Afterlife Department

Blood flowed as the lens of Ke Congyi's eyeglasses glinted because of the light from the screen of his computer. He resumed working, ignoring the 'corpse' lying on the cold floor of their station. Their colleagues acted blind as they stiffly resumed their work, too, fearing Ke Congyi would 'kill' them next if they'd slack off from their work even just a second.

After a while, the 'corpse' slowly moved, crawling away from the cold-blooded 'killer'. An hour later, Xiao Xie and Song Mingfan, Zhang Bao, and Xue Liping received a blood-stained letter from Jiang Xinduo. The letter contained the orders of their chief, Gu Xingfeng.

"Did vice chief 'poked' the 'porcupinefish' again?" Xiao Xie asked as he pinched a corner of the letter to hold it. His face had a look of disgust when he saw the bloodstains. The 'vice chief' he's referring to is Jiang Xinduo. "He should've just let the fish swim on its beloved data. He'd just harm himself poking it." he said.

"We can't stop a trembling M." Song Mingfan said with a deadpan face as he unhesitatingly labeled Jiang Xinduo.

Jiang Xinduo who was unknowingly labeled an M. "Achoo!" he sneezed and rubbed his nose before he treated his wounds by himself. "Dang… that xiao Ke becomes more and more sadist…" he muttered.

"Erm…" the nurse in the infirmary called. He speechlessly watched Jiang Xinduo masterfully wrapped his wounds as if he has done that many times.

"Oh." Jiang Xinduo muttered when he saw the nurse was looking at the bloodstains on his inner shirt. "Don't mind it." he said and smiled, only to hiss from pain when he felt the corner of his mouth, where Ke Congyi gave an uppercut earlier, hurt. For an operations officer, his punches really bite. He thought and hissed in pain again when he accidentally pressed his bruise because he was absent-minded.

"Uhm… why did you pick a fight with senior Ke?" the nurse asked.

Jiang Xinduo was taken aback. 'pick a fight'? Is that how it looked? He thought and pondered. "Adult matters." He just said.

"Huh?" the nurse was puzzled.

However, Jiang Xinduo ignored him and took his uniform jacket before he wore it. Fortunately, he always wore off his jacket when he's inside the station. Or else, even his jacket wouldn't be let off from the bloodstains.

He rubbed his nose, feeling embarrassed. Why did xiao Ke's temper got worse again? He thought and sighed. Since he had provoked him today, he'll save another for tomorrow.

S City Water Park.

"Are you sure I can eat it?" Huo Ling asked Yi Bing as he stared at the fruit up in the tree.

"Yeah." Yi Bing nodded as he crossed his arms on his chest. "Since the soul is a part of the nature, it can also touch it like when they were once humans." He said.

"Alright." Huo Ling said as he floated in the air and slowly touched the fruit. His eyes widened when he felt the fruit's smooth and slightly cold skin due to the windy weather. "I touched it." he muttered.

Yi Bing smiled, his usually cold expression thawed like ice exposed from the sun. "Great." He said.

Huo Ling smiled, feeling happy, before he floated down the ground. "So, because the soul is a part of the nature, it will return to the nature?" he said. "But, since our existence in this world disappeared after our death when we were humans, we will go to reincarnation?" he added.

"Yes. To another world." Yi Bing answered. "Your once existence in this world, its proof is in the people you know, in their memories." He said. "However, one's memories fade as the time pass, and so is the proof of your existence in their mind, in their heart." He explained.

"Will I meet them in that world I'll reincarnate?" Huo Ling asked.

"Maybe…" Yi Bing answered. "If it is decreed by the fate." He said.

Huo Ling fell silent. Earlier, after they left his maternal grandfather's company, he asked Yi Bing why did Yi Bing not sent him to the underworld. Yi Bing told him that there's no underworld in their world, but in the world where Yi Bing came from.

However, the underworld was destroyed, and so the Afterlife Department – where Yi Bing works, was created, and them, grim reapers, their job is to send the souls to their reincarnation so a world wouldn't be overloaded with souls. As to what is/are the consequence/s if that happened, even Yi Bing doesn't know.

