Afterlife Department

Feng Er and Liu Lin slowly turned their heads to Di San who forced a smile, his smile stiff. "Y-Yi Bing…" Di San stammered. "H-How long have you been there standing?" he asked. 

Maybe Yi Bing is giving Di San face as he answered. "I arrived just now." his voice is a degree colder, and deeper, than when he spoke earlier. 

Maybe not. He's lying. Feng Er and Liu Lin both thought, but just silently lowered their head again and tried to reduce their presence more. 

Di San glared at Feng Er and Liu Lin. Traitors! He thought before he turned to Yi Bing and smiled fawningly. Anyone could see that Yi Bing's in a bad mood.. His expression is colder than the North Pale, and his icy-blue eyes are almost black. 

Even if Di San was angry earlier, but even if you'd give him an ocean of courage, he still wouldn't dare show a bad attitude and speak rudely to Yi Bing right now. "Come in. You've arrived just on time." He told him and opened the terrace. 

Yi Bing didn't answer and just walked inside. It is just now that Di San, Feng Er and Liu Lin noticed that the soles of Yi Bing's shoes are wrapped with ice and every time he walked, the floor was covered with a sheet of ice, and spread to the walls. 

The temperature of the room dropped even with the fire in the fireplace is burning. Instead, after the ice reached it, it sizzled before it died and smoked. Feng Er couldn't help shivering. Liu Lin and Di San are better than her since their power is earth, so they could absorb the energy from the earth to warm themselves. Even if they, grim reapers, can't feel the temperature, but Yi Bing's power is overwhelming. 

Liu Lin saw Feng Er shivering and he touched the back of her hand. "T-t-thanks – " Feng Er breathed, but her breath became a smoke. The living suddenly became like it was in winter. Di San, Feng Er and Liu Lin looked at Yi Bing closely and saw he was on edge. 

"Yi Bing." Di San braved himself and spoke. "What happened?" he softly asked. Yi Bing can be spoke with earlier, so Di San knew that Yi Bing definitely would answer.

"My soul was damaged when we reached here." Yi Bing answered. 

Their eyes widened in shock. 

"It was because I forced all of us to this world. I forced Huo Ling to reincarnate in this world. Huo Ling's soul weakened despite he cultivated in the interstellar world, so I placed his soul inside my body. But – " Yi Bing explained. " – it's when I noticed that a part of my soul was missing." He told them. 

They gasped in shock. "That can't be…" Di San stared wide-eyed at Yi Bing. "No way…" he muttered before his eyes reddened and he lowered his head. "Thank you, and I'm sorry." He told him. 

If it wasn't for Yi Bing forcefully sending them all in this world using Huo Ling's reincarnation, they all would still be inside the unstable space, drifting, and would be even more injured as they stayed there longer. Yi Bing could just have saved Huo Ling and himself, but he still saved the four of them. 

Feng Er and Liu Lin also hung their head. Liu Lin was still injured from the former world, the interstellar world, after the hostile Soul Fragment attacked him. Meanwhile, Feng Er's body, because of her wind power, is lighter than normal. So, if she had stayed longer in the unstable space, she will be the first one to drift away from their group as she was taken away by the irregular flow inside the space. 

"Thank you." Di San spoke again. "And I'm sorry." His voice is hoarse as he held himself back not to cry. 

"Don't mention it." Yi Bing told him as he held his head when he felt a headache. "Right now, Huo Ling's soul is hibernating. Don't make too much noise." He told them before he thawed the ice around them. 

Feng Er breathed in relief and she looked at Yi Bing with her eyes filled with gratitude. "How can we find your soul?" Liu Lin asked. Right now, they don't have any means to contact the Afterlife Department and ask for Sha Jiu's and Hai Ba's help. They could only ask help from each other as they were trapped inside this world. 

"The part of my soul that left me carried with it my latent abilities: Singularity and Wholeness." Yi Bing said. "If we could find it, I can use Singularity on me to evoke my deep consciousness to momentarily increase my power before I apply Wholeness to all of you and also evoke your deep consciousness. That way, our powers will be stronger, enough for us to leave this world and go back to Afterlife Department." He explained. 

"That's very risky!" Feng Er can't help but exclaim. 

Evoking one's deep consciousness needs someone to be fully concentrated so they would be left defenseless. Not to mention this world is very dangerous as you can be attacked at any time and in any place, both the evoker and the evoked might also lose their sanity after they drown in their sea of memories that will be recalled during the evocation process. 

In short, it's a do or die process. But, no one spoke after that since what they're currently in is just like prolonging one's sickness after they knew there is no cure to the sickness. Their silence meant agreeing with what Yi Bing said. 

"Currently, I have no idea where could my soul has gone to." Yi Bing spoke. "If only the soul I currently have is stronger than the one that left me… but that other one is stronger than what I currently have." He said. "I can't sense it. I can't locate where it is." He helplessly said. "We can only blindly search in this world. If I can finally resonate with it, I'll tell you." He told them before he left to go to the lobby and book a room for himself. 

Silence fell after Yi Bing left. "Yi Bing is really a nice guy." Feng Er said and sighed in admiration. She didn't say it romantically. 

Liu Lin nodded in agreement. "We aren't his responsibility, and he has a current task like we do. But, he still took the risk and saved us in the process, giving troubles to himself. Now, he's in danger. His soul is in danger." He said. 

Di San didn't speak and thoughtfully looked at the closed door. "After we leave this world, I won't trouble him or complain about him again." He said before he went back to his room and rest. 

Feng Er and Liu Lin leaned on the sofa. Di San not giving others a trouble, and even not complaining about them is like asking for Di San's life. Di San has always been a lively person. He never liked silence, or boring stuffs. Thus, Feng Er and Liu Lin are really surprised that someone like Di San can even remain quiet for five minutes, and longer. 

"I think I'm gonna die." Feng Er spoke. 

Liu Lin wanted to tell her that she's already dead, but he knew when to joke and when to not to. He met Feng Er only later. When he was promoted as a senior grim reaper, Sha Jiu and Hai Ba followed not long after. However, since the two were in R&D, Liu Lin was the last one to join the group. As the last one, naturally he would feel out of place. However, nobody cared whether he'd fit in or not. Feng Er, as the most easy-going in the group along with Di San, made him fit in with the group faster. 

Naturally, as grim reapers, their memories of their death would be erased to not affect them in the afterlife. But, Feng Er is an exception. Her death is the most peaceful among them. She died because of illness. Her parents really took care of her until the last moments of her life, thus she died satisfied. Because she didn't have a resentment or any attachments, her memories of her death was kept so that she would remember that her family loves her very much. 

However, she became a grim reaper instead of entering the reincarnation cycle. She is care free, thus her power is wind. And since she's very peaceful in her moment of death, her power is strong as her emotions of happiness affected her soul, her power. She joined the Afterlife Department because of her temperament. 

Liu Lin understands what Feng Er meant she's going to die. Even if her power is strong, her soul, too, but her concern about the evocation process Yi Bing told them is her memories. She is afraid she would be tempted to go back to her world. She doesn't want to, since she doesn't want to bother her parents again after she saw that they had finally moved on from her death and resumed living in peace.