Afterlife Department

"'twice'?' Huo Ling frowned.

"It's like this, Ling-ge." Jiu Ye spoke as he invited Huo Ling and Yi Bing to sit while Bai Liu resumed with his duties.

Huo Ling was slightly taken aback being called 'Ling-ge' twice today.

"Last night, just right after our celebration, master and vice-chief were called by chief Gu." Jiu Ye started. "Chief Gu told them that former senior 0342's punishment will be raised to level 4 because it was found that former senior 0342 actually has harmed You Ri before." He explained.

Huo Ling frowned. "How? A grim reaper can harm a human?" he asked.

Jiu Ye shook his head.

"Of course not." Bai Liu answered without lifting his head from the documents on his desk. "He would have been kicked out before when he did this." He said.

"Then, how…?" Huo Ling asked.

"Naturally, only a human can harm a fellow human." Bai Liu said as he finally raised his head.

Huo Ling was shocked. Yi Bing who was silent frowned. Although Jin Wu has already told him about this earlier, he still doesn't know the specific details. Jin Wu is in charge of punishment and order only.

"When… when he was a human?!" Huo Ling exclaimed.

"Yes." Jiu Ye sighed.

"Guess what did former 0342 did?" Bai Liu asked as he twirled his pen in his fingers and looked at Huo Ling.

Huo Ling's brows knitted and he tried to think. "… fck." He cursed when he finally figured it out. "Was he… was he the one who rigged You Ri's car?!" he exclaimed as he looked at them.

Bai Liu laughed, feeling his unhappiness went away when he saw Huo Ling's shock. "You are too smart." He said. "It is such a pity that you aren't on our department…" he said.

"Cut it." Yi Bing cut him off.

Bai Liu just rolled his eyes at him. "Although Su Ri is the mastermind of You Ri's accident, she is just a hacker. Also, she was imprisoned by her wife-beating husband so how can she go out always from her house?" he asked. "So, she can only hire a mechanic online and instruct him what to do. Her excuse for hiring the mechanic to rig the car is that her husband is cheating on her and she wanted to teach him a lesson. Of course, the mechanic didn't rig the car too much." He explained. "But, Su Ri has already learned many things through the internet. She only needed to tweak one or two screws or springs in the car and You Ri will die." He finished.

"Too vicious!" Huo Ling frowned in anger.

Jiu Ye nodded in agreement. An envious woman is really ugly and scary.

…

"A batch of souls?!" Wu Ling exclaimed. "And they died for love?! How absurd!" he said. He has the worst temper of them four despite his code that is brimming with love.

"Pipe down, will you?" Shi Jiu crossed his legs and glanced at the room in Shou Ji's office where he is currently resting his soul.

The four also know the condition of their chief's soul so they lowered their voices.

"A batch of souls… four people…" Qian San muttered as he read the documents Shi Jiu gave them.

"En. Coincidentally, two friends of mine will be coming with you since the world they are going to coincides with yours." Shi Jiu continued as he looked at the world's code on the paper. "The apprentice's assignment was changed due to special reasons and this will be his second appointment of assignment. You have to help him, okay?" he told them.

"Yes…" the four of them answered.

"Who is this apprentice?" Qi Bai asked. It was rare in the Afterlife Department to hear the word 'apprentice'.

Shi Jiu was about to answer when they heard a knock on the door. "They're here." He smiled and rose from his seat to open the door. "Yi Bing. Huo xiaoLing!" he greeted when he saw their faces.

"Don't call my apprentice with that disgusting nickname." Yi Bing frowned at Shi Jiu.

Shi Jiu just laughed. "Come in." he spoke and led them in.

"Seniors?" Huo Ling was surprised to see Qian San, Wu Ling, Shi Yi and Qi Bai.

"It's you?!" they exclaimed. Then, they remembered that Huo Ling is really an apprentice. They also have conversed with them earlier and Huo Ling and Yi Bing have once worked together with Shou Ji and Shi Jiu.

"You know each other?" Shi Jiu was surprised.

"We've met earlier in the Pathway of Clouds after we passed by them." Yi Bing explained.

