"It must be prisoners," Yao Yao whispered, "imprisoned here for a long time."
Prisoners? I looked again. There were no high-level demons, only a few with green energy, and mostly minor demons with red energy at the lowest level.
Lin Chi led a group out to greet us. Yao Yao hadn't woken up the last time Lin Chi came to help at Jiuxian Cave, so they weren't very familiar with each other. I reintroduced them. Lin Chi had brought the main spiritual leaders and their deputies from Fucheng Shabiya. After some pleasantries, we all entered the building together.
Although the building looked unremarkable from the outside, in the popular style of the early twenty-first century with its white tiled facade, the interior was elaborately decorated, similar to the underground laboratory at Jinling Shabiya, high-tech and sophisticated.
We entered the conference room on the second floor. As expected of a government agency, the meeting was formal and serious. First, the head of Fucheng Shabiya introduced their work to us, the "guests," and reported on their main accomplishments since the beginning of the year, from guiding principles to assurance measures. It was quite detailed, a mix of useful and useless information.
Then, since the meeting's theme was underworld affairs, a director in charge of Fucheng's underworld operations specifically reported on their progress. This included the total number of natural deaths, unnatural deaths, how many souls entered the underworld normally, how many ghosts still roamed the mortal realm, how many Shabiya had apprehended, their apprehension rate, year-on-year growth, year-on-year reduction in roaming rates, and their provincial ranking (first tier) for key indicators like apprehension rate. They also mentioned commendations from the provincial government and headquarters. kuAiδugg
I usually get very sleepy during these official reports, but the content was novel enough for me to stay awake until the end.
After the two main officials' reports, our team representative was invited to speak.
I hadn't prepared a speech, but fortunately, I had some experience in administrative departments at a company, so I understood these conventions. I briefly outlined our team's basic situation and our publicly reportable combat achievements. The other side expressed admiration and surprise at our accomplishments in such a short time.
Finally, Comrade Lin Chi delivered an important speech.
Lin Chi first affirmed the reports from both sides and then set three requirements for Fucheng Shabiya's future work. The first two were standard official statements. The third point concerned underworld affairs. She stated that the underworld was currently quite turbulent, which was a major reason for the difficulties in soul-gathering and related services in the mortal realm. Fucheng was doing well in this regard, but the national situation was not optimistic. She hoped Fucheng Shabiya would maintain its enthusiasm and be prepared for the future, dedicating more human, material, and financial resources to underworld affairs.
The head of Fucheng Shabiya completely agreed with Director Lin Chi's speech and made a commitment. The director specifically responsible for underworld affairs also gave a statement, expressing hope for greater support from the General Bureau and the province in the future.
The entire process lasted over two hours, nearing half past twelve.
Finally, the meeting adjourned, and they invited us to their cafeteria. We had anticipated this, so all four of us who came were capable of eating.
The cafeteria was on the first floor, directly above the areas with demonic energy. However, when I observed with my chi-sensing technique, I found that looking down from the cafeteria, the energy was less clear than when standing outside. This indicated that the reinforced concrete structure below was built very solidly.
The four of us were seated in a private room, accompanied by the main leaders. The meal was home-style, not overly luxurious, but featured local specialties and seasonal vegetables. Judging by the shape and size of the dishes, they were different from those bought in ordinary markets, suggesting a special supply base exclusively for this cafeteria.
I casually inquired, and they didn't deny it, but emphasized that the funds for the special supply base came entirely from Shabiya's finances and did not involve external societal resources, thus avoiding any unspeakable issues.