Afterlife Department

Jiu Ye noticed it, too. "There's no pond!" he exclaimed in surprise. 

Although they were removed in the family tree, but they still came from a rich family, after all. And it was a standard to have a pond in one's home. 

"No wonder I feel it's strange earlier… I didn't hear the sound of water!" Jiu Ye spoke as he looked around. "They didn't build a pond… or was it removed because of that 'rule'?" he asked and looked at Shi Jiu. 

Shi Jiu's gaze fell on the wooden bridge. "They removed it." he answered. "Because of that 'rule'." He said. 

Jiu Ye followed his gaze and saw the wooden bridge. There should have been a pond beneath it. "In order to comply with the 'rule', they buried it with soil." He said. 

"En." Shi Jiu nodded. Then, he opened the family tree of the Pei family. "The current patriarch is Pei Tingming. He only has one concubine. He has two sons and no daughter in the main wife, and Pei Tinghe, the one that died, is the second son. The first son, the heir, is Pei Tingyi." He said. "As for his concubine, he has one son and one daughter. He also has a younger brother, and his brother has four children – two sons and two daughters. The eldest is a daughter, Pei Ru. The sons are twins, Pei An and Pei Ji. And the youngest daughter is Pei Li – the one that we met." He finished. 

"So, he has only one concubine. But, since there are only two brothers, the younger brother of the patriarch also lived here…" Jiu Ye muttered. 

"Yes." Shi Jiu looked around. "Let's go find Pei Tinghe's room. We might find some clues there." he said. 

"Okay!" Jiu Ye answered and followed Shi Jiu. 

…

Yi Bing's face is calm, but Huo Ling's expression is ugly as he hatefully glared at the wide river before them while they stood on the bank. Yi Bing's words made his heart sank. 

"Even with the Soul Shield, I can't sense him." Yi Bing said as he looked at the map as blank as his expression on the holographic screen. 

"Will he be injured?" Huo Ling asked, feeling anxious for Pei Tinghe. 

"For now, I only can't track him. Let's pray that the Soul Shield is strong enough to protect his soul." Yi Bing vaguely answered. 

Huo Ling understood. If even the tracking in the Soul Shield failed, the shield itself may lost its protection. Huo Ling's expression turned grave. "Damn it." he cursed as he looked beyond the wide river, which is an empty ground. "Should we go over?" he asked. 

"No." Yi Bing answered. "Let's regroup first. See if Shi Jiu and Jiu Ye have found some clues." He said. 

"Okay." Huo Ling nodded in agreement. He knows not to be reckless, especially that they are in the light while the enemy is in the dark. 

This has always been a disadvantaged position, and it definitely makes you feel uncomfortable. You never know what is the enemy and when will they strike. More importantly if you are in their territory and you don't know how strong they are. 

Huo Ling flew behind Yi Bing, watching the quiet houses beneath them as the cold, night wind hit his face, making his hair aflutter. The broken tiled roofs, the empty streets, the narrow alleys… this town they arrived, Anchuan, is the biggest town in Kunpeng County, looked very lively during the day but worse than a ghost town at night looking so desolate. 

They saw Shi Jiu and Jiu Ye outside the Pei family mansion waiting for them. 

"Did you find something?" Yi Bing asked as they landed in front of them, lithe as a ghost. 

"Yes." Shi Jiu nodded. 

"Why are you still here? We can go back to the place we're staying to talk?" Huo Ling asked. 

"We found something that you have to personally see." Shi Jiu answered. 

Yi Bing's brow raised. "Okay." He spoke. After all, no matter how advanced a device it, but there is something that can be seen only by the naked eye. 

Huo Ling didn't ask anymore and just followed behind Yi Bing and Shi Jiu together with Jiu Ye. "What did you see?" he whispered to Jiu Ye as they reentered the Pei mansion. 

Jiu Ye pursed his lips. "A white cloth." He said. His face looked gloomy. 

"A white cloth can scare you?" Huo Ling asked. He was about to tease Jiu Ye when they stopped, and he heard Shi Jiu spoke. 

