377: Happy New Life!

A few days later, at the Municipal Hospital.

The life monitor emitted a long, drawn-out "beep," and the curve on the screen flattened into a straight line.

Almost at the exact moment her soul left her body, a white shadow appeared in the hospital room.

It was a delicate-looking Female Ghost Officer with a Bridge of Helplessness staff ID pinned to her chest; her hands were trembling slightly with excitement.

"C-Chief Assistant Lin! This way, please. We'll take the VIP passage." The Female Ghost Officer tried her best to maintain her professionalism, but her glowing eyes betrayed her inner turmoil.

Lin Ran's soul form was still a bit hazy.

Hearing this, she nodded slightly and made a phantom gesture of adjusting her glasses by lifting two fingers to the bridge of her nose.

"VIP passage? Does the Bridge of Helplessness... have such an arrangement? I don't recall seeing any records of this when I was handling soul flow affairs previously."

"You've forgotten!"

The Female Ghost Officer chimed in immediately, her tone growing even more eager. "This was opened last year specifically for 'Special Contributors.' You previously helped us clear hundreds of Wangchuan soul flow congestions and even optimized the Bridge of Helplessness system."

"His Majesty personally authorized this treatment for you."

"I only managed to snag this soul-guiding mission after three rounds of rock-paper-scissors against over twenty colleagues."

Heaven knows how long everyone at the Bridge of Helplessness had been looking forward to this savior's arrival.

Once Lady Meng went into seclusion, the operational efficiency of the entire Bridge of Helplessness plummeted, and the backlog of souls was nearly piling up to the Wangxiang Terrace.

The Female Ghost Officer led the way nimbly, and a special passage emitting a soft white light emerged on the hospital wall.

It was completely different from the Yellow Springs Road where ordinary ghosts had to queue. There were even simple guiding runes on both sides that read: "Internal Passage, No Unauthorized Spirits."

Walking through the passage, Lin Ran looked at the pale gold light patterns beneath her feet and couldn't help but ask, "Is the backlog at the Bridge of Helplessness more serious now than before?"

"When I last handed over my work, there were only about three hundred souls left to process."

"Don't even mention it, Chief Assistant Lin." The Female Ghost Officer's face fell, but she quickly cheered up.

"With Lady Meng in seclusion, there's no one to oversee the soup-brewing process. Many souls find the regular meng pos soup too bitter and refuse to drink it; we spend half the day just trying to persuade them."

"Now the backlog of souls is almost piling up to the second floor of the Wangxiang Terrace. We clerical staff have to work overtime until midnight every day; our eyes are practically crossing from the strain."

The end of the passage connected directly to the back hall of the Bridge of Helplessness Office, where several clerical staff members were already waiting expectantly.

Upon seeing Lin Ran, they immediately swarmed her, all talking at once: "Sister Ran, we've finally been waiting for you."

"If you hadn't come soon, I would have taken the documents to the mortal world to find you myself."

"Waaaah, life has been so hard without Lady Meng. Yesterday, an old soul insisted on seeing his grandson in the mortal world before he'd drink the soup; we spent three hours trying to convince him."

"Sigh, and in this new era, it's not good to be overtly aggressive with them."

Lin Ran looked at the familiar faces before her, her brow furrowing slightly. "Did Sister Meng not appoint a temporary person-in-charge before her seclusion? You've all worked hard."

"She did, but that person doesn't understand coordination as well as you do!"

A staff member wearing round-framed glasses handed over a leather folder. "We've already completed all the procedures for you—special approval for a special case. Here is your new ID badge and Benefits Manual."

Before Lin Ran could adapt to this overly enthusiastic welcome ceremony, a cup of soup was thrust into her hands.

The liquid was iridescent, looking less like meng pos soup and more like some kind of specialty cocktail.

"Come, come, Chief Assistant Lin, drink this bowl of special-edition meng pos soup." A staff member wearing a "Technical Consultant" badge introduced it warmly, and fearing she might hesitate, quickly added:

"Don't worry. This isn't ordinary meng pos soup. It's a recipe personally improved by Meng Jiang. It's not bitter at all, and it has Forget-Sorrow Grass nectar and the Underworld's unique Laurel Dew added to it."

Lin Ran held the warm soup bowl. "I know it preserves memories, but... nourishing the soul body and even increasing cultivation? Are there any side effects?"

"Absolutely none," the Technical Consultant said, thumping his chest.

"Several of us have tested it. I was stuck at the mid-stage of the Fourth Rank for half a year, but after drinking one bowl, I broke through in three days."

"Give it a try. I guarantee that after drinking it, your soul body will be even sturdier than it was in the mortal world."

Looking at the expectant and sincere gazes of her colleagues, Lin Ran tilted her head back and drained the bowl.

As the liquid entered her throat, there was first the sweet taste of nectar, followed by a faint scent of laurel, which then turned into a warm current that swept through her entire being.

Her soul body instantly solidified, the haziness vanished, and even her appearance rapidly restored at a visible rate, returning to her look from her early twenties, in the prime of her life.

She subconsciously touched her smooth, firm cheeks, a flash of surprise crossing her eyes.

[Hmm, the texture feels real. It's much more effective than the skincare products used in the mortal world.]

"How is it, Sister Ran? I didn't lie to you, did I?" The Technical Consultant leaned in, smiling proudly.

"Do you feel like your soul body is much lighter now, and even your thoughts are clearer?"

Lin Ran nodded, and just as she was about to say thanks, her wrist was grabbed.

"Hey, don't just stand there dazed, Sister Ran." The Female Ghost Officer who had guided her earlier excitedly tugged her toward the exit of the office. "Let's go, let's go! I'll take you somewhere great."

"Wait..."

Lin Ran stumbled as she was pulled along and hurriedly steadied herself. "Don't you all... have to work? Didn't you just say there's a huge backlog of souls?"

"Oh, it's fine." Another staff member waved their hand dismissively, still clutching a small Soul Crystal Pouch. "Now that you're back, Sister Ran, our efficiency is definitely going to skyrocket."

"This little bit of backlog can be cleared with just a bit of overtime tomorrow. Today, several of us clerical staff took half a day off to welcome you back."

"Exactly! Chief Assistant Lin, you don't know yet, do you?"

"The Succubus Bar has a new product out today called 'worry-dispelling brew.' It uses essence extracted from Wangchuan water as a base and has flower of the other shore nectar added; drinking it lets you temporarily forget your troubles."

"Many ghost officers already made plans to go."

Lin Ran paused, a bit hesitant. "The Succubus Bar? Aren't there a lot of rules there?"

"Like not being allowed to use Soul Arts inside or something?"

"Oh, those are the old rules." The Female Ghost Officer explained with a laugh. "The bar has changed its rules now. As long as you don't cause trouble, you can do whatever you want."

"There are even little performances by the succubus ladies today, like using Soul Fire to conjure black silk stockings—it's quite a sight."

Chattering and laughing, the group crowded around Lin Ran, who still hadn't fully grasped the situation, and headed toward the most bustling part of the Underworld Market.

Sandwiched in the middle, Lin Ran listened to the chirping discussions around her.

They talked about everything from the taste of "worry-dispelling brew" to the bar's new decorations and which succubus lady made the best drinks, their eyes crinkling with smiles.

[It seems... things aren't too bad.]

Meanwhile, in the back hall of Meng Pos Shop.

Shang Wan Ning, Ling Qi, and Chen Yu were crouched in a decorated room, holding confetti poppers and staring in unison at the door.

On the table sat an exquisite cream cake with "Happy New Life" written on it in jam; Shang Wan Ning had swallowed her pride to ask Granny Snail for advice for half a day just to make it.