Chapter 138: Finalizing the Drawings

In the days that followed, Qin Ye threw himself into arduous and diligent study.

There was simply no other way... He and Lin Han had become the thorns in Zhou Xianlong’s eyes. Whenever the man came to lecture, his eyes seemed glued to them, and before they knew it, they had already been docked seven or eight points!

Zhou Xianlong had not announced the latest standings of the faculty scores. Qin Ye and Su Feng had discussed it privately, concluding that they probably wouldn't be made public again before the two months were up. As long as the currently leading Qin Ye didn't lose too many points, he would still rank near the top when the time came.

This was the advantage of winning at the starting line.

Although the latest faculty score rankings had not been published, the warning that anyone failing after two months would be dismissed hung like the Sword of Damocles over the heads of the instructors who felt their scores were insufficient. There was no helping it; there were only a handful of starting tasks, and Qin Ye had discreetly inquired—over half of them hadn't received any tasks at all! The proportion was even close to two-thirds!

Therefore, every single day, countless instructors arrived even earlier than the top students of Anhui University, just waiting for Li Tao and Xu Anguo’s irregular patrols so they could have a pitiful one or two points added for their good learning attitude. Their notes were also meticulously neat, and it must be said that quite a few preparatory instructors had managed to boost their scores by more than five points during this period.

Unfortunately, they were at best struggling around the elimination line. Fighting for Qin Ye’s first place was practically a hopeless dream.

"I offer my heartfelt sympathy," Qin Ye arrived at the tiered lecture hall ten minutes early. Today was the elective public lecture by Professor Zhu from the Computer Science Department. Just entering through the back door, he saw that the back rows were already packed with nearly a hundred dejected colleagues, and he spoke in the tone of a straight-A student looking down on the slackers.

"It's not a matter of sympathy or no sympathy," said the lazy tyrant beside him, munching on a savory pancake and drinking soy milk with a very down-to-earth manner, "Who wants to be sent back?"

The straw made a slurping sound as he squeezed the plastic cup of soy milk and accurately tossed it into the trash can behind him, saying lazily, "You're full and don't know what hunger is like. We were all elites handpicked from various provinces and cities across the country; some of us were even deputies of local branch investigation bureaus before coming here. What does it look like to be sent back now? You might not care about saving face, but they certainly do..."

"…Lazy tyrant, I've noticed your current mindset is quite dangerous. Ever since I took first place in the faculty scores, won't you feel uncomfortable if you don't eat a few sour grapes every day?"

"…My apologies, just a slip of the tongue… slip of the tongue… Who the hell is a lazy tyrant!"

Time ticked away day by day. They had already been studying at Anhui University for more than forty days, and as the two-month deadline drew closer and closer, no one spoke in the instructors' chat group anymore. The atmosphere of study... grew even more intense.

It was no longer a matter of "I want to strive for a higher rank," but rather, "Who is my rival? How many more points do I need to secure my retention?"

Amidst this fulfilling life, they ushered in the fiftieth day of their studies. And it was at three o'clock on the afternoon of this very day that Qin Ye finally received a call from the Design Department of Tenglong.

Right after class, he immediately hailed a cab to Tenglong Company. Sun Kangliang was not there, so he went straight to the design department.

"Mr. Qin, you've arrived." Old Li, who had been working busily, immediately stepped out holding a rolled-up bundle of blueprints with an electronic stylus tucked behind his ear. The two walked over to the reception room and sat down, and Qin Ye asked impatiently, "Is it ready?"

"It's ready." Old Li let out a heavy sigh of relief. A large-scale building in the ancient Huaguo style... was extremely tedious to design. If Qin Ye hadn't mentioned that it was needed within two months, he would have spent at least four or five months on it.

He slowly unrolled the blueprints in his hand: "Actually... Mr. Qin, if you could wait, and give us another four months, we would definitely be able to perfect the entire palace. Right now, it's just a conceptual drawing; those who understand can read it, and those who don't... well. Also, the rendering—whether the overall framework of the residential area needs further modification is also worth pondering..."

Qin Ye shook his head. "I'll be staying in Daishan City for at most ten days more; I don't have time."

Old Li sighed and spread the blueprints completely open. "Then take a look first. If an engineering accident occurs, we cannot be held responsible; the time really was simply not enough."

Qin Ye was least afraid of engineering accidents.

If an engineering accident happened in the world of the living, well, the relatives of the deceased would make a fuss, report it, hit the headlines, and become a trending topic online. It would guarantee that your construction team would be so infamous you'd never want to be famous again, and ensure that landing your next project would be harder than ascending to the heavens.

As for the Underworld... What? An engineering accident? You fall from a hundred meters and not even a single hair falls out, what are you whining about? Rebar pierced your stomach? Pull it out and keep going... You want to stage a labor strike? Are you asking for a beating? More than two hundred trial judges are whetting their blades—my territory, I call the shots!

Thinking about it this way... the Underworld seemed to be ahead of the living world in many aspects... If the labor force of this manufacturing and engineering industry were placed in the living world to take orders, they would snatch away Huaguo's current status as the world's factory in a matter of minutes...

If a building collapsed, the "workers" could float out of the rubble completely unscathed, dust themselves off, and keep going. In a year or two, even people with a fear of heights would probably be able to perform bungee jumping without ropes from the roof of a thirty-first-floor building... Just ask if you want workers like this.

Pulling back his thoughts, he looked at the meter-square piece of paper. On it was a luxurious ancient-style residential area.

