The boundless underworld had no sky – a dim, desolate expanse densely packed with newly deceased ghosts.

Many ghost officers maintained order, clanging as they stamped seals on the passing ghost souls. A light seal would shrink into the ghost’s soul form. Once a hundred were gathered, they would be led away by other ghost officers.

Zhao Zhongyu had merit on him, so when the stamp was pressed down, even the seal was different. There were a few like him, and they were faster than other ghosts – they didn’t need to gather a hundred, but rather ten in a row to be led away.

He didn’t know how long they walked, but the space gradually became more spacious. There were fewer ghosts walking on the road, and buildings even appeared in the distance.

There were thatched huts, earthen houses, and brick-tiled houses. The further toward the central area they went, the more exquisite the houses became. Zhao Zhongyu could even see palace-style buildings, but it was very… strange – just a single solitary one.

Palaces weren’t they always built in clusters?

Walking in bewildered, passing through the city walls, they reached the other side. In just a flash before their eyes, they appeared in a great hall.

Sharp screams and sorrowful wailing exploded together in their ears. All the ghosts shuddered, looking forward uncertainly.

They saw in the spacious great hall, ghost officers holding chains locked around several ghosts were about to jump into a circular opening. Those ghosts absolutely refused, wailing and howling.

The ghost officer flew into a rage, whipping them while shouting angrily: “You dare to resist? Go down two more levels of hell. If you dare make trouble again, I’ll send you to the Steamer Hell.”

Zhao Zhongyu’s ghost face paled, and he exchanged glances with the other ghosts who had been brought along, all feeling somewhat uneasy.

The ghost officer who led them here said: “No need to worry. This is the Yanluo Hall – not just anyone can come here. Aside from those with great evil, only you who possess deep great merit can come.”

Zhao Zhongyu then asked carefully: “Then those ghosts earlier…”

“They’re all wrongly dead living souls – no great good, and no great evil. After registering their death dates, creating records, they can disperse and wait to cross the Naihe Bridge to reincarnate.”

While those like Zhao Zhongyu had to pass through Yanluo Hall and verify their merit before being released into the city.

Unlike those who could only fumble about on their own, after being questioned in Yanluo Hall, Zhao Zhongyu and his group would be directly sent into the city.

Because, “Ghosts like you will receive worship from the mortal realm, and thick worship at that.”

The so-called worship naturally wasn’t just the five sacrificial animals and money, but also some things that even ghost officers were unwilling to speak of, such as merit, prestige, and such.

These things traveling from the mortal realm to the underworld required handling fees and taxes.

The ghost officers’ cultivation and living capital all came from extracting from these, so naturally they needed to be polite to them.

After Yanluo Hall, Zhao Zhongyu even had one-on-one ghost officer service.

This ghost officer was plump, with a face full of smiles, gentle and friendly in manner. After Zhao Zhongyu examined him, he hesitated: “Sir, you look somewhat familiar…”

Hearing this, the ghost officer was delighted and quickly bowed in courtesy: “I dare not accept Lord Zhao’s honorific title. I am merely a minor ghost officer of the underworld.”

He smiled and said: “My ancestral home is Yuzhou, Runan, Pingyu, of the Yu clan.”

Zhao Zhongyu: “…Yu Jixiang is?”

“My third younger brother. I am second in my family, named Zhongji.”

Oh, no wonder he looked so familiar.

Yu Sanlang played well with Zhao Hu. The two had been competing since their youth, for decades without stopping. In the years before his death, he had even heard that Zhao Hu used Zhao Hanzhang’s glass to trick Yu Sanlang.

Yu Sanlang ran to settle accounts with Zhao Hu for this and nearly ran into Shi Lei’s rebel army on the road. In his panicked escape, he fell from his carriage. He heard that he lay at home for half a year before recovering. Because of this matter, the Yu family even brought the lawsuit to his office.

Zhao Zhongyu thought for a good while before remembering: “You’ve been dead for many years, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” Yu Official had a wistful expression, then smiled and said: “Dead for almost thirty years. I really didn’t expect to see so many familiar faces in the underworld.”

