Bai Xingwu had never imagined that such a fantastical thing could exist in the world.
Upon waking up, she found herself in the ancient underworld, a realm that had only existed thousands of years ago.
It was eerie, utterly eerie.
Originally, she was a laid-back young woman living in the 21st century, drifting leisurely through the hustle and bustle of the human world.
At work, she slacked off; after work, she muddled through.
Bai Xingwu had planned to save enough for retirement and live a carefree, reclusive life all by herself.
Little did she know that, under a carefully orchestrated trap set by her relatives, she was blinded by so-called familial affection and resolutely embarked on the path of entrepreneurship, a road of no return.
Entrepreneurship is arduous; it requires a solid financial foundation. Otherwise, it’s just inviting unnecessary hardship and falling into the abyss known as “loans.”
Bai Xingwu was exactly that.
She came from a poor family, had no background, no connections, and with only fifty thousand yuan, she couldn’t even step through the threshold of entrepreneurship.
Thus, time and again, she listened to the deceitful words of her relatives, borrowed two hundred and fifty thousand yuan from the bank to start her business, and joyfully marched toward the end of losing everything.
At a young age, burdened with a massive debt of two hundred and fifty thousand yuan, Bai Xingwu shed her identity as a slacker and became a slave to the company, toiling day and night.
To repay the debt as quickly as possible, she worked herself to the bone, taking on endless overtime.
All for the sake of returning to that tranquil, comfortable life.
But Bai Xingwu forgot one thing: health is the foundation of all endeavors.
She neglected her body, and under prolonged work pressure, it eventually overloaded.
The young woman closed her eyes, almost bidding farewell to the beautiful human world.
To her surprise, Bai Xingwu didn’t wake up in a hospital bed filled with the smell of disinfectant. Instead, she opened her eyes on the cold, hard floor of the underworld.
The underworld, the Palace of the King of Hell from a thousand years ago.
The hall was adorned with ancient yet luxurious decorations, every detail exuding the owner’s nobility. Its vast area could accommodate thousands of people.
On either side of the hall’s passageway stood rows of guards.
They wore the standard-issue guard uniforms, each with the same hairband, all in excellent spirits, standing tall and straight.
The guards stationed at the Palace of the King of Hell were required to carry swords, remain vigilant at all times, and adapt to any situation.
At the top of the hall, step by step, stood a dark-red official desk made from thousand-year-old golden nanmu wood.
Behind the desk was a golden-red sitting platform, cushioned with thick padding.
Seated on the cushion was the terrifying King of Hell, a figure that struck fear into the hearts of mortals.
The King of Hell had dignified and imposing features, wearing a crown and draped in black robes, his presence exuding an oppressive aura.
He sat upright, reviewing official documents.
Though the King of Hell appeared intimidating when silent, he was actually quite amiable in person.
When no one caused trouble, he occasionally found time to joke with his subordinates.
Recently, strange phenomena in the sky had caused the temperature in the eerie underworld to rise, growing hotter day by day, as if being roasted.
The relentless high temperatures had severely affected the underworld for quite some time.
As the saying goes, extremes beget opposites.
The surface temperature of over forty degrees in the human world was supercharged in the underworld, nearly melting the souls of its countless ghosts.
In the modern human world, when summer temperatures soared, at least there was the high-tech assistance of air conditioning.
But this was the underworld of thousands of years ago, no such high-end amenities existed.
On the main seat, a middle-aged old man over 4,700 years old was grumbling with heat-induced resentment.
“In such scorching weather, I’m working so diligently here, yet I don’t even get a high-temperature subsidy.”
“Might as well let me die from the heat, then I could return to the mortal world and live freely again!”
These two brief, humorously out-of-character complaints vividly revealed the true nature of the King of Hell.
King of Hell: Suspected to be driven mad by the heat, triggering his workaholic tendencies…
On one side of the hall, his trusted confidant, Qingliao Ghost, was rushing to report his work and happened to overhear the King’s mutterings.
