Chapter 1: Strange Phenomena in the Netherworld

  Rain, autumn rain, has been falling all night.

  A dull and depressing tune was being played with a monotonous drone.

  A gloomy haze fills the sky, cold winds blow like ice. In such a desolate land, people's hearts are uneasy. There is always a dark aura rising from the cracks in the ground, eerie and frightening sounds pierce through the air, and stargazers at night can see layers of ghostly shadows.

  Autumn rain, people struggling in pain!

  Lying on the sickbed in front of the window, Lan Jingqiu smiled wryly, listening to the tedious sound of the rain. This illness had been tormenting his thin body for a long time, and it seemed that only now was the demon of disease thinking of taking its leave.

  Life will come to an end, and he won't feel regretful or resentful about it. On the contrary, he smiled, a difficult smile, which is perhaps what people call "being freed".

  At dawn, or perhaps even earlier, he finally felt that his body was no longer in so much pain, and his entire soul slowly left the poor body and floated into the air above the house. In fact, he had already begun to lose consciousness.

  Everything in front of him also became bright because the soul left the body. There were two people - to be exact, he couldn't say for sure if they were human or not, precisely because they were called "people", that was what these two looked like.

  The newcomer was dressed in a unique attire, wearing a tall hat, and draped in a long gown with alternating white and black colors. He looked ugly beyond compare, his face devoid of emotions as he coldly laughed at him.

  "Are you the legendary 'Hei Bai Wu Chang'? Have you come to take me to the underworld?"

  He looked at the comer and asked, hoping the other would answer.

  But these two human-like things remained silent, directly pulling him forward and then turning around and walking out of the house.

  He didn't struggle or resist, his soul followed "Hei Bai Wu Chang" out of this simple, dirty and musty room.

  As he walked outside, all he felt was the freshness of the air. For two years now, since his children had callously "abandoned" this frail body tormented by illness in this dark room that seemed like hell, all he had sensed was the stench of mold and feces.

  Three people floated in the air for a long time, finally floating to the edge of a bridge. At the head of the bridge stood a stone monument, which had turned black due to the passage of time, but the three characters "Naihe Bridge" were still faintly visible. Although this place was shrouded in mist and darkness with a sharp wind and dense ghostly shadows, there were many shops along the bridge, just like on a street. However, inside the shops, there were no goods for sale, only several bowls placed on a table, accompanied by a large earthenware jar.

  "Sir, come and have some soup! Our family's soup is the most authentic, not a single bit of fake stuff." A dark and skinny old woman with only bones visible rushed out from the shop, her two dry and chicken-like hands tightly grasping him. The old woman had sparse hair that often reached her shoulders, sunken eyes, dry and purple lips, revealing sharp and pointed long teeth like the gaps in the Great Wall. If this person were to walk among humans, she would surely scare many people to death.

  "Come to my house instead!" More ghosts like that old woman selling Meng Po soup ran out.

  Everyone pulled him from different directions like they were fighting for business, just like a brutal punishment of being torn apart by five horses.

  "Alright," he said, "I'll go see her!"

  He saw an old woman, who was probably too old to come forward and grab business, just staring at him foolishly. He thought it was necessary to take care of this poor old man. Although he didn't think about helping anyone before he got sick, even for money he would stop at nothing, and in a few years many people jumped off buildings or took poison, while he became a rich man from almost a beggar, a business giant. Living a luxurious life, spending money like dirt, but recently two years of serious illness, his relatives and children fought over property, and threw him into a simple hut like trash.

  He then lived a life of hardship again.

  The old lady saw him taking care of his own business and was overjoyed, hastily getting up to greet him with a bowl of some colored soup.

  "Drink it, and you will forget the suffering of your past life. Only then can you truly be free," said the old woman.

  "What? So I'm really dead?" He was astonished and carefully examined the old woman in front of him.

  The old lady nodded and said, "Alright then."

  He smiled wryly and said, "That's okay."

  However, it seemed to have thought of something and asked: "I heard that when people die, they need to cross the Naihe Bridge. There is an old woman named Meng Po on the bridge, and everyone who crosses the bridge must drink her soup and forget everything before their death. Why do I see many people setting up stalls here?"

