Using the MC system to pretend spiritual revival

Chapter 252: Became a regular employee

Yinghua Island, located at the northern end of the city.

As a coastal city far from the center and located on the periphery.

The explosion at a height of a thousand meters did not reach this area.

But the subsequent shockwave, traveling at 8 kilometers per second, still swept past like a super dump truck.

In this once bustling port city, the maximum building height limit has been reduced from eighty meters to two and a half meters.

This also adds a significant chapter to the de-urbanization of Yinghua Kingdom.

Meanwhile, in the city, on a gravel beach covered with rubble and ruins—

"Wow~"

The exposed steel bars of the building debris were slowly pushed aside, and a large, muscular hand suddenly reached out.

As his palm struck the ground, his muscles bulged, and large chunks of bricks and tiles tumbled down, revealing a disheveled figure with only his upper body remaining.

"Cough cough..."

"...Phew...Finally out..."

Sato wiped the blood from his face and breathed a sigh of relief, his expression one of relief after surviving a close call.

The scene last night was too horrifying. He had followed the clues all the way to this city and had just gotten close to his target, ready to make his move.

They were then blown away by the flames and impact that filled their field of vision, and subsequently buried deep underground among countless collapsed buildings.

Fortunately, thanks to his superhuman physique, which had been strengthened several times, he managed to dig himself out little by little.

In that brief moment of respite, the powerful recovery ability allowed his strength to gradually return.

Sato looked down at his lower body, where a patch of bloody flesh was rapidly twisting and healing after he had escaped the confined ruins.

He twisted his body and came to the side of a large brick wall that had flown in from somewhere, leaned against it to rest for a while, and waited for his body to recover.

At the same time, he raised his right hand, bringing the head, which resembled a mutton scorpion, to his eyes, and smirked:

"Hehe... Luckily I acted quickly, otherwise you really would have been blown up by the bomb."

"But you really know how to hide; I've been looking for you for so long..."

Looking at the wrinkled head held up before him, still frozen in the terrified expression of its deceased self, Sato felt a surge of satisfaction, almost bursting into laughter.

With a sense of pleasure, he slowly tightened his grip on the head, preparing to crush it to pieces as he had done to everyone else before.

However, just as the head was deformed with a creaking sound, a flash of light on it stopped his movements.

He leaned closer, reached out and ripped an object with a golden chrysanthemum pattern off the other person's headband. He weighed it in his hand; it seemed to be made of gold.

After a slight hesitation, he stuffed it into the pocket of his already tattered shirt.

After doing all that, I suddenly applied force with my hand, and with a "plop" sound, it was like the disgusting sound of a rotten tomato being crushed.

Aside from political officials, the last member of the royal family in Yinghua Kingdom also passed away at Sato's hands.

As he did this, a familiar chilling current surged into his body from the hand that crushed the skull.

Like an invisible wave, it swept from my fingertips throughout my body, chilling me to the bone, yet I felt no discomfort whatsoever.

Feeling the comfort emanating from his entire body, Sato couldn't help but let out a relaxed breath, feeling that this enhancement was even greater than before.

The chilling air that had already reached his neck rushed directly to the top of his head, and a feeling of perfect completeness rose from his heart:
"...As expected of the royal family patriarch...it seems the power-ups gained from eliminating him are significantly greater than those from the prime minister..."

He sighed inwardly, but the next moment, a burning sensation in his right wrist that seemed to reach his soul interrupted his thoughts.

Sato stared blankly, unconsciously raising his palm to his eyes.

On his wrist, a black, ancient-looking tattoo was gradually changing.

Sato knew this all too well; it was the origin of this extraordinary encounter, or mission, and a mark left by that terrifying yet hopeful "journey to hell."

Whenever I catch a break from an assassination attempt and gaze into the distance under the night sky, looking at this tattoo reminds me of my wife and daughters, who are still in the underworld waiting to atone for their sins, and the mission I have to complete.

But looking at the character "差" (cha) on his wrist now, encircled by what appears to be calligraphy, it seems to wriggle and enlarge like a small, living insect.

The brushstrokes, which were initially somewhat blurry, gradually became clear, as if someone had written them with a calligraphy brush just a moment ago.

Thinking about the origin of the tattoo, and how it had remained unchanged until it suddenly reacted so violently after he killed the last person.

Sato's pupils gradually dilated, and his breathing became rapid. A highly exciting guess surfaced in his mind:
"...Have I finally collected them all?"

His greatest motivation, which has sustained him tirelessly on his travels for so long, is to kill evildoers and earn merit to atone for the karmic debts of his wife and daughters.

