Afterlife Department

While Yi Bing and Huo Ling are flirting… ehem, spending their time leisurely, outside the mausoleum, the atmosphere is tense. 

"What… did you just say?" the senior policeman said as he looked at Huo Huainan. 

"Stay here, since we can't go out." Huo Huainan said. "Then, tomorrow, when it is bright, you all lead the way inside the mausoleum and help me and my wife find our son." He told them. 

They all stared at him in shock and horror. "No…" someone in Huo Ling's group spoke. They all turned and saw it was Peng Qian who spoke. "No…" he muttered, his eyes wide in horror. He is coldly sweating. He feels the darkness around them is embracing his body, tighter and tighter as time passed by, until he finally felt suffocated.. His breathing became ragged. 

He took a step back, which made him almost fell since his knees felt weak and are shaking. 

"Peng Qian!" Zhou Cheng cried as he looked at Peng Qian in disbelief. 

"What?!" Peng Qian snapped as he turned to Zhou Cheng. "Can I not value my life more than friendship?! I am scared, too!" he said as he marched towards one of the cars. 

"Peng Qian! Are you a man?!" Zhou Cheng asked as he gnashed his teeth in anger.

Peng Qian stopped and turned to Zhou Cheng. "Zhou Cheng! Don't you dare use that tone on me!" he said as he pointed at Zhou Cheng. "You're just the deputy leader of the group! Don't think I don't know that you just want to look like a goody two shoes! You're acting like someone righteous because you want to impress the girls! You also act like you care about Huo Ling when in fact, you just want to ingratiate yourself to him because you want to enter the social class!" he said. 

"What the f*ck!" Zhou Cheng finally can't hold back a curse. 

"In short, you're just a hypocrite!" Peng Qian added. 

"You surnamed Peng!" Zhou Cheng cursed as he pulled Peng Qian by the collar and raised his fist. "I am a hypocrite? I want to impress Rourou and the others?" he said. "Say all you want, but at least I still have a conscience!" his fist finally landed on Peng Qian's face. "We're the ones who drove Huo Ling and ourselves to our death, and not Huo Ling alone! In fact, we dragged him into this!" he said and landed another fist on Peng Qian's face. 

Rourou, Han Meng and Lian Xiang cried and covered their eyes. 

"We're the ones who killed him!" Zhou Cheng said, his eyes red in both anger and suppressing his tears. "I don't care how I'll look like to the others. But, at least, I'm going to die without any sense of guilt!" he said and punched Peng Qian once more before he let him go. 

Peng Qian fell to the sand on his back. The junior policeman whistled seeing the frustrated look on Zhou Cheng's face. "Senior, can we recruit him?" he asked. 

The senior policeman rolled his eyes. "He's an archaeologist." He reminded his junior. 

"But he doesn't act like one!" the junior policeman refuted. 

The senior policeman wanted to just roll his eyes again. He turned to Huo Huainan and Huo Zichu who just watched the group of five as if they're just watching a boring theater play. "I guess they agree?" the senior policeman said. 

"Whether they do or not, we're still dragging them with us. Even if there's only a single, faint breath left on them." Huo Zichu coldly said as she looked at Peng Qian's swollen face after Zhou Cheng punched him. 

The senior policeman's joking expression changed. The junior policeman felt his heart became cold as he looked at Huo Zichu in shock. 

"Y-you can't do this!" Han Meng said as she cried. "This… this world is governed by law! You can't force us to cooperate!" she said. "You can't force us to die for you!" she added. 

"Han Meng…" Rourou and Lian Xiang looked at her in disbelief. 

Huo Zichu snorted. Her eyes filled with scorn as she looked at Han Meng who's crying, her tear-stained face can induce pity. Unfortunately, although Huo Zichu is also a woman like her, but Huo Zichu can't feel any pity towards Han Meng. 

"Young girl, do you think I can't see through your petty tricks?" she said. 

"What….?" Han Meng muttered as she looked at Huo Zichu. Her eyes are filled with fear when she saw the apathetic and cold gaze that is as if boring into her soul, can see through her. 

