New Times, New Hell

Chapter 70 - Difficulties With Promotion

After fixing the bugs for death replacement and similar fate switching methods, the Life Management app’s internal testing was completely finished. It became officially released to Underworld citizens: every spirit who hadn’t reincarnated yet could freely download this app. Overnight, the download amount increased rapidly, causing the server to enter a state of emergency.

Due to the fact that the energy for Luofeng’s servers came from Shang Que’s power and faith from worshippers in the mortal realm, when the server reached its limit, all of Luofeng’s employees trembled in fear. They were scared that once the Ghost King felt that he didn’t have enough energy, he would capture a few sturdily built ghosts to eat as nutrient replenishment.

Kang Jin also nervously fixed his wig several times, terrified that he, the one who had been revealed to be bald, would be the first to get sacrificed.

This wasn’t the first time Yu Zhengdu was witnessing how scared of Shang Que the company’s employees were. He only felt that their attitudes were sometimes cute to the point of being comical. He thought about it and decided that he should probably go pay a visit to Boss. Thus, he stood up and walked towards Shang Que’s office.

The door to Shang Que’s office was half open. Yu Zhengdu knocked a few times, but no one answered. As such, he gently pushed it open. But as soon as he popped his head in, he saw Shang Que sitting in front of his computer, slightly hunched over. His head was very close to the screen, almost as if he were nearsighted. A pair of headphones also covered his ears.

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Looking at this posture and pose, could it be that he was gaming again?

Just as he was in the middle of his confusion, he saw Shang Que narrow his eyes and read very seriously, “Abandon, a-b-a-n-d-o-n, abandon——”

Yu Zhengdu: “……??”

Was Shang Que memorizing English vocab?

For a moment, Yu Zhengdu was so shocked he froze in place. Shang Que discovered him in his peripheral vision too. He hurriedly leaned back and straightened up, returning to his normal, elegant appearance. With a fake relaxed tone, he continued, “It would irresponsible me not advise Pany abandon this project.”

After reading this, Shang Que finally slowly lifted his head and took off his headphones, almost as if nothing had happened. He said, “Come in and sit.”

Yu Zhengdu barely managed to regain his wits. He, too, acted like this was normal. Keeping up a casual pretense, he asked, “Boss, learning English?”

“Recently, it’s gotten a bit difficult to read the financial news,” Shang Que nodded. He continued with a deep expression, “As the boss of a contemporary company, in order to carry our company further, it’s necessary to have better English.”

Yu Zhengdu immediately became respectful. He nodded in agreement. “Boss is right. Globalization is the biggest trend in the world right now. Though we’re an Underworld company, that doesn’t mean that we won’t have to receive immigrant ghosts in the future. It truly is very necessary to start learning other languages.”

As he spoke, he sat down. “……Oh right. I heard that the foreign game really popular right now hasn’t released a Chinese version yet?”

Shang Que reflexively replied. His tone even seemed a bit pleased, “That’s right. It hasn’t been brought in yet, and it would be a bit difficult to create a Chinese version. However, I’ve already learned the most important words……”

He was already halfway through before suddenly coming to a realization. As soon as he looked up, he – as expected – saw that Yu Zhengdu’s entire face was in a “=.=”.

Shang Que: “……I learned it offhandedly while learning finance English.”

Yu Zhengdu had only been trying to trick him. Upon seeing how nervous the other was, he couldn’t help laughing, “I trust you.”

Shang Que sighed in relief. After, he finally asked, “What are you here for?”

“Uh——” Yu Zhengdu observed his current state, then shared everyone’s worries, “I just wanted to ask if you’re hungry or not?”

Shang Que’s gaze suddenly became cocky for an instant. “Why? You want to eat with me again?”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” Don’t know if this was the wrong impression, but he seemed to feel that the word “again” had been used very interestingly?

He was a bit confused, but ultimately decided to place everyone’s worries first. He said, “If you want to eat together, that’s fine too. However, you probably won’t order in the company, right?”

Shang Que was bewildered. “What do you mean ‘order in the company’?”

Yu Zhengdu carefully picked out his words before slowly stating the truth, “&#k2026;&#k2026;Just, right now, everyone is very worried about your energy levels.”

Shang Que was silent for a moment. Abruptly, he chuckled softly. “Seems to me like they’re very worried about themselves being plated and served for lunch.”

