Chapter 1: Dead? |
Looking at the blood on the bus and the corpse with twisted limbs, Du Yu knew he might really be dead.
Right now, he stood weightlessly outside the bus, his illusory figure swaying in the wind as his helpless eyes constantly looked around.
All around him were bustling paramedics and curious onlookers.
"Am I... dead?"
A minute ago, a moving truck had suddenly lost control, skidding over at a forty-five-degree angle. The front left of the vehicle slammed right into the middle of the bus, crushing Du Yu to death with absolute precision.
Aside from Du Yu, the sole fatality, not a single other person on the bus was even injured.
"Heh..."
Du Yu did not know what to say. Was there an unluckier way to die in this world?
But thinking it over, it did not really matter. Remaining in the world without any attachments was less appealing than finding an opportunity to start over fresh.
Du Yu's corpse was stuck in the deformed bus. After confirming his death, the paramedics were trying to figure out how to pry him loose.
He truly could not bear to watch anymore. The scene looked exactly like slapping a mosquito to death on a curtain, leaving a mess that was hard to clean up while drawing curses from those trying to remove it.
Before Du Yu could fully accept the reality of his death, an ethereal female voice drifted down from the sky.
"Hello? Hello? Hey, you down there, that soul, can you hear me?"
Du Yu paused, his expression blank. Was someone talking to him?
After all, it was his first time dying, and he had no experience. Unsure of the current situation, Du Yu stood dumbfounded in place, not daring to answer.
"The signal for this Voice Transmission still seems bad. Sister White, does yours work?"
"Let me try, hold on."
Now there were two voices in the sky, and they actually started chatting with each other.
A few seconds later, the girl called "Sister White" also spoke up, intentionally raising her voice this time:
"Hey, you soul down there, the one outside the bus, can you hear me? Do not move, alright? It will be a huge hassle if you wander off."
Du Yu was now one hundred percent sure that someone was talking to him, but where were they?
"Damn it, it still does not seem to be working. He cannot hear us."
"Then let us drive a bit faster."
Who were these two? What were they doing?
Based on his experience of watching countless movies, anyone who inexplicably ordered you to stay put was usually up to no good. It would be better to take this chance to slip away.
He was already a dead man anyway, could the situation get any worse?
Just then, a gust of wind blew past. Du Yu adjusted his posture and began to float along with the breeze.
Before he could float for even three seconds, a dilapidated minivan suddenly plummeted from the sky and landed right in front of him.
"What the hell?"
Du Yu was almost killed a second time by this sudden turn of events. Did minivans have a flight mode?
"Phew, we caught up."
Two girls were sitting inside the vehicle, both wearing uniforms, one in black and one in white. The van stopped in front of Du Yu and the door slid open automatically.
"Hello, sorry for the wait. Please get in."
The girl in black, who was driving, spoke up.
Du Yu was completely bewildered. What was going on? A girl in black and a girl in white... Black and White Impermanence?
So, did what happened after death really match the legends?
But this beat-up minivan, and these somewhat goofy-looking Black and White Impermanence, were they really the legendary Underworld Messengers?
Du Yu did not even have the energy to complain. If this minivan could fly, then he definitely could not outrun it. With that thought, he silently got into the vehicle.
Looking around, the minivan was even more run-down on the inside than it appeared on the outside. The most ridiculous part was a sticker plastered above the radio that read, "Please take care of your personal belongings."
As soon as his butt settled onto the seat, the girl in black at the wheel asked:
"Hello, what are the last four digits of your ID number?"
Hearing this, Du Yu vaguely felt that something was not quite right.
"What the hell? Is this a ride-sharing service?? Who asks for the last digits of an ID number when boarding a ghost car?"
The girl in white sitting in the passenger seat hurriedly tried to smooth things over, explaining, "Ah, we are just following protocol. The Underworld Soul Management Bureau recently issued new regulations. After all, there has been an increase in people whose souls ended up Soul Scattered And Spirit Dispersed after taking a Ferry Vehicle lately. The higher-ups are taking this matter very seriously."
Du Yu was rendered completely speechless. He pointed at the girl in white and exclaimed, "But aren't you the Ferry Vehicle?? Aren't you the ones causing souls to become Soul Scattered And Spirit Dispersed??"
The girl in black did not like hearing that. She curled her lip and retorted, "That is completely different. We are an official vehicle from an official agency, with all our permits in order. Nowadays, there are quite a few unlicensed vehicles stealing business."
There were unlicensed vehicles stealing the business of ferrying ghosts?
Du Yu rubbed his forehead, having never imagined that the afterlife would be this mentally exhausting.
"Fine, fine, the last four digits are 2213," Du Yu muttered.
"Alright, Mr. Du, yes? Should I follow the GPS, or will you direct the way?"
"How could I possibly know the way!"
"Hehe, it was just a joke. Mr. Du, you have quite a short temper."
"..."
Du Yu stopped talking. There was no way he was going to be able to reason with these two girls anytime soon.
