Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 295 Underworld Residents' Household Registration Management Office

After scavenging spiritual materials for several days, Zhang Chengdao handed over the task of setting up the formation to He Yu and then turned his attention to the interior of the "Ghost City".

The city walls and the great formation only enclosed a piece of land; the real "city" was still empty inside.

Of course, there's no rush for the specific "city construction." After all, based on the current state of the "ghosts," very few of them should be able to move around normally in the "ghost city." They are mostly just confused and disoriented spirits.

However, we need to build the most basic "household registration management office," or "ghost household registration management office," first.

Zhang Chengdao pondered for a moment, then opened the building panel and searched for suitable buildings.

In fact, he could build it himself. After all, there are newly upgraded functions, and he has been "making mortar" for almost a year. He is experienced and skilled. In particular, he has spiritual materials produced by the Golden Hand as building materials. He doesn't need to consider things like foundations. He can just treat the building he needs to build as a large Lego set. It is incredibly convenient.

But who would willingly work like a beast of burden when they can slack off?

After searching for a long time, I couldn't find a suitable building. I really didn't want to build Zhang Chengdao myself, so I had to find a building that looked barely acceptable and modify it.

For example, 【农坊】.

In the original game, it was used to research and unlock various agricultural technologies, but in this real world, it's practically useless.

Aside from the fact that he had to build and upgrade it to the maximum level to upgrade his cheat system, Zhang Chengdao never put it out again; it just sat in his backpack collecting dust.

In the original game, the technology points that can be unlocked in the Farm are actually very useful, such as shortening the growth time of various resources in the game and increasing crop yields. However, the problem is that researching these technologies requires consuming an item called "Heavenly Creation," which can only be purchased from the mysterious merchant in the game or obtained by participating in monster invasion battles.

However, neither of these two gameplay methods exists in reality, so there is no way to obtain things like [Heavenly Creation], which means that Zhang Chengdao is completely unable to study any of the technologies in the [Farm]!

Fortunately, these technologies are not actually very useful. If they were used in a game, the difference between wood that grows in 6 days and wood that grows in 8 days would be huge. Over time, due to insufficient resources, the leveling up would be slow, and on the leaderboard, the difference could even be hundreds of places.

But in reality...

There's really no difference between 6 days and 8 days!
Especially wheat that can mature in three days...

Compared to two and a half days, there's really no difference. In the eyes of ordinary people, it's all miraculous—just like ordinary cattle and horses, no one cares whether the high-speed rail breaks the speed barrier of 453 kilometers per hour or 403 kilometers per hour. Anyway, it's in a class of its own globally.

In short, the Farm, a building that was neither usable nor of any use, finally caught Zhang Chengdao's eye after being forgotten for a long time.

The main reason is that this building is quite large, making it very suitable for use as a residential service building.

Moreover, it's not too big, a bit smaller than the Peach Blossom Palace, so it's not like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Of course, the main reason is that the materials used to build the Farm are of low value and have a large stock. In fact, I already have one that has been fully upgraded and can be put out for use!
Simply remove the farmland and paddy fields in the yard, leaving only the main building, change the words on the plaque, and clean up the various miscellaneous items inside the building, and it can be put into use. It's much simpler than building a new structure.

So, after secretly going deep into the mountains and forests to complete the renovation of the [Farmhouse], Zhang Chengdao, with a relaxed and confident demeanor, set up the renovated [Farmhouse] in the "Ghost City".

With its blue tiles, white walls, and vermilion gates, the building appears large but is not extravagant. Even the eaves and roof tiles are undecorated, making it quite simple.

Above the vermilion-red gate, a brand-new plaque bore a long string of words: Residents' Household Registration Management Office.

Although it only has seven characters, in the modern society before Zhang Chengdao's time travel, there were countless government agencies with much longer names. However, in He Yu's opinion, it was still somewhat...

"It doesn't sound very good!"

He Yu didn't give Zhang Chengdao any face at all, pointing and saying, "You, calling yourself 'Registration Office' or 'Household Registration Office' sounds much better than this long string of names like 'Resident Household Registration Management Office'!"

