Afterlife Department

"No! No!" Han Meng cried as she crawled to Huo Zichu's feet. "You can't do this to us! I don't want to die!" she said as her tears streamed down her flushed cheeks. 

"Do you think you have the right to say that?" Huo Zichu asked. 

"Zichu." Huo Huainan called. 

Huo Zichu heard him. Suddenly, as if she thought of something, a smile formed on her lips. Rourou, Lian Xiang, Zhou Cheng and Peng Qian felt the hairs all over their body stood on their end and they shivered in fear. The senior policeman's face turned dark while the junior policeman's smile on his face disappeared. 

"Alright." Huo Zichu said.. "Then, you can stay here." She told her. 

Han Meng's eyes brightened. "R-really?!" she asked in surprise. 

Huo Zichu nodded at her, a smile still was on her face. Because of the darkness, with only the moonlight illuminating them and their surroundings, her smile looked creepy. Even Huo Ling who was secretly watching them felt his soul trembled. 

"She's done for." Yi Bing said. 

"WAH!" Huo Ling exclaimed in shock when he heard Yi Bing's voice behind him and Yi Bing suddenly appeared. "Are you a ghost?!" he asked, mad. 

"I'm not. You are." Yi Bing pointed out. 

Huo Ling looked at his transparent body. "…." Fck! I lose! 

"I am a grim reaper." Yi Bing reminded him. 

Huo Ling's eyes flashed when he remembered something. "Grim reapers are also ghosts!" he told him. 

Yi Bing made a pause as if he's thinking about it. "True." He said, his voice and expression didn't change a slightest bit. 

Huo Ling. "…" that reaction is so bland… why do I feel my face more? It should be Yi Bing who should feel ashamed, yet why did it rebound back to him? 

Huo Ling admitted defeat and continued watching the group below. He didn't notice Yi Bing's smile of triumph. 

Yi Bing: in order not to be ashamed, act shameless. 

"T-thank you!" Han Meng sighed in relief. Because Huo Zichu was headstrong earlier, she had a bad impression of her. However, Huo Zichu suddenly changed her decision. Was it because she sympathizes with her as a fellow woman? 

Han Meng had already forgotten Huo Zichu shaming her earlier and she renewed her impression of Huo Zichu. Because of it, she didn't notice the strangeness in the atmosphere. Even Peng Qian, who is hell-bent on leaving earlier, suddenly stopped acting frenzied and calmed himself down in order to observe. 

Rourou and Lian Xiang, although confused, but their instinct tells them that something is wrong. Zhou Cheng is an intelligent man and so he had noticed the maliciousness hidden in Huo Zichu's smile as she looked at Han Meng. 

Why? Why did Huo Zichu change her decision? Wasn't she going to avenge her son? Zhou Cheng was puzzled, but he didn't show it on his face since Huo Huainan is looking at them. He is afraid it will be his turn after they have dealt with Han Meng in case he'd act conspicuously and reveal his doubts to the others. 

The senior and junior policemen were silent as they secretly observed everyone, especially Huo Huainan and Huo Zichu. Before they left, their superior at work had told them to serve Huo Huainan and huo Zichu faithfully. No matter what they do, do not question them. No matter what they order, just comply. He had already become suspicious, thus he brought his junior with him – the only one he can trust. Although his junior is a bit slow, but he is very reliable at critical times. 

It seems that he had made the right decision, seeing how strange their current situation is. If Huo Huainan and Huo Zichu are not planning to kill these colleagues of their son Huo Ling, then the senior policeman would sell his kidney. He could sense Huo Zichu's killing intent. Huo Huainan is better in hiding his killing intent. But, their ill intention towards these young men and women can't be hidden from his dog nose and hawk eyes. 

They are looking at the group of young people with disguised scornful gaze. 

"That woman will die tonight." Yi Bing spoke as he sat beside Huo Ling. 

"Which woman?" Huo Ling asked. 

"Are you blind?" Yi Bing asked. 

"No?" Huo Ling answered and paused when he thought of something. "Shouldn't ghosts be perfectly healthy since they're already dead?" he asked. 

Yi Bing speechlessly stared at him. 

"What?" Huo Ling said when he saw Yi Bing was just looking at him. "Am I wrong?" he asked. 

