Afterlife Department

"Fck!" Shi Jiu cursed when he returned to their mansion along with Huo Ling and Jiu Ye whom he met on the way. His expression looked very ugly when he remembered the two people he observed earlier who were his drinking buddies yesterday that's why he approached them. 

Jiu Ye's face is paler than earlier when he left with Huo Ling. "W-w-what's happening?" he asked. There is too much confusion on his face and looked that he lost all hope in the world. "Why… why is Ah Su – " his voice halted to a stop as he covered his mouth in shock when he remembered it. 

Huo Ling is just silent. When he inadvertently turned, he saw Yi Bing sitting on the porch when they entered. "Yi Bing." He called. 

Yi Bing raised his head. "How is it?" he asked, then smiled when he saw Jiu Ye's and Shi Jiu's faces.. He can already guess the answer just looking at their faces. So, he turned back to Huo Ling. "Why do you look calm?" he asked. 

"I've already guessed there's something fishy and confirmed it from the way you are mysteriously acting." Huo Ling answered. 

Yi Bing was rendered speechless. Meanwhile, Shi Jiu heard it and he roared in laughter. His gloom vanished. 

"So… what is happening?" Jiu Ye asked as he looked at the adults. 

Yi Bing saw that Jiu Ye is the only one acting normally, so he kindly answered him. "I think the people here are currently possessed." He said. 

Hearing the answer, Jiu Ye felt it's no better than what he had seen earlier. "… possessed?" he muttered. 

Yi Bing nodded. Meanwhile, Shi Jiu and Huo Ling looked for a spot to sit. 

"Is this related to what you have found beyond the river?" Huo Ling asked. 

Yi Bing nodded. "Yes." He answered. 

"What is it?" Shi Jiu curiously asked. 

Yi Bing turned to him. "A sundial." He answered. 

"'sundial'?" they muttered. "It seems ordinary…" they looked at each other. 

"Well, it depends on where it is used, and how." Yi Bing spoke. 

Shi Jiu's brow twitched in annoyance. "Tell us now, will you?" he said. 

Yi Bing seems unhurried. "Instead of telling you… how about you see it for yourself?" he asked. 

They looked at each other, then turned to Yi Bing and nodded. In just a blink of an eye, they arrived beyond the wide river. They turned and looked at the Anchuan Town that seemed to be smaller, and somewhat obscured by a fog… 

"'fog'?" Huo Ling turned to Yi Bing. 

"Yes. I also just noticed it earlier when I arrived." Yi Bing said and looked at the fog hovering above the running water. He and Huo Ling stopped on the river bank last night and didn't see the fog. Today, he used teleportation to get here, so he didn't cross the river and went through the fog. 

Shi Jiu and Jiu Ye walked beside them and also looked at the thin fog. If you're not carefully looking at it, you would first think that there's something veiling your eyes, making your sight blurred when you look at the river. 

"How can there be a fog?" Shi Jiu asked. "It's hot in Anchuan, especially at noon! If the fog should appear, it should be at night or earlier this morning!" he said. 

Jiu Ye nodded in agreement. "This… shouldn't be possible." He said, but halfway his voice lowered. Even he is uncertain of what he said. After all, ever since they arrived, the impossibilities they think became possible. 

Their devices, which supposed to be superior, were rendered useless. Even the Soul Shield also became useless when its tracking function didn't work. Could it really be because of this world's restriction? Or it's because of something else? 

"Let's figure out the fog later. Jiu Ye. Try taking a sample of it." Yi Bing said. 

"Yes!" Jiu Ye nodded and created a flask made up of a special metal. 

Yi Bing raised his hand and waved it, summoning a small portion of the fog. He didn't dare take a large amount since this fog is strange so they don't know how it will behave later, and that there might be someone controlling it and will notice their movements. 

Fortunately, this time, nothing happened out of their control. They anxiously watched the fog, under Yi Bing's control, entered Jiu Ye's flask. As soon as the lid was closed, the breath they didn't notice they were holding was released. 

"Right. Where's the sundial you are talking about?" Shi Jiu asked as their tense muscles relaxed. 