"Oh. Then, that's good. I was just telling them to lend your apprentice a hand because the world you're going to is special." Shi Jiu explained.

"'special?" Huo Ling muttered.

"You haven't told him?" Shi Jiu looked at Yi Bing.

"I was about to when you called." Yi Bing answered and turned to Huo Ling as they sat. "It's a wuxia world." He told him.

"'wuxia'?!" Huo Ling exclaimed in excitement.

Yi Bing's brows raised. "You seem to like it?" he said.

"Yes. It is every man's dream to become a hero!" Huo Ling answered. He has been fond of wuxia novels, donghua and drama when he was still alive. He wanted to become like them so he enrolled into a kickboxing class.

"Oh." Yi Bing looked indifferent.

Huo Ling's excitement dampened. He rolled his eyes at Yi Bing.

"As Shi Jiu said, this world is special. Its natives are martial artists and they use various weapons. They also use poisons. Not to mention that they can also use qi." Yi Bing explained.

"I already know these!" Huo Ling told him.

Yi Bing ignored him. He turned to Shi Jiu and the other four who are watching them. "How about their assignments?" he asked.

"Yes. We received a big task this time." Shou Ji helplessly smiled.

Qian San, Wu Ling, Shi Yi and Qi Bai couldn't agree more. Four souls in one time… they would rather have one souls at a time even if it would be in succession than four souls in one time. Because this would mean that they will have to stay in a world in a long time until they have resolved these four souls' attachments.

Who knows how deep their attachments are and how long can they solve it? They thought and inwardly cried. What if only one of them whose attachment can be solved? Or worse, one of them, his attachment can't be resolved at all. Then, they have to continue to stay in that world until they finally solve it.

Not to mention that this world is a wuxia world where the natives have sharp senses and sharp reflexes. The difficulty to them, grim reapers, has increased even if this world is a Normal World. This is why they really hate bulk tasks, and also going to fantasy worlds like wuxia and xianxia.

"Yi Bing. When are you two going?" Shi Jiu asked.

But, before Yi Bing could answer, the door to the bedroom in the office opened and Shou Ji appeared while yawning. He then rubbed his eyes after. "Yi Bing. Huo Ling." He muttered when he saw them.

"Hello, chief Shou." Huo Ling greeted.

Shou Ji nodded. "Another task?" he looked at Yi Bing.

"His assignment." Yi Bing pointed Huo Ling.

"Them?" Shou Ji asked Shi Jiu while his gaze landed on the four.

"Tagging along with Yi Bing and Huo Ling." Shi Jiu smiled and explained the task to Shou Ji.

"Oh." Shou Ji muttered, still feeling sleepy. "Then, this task of theirs will be easy." He said.

"… huh?" the four muttered and looked at their chief as if he is an alien. Is he still asleep? How can he say that our task will be easy? On what criteria? They thought, though they didn't voice their thoughts out.

Shi Jiu saw their doubts. "You will know later." He just said and mysteriously smiled.

The four became even more mystified.

"We are going to leave now. The earlier, the better." Yi Bing spoke.

"Okay." Shi Jiu nodded and waved at Huo Ling who followed behind Yi Bing.

"Chief. We'll be taking our leave, then, too." Qian San said and looked at Shou Ji.

"En. Have a safe trip." Shou Ji waved at them.

…

"The soul's name is Zhuo Xia." Yi Bing started as they walked while Qian San, Wu Ling, Shi Yi and Qi Bai are following behind them.

"'xia' as in 'hero'?" Huo Ling spoke.

"'xia' as in 'summer'. But, you can also take it that way." Yi Bing shrugged. He then gave the document to Huo Ling.

They finally reached the Pathway of Clouds. They stepped onto the clouds and walked along with the souls the other grim reapers are sending off. Before the souls around them notice them, Yi Bing took out a black umbrella and covered him and Huo Ling.

Qian San, Wu Ling, Shi Yi and Qi Bai similarly took out an umbrella.

"This is?" Huo Ling raised his head when he noticed the umbrella.

"There are too many souls today.." Yi Bing answered.