New Times, New Hell

Chapter 57 - The Desolate Luofeng Mountain

Luofeng’s garden party lasted all the way until the end of the Zhongyuan Festival. After Hai Shi on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar passed, the hundred ghosts returned to Hell and the Ghost Festival officially ended.

But in actuality, on the day of the Zhongyuan Festival, the garden party was filled with an overabundance of people.

First, several people’s interests were piqued due to all the pictures and related information posted and spread online by their friends. Later, Gao Duidui’s livestream and dramatic encounter with a ghost went viral. Not only did Gao Duidui’s livestream become instantly famous, it also caused several trending topics on Weibo.

As such, even outside of Fu City, netizens all across the country learned that there was an interesting, unique, and astonishing garden party. Consequently, starting on the morning of the second day, everyone who had time and could make it all rushed over to take a look. The most ridiculous were those who specially booked flights from out of town just to visit.

In the end, Luofeng really had no other choice. They could only limit the number of attendees to the garden party and also increase the number of employees……um, ghostly employees to maintain order.

The netizens who had specially rushed over to attend the garden party naturally felt upset about getting blocked outside, but they had nothing to complain about. People on the internet had long since uncovered all the specifics about this garden party——in honesty, this event shocked a lot of netizens. At first, people thought that a garden party on this scale and with such effects would most definitely be a commercial event organized by some corporate planning company. Some people even swore in their analyses that this was a professional theme park team and special effects team trying to make a name for themselves. But when the truth was revealed, it was actually an employee event organized by a local company in the developmental district.

What else could netizens say? Besides calling “father” with teary eyes, their only other choice was to vigorously cue the other theme park and special effects teams in the country to reveal themselves and get beat up.

Another thing was that after a lot of netizens clicked into the trending topics, they noticed, wasn’t this CEO and senior’s company?

CP fans went with the flow and cheered: CEO and senior are real! ……Though fans couldn’t say what the company’s garden party had to do with their relationship, that didn’t matter. They were real either way!

And then, Amazing Future’s official account and Shang Que gained another group of fans.

Of course, more people were shocked by the actual garden party itself. Several also strongly advocated for Luofeng to continue holding this garden party and turn it into an actual theme park, among other things.

But back to reality. Those netizens not allowed inside because of the limited number of guests could only be upset on their own. This was the company’s free, private event. It was already nice enough of them to open it up to the public. Limiting capacity was nothing. Even if they completely shut the event down and refused to allow any other attendees to enter, netizens wouldn’t be able to say anything.

But not all tourists were this mannerly. Some who were used to being unreasonable started making a fuss on the spot. They even caught the attention of the government body in the developmental district.

Speaking of, the developmental district had been added to the developmental plan now for several years. Aside from in the technology park, they hadn’t been able to attract any other big corporations at all. This was mainly because the location was too out of the way. Aside from those who worked here, normally nobody would visit for fun. The district had tried holding food festivals several times, but because these events were too common, they ultimately failed to increase popularity by much.

Who would’ve thought that a garden party hosted by one of the companies in the technology park would accidentally drive the flow of people in the developmental district through the roof.

Disregarding the promotional effects and consequences of the garden party and simply considering the current situation, safety had to be emphasized. In the end, the government body in the district decided to specially send a team over to help maintain order. Finally, they got those making a fuss under control.

These days, Amazing Future’s employees also became crowd favorites in their friend circles. Under the conditions where the garden party had limited its attendee capacity, meaning several people who wanted to get in couldn’t, Amazing Future’s employees could use their employee identification badges to bring in five other individuals who didn’t work at the company as they wished——consequently, all of their company’s employees, especially those programmers who weren’t good with social interaction, reached the pinnacle of their social life on this day.

During this time, some other ridiculous things also occurred. For example, after some people entered the garden party, they wanted to buy everything from all the vendors in the ghost market. Their actions caused other guests to protest greatly, even resulting in a small fight. In the end, after staff interrogated each of them, they found that these people were actually procurement merchants……

It turned out that after the garden party got onto the trending topics, several clever procurement merchants and scalpers noticed a business opportunity. They started posting online that they could help people out of town buy the products from the ghost market. The response to their posts was quite passionate.

Yu Zhengdu after learning of this news: ???????

He opened the shopping app on his phone and searched for “ghost market”…… As expected, several procurement merchants’ home pages popped up.

Yu Zhengdu: …………If there was anybody in the world faster than Hong Kong paparazzi, it would definitely be Taobao merchants!

