Afterlife Department

"So?" Yi Bing crossed his arms on his chest.

"I – "

Yi Bing cut him off. "I give you 7 points for acting. Your tears really moved me." he said.

"… what's the perfect score?"

"666." Yi Bing answered. "That's my sincerity." He added.

"The hell it is!" Huo Ling snapped.. "I was going to our school canteen when I remembered my drinking bottle. I returned to our classroom and caught him taking my seatmate's money." He said. "I thought my seatmate asked him to take his money for him. However, I didn't expect – " his voice trailed off. " – my seatmate reported to our teacher that his money was lost. Because of the tension in the classroom, my tongue slipped." He said. "'Are you sure you lost your money, Ah Gu?' 'What do you mean, Ah Ling?' 'Maybe you just forgot? Didn't you ask Jin Yu to take your money for you?' Then, it became chaotic." He wryly smiled. "Jin Yu lost his scholarship. My parents sent me abroad not long after that, thus I haven't apologized to him." He explained. He looked at Yi Bing. "Don't you think I'm cruel? Shouldn't I had asked my seatmate privately? Or that I should have talked to Jin Yu first?" he said.

Yi Bing looked at Huo Ling and saw the guilt in his eyes. Not good. He thought. Guilt is one of the Seven Plagues. The Seven Plagues are the seven worst emotions: guilt, fear, greed, envy, sorrow, pride and anger. And one experiencing the height of one of the plagues had a possibility of turning to a Soul Eater. "What you did isn't wrong." He said. When Huo Ling looked at him with his dejected eyes, he looked away. "You only done wrong if it was intentional." He told him.

"It was never my intention…" Huo Ling muttered.

"I know." Yi Bing said and patted his head. "So cheer up." He smiled.

Huo Ling, however, grimaced. "Don't force yourself. It just scares me." he told him, referring to his smile. "And don't just casually touch me! Something touched by a grim reaper will die!" he added.

Yi Bing was taken aback. Not because of Huo Ling's outburst, but because of his words. I told him those during his former life… why does he remember…? He thought as he stared at Huo Ling.

Huo Ling, who noticed Yi Bing's gaze suddenly became heated, was shocked. He moved away from him. "W-what? You want a fight? I'll fight back! Really!" he said and raised his fists.

Yi Bing blinked and he snapped out of his daze. "Idiot." He said and walked away. Why can he remember my words? He thought as he walked. Huo Ling followed behind him with a distance of five feet between them. He crossed the Pathway of the Clouds and was bathed by old lady Meng's soup in the form of rain. So, why? He thought and glanced at Huo Ling in the corner of his eyes.

Huo Ling, who was attentive of Yi Bing's small actions, had his guard up. "W-what?" he said.

Those red eyes… Yi Bing looked away. It's as fiery as his soul. He smiled. "Where do we find Jin Yu?" he asked.

"I only know he lived in the suburbs. But that was years ago." Huo Ling answered. They were still in high school that time.

Yi Bing stopped and turned to him. "Then, do you remember the characters of his name?" he asked.

Huo Ling thought for a while before he nodded. "Why?" he asked.

"Let's ask the information desk." Yi Bing answered and walked to the direction of the police station.

Huo Ling, forbidden to appear before the people, hid not far away.

"Excuse me." Yi Bing called to the police officer. "I want to know the address of this person." He said and handed a piece of paper to the police officer. 𝑓re𝘦𝔀𝗲𝘣𝘯𝘰νℯ𝒍.c𝗼ｍ

"Kid, we've got our hands full because of the zombies currently we don't have time to search for a missing person." The police officer said after he glanced at the piece of paper.

"He's missing?"

"Yeah. Look there." The police officer pointed with his chin the bulletin board.

Yi Bing walked towards it and looked for Jin Yu's name. He really found it. He's the same age as Huo Ling, so it must be him. But, why would he be missing? "Sir. Are these missing people because of the zombies?" he asked. 𝒇𝗿𝙚ℯ𝑤ℯ𝑏𝒏𝑜ѵe𝙡.c𝐨ｍ

"Mostly." The police officer answered. "There are too many reports of the missing people. It's too much for us to know the cause of their disappearance." He explained.

Yi Bing politely thanks him and then left. He went to where Huo Ling was hiding. "He's missing," he told him and relayed the police officer's words.

Huo Ling was surprised. "Why would he… was he eaten by the zombies?" he asked.

"The zombies don't eat people, nor infect them." Yi Bing told him. The zombies 'woke' up because their souls cannot go out of their body, or that their soul returned to their body because they were trapped in this world. This is also a part of Qi Shan's task in this world. Because of this anomaly, disrupting the cycle of reincarnation, this become a Special World. After the end of Lei Shan's reign as the zombies' emperor, Qi Shan should collectively make the souls (in the zombies' body) leave this world to make this world return to normal. Qi Shan is really cut out for this job because of his power. Thus, the zombies of this world do not eat people, nor have virus in them to infect people. "We can ask the Shan duo." He told Huo Ling. He's referring to Qi Shan and Lei Shan.

"Oh, right. There's still them!" Huo Ling's face brightened up. "What are we waiting for? Let's go! Let's go!" he pulled him.

"Okay, okay – " Yi Bing sighed. Suddenly, he felt a gaze on him. He didn't turn, but he searched the vicinity with his magic eyes. A zombie… he's strange. His eyes narrowed and he pulled Huo Ling.

"Hey!" Huo Ling exclaimed, surprised by Yi Bing's sudden change in attitude.

Yi Bing suddenly stopped. Then, he turned to Huo Ling. "It's faster to teleport – " he said. Before Huo Ling could react, they immediately disappeared. Just in time for something to fall from above and landed on where they were just half a second ago.

"Hisss…" it was a zombie who has his hands and feet on the ground. However, its head was turned one hundred eighty degrees.