Yama Rising

“Impossible.” The spirit pen rasped excitedly, “There’s only one living human being that my dowsing abilities would point me towards, and that’s none other than Lee Jung-sook. Don’t take this wrongly - although you may be my host for the time being, but… if I don’t return to Lee Jung-sook, my soul will eventually scatter and dissipate into the surroundings.”

Fate must’ve had a hand in these things… He couldn’t help but glance at his sleeves. If he was to go about investigating the script of death any further without alerting the Russian Underworld, any assistance that he can get from the mortal realm would certainly be of great help!

This was the power of a plutocrat in a capitalist society.

Hmm… I guess I could draw closer to her on the pretext of repaying my debt of gratitude… I wonder if she would wisen up to the fact and reject my advances…

The train soon arrived at Pusan Station.

It was quite possibly a byproduct of the fact that it was now a special zone. Passengers alighting at the station were few and far between. In fact, there were possibly more police officers stationed around the platforms, chokepoints and exits on the station than there were other pedestrians right now.

“None.” Translator One Tail made his grand entrance, “Special access granted.”

Qin Ye picked up the three green cards. Before he could even take a closer look at them, the policeman smiled, “Apart from that, we’ve prepared another document for you setting out a detailed report about the Pusan Special Zone, including particulars of all the danger zones within. All cabs within Pusan are currently only allowed to travel within the safe zones. If you wish to enter the danger zones, you’ll have to undergo a special test, and then rent a specially-modified car.”

Qin Ye read through the materials he had been handed with a glint in his eye.

Truly interesting.

And this was exactly why the present situation was rather interesting.

“It seems like… the ones who have granted special access are none other than Cathayan cultivators. Thus, I’ve also been recognized as such. Incidentally, these special access permits are the best way to get us into the restricted zones around. Besides, the person summoning me must be someone incredibly powerful and influential. Otherwise, there’s simply no way that both the military and police would welcome my arrival, especially given the fact that my name isn’t part of the list of experts furnished by the Cathayan authorities to Daehan.”

“Having witnessed her conduct at the time of the incident, as well as observed her actions over all these years, you clearly know it isn’t her. So, hasn’t she told you who the culprit is? I refuse to believe that she wasn’t able to identify the culprit given her resourcefulness and influence.”

I mean… Just look at how Kim Jae-huan was so completely terrified by her back then! He didn’t even dare to make a peep of sound!

“But… she refused to tell me who it was. She simply said that the culprit isn’t someone we could mess with, because he even had Infernal Judges protecting him. I… didn’t dare to take action. I had no choice but to bide my time, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Lord Qin, you don’t live in Daehan, so you naturally wouldn’t know how powerful and influential Ms Lee actually is. The Queen of Samsung isn’t a title that’s just for show! As long as she so desires, there’s nothing in Daehan that can be concealed from her! Thus… I would be daft not to heed her advice.”

Whoosh!

This was the manifestation of the deep resentment of over three hundred lives that had been taken at the MV Sewol tragedy! It was murderous intent that had been festering and brewing for five long years!

Qin Ye smiled in his heart. This was a special Yin spirit that was naturally born as an Anitya Hellguard. He wanted nothing more than to bring the spirit pen back to Hell. Arturo had admittedly been too harsh with his ways. It suddenly occurred to Qin Ye why the Second King Yanluo had previously told him that when he reaped the harvest of the script of death, he would also receive a collateral reward of a powerful Yin spirit.

If I continually cast myths and fabricate miracles, such evil spirits would continue to appear, and the citizens faith will also continue to deepen. I’ll attain the rank of King Yanluo in no time, and then continue the works of casting myths and fabricating miracles at an even higher pace! This way, I’ll finally complete my personal collection of Yin spirits in my Dusk Legionnaire, otherwise known as the Voyage of a Hundred Ghosts! The functions and abilities of a King Yanluo of Hell absolutely complement each other!

“There aren’t many people with such power and influence in Daehan. Besides, even Lee Jung-sook herself thought it wasn’t a good idea to mess with this culprit, and advised you to simply bide your time for the right opportunity instead. The Russian Underworld would never pass up an opportunity to tie up with someone as important as this.”

Qin Ye smiled, “Don’t you think that… the profile of the culprit behind the MV Sewol incident is somewhat similar to the person who granted me the special access permit?”

He finally gets it.

Lee Jung-sook was their cover, but they would naturally have contacted others and required them to carry out certain orders in the dark… such as the MV Sewol incident. They would coordinate their movements with agents such as Mukov and cast their web of influence far and wide! This was how they had managed to suppress news of the entire incident for an entire year!

Did Qin Ye have any evidence of these conjectures?

But everything checked out logically, and that meant that there was a possibility that he was absolutely on point!

In other words… now that Qin Ye had an inkling as to the identity of the person pulling the strings from the shadows, he could almost certainly work back and ascertain his location and whereabouts!

“Sir?” The policeman finally prompted Qin Ye in the face of an inordinate period of silence.

The policeman paused in confusion. Wang Chenghao immediately translated it in English. At once, the policeman smiled bitterly, “I’m afraid I don’t know which high official it was who approved of these permits, but… I do know that these were orders issued from the Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House.”

What an important person… Qin Ye raised an eyebrow quizzically, and refrained from probing any further. He nodded, and Wang Chenghao immediately understood what he meant, “There’s no need to test the levels of our true energy. Prepare the camouflage and concealment supplies at once, as well as a specially-modified car. We’ll depart immediately.”

It was almost as though they were given VIP treatment.

Empty.

There were only a few cabs parked here and there, but it was hardly anything compared with its heyday in the past. To make matters worse, there were even fewer pedestrians than there were cabs. A sign with a notice drafted in four languages was displayed on each cab.

Wang Chenghao looked at it for a while, and furrowed his brows, “Permitted zones… There are only ten permitted zones. The rest are all listed as restricted areas…”

Pusan occupied a rather large area that was close to 800 square kilometers in size. This was larger than most prefecture-level cities in Cathay. To be precise, it was sub-divided into 16 areas, namely the westernmost Gangseo District, followed by the Saha District, Sasang District, Buk District, Busanjin District, Dong District, Seo District, Yeongdo District, Nam District, Dongnae District, Haeundae District, Geumjeong District, Jung District, Suyeong District, Yeonje District, and Gijang County.

“The eastern side…” Qin Ye turned and looked to the distant east, only to sense a cold breeze gently tousling his hair.

The eastern side… The easternmost parts would take us to Gijang County, and then working backwards, we have both the Geumjeong District and the Haeundae District. All three are red zones!

Sigh… Please don’t make things too difficult for my rescue efforts…

1. Do note that the author seems to be using interchangeably the terms Voyage of a Hundred Ghosts and the Dusk Legionnaire which he’d previously mentioned, so I’ll largely be using Dusk Legionnaire from now on since it’s far less clunky.

2. You can take a look at the map of the administrative divisions to get a better understanding of the locality.