"Zichu." Huo Huainan called. 

Huo Zichu just scoffed. "Gold digger." She spat out as she looked at Han Meng with disgust filled in her eyes. 

Han Meng's face paled and at the same time reddened in shame and anger. "W-what do you mean by that?!" she asked. Her anger firing her boldness. 

However, how can she be Huo Zichu's match? "Aren't you?" she said. "Wasn't it your idea to travel? However, you didn't find any 'patron', so you eyed my son." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Han Meng whose face paled once again after her secret was found out. 

Rourou and Lian Xiang looked at Han Meng in disbelief. 

"T-that's right!" Peng Qian said as if he remembered something. "This all was your idea!" he said as he glared at her. "You incited us and told us to go together to Huo Ling since Huo Ling is rich and definitely can sponsor the trip!" he pointed at her. "You bitch! Now I remember, you're always clinging onto him, right?" he asked. 

"That's because she once tried to climb onto my son's bed." Huo Zichu didn't have the slightest bit of sympathy on Han Meng as she revealed more of Han Meng's secrets. She doesn't even feel uncomfortable in revealing something that could bring shame to a woman. 

"H-how… how did you find that out?!" Han Meng asked, panic flashed on her face. "H-Huo Ling said… Huo Ling said…" she stammered. 

"My son is a saint, that's why you always take advantage of him." Huo Zichu said. "How can I not know the matters that make my son uncomfortable?" she asked as she walked towards Han Meng. She leaned down to look at her face. "As I've said, my son is a saint. He doesn't like these petty tricks like what you are doing. He didn't reveal it to your other friends that you tried to force yourself on her to avoid embarrassing you even though he was taken advantage of." She explained. 

"Han Meng!" Zhou Cheng cried and he walked away from Han Meng, as if she would dirty him. "You… you - !" he said. "So, that's why you went with Huo Ling and I earlier inside the mausoleum… you…" he said and gritted his teeth, enduring his anger. 

Huo Zichu is right. They have taken advantage of Huo Ling so much. Huo Ling is very kind, so Huo Ling wouldn't complain even though he's being taken advantage of. But, what did they repay him? Death. They drove him to his death. And now, some of them even want to escape this responsibility. 

Such ingrates! What would Huo Ling think of them if he can see them right now? How can they face him in the underworld when they meet him? 

Huo Ling's answer? A deadpan expression. Huo Ling watch as his mother insult his colleagues. Yi Bing brought him back here after they had dinner. So, Yi Bing just wanted to have a dinner? 

"What do you feel?" he heard Yi Bing ask beside him while they watch the group below. They are sitting on the roof of the mausoleum. 

"If you're here to mock me, then I'll satisfy you." Huo Ling said as he turned and frowned at Yi Bing. "I'm. Not. The. Least. Bit. Happy!" he answered. 

Yi Bing laughed. "I'm not mocking you." He told Huo Ling. "I'm sincerely asking you." He explained. 

"Oh, please." Huo Ling rolled his eyes at him. "Spare me with your hypocrisy." He told him. 

Yi Bing chuckled. "Think whatever you want to think." He told Huo Ling. 

"Hmph!" Huo Ling just scooted away from Yi Bing. "Why did you bring me back here? Aren't we going back to the Stable World?" he asked. 

"Didn't you say you want to stop the Soul Society from deceiving the families of the vessels?" Yi Bing asked back. 

Huo Ling's eyes widened. "You're going to help me?!" he asked. 

"Did I say 'yes'?" Yi Bing asked back, again. 

Huo Ling. "…"  fck. He's toying with me again! "Then, why did you ask me that?!" he asked through his gritted teeth. 

"I'm letting you stay here to think of a plan on how to defeat the Soul Society." Yi Bing answered. 

"… huh?" Huo Ling's mind went blank and he blankly stared at Yi Bing. "What?" he muttered. 

Yi Bing turned to him. "Take your time." He told him as he patted Huo Ling's shoulder. "Since we have a lot of time to spare."