The minivan made a U-turn right there on the spot, then slowly lifted off the ground. Du Yu took one last glance back at his corpse, which they still had not managed to pry out of the wreckage.
"By the way, are the two of you the Black and White Impermanence?"
Looking out from the ascending minivan, Du Yu voiced his question.
"Yes, and no," the Woman in White replied. "Black and White Impermanence are not two individuals, but two families. Everyone in our two families works as an Underworld Messenger, but the two of us do not represent the entirety of the Black and White Impermanence."
"So that is how it is..."
To think he would learn new trivia after dying. Du Yu secretly shook his head. But what use was there in knowing this now?
"Let me just verify your file information here." The girl in white pulled out a folder and flipped to an A4 sheet of paper. "Du Yu, male, twenty-six years old, Han Chinese, workshop employee at a state-owned enterprise. Cause of death is as follows—"
Reading up to this point, the Woman in White noticeably fell silent.
"What is wrong? What is the cause of death?" Du Yu asked.
"Oh my." The Woman in White looked at the file and remarked, "This cause of death might actually qualify you for a 'Wrongful Death' quota."
"Wait, I do not understand. I died in a car crash. How does that count as a 'Wrongful Death'?"
"Because you were not the one supposed to die today," the Woman in Black, who was currently driving, spoke up.
"Exactly. According to the records in the Book of Life and Death, the person destined to die today is named Zhou Zhuangshi. He is that old man you tried to give your seat to right before you died."
If the girl in white had not mentioned it, Du Yu would have almost forgotten. A minute before he died, he really had intended to give up his seat for an old man. However, the old man had not accepted it, walking straight toward the back of the bus instead.
The girl in white continued, "Zhou Zhuangshi. At ages thirty-six, thirty-nine, forty-two, and fifty-five, he raped and murdered women, evading legal punishment every time. His current 'Soul Summoning Value' has reached ninety-seven percent. Put simply, even if he had not been crushed by that truck, he would not have survived the day."
"Fantastic," the girl in black chimed in. "Scum like him should have died early. I know people in the Retribution Mirror Hell; I will make sure he gets what is coming to him."
"Is... is that the main point here?" Du Yu could no longer sit still. "The main point should not be that the old man was absolutely going to die today, but rather, why did I die today? Based on what you are saying... this had absolutely nothing to do with me."
"Sigh, these things are unavoidable." The girl in white flipped through the documents. "According to the records, Zhou Zhuangshi was supposed to accept your seat and then die on this bus. The reason he did not take your seat was because he saw a pretty girl at the back of the bus. However, theoretically, that girl should not have been in that location in this spacetime. We will investigate this matter thoroughly."
"I do not understand," Du Yu shook his head.
"I know, and I never expected you to." The girl in white replied. "Let me tell you something you will understand. If you are officially judged as a Wrongful Death, then you are in luck. There are two welfare policies for victims of Wrongful Death..."
"Welfare policies...?"
"That is right. The first option is that if the victim has lingering attachments to the mortal world, they can independently choose the family they wish to Reincarnate into. You can freely pick between becoming a Second-Generation Rich or a Second-Generation Celebrity. However, you still have to queue up for a lottery draw; after all, the number of highly sought-after families is limited..."
"The second option is that if the victim has no lingering attachments to the mortal world, they can apply to become an Underworld Messenger or a Human Constable. But right now, getting an official position on the payroll is far too difficult. Most of the people in the system got in through connections. You could start as a Contract Worker and wait for an opportunity; the benefits and compensation are about the same."
After hearing this, Du Yu remained silent for a moment before saying, "This all feels so familiar. Did I really die...?"
The vehicle sped rapidly through the sky. Along the way, the two young ladies in black and white were truly as cool as cucumbers.
The girl in black yawned repeatedly while driving, whereas the girl in white pulled out her mobile phone and continuously took selfies.
If not for the fact that he could look down and see his own translucent body, Du Yu would have sworn he was just carpooling with a couple of strangers.
"We are almost at Fengdu City. Sister White, have him fill out the form."
"Alrighty."
The girl in white pulled a stack of papers from her folder and handed them to Du Yu.
"Although the leadership has not yet made a final ruling on whether your case classifies as a Wrongful Death, based on our experience, it is highly likely. You should go ahead and sign the 'Wrongful Death Welfare Policy Application Form' first."
Du Yu took the document and looked at it. The heading glaringly read:
"Document No. 78: Interim Measures Regarding the Latest Welfare Policies for Victims of Wrongful Death, Aimed at Alleviating Their Resentment, Resolving Immortal Soul Disputes, and Jointly Creating a Harmonious Underworld..."
Du Yu silently read the beginning of the document and said, "I never would have dreamed it would be this formal."
Flipping back a few pages, he sure enough found the two choices the Black and White Impermanence had mentioned earlier. What Du Yu needed to do now was select one of these two options.
"A Second-Generation Rich, of course."
Du Yu barely hesitated. He picked up a pen and swiftly signed his name.
