Chapter 496: Newcomers Have Arrived in Hell Again

Yu Xiangwan died.

She appeared in a Secret Room. The Secret Room had no doors and no windows. It was very bright but had no light source.

There was a long queue in front.

On the left and right sides, there were Black and White Impermanence maintaining order. At the very front was a judge's desk, and behind the desk sat a man in his thirties wearing a Magistrate's uniform, busying himself with something.

Behind the judge's desk, about ten meters away, there was an iron cauldron three times larger than those used in rural banquets. The cauldron was emitting smoke, and inside was actually boiling oil. Below it was a stove, and in front of the cauldron was a stool level with the cauldron.

There were words on the opposite wall:

【The Eighteen Levels of Hell.】

【Please maintain an orderly queue. Leniency for confession, severity for resistance. Those who refuse to obey will suffer the tortures of the eighteen levels!】

Seeing the Black and White Impermanence staring fixedly at her, Yu Xiangwan hurriedly averted her gaze and quietly queued at the end of the line.

'Oh, right, it seems a month ago I smashed a rich young master to death. But that can't be blamed on me, I already apologized in front of his grave, and the person involved didn't say anything...'

At this time, she noticed that the Magistrate sitting at the desk seemed to have finally finished the work in his hands and glanced at the queuing crowd.

"So troublesome. Do I have nothing better to do every day that I must handle these trivial matters," the Magistrate complained, a look of impatience appearing on his face. He looked at the person first in line and said, "Since everyone is here, let's start. Whatever I ask, you answer. Don't play any tricks."

Hearing this, the youth first in line trembled in fear, nodding like pounding garlic.

"Name?"

"Meng Xiaozhou."

"Age?"

"16."

"Have you committed evil deeds while alive?"

"I..." The youth stammered.

"Speak!"

"I-I, when I was alive, I killed a female classmate..."

"That's enough." The Magistrate interrupted him and pointed to the boiling oil cauldron behind him: "Go, jump in yourself."

"Ah?" The youth's legs turned to jelly from fear. He stepped forward trying to grab the Magistrate's hand to plead for mercy, but the moment he touched the Magistrate, he was immediately bounced off, knocking down a swathe of the crowd behind him.

"Insolent!"

"Audacious!"

Black and White Impermanence angrily shouted, posturing to step forward and execute the youth on the spot. The Magistrate waved them back and said lightly, "Just based on him, he wants to hurt me?"

The scene just now had already deviated from the realm of what human strength could achieve. They looked at the Magistrate in terror. Recalling the evil deeds they had committed while alive, some people's bodies trembled uncontrollably.

The Magistrate lightly tapped the desk with his index finger, asking the youth with interest: "Will you jump yourself, or do you want me to help you jump?"

"I-I-I'll jump myself." Having witnessed the Magistrate's miraculous power just now, how would the youth dare to let him help.

Shivering, he arrived in front of the cauldron. Under the gazes of the Magistrate and Black and White Impermanence, he stepped onto the stool. Looking at the boiling oil in the cauldron, he gritted his teeth and jumped in.

The youth's miserable screams echoed in the Secret Room. He floundered in the boiling oil for a few moments, then stopped moving. Soon, the youth was fried until golden brown on both sides, and a strange aroma of meat permeated the air.

This scene made people's stomachs churn, but no one present dared to vomit. Even if it had already traveled up their throats into their mouths, they forcefully swallowed it back down.

On the contrary, the youth in the second place in line didn't have a trace of panic on his face.

'Just now, the Magistrate asking about the youth's life, doesn't it mean the Magistrate knows nothing about the youth?'

'In other words.'

'He is not a Great Magistrate like Cui Jue, but a minor Magistrate in the Underworld, the kind who has no authority to flip through the Book of Life and Death!'

Thinking of this.

The youth just happened to meet the Magistrate's gaze thrown over.

Without waiting to be asked, he said respectfully, "Master Magistrate, my name is Li Sanqi, twenty-three years old this year. I never committed any evil deeds while alive, and I don't know why I came here."