It seems... it's finally been achieved.

With his eyes fixed on the black pattern on his wrist, Sato staggered to his feet. In his gaze, all these dramatic changes had occurred in just a few breaths.

Once everything had calmed down, the character "差" had expanded to cover the entire palm, encircled by jet-black strokes. The characters were sharp and neat, as if they were about to float through the skin into the air.

The moment he focused his gaze, a dark purple mist slowly seeped out from the brand-new characters.

Under Sato's watchful gaze, tinged with worry and confusion, the fog shifted in varying depths, then seemed to connect to something else.

On this rugged ground composed of ruins and broken tiles, more deep purple mist, like small snakes, meandered out.

And they are becoming more and more numerous and denser, gradually rising to the point where one has to look up to see them clearly.

Watching all these changes, Sato felt his heart, which had been strengthened several times and was now exceptionally powerful, pounding like a drumbeat.

He stood there anxiously and cautiously, not daring to move, and even his breathing was subconsciously suppressed to a barely audible whisper.

It was as if they were afraid that any movement would interrupt everything and shatter this hard-won hope.

Time ticked by, and under Sato's focused gaze, a dark outline gradually emerged from the purple sea of ​​mist that obscured their view.

As the smoke dissipated slightly, a thick, dark cloud quietly gathered rapidly over the city, blocking the sunlight and casting large shadows.

Sato naturally noticed the change in the celestial phenomena, but dared not be distracted in the slightest. He simply stared intently at the familiar building that was revealed after the fog dissipated.

With black bricks and green tiles, carved with ferocious beasts and magnificent mystical characters, it was about 32 feet high and 21 feet wide, quite a large gate.

Three ghostly lanterns hung on either side of the door, their glow casting a couplet:
"Humans and ghosts, ghosts and humans, their paths diverge; yin and yang, yang and yin, forever separated."

Although it was all written in classical Chinese, Sato could understand its meaning with just a glance. He also recognized the portal that appeared through the connection and guidance of the tattoo in his palm.

It was at the gate of Fengdu City in the Netherworld that he had been imprisoned after committing suicide and falling into the underworld.

The bricks and tiles were exactly the same color as the carvings, only dozens of times smaller, but even so, they still required one to look up at them. Sato quickly found the answer as he scanned the area.

Above the two couplets, on the lintel above the entrance, where a plaque should have been, hung a small iron plaque with the three characters "Xiao Dongmen" engraved on it.

Clearly, this is just a side door.

As he was observing, a crack quietly appeared in the ancient, red copper door that was tightly closed in the center of the gate, and a stream of fine, phantom-like ashes, familiar to Sato, flowed out.

"Crunch, crunch—!"

Amid a series of heavy, thunderous scraping sounds, the two exceptionally heavy doors slowly opened, revealing a hazy scene covered in purple light.

Although it is only a thin layer of a doorway, looking through it at this moment, it seems as if you can see the scenery of another world behind it.

In the blur, two figures gradually approached each other until they reached the constantly flowing purple membrane and took a step forward.

next moment.

Two figures dressed in official robes, with the character "差" (cha) painted on their chests, swords at their waists, and chains around their necks, stood before Sato.

He knew both of them.

Standing on the right is a burly man with a blue face and fangs; he is the ghost messenger who escorted him all the way through the underworld.

The one on the left, who is slightly smaller and looks a bit thin, is the one I met briefly next to the judge and clerk later on.

Upon seeing this scene, Sato, who was already somewhat nervous and uneasy, couldn't help but activate his habit from a lifetime of working for a company, and immediately bowed deeply:

"...Greetings, sirs!"

This scene stunned the two men who had stepped out. They looked at each other, then burst into laughter.

After laughing for a while, seeing Sato's embarrassed expression after realizing what had happened, the burly ghost messenger who was more familiar with him took a step forward.

Raising his hand, which was even broader than Sato's now, with its muscles bulging and strengthened, he patted Sato's shoulder:

"Oh, no need for that. Such formality is too polite."

"As you probably guessed, the reason I've come here is to inform you that the mission is complete and your karmic obstacles have been cleared."

"From now on, you will also be a ghost messenger in the Netherworld, no different from the two of us. We can treat each other as equals."

As he spoke, he withdrew his hand, took out a piece of egg-yolk yellow paper from his chest pocket, and handed it over.

Sato, who looked somewhat bewildered, felt a lightness in his palm as soon as he took it.

The paper transformed into a stream of light and entered his body, followed by a series of messages appearing in his mind.

