Afterlife Department

"Sure!" Jin Wu agreed with Yi Bing's decision. "A master and disciple pair." He said. 

This is a sensible decision. Although Yi Bing and Jin Wu are colleagues for a long time now, but their personalities clash against each other, and they have never once collaborated with each other. Instead, they have been working with their respective disciples recently, and so they could work better with their disciples than with each other. 

Also, Huo Ling and Mo Shi are their disciples, and are weaker than them, so naturally, they have to take each of them with them to protect them. Thinking this, Jin Wu grinned at Mo Shi. 

Mo Shi felt all the hairs on his body rose at their ends when he saw Jin Wu staring at him and is grinning. "Uhm… can I pair with Huo-ge, instead?" he asked and glanced at Yi Bing with a pleading look. He still hasn't forgotten about Jin Wu's harassment to him before! Although Jin Wu said that he is just joking, but he can't let it go! 

If he can't work with Jin Wu, then he can work with Yi Bing. But, he and Yi Bing aren't familiar with each other, and might encounter problems regarding cooperation. And Yi Bing has a rigid personality. Huo Ling, on the other hand, is more approachable and they are both disciples. They have a common topic to talk about. 

But, how can Mo Shi know that Yi Bing is a jealous type, and is interested on Huo Ling? Jin Wu didn't reject Mo Shi's proposal of switching partners and just remained smiling. And the decision lies on Yi Bing's hand. 

So, Mo Shi received a flat and cold 'no' from Yi Bing. Mo Shi can only internally cry as he went into a corner and squatted, hugging his knees, then drew circles on the floor to curse Jin Wu while mushrooms grew on his head. Jin Wi roared in laughter while Huo Ling smiled. Mo Shi is child at heart. 

"Did they say what time should we gather?" Yi Bing asked Huo Ling, ignoring the sulking Mo Shi in the corner. 

"Yes. They said to gather at the entrance of the building at eight." Huo Ling answered. 

Yi nodded, then turned to Jin Wu since Mo Shi is still sulking. "Since we're splitting into two groups, which I actually plan to do later on, we can further look for more information." He spoke. "You two subtly inquire from the group Qi Ming will be assigning you with, while I also inquire in our group with Huo Ling." He said. "As for other problems, directly contact each other through our communicator. I already created a group for us four and added you there." He told them.

Jin Wu and Huo Ling, as well as Mo Shi who dejectedly, opened their communicators and tapped on the messaging icon. Then, they saw that there really is a new group and they were pulled in there. 

"So swift!" Jin Wu said and gave Yi Bing a thumb up. Yi Bing is really faithful in his duties. As expected of the model grim reaper. 

Yi Bing nodded. "Then, let's rest first. Tomorrow, we continue to find some clues about the zombies and the large amount of Foul in this world, as well as the connection of this world's energy to the nucleus crystal found in the zombies' brain." He said. 

"Okay!" they answered. 

Yi Bing and Huo Ling went to the neighboring room where he and Yi Bing will stay while Jin Wu and Mo Shi remained. Mo Shi can't help but shiver when he saw Jin Wu's gaze on his back. 

"You don't want to pair up with me, huh…" he heard Jin Wu spoke behind him. 

Mo Shi felt distressed. He doesn't want to be honest to Jin Wu, as the other will get mad. But, he doesn't want to lie to the other, either, as he knows that Jin Wu will just become angrier once he found out he lied. So, which will he choose? The third option: remaining silent. No wonder why many people say that silence is golden! 

Jin Wu is already familiar with Mo Shi's behavior so he knows that the other is playing dead, though he is, literally. He just wants to tease the other, so he didn't push him to explain to him and let this rabbit go. He lied on one side of the bed and closed his eyes. Before he closed his eyes, he heard the other let out a sigh of relief, which made the corners of his lips curl up. 

Then, he went to sleep. Meanwhile, on the other room, Yi Bing was silently watching Huo Ling sitting on their bed while leaning on the headboard as he tapped on his communicator. 

Here we go again… he thought when he remembered Huo Ling also taking down notes when they were in the Normal World 341. Actually, there has been something bugging in his mind since they left that world. 

"Huo Ling." He called after he saw that the other has already finished and then closed his communicator. 

"Yes?" Huo Ling answered. 

"About the previous world, the ancient world…" Yi Bing spoke. 

Huo Ling stared at Yi Bing. "You also found something strange?" he asked. 

"Yes." Yi Bing honestly answered. "About that white ribbon which Pei Tingting hung herself. The ribbon's appearance is really strange. It can't be done by Ke Hanying. Let's exclude the fog above the river, but the soul summoning…" he frowned. 

Shi Jiu has already told them that the soul he was chasing was hiding in the Pei family's manor so it was safe. But, they can't ignore the fact that there was something summoning the souls. There's also the matter of the sundial on the other side of the river… what's happening in that world?

"It must be really a supernatural world." Huo Ling spoke. "And it must be the reason why that world has internal reincarnation." He said. 

Yi Bing nodded in silence. Even if there really is something in that world, as long as they have finished their task, they don't need to bother themselves after that as there would be another department to be sent to check those worlds – the Inspection Department. They are responsible to check if there is anything wrong left in the worlds that needs to be inspected. Then, they will send the grim reapers again to do the task. 

"Mn. Let's leave it to the Inspection Department to check." he told Huo Ling. 

"Okay." Huo Ling nodded. 

Yi Bing saw that Huo Ling opened his communicator again and opened the notes app. "… did you find something?" he asked. 

"Yes." Huo Ling answered. "About the world energy inside the nucleus crystal… why don't we go and check the nucleus crystal that we have?" he asked, referring to the nucleus crystal they took from the level three zombie. 

Yi Bing immediately took out the nucleus crystal which is red in color. "So beautiful…" he muttered as he looked at the ball of crystal. 

Huo Ling also stared at it and observed it. "… why don't you crush it?" he asked. 

Yi Bing looked at him. 

"Let's see what happens after we crush it, if the energy inside would return to the earth…" Huo Ling muttered. The red glow of the crystal is reflected in his brown eyes, making his pupils look like they are on fire. 

They looked bewitching. 

Yi Bing immediately snapped himself out of his daze and retracted his gaze before he crushed the nucleus crystal in his hand. CRACK! The crystal shards fell on the floor. But, the red color inside the nucleus crystal turned into condensed wisps of air and swirled above Yi Bing's palm. 

"… could it be, the world energy condensed?" Huo Ling spoke, guessing. He poked a red wisp and it broke, but then connected again. He suddenly felt amused. 

"If it really condensed, then can it go back to the earth?" Yi Bing asked. After all, the world energy has always belonged to the earth. The energy in the air is just the energy that overflowed from the earth. 

"How, though?" Huo Ling asked as he played with the red wisps. 

Yi Bing fell silent as he pondered. Then, after a while, he spoke. "… maybe we should just leave them in the air?" he asked. 

Huo Ling. "…" this is so irresponsible. He thought as he looked at Yi Bing. 

Yi Bing coughed as he looked away. Although he asked if the energy from the zombie's nucleus crystal can be returned to the earth, but he's not all-knowing. He really doesn't know of any method of returning the energy to the earth. Then, he'd just leave this matter be. 

Huo Ling saw that Yi Bing became embarrassed and he didn't ask anything more to give him face. Yi Bing is still his superior, after all, no matter how their relationship is close. It's not good to make him feel more embarrassed.