Afterlife Department

"That's right." Gu Shi nodded. "But, the souls of this world are reincarnating internally, so, external reincarnation is out of the options." He said. "As for them being dead…" he looked at Yi Bing. 

"It isn't possible, either." Yi Bing said. 

"En. Because only their presence disappeared and not their existence." Huo Ling spoke. "It means that the souls are still alive." He said. 

Gu Shi gave Huo Ling a thumb's up. 

"By their presence disappearing, it might be that their soul is too weak to be detected." Huo Ling spoke, then shook his head. "No. If their soul is too weak to be detected, then how can we say that they disappeared?" he asked. "We can say they disappeared because we have detected them first, but then something happened that made their soul became weak… weak enough for us to lose them to be detected." He explained. 

Yi Bing nodded in agreement. 

"But, these two situations… it is equally grave." Huo Ling's face turned serious. 

Yi Bing smiled. "And why is that?" he asked. 

"For the soul to become weak… this is a serious situation." Huo Ling answered. "Either the cause is internal or external." He said. 

"Explain." Yi Bing spoke. 

"The internal cause is a problem that occurred to the soul itself. As for the external cause – " Huo Ling's voice lowered. " – it is caused by the environment, or something within the environment." He explained. 

"Good." Yi Bing praised. "What about the second situation?" he looked at Huo Ling. 

"This… is also serious." Huo Ling sighed. 

Gu Shi silently looked at them in the side. He is amazed by Huo Ling's deductive ability. 

"Why?" Yi Bing asked. 

"For us to lose a soul's presence… it's either something is masking their presence, or… " Huo Ling looked at Yi Bing. "… something is hiding it." he said, his voice low. 

Silence. 

Yi Bing placed his hands on his lap and raised his head to look at Huo Ling. "Continue." He said. 

Gu Shi's eyes widened. There's more?! He thought, shocked. Even he can't make this much inferences from just a small information provided. He stared at Huo Ling's back. 

"This…" Huo Ling bit his lower lip. "It can be intentional and unintentional." He answered. 

"Continue." Yi Bing spoke. 

Huo Ling took a deep breath, then released it. "Unintentional hiding of a soul's presence, it could also be internal or external cause. Internal cause is the problem lies with the soul. It hid its presence unintentionally, meaning that it was an accident, or that it wasn't aware itself of what it did." He said. "As for the intentional hiding… both internal and external causes… internal, meaning that the soul is aware of hiding its presence. As for the external cause… either it's the environment, or something within the environment hid the soul's presence." He explained. 

Yi Bing stared at Huo Ling. 

Huo Ling gritted his teeth. "As for the soul intentionally hiding its presence… it could be it hid on its own will, or it hid to defend itself." He continued. "As for the environment or something within the environment hiding the soul… either it is protecting the soul, or it is harming it." he finished. 

Clap. Clap. Yi Bing smiled at Huo Ling as he clapped his hands. "Brilliant." He said. 

Huo Ling stuck his tongue out to him before he scoffed and ignored him. 

Gu Shi. "…" these two are flirting again… I'm so tired. He thought and sighed. Then, he smiled at Huo Ling and also clapped his hands. "You're very smart. I wouldn't think as far as here like you did." He sincerely said. 

"What do you expect from my apprentice?" Yi Bing said, smiling smugly.

Both Huo Ling and Gu Shi rolled their eyes at him in response. The former is scornful for earlier while the latter… is also scornful for his bragging. 

Yi Bing just laughed. "Anyway – " he spoke. " – we'll be investigating this, right?" he asked Gu Shi. 

Gu Shi nodded. "Yes." He answered. 

"Where's Anji Li? We'll need it." Yi Bing said, remembered the device. 

"R&D." Gu Shi answered as he arranged the documents on his table. "Oh, by the way." He called when he remembered something. He raised his head and saw Yi Bing and Huo Ling reached the door. 

The two men turned. 

Gu Shi smiled. "Congratulations for successfully resolving the problem in Abnormal World 9999. You did a great job." He told them. 

"Thanks!" Huo Ling happily said. He opened the door and, without waiting for Yi Bing, left. 

Yi Bing helplessly smiled. Gu Shi was about to sit on his seat when he noticed Yi Bing was still there. 

