New Times, New Hell

Chapter 32 - Hell’s Subsidiary Company

Yu Zhengdu had originally been joking when he had said that. His mom had just called him asking about an air purifier, so he couldn’t help but tease the two Daoists.

What he didn’t expect was, the two Daoists weren’t rendered speechless by his comment at all. Instead, their expressions became contemplative. Yuan Qing gaze was filled with admiration. He saluted, “As expected, little Mr. Yu is a genius in the field of new technologies. Your brain is so clever. How come I didn’t think of this before……”

Daoist priest Mu also nodded in agreement. “If we can invent an underworld energy purifier, then our followers could remove evil in their own homes instead of needing to invite us to cast spells every time. This is definitely a good idea for increasing the speed of cultivation.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Wait a moment. These two Daoists, you clearly weren’t like this before. Can you not accept such things so naturally?

He silently turned his gaze onto Shang Que, hoping to see some understanding in his boss’s eyes. Coincidentally, the two made eye contact. Shang Que immediately smiled proudly and said, “As expected from our company’s CTO. What a great idea.”

Yu Zhengdu: = =

Yu Zhengdu: “……Wait. When did I become the CTO?”

Shang Que lifted his chin. “Now.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……Okay.”

Either way, there were only two living people in their company. No matter what title he had, he’d be doing the same amount of work.

But the two Daoists and Shang Que’s attitude made him realize that his casual recommendation wasn’t completely impossible. Though he had intended it as a joke, after a serious discussion with everyone else, he felt that it was actually plausible to some degree.

Yu Zhengdu normally enjoyed learning about innovative things, so had a vast knowledge regarding new technologies. In university, he had taken a class on artificial intelligence in everyday household electronics. Thus, he knew the basics about how they worked. Consequently, after pondering a bit, he developed somewhat of a plan in his head.

For example, to operationalize the underworld energy purifier, they could simply take the basic framework of a normal air purifier. There were two that came to mind immediately.

One was a type of vacuum-and-purifying technology. It mainly involved putting an engine in the machine, along with a fan and filter. This would cause incessant air movement, forcing the air through the filter and vacuuming away the pollutants in it. Purification would then be achieved.

The other type involved technology that took a more direct approach. The concept was different from the vacuum purifier. It didn’t have the restrictions of a fan or filter, instead taking the initiative to release anti-pollutants into the air. These anti-pollutants would then spread until all pollutants in the air would get purified.

Yu Zhengdu briefly explained his ideas to those present. Yuan Qing immediately understood, saying, “Ey ey, I think the vacuum type is pretty good.”

Upon noticing everyone’s attention on him, Yuan Qing hurriedly puffed out his chest. “According to Yu ge’s concept, the vacuum type only relies on the filter inside the machine. Actually, us Daoists also have a lot of magical instruments that can be used to remove evil. As long as we transform them a bit, place them inside the machine, then use the fan to allow air flow, underworld energy could easily be purified.”

……He was already calling him Yu ge.

It would be awkward for Yu Zhengdu to remind the other that he was probably younger than him. He could only nod and say, “That’s what I was thinking too.”

However, Yuan Qing’s face was still filled with worry. “This stuff is easy to talk about, but hard to actually make.”

This involved two special characteristics of Daoist instruments. For starters, magical instruments weren’t as easy to produce as filters. To place them inside a machine, much development and design would need to be completed. Secondly, the reason Daoist magical instruments could remove evil was because they borrowed the natural energy of the universe and the power of ghosts and gods. This was the part that was hard to reproduce, because every time power needed to be borrowed, a Daoist priest had to hold a spell-casting ceremony to ask the gods for energy.

Upon hearing this, Yu Zhengdu pondered a bit, then said, “I’ll try to write an initial program for it later. The goal is for the spell-casting to automatically happen when the user starts the program……”

He couldn’t help teasing the two Daoists again. “For example, as soon as the app is opened, a recording of Daoist priest Mu personally reading the incantations will start playing……”

Daoist priest Mu: “……”

While they were discussing the possibility of actually operationalizing the underworld energy purifier, Yang Xin had been silently drinking off to the side.

As someone who had spent most of his life in the business field and was good at navigating treacherous gatherings, Yang Xin would normally be the focal point of such meetings. Especially since he was the host of today’s lunch, he should’ve been the one guiding the conversation.

But until they finished their meal, he didn’t even manage to butt in once.