Then, he began asking him about the Afterlife Department.

"The Afterlife Department, aside from sending the souls to their reincarnation, is the souls' haven. It is their rest stop." Yi Bing said.

"'rest stop'?"

"A soul undergoes nine cycles of reincarnation, and each cycle has nine lifetimes." Yi Bing said. "After every cycle, the soul would take a momentary rest in the Afterlife Department before they decide to go to the next cycle of their reincarnation." He explained.

"… 'decide to go'? They can also not go to their next cycle of reincarnation?" Huo Ling asked.

"Yes." Yi Bing answered.

"Why is that?" he asked.

"Because they can become grim reapers." Yi Bing said.

"So, I can become a grim reaper?" he asked as he looked at him.

"Yes." Yi Bing answered. "After you complete one cycle." He said.

"Why should I complete a cycle?" he asked. "And, why is there nine cycles, and nine lifetimes in one cycle?" he added.

"After the soul completes the nine cycles, their 81 lifetimes, they can become an immortal." Yi Bing answered.

"What? How?" he asked.

"After each lifetime, the soul would leave a fragment of them to their mortal body after they die. 81 lifetimes are the soul's limit." Yi Bing explained.

"Why would a soul leave a fragment of it?" Huo Ling asked.

"There's this called the time paradox." Yi Bing said. "Right now, you're dead. But, in the paradox world, you might have been just born, or you're already four years old. The way you died might change. However – " he said as he looked at Huo Ling. " – your time of death can't be changed." He told him.

Huo Ling fell silent. "What if the me in this world would go to the paradox world and change my death?" he asked.

Yi Bing, however, after hearing Huo Ling's words, his expression didn't change. As if he had already expected it. And his words confirmed it. "You're not the only one who asked this question." He said. "Do you know why I can tell you these things, even if I can't?" he asked. "One, we can erase your memories. Also, before your reincarnation, your memories of this world will be erased to not affect your life in the next world." He said. "Two, it's because you have the potential to become a grim reaper, thus this is an unspoken rule – permitting for a grim reaper to reveal these secrets to a soul." He explained.

"So, I really can be a grim reaper." Huo Ling muttered.

"Yes." Yi Bing said. "However, there'd be some souls who, after hearing these secrets, would rebel and cross the time and space to change their death." He said.

"What happened to them?" he asked.

"Death." Yi Bing answered. "The time and space is unstable, so they were killed by it. And also – " he said as his voice lowered. " – it could be the grim reapers killed them." he said.

Huo Ling drew a sharp breath when he felt a chill in his soul. "Have you experienced this before?" he asked.

"Yes." Yi Bing calmly answered. "I killed those souls." He said.

"I thought you, grim reapers…"

"Our creed to protect and satisfy the souls to their fulfillment?" Yi Bing cut him off. "If the scale is unbalanced, what do you think would happen?" he asked.

"Disorder, chaos…" Huo Ling muttered.

Yi Bing nodded. "We protect the souls, but we also can kill them." he said.

Huo Ling didn't know why but he suddenly felt uneasy. And so, he changed the topic. He asked about the Soul Eaters, which Yi Bing had mentioned to him earlier – the cause of the destruction of the underworld of the only Stable World.

"There won't be Soul Eaters here, right?" he asked him.

"No. The Soul Eaters are originally from our world – the Stable World. If they would really escape to other worlds, they would highly likely choose the Special Worlds." Yi Bing answered.

"Why is it?" he asked.

"Because the Special Worlds are of higher-levelled worlds." Yi Bing answered. "They are advanced in knowledge, stronger in spiritual powers and magical powers. If the Soul Eaters would consume souls from these worlds, since the souls of these worlds are stronger, then the strength of the Soul Eaters would increase after they digested the souls power." He explained.

From Yi Bing's words, Huo Ling realized that the world he currently in now is a Normal World. The souls – the humans, living are all ordinary.