New Times, New Hell

Chapter 77 - It Might Be Me

In that moment, Yu Zhengdu finally realized what the strange feeling that had been in his heart all along was.

Instantly, he understood the reasoning behind all of Shang Que’s strange past behaviors.

No wonder why Shang Que would obviously act in an ambiguous manner from time to time but not seem like he intended to woo anyone at all.

So it turns out that Shang Que had always thought I was pursuing him?

Yu Zhengdu temporarily froze on the spot because of this revelation. It took a long time for him to regain his wits. He stiffly turned his head to look at Shang Que.

Shang Que’s expression was reserved. Upon noticing his gaze, he finally reluctantly waved his hand and said, “I said I would consider it. You don’t need to be so anxious.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

He wasn’t! He hadn’t!

After Shang Que finished speaking, he seemed to think that he had acted too arrogantly. He worried that this would negatively impact Yu Zhengdu’s determination. Thus, he lowered his voice and carefully hinted, “……I believe that you have quite a high probability for success. No need to worry.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

As straight as he was, he could now tell that Shang Que was anticipating this a lot!

At a time like this, if he told Shang Que that he actually didn’t have such intentions……would he get thrown back into the Hungry Ghost Path forever?

Yu Zhengdu very diligently pondered for a bit. He finally mustered up the courage – as a righteous, heterosexual male, he shouldn’t trick Boss into having feelings for him. Even under the threat of becoming a chicken, he still needed to tell the truth.

He inhaled deeply and made to speak. At this time, Shang Que finally couldn’t take it anymore. He pushed Yu Zhengdu. “Hurry and resurrect already. You need to be nice and healthy in order to confess to me.”

Yu Zhengdu: “Boss, hear me out……”

Unfortunately, he ultimately didn’t get to finish speaking because his spirit had already fallen back into his physical body.

When the spirit left the body, it was like falling into an elaborate dream. During resurrection, everything experienced in the Underworld was just like a dream, disappearing in an instant.

After Yu Zhengdu re-opened his eyes, he only felt like his brain was a pile of mush. His entire being felt muddled. It took a lot of time for him to come back to his senses.

“What’s wrong with me?” Yu Zhengdu slightly propped his head up and asked blearily.

Shang Que sat down beside him and helped him up. He said, “Your spirit got called away by Jiang. You took a trip to the Hungry Ghost Path.”

“Ah, right.” Yu Zhengdu only barely remembered what had happened in the moment prior to losing consciousness. He angrily cussed Jiang out, then squeezed his own body. After confirming that he was as healthy as before, he finally heaved a sigh of relief. With furrowed brows, he asked, “What happened in the Hungry Ghost Path again?”

Shang Que very naturally half-cradled him, then patiently recounted the occurrences in the Hungry Ghost Path in detail.

Those experiences seemed like shattered fragments of a dream to Yu Zhengdu. Originally, he had a faint and blurry recollection of everything. But after hearing someone speak of the details, he could finally piece everything together again to recover his memories.

Following Shang Que’s retelling, Yu Zhengdu slowly remembered most of everything that had happened while he had been a spirit.

“So what is Jiang’s true identity?” Yu Zhengdu’s expression was solemn. “He has the power to open the Hungry Ghost Path and raise Heinous Ghosts in it. That’s the setting a big boss would have.”

“There are very few people who have the ability to do those things, even less since the Heavens and earth collapsed.” Shang Que lowered his gaze. “I can approximately guess who he is.”

Yu Zhengdu: “Who?”

Shang Que laughed softly, tone slightly mocking. “An old friend.”

Yu Zhengdu fell silent for a moment. Suspiciously, he asked in response, “Old friend?”

Shang Que casually changed his description, “Old ghost friend.”

Yu Zhengdu finally nodded in satisfaction. “We’re still quite careful.”

Shang Que lowly said, “If it really is him, it won’t be so easy to catch him.”

Yu Zhengdu asked, worried, “Then can you handle him?”

Shang Que side-eyed Yu Zhengdu. “Why do you think he only dares to act behind my back instead of facing me head-on?”

Yu Zhengdu fell silent for a moment. Very sensibly, he hugged Shang Que’s arm and praised, “Hurrah for Boss.”

After being hugged by him, Shang Que’s face slightly flushed red, but he didn’t reject the touch. Instead, he used this opportunity to lean over a bit more, then gently embraced Yu Zhengdu quickly. “This time, he’s suffered a great setback. He probably won’t show himself again until much later. However, to be safe, it’d be best if you didn’t stray too far from me in the future.”