"Not a simple white cloth." Shi Jiu said. 

Huo Ling turned and the smile on his stiffened like the corpse before them. Yes – there is a corpse, and it is hanging by a white cloth. "… fck." He cursed under his breath as he immediately jumped back because his nose almost hit the foot of the corpse after he turned. 

Jiu Ye lowered his head, avoiding the sight of the hanging corpse of a woman. 

"How can there be a corpse? We just left for a short time?" Huo Ling asked. 

"How can there be none? You didn't check the place before you left?" Shi Jiu asked back. 

Huo Ling was rendered speechless. Indeed, he and Yi Bing didn't check the Pei mansion. "We left this task to you." He said. 

It was Shi Jiu's turn to be speechless. He coughed and looked away when he saw Yi Bing's gaze. "We didn't hear anything earlier despite the silence in the surroundings." He spoke. 

Yi Bing and Huo Ling didn't speak. Their sharp senses would definitely catch any sound within a certain radius. Added to the silent surroundings, Shi Jiu and Jiu Ye definitely would have noticed if someone was walking or doing any activities. 

But, the fact that someone hanged their self is in front of them. "She has died half an hour ago." Yi Bing spoke as he checked the corpse. 

They all fell silent. Half an hour ago… this is the time the four of them arrived. And, this room is just right beside Pei Li's room where they appeared, so they should've noticed someone hanging their self. Shi Jiu and Jiu Ye have been running around the Pei mansion, yet they didn't notice it. 

"Who is this person?" Yi Bing asked. 

As expected, the soul's biography didn't appear on their Death Note. Even if this world has an internal reincarnation, but they are still souls so their biographies should've appeared in the Death Note. But, it didn't. This is one of the reasons why they noticed the anomaly in this world, aside from Shi Jiu's report. 

"She should be Pei Tingting, the daughter of the concubine." Shi Jiu answered as he shared the family tree of the Pei family to Yi Bing. "Pei Li is the youngest daughter, and Pei Ru is the oldest daughter, who is already married. The only daughter left is Pei Tingting, so this should be her." He explained. 

Yi Bing nodded in agreement. "Have you checked her room? How about Pei Tinghe's room?" he asked. 

"There is nothing strange in their rooms, except that." Shi Jiu answered and pointed the white cloth used by Pei Tingting to hang herself. 

Yi Bing and Huo Ling scrutinized the cloth and, finally, noticed what is wrong with it. The original white cloth before suddenly changed its color, now looking so old. Not only did it look so old now, but there is also a strange smell coming from it. Shi Jiu showed them the video recorded by his communicator, but the white cloth on the video remained white. If not for Shi Jiu's careful attitude, they would've missed this. 

"What's going on with this?" Huo Ling asked. "Even the video function of our devices failed to grasp this?" he said and looked at the white cloth's changing appearance. 

"Let's talk about this later when we get back. For now, let's check if there are other things that we can find in the mansion." Yi Bing said after Shi Jiu shared the three-dimensional map of the Pei mansion. 

"Okay." Shi Jiu said and took the silent Jiu Ye with him. 

Yi Bing walked away. 

"… wait. Won't any of you ask how or why did she hang herself…?" Huo Ling asked, then sighed when he saw neither Yi Bing nor Shi Jiu look back to answer him. "Fine. Let's just wait tomorrow then for the officials' investigation." He said and then ran after Yi Bing, ignoring the female corpse still hanging on the beam with the white cloth. 

(Pei Tingting: you fckers! Why are you acting like I'm a dead meat… oh, right. I'm already dead, and my flesh can't be eaten as meat on a plate…) 

As expected, the next morning, there is an uproar because of Pei Tingting's death. 

"I heard it's from a heartbreak…" 

"No. I heard it's from her mother's abuse!" 

"Are your sources reliable? Why did I hear that she killed herself because of shame?" 

"How can that be?! Each daughter of the Pei family are well-guarded treasures! No man would dare defile or hurt them!" 

"Then, why did she kill herself?"