Yu Zhengdu stared at him calmly. Upon seeing how speechless he looked with his gaze lowered, he suddenly started laughing. He said, “Don’t be angry ah, I know you don’t eat ghosts.”

Shang Que immediately looked up. He looked slightly surprised. “You know?”

As soon as he said this, he also realized that he had exposed something. He changed his story, “Why do you think that?”

“I’m able to tell……” Yu Zhengdu held out his hands.

Though there had always been legends of the Ghost King eating ghosts in the Underworld, in actuality, from the time that he had entered Luofeng to now, Shang Que hadn’t eaten a single ghost.

Shang Que was in charge of all the spirits of the Underworld. If he really had such a diet, there probably would’ve been a “50 Ways to Eat Spirits” released long ago.

Shang Que’s gaze became temporarily conflicted. It was hard to tell what he was thinking.

Yu Zhengdu didn’t keep asking either. He fixed his posture and sincerely asked, “So how do you feel? The app just got released a few days ago. The download rates are at their highest. This is a big challenge to the server. I’m actually very worried about you.”

Shang Que calmly stared at him. He suddenly patted Yu Zhengdu’s hands and comforted, “I’m fine. You don’t need to worry.”

He paused, then changed his mind. “……Actually, a little bit of worry is okay too.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” Always feel like Boss has been speaking really weirdly recently. Like there’s a hidden meaning in his words.

He was slightly perplexed in his mind. Right in the middle of his pondering, he saw Shang Que prop his chin up and speak in a confused tone, “But speaking of, my magic really has been changing these days……”

In an instant, Yu Zhengdu no longer had the energy to think about anything else. He hurriedly asked, nervous, “What changes? Has it gotten weaker?”

The Life and Death Accounts had an enormous need for server capacity. In the initial stages of its development, the question everyone had been most worried about was that Shang Que’s power would decline because of this. As such, from the start, Yu Zhengdu had very carefully calculated the server’s capacity. But nothing could be absolute, after all……

“No,” Shang Que slowly started. “It’s gotten stronger.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……Such a good thing exists?”

“It is very strange.” Shang Que was very confused too.

Ever since the collapse of the Heavens and Earth, along with the decrease of energy in the mortal realm, faith had greatly dwindled. Technically, everybody’s magic would only slowly diminish. The best circumstance would be that it would remain constant. However, starting from a short while ago, Shang Que had suddenly noticed that his magic seemed to be gradually increasing again. And, as time went by, this sensation became more and more noticeable.

“Speaking of, this feeling is the same as when the mortal realm still worshipped me thousands of years ago……” Shang Que fell into deep thought. “Could it be that people are secretly worshipping me again?”

A long time after he spoke, Yu Zhengdu still didn’t respond. Thus, he glanced up at the other, only to see a thoughtful expression on his face. Yu Zhengdu handed his phone over. “There are people worshipping you, but not religiously. More like adoration and respect……”

Shang Que looked at Yu Zhengdu’s phone. On the screen, Shang Que’s personal Weibo could be seen. It was open to the comment section of one of his “business” selfies.

【CEO’s face is too beautiful. I respect】

【Handsomeness is justice! Handsomeness is justice! I will always love CEO!】

【This female worshipper is willing to be vegetarian for life as long as CEO operates his account everyday!】

Shang Que: “……”

Shang Que slowly said, “No wonder my magic experiences strange fluctuations after each time I post selfies……”

Yu Zhengdu: “Seems like, as long as your face doesn’t crack, our server won’t collapse.”

He heaved a long sigh of relief and lamented, “This is true online popularity. In all regards!”

Shang Que: “……”

At the same time that the Life Management app became officially released, Luofeng also trained a special, professional, promotional team. This team would have roadshows promoting the mobile app at each reincarnation point. One goal was to promote the benefits of the app to the majority of Underworld users so that everyone would actively download it. Another was to give live lectures about what the app’s functions were and how to use them. This would help answer any questions anyone had, and also increase the speed at which self-service reincarnation could be completely and seriously facilitated.

As the core developers of the app, Zhao Ruola and Yu Zhengdu both attended several different business trips with their respective teams. Through this, they could gain a better understanding of how the spirits of different locations were using the app and consequently resolve any and all sudden mishaps.

As the company’s CEO, Shang Que also displayed a never-before-seen amount of responsibility. He took the initiative to join Yu Zhengdu’s team and personally partook in the roadshows of many different cities to understand their situations. His hands-on attitude made ghosts feel admiration for him.

