Chapter 51: The Chronicle of the Netherworld

The room was very quiet, the time slowly slipping past half-past two.

Qin Ye hadn’t uttered a word; his brows were knit tightly in thought. Arthas had shown him no mercy, not even a sliver, and even now, his cheeks still burned as if scalded.

“When I’m done with Cao Youdao, if I don’t string you up and beat you, you can write my name backwards!” he fumed inwardly.

“Who is Cao Youdao?” Wang Chenghao ventured, his voice cautious. Qin Ye’s murderous gaze swept over, and Wang Chenghao instantly shrank back, looking every bit the startled quail.

Qin Ye glared at him for several moments, anger welling up like bile, humiliation searing his entire being. Perhaps he needed to vent, just a little?

Wang, named Chenghao—why did his build look so perfectly suitable for a beating right now…?

“…Brother Qin… why are your knuckles cracking? Why are you standing up… Sit, let’s talk this out…”

After several deep breaths, Qin Ye finally sat again, though his interest had waned, and he ground out, “Cao Youdao… that bastard deserves to be cut to pieces!”

Lighting a cigarette, he drew in a lungful of smoke, the haze curling around him as his mind raced.

There was no use getting angry over shortcomings; that only showed a lack of self-control. Flaws were meant to be corrected, not avoided.

“Underestimate me? One day I’ll make you my plaything!” He nearly bit through the filter, thoughts flying as he analyzed tonight’s predicament. Arthas hadn’t claimed tonight was a deathtrap—so there must be a way out!

But… how?

He tapped his brow lightly with one hand, drumming the other on the tabletop. If he followed Arthas’s logic, he needed a new angle.

Instead of focusing on his own safety… he should be thinking—how to kill Cao Youdao!

“To kill him, the most basic requirement is—I must reach the Soul Warden level.”

“No… just reaching Soul Warden isn’t enough. He has ruled Baian City for nearly a century. How many vengeful spirits has he collected in that time? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Or even more?”

“As long as they guard him, no one can get close.”

He muttered to himself, a wisp of ghostly energy curling from his fingers as he jotted down, “Second condition… opportunity.”

“I need a chance when he’s alone in his lair, and I can get near him!”

The ghostly energy formed words. Now, on the desk before him were several lines: ‘Citywide search, opportunity, strength.’ The moment the last word was written, he froze.

He stared hard at those words. After several seconds, his face flushed and he rose to his feet, chest heaving.

“So that’s how it is…” He drew a deep breath, eyes blazing. “Contradictory… It’s contradictory! The opportunity… was there from the start!”

Wang Chenghao couldn’t hold back anymore. “Brother Qin, what opportunity? I think I understand—someone powerful is looking for you, right? With lots of spirits under his command?”

Qin Ye didn’t answer. In his mind, a flash of inspiration seemed within reach, yet just out of grasp.

Contradictory… Cao Youdao wanted him found, wouldn’t let a single corner of Baian City go unchecked! How many spirits would that require?

Mobilizing a century’s worth of spirits in Baian City… how many would be left in his lair?

“If… if I had Soul Warden-level power…” His finger paused, his eyes suddenly alight.

Danger always walks hand in hand with opportunity. When Cao Youdao releases all his spirits, that’s when he’s at his weakest! They’d fought before—he knew if his enemy dared to come, he’d never leave alive!

But this was Qin Ye the Ghost Messenger.

What if… it was Qin Ye the Soul Warden?

Qin Ye balled his fists tightly, but the question circled back to the start. He still lacked 180 achievement points to reach Soul Warden, and vengeful spirits were rare. It would take at least half a year to gather enough.

“No…” He stared absently at the ceiling, then suddenly grabbed the Soul Sealing Orb, gritting his teeth in anger. “You thought of this long ago, didn’t you?!”

No answer.

“Playing dead!” Qin Ye slammed the orb back into place, took a steadying breath, and said in a low voice, “That’s right… normally it would take half a year, but tonight… the whole city is exploding with paranormal activity! There must be plenty of vengeful spirits!”

“If I dare… tonight… really is the best chance to charge for Soul Warden!”

“Cough, cough…” Arthas’s frail voice sounded again, “Now you’re starting to resemble a real ghost messenger, but… cough, cough… you think Cao Youdao hasn’t considered that you’d use tonight’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rack up points?”

Qin Ye paused, his frown deepening.

True enough… Cao Youdao is also a ghost messenger. He’d realize that unleashing a horde of spirits would just give me a chance to hit Soul Warden.

“Rookie…” Arthas’s tone softened a little, “You’re just… so new… I can’t even bring myself to put you down anymore…”

Qin Ye’s face darkened. I’m sincerely asking you for help—couldn’t you show a little mercy?

I know I’m new, but can’t you at least give me a grace period?

