Chapter 128: The First Underworld Construction Industry Summit (Part I)

Not long after, the thousand or so figures from the real estate industry arrived behind the grand hall, trembling with fear as they looked at the stern, imposing statues on both sides. Qin Ye glanced over and saw that almost everyone had been soaked to the bone by the rain, and their ghostly aura had visibly weakened a great deal.

They were not human, but they were still living spirits. Probably no living spirit enjoyed standing in the rain.

"The Underworld has just been established; our manpower, financial resources, and scale are all limited, so everyone will just have to bear with it for now," he said flatly. "This grand hall is called the Ghost Gate Pass, and it covers a vast area. This is the main hall, and those are the side halls on either side. To show our sincerity and solemnity, we will hold the meeting in the side hall."

Sitting on rush cushions right at the feet of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva would be far too shabby anyway.

He had also inspected the side hall. Although the facilities were simple, they were not bad. The important thing was... it actually looked quite a bit like a meeting room, complete with more than enough tables and chairs...

No one spoke idly. Gao Dahao's cautionary example was still fresh in their minds, and the crowd of over a thousand people obediently followed Qin Ye to the entrance of the side hall. Qin Ye swept his gaze over them. "There are rather a lot of you. Who has done clerical work? Raise your hands if you have more than three years of experience."

Dozens of hands went up.

"You, you, and you..." Qin Ye casually traced a circle. "The three of you will act as recorders later."

"Now, department managers, division heads, and anyone who has held positions above those, step forward."

This time, far fewer hands were raised—only seven.

That was enough... Qin Ye was quite satisfied. Too many people would only lead to chaos. The Underworld was still just a small village and could not withstand too much turbulence.

"Alright, those whose names were just called, come with me." Qin Ye pushed open the heavy doors and walked in first, with the others following closely behind.

This was the left side hall. It was very large, roughly the size of a football field. The interior was completely bare and unadorned, save for a massive fifty-meter round table and a mountain of chairs piled up against one side.

There were no desks, no loungers, no landscape paintings. Oh, and a few hundred palace lanterns were floating near the ceiling. However, there were no candles in them.

"It's a bit crude; everyone, please bear with it," Qin Ye felt his face burning with embarrassment. Crude? This was practically a massive shanty town!

In a normal scenario, when an Yama convened his first industry assembly, it should look something like this:

First, one would grasp the gold-inlaid beast-head door rings, push open the vermillion-lacquered, gold-studded doors, and inside would be a group of beautiful female ghosts bowing in greeting—girls named Ba, Bing, Yan, and so on.

A uniform sea of fluttering long sleeves and fairy-like ancient attire, or a uniform sea of form-fitting qipao.

They would be holding fragrant tea and fruit platters, both specialties of the Underworld. On the rostrum, the Five-Star Red Flag would stand on one side, while a flag unique to the Underworld stood on the other, with an oversized portrait of oneself right in the middle. A row of dark tables and chairs would be neatly arranged in the front, facing tiered audience seating below.

As they took the stage, the elite ghostly professionals in the audience would burst into thunderous applause, with joss paper fluttering through the air... Wait... why was this starting to look more and more like a mourning hall? Had his aesthetic sense been led astray?

In short, it was definitely not this dead-silent, ice-cold, tea-less mess of a bird's nest.

Oh, no.

There wasn't even any tea.

"Take a seat," he forced himself to summon his spirit, waved his hand, and maintained the smile of a superior as he motioned for everyone to sit down.

If even he showed discouragement, how could he expect others to rebuild the Underworld?

The crowd slowly took their seats. He cast a glance around; they were mostly middle-aged men, with a few elderly individuals, though only one. He cleared his throat and said, "I declare the first Underworld Construction Industry Summit officially commenced."

The five recorders behind him began writing furiously, producing a rustling sound.

Silence.

Then, scattered, hesitant applause rang out. Clearly, the applause was far from heartfelt.

No matter how grandiose the title sounded, it could not conceal the reality of bare walls and extreme poverty.

Soon after, Qin Ye decided not to dwell on these frustrating matters. This meeting had to be held. In urban construction, infrastructure and medical care came first. Since there were no medical issues to address at present, infrastructure took top priority! He smiled as he looked at everyone. "Ladies and gentlemen, would anyone care to introduce yourselves?"

"Allow me, My Lord," a square-jawed man stood up and nodded to the others. "Sun Anshan, Project General Manager for Fangyuan Plaza, Dayishan Branch, Fangyuan Real Estate. I died from an accidental fall during a building inspection. Fellow colleagues, please look after me in the future."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at him, and Qin Ye was no exception.

Fangyuan Real Estate... extremely famous.

In this province, they couldn't quite rival Tenglong Real Estate, which was the titan of several neighboring provinces. However, even in the provincial capital of Dayishan, the landmark buildings weren't secured by Tenglong, but by Fangyuan.

Fangyuan Plaza.

Every provincial-level city had multiple Fangyuan Plazas, integrating entertainment, dining, shopping, and leisure into one. The Fangyuan Real Estate Group relied on the hundreds of Fangyuan Plazas scattered across the country to build a real estate chain centered around these plazas, making them one of the top three real estate enterprises nationwide!

Anyone capable of managing the Fangyuan Plaza project in Dayishan City was definitely no ordinary person.

Just as he sat down, a middle-aged man stood up of his own accord. "Qian Tianyi, General Manager of Phase IV of Tenglong Sky Street, Tenglong Real Estate."

"Moxler Real Estate. You might not have heard of our name; we couldn't compete with the first two, as we mainly handle residential projects in third- and fourth-tier cities. I am the project general manager for Merck Cube, the highest-end residential development in Rongxing City, Anhui Province."