It did not adopt the layout of a palace, but rather that of an ancient side-courtyard residence. In the center was the entrance block, rectangular in shape, with rows of side rooms on both sides, four stories high in total. It looked somewhat like the ancient... Red Mansion?

Old Li had been watching his expression the entire time. Seeing that he remained silent, he immediately spoke up, "Mr. Qin, this building adopts imitation ancient architecture. After all, wooden materials also have a shelf life. Just now, cement could replace many parts without being noticed, and we utilized the dougong and multi-eave bracket techniques. This is generally used on large buildings; small buildings have no need for it."

Although Qin Ye didn't understand, he listened earnestly.

"For the entire main body, we adopted a multi-beam framework. Ancient buildings have large internal space, and the layers of beams used in superposition are collectively called beam frames. Each beam is called a multi-beam according to the number of purlins it supports; a seven-beam frame means seven eaves are supported on a single beam, above the seven are five beams, and above the five are three beams..."

"Generally, the layout of houses regarding rafter-raising also has rules. For instance, an eleven-purlin house, the so-called five-pitch for eaves, three-five-pitch for flying eaves, six-five-pitch for lower golden purlins, and so on. Such rafter-raising makes the roof of the ancient-style house form a gentle curved surface, avoiding rigid and harsh transitions—look at the so-called palaces of foreign countries, their transitions are very rigid, whereas this building of ours adopts the highest specification of nine-five-pitch."

Qin Ye tried his best to remember. The more Old Li talked, the more enthusiastic he became, speaking for a full hour before closing the blueprints with lingering reluctance: "It's a pity I can't get away from here. If there were enough time, I'd really like to go to the site and see it. Most cities build imitation ancient streets, which are serial arrangements of small buildings. Such a large, single-unit ancient architectural project is extremely rare even in modern Huaguo..."

Qin Ye's eyes lit up, and he tentatively probed, "Do you really want to go and take a look?"

Perhaps his gaze was too burning. Just like Sun Kangliang, the word "yes" that had reached Old Li's lips was forcefully swallowed back. He sensed an unknown danger.

"Just talking idly... idly... The design department is so busy, I really can't get away..." he chuckled.

This guy... no fun at all.

Qin Ye curled his lip. You say you're old and might die painfully, but wouldn't it be better for this official to grant you a peaceful passing? Enjoy a wonderful family life while alive, and enjoy this official's full trust after death, guaranteed to be completely painless—it's just a matter of closing and opening your eyes... What's wrong with that...

"Really not considering it further?" He continued probing, unwilling to give up: "My construction site has plenty of people, lots of business, and is just lacking a helmsman. A chief director's high salary position is vacant and awaiting you?"

"Ha-ha... No need... No need..." Old Li picked up a tissue from the table to wipe his sweat and said.

Strange... It was obviously the middle of winter, and the air conditioning was set high, so why did it feel a bit chilly?

Qin Ye stood up regretfully. People nowadays... every single one of them is craftier than the last, tricking someone down there isn't easy at all... He casually waved his hand, hailed a cab, and returned to Anhui University.

Resting until midnight, he eagerly picked up the Yama Seal. After a flash of light, he had already arrived in the Underworld.

"Rumble..." Just as he opened his eyes, a series of violent roars rushed into his ears. There was no day or night in the Underworld; the canopy of heaven was pitch-black at every moment, yet carried an eerie radiance.

"Your lowly servant respectfully welcomes Your Excellency." Su Dongxue had already bowed gracefully to the ground. Qin Ye casually lifted his hand and walked outward with full anticipation.

All the trial judges stood up on their own initiative; they were not yet qualified to kneel before their superior, but their eyes were filled with awe. He didn't mind, taking a single step out of the Ghost Gate, and the view before him suddenly opened up.

The Underworld, which had once been a desolate and gloomy expanse, was now bustling with activity! The unique chilling aura of the dead was almost completely dissipated. Right along both sides of the road, the blood-red trees had vanished, visible only as a rolling red forest a hundred meters away.

A roaring chainsaw was operating in the distance, and thousands of wandering spirits swarmed around it, scrambling to process the felled timber. Dozens of spirits embraced the logs and, with a chant-like shout of "He-yo," hoisted them onto their shoulders, biting their teeth as they floated toward the Ghost Gate.

To the left of the Ghost Gate, a small construction site had already taken preliminary shape. Two timber processing machines operated continuously by ghost personnel, with wood shavings covering the ground and neatly processed pieces of timber placed on the surrounding earth, were soon carried into the Ghost Gate by other ghost citizens.

Following the lead of the chainsaws, two excavators trailed behind, followed further by a road leveling machine... In front of the ancient Huaguo-style Ghost Gate, the prelude to modern engineering construction was unexpectedly unfurled.

Amidst the chill, there was a sense of bustling warmth.

Amidst the barrenness, there was a sense of prosperity and growth.

Every beginning is hard, but this beginning, he had finally kicked it off!

At this instant, Qin Ye suddenly felt that all his hard work over the past two months had paid off. Even though he had been exhausted to death earlier, he now felt his entire chest throb with a fluttering sensation.

That was called fulfillment.

It was also called a sense of accomplishment.

"It wasn't easy." The voice of Arsene appeared by his side. Qin Ye did not turn his head, nor did she look at Qin Ye, instead gazing at the busy Underworld as she spoke somewhat hoarsely, "In less than half a year, the new Underworld has actually started operating... Your contribution is monumental."

"Do you feel somewhat moved? Somewhat reluctant to let go of this feeling?"

Qin Ye did not answer. After a long while, he nodded slightly, "It feels as if I've gone back to when I was in my twenties, back to all those countless 'firsts'..."