He then looked at the popular products for procurement. These mainly included miniature coffins, porcelain cinerary urns, etc. It was easy to tell that netizens these days were pretty uninhibited.

Near the end of the Zhongyuan Festival, Luofeng’s employees started clearing the venue. Though several guests still hadn’t had enough fun and strongly advocated for an extension, Luofeng’s attitude was very resolute. The ghost market vendors and other staff simply packed up their equipment and left. Guests realized that this was an event organized for the company’s own employees. It was reasonable for them to stop running the event as soon as time was up. With no other choice, everyone could only leave as well.

Because of the kidnapping incident yesterday, Luofeng and the local government body placed a greater emphasis on safety. Though no one had actually ended up hurt, they still increased patrols around the garden party and nearby areas. As such, though there were a lot of people, after the two nights and one day the event lasted, things settled peacefully. This could be considered an example of a very successful large-scale event.

It took all the way until midnight for all the guests to leave and all the ghosts to disappear. The teams maintaining order left too. The garden party that had been bustling for an entire day now returned to its peaceful state. Lights dimmed and the large, impressive works of architecture disappeared into the darkness. Looking into the distance like this gave one a slight feeling that they were having a sudden hallucination.

The street lights blurred by fog gently swayed, making those buildings seem even more like they belonged to a different world.

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que stood nearby. They looked up at these scenes that usually only existed in books.

Yu Zhengdu lamented, “So the Underworld of the past looked like this. It’s quite interesting actually. I feel that I’m not very scared of dying anymore.”

“This was only a small part of the Underworld,” Shang Que said. “The Underworld was a vast area, just like the mortal world. It had its own mountains and canyons, lakes and rivers. It also had an abundance of unexplored lands. Only……”

He paused and didn’t continue speaking. But Yu Zhengdu already knew what he meant.

Only, those of the mortal realm would never get to see how these places looked anymore.

Just like those dynasties, tribes, cities, and legends that got overthrown and hidden in the long and tumultuous path of history. The deceased no longer existed. The living could only learn and guess at what they had been like through broken words and unfinished stories passed down generation to generation.

The Eight Underworld Mountain Views were only a corner of the Underworld. The Hundred Ghost Night Process also only represented things on a very small scale.

“Speaking of, I’m a bit curious,” Yu Zhengdu suddenly said.

Shang Que turned around to look at him. The confusion was evident in his eyes as he asked, “What?”

Yu Zhengdu gazed at the views faraway. Curiosity seeped into his voice. “Aren’t you the Ghost King of Luofeng Mountain? How come you recreated the Eight Underworld Mountain Views but not Luofeng Mountain?”

In honesty, Luofeng Mountain was also a famous mountain of the Underworld. Its fame in the mortal realm was much greater than the Eight Underworld Mountain Views. But strangely, as the Ghost King of Luofeng Mountain, Shang Que didn’t include even a single trace of Luofeng Mountain in this recreation.

After asking, Yu Zhengdu didn’t receive a reply from Shang Que for a long time. He couldn’t help turning over to glance at Shang Que, only to find that somehow, the other’s face was filled with rare bewilderment.

There seemed to be an indescribable emotion in those deep and black eyes.

Yu Zhengdu very tactfully realized that he had probably brought up something he shouldn’t have. He hurriedly added, “If it’s inconvenient, you don’t need to……”

“Do you want to see it?” Shang Que didn’t wait for him to finish speaking. He suddenly turned around to look at Yu Zhengdu. The emotion in his eyes had already been hidden away again. He once again looked completely unbothered. Upon seeing Yu Zhengdu blanking out, he repeated the question again, “Do you want to see Luofeng Mountain?”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” He suddenly didn’t know how to respond.

Thankfully, Shang Que didn’t make things difficult. He didn’t keep asking for his opinion, only lifting a hand and gently tapping the air. As his long, thin finger swished past, the lights all around them instantly went out.

Everything around them abruptly fell into endless darkness. In only an instant, Yu Zhengdu felt like he had been dropped into a thick and incredibly dense cloud. His surroundings were completely black. He couldn’t see anything, and also felt a sharp gust of cold wind blow past. The wind snuck into his collar and sleeves, causing him to shiver uncontrollably.

“Cold?” A hand suddenly appeared from beside him and grabbed his palm. That hand was large, the fingers narrow and long with distinct joints. It gently covered Yu Zhengdu’s hand. In an instant, that bone-piercing cold completely disappeared.

Yu Zhengdu’s heart immediately calmed down.

