paranoianovel Chapter 49 Fellow Daoist, please wait! The Underworld is about to change hands.
Chapter 49 Fellow Daoist, please wait! The Underworld is about to change hands.
The large white characters of "Obituary" hung silently on screens in every corner of the underworld.
The world fell into a deathly silence.
The ghosts that had been frantically fleeing along the banks of the River of Oblivion stopped in their tracks, and the ghost messengers who were crowding the Bridge of Helplessness forgot to push and shove.
All the ghosts stared blankly at that line of words.
Is Chu Jiang dead?
The man who treated the rules of the underworld like a monkey and the Ten Kings of Hell like employees is gone just like that?
The silence lasted for a full ten seconds.
Then came even more chaotic and insane chaos.
"It's over! The underworld is really doomed!"
"Even Dean Chu can't hold on, what are we waiting for? Run!"
Panic spread like a virus, even faster than the red data stream.
Just then, a figure went against the flow of fleeing ghosts and approached the several deputy heads of the Reincarnation Division, whose faces were ashen.
It is Shen Gongbao.
His face wore a perfectly measured expression of grief, and he held in his hand a small white flower that he had picked from who-knows-where.
"Fellow Daoists, please wait a moment."
The moment he opened his mouth, the legs of the several deputy managers who were about to slip away trembled.
"Shen Gongbao? You still dare to come out?" a deputy in charge shouted, his voice stern but his tone weak.
"Dean Chu's body is barely cold, and as the company's Chief Risk Officer, it is only natural for me to step forward and stabilize the situation."
Shen Gongbao sighed and pinned the little white flower to his chest.
"Alas, what a pity. Dean Chu is too young and too radical."
He lowered his voice, as if sharing some top-secret information.
"I told him long ago that taking too big a step can lead to trouble. He wouldn't listen and insisted on loading that V technology. As a result, his soul was completely overwhelmed by the foreign code and turned into a QR code that can't be scanned."
The deputy directors looked at each other in bewilderment.
That makes so much sense.
"Now look what's happened! The underworld network is about to be rebooted and formatted." Shen Gongbao slapped his thigh in anguish. "Everyone's tens of thousands of years of accumulated wealth will be wiped out. We'll all have to start all over again and line up to be reincarnated."
"What should we do then?"
"What else can we do?" Shen Gongbao looked around and leaned closer. "I just received inside information. Our friends in the Western Hell and the Ling Mountain region can't bear to see our Underworld destroyed like this."
"They are preparing to join forces and use more advanced and stable technology to take over this mess we've made."
He looked at the several wavering officials and patiently persuaded them.
"Fellow Daoists, a wise bird chooses a good tree to perch on. Now that the highest level of access is open for three minutes, it is a perfect opportunity for us to abandon darkness and embrace the light, and welcome the new era."
After he finished speaking, he turned and left, leaving them with a compassionate and sympathetic back view.
He had only taken a couple of steps when one of the deputy managers slipped and fell flat on his face with a "thud".
"Ouch, my back!"
The other ghost officials looked at him, then at Shen Gongbao's back, and their expressions changed completely.
"He's right! Chu Jiang is dead, why should we remain widows for him!"
"Let's go! Contact Lingshan! We've voted!"
Shen Gongbao smiled slightly and continued walking towards the next target group.
Wherever he went, cries of "Fellow Daoist, please wait!" were heard, accompanied by various accidents such as falling flat on the ground, magic weapons malfunctioning, and ghost fire going out.
A massive rebellion began in the entire underworld bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, at the Bridge of Helplessness.
Meng Po was still slapping her thighs on the ground, crying so loudly that her voice was almost hoarse.
Behind her, Jin Chanzi was squatting numbly on the ground, wiping the mountain of cups with a rag.
He listened to Meng Gong's wailing and looked at the chaotic scene around him, a hint of pleasure flashing in his eyes.
Just then, a soup bowl covered in grease was slammed down into the basin in front of him by a ghost soldier.
"Hurry up and wash! What are you dawdling for!"
Jin Chanzi remained silent, picked up the bowl, and immersed it in the water.
As soon as he started washing, he felt that the bottom of the bowl felt wrong.
Looking down, I saw a scarlet symbol slowly rotating at the bottom of the bowl in the murky dishwater, like a living thing.
The symbol was formed from the condensation of blood and evil energy, carrying the unique sulfurous smell of the Western hell.
Jin Chanzi's pupils contracted, and he calmly covered the bottom of the bowl with his palm.
A secret message was sent directly into his consciousness.
【Fellow Daoist Jin Chan, Chu Jiang is dead, the time is ripe. In three minutes, my lord Dracula, in conjunction with the remnants of Mount Ling, will use the "Cyber Salvation" technique to forcibly seize the highest authority over the Underworld's network. At that time, please destroy the Naihe Bridge array's core, cutting off the Underworld's escape route. After this is accomplished, you will surely have a place in Mount Ling.】
Jin Chanzi's hand holding the bowl trembled slightly.
