Yama Rising

Qin Ye no longer had the capacity to explode at him, so he simply responded truthfully, “Don’t worry… once the game giants of Cathay pass on, they will undoubtedly come to Hell. All you have to do is to wait for their arrival…”

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Just as Qin Ye was about to heave a sigh of relief and take his leave, an old man who didn’t get a chance to ask his question abruptly stood up and yelled at the top of his voice, “My lord… will the future neighbourhoods be just like this? Would they be as gorgeous as Qin Gardens, Phase One?”

Qin Ye thought for a moment before responding, “No, Qin Gardens, Phase One is the benchmark. The rest that are to be constructed are going to be regular accommodations.”

“Two million RMB. Mortal realm currency. I would like room 111 on the ground floor.”

The entire venue was silent. Qin Ye stared at the man as though he had just seen a ghost.

Something like that hadn’t occurred to anyone else. The seven division heads were also flabbergasted. Arthis blinked her eyes vacantly. The entire assembly was shrouded with complete silence.

No… we shouldn’t promote or incentivize speculative purchasing of real estate in Hell… Otherwise, what are we going to do when property prices skyrocket… Wouldn’t the Yin spirits who are unable to afford proper housing commit suicide by jumping off the building?

That’s right. He might already have started on the first phase of construction works in Hell, but who knows how much more capital outlay he might incur in the future projects? The capital required to construct a single neighbourhood numbers well in the hundreds of millions. Next to that, the two million he had injected into the first project in Hell is completely insignificant. And this was not to mention the number of other ancillary things he would have to acquire for the purposes of Yin Construction’s future projects. He would probably need other equipment and machinery, right? And then, there’s still the tentage for covering the equipment and machinery. After all, he couldn’t possibly have people collecting the equipment and shifting them back every time it rained, could he?

Therefore… Qin-Pauper-Ye even began to speak with salutations.

“Of the tens of thousands of ghostly citizens here right now, approximately two-thirds can be considered the elderly. How could we, the frail and feeble who had died of old age, ever compete at arms’ length against the young ghostly citizens around? I do want to register with Yin Construction if I could, but I don’t know a thing about construction for one. And besides, would they welcome me there even if I volunteered?”

“Fortunately, I’ve been dead for decades now. I passed on even before the cultural revolution, and I’ve got some savings buried in the ground that haven’t been dug up to date. My lord, you’ve been scuttling about with transactions within the mortal realm. Wouldn’t you require money for such transactions as well? Therefore, I propose that those who have the strength and stamina should put in their best efforts, while those who have money can contribute in their own ways as well. This solution marries the best of both worlds.”

“It is indeed a little too little.” Qin Ye furrowed his brows, “Based on market price, each apartment in this building should sell for at least seven or eight million.”

But before they could even finish their discussions, another voice called out, “Number 111… That’s the room that directly faces the pond, isn’t it? It’s just as well, because this old man has also taken a fancy to those rooms over there.”

As soon as this man appeared, the eyes of the seven division heads immediately brightened up. Song Ming hurriedly scooted over to Qin Ye’s side and whispered with a soft voice, “Glass magnate! Huang Liangchuan, the man who single handedly dominated at least half of the entire glass industry across all of Cathay! He started out from a humble shop, and grew his business to a listed mega-company that even exports its products to foreign markets! He grew up in Mount Tai City of Insignia Province, and he was among the first and greatest entrepreneurs of his time - one with an incredibly keen sense for business. The construction companies that each of us were from had all habitually ordered glass from him in the past!”

Qin Ye’s heart was suddenly thrown into chaos.

And now was exactly one of those moments when he immediately got the urge to give himself a tight slap across the cheek.

Everything else aside, they need only ask whether it was possible that the leaders of Yin Construction wouldn’t reside within the building! Was it even possible that Arthis wouldn’t stay there? And what about Lord Qin?

They would naturally stay at Qin Gardens Phase One!

