40: Mountain God Festival (End)

Bai Xuan reached out with practiced ease, accurately hooking Old Man Gu's soul.

Meanwhile, Hei Jing steadily held onto the Ghost Nightmare.

"Hey, Brother Xuan, how about we grab some barbecue first?" Hei Jing suggested.

"No problem. We'll have plenty of energy to deal with them properly after eating and drinking our fill."

Bai Xuan readily agreed.

...

Jiang Yi and the others, carrying the bodies, hurried to the mountain god temple.

The buzzing sound of a helicopter approached. Lin Ran led the way, not in police uniform but wearing a white shirt and black trousers, looking dashing and spirited as she descended from the helicopter with Nie Xingyuan.

Nie Xingyuan was a man of few words and remained silent after disembarking.

Seeing her superior in the shadows being so unreliable, Lin Ran couldn't help but inwardly curl her lip. However, a professional smile quickly appeared on her face.

"Everyone has worked hard! Leave the follow-up matters to us. Please rest assured."

Star unhesitatingly walked straight past Nie Xingyuan, quickly approached Lin Ran, handed her the camera, and asked urgently, "Chief Assistant Lin! Does the BOSS have any other instructions?".

Lin Ran was slightly taken aback. After a brief hesitation, she firmly grasped the camera.

"Not at the moment... However, a specialized team of ghost envoys responsible for escort will ensure your safe return to City C."

"Chief Assistant Lin! Are there any survivors left in Jiang Family Town?" Jiang Yi set down the girl's body, his crimson eyes fixed on Lin Ran.

Lin Ran furrowed her brows slightly, a trace of concern appearing on her face. "The vast majority of the townspeople are safe and sound. They were merely sleeping in the cellar on the back mountain."

"But tragically, all unmarried women between the ages of 18 and 28 perished without exception!"

Jiang Yi's mood was exceptionally agitated. He roughly grabbed at his own hair, seemingly trying to alleviate the inner turmoil. "Could you please tell me what caused all this? Chief Assistant Lin."

Nie Xingyuan, standing to the side, appeared calm and composed, rubbing the string of Taoist beads on his wrist with an inscrutable expression.

"Young man, knowing too much about some things isn't necessarily good, especially things beyond your own capabilities!"

He then added, "Just treat it as a terrible nightmare. When you wake up, try to forget all the unpleasantness you've experienced during this time."

Star keenly caught the underlying implication in Section Chief Nie's words.

Just as he was about to turn to look at Jiang Yi, he suddenly realized with surprise that Yun Song had somehow already stealthily walked up behind Jiang Yi and knocked him out with a blow.

Then, Yun Song picked up the unconscious Jiang Yi.

Lin Ran watched Du Wenqing with great interest. "Miss Du, would you be interested in joining the Xia Country Special Affairs Bureau?"

"Your cultivation talent is exceptionally good!"

Du Wenqing steeled herself and asked, "Chief Assistant Lin, how could you tell?"

"It's the newly developed aptitude detection watch from the Special Affairs Bureau!"

"Miss Du, your aptitude is off the charts. The watch has been vibrating non-stop, alerting me." Lin Ran explained with a smile, a flicker of cunning in her eyes as she raised her right wrist wearing the watch and shook it towards Du Wenqing.

Du Wenqing's heart stirred; this was a great opportunity. "If I join the Special Affairs Bureau, can I work in the underworld?"

"Of course you can!"

"Is it a permanent position?"

"Yes! Five insurances and one housing fund plus social security. The annual take-home salary is 280,000."

"What if I'm a graduate student?"

"Special cases are treated specially. Of course, Miss Du's situation qualifies too!" Lin Ran smiled brightly, her gaze sharp as she looked at Du Wenqing, afraid she might refuse.

"Then I'm willing to join." Du Wenqing replied very straightforwardly.

After all, these days, it's incredibly difficult to land a permanent position! Even graduate students might not find satisfactory jobs. But if something happens while working in the underworld, after death, one can still have a permanent position in the Netherworld, with no worries about work or money!

"It's an honor! Welcome to the Special Affairs Bureau." Nie Xingyuan nodded with satisfaction and shook Du Wenqing's hand.

"Hehe... another cultivation genius recruited!"

At that moment, Yun Song walked over carrying Jiang Yi. "Section Chief Nie, what about me?"

"Uh... no! The Special Affairs Bureau can't poach people from the Taoist Association."

Yun Song's disappointment was visible. "Can't even earn some extra money. Only 1,500 per assignment each month."

"Don't even have money for cosplay!"

"Actually, a non-permanent position isn't bad either! Five insurances and one housing fund plus social security! A guaranteed base of 4,500 per month. How about it?" Lin Ran suddenly thought of this and quickly said.

"Yes, yes! I'm very much on board!" Yun Song nodded repeatedly, hurriedly agreeing.

Star excitedly raised his hand. "What about me!"

Nie Xingyuan's face instantly darkened. Without a word, he grabbed Star and threw him towards the invisible ghost envoy, shouting, "Off you go!"

"Oh my goodness, I don't want to dance on the King of Hell's head, poaching people from the BOSS. I'm afraid for my life!"

Lin Ran nodded with lingering fear, addressing the 1408 Ghost Envoy Squad: "I'll treat you all to some incense offerings another day, top-grade calming incense."

"Great! We didn't hear anything." With that, the Ghost Envoy Squad happily dragged the four people away.

"Hey, hey... I was just joking."

...

Early morning, the east gradually revealed the pale light of dawn, letting through faint traces of light.

The tense atmosphere in the room seemed to have just subsided a little.

"How about we call you Granny Snail!" Ling Qi plopped down on the sofa, swinging her high heels.

Jiang Yi's living room was crowded with ghost envoys, each holding a soul-hooking chain, all uniformly aimed at the Old Granny Ghost.

Seeing this formation, even as a third-tier blue-clothed ghost with nearly three hundred years of cultivation, the Old Granny Ghost couldn't help but shiver.

"New era, new style! The underworld also has rules. This Old Woman has been a ghost for so long but has never harmed a single living person." The Grandma was so frightened she could barely hold the spatula in her hand.

"Don't panic, don't panic!" Ling Qi leisurely scrolled through her phone, which displayed information about the Old Granny Ghost that You Wu had looked up.

"Tian Chunhua, born 1784, died 1856. All your descendants perished due to war, after which your grave became solitary. The Jiang family ancestral graves are adjacent to yours, so every year during the Ghost Festival, the Jiang descendants would also burn paper money for you by the way. This custom continued until Jiang Yi's grandfather."

"After the Spiritual Energy Revival, you gradually realized Jiang Family Town was becoming a ghost domain, so you decided to repay the kindness and protect the Jiang family. Is what I said true?"

The Grandma nodded repeatedly. "Exactly!"

"In that case, sign this!" Ling Qi took an employment contract from a ghost envoy and handed it to the Grandma.

The Grandma took a glance, thinking it was an enslavement contract. Looking more carefully, oh ho, it was actually a job with fantastic benefits!

"This... this is really for me?" The Grandma felt like a huge pie had fallen from the sky.

"The matter of Jiang Family Town is resolved. Staying in the Jiang household isn't good for the living, so why not change jobs? Don't be Granny Snail anymore; the underworld pays for work." Ling Qi said while handing the Grandma a sweet date, not forgetting to brandish the stick. "If you don't sign..."

"No, no, no, this Old Woman will sign, I... my cooking skills are excellent, I can definitely be the BOSS's personal imperial chef!"

The Old Granny Ghost quickly took the pen and signed her name.