By the morning of the third day, Murong Yunji, who had gone further away, and Gu Bei from the North Slope had both returned. This time, along with the survivors brought back by Second Master Shen, a total of more than 20,000 survivors entered the city. Zhou Haitao, who was in charge of registration, wished he had eight hands. The key problem was that Wei Gongcheng, who could usually help share the burden, had suddenly disappeared, causing him great distress.
Actually, he wasn't the only one complaining; Wei Gongcheng, who was in charge of the Underworld at the time, was also there. The rescue efforts were focused on nearby counties and towns along the river, all of which had been attacked by zombies. The large number of refugees meant that more spirits were following them into the cities.
The newly born spirits are confused and will likely fall into one of two categories: either they will subconsciously follow their relatives, or, due to their overwhelming resentment, they will follow the entity that killed them. However, since the killers this time are all living corpses, the spirits carrying memories of their past lives are subconsciously afraid, so more will follow their relatives. The initial estimate of the spirits that entered the city this time is over 30,000!
At this time, Wei Gongcheng, who had just become the City God, had very little Power of Karmic Fruit. He would have a hard time even making a hundred decent tombs, and even if they were not decent, he could only make a maximum of two hundred. How could he possibly accommodate tens of thousands of people?
Moreover, because there is not enough Power of Cause and Effect to confer divine titles, the Underworld now only has him, the City God, and one Day Wandering God and one Night Wandering God. There is not even a judge to help judge the karma of one's past life, let alone those Ghost Commander are specifically responsible for executing and suppressing evil spirits.
I'm so busy, it's driving me crazy!
"Sir, you have to think of a way to handle this!"
When Chen Qing got up in the morning, Wei Gongcheng was already standing at the head of her bed.
He felt he needed to give this guy a proper lesson: even as a ghost, you can't just barge into people's rooms. It wouldn't matter if it were a woman, but for a grown man to do this so often early in the morning is enough to irritate someone, okay?
"Tell me slowly," Chen Qing said helplessly as she got up, but felt wet down there and didn't want to pull back the covers, so she simply lay half-reclined on the bed and asked.
Seeing the other party's leisurely demeanor, Wei Gongcheng was immediately furious. "Sir, even if you're going to be a hands-off manager, can't you come up with a couple of ideas? The Power of Karmic Fruit the Underworld is extremely insufficient right now. With the current number of spirits in Liuzhou, even basic lodging can't be guaranteed. How can the authority of the Underworld be maintained?"
"I don't have the Power of Karmic Fruit to earn it." Chen Qing was speechless. "Why are you so anxious? Can't you earn it in this environment?"
"How do you expect to make money?" Wei Gongcheng laughed angrily. "These newly arrived refugees are still in shock and their emotions haven't calmed down. Aren't you afraid of scaring them to death by sending them dreams at this time? Besides, you can't just give them dreams so easily, otherwise how will you establish your authority?"
Chen Qing nodded inwardly upon hearing this. The other party had indeed considered things thoroughly. At this moment, most people were still shaken and caught between the joy and sorrow of surviving a disaster. If someone were to send a message in a dream at this time, it would probably scare half of them to death. Moreover, such a thing as sending a message in a dream cannot be given lightly. In the early stages, the City God's Power of Karmic Fruit was insufficient, and he had very few things to offer. The idea of sending a message in a dream allows the spirits to see their relatives in the mortal world, and it consumes very little Power of Karmic Fruit. It is a highly cost-effective way to win them over, so it cannot be given lightly.
"We can only take it one step at a time," Chen Qing said helplessly. "There's nothing I can do about it."
"But there are just too many spirits coming in!" Wei Gongcheng frowned. "We can't guarantee anything else, but at least we need to guarantee enough lodging, right? Most of them are kind-hearted people. If they don't even have a place to stay, what's the point of them coming to the Underworld?"
"That's true." Chen Qing nodded, then, as if remembering something, said, "Bring me paper and pen!"
A quarter of an hour later, Chen Qing handed over the completed design. Wei Gongcheng took it and was immediately stunned. "This is..."
"Temporary burial site!"
"This..." Wei Gongcheng frowned. The other party's drawing was indeed exquisite and extremely practical. Most of the unnecessary backyard area was eliminated, and the entire burial site was designed as rooms, stacked on top of each other, with the area divided very reasonably. However, the area of each room was a bit too small.
"Isn't it a bit too small? It looks like a coffin," Wei Gongcheng said, expressing his observation.
Chen Qing curled her lip. "Capsule apartments, huh? Aren't they just coffins?"
"Isn't this the only temporary solution?" Chen Qing laughed. "You can arrange the spirits like this for now, and then judge them one by one, selecting those with deep virtue and fortune, and giving them better burial sites and the right to appear in dreams. Take it slow, deliberately let them linger, that will make you appear more authoritative."
"I see!" Wei Gongcheng picked up the blueprints and immediately understood what the other party meant. First, they would gather everyone together in these simple coffin rooms without any distinction, and then conduct a public trial of their past lives. This would both buy time and instill awe in the newly arrived people of the Underworld. It was a good method.
The long wait will make them more anxious. Seeing others get better burial sites and have longer Underworld Lifespan will fuel their desire for these things and make them want to spread the importance of these things as quickly as possible.
No wonder they studied literature; their hearts are all dirty!
"Thank you for your guidance, sir. I'll take care of it right away!" Wei Gongcheng had just bowed and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something and added, "Sir, the selection of Judge Wu needs to be finalized as soon as possible!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Qing felt another headache coming on.