  The old woman nodded, turned her head around in a circle, and then said: "In the past, I was alone here serving soup to people. Some kind-hearted people would give me some money, so after a long time, drinking soup and giving money became a habit. But unexpectedly, someone thought this was a good business opportunity and didn't like that I had a monopoly on it. The King of Hell and the judges in charge of the underworld built shops next to Naihe Bridge, and their relatives and friends asked to start selling soup here too. As a result, Naihe Bridge became this bustling scene."

  "So that's how it is! The ghosts in hell are also doing business, and the competition is fierce." He nodded, understanding why people called the souls in the underworld "ghosts", these ghosts were actually spirits.

  He looked around and found that the houses here were neat and tidy, just as the old woman had said. The legendary desolate Naihe Bridge was now bustling with people.

  As he walked onto the bridge, he felt a sense of relief in his heart. After drinking Meng Po's soup, he believed that he had truly been freed and would no longer be tormented by guilt over the many evils he had committed during his lifetime. He would forget all the kindnesses and grievances of his past life, forget his own evil deeds, and perhaps have the chance to become a good person in his next life.

  But as he just walked down the bridge, he recognized a person, someone who had been killed by him before, and this person was driving a luxury car.

  "Lan Jingqiu, haha, you're here too? I didn't expect it. You killed me not long ago. You've also come to hell, huh? Why do you smell like urine all over your body? What happened, were you paralyzed and left unattended in life?" The man stopped his cart and shouted at him.

  He furrowed his brow, not because of the other's sarcastic words, but because he was very puzzled in his heart. Hadn't he already drunk Meng Po's soup? He had been thinking about this question and hadn't responded to the other person's greeting.

  It turned out that this old woman was also dishonest and her soup was adulterated. He smiled wryly, turned his head to look at the old woman again.

  The old woman seemed to have noticed his confusion, so she smiled and stood on the other side of the bridge, saying loudly: "If you want to really drink the soup and forget your past life, drinking one bowl is not enough. You need to take a course of treatment, and each time you have to pay."

  He no longer believed and didn't want to drink Meng Po's soup. He turned back to the person who had called out to him, saying: "You still remember me? This car is pretty good."

  "Is that so? My daughter burned for me in this underworld, to live a life like the mortal world, one still needs to have money from relatives. Otherwise, look at those people." The man pointed to the ghostly shadows swaying not far ahead and said, "They are homeless! In this underworld, money is also needed, hurry up and report to King Yan!"

  "My son will also burn down a villa for me." He forced a smile, but in fact he was already afraid. From the recent struggles and attitudes of his children towards him, he felt that he would be like those homeless ghosts drifting around, his thin body tortured by the howling wind in hell, they had no way out because without money they couldn't find a place to settle down, although there were many houses in this underworld.

  That man smiled and shook his head, saying "Really?" Then the driver sped away.

  He stared blankly in the direction where the sedan had disappeared, with a vast darkness ahead.

  He knew clearly in his heart what his children would do after he died, and maybe they had already done so. It was said that the eldest son and the youngest daughter had long been at odds with each other over property disputes. In short, how could they care about him?

  He shook his head and smiled wryly, the smile so forced and bitter. Perhaps this was the retribution for all the evil he had done in his lifetime, he thought.

  "Let's go," Hei Wuchang said somewhat impatiently, staring at him, this being the first thing he had said since seeing Lan Jingqiu.

  "My name is Lan Jingqiu, Chairman of the Lan Group. I used to be very wealthy, as long as..." He turned around and said to these two black-and-white impermanences, hoping that they could show some respect for him and not rush him so coarsely. Must ghosts really rush about like this?"

  "Stop nagging," Bai Wuchang finally spoke up, seemingly only having the guts to speak after arriving in the underworld, and his voice wasn't soft either.

  "You're rich! Well, that's a thing of the past," Hei Wu Chang sneered, "Now you have nothing, just like us. Maybe I'm even better off than you, at least we have jobs and can earn a salary."

  Lan Jingqiu listened and smiled bitterly again. He thought that what Hei Bai Wuchang said was right, he was now very miserable. These two ghostly messengers were indeed much better off than him, at least they wouldn't be homeless.