"Shunda Real Estate. Hu Feng, Project General Manager for the Qingping Lake Scenic Area project in Dayishan City."

Qin Ye's eyes lit up once more. Shunda Real Estate, the undisputed giant of China's real estate industry—what they did wasn't residential housing, but... infrastructure!

There was a well-known saying in the real estate industry: golden bridges, silver roads, and copper houses. This formed the profit triangle of the entire sector.

Did people think residential housing was the most profitable?

Wrong. That was only because housing was intimately tied to the ordinary public. If one looked into the profit margins of bridges and roads, residential profits paled in comparison, and housing also faced the risk of unsold inventory. Bridges and roads, on the other hand, were government projects!

What they built wasn't just profit, but also the corporate calling card of the company.

"Qingping Lake, the largest scenic spot within Dayishan City, a government landmark calling card. Mr. Hu looks barely forty, truly a man of accomplishment," Qin Ye said with a smile to ease the atmosphere.

Perhaps because his semi-joking remark genuinely relaxed them, the introductions became much livelier and less rigid than before.

"Ahfang Real Estate, a small company. Yours truly, Zhao Guangliang, had the honor of serving as project general manager for a residential development. Not a big one, please don't laugh." "Huaqing Construction Engineering, Song Ming. I'm in charge of the construction machinery department; we're a downstream company in the real estate industry. Please guide me, everyone." "Huafeng Group, we handle post-sale marketing and early-stage investment for residential projects. Yours truly, Li Chuanyi."

After everyone finished introducing themselves, Qin Ye nodded slightly.

Not bad. From hard construction to soft equipment, they basically had all bases covered.

He pondered for a few seconds before speaking. "Everyone, we are building tall buildings from flat ground. I am already having people clear the land. If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them."

"Equipment." Everyone wanted to leave a good impression in front of this Underworld law enforcer; no one held back. Hu Feng immediately spoke up. "Without equipment, leveling the ground by human labor alone is impossible. Even if we somehow managed to level it, we couldn't drive the foundations down. Subsequent construction would be even more difficult without modern machinery."

He cautiously glanced at Qin Ye's expression and continued, "It's not that there are no people who understand ancient architecture, but how many such people are there? One in a hundred thousand? One in a million? Do they understand how ancient roof beams were raised? How ancient structures were assembled? Without modern equipment, My Lord, construction will likely be an arduous uphill battle."

"Department Head Hu is right," Qian Tianyi chimed in. "That's just the hard condition. In fact, before construction even begins, there are many soft conditions to consider. For example... what architectural style do you intend to build?"

Qin Ye froze.

He had a vague feeling that he had forgotten something.

Seeing him frown, everyone instantly fell silent out of fear. Realizing his reaction, Qin Ye smiled and said, "Department Head Qian, please continue. This official is not well-versed in the construction industry; I was just reminded of a few matters."

Only then did the crowd breathe a sigh of relief.

In the mortal realm, which of them didn't have hundreds of people under their command? Several engineering teams? The funds passing through their hands were calculated in the hundreds of millions.

Yet... even when attending company-wide meetings, they had never felt this nervous.

This was a figure who could turn hostile and spill blood five steps away over a single disagreement...

Qian Tianyi swallowed hard. In the mortal realm, he loathed people calling him "Former Department Head"—what was that supposed to mean?

But right now, he had no choice but to swallow his grievance. The smile on his face was exceptionally sincere. "It's like this, My Lord. Haven't you considered what kind of architecture you want to build?"

Qin Ye's gaze flashed sharply. He finally understood what he had forgotten.

Blueprints!

Architectural blueprints! Blueprints produced by a design institute!

Construction wasn't just about putting up houses; what these houses looked like and what structures they had—all of it required blueprints from a design institute! Which would then be handed over to the construction company.

For instance, for this new Underworld, if Qin Ye wanted to build it in a modern architectural style, or even make it look like Dubai, he could!

At the same integrative time, he could also build it into a Suzhou-style courtyard from the Yuan or Ming dynasties, a grand high-gate estate from the Tang or Song dynasties, or even the Epang Palace.

Since no one currently knew what style he wanted, how could anything be finalized?

"Who knows how to draw blueprints?" he asked, raising his head.

The seven men looked at each other in blank dismay. After a few seconds, Song Ming coughed lightly. "The number of people in design institutes is extremely small, and most of them have strong backgrounds, making it hard to get in... Perhaps, My Lord, you could ask the people outside?"

Before Qin Ye could speak, a recorder scurried out eagerly. Ten minutes later, he ran back in, panting heavily, and shook his head as he gasped, "My Lord, there is no one from a design institute out there."

Qin Ye rubbed his temples in agony. Professions were like separated mountains; he had completely forgotten this most crucial step.

Furthermore, he had realized another problem.

In this massive side hall, just going out to ask a question took more than ten minutes. That was far too inconvenient.

Make outsiders wait?

No, certain policies could not be divulged to too many people.

"Damn it... Does this mean I'll eventually have to provide electricity to the Underworld? And supply cell phones and signal services?! Isn't... isn't that a bit too exaggerated?"

Pulling his thoughts back, he assumed a steady expression and said, "Leave this matter to me. Everyone, continue."

With a half-smile, he said, "This is the first Underworld Construction Industry Summit after all. Even if the venue is a bit crude, I believe your experience and wisdom won't be crude... right?"

"Of course not." These department heads, whose approval countless people in the mortal realm had once vied for, felt a collective chill run through their hearts as they began frantically racking their brains over a daunting question.

Dear friends, how does one build a city? What basic facilities are needed? Online waiting, very urgent.

What? Tell me tomorrow? My friend... I have a smiling tiger sitting right in front of me! The kind of existence far more terrifying than a company chairman! He could be collecting my corpse by tomorrow, understand?