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que shuttled between the reincarnation points for several major cities. The acceptance process for the app in most cities was fine; in particular, the reincarnation countdown notifications and reincarnation point mapping service received great reviews. Everyone instantly expressed that with help from these two functions, they could manage their time prior to reincarnation more substantially and reasonably.

There were also some reincarnation points who started organizing the immensely popular “Good Ghost Good Deeds Month” under the influence of the concept behind the Good and Evil Scores. This activity was designed to impel all spirits to frequently do good deeds during their time as ghosts. If they got into the habit of doing good things, it might become instinct even after reincarnation. In the next life, they would be able to become good people, creating a positive feedback loop.

Ultimately, this activity did, in fact, end successfully. Apparently, there was a spirit who was renowned to be stubbornly lazy in a certain city. After being a beast for two lifetimes and getting killed tragically in both lifetimes, he finally decided, with great pain, to attend the “Good Ghost Good Deeds” mandatory training. Later, he once again reincarnated into a little piglet. Barely a month after birth, when his owner herded him out for free-ranging, he coincidentally encountered an evil person attempting to kidnap his owner’s child. The instinct in the little piglet’s spirit became triggered. Disregarding the fact that he was only a little piglet, he bravely charged forward and butted the evil person away, also garnering his owner’s attention to come save the child.

Because of this incident, the little piglet instantly transformed from a meat pig into a pet pig. Ever since, he started living a blissful life in his owners’ home, escaping from the fate of once again being ruthlessly slaughtered.

Similar stories spread through the Underworld, causing more and more ghosts to join the spirit reformation plan. They worked hard to accomplish getting assigned to better reincarnation paths. This created a noticeable improvement in the lawfulness of society in both the Underworld and mortal realm.

In such a positive atmosphere, Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que reached the last stop of this round of roadshows——Minan Reincarnation Point.

Minan was one of the more old-fashioned cities in the country. There were relatively few local resources for development, so as a whole, the economy wasn’t that great. In the past few decades, the outflow of young people had been severe. The majority of those that remained were left-behind children and elders. This population had a relatively low acceptance rate for new things, especially new technology. The spirits in this region were the same. Currently, this region was the one where promotion was getting along slowest for the Life Management App.

“Right now, the app’s download rate for all of Minan and the surrounding areas is less than 60%. One reason is because most of the spirits here are still using keypad phones and weren’t able to switch to smartphones in time. Another is that many people believe the original text message notifications for reincarnation were fine. To have to download an app and check the information themselves, they think it’s too troublesome.” The person in charge of the Minan reincarnation point, Bai Zhinan, explained to Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que about the problems they had encountered during app promotion in Minan.

Yu Zhengdu nodded, completely unsurprised. “This is very normal. Many administrative bodies of varying locations encounter difficulties with rejection when they release new services or systems. If the target population is comparably older in age and more stubborn, this rejection will be more serious.”

Aside from the local societal problems in Minan, the folk culture had also always been a bit resistant. Even most technology companies of the mortal realm encountered several problems when they tried to promote new products in Minan.

Shang Que asked, “Have you attempted any corresponding plans to resolve this?”

Bai Zhinan: “My coworkers at the reincarnation point are in the middle of coming up with solutions. Currently, we’re considering holding an event where we give away sacrificial offerings for each app download. The rules limit participants to spirits who were already past sixty at their time of death. After downloading the app, they can come to the reincarnation point and receive a sacrificial offering. This is borrowing from the methodology that some mortal companies use. Don’t many companies give gifts or discounts for users who verify their accounts when they’re promoting an app? I noticed that the results are pretty good. Only, we would need funds to give away sacrificial offerings. I was just about to submit a request to headquarters……”

“That won’t do.” Yu Zhengdu waved his hand. “Giving gifts could stimulate a certain amount of downloads, but their activity on the app later probably wouldn’t be very high. Besides, our targeted audience isn’t the same as those from mortal companies. Right now, the majority of our users are all people who are older in age. If we’re unable to develop app usage into a habit for them and only get them to download it, that wouldn’t be very meaningful.”

Shang Que made a noise of acknowledgement too. “And, if we start giving download users sacrificial offerings in Minan, the users in other cities will definitely be displeased. By then, we wouldn’t have solved the problem. Instead, there would likely be an even bigger conflict.”

Yu Zhengdu nodded. “That’s the idea.”