Soon after, he saw lights suddenly appear in the overbearing darkness. Those lights were very far away, almost as if they were shining from the end of the world.

“Those are spirit lights,” Shang Que said.

The spirit lights lit up one by one, slowly revealing a blurry shape.

Only to see that on the horizon, under the glow of the spirit lights, a vast mountain ridge had appeared. The ridge disappeared into the clouds, connecting the sky and earth. It was continuous; at first sight, no end could be seen.

“That’s Luofeng Mountain,” Shang Que’s voice was light.

“It’s so impressive,” Yu Zhengdu said. He honestly didn’t know what to say. That mountain was truly too far away and it was truly too dark. He could only see an enormous form and those flickering spirit lights. As for what was on that mountain, he couldn’t see that at all.

Those spirit lights floated above the mountain ridge, forming a long path, almost like an invisible procession was carrying them. They climbed up the winding mountain path slowly and with great difficulty, until they reached the middle of the mountainside.

Shortly after, the spot at the middle of the mountain became lit up too. Like the glow of fireflies amidst a dark sea, they slowly expanded. Eventually, they became a galaxy of stars.

The collection of lights finally chased away the thick darkness. At last, Yu Zhengdu could catch a glimpse of the scene on the mountainside.

Large city walls, continuous villages, moving horse carriages, and strangely shaped forms.

The spirit lights floated among them, using their faint glow to reveal the shape of the city. Yet, one still couldn’t see all the details.

“That’s the capital of Luofeng, the Ghost City.” Shang Que’s voice sounded like it was coming from far away. There was a hint of nostalgia in it. “Luofeng Mountain is located in a place surrounded by extreme Underworld energy. The mountain holds down a hundred thousand evil ghosts. A hundred thousand Underworld spirits live in the Ghost City……”

His lips suddenly curled up into a faint smile. “Since historic times, the best of the three realms all believed that Luofeng Mountain coalesced the strongest air of resentment between the heavens and earth. It would ultimately birth a calamity that could destroy everything.”

Somehow, when Yu Zhengdu heard this, he felt his heart drop. A thought flashed through his mind, but before he could make sense of it, he heard Shang Que continue, “Except, now it appears that the best of the three realms guessed wrong. The heavens and earth did not get destroyed by Luofeng Mountain’s resentment. Instead, the mountain itself couldn’t take it anymore and collapsed first.”

Ridicule could be heard in his tone.

But Yu Zhengdu couldn’t say anything.

He suddenly understood what that strange feeling hidden deep inside his heart was. Because a long time ago, while they were trying to save Peppa, they had had a big fight with the demon priest Jin Heguan.

Back then, Jin Heguan had once said something. “Luofeng Mountain already sank into the ground a thousand years ago. The Ghost King of Luofeng Mountain has long since……

Luofeng Mountain hadn’t disappeared with the heavens. Instead, it had sunk a thousand years ago.

But why?

And the Ghost King of Luofeng Mountain. He had long since what?

Yu Zhengdu wanted to ask, but didn’t know how to. He was a bit uncertain as to whether or not Shang Que wanted to hear this question.

“Hell right now is very nice.” A long time later, Yu Zhengdu finally spoke.

Shang Que stared straight at him. Confusion was present in his eyes, almost as if he didn’t understand why Yu Zhengdu was suddenly saying this.

Yu Zhengdu looked over too, faint amusement in his gaze. “Just like how the mortal realm will never stay in the past. No matter how strong or dazzling those dynasties recorded in history books were, we must still continue to walk forward. The Qin and Han were powerful, the Tang and Song were magnificent; these pieces of history are all impressive. For me though, I still like the current socialist society more, still like this era that has air conditioners, computers, and phones more……”

“I think that you’re very nice. The way things are right now is very nice.” Yu Zhengdu abruptly held up a fist and excitedly said, “Jiayou, Shang Xiaokui! Let’s work hard for the rise of a socialist Hell!”

Shang Que: “……”

“You’re right.” Shang Que suddenly laughed softly. He held up his right hand and gently tapped the air.

Yu Zhengdu stared in the direction of his hand, only to see that the large and vast mountain off in the distance had disappeared along with the spirit lights.

The thick darkness dissipated, revealing the realm they were currently located in: the street corner of Fu City’s developmental district.

It was currently the time in between night and dawn, when the sky was darkest.

Their surroundings were completely deserted. Only a faint wind blew past, carrying with it the sound of cloth fluttering.

The hazy street lights lit up this dark world, along with the scenery of the garden party nearby. It also lit up the eyes of the person beside him.