Huo Ling looked around and the ground is really empty as what he remembered last night. There's no sign of a sundial or anything strange. 

Yi Bing noticed his behavior and he smiled. "Not here." He said. 

"Then, where?" Shi Jiu asked. "Beyond the trees?" he asked when he saw the grove. 

"Over there." Yi Bing pointed. 

They turned and saw a grassland. 

"Are you kidding us? We don't see a sundial there." Shi Jiu said as they walked towards the grasses while looking at the ground. 

"There is." Yi Bing leisurely answered. Seeing that they were about to ask again, he continued. "If you include that peak." He said and raised his hand to point upwards. 

They turned and was surprised to see a mountain. "You don't mean…" they turned to Yi Bing, then the ground beneath their feet. 

"Yes. This whole area, including the mountain peak, is the sundial." Yi Bing told them. "The whole ground is the plate, and the peak is the gnomon." He said and teleported. 

They all sucked in a cold breath. They looked at each other before following Yi Bing to the peak. 

"Look." Yi Bing spoke and pointed downwards when he saw them three arrived. 

Huo Ling, Shi Jiu and Jiu Ye turned and were stunned when they saw the grasses that were knee length were neatly arranged according to the flat plate of a sundial. 

"Oh, my g – " Shi Jiu bit his tongue to prevent himself from speaking. "What the hell…" he muttered. 

"Isn't this just an ordinary sundial…" Jiu Ye muttered before he bit his lip. 

In this world, right now, there's no such thing as 'ordinary'. Who would arrange a mountain peak and a grassland as a sundial? This obviously isn't ordinary. 

"How does this sundial relate to the possession of the souls?" Jiu Ye asked. 

Huo Ling and Shi Jiu started. They looked at Yi Bing. 

"It's simple." Yi Bing spoke. "What is sundial used for?" he asked back. 

"Time." They answered. 

Huo Ling froze when he thought of something. "Do you think…" he looked at Yi Bing. "The internal reincarnation…" he muttered, in a daze. 

Shi Jiu and Jiu Ye were confused. "Why did the internal reincarnation got dragged here? I thought it was the sundial?" Shi Jiu asked. 

"Isn't the internal reincarnation trapping the souls here?" Yi Bing asked. 

"'trap'…" Shi Jiu muttered. It took a moment for him to understand what Huo Ling is trying to say. 

Jiu Ye was left more confused. "What? What's with the sundial? The time? The internal reincarnation? What do they got to do with the possession of the souls?" he asked. They can see a big question mark on top of his head. 

Yi Bing turned to him. "Because of internal reincarnation, the souls in this world are 'recycled'." He started. "But, where are they recycled? How were they recycled?" he asked. "This sundial, I am guessing, controls the time of this world." He looked at the grassland below. "As for how these two are related to the possession of the souls – " he looked at the Anchuan Town that was obscured from their sight by the fog beyond the river. " – I am guessing there is a rebirth that happened." He said, his face is serious. 

"WHAT?!" they exclaimed in shock. 

Rebirth. A reincarnation to yourself that spanned over time, but backwards. This is very possible in internal reincarnation. 

"So… that's why these people behaved strangely? Because they were reborn?" Jiu Ye asked after he recovered from his shock. 

"I don't think it's everybody who were reborn." Yi Bing spoke. "Some souls reincarnate as plants and animals, while some were reincarnated on a newborn child. But, to reincarnate to yourself, and at some point in time…" he didn't continue. "And I think, the 'possession', which might be actually a rebirth, happens only for a certain time… and certain people." He said. 

Huo Ling and Shi Jiu looked at the Anchuan Town with a pensive gaze. 

Meanwhile, Jiu Ye felt scared of what he learned, more scared than before. "This… this…" he stammered. He remembered that yesterday, Ah Su behaved normally while this morning, Ah Su wanted to kill him. But, when they returned again to secretly observe under Yi Bing's order, they were shocked to see that Ah Su behaved the same way as he did yesterday. 

"Rebirth… time… missing souls…" Huo Ling muttered as he pondered. This world is interesting.