New Times, New Hell

Chapter 9 - The Ancient Well Reincarnation Point

Wei Xiao placed all his focus on his career when he was younger, so didn’t have his daughter until much later. Thus, he and his wife adored their precious daughter even more. But just so it happened, their baby daughter had poor health from an early age. Even after seeing many famous doctors, it did not get better. If she were only weak it would be manageable, but as his daughter eventually grew up and gained self awareness, he slowly realized that she would occasionally blank out or become dazed. Sometimes, this lasted over several days, and even the doctors couldn’t give any reasons either.

Wei Xiao was your classic STEM student; at first he didn’t even consider any unscientific causes. It wasn’t until the kid’s grandmother thought about it some more and inquired a religious man that Wei Xiao and his wife realized their daughter’s health problems possibly were greater than the typical weak immune system.

According to the religious man, Wei Mo’s problem was a natural deficiency and light eight characters, making it easy for her to bump into creatures of the Underworld. Temporarily losing her soul was nothing. The biggest worry was that one day she would run into a true demon, one difficult to get rid of, and her life would be in danger.

In the beginning, Wei Xiao still had his doubts, but after the kid’s grandmother brought back some anti-evil and protection items from the religious man, Wei Mo’s symptoms became a lot better. She even temporarily lost her soul less often, so he had no choice but to believe what the religious man said. But at the same time, he was even more distraught, because the religious man very clearly stated that the most important cause was Wei Mo’s eight characters. He could help relieve disasters and prevent evil, but could not solve the problem from its root. The religious man was getting old too, thus evidently could not protect Wei Mo for her whole life.

The events that happened today had Wei Xiao in a cold sweat. Even though he understood his daughter’s condition, the most severe thing that had happened previously was Wei Mo “losing” her soul for a couple of days. It was his first time witnessing this current situation of actually running into a ghost. Of course, Shang Que’s method of catching ghosts without abandon left an unforgettable impression on him.

He was even more polite as he led Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que back to the meeting room. The bright light in the meeting room allowed the terror and stifling feelings in his heart to slightly dissipate.

Wei Xiao exhaled, and, without even thinking about it, took out his checkbook and scribbled a line of 0’s, then handed it to Shang Que. “Mr. Shang, this is the gratitude fee for today.”

Shang Que crossed one leg over the other and glanced at Yu Zhengdu from the corner of his eye. He raised his chin in a haughty, bossy manner and said, “Get the money.”

As expected from someone who overly cares about their image……

Yu Zhengdu peeked at Boss. He didn’t have as many issues as his boss, so simply picked up the check and looked. After seeing the five 0’s in the number, he suddenly became excited. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about his annual wage as per their contract anymore. But after feeling excited for a bit, he started to hesitate.

Shang Que saw his dilemma and remembered what he said in the stairwell. He lowered his eyes and told Wei Xiao, “We aren’t accepting money for the situation with the child. You don’t need to give this much.”

Yu Zhengdu looked at his boss in surprise. He never expected that an Underworld capitalist would have so much awareness.

“I do, it’s necessary.” Wei Xiao was very stubborn. He paused for a moment and then finally shared his true purpose, “Actually, I have something else I need to ask of you two……”

***

When Hou Guangzong left the Double Horn building with Zhou Ke and the others, he finally exhaled out the dissatisfaction that had been trapped in his chest since morning. He could barely hide his pride as he took out his phone and updated his status.

【Hou Guangzong: First time in collaboration talks and got sent to an old company like Ox Factory; the other party was even their project manager. I was so nervous, but thankfully Director “Cho” was there to help. As expected, we successfully completed our assignment in the end.】

The one hour he spent distraught and stuck in the elevator hadn’t been publicized, so as soon as he updated his status, he immediately received several likes. The comments were filled with praise. No one wasn’t jealous that he got such fulfilling opportunity as an intern, especially since he got to interact with the executives of a large company. In comparison to a lot of students who were still doing legwork, his experience was something to only be dreamed about.

Hou Guangzong was even more pleased. Even the annoyance from Yu Zhengdu’s appearance vanished. He followed behind Zhou Ke and replied to comments as he got in the car, only to see an abundance of notifications from the class’s group chat.

Zhang Qingqing:【Oh my goodness, guess what I just saw!】

Zhu Yan:【Don’t keep us hanging, hurry and spill】

Zhang Qingqing:【Zhengdu just reached a collaboration with our company. Our big boss personally met with him】

Classmate A:【Really?】

Classmate B:&#k3010;Surprised.jpg&#k3011;

Classmate C:&#k3010;Pics or it didn’t happen&#k3011;

Zhang Qingqing:&#k3010;Honestly if I didn’t see it with my own two eyes I wouldn’t believe it either, but it just so happened that I (actually it was on purpose) passed by the boss’s office door and saw this scene&#k2026;&#k2026;&#k3011;

Zhang Qingqing:【Picture.jpg】

In the picture Zhang Qingqing uploaded, someone who was clearly Yu Zhengdu and a middle-aged man were both in frame. The middle-aged man had the aura of a successful person, and was politely shaking Yu Zhengdu’s hand.