This really wasn’t his fault. It was because the topics the others were discussing were too strange……Wait that wasn’t right. They were actually too scientific……Ah, but that didn’t seem right either……

Either way, they were just using too much jargon! He couldn’t keep up at all!

Yang Xin spent the entire time jumping between superstitions and science. In the end, he could only stare wide-eyed as the little Daoist priest Yuan Qing, who had originally been solely dedicated to the Dao and was preparing to inherit Daoist priest Mu’s legacy, excitedly pulled out his phone and signed up for an online class about artificial intelligence in household technologies. He even used all possible tactics to get Yu Zhengdu to agree to develop it with him. More unbelievable yet, Daoist priest Mu completely agreed with this plan……

Yang Xin felt that in the short span of time this meal had lasted, he had gained a new view of the world.

***

After getting back from Chuandong, Yu Zhengdu had a new task to work on——developing the underworld energy purifier with Yuan Qing.

But he wasn’t planning on personally working on this project. Firstly, this wasn’t the primary responsibility of their company. Whether or not he developed it was irrelevant in the long run and would only be considered an extra project. Secondly, he really didn’t have the time. He and Zheng Yan had already discussed several times and finally agreed on an initial framework for the Life and Death Accounts program. Very soon, they would have to start its actual development

He thought about it and realized that they would have to hire two more professionals to be able to create the underworld energy purifier. Also, they would need more programmers to work on the Life and Death Accounts.

But this time, they couldn’t use Luofeng’s name to hire people again. After all, the restrictions to Luofeng’s hiring process were too plentiful. Disregarding the fact that not many people wanted to work with ghosts, their contract was a giant trap. It was a setback for the employees, but also for the company itself. On the off chance that they hired someone they didn’t like, they wouldn’t even be able to fire them.

He and Shang Que discussed this, then finally decided to register a subsidiary company under Yu Zhengdu’s name. The majority of business other than Hell specialized jobs would be moved to the subsidiary company. There would also be two versions of the contract; ghosts would sign with Luofeng, and mortals would sign with the subsidiary company.

After reaching this agreement, Shang Que called Lu Lingxi over and told her to deal with the registration procedure.

After hearing this, Lu Lingxi’s expression was dazed. She asked Boss in confirmation, “Register it under Yu Zhengdu’s name?”

Shang Que looked at her, perplexed. He responded, “Is there something wrong with that?”

Lu Lingxi: “……”

How could Boss sound so confident? Wasn’t the problem very obvious?

She had originally thought there was a big problem, but because of the way Boss asked the question, her tone immediately became less assured. She lowly asked, “Zhengdu only signed a one-year contract with us. If he’s the legal representative of our subsidiary company, what will we do next year?”

Shang Que replied as if it were obvious, “Renew his contract ah.”

Lu Lingxi: “……” Actually, she wanted to ask, how are you so confident he’s definitely going to renew?

Besides, even if he did agree to renew, why do you trust him enough to give the subsidiary company to him?

Lu Lingxi had a bunch of questions, but under Boss’s resolute gaze, she didn’t manage to ask any of them out loud. She could only weakly answer, “Got it. I’ll go do that now.”

After leaving Shang Que’s office, she still couldn’t completely relax. Thus, she went to look for Yu Zhengdu for confirmation.

Yu Zhengdu’s response was much more reasonable. “……The question is, aside from me, is there any other living person in this company who can be the legal representative?”

Honestly speaking, if he had a choice, he didn’t want to be the legal representative either. But the administrator of the subsidiary company needed to be a living person. This way, new employees’ contracts would be contracts signed in the mortal realm with other mortals. There was no chance of rebound if one broke the contract. Right now, Luofeng only had two living employees…… After much thought, Yu Zhengdu was still the only choice.

Lu Lingxi actually really wanted to ask, then how come your dedication is so strong?

But ultimately, she didn’t dare to ask. She only rapidly finished the registration process and rented another office in the technology park to be the subsidiary company’s headquarters. Then, she immediately started hiring people.

Because many of the company’s projects had started earning money, they didn’t have as many restrictions regarding salaries anymore. Though they still couldn’t offer insane prices like big companies, they could manage to hire a few qualified employees with ease.

