David Miller sighed and said, “I was originally a lowly soldier in the Yue Family Army. After arriving in the underworld, for some reason, they claimed there was no file on me, so they couldn’t judge my deeds in life, and I ended up just staying there. It wasn’t until the Republican era that a fellow soldier, who after reincarnation encountered great fortune and cultivated into a ghost immortal, found out I was lingering in the underworld and bribed the judge. But my life-and-death case file was gone, so they could only sentence me to ten lifetimes of good deeds and send me to the Heavenly Court as a laborer to do cleaning. Unexpectedly, I didn’t even get to be a laborer and ended up drifting here instead.”

“It seems the underworld is managed in utter chaos, bureaucracy causing trouble—just like in the mortal world, no difference between yin and yang.”

The two of them ate quite a bit of roasted rabbit, and David Miller brought out several more jars of fine wine. The wine was very mild, with a hint of sweetness, and went down smoothly. William Carter unknowingly drank a lot more, and as he drank, he talked more. He poured out everything about losing his fiancée and being hit by a car, venting all his frustration and grievances. After confiding in someone, he felt much lighter.

“One day, sooner or later, I’ll master the most powerful spells and go to the underworld to settle this muddled account with King Yama. Why is it that after being a good person for nine lifetimes, I still have such bad luck? They said they’d send me up here to be a Yellow Turban laborer, but now I’ve ended up in this strange place called Fengzhou…” William Carter raised his head and shouted, letting out all the resentment he’d accumulated in the underworld.

These past days, he’d been in a daze, as if he’d forgotten how to think. Only after arriving in Fengzhou did his mind gradually clear, and after thinking over the causes and consequences, how could he not realize he’d been played?

David Miller tried to comfort him: “You’re still better off than me. I was stuck in the underworld for hundreds of years—wasn’t my injustice even greater?”

Fueled by the wine, William Carter shouted loudly, “One day, I’ll set all these wrongs right!”

“For that, I’ll also master the greatest skills and go demand my case file back from that old King Yama. I have to get to the bottom of these muddled accounts.” David Miller responded loudly as well. The two of them drank too much, calling and shouting to each other, and before they knew it, they fell asleep from exhaustion.

They slept soundly through the night. William Carter stretched lazily; he and David Miller had drunk too much the night before and just slept on the ground. Seeing that David Miller was still fast asleep, he didn’t disturb him. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he wanted to go outside for some fresh air.

By now, Xici Town was already bustling. Many people were hawking all kinds of goods on the street. William Carter patted himself down and found nothing on him, which made him feel a bit embarrassed. He thought to himself, “Looks like I still need to find a way to earn some startup capital. Otherwise, even with Shi helping me, I’ll still be living in poverty. And always relying on friends—what kind of man would that make me? A real man shouldn’t live off others.”

He wandered around the town and got a sense of what people were selling. As a successful urban professional, William Carter’s business acumen was still sharp.

“Most of the goods sold in Xici Town are pelts from hunted demon beasts, and occasionally there are inner cores or teeth from these beasts. A small portion are various weapons, but no one seems to be buying or selling food. Isn’t that odd?”

But then William Carter thought it over and understood: people in Fengzhou didn’t have the technology to cure meat into jerky, so the fresh meat from hunting would spoil in just a few days. Since no one could finish eating it all, after hunting, they’d just throw the meat to Zhang Sheng at the end of town, who would cook it for anyone to take. This led to a group of people with nothing to do, spending their days chatting at the Xinchen Hall, turning it into a place much like a coffee shop or teahouse in the human world—a dedicated spot for leisure and entertainment.

“People in Fengzhou don’t eat grains, only the meat of demon beasts. Beast meat spoils easily, so naturally it has no value. I remember seeing a recipe for cured meat jerky online before—it tasted really good. If I use that method to process rabbit meat, making it easy to carry, it would add a preservation attribute. Even just selling ordinary roasted demon rabbit meat would surely make for a thriving business.”

He was already a high-level talent who had successfully entered the management ranks of a multinational corporation. If not for this accident, he would have become a department head in two years at most. Once he got used to the new environment, William Carter’s mind became active, and his business instincts kicked into high gear.

“If I process the rabbit meat into that delicious jerky, besides preservation, it would also have the added value of gourmet food. Hmm, I might as well go hunt a couple of demon rabbits and give it a try.”

Yesterday, William Carter and David Miller had hunted several demon rabbits on the Xici grasslands. He’d already noticed that while these demon beasts liked to bluff, they weren’t very aggressive. Even alone, he could handle one or two demon rabbits. Confident with the Five-Colored Stone in hand, he decided to go hunting on the Xici grasslands by himself.

Leaving Xici Town, William Carter couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. After all, he used to live in a stable city and never imagined he’d have to survive in a place like Fengzhou, where demon beasts roamed and everything was unknown and mysterious.