Zhang Qingqing:【I’ll get to the important part. This is our big boss; I just saw him walk Zhengdu to the door, and overheard him telling Zhengdu something along the lines of “Money isn’t an issue. I’ll go visit your company another day. If possible, I hope we can be collaborators for a long time”】

Classmate A:【Is this for real? Didn’t you say before that it was really hard to see your big boss personally?】

Zhang Qingqing:【That’s what my seniors at the company told me. They all said that the big boss drowns himself in technology and doesn’t really personally meet with clients much anymore, unless they’re a technician with top-notch skills……】

Zhu Yan:【Wait! A technician with top-notch skills!】

Zhu Yan:【Watson, I think I may be getting it】

Classmate B:【Getting it, I think I’ve got it too!】

Classmate C:【Each student in our class is more impressive than the next. Is this really your big boss?】

Zhang Qingqing:【It really is. Guangzong saw him too when he came to our company today. @Hou GuangZong, right?】

Classmate A:【Oh right, and Guangzong just posted a status update of pictures with your executives】

Zhang Qingqing:【Not even. Guangzong got stuck in the elevator. If not for Zhengdu’s help, he would still be trapped inside, “hehe.”】

Hou Guangzong: ……

Hou Guangzong looked at all the classmates in the group chat who kept @’ing him to step up as a witness and Zhang Qingqing’s meaningful “hehe”. He was so pissed he almost deleted his status update.

Of course, quite a few people in the group chat @’d Yu Zhengdu to come claim the picture, but Yu Zhengdu didn’t even look at his phone, so naturally couldn’t respond to these messages.

What Zhang Qingqing said in the group about him and Wei Xiao reaching a collaboration was true, but of course, the topic of collaboration was just very different from what everyone was imagining.

Because of his daughter Wei Mo’s situation, Wei Xiao was asking for help from Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que. Yu Zhengdu took the chance to sell him their company’s product, a “health magnet”. It was the same as the one he had gifted Li Tiantian before. Technically it was nothing more than a normal pebble, but it was stamped with Luofeng’s company seal, which, according to Shang Que, was Hell’s official logo. If Wei Mo carried this stone that was recognized by Hell, normal demons and evil spirits would not dare to come close to her.

Wei Xiao really knew nothing about this health management company that was starting to seem more and more like a fake, but he had witnessed Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que’s abilities before. Not only did he buy the “health magnet” without hesitation, he also tried to set up a prolonged collaboration. Evidently, a simple stone was not enough for him to stop worrying over his daughter’s condition.

After leaving Double Horn Technology, Yu Zhengdu didn’t manage to catch a break. He and Shang Que still had unfinished business for this trip, and it was important business. While the class group chat was furiously gossiping about him, he and his boss had grabbed the group of runaway ghosts and were heading to Fu City’s Ancient Well reincarnation point.

During this period he had started to understand a bit of how the company worked. As the new age Hell, Luofeng didn’t own an entire world like it did in the past with the Underworld. Instead, it could only work in the mortal realm. Even the headquarters, Luofeng Management, were pitifully housed in the small office area of a technology park. Evidently, they had to simplify the reincarnation process as best as they could. At the moment, Luofeng had opened reincarnation points in all major cities in the country, doing their best to localize and simplify ghost reincarnation.

Fu City’s Ancient Well reincarnation point was the main reincarnation passageway for Fu City and its surrounding cities.

Fu City was one with a long history. Even though it had always placed an emphasis on the economy, the Old City district was still home to several places of interest. The former site of the Three Chambers of Commerce, located in the middle of the city at the Ancient Well district, was one of them.

In the beginning, the Three Chambers of Commerce was a partnership formed between merchants from three different provinces. These three groups of people pooled their funds and built an assembly hall that covered an enormous amount of space. Later on, times changed and the partnership ended, but the assembly hall was preserved because of its unique architecture. Even now, it remained a local attraction.

Aside from being a piece of architecture worthy of discussion, the most distinctive part of the Three Chambers’ Assembly Hall was the well inside the hall.

According to legend, the assembly hall was supposed to have 88 rooms, but something went wrong in the design. When they counted after construction was completed, they discovered there were only 87 rooms; the merchants from the three different provinces were furious at this. Luckily, among the craftsmen, there was an eccentric genius who proposed an idea. It turned out that the assembly hall had originally dug a well, but because of its geographic location, there was no water in the well, so they had planned to fill it in. The man suggested they tweak the design of the well and turn it into the 88th room.

Because of this wild idea, the ancient well became somewhat of a local legend. Later, when they were dividing the city into districts, they even named the district after the ancient well.

And the current Fu City’s Ancient Well reincarnation point was set exactly in the 88th room of the Three Chambers’ Assembly Hall——the ancient well。

It was a pity; though Yu Zhengdu had studied in Fu City for four years, he had never come to visit the Three Chambers’ Assembly Hall before. He had never imagined that his first time visiting would be under these circumstances.