Zhang Chengdao remained unmoved, glanced at He Yu, and said, "It may sound nice, but if someone who hasn't read books and doesn't understand classical Chinese sees it, do you think they'll understand what it means?"

He Yu hissed, clearly not having considered this angle at all, but then continued pointing at the plaque: "But even someone who can't read wouldn't understand this long string of characters, would they?"

"That is indeed a problem..."

Zhang Chengdao fell silent.

Although the words "Residents' Household Registration Management Office" sound simple and easy to understand, illiterate people still don't understand them, regardless of whether they are simple or not!
Just as he was pondering whether to mandate "compulsory education" for all newly registered ghosts to learn to read, He Yu clapped his hands beside him and casually resolved the matter: "Easy! We'll stipulate that all written characters must be accompanied by a divine sense technique, so that even those who can't read can perceive the meaning of the characters!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chengdao silently swallowed back the "compulsory education" he hadn't yet managed to say.

I almost forgot that I'm in a cultivation civilization, where there are countless unconventional methods at my disposal!
He Yu had no idea what Zhang Chengdao was thinking. He paused briefly after speaking, then added, "Huh? But if we use the Divine Sense Communication Technique, then the name doesn't matter. I still think your 'Resident Registration Management Office' is really awful!"

Considering what He Yu said, Zhang Chengdao thought about it carefully and finally compromised, saying, "Alright, since we're using the method of divine sense, let's change it to 'Registration Office'!" At worst, we can just add a giant horizontal "plaque" in the outer courtyard with the words "Resident Household Registration Management Office" on it!

"Divine Sense Communication" is not the name of a spell, but a characteristic.

The most common type is the jade slips in the inner sect library of the White Stone Immortal Sect, which contain various cultivation techniques, secret manuals, and magical abilities. It is a relatively complex technique of spiritual perception, allowing the user of the jade slip to instantly understand and memorize the contents recorded in the jade slip, as if enlightened.

This characteristic comes at a price; it often consumes a great deal of energy and spirit. Disciples who have not yet established their foundation can only use it once every few days at most, and only for low-level spells, techniques, or cultivation manuals. If one were to use a jade slip containing higher-level cultivation manuals or spells without authorization, at best the depletion would be immense, requiring many days of rest to recover; at worst, it would severely damage one's vital energy, cause a regression in cultivation, and make it impossible to learn the techniques—the user would be overwhelmed by the complexity of the contents of the jade slip and fall into a coma, let alone remember them.

This is why Zhang Chengdao specifically divided the library into different levels and set cultivation thresholds.

In fact, he had been considering whether to design more libraries, such as Building A, Building B, Building C, Building D, etc. Otherwise, the sect only has one library at present. With the increase in disciples, it is crowded and the space inside is too small to be used.

Moreover, after dividing the buildings, setting up restrictions based on cultivation levels directly eliminates the need to assign personnel to guard them, achieving multiple benefits in one fell swoop.

However, the method of spiritual communication used by He Yu on plaques and signs was not as complicated as the one used on the jade slip; it was a very simple technique.

After all, most signs, banners, and logos can only have a few words at most.

Even a small raccoon, whose brain is barely bigger than a melon seed, wouldn't get hurt by this, so promoting it wouldn't be difficult.

Besides the "Residents' Household Registration Management Office," another urgent need in the "ghost city" is to build a "Supplies Delivery Center."

The supplies at the "Supplies Delivery Center" are not the supplies that the "Ghost City" or Zhang Chengdao provide to the future "ghost" residents. Instead, they are specially used to deliver offerings and items burned during sacrifices from the relatives of these "ghosts." It's a bit like a "post office" in the underworld, except that it delivers things from living people to "ghosts."

This brings us to the point that, in essence, simply burning a piece of clothing or a paper effigy will not produce a corresponding item in the underworld.

In countless worlds, wherever the underworld or ghosts exist, there are similar customs of burning offerings for deceased relatives. The reason is that as long as incense is offered and the deceased's birth date or name is recited, these things, which would not normally be special, can actually appear in the "underworld." Moreover, they are often unrelated to the original material of the things burned or offered during the ceremony, but only to the perceived state of these things.

