Midnight Legal Department: Lawsuits Across Two Worlds

Why won't anyone buy me off? Le Yu, a down-and-out corporate legal officer at a conglomerate, starts his story with nothing but a meager compliance-review bargaining chip, groveling to scrape together his mother's surgical fees. That is, until he dies—at the break of dawn. But death becomes his turning point. He is given a chance to partake in a ritual: nine prostrations with a bow at each step. This is the grandest local folk custom, a thousand-year-old tradition of the Red-Clad Town. The ritual itself, however, matters little. What matters is the prize: successful participants who inscribe their names upon the Lock God List receive a million yuan from local benefactors, offered as tribute to the deities. Once the name is written, there is no taking it back. Ghost: "Grandson, my own flesh and blood! Grandfather... has missed you so." Human: "Excellent—another perfect vessel." Two realms, one man and one ghost. One sits in the conference room of Linjiang Construction, a cold smirk he can barely suppress curling at his lips. The other lingers in an ancestral shrine hung with red lanterns, wearing a kindly, benevolent smile. The night endures, and the two smiles begin. This work is also known as *Two Smiles Survive the Night*.