Chapter 114: Recruitment

— Underworld – Fish Market —

A simple day in the underworld.

Zhang Niu was now a new courier employee working for the Underworld Courier and Transportation Services, or U-CATS for short. He had only been working for the underworld for a short time. Even so, at the beginning, he had felt suffocated by the sense of powerlessness, a feeling that reminded him of the time when he was still a mortal.

But at least here, he no longer needed to put up with the bratty behavior of his former Young Master, Murong Wen. He no longer needed to care about repaying the kindness of the Murong Clan, because the chain that tied him to the Murong Clan had been severed the moment the underworld agent named Wei Chen killed him and sent him here.

Every favor, every kindness, and every grievance had been severed and repaid the moment he died. So this, in the underworld, was his new life.

No. It should be said that this was his new un-life. Technically, he had already died in the mortal world, and here, according to the information he received from the higher-up lady named Youqi, no one in the underworld truly died.

Or, to be more precise, their souls were not destroyed or scattered. At most, if things got out of hand, their souls would only lose all of their accumulated underworld qi and be cast into the Soul Reforming Hall, where they would begin gathering underworld qi all over again.

Underworld qi served two purposes. It was both the power that materialized one’s existence in the underworld and a form of currency. It could be exchanged for underworld gold coins, which were used to purchase things unavailable in the mortal world, or resources that could elevate cultivation in the underworld for those who chose to work there.

Whether it was food, cultivation resources, or pills produced by the underworld, all of them existed to strengthen one’s soul and cleanse karmic consequences from life, allowing one to be reborn in the mortal world without karmic burdens.

According to Lady Youqi, soul strength could also be transferred into one’s next life, granting greater potential and stronger prospects in cultivation. From what she told him, the stronger the soul, the higher the chance of obtaining a physique that matched that strength.

Also, even though great sins could not be erased, the work one did in the underworld could reduce their karmic consequences, granting more fortune than one would otherwise have.

All in all, the underworld was like a new life that everyone had to live, working toward the goal of becoming better and better in their next life, once their time in the underworld came to an end.

Yes, these were all the things Zhang Niu needed to remember while spending his time in the underworld.

Right now, Zhang Niu was living in one of the sub-areas of the underworld filled with impoverished souls.

No, it would be more accurate to say that these were souls who had just arrived in the underworld.

In the underworld, even though order and safety were far better than in the mortal world, where one might expect to be robbed by cultivators of higher cultivation, hardship still existed.

In this place, one could still suffer due to a lack of connections or be robbed by outlaws of the underworld. Even though such people would eventually be hunted down by enforcers, there was no shortage of daredevils who believed they could get away from them.

They believed that if they could gather enough underworld qi to strengthen their souls and then quickly escape through smuggler channels to be reborn, they would not need to work or spend time in the underworld living like ordinary mortals.

Honestly, at the start of his new life, living like a mortal had nearly driven Zhang Niu mad. People who had once tasted power could not tolerate being weak and oppressed again.

So, like anyone else, he wanted to move from the sub-realm at the outskirts to the main area. The closer one lived to the Lord of Death’s residence, the stronger the underworld qi available for soul cultivation, and the more resources one could obtain.

However, those who could live in the main area had to be official citizens of the underworld. These people were granted four times the amount of time to stay and strengthen their souls, and they could even purchase additional time.

Zhang Niu let out a sigh, lamenting his new life. He truly wanted underworld citizenship. He thought about it briefly before pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind.

Today, Zhang Niu was carrying a package through the market. It was a fine day in the underworld. The underworld qi was fresh and abundant, and the atmosphere was not as gloomy as he had expected.

Life went on as usual on this fine day. Or at least, that was what Zhang Niu thought at first.

As Zhang Niu walked through the fish market, he noticed a crowd of people standing near one of the smallest fish stalls.

No, to be precise, it was a stall connected to one of the largest fish market stalls. From a nearby stall, a familiar voice could be heard shouting loudly.

“Are you bored with your routine in the underworld? Are you finding your life not exciting enough? If so, we have a solution!”

“We have excitement! Fight the good fight for the bright future of the underworld and preserve justice!”

“We have resources for you to cultivate. We have precious knowledge for you to learn. We even have priceless underworld-forged artifacts for you to use!”

“What we need is only you!”

“Volunteer today. Join the underworld agent forces. Remember! service guarantees citizenship!”

What? Guarantee citizenship? Is this a joke? Zhang Niu questioned the message. He wanted to check it out, but then he remembered that he still had a package to deliver, so he decided to finish his delivery first.

Before he could go far, however, he heard a roar of laughter.

“Hahaha! Is this guy joking? Who would believe you?” the first person laughed in derision.

“Yeah! Don’t you think becoming a scammer is a bit too much? Who are you, exactly? Recruiting people in the middle of a fish market!” another person chimed in.

“Guarantee citizenship? If I believed that, I would be an idiot!”

“Yeah, who would believe you?”

At this time, a muscular man walked over to the counter and spoke.

“Hey, brother scammer. You might not know this, but real recruitment is usually done by genuine underworld agents. And they do it at the job market in the main area near the Lord’s residence!” the muscular man said mockingly.

Seeing the commotion, Zhang Niu decided to focus on his job first. Since this guy was clearly a scammer, he was no longer interested. However, if the guy was still there later, he might come back just to mock him.

Since the crowd had blocked his view, and because he already believed the man was a scammer, Zhang Niu quickly lost interest and eventually forgot about it.

….

After several hours, he finished his shift, and Zhang Niu returned to the same fish market. He wanted to buy some fish to eat back at his pitifully small rented living space. He had heard that underworld fish from the River of Souls were good for soul cultivation.

Zhang Niu looked around, trying to find a good price, but most of the fish were still beyond his budget.

“We have resources! We have precious knowledge! We have priceless underworld-forged artifacts!”

“Volunteer today! Join the underworld agent forces! Remember, service guarantees citizenship!”

“Come and join us!”

The familiar slogans of the scammer drew Zhang Niu’s attention again, but this time only a few people stood nearby to mock him, and there was no crowd anymore. With no crowd to block his view, Zhang Niu finally saw the face of the supposed scammer.

What he saw was a face he would never forget. It was Wei Chen, the underworld agent who had sent him here.

Then… then… didn’t this mean the recruitment was real?

“I’m in! I’m in! I’ll join!”

Faster than Zhang Niu could think, his body rushed forward as he raised his hand and jumped in place, doing his best to make Wei Chen notice him.

“Huh?” Wei Chen turned toward the voice, the first person to respond to his recruitment.

Seeing the familiar face, Wei Chen was stunned.

“You… Zhang Long?” Wei Chen uttered the name of the man in front of him.

“It’s Zhang Niu!” Zhang Niu retorted.

“Hahahaha! Of course I know that. It’s Zhang Niu. I was just kidding!” Wei Chen said with a laugh, trying to gloss over it.

“Hey you! Are you sure you want to join this scammer? Don’t complain that we didn’t warn you when you get scammed!” one of the onlookers said worriedly.

Zhang Niu frowned. He knew for sure that this man was an underworld agent, but the others did not. He decided to ignore the onlookers and ask his question.

“Yeah… Mr. Wei, why don’t you go to the job market to recruit? Don’t you know this looks very suspicious?” he asked.

“Well…” Wei Chen shrugged. “I got lost, and since this is also a market and there are a lot of people here, I think it’s fine.”

Of course it was not fine. This was a fish market. And why in the world did you not try to go to the right place? Zhang Niu retorted inside his mind.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep