I become a god in another world

Chapter 755 Audacity
Chapter 755

Seeing that Zhao Fusheng had finished asking Zhang Wanquan his question, Cao Gu continued:

"My lord, we make one main lantern for the annual Lantern Festival." Although the number of lanterns made is small, the process is not simple.

Because there are fewer lamps available, Tongshan County puts extra care into the production of this one lamp every year.

Besides preparing for their annual "Lantern God" festival, the most important thing for the local aristocratic families was to find ways to place their sons in the lantern-making bureau.

"The process of making this lamp involves skinning, bone-making, drawing, and pasting." Each step is crucial.

Cao Gu said:
"Everyone who participates in this activity has the potential to become a lamplighter."

Although the main lamp of the Demon Suppression Division could not be divided into eight lamps, after discussion and improvement by everyone, it was finally decided to make the lamp into eight-sided lamps, and there were also requirements on the size.

When Zhao Fusheng listened to Cao Gu recount the process, he spoke of it casually, but because these processes involved human lives, every word exuded a strong sense of bloodshed.

These lamp makers were like executioners, their hands stained with blood, resembling living ghosts.

After completing the entire process, one is enveloped in a malevolent aura, so it wouldn't be surprising if one were to be able to deal with evil spirits.

"Once the lamp is completed, on the fifteenth of July, this divine lamp will naturally seek out a destined person, and then the lamp-making will be considered a success."

After Cao Gu finished speaking, Zhao Fusheng asked him:

"What happens after the lamp is successfully made?"

"after?"

Cao Gu honestly replied, "Afterwards, the magic lamp will be carried by a special person and paraded through the city for one night. By dawn, everything will be peaceful."

"Will anything strange happen afterward?" Zhao Fusheng asked, looking at the 'ghost' corpses in the niche, their bodies painted with gold paint.

"Are the vengeful spirits enshrined in these demon-suppressing offices related to the procession on the day of the Lantern Festival?"

She added:
“You mentioned that these were all lamp makers.”

"Correct."

Cao Gu said:
"I don't know what happened during the genie's lantern procession that night, and no one dared to go out on the streets." After he finished speaking, he added:
"But on this night, someone will die because of the lantern procession. The dead will become vengeful ghosts, and eventually the lantern bearer will lead them into the Demon Suppression Bureau for worship, and then they will not cause any more trouble."

Only after the incident was resolved did this 'lamp,' which had been used for a nighttime stroll, acquire the power to ward off ghosts.

"After July 15th, each clan will invite a lantern bearer to invite the spirit of the lamp back to their respective clan territories to pass on the light and protect the clans for a long and prosperous future."

As soon as Cao Gu finished speaking, Zhao Fusheng couldn't help but laugh:

"Long-lasting prosperity and peace?"

These powerful clans, who feed on the blood of ordinary people, actually dare to attempt to perpetuate their lineage for a long time.

She was a latecomer and already knew the fate of Tongshan County: such a county was destined to be unable to prosper for long, and not only that, they were digging their own graves without even realizing it.

Everyone is actively involved in creating a great calamity.

Those aristocratic families that desire lasting prosperity have created a deadly blade for themselves, cutting away at their own destiny and fortune.

This is undeniably a great irony.

Zhao Fusheng's laughter made Cao Gu and Zhang Wanquan uneasy. They instinctively sensed that Zhao Fusheng had something to say, but they couldn't figure out what she was hiding.

Neither of them dared to utter a sound. After she finished laughing, Zhao Fusheng said:

"From this perspective, everything in Tongshan County revolves around the ghost lantern."

She didn't respectfully refer to the lantern festival on the fifteenth of July as "divine lantern," but instead called it "ghost lantern," showing a lack of respect for "divine lantern" in her speech, which made Cao Gu somewhat uneasy.

He couldn't help but speak up to remind him:
"My lord, this magic lamp is powerful!"

"Confused!"

Zhao Fusheng was already harboring resentment, and now seeing Cao Gu so carefully agonizing over the form of address, he couldn't help but shout angrily:
"What magic lamp? You're a ghost tamer too, don't you know what a vengeful ghost is?"

Her brows were furrowed, and her eyes were sharp.

“The evil spirits are heartless and do not know that people are divided into high and low, noble and lowly. On the contrary, people’s hearts are wicked and they use the spirits to exploit people.”

Zhao Fusheng's words were sharp, and her eyes seemed to see right through everyone's hearts, making people afraid to meet her gaze.

"It's clearly a ghostly calamity, yet you, Tongshan County, have managed to turn it into a business deal. What else wouldn't these people dare to sell?"

Jiang Wen and Jiang Wu are clearly powerful ghost tamers.

As Cao Gu said, the two brothers were twins, helping and restraining each other. This situation should have been like adding wings to a tiger, allowing them to jointly suppress the ghost case in this place before they advanced in rank. However, the two brothers were actually lured by ordinary people with gold, and then Hao Dingzhu's family got involved in the so-called lamp-making business.