Arthas, of course, didn’t know his thoughts. After catching his breath for several seconds, he finally said, “Why do you think Cao Youdao hasn’t considered it? Or rather… why isn’t he afraid of you racking up achievements? Because you’ve missed the single most crucial detail…”

“Cough… that is… if what Cao Youdao has is a fragment of the Yama Seal, you would’ve been able to see each other long ago…”

“But… why can’t you see him?”

“Why… did he find you by monitoring Zhang Baoguo?”

Boom!

A thunderclap seemed to explode in Qin Ye’s mind. He inhaled sharply, incredulous. “That pit… didn’t hold a Yama Seal fragment?”

“No!” Arthas declared. “Underworld treasures—other than the three great relics—some have, after being in the hands of a Yama for so long, become equally terrifying…”

“Based on his conversation with you earlier, if I’m not mistaken… the thing in that pit isn’t a Yama Seal fragment at all, but the famed… cough… Yin Registry!”

“It records the full roster of all underworld offices—rank, post, achievements! As long as you meet the requirements, and write your name in the Registry… cough… you can be promoted to the next rank!”

“So… cough… in his eyes, only he can advance. No matter how many vengeful spirits you kill, it’s impossible for you! That’s why… he dares so brazenly to unleash his spirits to search for you. Humans can’t see him… and you, the only one who can, are far from his match… He believes he’s perfectly safe… Never imagining… that his confidence is the one chance he’s giving you!”

The Yin Registry!

Qin Ye’s eyes shone like torches as he pressed his chest and drew out his ghost messenger badge. “So… he never imagined… I’m a bona fide ghost messenger?”

“So… he always thought I, like him, survived thanks to some underworld treasure. He has no idea that what I hold is the very last ghost messenger credential from the underworld? One that allows automatic promotion?”

Arthas’s voice flickered like a candle in the wind. “He might seem sure of himself… but he’s not legitimate. Every name on the Registry was wiped away when Ksitigarbha achieved Buddhahood… Ghost messengers aren’t recorded in the Registry; only Soul Wardens and above are eligible. Right now, the Registry must be blank—only you… can record your name…”

“He’s not a ghost messenger—just an ambitious, powerful ghost!”

So that’s it!

The gates in Qin Ye’s mind finally swung open.

He understood… there was a solution… there really was!

“I get it.” Qin Ye closed his eyes and took a long breath. “If I have opportunity and strength… then only one problem remains.”

“Time!”

“The moment he sees me, he’ll have enough time to summon his spirits back—even if I become a Soul Warden, I can’t face another Soul Warden plus tens of thousands of spirits. I need an ally, someone strong enough… to put enough pressure on him, to buy me time to reach Soul Warden, to create a window… There’s only one person who can do that…”

Wang Chenghao couldn’t hold it in. “Who?”

Qin Ye opened his eyes and said, one word at a time, “Special! Investigations! Division!”

“What?!” Wang Chenghao nearly jumped out of his seat. “Brother Qin! Are you insane? If we go in, our cover will be blown by every machine they’ve got!”

“Wrong.” Qin Ye looked at the writing on the table, his expression complicated. Sometimes, escaping ingrained instincts doesn’t lead to a dead end.

But to a dangerous, narrow bridge.

Perilous, yes—but it’s the only road spanning the abyss.

“All the clues were there from the start.” He exhaled slowly. “Tonight, if Cao Youdao launches a citywide search, sending out tens or even hundreds of thousands of spirits he’s gathered over a century… the backlash from the world of the living will only be fiercer!”

“Don’t underestimate that division. At first, I thought I’d figured them out, but the more I see, the more unfathomable they seem… I’m not asking them for help. Rather… they’ll help by their very nature!”

“Yin and yang are opposites. When the underworld existed, it was a harmonious balance. Now…” He smiled. “I bet Cao Youdao also wants to use tonight to probe the Special Investigations Division. Two birds with one stone—why not?”

Wang Chenghao was starting to understand. “You mean, tonight… the Special Investigations Division and… this Cao Youdao? They’ll clash directly? And the Division… will be our greatest ally?”

Qin Ye nodded deeply. For the first time… Baian City would likely become the first true battleground between yin and yang.

Tonight, the rift between the living and the dead… might well open here!

What would the government do afterward?

If Cao Youdao made his move, the consequences would be far more dire than what happened in Qingxi County! That could be dismissed as a supernatural event, but in Baian City… it would be the last remnants of the underworld declaring sovereignty over the living!

Who could tolerate that?

Who would dare tolerate it?

Afterward… no, even that very night, investigators from the provincial capital and other cities would pour in like mad—perhaps even those of the Unfathomable rank!

But now was no time to worry about that.

“Cao Youdao… you’ve grown arrogant, thinking no one can see you…” Qin Ye stood by the window, watching the sky turn gray as dusk fell. He sneered, “Then tonight… I’ll send you a gift…”

“A gift you’ll never forget.”