Chapter 281 - City Of The Dead
Afterlife Department.
"Senior Yi! Good morning!" the junior grim reapers greeted when they saw Yi Bing and they parted to clear the way. "Ah, senior Yi is really very imposing!" they muttered as they watched Yi Bing left.
"Yes! We have to strive to become like senior Yi, the role model of the grim reapers!" they said and hurriedly left.
Meanwhile, the topic of the conversation suddenly stopped in front of a room. Then, he raised a leg and rudely kicked the door. The 'role model' is really very imposing..
Di San raised his head from the document he is reading and saw his door flew like a paper. He ignored his door and resumed writing on the paper. "What do you want?" he asked, his voice and words sound unwelcoming.
"Need help with your reflection letter?" Yi Bing asked.
"Do you know how to write it?" Di San asked back.
"I am the first grim reaper. Naturally, I have tons of mistakes made, since I was like a headless fly because I didn't have anything to follow from except Shen Taizi's words." Yi Bing said. What he meant, he had written many reflection letters before.
Di San fell silent. After a while, he resumed writing. "I'm busy." He said.
"You'll still see Gu Shi later since you had to pass your reflection letter to him." Yi Bing said.
Di San's hand froze. "I can ask Feng Er, or Liu Lin or Si Shui." He said.
"Liu Lin was being checked by Hai Ba in his shady laboratory. Feng Er was invited by her friends to party while Si Shui buried himself in a mountain of snacks in his room." Yi Bing told him. What he meant, Di San got no choice but to ask him to hand the letter to Gu Shi. "Your mission this time is suspended because you have gathered many Soul Fragments." He added.
"… what do you want?" Di San asked again. But, this time, he sounded defeated. He just can't win against Yi Bing.
Yi Bing smiled. "Come with me." He told him.
Stable World, City of the Dead.
Although the city is called like that, but in a literal sense, since everyone in the city is composed of grim reapers. And, although the city is called like that, but the city looked very bright and lively.
The City of the Dead is located in the mortal world, since the heaven doesn't allow them to 'live' in there. The City of the Dead is a community for the grim reapers. It is a city with a strong yin energy. The City of the Dead was made for the grim reapers to reside when they didn't have any tasks or when there is an operation of them in the mortal world, like when the Soul Eaters attacked. It is for them to immediately respond to the situation in the mortal world.
Yi Bing and Di San looked at the desolate area before them before they took a step forward. Suddenly, the sight before their eyes changed and was replaced by a bustling market.
Although the grim reapers have already died, but since they continued to 'live', they were given the chance to live like a human, which they once were. They also were given the chance to interact with the humans to buy clothes using their wage given by the Afterlife Department. Of course, they can't use their suitcase that is allowed to copy everything, when they are in the mortal world, unless they requested permission to the Afterlife Department, to which they should have a valid reason for doing so.
Thus, the City of the Dead is just like any other human city. Markets, malls, cinemas, etc. Some grim reapers who owned such things like the malls are already the felonious ones. They did a crime, but after being pardoned, they can never have any task as a grim reaper. And so, they were sent to the City of the Dead to work.
Also, there are no retired grim reapers, since grim reapers never age.
"Lao Pei! Give us two beers!" Yi Bing said as they went into a store.
"Aiyo! Lao Yi!" Pei Guang exclaimed and laughed. "You rarely come here. Don't worry, everything's free for you and your friend tonight!" he said and patted Yi Bing's shoulder before he personally served them drinks and snacks.
"Thanks." Yi Bing said as he and Di San sat inside a private room.
"He is…" Di San watched Pei Guang leave.
"A friend." Yi Bing said.
"I thought you don't have any friends." Di San said.
"Aren't you one?" Yi Bing acted surprised.
Di San rolled his eyes. "Speak." He said.
"He died in a car accident. He worked under me as a junior grim reaper." Yi Bing said. "During one of the missions, he saw a reincarnation of his wife. He saved her from a car accident. I plead leniency for him, and I wrote two reflection letters for that." He explained. "One for my lack of discipline towards my subordinate, while the other is lack of disciple of myself." He said.
"Huh?" Di San was confused by his last sentence.
"I just watched him save his wife." Yi Bing said.
Di San. "..." he deserved that reflection letter!
Pei Guang arrived with their drinks and snacks. They thanked them before he left.
Suddenly, he thought of something. "Fortunately, back in the mafia world, our communicators are still under repair. No one knew what exactly happened back then." Di San said.
Yi Bing nodded. "But, you're still hiding from Gu Shi." He told him.
Di San's face flushed. "Leave it!" he told him before he cleared his throat. "What do you want to talk to me, bringing me here?" he asked and drank.
As senior grim reapers, and high-ranking ones at that, naturally, they also have their own residence in the City of the Dead, but their residences are villas in a subdivision. But, because of the high quantity of their work, they rarely come in the City of the Dead, much less in their own residence.
"I have a guess about the Soul Fragments." Yi Bing said.
"Speak." Di San told him.
"The Soul Fragments…" Yi Bing said. "I suspect they are Huo Ling's." he said.
It took a while before Di San understood what he meant. "Pppt!" he spat out his drink and Yi Bing made a block of ice between them. The drink and saliva mixed sprayed on the block of ice. "WHAT?!" he rose from his seat and looked at Yi Bing in shock. He wiped his lips. "Am I just drunk, or drunk?" he asked himself.
"Neither. You heard me right." Yi Bing calmly said.
Di San stared at him, wide-eyed. "How can that be?!" he asked.
"How can it not be?" Yi Bing asked back and looked at Di San in the eyes.
Suddenly, Di San felt his heart leapt and he took a step back. Yi Bing's gaze is penetrating, as if he could read his soul. Now he understood Yi Bing's intention of bringing him here. He wanted to escape. But, when he reached for the door, he found it locked.
His eyes widened in shock. Pei Guang! "Every time Lao Yi comes here with a 'friend', either he wanted to interrogate them and kill them, or me kill them." Pei Guang's voice can be heard from outside of the room.
Di San held his breath and he turned back to Yi Bing. "Yi Bing, you…" he said.
"Pei Guang. Leave." Yi Bing said.
"Yes." Pei Guang truly left.
"San Di. You should realize now." Yi Bing said as he poured his cup their drink.
"The City of Dead… it's your turf!" Di San exclaimed.
"En." Yi Bing calmly answered.
Di San's thoughts turned fast. No wonder why he felt uneasy earlier when they arrived. Everyone is watching him! "Why… why did you bring me here?" he asked.
"I consider you as my friend." Yi Bing said.
Di San fell silent.
"So, I want you to tell me everything you know." Yi Bing raised his gaze and looked at Di San in the eyes. "Tell me. Who is Lord Zero?" he asked.
Di San's breath hitched. He wanted to avert his gaze, but it was too late. Yi Bing's eyes are like magnets, but actually, it was his power he is forbidden to use: Calling.
Calling is a hypnotic and summoning spell. One of the reasons why Yi Bing is called a legendary grim reaper is because of this forbidden power. Because he is the first grim reaper, Shen Taizi gave him the power to summon the souls and hypnotize them to enter the reincarnation cycle.
But, there was a hidden truth. How did Shen Taizi make a perfect grim reaper like Yi Bing? It is because there is a grim reaper before Yi Bing. Yi Bing as the first grim reaper is a lie. Before there was something (one), there was first nothing (zero).
That grim reaper before Yi Bing who originally owned Calling is Lord Zero, 0000.
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