Chapter 66: Joining the Special Investigation Division (I)

Arthas spoke in a tone that implied, “You’re really clueless”: “What’s so surprising about this? Even if you become the King of the Underworld, where will you live? What will you eat? What will you use? Don’t you need servants? Don’t you need a palace? Doesn’t your jurisdiction, the city of Fengdu, need to collect taxes? Don’t you need to enrich the lives of your ghostly subjects? Aren’t you afraid of rebellion?”

“And another thing, shouldn’t the Underworld promote spiritual civilization? Don’t you need a publishing bureau? What about sustainable development? What if a disaster strikes and countless souls die at once? Won’t you need an emergency department? Don’t you need to maintain your underworld messengers? All of this takes money!”

“And where does the money come from? Of course, from taxes! Let me tell you, not only do all these things require funding, but the maintenance of the Eighteen Hells, the Six Paths of Reincarnation, and the Ten Courts of Hell—all of it costs money! Add to that negotiations with the mortal realm, construction of underworld buildings, development of aesthetics, theological guidance... You can see this as a world with nothing, and it’s up to you to build something new from scratch!”

Qin Ye was dumbfounded.

Utterly dumbfounded.

He had never imagined that this was what he was signing up for.

For heaven’s sake... was he supposed to build a world single-handedly until the end of days?

Can you picture the very last underworld messenger in history, laying bricks and building walls in the underworld every night?

“Wait... isn’t there anyone to help me?”

“Of course there is. In the past, all these matters were reviewed by the King of the Underworld, with reports sent up layer by layer from different regions. But now you have to start from nothing. Your first priority is to gather all the fragments of the King’s Seal. Once the Yellow Springs are opened, souls will naturally be drawn here—though you’ll still need underworld messengers to guide them...”

Qin Ye felt a headache coming on. “Didn’t you say only with the King’s Seal could the Yellow Springs be activated, so the underworld could restart?”

“Watch your words, brat. What I said was, ‘the order of the underworld can restart.’ Understand? Order! Order means rules—it’s the great law of life, death, sickness, and aging. It’s a kind of ‘kinetic energy.’”

“But any kinetic energy requires ‘machinery’ to operate. Even if you get the King’s Seal in the future, if Fengdu City isn’t built, how will you run the ‘machine’ of the underworld? It’s true that without the King’s Seal, the underworld at Fengdu is just an empty shell, but you can still build the whole underworld first!”

Qin Ye scoffed. “Build it? The way you say it makes me think this’ll take two or three years at most!”

“Listen to me!” Arthas snapped. “You total novice! Even if all you’ve got is an empty shell, some parts don’t need the Yellow Springs! In fact, the underworld doesn’t even see the Yellow Springs until you’ve traversed the Road of Yin and Yang! Think about it—when did you last see evidence of the Yellow Springs during your crossing?”

The Bridge of Forgetfulness... Qin Ye thought for a moment and realized the answer.

“So... the Road of Yin and Yang and the soul ferrymen before the Bridge of Forgetfulness don’t need the Yellow Springs? And I can put them to use as soon as they’re built?” he asked suspiciously.

Arthas nodded. “You finally get it... The reconstruction of Fengdu’s underworld is a massive undertaking. Back when the central entertainment plaza for the ghost citizens was built, no less than twelve construction companies bid for the project. How could you finish this alone? Build the Road of Yin and Yang, guide the souls over, and let them help you lay bricks and tiles. All you need is a blueprint!”

Qin Ye was stunned again.

It took a while before he managed to speak. “Say that again? Construction companies bidding? And I need blueprints?”

“Of course!” Arthas replied in a haughty, “Are you an idiot?” sort of voice. “What do you think Fengdu is? It’s a society of ghosts! Most ghosts were ordinary people in life, neither good nor evil, so they can’t go to paradise or hell. They have to draw lots and wait for reincarnation. But because spots for reincarnation are limited, most ghostly citizens end up as residents of Fengdu. That’s one of the main sources of the underworld’s economy! Otherwise, do you really think a few paper offerings at Tomb-Sweeping Festival could sustain the system? The underworld would have gone bankrupt long ago!”

Good heavens...

Bankrupt... So these construction companies must be run by entrepreneurial ghosts... Is it really this much like the mortal world? Even in the underworld, do I have to work nine to five?

“...Don’t tell me I have to get a job, too?”

“Of course... Can’t you think a little? If nobody works, how do you create economic value? So you need to build not just the Road of Yin and Yang, but also the Soul Summoning Platform and a bank! Otherwise, beware of a ghostly uprising!”

“I suddenly want to resign and return home... Can I hand back my underworld credentials?”

“Dream on!” Arthas said gleefully.

Silence.

After a few seconds, Qin Ye accepted his fate. “So what does this have to do with joining the Special Investigation Division?”

