But Qin Shaoqing was no longer the man he used to be. He kicked open Fang Zhiyi's door without hesitation, but the next moment, he slipped inside and shut it behind him, leaving a group of vengeful spirits outside utterly bewildered.
Qin Shaoqing had even planned to mock Fang Zhiyi when he arrived, but now it seemed unnecessary, because there was no trace of Fang Zhiyi in the room.
Yet he remembered Liu Xiaohua saying that Fang Zhiyi had never come out, and Liu Xiaohua wasn't around today either—she had been hurriedly taken away by Liu Sandao, for reasons unknown.
Qin Shaoqing suddenly felt a pang of panic. Had Fang Zhiyi gone missing? A sudden noise put him on guard. He circled around to the other side of the desk and froze. He recognized the figure before him, a jumble of nearly dismantled parts. Next to this writhing Underworld Inspector lay a bell.
Qin Shaoqing picked up the bell, staring thoughtfully at Inspector Hu, who was still struggling.
When he stepped out of the room, he issued a long list of work orders to the vengeful spirits outside. Once they were all sent off, he turned and contacted Big A.
He chose to keep Fang Zhiyi's disappearance a secret. He knew that without Fang Zhiyi's authority, the company’s demonic workforce might stage a rebellion.
"You sure had a good time!" Little Black complained bitterly. "You almost got me caught too!"
Fang Zhiyi scratched his head. "Ah, I lost focus for a moment... It felt like being drugged, you know?"
"Shut up! If I hadn't taken control of that Underworld Inspector and snatched the Sovereign's artifact, you'd be dead by now! That thing is already chasing us!"
"Alright, alright, enough. I'll be more careful next time!" Fang Zhiyi said with a placating smile. "By the way, I've got a question... Liu Xiaohua..."
Little Black knew him all too well and snorted haughtily. "Liu Xiaohua's great-great-grandfather is Liu Sandao! I fixed him up as a favor."
"Tch, then no worries. But it's probably going to be tough on the male lead..."
"He is the male lead, after all. And it seems Liu Xiaohua has become the new female lead," Little Black added.
"That's fine. I just hope that thick-headed guy understands what I'm trying to do," Fang Zhiyi suddenly chuckled.
Little Black asked, puzzled, "What are you trying to do? Isn't it just running rampant?"
"See? You're too superficial."
Big A captured Inspector Hu and recovered the Heartbreak Bell. Not long after, he was appointed by the Netherworld Sovereign as the new Underworld Inspector.
This step put Qin Shaoqing somewhat at ease. Every day, he pretended Fang Zhiyi was still in the company, often holing up in that dark room, staring blankly. At first, he thought Fang Zhiyi had just snuck out for fun, but after several days, Fang Zhiyi remained missing without a trace.
He forced himself to think about the situation, to imagine what Fang Zhiyi would do.
Keep expanding Dongshan Group?
That seemed like something the guy would do. Nowadays, people jokingly called Dongshan Group the real underworld.
But Qin Shaoqing felt Fang Zhiyi wasn't that shallow. Arrogant as he was, he wasn't stupid.
Qin Shaoqing lay back in the chair, eyes fixed emptily on the ceiling. Suddenly, he sat bolt upright, eyes wide.
"I guess the one reading this is a fool trying to get smarter."
Qin Shaoqing felt a surge of frustration. The ghosts would never look up at the ceiling! Fang Zhiqing was clearly mocking him!
But when he climbed onto the desk to peer at those tiny words, his expression turned increasingly strange.
People now said Dongshan Group had gone mad. With Big A backing it, Dongshan Group's reach extended further than ever. Even the number of vengeful spirits it employed rivaled the count of ghost officials.
This worried some Taoist masters, partly because Fang Zhiyi hadn't been seen for a long time, and partly because the company had grown so vast that some spirits were becoming unruly.
But just when everyone thought Dongshan Group had reached its peak, it suddenly flipped the table.
Dongshan Group's move was abrupt yet logical.
Large numbers of souls lingered in the human world; ghost officials went on strike; judges abandoned their posts; and many functional departments under the Underworld simply stopped working.
Qin Shaoqing led a horde of vengeful spirits charging into the Underworld, unopposed all the way. After all, this so-called Underworld had long been riddled with holes by Fang Zhiyi's Dongshan Group. But the deeper he went, the more shocked Qin Shaoqing became. He hadn't realized that Fang Zhiyi had secretly arranged everything long ago. On the surface, there was only Big A, but in reality, nearly half of the Underworld's key officials were on their side.
When the reclusive Netherworld Sovereign received the news, he found himself surrounded by eight Underworld Inspectors and over a hundred judges.
The revolution in the Underworld had barely begun before it tilted decisively in one direction. Qin Shaoqing, who had braced himself for a big battle, felt a bit deflated—like a thief sneaking a taste of Fang Zhiyi's hard-won fruit.
"I'm not you after all..." Qin Shaoqing muttered to the sky, then laughed bitterly. "Damn bastard, you're really hard to read."
The ruler who had governed the Underworld for over a thousand years was overthrown. In their place, the righteous ghosts of old Taoist masters took over key positions.
Watching the spirits celebrate, Qin Shaoqing knew that soon, Dongshan Group would also fade away.
He was sure this was the outcome Fang Zhiyi had wanted. Once the Underworld's functions were rebuilt, Dongshan Group would have no reason to exist. Otherwise, one day, these vengeful spirits would stir up trouble again.
In a mental hospital, a woman muttered endlessly about "systems" and "Gong Yu." Her gaze was vacant, and from time to time, she let out a shrill laugh that sounded like weeping.
Gong Yu's charred remains were carefully stored away for future research.
Li Chenxue, still desperately trying to one-up Qin Shaoqing, was horrified to discover that her yin-yang eyes had vanished. She could no longer see ghosts. Even more unbearable was the fact that the once-low-key Taoist masters had completely changed their ways, frequently appearing in public.
Watching on TV as a girl stood beside her own senior brother, Li Chenxue clenched her teeth. That should have been her place!
A seed of jealousy took root in her heart, but no matter what she did, she could no longer keep up with Qin Shaoqing. Stripped of her heroine halo, she was gradually fading into the background.
She was destined to become an ordinary person, carrying her envy through the rest of her life.
Decades later, Qin Shaoqing closed his eyes after a lifetime of working for both the human and spirit worlds. Reflecting on everything, he felt his life had been fulfilling.
The Underworld had abandoned the old system upheld by the Netherworld Sovereign. Now, the spirit realm was developing rapidly—high-rises, cars, and smartphones had become commonplace. Oversight of ghost officials had also been tightened. The next step should be an automated soul registration system... But alas, there wasn't enough time.
"Finally, I can rest."
"President Qin? President Qin?"
Qin Shaoqing opened his eyes impatiently and saw two flamboyantly dressed underworld messengers. One of them was even wearing earphones.
"Heh heh, Chief Qin, you've finally kicked the bucket?"
"Hey! How dare you speak to me like that..."
"No, no, Chief Qin, don't be mad. Your master specifically told us to bring you down the moment you passed. You're to take the seat of this term's Council Speaker."
Qin Shaoqing was stunned, and a headache hit him hard. How could he have forgotten about this? When other people died, that was it—finished. But for him, death just meant more work!
"By the way, Elder Feng said that this was something specially arranged back in the day by old Chief Fang Zhiyi."
"Fang Zhiyi!!! You absolute despicable bstard!!!"
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