Qingliao Ghost stood seven feet tall, with a frame as thin as a bamboo pole, like a paper figure that might topple over in a gust of wind.
As for his appearance, it matched his name perfectly: a green face with sharp fangs and dark, dusky skin.
His clothes were patched together from scraps of fabric in various colors, pieced haphazardly here and there.
In simpler terms, he wore a patched-up burlap robe.
Not long after Qingliao Ghost’s promotion, someone had asked him, “Isn’t the treatment by the King of Hell’s side good? Why are your clothes even shabbier than before?”
Qingliao Ghost was unfazed and replied proudly, “You just don’t get it, my ghostly friend.”
He openly displayed his robe. “This is called style!”
The questioner fell speechless.
“Alright, Brother Qing, as long as you’re happy.”
From then on, whenever anyone saw a beggar on the street wearing patched-up clothes, their first thought was of Qingliao Ghost, the King of Hell’s trusted confidant.
Fortunately, the King of Hell was unaware of this. If he knew, he’d surely feel utterly embarrassed.
At the side of the hall, Qingliao Ghost’s steps quickened into a trot as he eagerly scurried to the King’s side, flattery pouring from his lips.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, allow me to fan you.”
As he spoke, a fan made of palm leaves materialized in his hand, large, green, and bright enough to cover his entire face.
He positioned himself beside the King and began fanning him rhythmically with the palm-leaf fan, his expression relaxed and content, as if he weren’t working at all.
The sudden breeze brought the King considerable relief, and his mood visibly improved.
The King shifted his gaze from the scrolls, his previously agitated expression softening as he looked at Qingliao Ghost, a teasing tone in his voice.
“Oh, it’s you, Little Qing.”
“I always said you were a promising one with great awareness.”
“It seems my decision to promote you exceptionally was absolutely right.”
Qingliao Ghost had arrived in the underworld three years ago. While others criticized him for being a flatterer and a sly opportunist, the King of Hell saw his underlying integrity and promoted him exceptionally.
Though he had a knack for flattery and pleasing others, he never lost his honest nature.
Not just the King of Hell, anyone who spent time with him would grow fond of him.
The King’s praise delighted Qingliao Ghost, and he fanned even more vigorously. “Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty! I will remain loyal to you forever!”
After pledging his loyalty, the master and servant fell into casual conversation.
Normally, this would have been an utterly ordinary scene, but today, it unexpectedly reached the ears of a human.
That human was Bai Xingwu.
She was currently deep in sweet slumber, playing chess with the Duke of Zhou in her dreams.
The idle chatter between the King of Hell and Qingliao Ghost grew slightly noisy, the rustling disturbances irritating her to no end.
The woman lay on the cold floor, her eyes still closed, yet her head-scratching motion was already tinged with irritation.
“Who is it?!”
“Why the endless chattering?!”
Ever since she became an overworked and underappreciated drone, her resentment had grown fiercer than a ghost’s. When faced with trouble, she’d roll up her sleeves and start cursing, and that was considered mild.
After cursing, her eyes snapped open, wanting to see who had been blabbering nonstop, their voice reaching her ears.
The woman lay flat on her back, scanning left and right with a furrowed, annoyed brow.
No one was there.
Not even a ghostly shadow.
“Whoosh~”
A chilling gust of wind jolted her awake.
Only when Bai Xingwu’s ear touched the ground did she realize, why was she lying on the floor?
Wait, wasn’t she just napping at her workstation?
Where was she now?
Something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right.
The agitation on her face gradually faded, replaced by a spark of curiosity that slowly lifted her into a sitting position.
Bai Xingwu’s eyes swept around, taking in her surroundings.
She was sitting in an open space, just a few steps away from a rough, uneven wall made of piled stones.
The stones were unpolished, pieced together in varying sizes, giving off a strangely artistic vibe.
