NTNH Chapter 9: The Ancient Well Reincarnation Point┃My Timing Was Just Right...

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When Wei Xiao was young, he was deeply focused on his career. It wasn’t until he was much older that he had a daughter. He and his wife cherished their precious child immensely, but unfortunately, their beloved daughter had been frail and sickly since birth. They had sought out the best doctors, but her condition never improved. If it were merely a case of physical weakness, it would have been manageable. However, as she grew older and became more self-aware, Wei Xiao gradually noticed that she would occasionally lapse into a trance, sometimes staying in such a state for days. Yet, no medical examination could determine the cause.

Wei Xiao, being a typical engineering mind, initially never considered supernatural explanations. However, it was his mother who, out of concern, sought the guidance of an expert. It was only then that Wei Xiao and his wife realized that their daughter’s condition might not be due to ordinary frailty.

According to the expert, Wei Mo's problem stemmed from congenital deficiencies coupled with an inherently weak birth chart, making her susceptible to collisions with spiritual entities. Losing herself in a trance was a mild symptom—if she ever provoked particularly malevolent spirits, it could cost her life.

At first, Wei Xiao remained skeptical, but after his mother insisted on acquiring some protective talismans from the expert, they noticed a significant improvement in Wei Mo's condition. Her trances ceased, and only then did Wei Xiao begin to accept the expert’s words. However, his concerns only deepened, as the expert had clearly stated that while he could help ward off misfortune, he couldn't fundamentally resolve the issue. Furthermore, the expert was old, and it was unrealistic to expect him to protect Wei Mo forever.

What had happened today had left Wei Xiao drenched in cold sweat. While he was aware of his daughter's condition, the worst he had seen before was her remaining in a trance for days. This was the first time he had encountered an actual ghostly encounter in real life. Of course, the way Shang Que had so nonchalantly handled the exorcism also left an unforgettable impression on him.

With increasing respect, he led Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que back to the reception room. The bright lighting in the room eased his fear and anxiety slightly.

Wei Xiao let out a sigh of relief. Without much hesitation, he pulled out a checkbook, quickly scribbled down a string of zeros, and handed it to Shang Que. "Mr. Shang, this is a token of gratitude for today."

Shang Que, legs crossed, merely glanced at Yu Zhengdu from the corner of his eye before raising his chin in an imposing manner. "Take it."

He really does care about maintaining his aura...

Yu Zhengdu glanced at his boss from the corner of his eye. Unlike Shang Que, he had no such reservations and directly accepted the check. However, upon seeing the five zeros trailing the amount, excitement surged within him—at least he wouldn't have to worry about his salary for the duration of his contract. But after a moment of excitement, he hesitated slightly.

Noticing his hesitation and recalling what he had said in the stairwell earlier, Shang Que lowered his gaze slightly before turning to Wei Xiao and saying, "We don’t charge for helping children. This is unnecessary."

Yu Zhengdu was surprised, glancing at his boss in disbelief. He never expected such a ruthless capitalist to have this level of awareness.

"This is necessary. I insist," Wei Xiao replied firmly. He hesitated briefly before finally voicing his true request:

"Actually, there’s something else I’d like to ask of you..."

When Hou Guangzong and Zhou Ke's group left the Twin Horn Building, he finally let out the pent-up frustration that had been simmering in his chest all morning. Unable to hide his excitement, he pulled out his phone and posted on his social media.

   [Hou Guangzong: First time negotiating a partnership and I was sent to an established company like Niu Factory, dealing directly with their Project Manager. Super nervous, but luckily Director Cho guided me, and I managed to complete the task without disappointment. yeah.jpg]

The fact that he had been embarrassingly trapped in an elevator for over an hour hadn't spread. As soon as he posted, he quickly received a wave of likes and comments, all praising him. Many of his peers envied that he, still just an intern, had such a valuable hands-on opportunity—especially the chance to interact directly with senior management at a major company. For many students who were still running errands and doing menial tasks, this kind of experience was almost unattainable.

Hou Guangzong’s sense of pride swelled, and even the irritation from encountering Yu Zhengdu earlier faded away. Following behind Zhou Ke, he replied to comments while preparing to get into the car, when suddenly, his class group chat exploded with messages.

   [Zhang Qingqing: "Holy crap, guess what I just saw!"]

   [Zhu Yan: "Don't keep us in suspense, spill it!"]

   [Zhang Qingqing: "Zhengdu just negotiated a deal with our company! Our big boss personally received him!"]

   [Classmate A: "Are you serious?"]

   [Classmate B: "Shocked.jpg"]

   [Classmate C: "No proof, no truth. If you have pictures, you're the best!"]

   [Zhang Qingqing: "Honestly, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it either. But it just so happened (well, actually, I did it on purpose) that I passed by the boss’s office door, and I saw this scene..."]

