Period's Interest: Payable]
[Compute Purchases and Necessary Expenses for All Realms: Fully Funded]
[This Period's Divine Power Balance: Positive]
He had been looking at this for billions of years.
This time, the surplus wasn't squeezed out by buying a little less compute for some district. Every realm's supply needs had been fully listed, the interest was paid, and there was still some left.
"No need."
Shunyi paused.
"Not today?"
"No need."
Pangu closed the report.
"This time there really is some left."
——
At dinner, he said it again.
Qianhui said: "I know."
Shanjue smiled a little.
Wanquan drank his coffee and said nothing.
Shunyi brought out the candied chestnuts.
Pangu peeled one.
When he finished it, he peeled a second.
Shunyi glanced at him.
He didn't say anything.
——
Billions of years.
For the first time, Pangu felt this debt could actually be paid off.