And this lamp-making method is quite strange.

To the discerning eye, the fifteenth of July each year is the day when the great demon revives.

Instead of investigating the origins of the ghosts or figuring out the details of the laws governing vengeful spirits, these people were all keen to participate in murder and create bloody terror, inadvertently allowing this ghostly calamity to pass by.

This caused the calamity, which initially appeared in its nascent stage, to grow increasingly ferocious until it engulfed the entire county.

"You are ghost controllers, yet you don't want to solve cases. Instead, you engage in lazy governance, shifting your own troubles onto others, and even creating this 'Lantern Bearer' thing." Zhao Fusheng sneered.
"Isn't the task that the so-called Lantern Bearer is supposed to be done by the Demon Suppression Divisions in other places?"

When a ghostly calamity occurs, the lantern bearer immediately takes the ghost lantern and goes to resolve the disaster.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, this is a disguised form of outsourcing responsibility and transferring risk.

Her words left Cao Gu speechless, and he began to regret that the Jiang brothers, Jiang Wen and Jiang Wu, were not in the Demon Suppression Division tonight, leaving him to face these 'ambassadors' from the capital alone.

"And it's one thing to outsource the responsibility, but even among the lantern bearers there are distinctions of rank."

Zhao Fusheng couldn't help but laugh as he said this:
“Lantern bearers from aristocratic families are considered more noble, but although they carry lanterns, they are more for show than practical use; they're just decorations.” She looked at Zhang Wanquan:
"Your uncle has lived for so many years, so he probably never solves ghost cases, right?"

Zhang Wanquan was so terrified by the scolding that he dared not utter a sound.

“I know even if you don’t say it. Not solving ghost cases won’t lead to death, just like Jiang Wen and Jiang Wu’s situations,” Zhao Fusheng said bluntly.

“And the lantern bearers that your clan invites to serve are scapegoats. They are replaced every year, and new ones come after they die.”

The existence of the lantern bearers is like that of the demon tamers of the Demon Suppression Division. Logically speaking, with their certain power, they should be superior to ordinary people. However, the local aristocratic families are shrewd. Taking the Zhang family as an example, they prioritized getting two lantern bearers for their own family members.

In this way, it serves as a deterrent to outsiders.

At the same time, by offering money, power, beauty, and delicious food, and alternating between a slap and a sweet treat, the outsider offering lantern bearers can be kept completely under control.

This is also why all the major clans are scrambling to send their members to the Demon Suppression Division.

Everything was just for the sake of power and profit.

That said, Hao Dingzhu's decision to exchange the gold mine for the lamplighter makes sense when we consider that the ownership of mineral resources is difficult to determine.

Yesterday it belonged to the Qin family, today it belongs to the Hao family, and it's hard to say who it will belong to tomorrow.

In Tongshan County, however, controlling power is the key.

Therefore, Hao Dingzhu made a painful decision to bribe the Jiang brothers, Wen and Wu, with the gold mine in exchange for the power of the Lamp Bearer.

The Hao family currently has one lantern bearer. If they could have another member of their clan serve as a lantern bearer, they would reach the status of a great merchant.

The wealth they give away today will always return to them tomorrow once they have the power. This person does have some foresight and some shrewdness.

But within these schemes lie countless lives.

As Zhao Fusheng said, vengeful ghosts have no ulterior motives; they are fair and just: they kill according to the law.

Those who deal with ghosts, whether poor, rich, old, weak, sick, or disabled, are all treated equally in their eyes.

Human nature is complex.

"Human hearts are complex!"

Zhao Fusheng thought this way, and he said it this way:

"Human desires, under the guise of ghosts, are taken to the extreme."

She revealed the inside story of Tongshan County and looked at Cao Gu and Zhang Wanquan:
"Aren't you all ridiculous for still talking about magic lamps and ghost lamps, getting hung up on these names?"

Neither of them replied to her.

Firstly, they dared not reply, and secondly, they had nothing to say.

The most ridiculous thing is that the situation in Tongshan County is both complicated and obvious, yet everyone turns a blind eye to it.

Zhao Fusheng recalled his initial conversation with Cao Gu, who repeatedly said: "There are no ghosts in Tongshan County."

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.

Zhao Fusheng suddenly had a thought: What did Zhang the Paper Doll want to tell him by leading him into such a ghostly realm?
Did he want to see the darkness in people's hearts, a terror surpassing even that of ghosts?

Or do you want to see something else?
She even wanted to ask Cao Gu: If he knew that Tongshan County would be destroyed sooner or later and that all these people would die, would they make different choices if time were reversed?

As soon as this unbelievable thought entered Zhao Fusheng's mind, she couldn't help but laugh.

She had already seen it, yet she was still thinking about such a fantastical and absolutely impossible thing.

……

"Please don't be angry, sir," Cao Gu immediately admitted his mistake: "I spoke carelessly and misspoke. Ghost Lantern, Ghost Lantern."