Bai Zhinan had originally thought that he had come up with a good plan. Upon hearing this, he immediately deflated. “Then what can we do?”

Yu Zhengdu smiled and placated him, “Don’t worry too much. We can think of something together.”

In the middle of their meeting, a worker from the reincarnation point abruptly rushed in. He said, “Boss, Bai ge, something’s happened.”

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que turned around to look at him. Bai Zhinan stood up. With furrowed brows, he asked, “What?”

That ghost said, “The local news just came out with a report saying that a third grader at Minan Elementary tripped a while back and could suddenly remember her past lifetime after that.”

Bai Zhinan was shocked. He hurriedly asked, “Where’s the report? Let me see.”

The worker handed a copy of the newspaper over. Additionally, he provided the link to the online report.

Yu Zhengdu glanced at Shang Que. The two of them picked up their phones and typed in a search for related news.

Minan Daily: Strange News: Third Grader From Minan Elementary Remembers Past Life After Tripping!

Yu Zhengdu looked over the report carefully. It said that a student at Minan Elementary tripped a few days ago, resulting in a concussion. After treatment, she seemed to be able to remember part of her past life. She claimed to be an old person, Wang Chunping, who had died over a decade ago in a village in their neighboring city. She was also able to accurately describe certain things from that village during that time, and also said that she had a son who worked out of town.

After the reporter from Minan Daily telegrammed the villagers from that village, she found that the contents described by the child matched what the villagers remembered almost exactly. Additionally, there truly was an old woman named Wang Chunping who had died over a decade ago in that village. Wang Chunping also had a son who had always worked out of town.

According to this student’s parents, their child had never been to the village in the neighboring city. They also didn’t know a Wang Chunping. Theoretically, there was no possibility that the child could’ve learned about her from any other source. Even if she had merely heard about Wang Chunping, it would also be impossible for her to have such a detailed account.

Later on, the reporter contacted Wang Chunping’s son. After the other heard about this, he also found it quite mystifying. It must be known that his mother had already been dead for over a decade. Even he couldn’t clearly remember some of these things.

As such, how the child could’ve learned about these things became a mystery. Unfortunately, the child herself also didn’t remember everything. She could only recount a few segments. This wasn’t convincing enough to determine that these were actually Wang Chunping’s memories.

Even so, simply the first part of the news report was enough to create an urban legend in Minan. Consequently, as soon as the newspaper got published, everyone started discussing this story. The student’s parents were also very annoyed. Apparently, that student was currently throwing tantrums every day, saying she wanted to see her son. But she couldn’t remember everything clearly. Thus, she could only stay home from school during this time.

After reading the report, Shang Que instantly contacted Kang Jin through Wechat and asked him to check on the records of this student’s past life using the backend server of the Life and Death Accounts.

Kang Jin very quickly replied, confirming that the elementary school student was truly Wang Chunping’s reincarnation.

Yu Zhengdu appeared fascinated. He said, “I used to see these types of stories online all the time, but I always thought that they were written by liars or crazy people.”

Shang Que: “Some are lies and some are by crazy people, but the ones that are able to detail the life of someone completely unrelated to them with such accuracy, those are normally real.”

Actually, since historic times, it was quite common for spirits to reincarnate still with the memories of their past lives, or for people to suddenly remember their past lives after reincarnation. Many related records could be found after casually flipping through the classics.

Yu Zhengdu asked, “So what happens after such an incident occurs?”

Allowing a human to carry the memories of their past life could seriously disrupt the order of society. Not only was it a challenge to the basic concepts of human society, taking a step back, it could also reveal the secret of the Underworld and reincarnation. This was a ticking bomb for both the Underworld and mortal realm.

“Regarding this, Hell has never had a really good solution,” Shang Que said in exasperation. “After spirits reincarnate, they become part of the mortal realm, meaning they are no longer under the jurisdiction of Hell. The Underworld is no longer able to force them to do anything.”

But it was also impossible to just completely ignore such incidents. In the past, Hell would usually negotiate with the other, requiring them to keep the secret. They weren’t allowed to tell anyone about the restricted events of their past life, and also weren’t allowed to contact anyone they had known in their past life. They would be forced to live on with their new identity, all the way until the end of their lifetime.

Yu Zhengdu: “What if they’re unable to?”

Shang Que glanced at him and calmly said, “Chicken warning.”

The author has something to say:

Xiaokui: Using my face to generate power.