Yu Zhengdu had originally acted in a bro-like manner, but after being wrapped in Shang Que’s arms instead, he finally discovered that their posture seemed a bit overly intimate.

Yu Zhengdu slightly furrowed his brows. The things his class group chat had said appeared in his mind at this very opportune time. In addition to the fact that he vaguely remembered how strangely worried Shang Que had been in the Hungry Ghost Path, the warning bells went off very loudly in his heart.

He thought about it before tentatively saying, “Boss, you’re honestly treating me too kindly. If not for the fact that you look so much like a straight man, I would suspect that you’re interested in me!”

“I’ve never been in a relationship before, so don’t know if I’m straight or not.” Shang Que thought about it, then comforted, “You don’t need to be so worried either. I believe I might not be super straight.”

Yu Zhengdu: !!!! Could Boss be implying something?

Shang Que noticed his shocked expression, so coughed softly. He very generously stated, “As for my feelings towards you……If believing that makes you happier, then you can continue believing it.”

Yu Zhengdu: ?????

Wait a moment, what was Boss actually talking about? Why did he suddenly not understand?

Yu Zhengdu gazed at Shang Que, perplexed. He wondered if he should ask the other to translate what he had just said?

At this moment, Bai Zhinan and the Minan reincarnation point workers noticed the disturbance in this area. They walked in together. Upon seeing that Yu Zhengdu was awake, all of them exhaled in relief.

Bai Zhinan wiped his forehead and said, “Yu ge, it’s fantastic that you’re fine.”

Yu Zhengdu nodded. “I’ve worried you guys.”

Bai Zhinan then asked Yu Zhengdu what had happened to him. Shang Que gave a brief summary of what had happened in the Hungry Ghost Path. Bai Zhinan sighed as he listened. He lamented, “Since historical times, the Hungry Ghost Path has always been disregarded by the three realms. No one has ever paid attention to the beings in it. Who would’ve thought that such a large incident would’ve occurred.”

Shang Que: “The world has changed is all.”

Though the Hungry Ghost Path had never been viewed with great importance, in the past eras, when numerous extremely capable masters lived, as soon as a blade of grass shifted in the Hungry Ghost Path, it would be detected fairly early on. It was only because currently, the Heavens and Hell had collapsed, leaving no energy remaining in the mortal realm, that evildoers could take advantage of this opportunity.

Bai Zhinan revealed a worried expression. “According to the meaning behind Ghost Mother’s words, doesn’t that mean that there are still several evil ghosts in the Hungry Ghost Path who have kept their memories? I fear that more Heinous Ghosts will appear in the future……”

Yu Zhengdu waved his hands. “We’re planning on reorganizing the Hungry Ghost Path. Later on, we’ll enter the Hungry Ghost Path’s data into the Life and Death Accounts system. The debugging system will automatically delete those viral memories.”

Because of the magical borders with the mortal realm, previously, the Hungry Ghost Path had been like an exiled island: it hadn’t been included in Luofeng’s systems. After this encounter, Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que both realized that the borders could segregate humans and ghosts, but couldn’t prevent true evil from entering.

Bai Zhinan: “……”

He suddenly slightly sympathized with that Jiang. After working so hard and creating such an elaborate plan, expending who knows how much energy to raise those Heinous Ghosts, everything had been deleted by only a line of code from Yu Zhengdu.

Who knew how angry Jiang would be after finding out about this.

“Also, we’re planning on building some basic structures and starting some classes on morality in the Hungry Ghost Path,” Yu Zhengdu continued.

Bai Zhinan: “……Ah?”

He had been a ghost for so many years, but this was his first time hearing anyone speak about educating the Hungry Ghost Path. His first reaction was to think that these hungry ghosts had all been great sinners in their past lives. Theoretically, they weren’t worth it……

However, after hearing Yu Zhengdu’s gourmet food plan, Bai Zhinan: “……”

Having hungry ghosts attend lessons regarding gourmet food – was this even an ordinary education? This was purely a type of torture, right?

But he had to admit that this was possibly the most suitable type of education for the Hungry Ghost Path.

In the end, Bai Zhinan could only stutter out in agreement, “That is a good plan.”

