New Times, New Hell - Chapter 13: Yin Qi Detector

One day, while Yu Zhengdu was writing code, he received a disruptive message from Shang Que.

 

My broke boss: 【I just thought of a way to make money, something that used to be common among folk sorcerers.】

 

Yu Zhengdu: 【?】

 

My broke boss: 【But this technique can only be used by the living; it depends on whether you are willing to sacrifice for money.】

 

Upon seeing Shang Que’s message, Yu Zhengdu immediately felt a sense of caution. After being forced to stop spending money on games, Shang Que had fallen back into the spiral of being beaten in-game. Feeling rather gloomy, he had redirected most of his energy into the endeavor of getting rich, but it seemed that the ways of making money in the yin and yang realms were separated by a chasm.

 

Yu Zhengdu: 【What technique?】

 

My broke boss: 【Have you heard of the Five Ghosts Wealth Transport Technique?】

 

Of course, Yu Zhengdu had never heard of it, but he was always extremely cautious about his boss’s proposals. He quickly went online to search for it.

 

The so-called Five Ghosts Wealth Transport Technique refers to the use of magic to command five ghosts to transport wealth, taking the fortune of others to oneself. This method is also called the Five Ghosts Yin Debt Technique, which is essentially a method of borrowing from the underworld. It is very easy to backfire.

 

Yu Zhengdu: 【…This is sorcery, right?】

 

My broke boss: 【Yes, isn’t it often said in the living world that wealth and honor are sought through danger?】

 

My broke boss: 【Moreover, my technique is very authentic; the risks are much lower than those of folk sorcerers.】

 

As Yu Zhengdu read his boss’s replies, he felt as if he were looking at a social media post from a shady business: Our technique is the best! No risks, no side effects!

 

After thinking for a moment, Yu Zhengdu replied: 【Inspired by you, I just thought of a little trick for making money that suits our company and is a legitimate route with no risks.】

 

My broke boss: 【What trick?】

 

Yu Zhengdu: 【The Five Ghosts Wealth Transport is too sinister and unsuitable, but you might consider improving it and developing a Five Ghosts Brick Moving Technique to become the king of the construction site.】

 

Yu Zhengdu: 【If you do well, you might even become a contractor.】

 

My broke boss: 【…】

 

After a while, Shang Que came out of the office, pulled up a chair, and sat next to Yu Zhengdu. With his legs crossed and resting his chin on one hand, his handsome features exuded an irresistible charm.

 

Yu Zhengdu was intently looking at his computer screen, his hands continuously tapping on the keyboard, not even glancing at him.

 

After a while, Shang Que sighed leisurely, “Do we really have to resort to ghostly brick moving?”

 

Yu Zhengdu had to turn and look at him. He couldn’t help but admit that his boss looked quite elite, dressed in high-quality designer clothes, completely devoid of any sign of being broke. He couldn’t resist teasing, “Don’t worry, you’ll definitely be the most handsome one on the construction site.”

 

Shang Que: “…”

 

Yu Zhengdu was about to tease him a bit more when another message popped up on WeChat, this time from Li Tiantian, who hadn’t contacted him since he gave her the stone.

 

Li Tiantian: 【Yu, do you still have any of those fortune-changing magnets at your company?】

 

Li Tiantian: 【I want to buy one for a friend.】

 

Li Tiantian: 【She happens to be in the park, and if you have them, we’ll come by to pick it up.】

 

Yu Zhengdu was taken aback for a moment before reacting. He glanced at his boss in disbelief, “This thing actually has returning customers? No wonder the crystal-selling business is booming…”

 

Shang Que pondered for a moment and said, “Let them come pick it up.”

 

Yu Zhengdu: “…”

 

It seemed the boss really didn’t want to move bricks.

 

However, although the company was poor, Yu Zhengdu didn’t really want to become a greedy merchant. After discussing with Li Tiantian, he understood what was going on.

 

It turned out that after Li Tiantian got the stone from Yu Zhengdu last time, she wasn’t very happy at first and felt like Yu Zhengdu was fooling her. She even secretly complained to her friend about encountering a strange guy giving her a stone. However, after returning home that day, her luck began to change; not only did her shoulder pain go away, but her mental state also improved significantly.

 

Because the timing was too coincidental, and Li Tiantian was the kind of girl who believed in astrology and bad luck, she naturally suspected that the stone might have contributed to her newfound luck. After that, she carried the stone everywhere, and sure enough, both her work and personal life started to improve, and just a few days ago, she even received a raise.

 

Li Tiantian regarded the stone as a treasure and had shared it with a few close friends. However, the stone’s appearance was too unattractive; although she talked about it being miraculous, her friends didn’t take it seriously and preferred beautiful crystals instead.

