The "Ghost Gate Pass" at the City God Temple could be dismantled, allowing trucks to drive straight in, but another problem arose: a shortage of drivers.
Bingbing and I could enter the underworld normally, but others couldn't. Wu Zhao and her ten people could, but none of them knew how to drive.
There were three trucks, all manual transmission. Bingbing and I were rusty drivers, let alone teaching the underworld officials.
Yaoyao and Daji couldn't enter the true underworld.
I saw that there was still some space left in each truck carriage. Just as I was contemplating consolidating the three trucks into two, even with a little space left over it would be better than the underworld officials' handcarts, a purple qi master floated over from the periphery. I had marked her aura; it was Lin Chi.
Soon, Lin Chi squeezed through the Ghost Gate Pass. She knew Wu Zhao, and after a brief greeting, Lin Chi apologized to me, "Sorry, I'm late. I was supposed to be escorting the trucks, but I encountered a case on the way."
"Do you need any help?" I asked. The case Lin Chi encountered must be related to the underworld, as she was the leader of the underworld organization under Sha Biya.
"No, it's been handled properly. Huh, you plan to use handcarts? I thought there would be horse-drawn carriages!" Lin Chi said, looking at the handcarts behind Wu Zhao.
"Horse-drawn carriages are too slow, and if we take the main road, we'd have to pass through areas controlled by rebels, which could be dangerous," Wu Zhao replied.
"...These things are faster?" Lin Chi frowned.
"Because we're pushing them," Wu Zhao said with a smile.
I whispered to Lin Chi, "Everyone here is a master."
Lin Chi suddenly understood, "I see. Alright, let's start loading the trucks."
I explained to Lin Chi the issue of the handcarts not having enough cargo capacity and prepared to drive the trucks directly into the underworld.
"But we're short a driver," I said.
"I'll do it," Lin Chi said without hesitation, patting her chest.
"Can you go in?" I asked.
"Of course, did you forget what I do?" Lin Chi said with a laugh, pulling out a small tag with a red string ornament from her embrace. It was smaller than the Soul Reaping Token but looked similar.
"This was issued to me by His Highness the Young King of Hell, allowing me free passage between the two realms. I'm the only one in all of Yan Xia with it," Lin Chi said proudly, then quickly realized, "Oh right, you and Bingbing are exceptions. You two have more official items."
As long as she could get in, I immediately organized the underworld officials to dismantle the gate. After it was removed, the three trucks were driven in.
Because the journey was long and I was worried about fuel, Lin Chi went out of the City God Temple again and brought back several large barrels of diesel, which were loaded into the empty spaces of the trucks.
Wu Zhao and the others abandoned the single-wheeled carts and rode in our trucks. The trucks were double-cab, so the ten of them fit comfortably.
When we reached the Bridge of Helplessness, the Meng Po there was familiar with me; we had exchanged WeChat contacts. However, as we tried to cross, I realized I had underestimated the slope of the bridge. The trucks couldn't make it up, not just scraping the chassis, but also the engine. Fortunately, the underworld officials were strong. With the ten of them working together, they could lift the empty trucks across. But lifting them with the cargo was impossible. The cargo had to be unloaded first, and then each piece was carried to the other side.
I originally wanted to ask the human staff to help, but Wu Zhao didn't allow it, saying the underworld officials could handle it. She added that ordinary humans might feel uncomfortable entering this place.
Bingbing and I were fine because we both had pure yin bodies. Lin Chi was okay because, in addition to the miniature "Soul Reaping Token," she was a purple qi master with enough yang energy to resist the pervasive yin energy of the underworld—this was the edge of the underworld.
I just felt it wasn't appropriate to have these "important figures" doing manual labor.
After helping them carry two boxes of guns, I was exhausted. Those things were so heavy, and the bridge deck was high. Wu Zhao stopped me from helping further and told me to rest at a tea stall. Meng Po made us some milk tea. I watched them busy themselves, smoking a cigarette and drinking milk tea. I never imagined that one day I would have the treatment of supervising underworld officials.
The underworld officials were extremely efficient, but it still took nearly half an hour to finish loading and unloading over three hundred boxes of guns.
I bid farewell to Meng Po, and under the watchful eyes of Yaoyao and Daji from the other side, I drove the trucks across the railway tracks and headed into the depths of the fog.
With Wu Zhao leading the way, we took a completely different route than the previous railway tracks. In no time, we drove out of the misty area and arrived at a forest.