He looked up at the glaring words "Obituary" on the holographic projection, and the flame that had been suppressed in his eyes for so long reignited.
He suddenly slammed the bowl in his hand to the ground.
"Snapped!"
The porcelain bowl was shattered into pieces.
"I quit!"
Jin Chanzi stood up, kicked over the basin of water in front of him, and yelled at Meng Po, who was still wailing, "Whoever wants to wash this broken cup can wash it!"
After saying that, he strode towards the center of the Bridge of Helplessness.
Meng Po's crying stopped abruptly.
She stared blankly at Jin Chanzi's retreating figure, then glanced at the shattered bowl pieces on the ground. She pulled out her phone from her pocket and quickly sent a message.
[Meng Po: Boss, the fish escaped.]
The Supreme Court of the Underworld, the office of the Chief Justice.
Chu Jiang was sitting with his legs crossed, a piece of Original Recipe Chicken in his left hand and a glass of iced cola in his right, watching with great interest.
The enormous water mirror screen in front of them was divided into hundreds of small windows, broadcasting the chaotic scenes from various parts of the underworld in real time.
The largest window faces Shen Gongbao directly.
"Boss, I take back what I said earlier." V stood in front of the control panel, watching Shen Gongbao turn a large number of officials to the side with just a few words, and sincerely sighed, "This guy's 'words become law' is simply a game-changer when used for public relations and turning people to the side."
"It's a perfect match, making the best use of his talents," Chu Jiang mumbled, taking a bite of a chicken wing. "Otherwise, why would I spend so much money to hire him? Just as a mascot?"
Li, the coder, pushed up his glasses, and the data stream on his tablet scrolled rapidly.
"Reporting to the boss, according to the background sentiment monitoring, 73% of the officials in the underworld have already wavered or defected. Shen Gongbao's performance has exceeded the target by 300%."
"See that? Now that's what you call the king of involution." Chu Jiang took a sip of cola. "Let him keep going on a killing spree and drag out all those fence-sitters so I don't have to clean them up one by one later."
At that moment, Chu Jiang's phone vibrated.
He picked it up and saw that it was a message from Meng Po.
[Meng Po: Boss, the fish escaped.]
Chu Jiang raised an eyebrow and switched to the surveillance footage of the Bridge of Helplessness.
Just then, Jin Chanzi kicked over the basin of water and stormed angrily toward the center of the bridge.
"Wow, you've got some backbone."
"Boss, should we have Bruch deal with him?" V asked.
"No need," Chu Jiang waved his hand. "A small fry like that can't make a ripple. Our goal is to catch a great white shark."
He looked at Li, the programmer: "How much longer is left in the countdown?"
"Boss, there are 30 seconds left."
Has the enemy made a move?
"Got it." Li, the coder, became serious. He zoomed in on a data flow graph on the main screen. "A massive and complex data flow is gathering. There's Buddhist light, bloodthirsty energy, and... some demonic runes we've never seen before. They've locked onto the highest administrator privileges entry point."
"Very good." Chu Jiang threw away the chicken bones, wiped his hands, and said, "Pass the word down to Bruhe and the Soul Devouring Beast, tell them to hide well and not get hurt in the process."
"V, get your pockets ready for 'Virtual Hell'."
"Understood, boss." V's eyes were full of excitement. "Make sure they can't get out once they're in. Let them experience what a vulnerability hell and code loop are like."
[Countdown: 10, 9, 8...]
On the screens throughout the entire underworld, blood-red numbers began to jump.
Deep within the underworld, in that secret space shrouded in Buddhist light and blood energy.
Several dark figures watched the countdown and let out greedy laughter.
"They're here! They're here!"
"Ready! Let's take it down in one fell swoop!"
【3, 2, 1...】
[Access granted!]
Before he finished speaking, the massive data stream, like a flood bursting its banks, surged into the core of the Underworld system!
In the office, on Li's tablet, the green, normal code was instantly turned red.
"Boss! The fish... has taken the bait!"
"They're frantically seizing control, trying to change the rules of the underworld's lower levels!"
"Very good." Chu Jiang stood up, stretched, and his joints cracked.
"How is the data flow being guided?"
V's fingertip pressed the last Enter key on the keyboard.
"Import everything into the 'Virtual Hell' folder. They probably think they're the masters of the world now."
On Li's tablet, the red data stream, after "taking control" of the system, began to trace in reverse.
"Boss, they're tracking the top administrator's physical location."
"They want to find you and then completely eliminate you," V added.
"Let them come." Chu Jiang walked to the window, looked at the traitors outside who had already begun to cheer, and gave them a kind smile.
He spoke softly to the empty office:
"It's time... to close the door and unleash the dogs."