Yu Zhengdu didn’t realize that you needed a ticket to enter the Three Chambers’ Assembly Hall until he was already standing in front of the entrance.

He and Shang Que stood there, staring at each other. Yu Zhengdu was a bit exasperated. “Boss, our company is already so poor. How come you chose to set our work location in a place that requires tickets.”

Shang Que momentarily remained silent too, before saying, “Normally if we need to enter, we wouldn’t need to pay.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” He almost forgot again, this company only had one human, him.

He calmly pulled out his student ID and handed it to the cashier. “One student ticket, thank you.”

The cashier smiled at the two handsome men, enthusiastically asking Shang Que, “Where’s your student ID?”

Yu Zhengdu’s heart hurt as he thought about the company’s lack of finances. “His ticket is full price.”

The two had just entered the assembly hall when a man wearing a small vest floated out of a room and rushed over to greet them.

Small vest was called Zhen Yi. He was the one in charge of the Ancient Well reincarnation point. Yu Zhengdu only now found out that their company had employees stationed at each reincarnation point. It seemed that the size of the company was a little larger than he originally thought.

As soon as Zhen Yi saw the line of escaped ghosts behind them, his heart settled and he immediately led Shang Que and Yu Zhengdu in the direction of the ancient well.

Every time Yu Zhengdu thought about the fact that he was almost going to witness the legendary process of samsara, he became uncontrollably excited and couldn’t help but ask Zhen Yi, “What’s the reincarnation point like? Is it like in the books, with a reincarnation platform and all that?”

Zhen Yi thought about it and said, “Well from its abilities, it’s about the same as the reincarnation platform.”

Yu Zhengdu’s entire being was bursting with excitement. During this period he had read a lot of material on the Underworld and Hell. Each book had written plenty on the six paths of reincarnation, but when it came to the actual process of reincarnating, they all had different things to say.

He didn’t imagine that he would get the opportunity to be the first living human to personally witness the truth of samsara so soon.

In Yu Zhengdu’s imagination, the cycle of samsara, which determined every living beings’ current and future lives, should be a large and magnificent process with lots of bright lights involved. It should allow one to see visions they wouldn’t normally have. At worst, it should at least be similar to TV dramas: a huge opening appearing in the middle of a void, as if it could swallow all ghosts and spirits alike.

Yu Zhengdu and his head full of overflowing fantasies followed Zhen Yi through a small door, and then paused as his entire being was hit with shock.

Outside the little door was a vast space; the famed ancient well was located in the corner of this space.

But what shocked him was the sight in front of him.

The Three Chambers’ Assembly Hall was not a popular attraction, and it was neither a holiday nor a weekend, so there were few tourists in the hall itself. Only the area surrounding the ancient well displayed a completely different and surprising scene in Yu Zhengdu’s eyes.

He saw that the space was organized similar to the lobby of a “certification” office, with rows and rows of chairs. Upon taking a closer look, he even noticed that some of the chairs were different from those of the mortal world, almost as if they were made of paper.

The chairs were filled with ghosts. There weren’t enough seats for all of them, so some were standing around the chairs. The entire area was full of clamor and filled to the brim.

The chairs were all facing the ancient well. Above the ancient well, an enormous digital screen floated, displaying how many lines were up ahead. Different numbers were linked to different lines on the screen, and each group of numbers was constantly changing. As soon as the number changed, a ghost would bid their farewells to those around them and step into the well.

All around the ancient well, uniformed ghosts were maintaining order.

When Yu Zhengdu arrived, he was just in time to see one of the numbers on the screen pause on the number “1198”. Moments later, a broadcast started. The voice was that of a friendly and sweet female, “Can client number 1198 please head over to the fourth passageway now to reincarnate.”

“Can client number 1198 please head over to the fourth passageway now to reincarnate.”

“Can client number 1198 please head over to the fourth passageway now to reincarnate.”

After broadcasting three times, still nobody showed up at that passageway. The number moved on and the female voice continued, “Can client number 1199 please head over to the fourth passageway now to reincarnate.”

Yu Zhengdu: = =

At this moment, an urgent voice shouted from behind him, “Excuse me, excuse me, I’m in a rush to reincarnate!”

Soon after, he felt a sudden chill run down his body, only to see that a ghost had just run through him, charging towards the ancient well. It yelled, “Wait a moment, I’m number 1198. I was just at home grabbing some sacrificial goods, I didn’t mean to be late——”

Zhen Yi reached a hand out to catch the ghost by the collar of his shirt and said, “They passed your number. You’ll be postponed three numbers before you can reincarnate.”

The ghost was holding a big bag of candles in the shape of “yuanbaos” in his arms. Upon hearing this he burst into tears with a “wah” and sat on the ground to cry. “I don’t want that. My reincarnation time was really good……”

Yu Zhengdu rolled his eyes at Zhen Yi.

About the same as the reincarnation platform my ass.