The woman had no ability to foresee the future and had no idea what would happen next.
Looking at the wall, she remarked with interest, “Turning a wall into a flower, now that’s creative genius.”
Truly, it had to be the work of abstract-minded people.
No matter what situation they found themselves in, their creativity remained as steady as an old dog.
Wherever Bai Xingwu’s gaze fell, torches flickered.
She looked up, and a dark, gray, hollow ceiling came into view.
The ceiling hung high above like a massive black hole, threatening to swallow anyone who stared too long, suffocating them with its oppressive presence.
The woman quickly lowered her head and averted her eyes, catching a glimpse of the floor in her peripheral vision.
A layer of translucent, floating mist covered the ground, with colorful lights glowing beneath it, intertwining and reflecting in an eerie, unsettling atmosphere.
Bai Xingwu instinctively reached out to touch the mist, but as her hand descended, she felt nothing.
She pushed her hand a little deeper and directly touched the floor.
In the sweltering heat that even ghosts in the underworld would find unbearable, the temperature remained chilly for a living human.
The moment her slender, delicate fingers made contact with the floor, an icy coldness pierced straight through her veins, making her shiver. “Ugh!”
Bai Xingwu shuddered and immediately withdrew her hand, muttering in confusion, “It’s actually the floor.”
On second thought, it made sense for it to be the floor.
If it weren’t, how could she be sitting here right now?
Bai Xingwu sighed in relief. Thankfully, it was just mist formed by condensed water vapor, not some supernatural or ghostly phenomenon.
That ethereal, floating mist, if she didn’t think too hard about it, it could really scare a person to death. She had almost thought she’d ascended to immortality.
“If I haven’t ascended, then where on earth have I been brought?”
Driven by curiosity, the woman stood up.
The surroundings were now too quiet, making her footsteps sound heavy and even her faint breathing unnervingly clear.
“Whoosh~ Whoosh~”
The chilling wind relentlessly seeped into her bones, instinctively causing physical discomfort.
The faint, strange light around her also made her psychologically uneasy.
A wave of inexplicable irritation surged within her. Bai Xingwu spoke with displeasure, “No, never mind where this is. Finding the exit is what matters now.”
The torchlight flickered, and she reached out to feel her way along the wall, searching for an exit ahead.
Bai Xingwu stood only a wall away from the Hall of the King of Hell.
Her earlier outburst had been too loud, already alerting the guards on the other side of the wall.
When she first spoke, the guards had scanned the area several times following the sound but saw no one, thinking they had misheard, and did not investigate further.
It wasn’t until Bai Xingwu cried out a second time that the guards dared to confirm they hadn’t misheard, someone was indeed speaking.
The lead guard, not wanting to startle the snake, whispered orders to the others, sending half of them to search for the source of the sound.
On one side of the wall, Bai Xingwu stealthily felt her way toward an exit, while on the other side, the guards searched for the origin of the voice.
On both sides of the wall, the two parties drew closer and closer to each other.
After walking for a long time, she spotted what looked like an exit door ahead and immediately quickened her pace, sprinting forward as if in a hundred-meter dash.
Just as the woman felt she was about to see the light of hope, she ran headlong into the guards from the other side.
“Thump”
Her heart sank.
Startled by the person in front of her, Bai Xingwu’s pupils dilated in shock, failing to notice the other’s attire.
In her panic, she blurted out, “What the hell!” before raising a hand to pat her chest lightly, grumbling, “Who are you? You scared me half to death.”
Her soul wasn’t quite scared away, but her body nearly flew backward.
In the dim light, Bai Xingwu couldn’t make out the newcomer’s face. She took two cautious steps back.
“How can you walk without making a sound? That’s terrifying.”
“Lucky for you, I’m brave enough, your wallet is still safe.”
Anyone slightly more timid would have been scared to the ground, and with a hospital gown on, their wallet would surely be emptied.