The Martial Judge is mainly responsible for supervising the sentencing of evil spirits and promptly testing whether the evil has been eradicated. This is extremely important for Wei Gongcheng now, since he cannot obtain faith from the mortal world for the time being. His previous method was a cost-saving measure, but if he wants to expand his work, he must also increase his income. Since he cannot rely on the mortal world, the best way to obtain faith is through evil spirits in the underworld.
The main method for obtaining karmic results for a long time to come is to subject evil spirits that are not particularly vicious to criminal trials, extract a certain amount of evil power, and then use the virtuous souls among the people of the Underworld to exchange for merit purification. Therefore, the selection of the Martial Judge is very important.
After all, Wei Gongcheng no longer had the Power of Karmic Fruit to appoint a second Martial Judge. He couldn't afford to make a mistake; if he made the wrong choice, the entire operation of the Underworld would be disrupted.
The Martial Judge should be a formidable figure, ideally a seasoned warrior. Although many have died in Liuzhou, there are few suitable candidates. After all, a true warrior wouldn't be easily killed by zombies. In fact, there is one.
Chen Qing knew that the other party was deliberately asking him this because they wanted that person, which was none other than Xu Hu, who was currently positioned behind the government office, on the verge of death.
That burly man, though not of the bloodline, was able to fight against a hundred men single-handedly with his mortal strength, killing so many living corpses and managing to protect his wife and children as well as the county officials, including Gu Beiquan. He was truly a rare and fierce general; in the history of Huaxia, he would at least be on par with Xiang Yu or Li Yuanba.
Chen Qing naturally wanted to keep such a person in the War God System; it would be a waste of his talent to have him serve as a Martial Judge.
Judging from Wei Gongcheng, he had clearly been eyeing it for a long time.
Chen Qing rubbed her head. "Let me think about it some more, I'll give you an answer tonight."
"Alright, I'll come see you again tonight, sir!" Wei Gongcheng a satisfied smile.
He had his eye on Xu Hu for a long time. When they entered the city, Gu Bei and the others had told him that the man was incredibly brave, capable of fighting against hundreds of zombies and killing more than a dozen with his bare hands. Such ferocity, if he had any bloodline, would surely make him one of the top warriors in the world. The Underworld wanted to capture evil spirits, and such a martial arts prodigy would naturally be snatched up if possible. He had even heard that the wolf at the South Gate had been hanging around Xu Hu's place several times, eyeing him covetously!
After seeing Wei Gongcheng off, Chen Qing quickly got up and changed his pants. He felt that he might be getting older and was having frequent nocturnal emissions lately. But thinking about it, it made sense. He was in his early twenties, the age when he could wear metal plates, and it wasn't good to keep holding it in.
As soon as he stepped outside, he saw the fat man with a resentful look on his face, and his lower body immediately shrank again.
What's wrong with you now?
"What do you mean 'again'?" Zhou Haitao immediately became agitated. "Sir, you have to speak with conscience. It makes it sound like I'm constantly troubling you. If I weren't so busy, how could I dare to disturb your peaceful sleep?"
"Ahem," Chen Qing coughed lightly, feeling that he had been somewhat lax lately, actually sleeping until noon. Where was the vigor he used to have when he was in school, getting up before the rooster crowed?
"Speak, what is it?"
"Sir, we've done a rough count of the population. A total of 23,461 people have returned from this rescue operation. There are very few elderly, weak, women, or children; the majority are young and strong. Among them are about 200-300 merchants, about 100 educated scholars, plus 3,000-4,000 elderly, weak, women, children, and the rest are from farming families."
"Although most of the farmers are young and middle-aged, they've all gathered in the city now. They can neither sell goods nor farm. You need to think of a way to arrange things, sir. Otherwise, if these men keep sitting idle, it will cause serious public security problems."
"Then there are the accounting office, the interrogation room, and the yamen runners, as you promised, sir. Now that there are more people, these places really can't be left empty!"
"I understand." Chen Qing rubbed his head, feeling a terrible headache. It was only a few tens of thousands of people, yet it was already this troublesome. According to the forecast, Liuzhou would probably have to be crammed with over a million people, which would be even more of a headache.
Now, there haven't been any new zombie hordes over the river for two nights. It's clear that the increase in zombies in Liuzhou has led the magic array to determine that Liuzhou is a weak city with limited carrying capacity, and it hasn't released a second wave of zombies.
Chen Qing felt that most of the pressure should be on Nanming Prefecture, which had a large army, and Nanyang City, which had the Shen Family. There shouldn't be any new zombies in Liuzhou, let alone high-level corpse worms.
But this doesn't mean Liuzhou is safe. Those scattered zombies will slaughter civilians and create more zombies. If rescue isn't carried out in time, more and more zombies will be produced locally, and they will evolve into more advanced varieties, which will make things even more troublesome.
We must take advantage of this lull to train enough combat personnel in order to face the even more severe situation ahead.
The surrounding villages and towns must be recaptured, otherwise we will face a food shortage. The city needs to be expanded to accommodate a large enough population. We also need to build defensive outposts to protect the county, towns, and villages, and bestow titles upon more deities. We need to plan this carefully.
"Let's go and talk in the hall," Chen Qing sighed. The situation in the mortal realm was probably no better than that in the Underworld of Wei Gongcheng.
"Oh, yes, sir!" Zhou Haitao was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes when he saw that this man was finally going to get to work.
"Oh, right, sir," Zhou Haitao suddenly remembered something and said, "Lord Door God came looking for me."
Chen Qing was taken aback. "Why is it looking for you?"
This white wolf seems to be in good shape lately. Well, that makes sense; more and more people are worshipping the gatekeepers these days, and the number of gatekeepers is also expanding. It's estimated that it's not far from being upgraded to a higher rank.
"It dragged me along to ask if that man named Xu Hu could give it to it?"
Chen Qing: "."
Well, here comes another one trying to steal someone!
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