Yama Rising

Chapter 557: City of the Living Dead (1)

They were leaving after one night on Yeouido Island. Their next destination was Pusan.

Qin Ye didn’t know what the Russian Underworld was thinking, but the one thing which he knew was the fact that they were incomparably wary.

“They’ve made no contact. Perhaps Rumyantsev is still considering how exactly to make contact, and what exactly they should talk about. Are they going to show their hand all at once, or are they going to probe at our existence slowly? If the talks fall apart, they’ll probably still want to fall back on the Hanyang Underworld as a conduit to reach out to Hell…” Qin Ye leaned back in his chair as he thought aloud, “Or is he simply sitting back and observing Hell’s actions to see what they can deduce about Hell after radio silence for a hundred years?”

He stared blankly at the flashing sign boards outside. After a long night of deliberation, he had finally come to a decision.

I cannot afford to appear weak and any less domineering than Hell used to be before it shut its borders to the world! I need to make a statement and show them that Hell is still the peerless underworld in the netherworld! This is the true legacy of Hell - the most invaluable inheritance that I’ve obtained from the old Hell!

Finally, I’ll have to minimize contact with the script of death as much as possible. After all, that’s the incontrovertible function that will be safeguarded by the nameless god of death.

“Huurrgh…” There was a gagging sound beside him. Qin Ye ignored it and continued to think aloud.

Qin Ye massaged his throbbing temples. He didn’t have a better plan for now. Thus, he shelved these thoughts of his for now and turned his attention to the other agendas he had.

In short, it wasn’t something that a fledgling King Yanluo could easily master.

“Simply put, the script of death is no different from a reality show, albeit a far more dangerous and bizarre one that takes place on a far grander scale. It’s as though… the film, A Chinese Ghost Story, is acted out in the mortal realm so the mortals would slowly begin to believe in the existence of ghosts on earth.”

“So, in the end, we still need a hero to reap the harvest and become the subject of the people’s faith. Anyone who steps up to this role would be the one to claim sovereignty as the orthodox underworld of Daehan.”

Admittedly, Tsar Arturo was truly a seasoned god of death. The MV Sewol incident was truly ruthless and horrific, but its effects were outstanding. Meanwhile, Qin Ye was willing to bet that Tsar Arturo would have left something at the scene of the incident which would have been picked up by investigation agencies and led them to consider Liu Yu. This would sow the seed for his eventual appearance as the protagonist and hero of the script of death.

A certain younger King Yanluo was about to outshine him.

“No…” Wang Chenghao opened a bottle of mineral water and took a huge gulp, “Brother Qin… don’t you smell that?”

Wang One Tail slumped limply into his seat, rubbing his stomach listlessly, “I don’t know if my nose is just being oversensitive, but… I’ve been picking up a revolting smell ever since we’ve boarded the train.”

There really is something…

At once, Qin Ye glanced around at the other passengers, only to realize that nobody appeared to be showing any signs of uneasiness.

“I should be--... Huuurggghh…”

Qin Ye sighed, “We’re just about to move off. Hang in there for a little bit more, and I’ll help you to the washroom.”

Qin Ye began to help Wang Chenghao out of his seat. At once, an attendant immediately walked over with a smile and addressed them in Daeian, “Sir, you’re not allowed to leave your seat in this carriage. Please understand.”

“[in English] What?”

Unfortunately… she received the exact same response.

Kiddo, are you messing with me?

The attendant turned and glanced around her. The high speed train wasn’t even vibrating in the slightest. She turned back to Wang Chenghao at once.

I’ve seen motion sickness before, but I’ve never heard of someone feeling sick on a high speed train. That said… he does look a little bit pale and worse for wear…

That’s something I can understand… Qin-flunkee-Ye supported Wang Chenghao and followed closely behind the attendant.

The door to the crew’s room was slightly ajar, and Qin Ye noticed out of the corner of his eye that the inside of the room was plastered all over with talismans!

“Sorry.” The attendant paused for a moment, and immediately marched ahead of them to shut the door. She turned around in relief and smiled faintly at them, “Please?”

“Shh. I saw it.” Qin Ye’s eyes gleamed with vigilance. Over the last few months, he’d learnt a multitude of things about some of the techniques employed by the mortal realm against supernatural occurrences. And he knew exactly which method this set-up was.

This was the full name of the technique employed. One could probably tell from its name that its function was to suppress evil spirits. However… that wasn’t its main function.

How?

Put differently, something has happened on this train, and they were forced to keep things concealed using the technique of Demonic Suppression! What they were seeing wasn’t what it actually was!

Endless interactions with the unseen like that was only going to earn him a free stay at the mental asylum…

“Keep her occupied.” Qin Ye whispered softly as he slowed down to a half. At once, his eyes turned black, and he scanned his surroundings. A split second later, his lips parted in astonishment.

The passengers were still one and the same.

And it was by no means regular blood stains from accidents. Rather, they appeared to be splatters of blood, almost as though one’s arteries were cut right open in a horrific incident, sending showers of blood splashing everywhere in the carriage!

Anyone would be horrified to see a carriage stained with blood on a regular and unassuming train that was plying one of its usual routes.

It was the stench of blood and rotting flesh that was masked by layers upon layers of detergent and disinfectant.

They had just marched right past the bathroom!

He turned to look at the bathroom door, only to notice a yellow sign hanging on the door with the words “Under Repair” written in english. Furthermore…

It was almost as though there was a rotting corpse hidden right behind the bathroom door!