Yama Rising

Chapter 533: Train to Pusan

Chapter 533: Train to Pusan

There were ten Lords in all. Qin Ye glanced around his office, only to realize that it was somewhat small for an audience with ten Lords of the Land. At once, he got to his feet, “Secretary Wang, bring them to the conference room and wait for my arrival.”

Naturally, not a single Lord dared take their seats before Qin Ye did.

“Take a seat.” Qin Ye nodded casually and raised his hand in an inviting gesture. He took his seat first, and then the Lords of the Lands soon followed suit, subconsciously angling their bodies towards Qin Ye with body language that spelt enthusiasm.

The Lords of the Lands immediately exchanged baffled glances, before shaking their heads.

Qin Ye frowned. The only way Rus could gain access to Daehan would be through the three eastern provinces. If the Lords of the Land detected nothing amiss, then this could only mean one thing - and that is the fact that there has been no large-scale mobilization of the Russian Yin soldiers. In fact, their messengers probably weren’t even at the rank of an Infernal Judge.

“Your Excellency.” Just then, one of the Lords stood up and bowed deeply, “It is true that there’s been no changes in the netherworld, but… there are some incidents in the mortal realm that may be noteworthy to you.”

Qin Ye’s eyes flickered, “Tell me more.”

This location… is incredibly close to where Daehan is located!

The process of casting myths would necessarily entail the fabrication and emergence of a supernatural incident, before the evil ghost is purged or seized, and the entire situation is resolved by the lord of the underworld. This was how the existence of Yin spirits could fortify the foothold of a god in the hearts of Man. That said… it was a long-drawn process.

Liu Yu definitely has no clue that such a function is unique to the lord of the underworld. After all, it hadn’t been more than a year since the Hanyang underworld had declared its independence from Hell. That said, the fact that the god of death acting behind Liu Yu was able to nurture something that seems ripe for the harvest in such a short time tells me that he’s definitely not a trivial existence by any means!

There might even be the possibility that the evil ghost responsible for the supernatural outbreak might have been personally groomed by Tsar Arturo for the purposes of developing faith in himself, only to bestow it upon Liu Yu as a gift of goodwill. And the fact that it was a Yin spirit groomed and nurtured in the Russian underworld probably means that even if Liu Yu is to purge it at the end of the day, Arturo might still stand to gain from it.

Tap… tap… Qin Ye gently tapped his fingers on his desk as he contemplated these things. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any evidence. The only thing going for him right now were the fact that the timing happened to coincide, and everything seemed to fit within a cohesive narrative. Qin Ye frowned and turned to glance at the Special Lord of the Land, Liu Changhe.

“What’s the latest on the Daehan Peninsula, especially Daehan?”

“Speak.” Qin Ye responded impatiently.

He silently stole a glance at Qin Ye, before going on, “But there’s hardly any news of the same online. Everything has been censored real-time, leaving nothing more than a few seemingly unrelated stories drifting about in the sea of information out there.”

Qin Ye looked at him silently, and then smiled, “You’ve been keeping with the times.”

Qin Ye nodded, and then his voice grew cold and stern, “Then you’d do well to remember this--...”

At once, all Lords of the Land immediately shot to their feet with fear and trepidation, and cupped their hands respectfully, “We wouldn’t dare!”

Qin Ye swept a cold gaze across the gathering of Lords. He may be the new King Yanluo of Hell, but he was still merely an Infernal Judge, and he possessed no means of establishing a network of city gods right now. Thus, he had no choice but to rein in the Lords of the Lands and whip them into shape. Otherwise, his network of intelligence would be too lacking for his purposes.

“I’ll gloss over your iniquities this once.” Qin Ye lifted his hands, “Get up. Remember to report everything factually in future. Everything else is outside the scope of your responsibilities. Understood?”

“Sit down. Lord Liu, please continue.”

He cleared his throat and continued, “Secondly, legend has it that the residents of Gyeonggi Province have gone crazy and begun to flock towards Hanyang. Some accounts even report residents approaching the border separating North Daehan and South Daehan, almost as though… something terrifying had occurred or emerged in Gyeonggi Province. Few dare remain in Gyeonggi Province.”

Train to Pusan, huh… Who knows? Perhaps this might truly be the living occurrence of the Train to Pusan…

“Yes.”

Wang Chenghao promptly walked forward and offered him a cup of tea. Then, after glancing at the ugly expression on Qin Ye’s face, he probed with caution, “Andropause?”

“Awesome! Is Hell finally going to engage with foreign underworlds on the international stage?” Wang Chenghao couldn’t contain the excitement in his heart, “Where to? Nippon? I didn’t manage to get a reservation in a proper sushi restaurant the last time. Daehan isn’t fun! Hanyang and Lotus City aren’t too different. Siam, on the other hand, is pretty good as well. The things there are cheap, and the landscape is also--...”

Aren’t you supposed to be expressing your gratitude for such an opportunity, rather than pick and choose where you’d like to go?! I’m the one who hasn’t been out of the country before!

Wang Chenghao was overflowing with excitement, at least until he discovered several seconds later that Qin Ye was staring at him with a frigid gaze. At once, he shut his mouth sensibly.

“Haha… What do you mean? I was just… offering my suggestions! That’s right, I was just offering my suggestions!”

“Oh--...” Wang Chenghao scratched his head, and then blurted, “Daehan?”

“Nothing…” Wang Chenghao frowned for a moment, before looking up with a grave expression, “Brother Qin, don’t you know? Something’s brewing in Daehan right now! Everything’s spiralling out of control! It’s been that way for approximately half a year now!”

“He definitely didn’t die a normal death. He was on exchange at the Martial City Medical University. But when he arrived…” The Lord trembled profusely, “He appeared no different from a living corpse…”

Qin Ye’s gaze flickered. He couldn’t help but be reminded of the Train to Pusan once more.

“Where is he from?”

Zombies were in fact a variant of Jiangshis. However, as far as zombies were concerned, they’d still have the three fires blazing above their shoulders. According to the Second King Yanluo of Hell, nobody in the entire world has been able to uncover the root of the problem, and it still remains an unsolved mystery to date.

Gyeonggi Province again?

Wang Chenghao continued, “Arakshasa took it upon herself to purge that Yin spirit. That said… we discovered some messages that were of interest in the student’s cell phone.”

“The message said - ‘Save me… I’m suffering…’”

“The sender… was his father.”

1. A province surrounding Seoul (Hanyang).

2. Wikipedia: Seong-kyeong and Su-an are forced to stop at a blocked tunnel just before Busan and walk. At the tunnel's exit, military snipers prepare to fire until they hear Su-an sob singing of "Aloha 'Oe". They then realize that the pair are human, and quickly help them to safety.