   [Zhang Qingqing: "Photo.jpg"]

In the photo Zhang Qingqing posted, Yu Zhengdu was shaking hands with a middle-aged man exuding the aura of a successful businessman. The man had a respectful posture while interacting with Yu Zhengdu.

   [Zhang Qingqing: "Key point: This is our big boss. I even saw him personally escort Zhengdu out and heard him say something like ‘Money is not an issue. I’ll visit your company another day. If possible, I’d love to establish a long-term collaboration.’"]

   [Classmate A: "Wait, really? Didn't you say before that your big boss is hard to meet?"]

   [Zhang Qingqing: "That's what the seniors at the company told me! They all say the boss is obsessed with technology and doesn’t personally receive clients anymore—unless they’re top-tier tech experts..."]

   [Zhu Yan: "Wait! Top-tier tech expert!"]

   [Classmate B: "Blind student, I have discovered a point of revelation!"]

   [Classmate C: "@_@ How are our classmates all this amazing? Is this really your company’s big boss?"]

   [Zhang Qingqing: "It’s true! Guangzong even met him today, right? @Hou Guangzong, confirm it for us."]

   [Classmate A: "Yeah, Guangzong just posted a picture with your company’s senior exec."]

   [Zhang Qingqing: "Not only that, Guangzong was stuck in the elevator, and it was Zhengdu who helped him get out. Hehe."]

   [Hou Guangzong: …]

Staring at the continuous stream of @ mentions in the group chat, urging him to confirm the news, and Zhang Qingqing’s oddly meaningful "hehe," Hou Guangzong was so annoyed that he almost deleted his social media post on the spot.

Meanwhile, many classmates were also @ Yu Zhengdu, asking him to verify the photo. But Yu Zhengdu wasn’t even checking his phone—so, of course, he didn’t respond.

What Zhang Qingqing said about him meeting Wei Xiao for a business deal was true, but the actual nature of the deal was far from what the classmates were imagining.

Wei Xiao had approached Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que for help regarding his daughter, Wei Mo. Yu Zhengdu seized the opportunity to sell him a “health magnet” produced by his company—the same type he had previously given to Li Tiantian. In essence, it was nothing more than an ordinary pebble, but it was stamped with the official seal of Luofeng's company. According to Shang Que, this seal was a certification mark from the underworld. Carrying this stone, which was officially recognized by the underworld, would naturally deter most ghosts and supernatural entities from approaching Wei Mo.

Wei Xiao had no idea that the so-called health management company looked shady from any angle. But since he had witnessed Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que’s abilities firsthand, he bought the “health magnet” without hesitation. He even wanted to establish a long-term collaboration with the company—clearly, one stone alone wasn’t enough to ease his worries about his daughter’s condition.

After leaving Twin Horn Tech, Yu Zhengdu wasn’t idle either. While the class group chat was abuzz discussing him, he and his boss were busy rounding up a group of runaway ghosts and escorting them to Fucheng’s ancient well reincarnation point.

Over the past while, he had been learning about how the company operated. As a modernized underworld, Luofeng no longer had a vast underground realm like the old days. It had to conduct all its business in the mortal world, and even its headquarters was squeezed into a small office in a technology park. Naturally, the reincarnation process had also been streamlined as much as possible. Currently, Luofeng had established reincarnation channels in major cities across the country, aiming to achieve localized and simplified ghost reincarnation.

The Fucheng ancient well reincarnation point was the primary reincarnation channel for Fucheng and the surrounding cities.

Fucheng was a historically rich city. Although it had always been an economic hub, the old city district still retained many historical sites. One of them was the former location of the Three Merchants Chamber of Commerce in the central district’s Ancient Well area.

The Three Merchants Chamber of Commerce was originally formed by merchants from three different provinces doing business in the city. They pooled their resources and built a grand guild hall. Over time, the alliance dissolved, but the hall remained due to its unique architectural value and was eventually preserved as a local landmark.

Beyond its architectural significance, the most peculiar feature of the guild hall was a well inside.

Legend had it that the guild hall was originally designed to have 88 rooms. However, due to an architectural miscalculation, only 87 rooms were completed. The three merchant groups were furious, but luckily, among the craftsmen was an extraordinary individual who came up with a solution. Originally, the hall had a well, but since it was located in an unfortunate spot and had no water, it was slated to be filled in. Instead, the craftsman suggested modifying the well slightly—thus transforming it into the 88th room.

Because of this sudden idea, the ancient well became a local legend, and even the later regional divisions were named after it, forming the "Ancient Well District."

Now, the reincarnation point of the Floating City's Ancient Well was set in Room 88 of the Three Merchants Guild Hall—inside the ancient well itself.

