# 616
**Chapter 617: The Ministers and the Seven Divine Departments**
After tallying the numbers, excluding the few “mysteries” Lin Qiye had directly slain in the cells, all the rest had joined the ranks of the orderlies. The final count reached 297—meaning the Asylum of the Gods now had 297 full-time orderlies.
Watching the noisy crowd in the courtyard, Lin Qiye felt a headache coming on.
Where was he supposed to house so many people?
Back when there were only six or seven orderlies, the small dorm rooms on the first floor of the asylum were enough. Now, with nearly three hundred added all at once, he couldn’t just make them sleep in the yard.
He didn’t consider himself a particularly benevolent boss, but even he couldn’t stomach making his employees sleep outdoors.
As Lin Qiye pondered, the Asylum of the Gods beneath his feet suddenly shook violently. He froze, snapped his head around, and stared in one direction.
At the edge of the asylum, where walls and mist had once loomed, space twisted violently. The fog rolled back, revealing a large patch of ground, and at the same time a tall building shot up from the earth.
The unexpected change made the new orderlies in the yard cry out in alarm, fear and worry in their eyes. Fresh from their cells, they still instinctively resisted and distrusted this unfamiliar place.
Bear roars, bird cries, barking, and the calls of countless other creatures mixed into a deafening racket.
Lin Qiye frowned, about to speak, when a thunderous boom erupted behind him.
**DONG—!!!**
Blinding Buddhist light merged with fierce divine might, gushing out of Ward Four. The ancient ape in kasaya sat like a stone statue, but his furnace-bright eyes were already open.
His brows were locked, clearly in a foul mood.
“**SHUT UP!!!**” the fierce ape bellowed. Rolling divine pressure erupted again, slamming every orderly in the yard to the ground!
The thunderous roar drowned out every beast cry. All 290 new orderlies knelt, terror flooding their hearts, minds reeling.
Yet another godly aura?
First the beautiful woman in starlight gauze, now a fierce ape with golden eyes—deities they wouldn’t have dared dream of were appearing one after another… what kind of cursed place was this?
When the roar ended, the asylum was silent. The ape seemed to have vented his anger; the golden light in his eyes faded, lids slowly closing, turning him back into a statue.
As expected of the Great Sage…
Lin Qiye secretly exclaimed, seeing none of the orderlies dare move.
He turned to the side: the risen building was finished—seven stories, a dozen rooms per floor, four beds per room…
Was this… staff housing?!
Lin Qiye stared blankly for a few seconds before accepting that the asylum had spontaneously built a dorm. He looked down at the ground beneath his feet, expression complicated.
Just as Nyx had said—this asylum was alive.
He’d only just taken in two-hundred-plus orderlies, and a dormitory had popped up automatically. If the asylum had no mind of its own, Lin Qiye wouldn’t believe it.
He had tried to communicate with it lately, but it never responded—whether his method was wrong or it simply ignored him, he didn’t know.
Shaking off the chaotic thoughts, he turned his gaze back to the new orderlies still prostrate in the yard.
Lodging was solved, but how to manage so many…
After a moment’s thought, he had an idea.
“Li Yifei, A Zhu, Rubik’s, Lord Baylor, Lucky.” Lin Qiye called the old hands standing nearby.
“Lucky” was the name he’d given the Pekinese; with his naming skills, this was already a miracle. Fortunately, the dog didn’t object—he even tried to stand in his tuxedo and applaud.
Lin Qiye cast a summoning spell inside the asylum, calling Hongyan and Black Pupil back from outside. Seven figures stood in a row.
These seven were his original team, the longest-serving orderlies—true veterans.
“From today, each of you will head a department.
Li Yifei—General Affairs, coordinating the others; A Zhu—Catering, in charge of all meals; Rubik’s—Housekeeping, laundry, drying, changing sheets; Hongyan—Security, defending the asylum… though that may be pointless.
Lord Baylor—Agriculture, planting and tending greenery and crops; Lucky—Sanitation, keeping every corner clean; Black Pupil—Inspection, spotting problems and reporting to me at once.”
Lin Qiye looked at them. “Understood?”
Five nodded. Hongyan looked blank, and Lucky leapt up with an excited “Woof!”—whether he’d understood was anyone’s guess.
“…Li Yifei, keep them in line.” Lin Qiye sighed, patting Li Yifei’s shoulder. “From now on, you’re the bona-fide chief steward!”
“Relax, Qiye, I’ll run this place perfectly!” Li Yifei chuckled.
He really was capable.
He led the six ministers into the Forbidden Ruins, assigning new orderlies to departments by species, preferences, and personality, then organized several training sessions—with Black Pupil as lecturer—to instill proper values.
Why Black Pupil? Li Yifei felt the guy had a born talent for pyramid schemes.
Merlin sat in his study rocking chair, sipping from a steaming mug, watching with a smile.
“Ah, youth…”
…
Starry night.
Lin Qiye sat alone on the hillside. Opening his eyes, he saw the girl in the black sakura kimono slip quietly out of the container and walk straight toward him.
“Where are your underlings?” Yuzuri Nana asked, noticing the two who’d been beside Lin Qiye were gone.
“Back to work,” Lin Qiye answered. “Why aren’t you asleep?”
Yuzuri Nana sat beside him, hugging her knees, gazing at the star-filled sky.
Stars reflected in her eyes. After a silence she said, “I can’t sleep.”