……

The opening of a subsidiary company progressed along swiftly and smoothly. Shang Que didn’t just laze around either. It was obvious that their company was about to get bigger and stronger, so his days of gaming and managing a dozen or so ghosts were over. He very ambitiously……registered for an online MBA class. He started seriously learning modern knowledge regarding management, elegantly taking notes on his little notebook in front of his computer daily.

He even learned how to make finance analysis reports!

But before Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que could catch a break, Chen Siyu came knocking on their door again.

Not long ago, Chen Siyu’s dad had been harassed by an underworld spirit. In the end, Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que had helped him identify the person behind the scenes trying to harm him. They even won a duel against the other’s demon priest and saved the materialist ghost Hao Wentao from servitude under him.

Afterwards, with Hao Wentao’s aid, Father Chen started retaliating against the person who was plotting against him, the stockholder and boss of Yao Chu, Liu Ningan. And because Liu Ningan’s demon priest had lost the duel, he had no means of fighting back. In the past few months, he had suffered defeat after defeat. On the other hand, Father Chen had been extremely successful.

Originally, the Chen family had thought everything was over. But unexpectedly, a heavily pregnant girl had shown up at their door two days ago. She claimed to be a mistress Liu Ningan kept outside, and cried and begged for Father Chen to save her no matter what.

The entire Chen family was bewildered. They couldn’t figure out what was going on. Why did Liu Ningan’s mistress need them to save her?

Originally, the Chen family hadn’t planned on paying attention to her, but the girl refused to leave despite everything they did or said. After getting dragged away by the neighborhood security, she had shown up at Father Chen’s company today, crying. The image of a pregnant woman wailing outside their company was a bad one, so Father Chen could only bring her back home again.

But the girl refused to say what had happened to her. She only repeatedly told Father Chen everything was because his side had won the duel against Liu Ningan, forcing her onto this desperate path. No matter what, Father Chen needed to let her be.

There was no way the Chen family could figure out what was going on. With no other choice, they could only try to calm the girl down first, then had Chen Siyu rush over to ask Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que to visit.

Upon hearing everything, Yu Zhengdu was confused too. Yet, he remembered that the demon priest Liu Ningan had hired previously was very powerful, so it wasn’t impossible he had saved a hand just in case. He didn’t dare to overlook this situation, so got in Chen Siyu’s car with Shang Que to make their way over to the Chen home.

At the Chen home, there really was a young, pregnant woman sitting in the living room crying. Father Chen and Chen Sijie stood to the side, watching her. They looked like they didn’t know what to do with themselves.

As soon as he saw them enter, Father Chen immediately heaved a sigh of relief. He hurriedly rushed over and greeted, “Mr. Shang, little Mr. Yu, you’ve finally arrived.”

The wailing girl saw that Father Chen was so respectful, so also looked up at the two of them. Her gaze was bewildered, as if she didn’t understand why Father Chen would find two youths at a time like this.

Yu Zhengdu greeted Father Chen, then walked around him to observe the girl.

The girl was extremely young. At most, she was probably only around twenty. Her appearance was quite clean; her long and straight black hair rested by her pointy chin, framing her face so that it appeared even narrower. She was tall and thin. There was almost no meat on her arms or legs. Only her stomach was large and swollen, making it appear as if she was moments from labor.

Yu Zhengdu strangely felt that there was something off about her stomach. It was as if there was a giant tumor growing on her waist. The proportions were all wrong.

Father Chen introduced, “This is Miss Gao Yun. She said she’s a victim of the lost duel……”

The girl named Gao Yun looked over. Her large eyes were swollen like walnuts. Her hands pushed against the sides of the sofa. She cried, “Mr. Chen, why did you find these two people? What use do they have? Go find the religious master who won the duel instead.”

Father Chen was about to explain, only to see Shang Que casually glance at her and nonchalantly say, “Spirit trapped in the belly.”

Gao Yun had originally meant to continue complaining, but upon hearing this, her eyes widened. Her hands resting against the sofa couldn’t stop trembling. Her voice quaked as she asked, “You, you……how did you know?”

The Chen family didn’t understand what he meant, but still could tell that Gao Yun’s reaction was unnatural. Father Chen immediately panicked. “What is that?”

Shang Que’s gaze fell on Gao Yun’s stomach. He lightly said, “There is an infant’s spirit trapped in her belly.”

The Chen family finally realized. Since Gao Yun had walked in their door till now, her hands had stayed by her sides; her stomach was so heavy, yet she hadn’t held it even once.