Who wouldn't feel ashamed? Although Yu Zhengdu had studied in Floating City for four years, he had never visited the Three Merchants Guild Hall before. He never expected his first visit to be for something like this.

When Yu Zhengdu arrived at the entrance of the guild hall, he realized that entry required a ticket.

He and Shang Que stood at the entrance, looking at each other in silence. Yu Zhengdu sighed, "Boss, our company is already so poor, and yet our office location is in a place that requires an entry fee."

Shang Que was silent for a moment before responding, "When we enter, we usually don't need to buy tickets."

Yu Zhengdu: "..." He almost forgot—he was the only human employee in the company.

He calmly pulled out his student ID and handed it to the ticket seller. "Student ticket, please."

The ticket seller smiled brightly at the two handsome men and asked Shang Que enthusiastically, "Where's your student ID?"

Yu Zhengdu, feeling heartache over the company's poverty, said, "He pays full price."

Not long after they entered the guild hall, a man wearing a vest floated out from a room and hurriedly came to greet them.

The man in the vest was Zhen Yi, the person in charge of the Ancient Well reincarnation point. Yu Zhengdu then learned that the company actually had employees stationed at each reincarnation point, which meant the company was slightly larger than he had imagined.

When Zhen Yi saw the string of wandering ghosts following behind them, he felt relieved and quickly led Shang Que and Yu Zhengdu toward the ancient well.

Yu Zhengdu, thinking about how he was about to witness the legendary reincarnation cycle, couldn't contain his excitement and asked Zhen Yi, "What does the reincarnation point look like? Is it like the books say, with a reincarnation platform and all that?"

Zhen Yi thought for a moment and replied, "In terms of function, it's pretty much the same as a reincarnation platform."

Yu Zhengdu was thrilled. He had read many books on the underworld recently, and while there were plenty of descriptions of the six realms of reincarnation, the actual process of reincarnation varied across different sources.

He never expected that so soon, he would have the chance to witness the true face of the reincarnation cycle as a living human.

In his imagination, the path of reincarnation, which determined the past and future lives of all beings, had to be grand and magnificent, glowing with divine light and displaying supernatural phenomena unseen in the mortal world. At the very least, it should resemble TV dramas—a massive portal opening in the void, seemingly capable of swallowing all wandering souls.

With his mind overflowing with vivid imaginings, Yu Zhengdu followed Zhen Yi through a small door—only to be completely stunned on the spot.

Outside the small door was an open space, with the famous ancient well positioned at the corner.

But what shocked him was the scene in the open space.

The Three Merchants Guild Hall wasn't a popular tourist attraction, and since it wasn't a holiday, there were very few visitors. However, the area around the ancient well looked completely different in Yu Zhengdu’s eyes.

The entire space resembled a government office waiting area, with rows of chairs neatly arranged. Upon closer inspection, the chairs appeared slightly different from those in the living world—they seemed to be made of paper.

The chairs were filled with ghostly figures, and those who couldn't find seats squeezed around the edges, making the area crowded and bustling.

All the chairs faced the ancient well, above which a huge electronic display screen was floating. Several queues were formed in front of it, each corresponding to a different set of numbers on the screen. The numbers continuously changed, and every time a number changed, a ghost would say their goodbyes to those around them before stepping into the well.

Around the well, uniformed ghost employees maintained order.

When Yu Zhengdu arrived, one of the display screens showed the number "1198," but it hadn't changed for a while. Soon, a broadcast announcement played—a sweet and friendly female voice:

"Customer 1198, please proceed to Channel 4 for reincarnation."

"Customer 1198, please proceed to Channel 4 for reincarnation."

"Customer 1198, please proceed to Channel 4 for reincarnation."

After three announcements and no response, the number automatically advanced, and the voice continued:

"Customer 1199, please proceed to Channel 4 for reincarnation."

Yu Zhengdu: = =

Just then, an urgent voice called from behind him, "Move aside, move aside! I'm in a hurry to reincarnate!"

Suddenly, he felt a chill as a ghost passed right through his body, rushing toward the ancient well while shouting, "Wait! I'm number 1198! I just went to collect some offerings from my family—I wasn’t late on purpose!"

Zhen Yi swiftly reached out and grabbed the ghost by the collar. "You missed your turn. You'll have to wait three more spots."

The ghost, clutching a large bundle of gold ingots and candles, immediately burst into tears and sat down on the ground, wailing, "Nooo, my birth hour was perfect for reincarnation…"

Yu Zhengdu rolled his eyes at Zhen Yi.

Seriously? This is supposed to be like a reincarnation platform?

______

Author’s Note:

Human: "Why are you all squeezing in? Are you in a hurry to reincarnate?"

Ghosts: "Yes!"

Be punctual in everything you do!

T/N: Please give support on my ko-fi page, thank you🍁🍁🍁