The information included his name, place of origin, date of birth, and some details of his life. In the last section, under "identity," the words "ghost messenger" were written.

Somewhat bewildered by the series of changes, three words involuntarily surfaced in Sato's mind:

"...You've been promoted to a permanent position!"

Just as he was lost in thought, repeatedly browsing the information in his mind, he suddenly felt a jolt on his shoulder, which snapped him back to reality.

He looked up and met the face of the burly ghost guard, who was over two meters tall, with a blue face and fangs.

Noticing his gaze, another burst of thunderous laughter erupted.

"Hahaha—! You've come to your senses!"

"Back then, a certain family was leading troops in a charge when things suddenly went chaotic, and they ended up serving in the underworld, experiencing a similar reaction to yours."

As he spoke, there was a hint of reminiscence in his tone, but he quickly changed the subject and continued:
"Oh, by the way, your name is Sato, I know that. You don't need to worry about what happened before, it was all just following orders."

"There's no need to keep calling me 'sir' all the time. My name is Zhang A, and I'm hundreds of years older than you. Just call me Officer Zhang or Brother Zhang, like everyone else. There's no need to be so formal."

The change in tone and attitude was so drastic that Sato was caught off guard.

He still remembers when he first committed suicide and fell into hell, the officials and yamen runners he encountered all had fierce faces, like evil ghosts that were about to devour people at any time.

But now, the two people standing in front of him, although still with their terrifying appearances of ashen faces and protruding fangs, exuded a clear sense of closeness.

Even the tall, thin ghost messenger who hadn't said much since the beginning had a hint of pleasure on his face, and nodded in response when Sato looked over.

The familiar attitude of the burly ghost guard, Zhang A, a blue-faced man, laid the groundwork for this.

Sato obediently called him "Brother Zhang," which then elicited a burst of ear-piercing laughter.

After a long while, the laughter subsided, and the tall, thin ghost guard who had been standing silently to the side finally spoke, his voice hoarse and carrying a sinister quality:
"Zhang, if you're going to chat, go back and arrange everything. There's plenty of time."

"Now that the great forces of heaven and earth have just begun to rise, it is not advisable for the side gate of Youdu to be connected to the human world for a long time. It is best not to cause any more trouble."

Upon hearing this, Zhang A, who had been grinning with his fangs protruding and seemed about to say something more, suddenly remembered his mission, slapped his head, and then looked apologetically at Sato in front of him:
"Oh dear, look at my memory, I've forgotten something so important."

As he spoke, he patted Sato on the shoulder again, gently pressing Sato's body into the gravel beneath his feet, before raising his hand and gesturing around:
"Alright, hurry up and take one last look at your former residence and the scenery. Once you're working in the underworld, it'll be hard to come back up for a final look."

"We were able to use the side door to connect to the human world to meet you this time with the Judge's permission."

As he spoke, Zhang A, dressed in the attire of a ghost messenger with a blue face and fangs, turned his head and glanced at the surrounding ruins, his tone tinged with a sigh:

"...Once you leave this world, you may never be able to come back unless something unexpected happens...so cherish it."

Upon hearing this, Sato's expression froze for a moment, and then his gaze unconsciously followed the direction of the other person's finger as he scanned his surroundings.

At first glance, there is only a stretch of coastal mudflats covered with the wreckage of countless human buildings. Further into the distance, there are barren hillsides and mounds that have been ravaged by the explosion, and in the far distance, a huge, dark monster, tethered by ropes, struggles endlessly in the sky.

To be honest, this scene has little to do with the city he has lived in since childhood.

Moreover, he was also aware that it was hard to say how much of this was his responsibility.

However, he still followed the advice of the new "Brother Zhang," carefully looking around before looking up at the sun behind the thin, misty blue shroud in the sky.

Having been to the underworld once, he knew that it was a gray, hazy place, or a reddish-brown patch, and that it would be difficult to see such blue skies and bright sunshine again.

He stared for a long time, until his body, which had been strengthened several times, became somewhat dizzy, before closing his eyes and letting out a long breath.

When he opened his eyes again, his gaze was now filled with determination:
“I’ve seen enough, Brother Zhang. Let’s go, let’s not linger too long.”

This world had little prosperity for him, and the most important people in his life, Sadako and Madoka, were waiting for him to meet them in the underworld.

There's nothing to miss...

Surrounded by two ghost messengers on either side, Sato stepped across the portal connecting the human world and the underworld.

In a moment of dizziness, the scenery before my eyes suddenly changed...

(End of this chapter)