It was not just that he had lingering attachments to the mortal world. For all these years, Du Yu had not even so much as touched a girl's hand. After graduating, he had been working continuously in a workshop. Not only was he exhausted to the point of death every single day, but he had barely saved any money either. If he truly had the chance to do it all over again, he naturally wanted to live a carefree and glamorous life in the human world.
He lifted his head after signing his name, noting that the sky outside had already grown dark. Du Yu clearly remembered that it was supposed to be the afternoon, so how had it gotten this pitch-black? Before he could process this, the minivan suddenly veered straight down. Amidst Du Yu's loud screams, it plunged headfirst into the earth.
Following a brief moment of darkness, a massive expanse of space appeared before his eyes.
A colossal, ancient city stood majestically deep underground.
Looking from afar, the city was overflowing with ghost fires, with thousands of homes lit up by an eerie, pale green glow. The city was surrounded by a pale green river, its waters constantly churning with tens of thousands of souls.
The minivan did not stop; it drove straight toward the city's gates at a blistering speed.
In a matter of moments, the vehicle arrived at the entrance. An immense stone door, towering three to four hundred meters high, stood before them. Engraved prominently upon it were seven large characters:
"Gate of Ghosts of the Underworld!"
Du Yu was stunned by the magnificent sight. He could not believe this was all real.
"We have arrived. Hold on a second, we need to find a parking spot first," the Woman in Black said while driving the minivan around.
It was then that Du Yu noticed many minivans just like theirs coming and going in the sky. Sitting in each vehicle were two people, one in black and one in white. These figures dressed in black and white—some male, some female, some young, some old—traveled back and forth in an endless stream. The entire ancient city looked like a massive trade hub.
Looking out beneath the Gate of Ghosts, there were at least tens of thousands of people lining up to enter.
"Uh... hold on, I just wanted to ask, aren't you government employees? Don't you have reserved parking spots here?"
"You are far too naive. Do you know how many people die from natural or unnatural causes every single day? Just look at all the Ferry Vehicles coming and going in the sky. How could there possibly be enough space for all of us to park?"
Du Yu nodded silently. So the Underworld had its own set of administrative difficulties.
After searching for over ten minutes, they finally found a parking space. The three of them stepped out of the vehicle and joined the massive, surging crowd waiting in line.
"Du Yu, I will take this opportunity to explain our tour route to you." As the girl in black spoke, she pulled a map out of her satchel and shoved it into Du Yu's hands. Stretching out a fair finger, she pointed to the very bottom of the map. "We are currently located at the 'Gate of Ghosts', which is the entrance to the Underworld. Encircling the entire Underworld is the 'River of Forgetfulness'. If you wish to cross the River of Forgetfulness, you must pass over 'Naihe Bridge'. And before reaching Naihe Bridge, you have to walk down 'Yellow Springs Road'. Oh, right, at the entrance to Yellow Springs Road, remember to go to Meng Po's Office first to collect Meng Po's Tea. They recently introduced a summer limited-edition flavor of Meng Po's Tea. Further ahead is the 'Reincarnation Platform'. Oh, right, right, you will also get to see the Ten Kings of Hell..."
The girl in black endlessly rattled on, introducing the "famous tourist attractions" of the Underworld, but looking back at Du Yu—
Silence.
A long bout of silence.
"What is wrong? Did I do a bad job explaining it?" Seeing Du Yu go quiet for so long, the girl in black felt that she must have messed up her explanation somewhere.
"I say," Du Yu spoke through gritted teeth, "Are you kidding me? A sightseeing tour?"
"Huh?" The girl in black looked a bit confused.
"I died! I literally just died!" After seeing the Gate of Ghosts, it seemed Du Yu had finally, truly accepted it all. No matter what he encountered inside this Gate of Ghosts, his life was over, and there was no going back. "The fact that I am not completely devastated is already impressive enough. How could you possibly introduce the Underworld's attractions to me like we are on some sort of spring field trip?"
"Little Black, I think he is right. There is no need to give him the tour, and besides, he is a victim of Wrongful Death, so he does not necessarily have to cross Yellow Springs Road." The girl in white stepped forward and spoke to the girl in black. "We have dealt with far too many dead people, but after all, this is only his first time dying."
Du Yu looked at the two girls in front of him, at a total loss for words. His current mood was incredibly complicated, a messy tangle of a hundred different emotions. He wanted to lose his temper, but these two girls genuinely had not done anything wrong.
"Are we never going to see each other again?" Du Yu asked.
"Yellow Springs Road is a path of no return. If you have chosen to Reincarnate, then you will walk down Yellow Springs Road, gaze upon the Stone of Three Lives, and we will never meet again in this lifetime. But if you have chosen to become an Underworld Messenger, not only will you avoid Yellow Springs Road, but we might even end up as colleagues," the girl in white explained.
"Then this should be the last time we meet," Du Yu said. "Although it might be a bit redundant, may I ask your names?"
"Of course." The girl in black cupped her hands together in a salute, looking just like an ancient martial artist. "Fan Xiaoguo, of the Black Impermanence Fan Family."
"Xie Jin, of the White Impermanence Xie Family."
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