 

This time, it was because one of Li Tiantian’s close friends had been experiencing a string of bad luck recently and wasn’t in a good mental state, similar to how Li Tiantian had been before. Li Tiantian strongly recommended the magnet from Yu Zhengdu’s company to her friend. However, that friend was skeptical and had been ignoring it until today when she came to the area for errands and decided to meet Li Tiantian for lunch. That was when Li Tiantian insisted on bringing her along.

 

After understanding the backstory, Yu Zhengdu was unsure how to handle it. He knew that Li Tiantian’s earlier misfortunes were due to being haunted by a ghost, and after the ghost was captured, she was fine, meaning the stone had nothing to do with it. It was too coincidental for her friend to also be haunted by a ghost; the ghost density would be too high.

 

However, Shang Que didn’t share his concerns and said casually, “People don’t just run into bad luck for no reason. Even if it’s not due to a malevolent ghost, it’s mostly likely due to some clash with something. We can solve this.”

 

Yu Zhengdu glanced sideways at his boss, who smiled slightly, “Of course, there will be a fee.”

 

Li Tiantian and her friend arrived quickly, and Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que went to greet them.

 

The two girls reacted differently upon entering the company. Li Tiantian was relatively familiar with Yu Zhengdu, greeted him, and jokingly said, “Your company is really low-key; I almost didn’t find it.”

 

Yu Zhengdu: … Just say the company is small!

 

Chen Siyu, Li Tiantian’s friend, looked like she came from a well-off family, dressed in brand-name clothing and accessories. After entering the office, she surveyed her surroundings, clearly surprised by the small scale of the company, her eyes revealing obvious distrust towards it.

 

Yu Zhengdu understood her feelings; with such a scale and office environment, claiming to sell magnetic stones for good fortune, he would have probably called the police if he were in her shoes.

 

It was evident that Chen Siyu was not interested in the magnetic stone that Li Tiantian had enthusiastically recommended. However, since she was already here, she didn’t want to offend her friend and said disinterestedly, “How much is your magnetic stone? Just give me one; I have things to do later and need to leave.”

 

Chen Siyu was not in great spirits, but she was not being haunted by ghosts, which was clearly different from Li Tiantian’s situation.

 

Yu Zhengdu didn’t know what was going on with her and replied, “There’s no rush; our magnetic stones are not sold casually and depend on the situation.”

 

Chen Siyu said impatiently, “So what do you think my situation is? Just give me whatever stone fits it.”

 

Li Tiantian, now blindly trusting Yu Zhengdu’s company, quickly patted her friend’s shoulder and reassured her, “Hey, Siyu, don’t be anxious. Yu is a professional; you can trust him.”

 

Chen Siyu shot a glare at Li Tiantian, not understanding how her well-educated friend had been so severely brainwashed.

 

She had always been skeptical of unverifiable nonsense. In her view, Li Tiantian’s claim that her luck improved after taking the stone was just coincidence and psychological effects.

 

But Li Tiantian loved to talk about retrogrades and zodiac signs, and after encountering this incident, she had become even more obsessed. Chen Siyu agreed to come along partly to show her friend that this company was just a scam and not as magical as she believed.

 

Yu Zhengdu pretended not to see Chen Siyu’s eye-roll and nudged Shang Que with his elbow. “Boss, can you see what’s up with Miss Chen?”

 

Shang Que hadn’t said a word since the two girls walked in. He was leaning back in his chair, maintaining a cold demeanor. When Yu Zhengdu called him, he lifted his eyelids and said indifferently, “I don’t really want to look.”

 

Yu Zhengdu was taken aback. “…?”

 

Turning to look at him, he noticed Shang Que’s unwillingness. “Her attitude isn’t great.”

 

Yu Zhengdu paused, realizing that Shang Que was not someone who needed to bow to anyone for a mere meal. He was a ghost king, born to be above the hardships of the human world. Though he seemed a bit poor from the human perspective, his demeanor was anything but low.

 

It was said that in ancient times, people would still worship him; who would dare speak to him with such an attitude?

 

The fact that Shang Que hadn’t eaten Chen Siyu alive could be considered a sign of his good temper.

 

Unaware of how fortunate she was, Chen Siyu’s face darkened upon hearing Shang Que’s words. “If you don’t want to look, then don’t. Tiantian, let’s go.”

 

Li Tiantian didn’t expect the situation to turn out like this and hurriedly grabbed her, saying, “Hey, we came all this way; it wouldn’t hurt to take a look.”

 

Chen Siyu replied irritably, “How could it not hurt? That broken stone costs money!”