The Magistrate stared at him for a long time, seemingly wanting to see if what he said was a lie or not.

Suddenly, the Magistrate revealed a smile, looking at the queuing crowd: "Isn't this the right way? If you take the initiative, it makes things easier for me too."

Having said that, he waved his hand.

The youth didn't understand his meaning and looked inquiringly at the Black and White Impermanence on the left and right.

"Find a place to stay by yourself."

Hearing this, the youth felt as if he had received a great amnesty. Nodding and bowing hurriedly, he found a corner.

Seeing this scene, the rest of the people seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and all imitated the youth's wording to answer. In their words, they packaged themselves into... a good person who was willing to help others, cared for flowers and plants, helped old ladies cross the street, and couldn't even bear to step on an ant when they were alive. It seemed they were all great philanthropists during their lifetimes.

Soon, it was Yu Xiangwan's turn.

She looked at the Magistrate.

The Magistrate looked at her.

"Speak."

"Speak what?"

"You tell me what to speak?"

"You don't even know what I want to speak?"

"But how would I know what you want to speak?"

"You don't know what I want to speak, yet you still want me to speak?"

"Are you going to speak or not?"

"You ask me if I'm going to speak or not. I say you don't know what I want to speak yet still want me to speak. You insist that I speak what you don't know I want to speak. I insist on not speaking what you want me to speak. If you don't speak, and I don't speak, then are we speaking or not?" Yu Xiangwan's eyes rolled around, speaking in a quirky and eccentric manner.

"Speak what should be spoken, don't speak what shouldn't be spoken. If you don't speak, how would I know what you want to speak? If I don't speak, you should know what I want to speak. You say I insist on making you speak what you don't know you want to speak, I insist on saying you should speak what I want you to speak which is what should be spoken. Are you going to speak or not?" the Magistrate said with interest.

"How should I speak?"

"Speak what you want to speak."

Hearing this, Yu Xiangwan pointed to the stove: "First, this is a Secret Room. How is that oil cauldron heated? Don't tell me it's heated by burning wood. In my memory, I am indeed dead, but at this moment I can feel that I am a person of flesh and blood. In other words, I need to breathe. Similarly, it seems you guys also need to breathe, right? Since everyone needs oxygen, then the problem arises: do you dare to light a fire to heat the oil cauldron in a Secret Room?"

Saying this, she arrived in front of the stove and crouched down, only to see an electric stove inside the stove hole.

"As expected."

She suppressed her nausea and looked at the oil cauldron: "Secondly, take a look at what he's been deep-fried into. If you don't scoop him out, it might start emitting black smoke soon."

The Magistrate glanced at Black and White Impermanence, and the two immediately used their Mourning Sticks to lift the youth's corpse out of the oil cauldron. The corpse sizzled continuously, giving off an inexplicable sense of crispiness.

"He didn't recover, which further proves that we shouldn't be ghosts. Then the identities of you three are questionable."

"Lastly," Yu Xiangwan pointed at the five words 【The Eighteen Levels of Hell】 and said, "How do I remember that in mythology, the step of entering the boiling oil cauldron only occurs on the ninth level of Hell."

"In summary."

"The location is questionable, your identities are questionable, so your actions must also be questionable."

"If I haven't guessed wrongly, you are using the scene, costumes, and words to fool the youth just now into taking the initiative to jump into the cauldron. This is for the people queuing behind to see, forcing them to lie that they were good people when they were alive in order to evade the punishment of the boiling cauldron. So you are inducing them to lie?"

Clap clap clap. The Magistrate applauded sincerely, then pulled a gun from his waist.

"You lied."

"You lied."

"You lied."

Gunshots, commands, screams, falling to the ground, various sounds played in a continuous stream.

Not long after.

The only ones left alive in the Secret Room were: the Magistrate, Black Impermanence, White Impermanence, and Yu Xiangwan.

The Magistrate put away his gun and asked Yu Xiangwan with a smile, "Interested in joining my team?"