"… no." Yi Bing answered and made a helpless sigh. He's so dumb. "You're perfectly healthy." He told him. Except your brain. He added in his heart. His brain definitely stopped functioning… well, in literal sense, it did. But, what he meant is that, Huo Ling's intelligence deteriorated after he died. How can he not notice the tension on the ground below them? 

"So? Which woman are you talking about that's going to die?" Huo Ling asked. 

Yi Bing was about to answer when he noticed the tone of Huo Ling's voice. "… you're not surprised?" he asked.

"About what?" Huo Ling asked, looking skeptical. 

"… about how some of your 'friends' don't want to save you." Yi Bing answered. "And your mother's and father's actions." He added. 

Huo Ling's eyes widened. "Well…" he muttered as he thought about the words he is going to say. "Regarding my friends… well, I actually don't have friends." He said. 

"What do you mean?" Yi Bing asked. 

"If a person wanted to befriend you only because you have the money, the looks and a good temperament which will make them want to take advantage of you because you definitely don't want disputes, can they be considered a friend?" Huo Ling asked. 

"No." Yi Bing answered. 

"Then, I don't have a friend." Huo Ling said. "Everyone around me is like this." he shrugged. 

Yi Bing. "…" the gaze he has on Huo Ling right now was filled with pity. "You really do have a good temperament." He told him. Look how calm Huo Ling is after knowing the sad truth. 

Well, that's not right, either. Huo Ling already knows the truth, so why would he be sad? Thus, he could remain calm. 

"Mother…" Huo Ling continued. "She has always been like this." he said. "She's stern, strict. She is also ruthless." He hugged his knees as he tried to recall the times when he could meet Huo Zichu. "One time I heard the maids in our house were talking. They didn't see me approaching, and so I heard that when I was still a baby, father urged mother to give me a bath. But – " he took a deep breath. " – when father returned after he took a towel, he saw me drowning in the bath tub while mother was just watching. The water is hot, and either she did it or not, but the water temperature increased. I suffered a second-degree burn, since an infant's skin is very sensitive. I was also a premature baby, so the injury became more serious." He forced a smile. "I was still an infant at that time, so I couldn't remember the pain, the torture that I went through." He finished. 

Yi Bing doesn't know what to say, nor what to react. 

"As for my father…" Huo Ling said. 

"Huo Ling." Yi Bing called. 

Huo Ling looked at him before he laughed. "What?" he said. "Scared? But, unlike my mother, father is a normal person." He told him and looked at Huo Huainan from afar who stood silently beside the car. "He is a doting father, like my grandfather. He loves me so much, so he never hit me, not even once. Even when I went against their expectations and chose archaeology, in the end, he let me." He explained. "Father is a kind person. I was surprised that he managed to get together with my headstrong mother. Is this what they call, 'opposites attract'?" he asked. 

Yi Bing. "…" I admit defeat. Huo Ling isn't perfectly healthy. Not only there was something wrong with his brain, but also with his eyes. Why can't he see that Huo Huainan is the strangest, as well as the most imposing person in the group below?! 

Suddenly, Yi Bing noticed something. He stared at Huo Ling for a long time before he spoke. "Why do you look and sound indifferent?" he asked. 

"Huh?" 

"You…" Yi Bing spoke. "… don't feel wronged, or angry?" he asked. 

Huo Ling blinked. "Why should I?" he asked. 

This time, it was Yi Bing's turn to be puzzled. "Huh?" he muttered. There's really something wrong with Huo Ling's reaction. 

"Why should I feel wronged, when I can already see through their acts and could guess their intentions?" Huo Ling asked. "Why would I be angry, since I know they are more pitiful than me?" he added. 

"… what do you mean, 'more pitiful'?" Yi Bing asked. He felt like he couldn't follow Huo Ling's way of thinking. 

"What they have, I have. What they don't have, I also have. Doesn't that make them more pitiful?" Huo Ling asked as he blinked. "Wasn't that why they hate me? Wasn't that why they approach me?" he added. 

Yi Bing now understood. It isn't because Huo Ling is indifferent thus his bland reaction. It's because he has already accepted the ugliness of the human heart.