Immortals, Both Inside and Outside the System

Lu Wu has served as an immortal official in Heaven’s Stability and Order Bureau for three hundred years. He never expected the biggest setback of his career to come in the form of a transfer order:

“Immortal Official Comrade Lu Wu is hereby appointed City God of Haizhou City in the mortal realm. Report for duty immediately.”

He takes one look at the glaring targets on his “Annual KPI Assessment Form”:

Increase incense revenue by 10% year over year, raise the discovery rate of cultivators by 15%, reduce unnatural deaths by 20%…

Lu Wu’s vision goes dark.

This city of eight million people believes in science, not fate; in Wi-Fi, not feng shui. The last cultivator qualified to enter the Soul-Summoning Banner appeared seventy years ago.

And the mortal realm has long since stopped playing by Heaven’s rules:

An AI algorithm at a food delivery platform has gained sentience and feeds on delivery riders’ despair.

The Underworld has gone public, and the King of Hell is too busy ringing the opening bell to collect souls.

The “God of Wealth” worshipped by the local trade association is an unholy fusion of Chinese and Western styles.

And on the “Supernatural Individual Registration Form” handed over by the Special Administration Bureau, the “Race” field tells him to write “Other”…

Clutching the bamboo appointment scroll, which can’t be stamped with a mortal-world seal, Lu Wu stands before the ruins of the City God Temple, now converted into a public restroom, and sighs.

“Fine. You want to play the game?”

He rolls up the faded sleeves of his official robes and takes out the smartphone issued by Heaven.

“Then let’s show all these mortals, ghosts, gods, and demons…”

“…what it means to have exactly the right person in the right job.”