Yu Zhengdu lamented, “At the end of the day, we still need to pay more attention to those groups at the edges of civilization and guide them. Otherwise, it’s very easy for them to become unstable factors.”

Bai Zhinan: “……Right.”

Shang Que then relayed some of his ideas and plans for the management of the Hungry Ghost Path in the future. At the end, he ordered, “The Hungry Ghost Path is primarily overlayed with Minan. The following events can be taken care of by you and the Ghost Mother of Xi Mountain.”

Bai Zhinan used a notebook to write down all these important points. He nodded and said, “Got it.”

After Shang Que finished sharing the work plans for the Hungry Ghost Path, Bai Zhinan said, “Yu ge just resurrected. If there’s nothing else to do, I’ll leave first. I don’t want to disturb Yu ge’s rest.”

Shang Que nodded. Bai Zhinan made to leave, but Shang Que suddenly remembered something. He reached out with his hand and stopped the other. “Oh, right. Send a notification to all the company’s employees for me too.”

Bai Zhinan: “What notification?”

Shang Que named a date, then said, “On this day, every employee in the company gets a day off.”

Bai Zhinan paused temporarily. The date Shang Que had given wasn’t a holiday. He honestly couldn’t tell why they were getting a day off. Additionally, that date was very far away from today’s date. Even if he were giving everyone a holiday, he didn’t need to notify them so early, right?

Bai Zhinan was honestly confused. He couldn’t help asking, “Is there something special about this day? Why do we get a holiday?”

“It’ll become special when that day comes.” Shang Que revealed a slightly pleased expression, then glanced at Bai Zhinan. “Or is it that you guys don’t want a holiday?”

“We do, we do,” Bai Zhinan hurriedly replied. Who wouldn’t want a free holiday? Though he didn’t understand what Boss’s “special” meant, he was extremely terrified that Shang Que would take back his words. Thus, he didn’t dare to keep asking. “I’ll go send the notification right now.”

After Bai Zhinan exited the room, Shang Que was just about to tell Yu Zhengdu to rest some more when he turned around and was met with Yu Zhengdu’s perplexed face.

Yu Zhengdu was extremely confused. “Boss, why are you suddenly giving everyone a day off?” And on a day so far off in the future?

Shang Que’s gaze was distant. In an inadvertent manner, he said, “I’m not specially making time for you. I’m just hoping that you’ll be able to relax a bit and won’t be so anxious.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” Why was Boss saying stuff that he didn’t understand again?

“Rest well.” Shang Que pressed him down and said, “I’m going to go take care of the Hungry Ghost Path stuff. Let’s eat together later.”

He stood up, pondered a bit, then added, “Also, your classmate’s wedding. I’ll still attend with you as planned.”

Yu Zhengdu: “Oh.”

After Shang Que left, Yu Zhengdu laid in the bed. The more he thought about it, the stranger things seemed. He kept feeling like something had happened while he had been a ghost? Otherwise, why would Shang Que keep implying certain things now that he had woken up?

Yu Zhengdu thought for a long time but couldn’t reach a conclusion. He tossed and turned in bed; in the end, he honestly couldn’t fall asleep, so simply decided to take his phone out and scroll through his messages.

Bai Zhinan had already sent out the holiday notification. Though there was still quite a bit of time before the day off, their company’s group chat had already become filled with cheer.

Kang Jin:【What kind of godly boss is this?! Actually giving us a holiday outside of a federally mandated holiday?!】

Lu Lingxi:【……What are you saying? How could you say Boss is a god? He’s the Ghost King!】

Kang Jin:【What kind of ghostly boss is this? Doesn’t sound like a compliment……】

Zheng Yan:【= = Everytime we see you ghosts chatting, us humans feel great mental pressure】

Zhao Ruola:【Plus one】

Qu Guangzhao:【Why are we getting a day off?!!! Aren’t there enough federally mandated holidays as is?! Us ghosts don’t need so much time off!】

Kang Jin:【Overtime-lover hurry and shut your trap.】

Lu Lingxi:【Exactly. All you need to do is celebrate!】

Coworker A:【Throwing flowers.jpg】

Coworker B, C, D:【Throwing flowers.jpg】

Yu Zhengdu didn’t celebrate with the rest of the group. Instead, he stared at the vacation date Bai Zhinan had sent. Earlier, he hadn’t paid much attention to it, but looking at it now, he finally discovered that this date was strangely familiar.