 

Shang Que pulled out his phone and started playing a game.

 

Li Tiantian: “…”

 

Yu Zhengdu: “…”

 

Great, the boss had completely checked out.

 

Li Tiantian discreetly tugged at Yu Zhengdu’s sleeve. “Yu, why don’t you help out a little?”

 

Looking at Li Tiantian’s naive expression, Yu Zhengdu wanted to say he really wouldn’t be able to help.

 

He hesitated for a moment, suddenly remembering something, and quickly called out to Chen Siyu. “Miss Chen, how about this? I’ll do a health check for you first.”

 

Chen Siyu almost laughed out of anger. This ploy was just like selling health products!

 

She mocked, “What health check? Are you going to measure my blood pressure?”

 

Yu Zhengdu wasn’t upset and smiled, “It’s a new app we developed that can analyze your recent health and luck index.”

 

Chen Siyu: “…”

 

Li Tiantian looked at him in confusion. “You guys have that kind of technology?”

 

Even Shang Que put down his phone and looked up at him.

 

Yu Zhengdu didn’t explain in detail, running back to his station to grab the phone assigned to him for development. He opened a specific software and pointed the camera at Chen Siyu. “Just hold still for a moment; I’ll scan you.”

 

Now even Li Tiantian felt this was a bit absurd and suspiciously asked, “Isn’t this just like scanning a QR code?”

 

Yu Zhengdu laughed, “Not quite. Our software has patented technology that can analyze the scanned person’s recent physical condition through body imaging, used for health and luck analysis.”

 

Chen Siyu could no longer hold back and pulled Li Tiantian closer, whispering, “I told you this is a scam company, but you didn’t believe me. Analyzing luck with software? Listen to how ridiculous that sounds!”

 

Li Tiantian’s expression turned a bit awkward, unsure how to perceive Yu Zhengdu. She stammered, “Yu, maybe we shouldn’t buy it after all…”

 

Before she could finish, Yu Zhengdu started speaking while looking at the phone interface. “Miss Chen, your recent physical condition is not ideal; there’s some cold energy in your back and sides, but it’s not serious, so no need to go to the hospital. Your luck index is also low, so you should be careful when going out; otherwise, mistakes are likely.”

 

As he spoke, Chen Siyu’s originally annoyed expression gradually shifted, though she didn’t easily waver, still suspicious. “Did Tiantian tell you about this?”

 

Li Tiantian gasped, unsure of her tone. “I told him a little, but not this detailed!”

 

Yu Zhengdu continued, “Your condition isn’t serious; no need for a lucky charm. Just take a few days off and get some sunlight.”

 

Seeing he couldn’t say anything more, and suspecting he had just gotten lucky, she was about to mock him again when the cold-demeaned boss finally spoke. “Her situation isn’t serious, but someone in her family is having a serious problem.”

 

Chen Siyu was startled and looked up at Shang Que.

 

Shang Que had put down his phone but didn’t look at her, instead grabbing Yu Zhengdu’s phone. “When did you develop this? I didn’t know about it.”

 

He looked at the software called “Yin Qi Detector,” which displayed an imaging screen of Chen Siyu. The colors in her back and side sections were darker than in other areas, with corresponding values nearby. At the bottom of the page, there was a box showing an analysis of various values, ultimately concluding with a luck index.

 

Previously, when Kang Jin and the others captured the ghost that had been harassing Li Tiantian, they mentioned that Li Tiantian had a certain amount of “ghost energy” on her. Yu Zhengdu understood that after contact with yin beings, people would invariably retain some yin energy, which could affect their mental state, leading them to unwittingly make mistakes, which could further impact their luck in the following period.

 

Inspired by this, while developing the death ledger system, he came across some so-called “patented technology” not belonging to the living world and casually tried to make a small program.

 

He had just been playing around and hadn’t mentioned it to Shang Que, so he didn’t expect it would come in handy today.

 

Yu Zhengdu said, “I’m just testing it out; it’s still in the trial stage. Was the scanning result accurate?”

 

Shang Que nodded. “Pretty accurate. She’s fine because she’s just being affected indirectly; the one really having bad luck is someone in her family.”

 

Chen Siyu was genuinely shocked; she hadn’t mentioned anything about her family to Li Tiantian.

 

She bit her lip and awkwardly said, “Um, do you still sell those stones?”

 

Shang Que glanced at her indifferently. “Double the price.”

 

Yu Zhengdu: “…”

 

The boss’s vengeful mindset…

 

Li Tiantian: “…”

 

In this day and age, someone could raise prices so directly?

 

Just as she was about to plead with Yu Zhengdu, she heard Chen Siyu quietly say, “I’ll take it.”