Shang Que casually waved an arm and those unbroken structures, the ghost market, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Rubbish Money Mountain, Bloodstained Pond, Evil Dog Village……one by one, bit by bit, they collapsed in the blink of an eye.

They turned into dust. They turned into fantasy.

Those mountains and cities were nothing but mirages.

The plaza was still the original plaza. The empty land was still the original empty land.

In this seemingly endless space, it seemed that such a grand event had never occurred. Those memories from mere moments ago appeared to only be from a magnificent dream.

“Ey, what a pity. Our company is too poor.” Yu Zhengdu stuffed both hands into his pockets and lamented, “Otherwise, we could buy a plot of land and hold the garden party every day. We’d make a fortune off entry tickets alone!”

Shang Que: “……”

Shang Que tried to hold himself back, but ultimately couldn’t. He bitterly said, “Just earlier you said that Hell right now is very nice. But now you’re disdainful at how poor our company is!”

“There’s no conflict with that,” Yu Zhengdu argued back logically. “Doesn’t this prove even more how responsible of an employee I am? Our company is so poor but I can still brag about it! Hurry and raise my wages!”

Shang Que: “……” He actually had nothing to refute!

Yu Zhengdu gazed as Shang Que who was so depressed he remained silent and couldn’t help the loud laughter that burst out. He patted the other’s shoulder and said, “I’m just kidding.”

Shang Que thought about it before seriously stating, “I’ll raise your salary tomorrow.”

Yu Zhengdu cocked an eyebrow, then very sensibly latched onto the other’s arm. “Boss, you really are a good person!”

Shang Que: !!!!

Why did I still get a good person card even after raising his wages!

The effects of the Ghost Festival garden party greatly exceeded Yu Zhengdu’s original expectations. If in the past they had gained some recognition among netizens because of Shang Que’s appearance, they had gone completely viral this time. As long as an individual spent time online, they had more or less heard of this extravaganza. This caused their product sales to increase tremendously as well.

But the most unexpected were the companies who sought them out for collaboration after the event.

The first were Zhao Ruola’s friends, also known as the high-level administrators of other large companies. Initially, Zhao Ruola had been confused. But after asking for the reason, she suddenly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

It turned out that after seeing the garden party amidst the trending topics, the employees of almost all other companies felt extremely envious and jealous. They started subtly hinting to their companies’ administrative departments that they hoped their own companies could put in a little more effort and hold a garden party on this level as well.

Following the unwavering popularity of Luofeng’s garden party online, these emotions started affecting everyone more and more. Rumors had even started that some employees at these companies had already secretly sent their resumes over to Amazing Future.

On one hand, the administrative departments of all these companies couldn’t deal with this phenomenon. On the other, they also truly did want to be able to host an event on such a scale.

But after closely examining the videos and information online, they all came to the same conclusion: their company wasn’t capable of this.

Just from the technological skill necessary for this garden party, money wasn’t enough of a solution.

The employees obviously could tell this simple principle too. But that didn’t stop the desire from itching at their hearts. Even if they couldn’t completely replicate the garden party, it would still be nice to have one or two highlights from it. For example, the ghost market was the centerpoint of everyone’s envy.

Small companies had the aspiration but no abilities. However, big companies had more money and placed more of an emphasis on humane concerns and workplace culture. In addition to the fact that this garden party truly did catch a lot of attention, even several high-level administrators at these companies felt a bit of inclination.

Thus, those that already had collaborations with Luofeng, along with Zhao Ruola’s previous colleagues, managed to take action first. They asked which event organization company had planned the event.

But who would’ve thought that after asking, the answer was that Luofeng had planned and executed this entirely by themselves. Everyone was shocked that Luofeng had this kind of technology. Additionally, though, they felt quite embarrassed. This was an event designed by the other company themselves. They definitely wouldn’t be able to buy it even if they had money.

Unexpectedly, after hearing her old friends’ inquiries, Zhao Ruola only smiled faintly and said, “No, you can buy it if you have money.”

Everyone: “……” This wasn’t the aura of the Zhao Ruola they knew!

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que who had also received Zhao Ruola’s message: “……”

Zhao Ruola noticed their silence and was extremely perplexed. “I feel that accepting the event planning jobs for other big companies’ internal events is a good opportunity. According to my previous work experience, the pay is fairly high. It can temporarily relieve the financial stress we’re experiencing right now. Or are there some taboos that prevent us from doing this?”

