Chapter 78: The First Round of Performance Assessment – Second Half

Wei Chen did not need to think too deeply about this. The Great Stink of London incident was something he could use as a reference.

It was said that because of the outdated sewer system, the messed up waste management, and many other factors, the Thames River turned into one giant, stinking open sewer. It smelled so horrible that the Parliament of that time was forced to fix it. Even the leisure cruise of the queen had to be canceled.

(Author Note: Great Stink of London – 1858: London’s outdated sewer system dumped waste directly into the River Thames, causing a massive sanitation crisis during a hot summer. The incident did not cause massive deaths from outbreaks, even though people at that time feared it might. In the end, it was simply ’Stink as hell’.)

Now, imagine that incident multiplied by one hundred, or maybe one thousand, and add bubonic plague or cholera into the mix, since the cities in this world are the size of entire countries.

“It would be a mess,” Wei Chen replied to the Lord of Death.

“No,” the Lord of Death shook his head and corrected him. “It would be a disaster, a calamity even.” The Lord of Death thought he had not made his point clear enough, so he continued.

“Even though mortals in this world are stronger than the mortals in your previous world due to the existence of spiritual qi, and even an average mortal without talent in cultivation has their body nourished by it, they are still mortals. They only have a bit more resistance to disease. But if an outbreak were to occur, such as bubonic plague, the death toll might easily exceed the total casualties of the Black Death in your previous world,” Said the Lord of Death.

“Your Honor, you said that it was heritage, but I remember that there are many newly built cities, and there are also coups and changes of power in the regime. If every case is as you say, there would be no newly built cities, and there should not be regime changes if the ones who control the infrastructure were heritage only,” Wei Chen said, giving his opinion.

“That is true. There are newly built cities because some clans have learned how to create such infrastructure. But do not forget, the truly large cities such as the Azure River Capital City are heritage, because the current era cannot replicate the arrays of the Golden Age without array charts or proper guidance.

Also, when there is a regime change, the new regime has often already learned how to control the infrastructure. But do not forget, during any regime change, the ones who are affected the most are always mortals.

Think about it. If a large and powerful clan were to be destroyed, the remaining vested interests would be reshuffled. Those with power would fight to divide the pie, which would lead to more deaths and increase my workload if those who die are experts,” the Lord of Death explained.

“I see…” Wei Chen uttered.

“Back to the topic.” On the screen, the Lord of Death adjusted his posture and then continued.

“Your performance is extraordinary. Ninety out of one hundred. I deducted ten points because you are an idiot.”

Hearing the assessment, Wei Chen could not help but look at the Lord of Death as if looking at a stingy boss.

“Is idiocy one of the KPI?” Wei Chen asked with a bit of jest in his tone. He did not expect an answer and only wanted to vent a little.

“Of course.” The Lord of Death opened his hand as if saying, why are you asking such an obvious question?

Wei Chen’s brow twitched. Somehow, he felt he was being ridiculed, but he could not point it out.

“Let me ask you this.” The Lord of Death started, his right hand supporting his chin. “You have a lot of Underworld Gold Coins. Why did you not use them to buy pills or resources in the redeem shop to upgrade your cultivation? Is it because we did not have a discount on cultivation resources?” the Lord of Death asked, his voice a mix of mockery and admonishment.

Wei Chen’s heart skipped a beat. Yes, one of the main reasons he did not buy the resources was because they did not show up in the discount search results he looked at, and he did not think about specifically searching for them.

Another reason was because his black hole core needed an absurd amount of resources for it to grow, so he was not keen on spending his hard earned UGC to buy cultivation resources at regular price.

“And look at what you bought.” The Lord of Death picked up the paper, looked at it again, and continued.

“Myriad Realms Epiphany Pagoda, Deathless Legion Summoning Decree which you bought at a heavy discount, Indomitable Plunger, a paperweight, and the Desolate Primordial Secret Realm Key. The first one you have not used yet. The second one you cannot cultivate because you need to be at least Nascent Soul Realm, but you do not seem too keen on improving your strength either.” The Lord of Death placed the paper down and looked at Wei Chen through the screen.

“As a boss, I do not want to stick my nose into my employee’s taste, but…” The Lord of Death paused. He looked deeply at Wei Chen. If he had flesh on his face, he would have looked at Wei Chen with a curled lip of disgust.

“But… a plunger… really?”

This sentence made Wei Chen want to dig a hole and hide, but that was only in his mind. Since he had been a nuisance streamer before, shamelessness was one of his strong points, so he only faked a few coughs and acted like nothing happened.

“If this is not idiocy, I do not know what is,” the Lord of Death concluded.

Wei Chen, who felt greatly uncomfortable, tried to adjust his embarrassment level as he took a deep breath.

“Err… Your Honor…” He paused awkwardly. “What about the thing you wanted me to do?” Wei Chen asked, trying to change the subject.

The Lord of Death knew exactly what Wei Chen was trying to do, but he did not point it out. Instead, he massaged his temple a little.

“Now I do not know if I should rely on you for this matter or not,” the Lord of Death said reluctantly.

After a short pause of hesitation, he decided to speak. “It is like this. In this world, there are some people who cheated their death and still linger in the mortal world. For example, the bastards in the scam realm you broadcasted. Those people used that secret realm mainly to avoid our field operatives.

And when they got hold of a new body, they used the soul of the original owner to mask their traces from our detection. If our field agent is not standing directly in front of them within five meters, we would not be able to detect them.

There are also those who hide inside artifacts. Whether they have malicious intent or not, their time has already ended. The longer they linger in the mortal realm, the worse it becomes for the balance of the world, because The Wheel of Samsara will try to stabilize the world itself and cause unnecessary death to those who cannot resist fate, which is mortals. And that will put a strain on our soul management system,” the Lord of Death explained before continuing.

“As an agent of the Underworld, I want you to keep an eye out for me. If you find them, kill them. For each cheated death convict you send my way, I will pay ten times the amount of their cultivation tier. For example, if they are at Nascent Soul, instead of ten thousand, I will pay you one hundred thousand UGC for each cheated death bastard at that realm you send my way.”

“And I assure you, those who can cheat death all have very high cultivation realms.” The Lord of Death spoke with a tone so tempting that Wei Chen felt as if he were hearing a devil whispering a deal to buy his soul.

Hearing the offer, Wei Chen could not help but feel deep regret. He remembered the rush to eradicate the scam realm. Those were all Underworld Gold Coins, and because of that, scam realms had now become as rare as genuine realms.

“Yes… Your Honor, I will keep my eye out,” Wei Chen said with a complicated smile.

“Ok… that is all. I am looking forward to your next performance,” the Lord of Death said, but just before he hung up, Wei Chen raised his hand.

“Err… Your Honor, one moment. I have a few questions.”

The Lord of Death stopped. “Huh? What do you want to ask?”

“First… err… about the value of the soul. You said your work is overloaded because people die en masse, right? Then judging from the penalty tier, it seems that mortal souls do not have much value. I mean… are souls not all the same? Would it not add to your workload the same way?” Wei Chen asked.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep