Afterlife Department

Chapter 104 - Attachment

Yi Bing saw Huo Ling smiling brightly and knew this guy has totally relaxed. "Hm?" he muttered when he remembered something. "How can you give advice to Rong Zhe? Didn't you have no girlfriend?" he asked.

Hearing the question, Huo Ling felt his face burned.

Seeing his expression, Yi Bing's brows raised. "You had?" he said in surprise.

"… I didn't." Huo Ling honestly answered. "But I had a fiancée…" he said and lowered his head.

"'fiancée?" Yi Bing said.

Huo Ling nodded. "Her name is Shang Mei. We were childhood friends. Our fathers were close friends, thus they had arranged our marriage." He explained. "However, that was a long time…" he said and felt ashamed to continue. Here he is, telling his crush about his fiancée. He's so humiliating.

Yi Bing felt speechless. So he is straight… he thought. He doesn't know why but he suddenly felt a disappointment. He didn't dare think deeply about it. "Oh." He just said.

Huo Ling raised his head. "You've got nothing to say?" he asked.

"… what should I say?" Yi Bing asked back. When he saw Huo Ling's crystalline eyes are staring at him, he lowered his gaze to avoid them.

Huo Ling felt his heart sank. He doesn't care about me. He thought and lowered his head in disappointment. He took a deep breath to lessen the depression he felt. "Can you tell me about the Afterlife Department?" he asked as he tried to change the depressing subject.

"Okay." Yi Bing agreed. "The Afterlife Department is located in a Stable World where I also came from – " he started. Where you also came from. He added in his mind.

Huo Ling's eyes widened. "There are other worlds aside from the one where I am?" he asked.

Yi Bing nodded. "Yes." He answered before he continued. "The underworld, or what can be called as Hell, of our world was destroyed by the monsters called Soul Eaters that was born out of vengeful souls and ate countless other souls." He explained. "The souls had nowhere to go, so the heaven created the Afterlife Department to manage them, and to send them to their next life." He finished.

"So the grim reapers…" Huo Ling said.

"I am one, and there are many others." Yi Bing said. "We will dutifully fulfill the wishes of the souls so that they can go to their next life without a worry." He explained.

"'fulfill the wishes'…" Huo Ling muttered.

Yi Bing stared at Huo Ling. "Is your attachment towards your life, the people or an object?" he asked.

"My attachment…" Huo Ling said and he looked at Yi Bing.

"Hm?" Yi Bing said when he saw Huo Ling was just staring at him. "It's fine if you can't remember." He said. "We still have more time. There are souls who won't remember what is it they're attached to before they died. Thus, the grim reapers are there to help them realize their wish." He explained.

"Mn." Huo Ling nodded and smiled. He doesn't know why but he suddenly felt sad. If I find out what my attachment is, will Yi Bing leave me? He thought and he bit his lip. "Yi Bing." He called. He almost stuttered when he said the man's name.

"Hm?" Yi Bing muttered.

"What will you do if you find someone that likes you?" Huo Ling asked.

"Huh?" Yi Bing said and stared at Huo Ling who had his face flushed. Is he embarrassed to ask me because of his fiancée? He thought. He must also like his fiancée like she likes him. He thought and his brow twitched when he felt a pang of pain in his chest. "If I find someone who likes me, I'll be happy." He said.

"Really?!" Huo Ling exclaimed.

Yi Bing nodded as he remembered the human movie Liu Lin was watching before. "Yes. After all, I should be grateful someone even liked me." He said. "But – " his brows knit. " – I am a grim reaper, and we're forbidden to fall in love, so I can only reject them." He said.

Huo Ling felt his heart cracked and sank to the abyss. Yi Bing… can't fall in love? He thought in shock.

Seeing his petrified look, Yi Bing spoke. "Grim reapers cannot feel any kind of emotion – most especially love, since their task will definitely be affected." He explained.

"… o – oh…" Huo Ling said before he forced a smile. "A-ahaha… so that's it…" he said.

Yi Bing was puzzled by Huo Ling's strange behavior. "Are you alright? You looked pale." He said.

If Qiu Shan and Liu Lin were here, they would have already concluded Huo Ling's attachment: emptiness. Huo Ling felt empty even though his family showers him with love and even he has lots of friends. It's because he realized, all people are superficial. They only like what's in the surface but never understood what's underneath it. They can never understand him. They only see what he shows them, and they never understand what is it really what he wanted.

This obtuse grim reaper Yi Bing, how can he understand Huo Ling's emotions?! Unfortunately for him, the Huo Ling he met in this world is the emotionally introvert one. Having given warmth and appreciation with Yi Bing, Huo Ling would naturally feel dependence on him emotionally.

Fortunately for Huo Ling, he is only a soul now. Or else he'll definitely shed tears of having his first heartbreak even though he hasn't confessed yet for this love that is actually fruitless. "What 'pale'?" he said and forced a laugh. "How can I not be pale? I am a soul!" he told Yi Bing and grinned.

Yi Bing who worried for nothing. "…" he really must be stable now. He thought. "I have something to tell you." He told him.

"Hm?" Huo Ling said as he waited for Yi Bing to speak.

"About Zhu Min." Yi Bing said as he stared at Huo Ling, waiting for his reaction. Seeing he had only fell silent, he decided to continue. "Do you… remember… what she did to you?" he asked.

The smile on Huo Ling's face disappeared. "… yes." He answered. "How did you know?" he asked.

Yi Bing felt his chest tightened and he deeply inhaled. "It was uploaded in the internet." He answered. "Zhu Min actually had a video, and her kidnappers found it and uploaded it in the internet." He explained. As expected, Huo Ling's expression looked devastated once again. "Huo Ling..." he called and was about to hold Huo Ling's shaking hand when Huo Ling jerked his hand away from his hand as if a venomous snake would bite him.

"I – I… " Huo Ling said and started to retch. However, since he's only has a soul, his soul could only tremble in disgust and horror.

Huo Ling… Yi Bing called in his mind as he silently watched Huo Ling retched on the side. After he weakly flopped, he unceremoniously teleported themselves away from the dormitory.

Stable World, Afterlife Department.

The door opened and a beautiful man with a long hair tied at the end came inside. "Hi, everyone!" Liu Lin greeted as he waved his hand. "Hm? Why the serious faces?" he asked when he saw Gu Shi, Di San, Feng Er and Si Shui. "Did someone die? Ah, that's not right. We're here because someone died…" he muttered as he took a seat. "So?" he said as he turned to them. "Si Shui?" he called.

"Hii!" Si Shui gasped and immediately pulled on his hood to hide.

Liu Lin rolled his eyes. "Feng Er?"?he called as he turned to Feng Er.

Feng Er answered him with an eye roll.

"… what's with you all?" Liu Lin asked and finally turned to Di San. "So?" he asked again.

Wasn't it because you're here that's why we're mourning? Di San and Gu Shi thought as they heaved a sigh. "We'll be sent to travel through different worlds and investigate the Soul Fragments." Di San said.

"Soul Fragments?! They're real?!" Liu Lin was shocked.

"Yes." Gu Shi simply answered.

Liu Lin frowned when there was no explanation given to him. "How did you confirm they are real?" he asked.

"We're going to confirm it." Di San said and sighed.

"You're staking our life to something you aren't sure?" Liu Lin asked. "Oh, right. We're already dead, so there'll be no life to waste." He said and ingratiatingly smiled.

"It's Shen Taizi who gave the order." Gu Shi said.

"…" Liu Lin felt like slapping his face. "Oh." He said with a blank face, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Feng Er exasperatedly sighed and Si Shui now looked like a turtle. Di San just coldly looked at Liu Lin. Among them in the Afterlife Department, Liu Lin is the last to join as code 6666. Sha Jiu and Hai Ba were in the R&D department, thus Liu Lin felt he is an outsider among them. He masks his awkwardness with his peacock attitude. The only things that are good with him is that he's sincere in his tasks and that he has a beautiful face.