Afterlife Department

Not again… Yi Bing's brows knitted as he frowned after he read the biography of Huo Ling in this world. 

Like before in the Normal World where Huo Ling was a college student, Huo Ling's biography in this world is also too clean. Too clean to the point it's too suspicious. 

Huo Ling was born through in-vitro fertilization between Mary Jackson and Gerard Jackson. After Mary and Gerard struggled until they became successful in their own fields and have enough strength to defy their respective parents, they divorced when Huo Ling was old enough to understand the affairs of the adults. 

Huo Ling, obedient as he was, really didn't react violently with his parent's divorce. Another reason is because he was immersed in training himself to become a soldier which he aspired. Thus, Mary's and Gerald's divorce was successful and peaceful. 

Because of his parents' genes, Huo Ling is brilliant. He graduated his primary school and high school with honors. When he entered college, his life was smooth.. Even when he entered to train in the military, it was smoother than the other trainees. He struggled like the other soldiers struggled, but nothing was off with his life as a trainee. 

This is also why Gerard Jackson, after Huo Ling died and he investigated, he didn't find anything suspicious from his son's alma mater up to the military. More so with Lewis Jackson, Huo Jinghua and even Harry Walter who investigated the higher-ranking officers. Who would dare make trouble for Huo Ling who was supported by the royal family, big families in the business world, as well as four high-ranking officers?! 

Thus, Huo Ling's death being plotted by someone was really puzzling. If it wasn't Huo Ling who told them that he was really plotted, then they wouldn't believe it was really of someone's plot and would just treat it as an unfortunate accident. 

Yet, Huo Ling was. He was plotted against. The question is, who and how? They couldn't find a single clue, nor can catch any shadow of that person. 

Huo Jinghua, as his family whose business is in the mechs, and is the main supplier to the mechs of the military, investigated his family and all the engineers involved and are responsible for the mech production and tried to find anyone suspicious. Huo Ling's accident was due to his mech. Yet, how can they inspect Huo Ling's mech itself since it was blown to pieces? Not a single part of it remained. 

When they saw the blown area where they suspect Huo Ling's mech exploded, their heart couldn't help but feel cold. If even the mech, not a single piece of it remained, then how much more for it to a human? That's how lethal it is when a mech self-explodes. Huo Jinghua started to plan how to change their family's mech's self-exploding program. 

Lewis Johnson who has many connections because of his family, and also of his interpersonal skills, investigated both the low-ranking and high-ranking officers. Yet, no one was suspicious. Meanwhile, Harry Walter was blowing off cold air during the meetings as he icily stared at the officers who are responsible for dispatching the military units to scout the space. 

"There's nothing. Nothing!" Yi Bing felt frustrated as he closed his Death Note and hid it. He looked at Huo Ling who was watching Mary Jackson clean 'his' room with tears in her eyes. 

His heart clenched when he saw Huo Ling's eyes are red, and tears are threatening to fall when he saw Mary Jackson was crying as she hugged 'his' picture frame. 

The mind may forget, but the heart remembers. Yi Bing thought as he lowered his gaze. These words, they only apply to certain cases. Since Huo Ling doesn't remember Yi Bing. 

No – Yi Bing sharply inhaled when the pain on his chest increased as a thought crossed his mind. How can Huo Ling remember him? He wasn't even in Huo Ling's heart. 

Yi Bing closed his eyes before he shook his head, shaking away these thoughts out of his mind. 

"*sniff." 

Yi Bing's eyes snapped open when he heard someone sniffed. He turned, thinking it was Mary Jackson when he saw Huo Ling's shoulders are shaking. 

Huo Ling was crying. He might can't take the emotions anymore, thus he cried. His tears are silently falling, and low sobs are coming out of his mouth. Even though his face is blank since he can't remember Mary Jackson, yet his body cried for his mother. "I – " he spoke, his voice hoarse. He raised his hand and wiped his tears off his face, yet more tears fell. 

"It's fine." Yi Bing spoke as he patted Huo Ling's shoulder. "Your heart remembers, so your mind will also remember." He told him. 

Huo Ling nodded as he sniffed and wiped his tears off while watching Mary Jackson who was now lying on the bed, her eyes are swollen and she is sleeping. Her beautiful brows are knotted as her forehead creased. Obviously, she was having a nightmare, or her sleep isn't peaceful. 

"Xiao Ling…" she called in her sleep, followed by her tears falling from her closed eyes. She is crying even in her sleep. 

"Mo… th…" Huo Ling opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. He felt something was caught in his throat. His eyes reddened even further and his chest felt tight. He tried to choke back his sobs, but the moment he opened his mouth, a sob came out. "Why…" he muttered as he fell on his knees, facing Mary Jackson who was now crying on her sleep. 

The door opened and Huo Jinghua rushed in with a panicked, but also worried look on his face as he ran towards Mary Jackson. He raised his hand to wake her up, but his trembling hand instead fell on Mary Jackson's face and gently wiped her tears off of her face. 

"Mary…" Huo Jinghua sighed with sorrow as he closed his eyes and knelt beside the bed, holding Mary Jackson's hand tight with both his hands. "I'm sorry… I failed you to protect xiao Ling."