He said it twice, and then glanced at Zhao Fusheng's face out of the corner of his eye, trying to calm her down.

His two sentences left Zhao Fusheng feeling powerless.

The point is not about the form of address.

The title is just the tip of the iceberg; the real hidden dangers lie beneath the surface.

The problem in Tongshan County is that the ruling class at the top is united in a group. Whether it is the aristocratic families or the lower-level servants, the upper, middle and lower classes all bleed the lower-level miscellaneous households and serfs dry, resulting in a heavy atmosphere of resentment and evil in the area.

Moreover, the existence of Hozuki is clearly a hidden danger—powerful vengeful spirits should be able to bestow divine titles upon gods, and after being bestowed with divine titles, the power of vengeful spirits can be fed back to benefit mankind.

Such as door gods, Erlang Shen, Liu Huacheng, and two underworld messengers, Ox-Head and Horse-Face.

However, the situation in Tongshan County is different. The people there do not have the ability to control or suppress ghost lanterns. Instead of restraining them, they consciously cultivate vengeful ghosts for their own selfish interests, causing the ghostly calamity to grow stronger.

Suddenly, the cold voice of the paper figure Zhang echoed in Zhao Fusheng's mind: "People are selfish and short-sighted."

As soon as this thought crossed Zhao Fusheng's mind, he immediately became alert.

She was not a naive young girl unaware of the dangers of the world. Since handling ghost cases, she had dealt with many ordinary people, including many who were short-sighted and greedy. Yet, warmth could also grow in these dark places—this was the hope she had always been pursuing.

As long as humanity exists, beyond selfishness and self-interest, there is hope to pass on emotions, conscience, and other values.

At this moment, she suddenly became agitated, influenced by the words of the paper doll Zhang, which should be due to the power of the ghost realm.

"Don't get this backwards. Is this a matter of address?"

After realizing the problem, Zhao Fusheng immediately calmed down.

Cao Gu was no fool, but at this moment he pretended to be crazy. He knew that Zhao Fusheng was dissatisfied with the strange phenomenon here, but he deliberately ignored the core of the problem and apologized repeatedly for the issue of the title.

What a fool who has put the cart before the horse.

"you--"

Zhao Fusheng was about to speak when he realized that the man was just pretending to be stupid, not that he really didn't understand.

She couldn't wake someone who was pretending to be asleep.

Moreover, it's the Ghost Realm, why should she bother with the lingering consciousness of a dead person?

With that thought in mind, Zhao Fusheng immediately shut up.

"Alright, I've asked all the questions I needed to. I'm tired. Go and prepare some accommodations quickly. I need to rest for a while; I have other things to take care of later." She lost interest in conversation, lazily waving her hand to signal Cao Gu to hurry up and get on with his business.

“Jiang Wen and Jiang Wu should also send someone to Yijiang Town to deliver a message, ordering him to return to see me immediately.”

Cao Gu paused, then bowed with his hands clasped in greeting and responded:
"Yes."

He wanted to have more food served, but Zhao Fusheng refused again.

About fifteen minutes after these people left, someone returned and said that the rooms had been prepared and that Zhao Fusheng and his companions were invited to return to their rooms to rest.

Cao Gu was indeed a reliable and steady person.

He took Zhao Fusheng's request into consideration and prepared a room with hot water and fruits and snacks on the table.

After everyone left, only a few people remained inside. Magistrate Pang secretly walked to the door, pressed his ear against the door panel to eavesdrop, and then turned back:

"Sir, it seems no one is watching us."

As he spoke, he was unaware that faint red streaks of blood were floating in the air inside the room.

These fine threads, like blood-stained spider webs, weave across the roof beams in the darkness, hiding at the boundary between night and dim lamplight.

Hidden within the fine threads were countless drops of blood, and within each drop of blood was an eye watching the people inside and outside the house.

Xu Yu made a pen-holding gesture, looked around, curiously met the gaze of one of the eyes, and even showed an innocent and cute smile, waving at the eye inside the blood bead.

Her gesture seemed like a greeting, but Magistrate Pang didn't understand it. Only Zhao Fusheng and Kuai Manzhou knew the real meaning.

The little girl grabbed a string of copper coins with one hand and shook it, while also waving her other hand twice.

Then the two children looked at each other, revealing an expression that sent chills down Magistrate Pang's spine.

"Don't worry, someone's watching."

Zhao Fusheng took in the commotion of the two children and couldn't help but smile and say something.

Seeing her like this, Magistrate Pang felt relieved, assuming that Zhao Fusheng had made arrangements in advance and was confident in his plan. Only then did he lift his robe and return to the table.

"What do you plan to do later, sir?"

“Let’s stick to our original plan,” Zhao Fusheng said. “We’ll each find a place to rest for two hours, and then leave the mansion at midnight to investigate.”

Magistrate Pang nodded.

(End of this chapter)