Lin Gui stood frozen on the spot.
He had faced forbidden zones, desperate situations, and even Epic demons in the Wailing Corridor without ever backing down or feeling afraid. But this time...
Looking at the dense, boundless sea of glass beads outside the door, his legs went weak, and he almost fell to his knees on the spot.
For a long time, he opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
In his ears, the ghosts' voices chimed in one after another, trying to offer reassuring explanations:
“U-Um... Little Mage, there aren't actually that many!”
“Right, right! Don't be scared, many of them are just here to watch the commotion!”
“Yes, the disaster back then came so suddenly... but many people's families were actually in the city.”
“The ones who were truly separated from their families and need letters sent... there aren't that many!”
A faint glimmer of hope ignited in Lin Gui's eyes:
“R-Really?”
A relatively steady-sounding spectral voice replied:
“Really.”
“I'd estimate... there are only... a few thousand letters.”
Lin Gui: “...”
A few thousand letters.
These words buzzed in his mind.
Only???
He quickly did some mental math.
If one letter was about five hundred words...
A few thousand letters would be hundreds of thousands, or even over a million words?!
There were no typewriters here!
Transcribing hundreds of thousands of words by hand?!
“You guys...”
Lin Gui's voice was trembling.
“Are you trying to kill me?!!!”
In his ears was the soft clinking of floating glass beads.
It was mixed with a noisy clamor of ghostly voices offering comfort, persuasion, and pleading.
Several spirits who had been cultivators in life volunteered:
“We can help write!”
“Yes! Although it's exhausting, if we squeeze out some soul power, we can barely hold a pen!”
“There's strength in numbers!”
With the guarantees of several cultivator spirits...
Lin Gui very reluctantly, almost gritting his teeth, nodded.
“Fine...”
“I'll help.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Troy floated up high and called out in a crisp voice:
“Everyone, listen to me!”
“First, let's help Big Brother Lin Gui—”
“...build the post office in Blackwater City!”
“Let's build the most luxurious and grand post office in Blackwater City!”
“The best building in Blackwater City!”
As soon as her voice fell, waves of echoing responses immediately erupted from the crowd of ghosts.
The former city defense force, knights, Silver Rank adventurers, mercenaries... any spirits who had a foundation in cultivation back then responded one after another.
In less than an hour.
A dense crowd of over a hundred “warrior” spirits, whose cultivation levels in life had reached at least the Mid Rank, assembled.
Controlling the glass beads that carried their forms, they lined up in a somewhat messy phalanx in midair.
Their soul power was weak but high-spirited, letting out silent “battle cries.”
They “charged” majestically toward the central plaza of Blackwater City.
Looking at these hundred-plus “helpers” who could at least barely affect physical objects, Lin Gui finally let out a sigh of relief.
At least...
...he wouldn't have to transcribe hundreds of thousands of words by himself.
Led by this group of warrior spirits, more ghosts who had been artisans, carpenters, and stonemasons in life also joined in.
A bustling, or rather, bizarrely grand scene unfolded on the dead streets of Blackwater City.
Scattered stones, rotting wood, and broken metal components floated up under the subtle pull of countless threads of soul power.
Under the command of several spirits who had been veteran builders, master artisans, and designers in life:
The foundation was compacted by an invisible force.
Stone blocks fitted together in midair, and mortar filled the gaps on its own.
Beams and pillars settled precisely into place, and roof tiles spread across the roof like a flock of wild geese in formation.
There were no whistles, no work songs.
There was only the light clinking of glass beads and the subtle hum of flowing soul power.
A structurally sound, even grand, four-story stone-and-wood hybrid building...
...rose from the ground at a speed visible to the naked eye, under the interweaving of starlight and soul light.
The window frames were fitted, the doors installed, and even the signboard of the “7-Copper Post Office” on the lintel...
...was “carved” upright and grandly with soul power by a spirit who had been a calligrapher in life.
Despite Blackwater City having been swallowed by darkness and silence for over a decade, right now, in Lin Gui's eyes, it was simply lively to a fault.
What made Lin Gui's scalp tingle even more was...
...as the news spread.
More and more glass beads floated out from every corner of this massive ruined city.
From the depths of alleys, inside basements, beneath abandoned church pews, behind collapsed shop counters...
Glimmer after glimmer of eerie blue light emerged like a night tide, converging toward the post office under construction.
The ghosts who arrived first excitedly explained to the newcomers:
“That mage is willing to help us write letters!”
“And deliver them! Deliver them into our families' hands!”
“Really! The Saintess herself bore witness!”
If any of the newly joined spirits had been cultivators in life, they joined the construction team almost without hesitation.
Thus, on their first night in Blackwater City.
This city, dead for over a decade, witnessed a bizarre scene that would make any bounty hunter's soul leave their body in terror.
Amidst the rising and falling “shouts” that could not be heard by ordinary people, but actually vibrated with thin soul power:
The foundation of the post office was dug and compacted by invisible hands.
Huge stones were lifted by soul power and steadily piled up.
Beams and pillars stood up out of nowhere, their mortise and tenon joints snapping together precisely.
Tiles, like black feathers blown by the wind, covered the roof layer by layer.
In Eve's eyes, this was nothing short of a silent supernatural event.
Building materials flew and assembled themselves, a structure growing “out of thin air” under the moonlight.
No workers, no sound, only objects moving contrary to the laws of physics.
Yet, in the field of vision of Lin Gui's 【Eyes of the Netherworld】, a completely different scene was presented:
Thousands upon thousands of pale blue souls, like a colony of industrious ants.
They used their remaining soul power to painstakingly carry, lift, and piece things together.
Spirits who had been stonemasons in life measured dimensions in the air.
Souls who had been carpenters carefully adjusted angles.
Experienced master artisans floated in midair, directing the entire operation with ripples of soul power.
It was a bustling scene of fiery activity, yet entirely silent.
A brand-new stone-and-wood building, far exceeding the scale of that small post office in Avalon, rose from the ground amidst this torrent of ghosts and their deep obsessions.
Until the morning sun in the east pierced the night sky, casting the first ray of golden-red light upon the ruins.
A brand-new, three-story stone-and-wood building stood majestically in the central plaza of Blackwater City.
The stone walls were smooth, the wooden beams sturdy, the tiles neat, and the signboard clear.
In the morning light, it even looked somewhat... grand.
What was most amusing yet exasperating was that two cultivator spirits, who had likely been in charge of celebrations in life, had somehow “picked up” a faded and tattered long cloth ribbon that still showed a hint of red.
Using their weak soul power, they pulled it taut and suspended it in front of the post office's brand-new main door.
A rusty but barely usable pair of scissors wobbled as it floated over to Lin Gui.
Lin Gui looked at the red ribbon before him, then at the countless floating glass beads filled with anticipation in the air around him.
With a complex expression, he took the scissors.
Under the silent gaze of thousands of glass beads, he took a step forward.
“Snip.”
The ribbon snapped and fell lightly to the ground.
At that moment, all the glass beads trembled slightly.
It was like a collective, silent cheer.
This post office—very likely the only one in history built by ghosts and serving ghosts—the 【7-Copper Post Office: Blackwater City Branch】, was hereby officially established.
The morning light completely illuminated the ruins, as well as this abrupt and brand-new building.
In front of the building stood the young mage, scissors in hand, his expression somewhere between a smile and a cry, his shoulders slumped slightly.
Beside him was the Saintess, watching all of this with shimmering eyes, looking either deeply moved or thoroughly amused.
A new day had begun.
And Lin Gui knew that his nightmare of ghostwriting—which would likely exceed hundreds of thousands of words—had also officially begun.
Rate on N.U.