Yu Zhongji told Zhao Zhongyu that originally after he died, he should have gone to queue to drink Meng Po’s soup and cross Naihe Bridge to reincarnate, but just when it was almost his turn, the mortal realm suddenly had massive deaths.

After dying, they had to come to the underworld. The underworld had its own reincarnation mechanism. Those with relatively high merit could prioritize choosing when to reincarnate. With so many people dying at once, among them were no shortage of those with great merit.

Thus, Yu Zhongji’s ranking moved back again. Seeing this, he simply gave up on reincarnation and went to apply to be a ghost officer.

Recently, because too many people were dying, the underworld didn’t have enough ghost officers, so Yanluo Hall expanded its recruitment.

“My original intention was to work as a ghost officer for ten or twenty years, accumulate some capital, so that in my next life I could continue to be reborn into a good family.”

Having all been human, everyone knew the importance of reincarnation.

Yu Zhongji had no great good and no great evil in life, belonging to the category of neither merit nor fault. If he reincarnated again, there was a high probability he would be born into an ordinary family.

Ordinary people had it too hard, so he wanted to work in the underworld for a few years, earn some capital, then have himself reborn into a good family.

Yu Zhongji very quickly felt fortunate about his choice, because, “Who knew, starting from nineteen years ago, the mortal realm began having massive deaths, more each year, yet those reincarnating decreased year by year.”

“These past few years especially. Oh right, two years ago, in a single day the underworld received over two hundred thousand wrongly dead living souls. Upon investigation, they all died from war and starvation. Fortunately I didn’t reincarnate then, otherwise in my prime years, if I didn’t starve to death, I would have been drafted into military service, and ended up dying wrongly anyway.”

Zhao Zhongyu fell silent.

Yu Zhongji glanced at him and said: “You don’t need to say – we can tell from the state and number of ghosts coming down to the underworld that the mortal realm must be at war again. These past few months, we’ve had to receive massive numbers of ghosts daily, all dying in miserable states.”

Zhao Zhongyu pursed his lips and asked: “So all those ghost souls I saw earlier just died recently?”

“Yes, they died around the same time as you. After registration and record-keeping, they’ll be dispersed to other places to avoid congestion.”

Zhao Zhongyu: “When can they reincarnate?”

“Don’t know,” Yu Zhongji said: “They probably won’t even make it to reincarnation – they’ll starve to death first.”

Zhao Zhongyu widened his eyes in disbelief: “Ghosts can starve to death too?”

“Of course ghosts can starve to death,” Yu Zhongji laughed heartily: “Though ghosts aren’t like people who need three meals a day, to survive in this underworld, they also need to eat. Otherwise they’ll gradually waste away and finally die, becoming nie – though still existing between heaven and earth, they’re like dust in this world.”

He lightly raised his finger, gently sweeping through the air, chuckling: “One wave and gone.”

Zhao Zhongyu’s heart tightened.

Yu Zhongji smiled: “Of course, sir, you definitely won’t become such a ghost.”

He moved closer to Zhao Zhongyu, took a deep breath, and said rapturously: “Sir, you have great merit on you. This merit is saturated with the scent of incense. This shows that many people in the mortal realm, important people, are worshipping you. With this worship, you cannot become nie.”

Zhao Zhongyu’s expression changed slightly as he retreated two steps, distancing himself from Yu Zhongji.

Yu Zhongji smiled and was about to reassure him when he heard a cold snort.

Following the sound, he looked up, his expression changing. He immediately became much more restrained, lowering his head: “Lord Zhao!”

Zhao Zhongyu turned to look, stunned: “Elder brother…”

Zhao Changyu looked at him with disappointment and anger, then lightly glanced at Yu Zhongji. Just a minor ghost officer – when alive he only managed to be a registrar. You were at least a Minister – why fear him?

Words of rebuke rolled on his tongue. Not knowing what he thought of, Zhao Changyu ultimately swallowed his words without speaking, only his expression wasn’t very pleasant. He said in a deep voice: “Follow me.”