Arthas answered with pride, “Because they have large quantities of condensed underworld energy—let’s call them soulstones. That saves you a ton of trouble. Like I said, even ghosts absorb underworld energy, which can be classified as moonlight. With enough of it, you can at least set up the Soul Summoning Platform. It’ll make it easier to summon ghosts and increase your workforce... Oh, you’ll need a receptionist, too... When you add it up, everything costs money!”

Qin Ye stared up at the ceiling in speechless despair.

Arthas paused, realizing she couldn’t push the only underworld messenger too hard, or he’d just keep being a slacker.

She considered for a moment and said, “By the way, you killed nine predators last night, so you should be getting quite a reward in soulstones, right?”

Qin Ye’s spirits finally lifted. “But the prerequisite is joining the Cultivation University, isn’t it? Otherwise... they’ll just ‘show their appreciation,’ at best.”

“Join!” Arthas insisted. “At worst, in a few years I’ll help you die painlessly—full-service, no suffering!”

“...You’ve wanted to do that for a while now, haven’t you?”

“...What are you talking about? Aren’t we the closest of siblings?”

When Qin Ye returned to the private room, Zhang Chenghai noticed his expression was extremely complicated.

There was resentment, a deep sorrow at having to give up his laziness—like being dragged out of bed at five in the morning—yet also a greedy anticipation, as though a miser was about to receive a windfall.

How did he even manage to express such a bizarre mix of emotions? Zhang Chenghai almost couldn’t hold back a joke, but instead cleared his throat. “So, Mr. Qin, have you made your decision?”

“I’ll join.” Qin Ye nodded. “But I killed so many ghosts yesterday—there ought to be a reward, right?”

Zhang Chenghai smiled. “Of course. In three days, the entire city will be notified. The main event will be at the central square, and you must attend. That’s when your reward will be given.”

“All right.” Qin Ye sighed, feeling as if he’d lost the will to live. “I have a few requests, though. First, don’t ask about my past or my inheritance.”

“Rest assured, the Special Investigation Division recruits all sorts of extraordinary people and never asks about their pasts. It’s private.”

“Second... I don’t want to teach for too long—one term at most. After that, I want to go out and gain experience.”

Zhang Chenghai said with certainty, “No problem. Actually, most soul-capturers are assigned to one city, and if it weren’t for the new university, you’d be posted somewhere. The first term of the Cultivation University won’t be long—according to my sources, at most two years.”

Qin Ye nodded. “Fine... So that’s it, then?”

Was that all it took to join the Special Investigation Division?

Zhang Chenghai smiled.

“Of course not.”

“Everything has its procedures, and you still need to go through them. The Special Investigation Division is made up of ordinary people, but there are still documents—especially your work permit, which needs to be issued.”

“When?”

“Now.”

Before Qin Ye could react, he felt the entire room tremble slightly, and then—like an elevator—it began to descend!

“What is this...” he exclaimed, looking around in surprise. The tremor was faint, but for such a large room to move straight down must have taken some serious engineering.

Zhang Chenghai said calmly, “The Special Investigation Division has been around for over fifty years and works closely with City Hall. It’s also the most secure place in the city, so... all our city headquarters are located beneath the government buildings.”

Before he finished speaking, the room came to a stop. Zhang Chenghai straightened his suit, smiled, and opened the door. “Welcome.”

“Welcome to the most secretive and powerful department in all of China—the Special Investigation Division!”

Qin Ye blinked. Everything before him was like something from science fiction.

Outside was no longer a teahouse, but a vast circular chamber three hundred meters across.

At its center stood a giant, futuristic-looking computer. Complex streams of data formed glowing bands, like gem-studded alloy pillars. Over a dozen computers and control panels were arranged in a circle, with aisles radiating from the center. Seen from above, it would look like a maze.

The walls were fitted with LCD screens displaying not only Bao’an City but also the province. Red and yellow icons flickered, representing supernatural and mortal phenomena, their data transmitted by fiber optics to the central supercomputer, then routed to each workstation.

Not far away was a ring-shaped door bristling with blinking instruments, exuding a sci-fi aura.

“This is... the Special Investigation Division?” he asked, taking a deep breath.

Zhang Chenghai replied with pride, “Absolutely. Most people don’t know this, but I can assure you: our equipment is among the best in the world! And it’s all independently developed and produced right here in China!”

He pointed to the central pillar-like computer. “The ‘Stygian River’ sub-brain supercomputer has only one two-hundredth the power of the main brain.”

“You must have heard that the world’s most powerful supercomputer is currently our National Defense University’s ‘Tianhe-2,’ right?”

“Tianhe-2 can perform 33.86 quadrillion calculations per second. But... the Stygian River does more than twice that—seventy quadrillion! That’s four times faster than the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s ‘Titan,’ which is currently ranked second!”

He was visibly excited, then exhaled. “Ordinary people just don’t know about it.”

“Please, come with me.”

Qin Ye followed Zhang Chenghai inside, his eyes roaming in awe. It was all so futuristic—if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he’d never have believed Chinese technology had reached such heights, or that so much had been prepared for a possible war between the living and the dead.

Why did he feel like a husky thrown in with a pack of wolves...