For example, what is burned may be a paper-mache garment, perhaps only the size of eight palms, but if this paper-mache garment is considered a "silk garment," after going through many sacrificial procedures, it will eventually appear to the corresponding "ghost" and indeed become a silk garment, which is quite magical.

Zhang Chengdao consulted He Yu about the reasoning behind it, but unfortunately He Yu only knew the facts but not the reasons, and could not give any fundamental explanation. He only mentioned that it was related to something like "incense and vows".

This is a bit too fantastical. To put it bluntly, isn't it just the power of "I think"?

No matter what, as long as there are still relatives and friends, there will always be some "rituals" after a person dies. Different worlds and different civilizations will have different "rituals", but they can be roughly divided into a few types: burning incense and offering sacrifices, burning paper and offerings, or burying items with the deceased, or even burying living people or animals with the deceased. They are all different, but in the final analysis, they are all for the purpose of "sending supplies" to the deceased relatives or friends.

If there is no underworld, no "ghost city," and no "post office" or similar facilities unique to the underworld, then anything that appears in the underworld after these "rituals" will often fall directly onto the "ghost in question."

Hmm... I looked pretty disheveled.

He Yu told me that in a small world he once visited, the entire underworld was constantly fighting amongst themselves, and there was no one in charge. As a result, sacrificial offerings would fall directly onto the ghosts like hail. The most outrageous thing was that there was an old ghost who loved to eat roast chicken in his life and was quite famous when he died. As a result, his descendants, students and disciples would always offer him roast chicken. Many roast chickens would suddenly fall on the old ghost's side. The ghosts around him jokingly called him "Roast Chicken King", which was quite interesting.

In the original world where He Yu was born, the underworld was relatively well-developed. There were special people to receive and distribute the sacrificial and offering items. It is said that some underworld officials would embezzle some to enrich themselves, but at least there would be no embarrassing situation where roast chickens would fall everywhere you went.

In some worlds, there are designated placement areas that ghosts have to find themselves. Sometimes, if they arrive late, the ghosts might even lose their items...

Zhang Chengdao's lips twitched as he listened—what was the difference between this and the courier station in the modern society before he transmigrated?!
In short, considering management and the future order of the underworld, this "material delivery station," or rather, the "underworld post office," is extremely important.

Just like now, those ghosts wandering aimlessly within the city walls in the distance occasionally drop a few cakes, a few dishes, and sometimes a few fruits, as well as scattered clothes.

If these ghosts were still conscious, it would be fine; at least they could clean up the mess themselves. But now they're all completely bewildered, looking like complete idiots. They can't even react to external stimuli, probably worse than paramecia. These offerings and burial goods can only be left scattered, and He Yu will have to send his paper puppets to clean them up, which is indeed very troublesome.

Naturally, compared to the "Residents' Household Registration Management Office," the "Material Delivery Office," written as "Sacrificial Offerings Office" and read as "Express Station," does not need to be large in scale or have any overly magnificent buildings; it only needs to be practical.

So Zhang Chengdao chose a "ceremony hall" to renovate, and placed more than a dozen "warehouses" behind it. The front "ceremony hall" was used for sorting and picking, while the "warehouses" at the back were used for storage, making the functional areas very clear.

"'Sacrificial Offering Place' sounds awful! 'Supplies Delivery Center' doesn't sound right either, just as strange as 'Resident Registration Management Center' that you just mentioned!"

He Yu frowned and offered his opinion again: "Why not just call it the 'Sacrificial Offerings Bureau'?"

As he spoke, he looked at Zhang Cheng with some curiosity and said, "Why do you always choose such strange names, Fellow Daoist Zhang? Although each one has a precise meaning, they always sound a bit simplistic. Is this style popular in your original world?"

Zhang Chengdao replied awkwardly, "Ahaha, yes, that's how I've always named things in my original world... or rather, I always make sure that the common people can understand them."

He Yu was taken aback upon hearing this.

(End of this chapter)