Lin Gui was stunned in his tracks.
He had faced Forbidden Zones and desperate situations, even the Epic demons of the Wailing Corridor, without ever once retreating or feeling fear.
But this time...
Looking at the vast, endless sea of glass beads crowding outside the door.
His legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed onto his knees then and there.
After a long while, he opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
A cacophony of ghosts chirped up in his ears, trying to explain and soothe him:
"Th-that... Mage kid, there actually aren't that many!"
"Right, right! Don't be scared, a lot of them are just here to see the excitement!"
"Yeah, the disaster happened so suddenly back then... but many people's families were actually inside the city."
"The ones truly separated from their families who need to send letters... there aren't that many!"
A tiny flicker of hope ignited in Lin Gui's eyes. "Is... is that true?"
A ghost's voice that sounded relatively steady answered, "It's true."
"I'd estimate... only..."
"A few thousand letters."
Lin Gui: "..."
A few thousand letters.
Those words buzzed in his mind like a swarm of hornets.
Only???
He quickly did the mental math.
If one letter averaged five hundred words...
Then a few thousand letters would be...
Hundreds of thousands, or even millions of words?!
There weren't any typewriters here! Hand-copying millions of words?!
"You all..."
Lin Gui's voice was trembling.
"Are you trying to kill me?!!!!"
The air was filled with the faint tinkling of floating glass beads.
It was mixed with the noisy spectral voices of consolation, persuasion, and pleading.
Several ghosts who had been practitioners in life volunteered their services:
"We can help write!"
"Yeah! Even though it's tiring, we can squeeze out a bit of soul force to barely hold a pen!"
"Many hands make light work!"
With the guarantees of several practitioner ghosts...
Extremely reluctantly, and almost through gritted teeth, Lin Gui nodded.
"Fine..."
"I'll help."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Troy floated to a high point and shouted in a crisp voice, "Everyone, listen to me!"
"First, we're going to help Brother Lin Gui—"
"Build a post office here in Blackwater City!"
"We'll build the most luxurious, most imposing post office in Blackwater City!"
"The best building in all of Blackwater City!"
As soon as she finished, echoes of agreement immediately rose from the ghost crowd.
The former Blackwater City Defense Force, knights, Silver Rank adventurers, mercenaries... anyone with a foundation in cultivation from their past life responded one after another.
In less than an hour.
A dense crowd of over a hundred "warrior" spirits—who had reached at least the Mid Rank in life—had gathered.
They controlled the glass beads housing their true forms, forming an uneven phalanx in mid-air.
Their soul force was weak but spirited, letting out silent "war cries."
They "charged" toward the center square of Blackwater City in a grand, sweeping wave.
Seeing these hundred-plus "helpers" who could at least barely influence physical matter, Lin Gui finally let out a sigh of relief.
At least...
He wouldn't have to hand-copy millions of words all by himself.
Under the lead of these warrior spirits, more ghosts who were once masons, carpenters, and stone-cutters joined in.
A lively—or rather, eerie—"spectacle" unfolded on the deathly silent streets of Blackwater City.
Scattered blocks of stone, rotting wood, and broken metal components began to float, guided by countless tiny tugs of soul force.
Under the direction of ghosts who were once master builders, master artisans, and designers in life.
The foundations were compacted by invisible forces.
Stones were joined together in mid-air, while mortar filled the gaps on its own.
Beams and pillars dropped precisely into place, and roof tiles spread across the top like a flock of geese.
There were no whistles or work songs.
There were only the light collisions of glass beads and the faint hum of flowing soul force.
A four-story stone-and-wood hybrid building with a sturdy structure—one that could even be called magnificent—was erected.
It rose at a speed visible to the naked eye under the intersection of starlight and soul light.
Window frames were fitted, the main door was set, and even the plaque above the door reading "7-Copper Post Office" was "carved" with imposing grace by a ghost who had been a calligrapher in life.
This was a city that had been swallowed by darkness and silence for over a decade.
Yet now, in Lin Gui's eyes...
It was practically too lively.
What made Lin Gui's scalp tingle even more was that as news spread.
More and more glass beads floated out from every corner of this massive ruin.
From the depths of alleys, from basements, from under abandoned church pews, from behind collapsed shop counters...
Point after point of pale blue glimmer emerged like a night tide, converging toward the post office being built.
The ghosts who had arrived first excitedly told the newcomers:
"That mage is willing to help us write letters!"
"Deliver them! Send them into the hands of our families!"
"It's true! Her Excellency the Saintess testified to it herself!"
Among the newly joined spirits, if any had been practitioners in life, they threw themselves into the construction team without hesitation.
Thus, during the first night in Blackwater City.
A bizarre scene unfolded in this city that had been silent for over a decade—one that would make any bounty hunter lose their soul.
Amidst "shouts" that rose and fell, unheard by ordinary ears but truly vibrating the thin soul force, the foundation of the post office was dug and compacted by invisible hands.
Great stones were lifted by soul force and steadily piled up.
Beams and pillars were erected out of thin air, and tenon-and-mortise joints snapped together precisely.
Roof tiles covered the building like black feathers caught in the wind.
In Eve's eyes.
This was nothing short of a silent supernatural phenomenon.
Construction materials danced and combined on their own; a building was "growing" out of nothing under the moonlight.
There were no workers and no sounds, only the movement of objects violating the laws of common sense.
But in Lin Gui's Eyes of the Netherworld vision.
A different sight presented itself.
Tens of thousands of pale blue souls were working like an industrious colony of ants.
They used their residual soul force to laboriously carry, lift, and join.
Ghosts who were once masons measured dimensions in the void.
Souls who were once carpenters carefully adjusted angles.
Veteran master artisans floated in the air, directing the overall situation with fluctuations of soul force.
It was a scene of bustling activity, yet it was silent as the grave.
A brand-new stone-and-wood building, far exceeding the size of that small office in Avalon, rose up within this torrent of ghosts and their obsessions.
By the time the morning sun in the east pierced through the night curtain, casting the first ray of golden-red light upon the ruins.
A new three-story stone-and-wood building stood majestically in the center square of Blackwater City.
The stone walls were smooth, the wooden beams were sturdy, the roof tiles were neat, and the sign was distinct.
In the morning light, it even looked a bit... grand.
The most ironic part was that two warrior spirit ghosts, who had likely been responsible for ceremonies in life, somehow "found" a long cloth banner.
It was faded and tattered, but one could still see a faint trace of red.
They used their weak soul force to pull it taut, suspending it in front of the post office's brand-new main door.
A pair of rusted but barely functional scissors floated wobblily in front of Lin Gui.
Lin Gui looked at this red banner, then at the countless floating, expectant glass beads in the air around him.
With a complex expression, he took the scissors.
Under the silent gaze of tens of thousands of glass beads.
He took a step forward.
Snip.
The banner parted and drifted lightly to the ground.
In that moment, every single glass bead trembled slightly.
It was as if a collective, silent cheer had broken out.
This post office, likely the only one in history built by ghosts and serving ghosts—
【7-Copper Post Office • Blackwater City Branch】
Was officially established.
The morning light fully illuminated the ruins and this abrupt, brand-new building.
It shone upon the young mage holding the scissors with an expression between a laugh and a sob, his shoulders slumped slightly.
And it shone upon the Saintess beside him, who watched all this with a glimmer in her eyes, whether out of sentiment or amusement.
A new day had begun.
And Lin Gui knew that his "scribe" nightmare, which likely involved far more than a few million words...
Had also officially begun.
Rate on N.U.