He felt like he had seen it before somewhere. Also, it felt like it ought to be a very important date, but he honestly couldn’t remember.

At this moment, overtime-lover Qu Guangzhao spoke up again, unimpressed.

Qu Guangzhao:【So why is Boss randomly giving us a day off? Is there something special happening on that day?】

Bai Zhinan:【Boss actually answered that question. He said that day will be special when we get to it. However, I don’t know what he means by special】

Kang Jin:【Haha, why does it sound like a wedding anniversary or something】

Coworker A:【Right? If not for the fact that Boss is still single, I would vote for wedding anniversary too】

Shang Que:【Heh heh】

As soon as Shang Que appeared, the group’s wild reactions instantly calmed down. Everyone thought that Shang Que was unhappy with the wedding anniversary description, so were terrified that he would take back the vacation day because of this. They hurriedly switched the topic of the conversation. In only a moment, the atmosphere in the group chat was once again stupidly celebratory.

Only Yu Zhengdu felt a sudden strike of lightning hit his heart.

He remembered!

No wonder he thought that date looked so familiar!

Wasn’t that the date that the Life Management app had said would be the date he and Shang Que confirmed their relationship?!!

In a daze, Yu Zhengdu remembered what Shang Que had said before he had resurrected.

Then, he looked at the “heh heh” Shang Que had sent in the group chat. This wasn’t displeasure because of their coworkers’ assumptions; this was clearly showing off……

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Great. The holiday notification had already been delivered.

He was extremely certain that at this time, if he dared to tell Shang Que that this was all only a misunderstanding…… He didn’t dare to think of the consequences.

The next day, Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que attended Yu Zhengdu’s classmate, Jia Yihua’s, wedding reception together.

Because he had remembered the prediction the Life Management app had given about his and Shang Que’s relationship, in addition to the obvious anticipation Shang Que was expressing, Yu Zhengdu was a bit out of it the entire wedding reception.

Of course, that was only on the surface. In actuality, he was seriously stressing out in his mind.

Should he tell Boss the truth or not?

Yes? Right now, everyone at the company was celebrating the day off. Boss was such an arrogant person. How was he supposed to explain to the whole company that there actually wasn’t anything special on that day?

No? Yu Zhengdu felt like he was a scumbag who was lying to gain someone’s affection.

Scumbag Yu Zhengdu instinctively looked at Shang Que while blanking out. Shang Que was in the middle of eating something. Upon noticing Yu Zhengdu’s gaze, he offhandedly peeled a shrimp and put it in the other’s bowl. “I remember that you like to eat this.”

Yu Zhengdu stared with wide eyes at Shang Que who had so naturally peeled a shrimp for him. He instantly became even more bewildered.

What textbook-boyfriend behavior was this……

This wouldn’t do. He felt a great sense of guilt in his heart. Yu Zhengdu’s lips moved, “Boss……”

Shang Que: “Un?”

After Yu Zhengdu called out to him, though, he temporarily didn’t know how to start this conversation. He started hesitating.

At this moment, the auntie who had been observing them for a long time from the table beside theirs finally made a decision. She walked over and tapped Yu Zhengdu on the shoulder. “Young man, are you Yihua’s friend?”

Their conversation got interrupted by Auntie, but Yu Zhengdu inexplicably heaved out a sigh of relief because of this. He nodded at Auntie. “Yes, Auntie. What’s wrong?”

Auntie asked with a smile, “Nothing, I just wanted to chat with you. Young man, do you have a significant other yet?”

Yu Zhengdu reflexively shook his head. “Not yet……”

Instantly, Auntie’s smile became extra bright. “Perfect. My little sister has a daughter that just graduated this year. She’s the same age as Yihua, good looking, and has a good job. Looks to me like you two are quite compatible……”

Before Auntie could finish speaking, Shang Que suddenly reached an arm out and tugged Yu Zhengdu close to himself. With a hostile gaze, he looked at Auntie before coldly saying, “Don’t even think about it. He’s about to have a significant other!”

Auntie’s face abruptly froze. For a moment, she couldn’t think of a way to continue the conversation. After a short pause, she asked in embarrassment, “What does ‘about to have a significant other’ mean? What kind of significant other is that?”

Shang Que slightly raised his chin. With a pleased expression, he stated, “It might be me.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

The author has something to say:

Shang Que: I’m still considering, but I think that his probability of success is going to be very high.