"Gu Shi." Yi Bing called. "There shouldn't be a Soul Eater in Normal World 9999. It shouldn't exist there, but it did, turning the Normal World 9999 to a Special World." He said. 

Gu Shi didn't speak. 

"But, since we can't forcefully reincarnate Renton Hydd's and Quinn Hudgeson's souls, this world turned to an Abnormal World, then." Yi Bing continued. "So – " he turned and looked at Gu Shi straight in the eyes. " – how did the Soul Eater appear there?" he asked. 

Silence. 

"This case in Special World 341…" Yi Bing said. "… should I expect of another Soul Eater's presence?" he asked. 

…

"Hm~" Huo Ling hummed as he looked at the stylish design of the walls in the hallway. 

Because the walls are made of transparent glasses, one could see the vast blue sky that they would almost mistake they were under the ocean if not for it is brightly lit around, and that there are scattered white fluff in the distance which, of course, are clouds. 

"Huo Ling!" Di San exclaimed when he almost crashed onto Huo Ling who was skipping in the hallway. 

"Oh. Vice Director, hello!" Huo Ling greeted when he saw Di San. 

Di San smiled. "You're really lively." He said. "Oh. Congratulations for successfully finishing your first task!" he said, remembered what happened to to Abnormal World 9999.

"Ah…" Huo Ling's shoulder fell. 

"What's the matter?" Di San asked, didn't expect for Huo Ling's reaction. 

"In order to accomplish the task, I have to die two times!" Huo Ling said and raised his two fingers. He sighed, feeling depressed. 

"Pft! This doesn't matter, right?" Di San asked. "We're already dead." He said. 

"It's exactly that we're already dead that we have to cherish this afterlife." Huo Ling said. 

Di San was taken aback. "Oh. You're right!" he said, feeling enlightened. 

Huo Ling saw the papers clutched on Di San's chest. "Vice director. You've worked hard! Good luck!" he said and patted Di San's shoulder. 

"Huh? Oh. Yeah?" Di San muttered, caught off-guard by the sudden change in topic. 

Huo Ling smiled before he left. He died while working so he felt averse when working was mentioned. He has thought that it was really the end for him when he died, so he was surprised to know that there is an afterlife. But, just as he was about to celebrate, he was told to either reincarnate, or work. He had just died in the middle of his work and then was told that he can work?! Is he kidding?! So, he chose to reincarnate. 

He reincarnated eight times, as Yi Bing said. 'as Yi Bing said', since he doesn't have memories of his reincarnations. Yi Bing said that this was because he passed through the Pathway of Clouds and received Meng Po's soup – which can make one forget about everything, in the form of rain, so he wouldn't remember his past lives. Since Huo Ling didn't remember them, then, what left of him after reincarnating for eight times is the feeling of boredom. Since he didn't feel that reincarnating is fun, he chose the second option, in which to be a grim reaper. 

Although what he wanted and what he did are contradicting, but he doesn't have any options to choose from. Fortunately, although he has a boss again, but aside from being irritating, Yi Bing gives him lots of freedom. So, he can say he's satisfied with what he currently has, and is in. 

"Huo Ling." Yi Bing called when he finally found him. 

Huo Ling removed his gaze outside the window and turned. 

"You didn't answer my question earlier." Yi Bing said as he walked towards him. 

Huo Ling blinked. "What question?" he asked. He remembered he answered everything earlier. 

Yi Bing chuckled and didn't immediately answer him. "There are two types of question." He said. 

Huo Ling tilted his head and looked at him, doesn't know what Yi Bing is trying to say. 

"Explicit, and – " Yi Bing looked at Huo Ling in the eyes. " – implied." He said. 

Huo Ling fell silent, finally remembered that he really hasn't answered (truthfully) Yi Bing's (implied) question earlier. 

"You are dissatisfied with me." 

Yi Bing saw that Huo Ling has gone silent and didn't force him. "Failure is the result of not using what you have, and not trying what you can. Do the opposite and you will succeed." He spoke. "But… why is it that I feel you want neither of them?" he looked at him. "You're not dissatisfied with me... no. You're not dissatisfied with onlyme. You are dissatisfied with everything." he said. "So, what exactly do you want, Huo Ling?" he asked.