Yu Zhengdu: “……That’s not it.”

Shang Que: “……There aren’t.”

In outsiders’ eyes, the most difficult parts of this event were the special effects and props. For Luofeng, however, these were actually the simplest. They came with the ghosts. If Luofeng accepted these jobs, all they needed to do was hire another group of ghostly employees who looked strange.

What had shocked them was that Ms. Zhao, who had once been the number one female technological expert, had taken on the role of profiteer so quickly……

Obviously, this new vice president could already feel how poor their company was……and had also very conscientiously added herself into the lineup of people trying to come up with more ways for their company to earn money.

This truly caused onlookers to feel great grievance.

The second person who got in contact was Wei Xiao. As Luofeng’s earliest client, Wei Xiao had long since bought Luofeng’s entire product set. But this time, he was here to discuss a new collaboration——buying the IP for Luofeng’s Ghost Festival garden party. He intended to develop it into a game.

The company Double Horn Technology that Wei Xiao had founded was Fu City’s largest gaming company and had once developed several extraordinarily popular games——including some that Shang Que had been obsessed with. But following the rise of other gaming companies, in the past few years, the games Double Horn had released hadn’t caused the impact they desired. Currently, they were mainly relying on their older games and reputation to survive. Several of the company’s studios had failed to come up with plans that were eye catching enough. Wei Xiao couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious.

This time, he had unintentionally seen a video of Luofeng’s Ghost Festival garden party online. It gave him an impression of being out of this world. Unfortunately, on the two days of the Ghost Festival, he had been out of town so hadn’t been able to personally visit and experience it for himself. But even so, Wei Xiao quickly came up with this idea and immediately got in contact with Luofeng, saying that he wanted to work together.

Wei Xiao’s proposed collaboration received Shang Que’s great approval. It instantly passed.

Yu Zhengdu: ……He really wasn’t even the faintest bit surprised.

Ultimately, Yu Zhengdu still gave him a few suggestions. The collaboration would progress through authorized gainsharing. In other words, Luofeng would authorize Double Horn Technology to use the garden party IP without any upfront cost. But after the game’s release to the public, they would receive shares of the profits.

After Yu Zhengdu proposed this, Wei Xiao hesitated for a long time.

Such a collaboration would have benefits and drawbacks for both parties. In Luofeng’s case, if the game failed to be successfully developed, they would be unable to earn even a cent. But if the game became popular, they would be able to earn a continuous dividend.

For Double Horn Technology, this could lower a certain amount of risk. For example, if the game failed to be successfully developed, they would at least be able to skip out on the IP purchasing fee.

But Wei Xiao had personally come to discuss this collaboration. In actuality, this was exactly because he had high hopes for this IP. In his eyes, there was a very great chance that this game would be extremely successful. Thus, this gainsharing collaboration would be less beneficial for Double Horn.

In the end, though, Wei Xiao still agreed. On one hand, he was determined to get this IP. To do so, he needed to make the necessary sacrifices. On the other hand, this was naturally because he had a very clear idea of the prowess of this company. He definitely didn’t want to leave a bad impression because of a simple collaboration.

Most importantly, during the entire discussion, Yu Zhengdu hadn’t appeared willing to take a step back at all. Shang Que seemed more interested in the game than the collaboration. But the problem was, the whole time, his attitude seemed to say that he was willing to listen to whatever decision Yu Zhengdu made……which was very strange.

Both parties were straightforward people. After confirming the method of collaboration, they didn’t dwell too long on the other details, including the fact that Shang Que expressed a desire to personally participate in the development of the game. Wei Xiao very agreeably consented to this.

According to Wei Xiao’s thought process, Shang Que could be considered one of the people who understood this IP the most. It was extremely fortunate for Double Horn Technology that he was willing to spend time on the game development.

He just didn’t know why Yu Zhengdu was maintaining a strange smile during the entire contract signing process.

After they finished signing the contract, Yu Zhengdu shook hands with him and very politely said, “Boss Wei, I’ll have to ask you to be more forgiving in the future.”

Wei Xiao: “……???”

For a moment, he didn’t really understand the meaning behind Yu Zhengdu’s words.

Only to see Shang Que excitedly and impatiently bring up his first suggestion for the game. “I think this game can have a special soldier that has a 100% enemy kill-rate. Only one per server. As for the conditions to gain this character, I will design those……”

Wei Xiao: “……!!!!”

Is it too late to feel regretful now?

The author has something to say:

Wei Xiao: This product master’s profession has received a serious challenge today!