  He continued walking forward, and all he saw along the way were rows of houses and a sea of cars.

  Hell and the mortal world seem to be about the same, with shops and houses, only slightly shorter than those in the mortal world. The streets are lined with many cars, some of which have become old and worn out. However, the space is still as gloomy and dark as ever, with almost no daylight.

  Everywhere was shrouded in black smoke, the desolate hell was filled with wailing ghosts and gods. One by one, pale and indifferent faces floated past Lan Jing's body.

  "There are no inns on the road to the Yellow Springs! Who said that? What a ridiculous statement, these buildings all have facades!"

  He looked around at everything in the legendary underworld, his heart growing even more desolate.

  Finally arrived at the destination, the underworld that everyone in Yangjian feared, and after walking for another mile, I arrived at Yanwang Temple.

  This is the Yama Temple at the end of the Nether Street, a tall building like a Western church, with black air surrounding it, but still with carved beams and painted buildings, so it looks both gloomy and solemn. In the middle are two huge black lacquer doors, on either side of which stand Ox Head and Horse Face, each holding a long spear in their hands.

  At the entrance, there were all sorts of things scattered around, including a TV set, an electric refrigerator, and even a mahjong table. All these were brought from the world of the living; the underworld wouldn't produce them itself, nor would it need to, for whatever was lacking, the world of the living would naturally provide.

  At this time, the large black lacquer door opened, and an old woman with a worn-out appearance walked out, as if she had already reported to Yan Wang and even received a favorable verdict. She smiled and walked out, found her TV and a flower sedan chair, politely nodded to Lan Jingqiu, and left.

  Lan Jing stood at the gate, but her heart was racing. Before she died, she saw on TV how actors playing Yan Wang were ugly and cruel, sitting upright in front of the desk in the underworld government office, shouting loudly, and also saw many little ghosts being dealt with by various punishments.

  The gloomy and majestic Yama Temple, like a bustling government office in the mortal world, was filled with people coming and going. Everyone walked in dejectedly, but came out happily holding something that looked like a notebook, then stopped at the entrance to check their belongings.

  "Go ahead," said Hei Wuchang, and gave him a hard push.

  Lan Jingqiu smiled wryly and walked in slowly with an extremely frightened look.

  At this time, there were still many people in the hall, everyone was arguing, some loudly shouting that they wanted to go to heaven, and everyone raised their hands, like tourists squeezing to buy tickets at a train station ticket window.

  Lan Jing saw the situation and was puzzled. He wondered why the Great Hall of Yama wasn't as gloomy and dark as described in "Journey to the West", but instead was quite lively, and not like what people said about Yama judging newcomers, but rather the scene before him was almost identical to many scenes he had seen on earth, including when he was recruiting personnel at his company.

  He wanted to go forward and ask someone, just as he took two steps forward, another young man walked in. He turned his head to look at the young man, found him somewhat familiar, so he turned around and looked carefully.

  The young man wore a white brand-name suit, which was now somewhat dirty, with golden hair dyed on his head, and the back of his head still had the English word "OK" dyed in purple.

  He also saw Lan Jingqiu.

  "Uncle Lan?" The young man suddenly shouted out. He seemed to know Lan Jingqiu.

  "I see you look somewhat familiar, just... sorry... who are you?" Lan Jingqiu stuttered, knowing that when someone else can call out your name but you can't recall who they are, it's not only embarrassing for them but also rude to yourself.

  But Lan Jingqiu really didn't know him.

  "Don't you remember me? I'm Huo Jucai. Although I don't like this name, I still have to tell you." the young man said.

  "Amassing wealth?" Lan Jing's eyes narrowed slightly as she asked, "Oh, you're the young son of He Bai Sui. You're so young, what brings you here?"

  Young Huo Jucai let out a sigh and took a step forward, saying: "It's just a car accident, look, there's still a branch stuck in his chest." As he spoke, he swayed back and forth, and indeed, on his chest was lodged a not-too-long branch, which must have been the result of crashing into a large tree while driving.

  "Did you crash into a tree?" Lan Jingqiu asked him.

  He nodded and was about to open his mouth to speak when he heard someone shouting loudly: Yan Wang has arrived!