Chapter 697: Future Expectations

“I’ve come this time bearing a potentially massive political achievement for you. But naturally, I’ll need some help in exchange.” Qin Ye hated beating about the bush, and he got straight to the point, “Everything that I’ve told you over the phone yesterday is absolutely true. Genghis Khan’s Tomb is located here in Northriver. I’ve just been there because of some private business. I’ll let you in on the details later on. Apart from that…”

Mi Changqiu frowned slightly, “But this pertains to the jurisdiction of the Special Investigations Department. Why didn’t you approach them directly? Aren’t you on rather good terms with them?”

He turned to Mi Gaozhu and Mi Lan, “It shouldn’t be too difficult for the both of you.”

It was clear that she was rather interested in the abilities of Emissaries of Hell.

Mi Lan and Mi Gaozhu nodded softly. Although they weren’t experts in the field, they would still have dealt with the Special Investigations Department on several occasions. After all, as part of the armed forces, they had collaborated with the Special Investigations Department on several occasions, especially when large paranormal activities were involved. Both agencies complemented the other's existence. Naturally, it wasn’t difficult for each to gain access to the other’s archives and databases.

Mi Gaozhu shook his head, “Not one bit. Leave it to me. I’m part of the armed police force, and we maintain an archive of the supernatural incidents in my office as well. Naturally, these are duplicates, but it should suffice for your purposes.”

“Great, then we’re all set.” Mi Changqiu stood up, “Mr Qin, I’ve taken the liberty to book us a table at He Chang Gardens. There’s much to talk about!”

5 star hotel… Seems like Mi Changqiu is really doing well now. Qin Ye was almost unable to relate to Mi Changqiu’s down-and-out appearance back then.

Be kind to all, and perhaps… we’ll have our just rewards one day…

The Harken lay by the window and quipped, “What’s the matter? Thinking about life?”

This height… and our relative location… almost makes me feel like committing a crime…

Then, he coughed lightly and explained his thoughts, “I was just thinking where we should go next.”

The Harken listened for a moment, and then chimed back, “You’ll have everything as soon as you unify the underworld.”

“In reality, the unification of the underworld is only second on the list of agendas.”

“Once that is done, they will start developing the cities. Naturally, we’ll need resources. To this end, we’ve secured two sources of that, one of which will come from the Russian Underworld, and the other would come from the mortal realm. If we’re to convince the mortal realm to send resources, the precondition is that we’ll have to be able to show that Hell has sufficient strength to pacify the Yin spirits that have been running rampant throughout their cities.”

“Right now, Cathay has a population size of 1.5 billion, and a corresponding military size of over 2.3 million. Securing a million troops of a population size of 20 million citizens of Hell is definitely going to be a tall task. After all, everyone knows that death is part and parcel of war, and the risks are especially high given that we don’t even know what other dangers might lurk in the fog of war. This is why military remuneration has traditionally been high. Besides, the army that we’ll have to raise are all seeds that have only experienced the great battle of Qufu, or those who have experienced the great conflict of the Hungry Ghost Festival. Who’s to say what will become of them in a hundred years’ time?”

The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. Finally, he sighed, “But first things first, let’s inaugurate our sea trade route before looking to anything else. Our internal market isn’t able to sustain itself, and we’ve got no choice but to rely on external sources. Then, with each city that we reclaim, we’ll immediately see an influx of Yin spirits to the corresponding city, just like how we did for the earlier cities that have been taken. Naturally, we’ll need to also garrison troops there in order to keep the peace and quell any potential riots. Thus, we’ll need far more troops than we have right now…”

“Besides, the more cities you take down, the more Yin spirits there will be, and we’ll naturally also start to see more and more talents pouring into Hell. With their addition to the team, our government will become stronger and more efficient than ever. After all, the government here in the new Hell is admittedly still weaker than any other major ministries back in the mortal realm.”

The founding of underworlds used to be far more laid back and relaxed in the past.

Time was of the essence.

“What are we supposed to do?”

“But have you thought about it before?” Qin Ye ran his finger gently across the windowsill, “The longer we remain silent, the more they will keep eating away at our flesh like voracious maggots. Protracted silence will be seen as a tacit agreement - a tacit agreement to our neighbours building forts at our borders; a tacit agreement to other underworlds claiming our vassal states as their own. Then, when Hell finally opens its borders, the first sight that would greet us would be the horrific sight of foreign flags flying all over territories which we used to call ours in the past. And trust me when I say that none of them would be willing to enter discussions with Hell when Hell finally seeks to reach out to them in future.”

The Harken paced about on the narrow windowsill, “So, what are you thinking of?”

The Harken quipped back, “And what might be considered important?”

The Harken pondered, “But wouldn’t it be practically impossible to sustain something like this for the next hundred years or so? No military exercises or parades? No joint peacekeeping missions or deployment of troops? You’ve got to realize that as soon as the gods of death of the New World understand that their underworlds are bound to collapse, they’d resort to anything to keep their legacy alive.”

The Harken gasped, “I’m afraid we might be biting off more than we can chew! First of all, you’ll have to develop the pedagogy for educating the younger generation of Yin spirits on the concept of Yin Talismanology. Then, you’ll have to unify the nation, because that’s the only way to discover what mineral deposits are available to you, and possibly enter into discussions to acquire the resources you might need…”

He straightened up, closed the window and turned back towards the bed, “But it’s still too early for all these things right now. For now, let’s focus our attention on rendering assistance to Brother Zhao. With his help, not even the Daolord of the Beast, Dong Zhuo, will be able to stand in the way of our unification efforts.”

But just as he was on the verge of falling asleep, he suddenly opened his eyes abruptly and furrowed his brows.

Alas, he didn’t notice a particular dog that had inadvertently been shut out on the other side of the narrow windowsill, staring daggers at him - HELP! I’M GOING TO DIE!!!