Song Ming continued, “I’d heard some time ago that he had taken seriously ill, and the Huang family’s shares immediately plummeted as a result of it. It’s no wonder they didn’t announce his death to the public. They must have been afraid that the shares in his company would crumble and collapse… My lord, this is a great opportunity. Ten million would enable us to purchase more equipment and machines to facilitate our works!”

Just like any other government, they needed time to “consider” the matter.

Then, finally, they would reluctantly accede to the request in a cold and distant fashion. And all of these were done just to communicate a single notion - I’m showing you face by acceding to your request. This shall be the one and only time such indulgence is given.

Mm… the aging population of Hell is another problem that needs to be addressed. This can’t go on indefinitely. We’ll need to let these old folks pull their own weight too. After all… weak or not, the fact remains that they can still continue to work forever…

With a loud chime signifying the end of the general assembly, Qin Ye returned to the annex hall of Hell’s Gate. He needed to sort out his thoughts about everything that had transpired today.

This was the feeling of true power.

“Arthis and I have had our discussions about these things. Generally speaking, the following are the more pressing ones so far.”

Everyone nodded their heads in approval as their excitement dwindled. Zhao Guangliang deliberated for a moment and chipped in, “That’s not all. We should look to establish the financial system in Hell as quickly as possible. We can’t be doing charity work all the time. The old Hell must have had some kind of financial system in the past.”

“Take note of these discussions.” Qin Ye turned around and instructed the scribes seated behind him before adding thoughtfully, “We’ll have to do our due diligence and survey the grounds to ascertain the best time to launch each society or group. This way, we would be able to stabilize the number of elderly ghostly citizens that are just idling about… ahem… I don’t mean to look down on them; I was just stating these things as they were…”

Arthis was dressed very formally today.

“There’s no need for a financial system as long as hell still remains a village. Practically speaking, Hell can only support a financial system when it expands to the size of a county. More specifically, it’s only at that time that the Yin energy in Hell would finally be able to support the materialization of the specialized structure on which Hell’s financial system is built upon - the Heaven and Hell Bank.” She paused for a moment of deliberation, “Once this is established, you would finally be able to normalize the society in Hell. Furthermore, electricity, water, and communication channels are amenities that hinge on the establishment of Hell’s financial system. Simply put, the amount of Yin energy aggregated in a village-sized Hell is far too small to support such massive projects that would have lingering repercussions for all of Hell.”

Arthis rolled her eyes at him, “What’s so unusual about that? Hell has to keep with the times as well. The illumination from the Torch Dragon is already an antiquated story of the past. When the old Hell collapsed, Lord Aurogon had held the title of ‘Chairman of Netherworld Electricity Holdings’, also known as Yin Energy. The chairperson of Yin Water was the 3,242nd generation descendent of Goddess Mother Earth. The related companies were even on the brink of collapse, having faced intense competition from other water-purification companies. Fortunately, King Yanluo took into account Goddess Mother Earth’s great deed of transforming her body into the six paths of reincarnation. Otherwise, Yin Water would already have become a thing of the past a long time ago.”

Everyone’s eyes widened as they exchanged awkward stares.

“As Hell grows, it’s only a matter of time before you see the emergence of major chambers of commerce and companies. You’ll even start to see a parallel between Hell and the mortal realm. Unfortunately, the old Hell collapsed before it could develop the internet… Why are you guys staring at me like that? The forefathers of the internet in Cathay were already propelled into the spotlight when they first entered Hell, and a good number of them were enjoying incredible salaries as they laid infrastructural cables underground. Who would’ve thought that Lord Ksitigarbha suddenly gained enlightenment before we could enjoy the fruits of their labour…”

Very well. Very Hell.

Mom, Hell’s a little different from what I’d thought. What should I do?

“Bloody hell…” Qin Ye could feel his brain pulsing with pain - What’s going on… How’s there already a support group in Hell? It’s only been several minutes… And what do you mean seated at the entrance? Have they already learnt to protest?

You guys are really something, you know that?