Chapter 1: You Lied! |
Chen Ran was dead.
Killed by a car.
Then he appeared in a Secret Room. The room had no doors and no windows. It was brightly lit, yet there was no visible light source. Ahead of him, a dozen or so people were lined up in a long queue, and someone at the very front was processing registrations.
The Judge handling the registrations was a heavily bearded man. He wore a black leather jacket on his upper body, but his lower half was hidden behind the desk's modesty panel. An A4 piece of paper was plastered onto the panel, displaying three prominent words: "Ghost Gate Pass".
On both sides of the long queue, Ox-Head and Horse-Face patrolled back and forth, each hefting a Spiked Mace as if to maintain order.
Seeing Chen Ran's bewildered expression, Horse-Face called out, "Another newcomer. You in the front, tell him where we are."
An older woman at the back of the line turned around. Her face was deathly pale, her body trembling uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she whispered with terrified eyes, "This is the Yellow Springs Road."
“Go get in line.”
Horse-Face pointed his Spiked Mace at Chen Ran, silently warning him that a beating awaited if he refused to comply.
...
"Name?"
"Li Qiang."
"Age?"
"Thirty."
"Hometown?"
"Northern Shaanxi."
"Did you commit any evil deeds while alive?" The Judge handling the registrations revealed a chilling smile, baring both rows of his teeth. Perhaps, to him, the various pieces of gossip from these souls' past lives were the only source of amusement in his endless work.
"N-no..." Li Qiang stuttered, clearly guilty. His eyes darted around erratically.
"Go face the wall over there." The Judge sounded disappointed as he casually pointed to the wall opposite him.
Only then did Chen Ran notice that there were a few people huddled in the shadows in front of the opposite wall. They were all facing the wall, crouching down with their hands clutching their heads.
"Next!"
"Reporting to the organization! My name is Matthew, thirty-five years old, from Sichuan-Chongqing. When I was alive, I served hard time for robbery and embezzlement." Before The Judge could even begin his questioning, Matthew blurted out a full confession. His posture was upright, showing the clear practiced ease of an experienced smooth-talker.
"Haha, you are an interesting one." The Judge looked pleased, then asked, "Do you want to go to Heaven?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Matthew nodded frantically.
"Alright, let me ask you a question. Were these crimes you just mentioned committed of your own free will?"
Matthew hesitated for a second, but catching the hint of a smile in The Judge's eyes, he immediately realized the Magistrate intended to let him off the hook. He quickly feigned indignation, "My supervisor forced me to do it all!"
"Ah, it's a dog-eat-dog world out there, sometimes you just have no choice. Back in my day, I was also..." The Judge trailed off, pointing to the wall behind him. "Go. Stand over there."
Stand, not crouch. Wild joy erupted on Matthew's face. He bowed deeply over and over to The Judge, as well as Ox-Head and Horse-Face. "Thank you, leaders! Thank you, organization! I promise to turn over a new leaf in Heaven!"
As the people in the queue witnessed this scene, their anxious hearts settled slightly. 'As long as we confess our past sins, the Magistrate will show mercy,' they thought.
Sure enough.
During the subsequent interrogations, as long as someone confessed to their crimes, The Judge would ask if they wanted to go to Heaven.
"My mom forced me to do it!" declared a middle-aged man who had murdered his Wife, his face a mask of utmost sincerity.
"The school bullies forced me to do it!" claimed a Youth who had bullied a classmate to death, looking entirely innocent and naive.
Without exception.
Those who confessed and shifted the blame onto others were permitted to simply stand while facing the wall, spared from having to crouch with their hands over their heads.
They chatted and laughed with Matthew in front of the wall, casting disdainful glances at those crouching down. It was as if they had suddenly transformed into the most benevolent saints on earth, possessing an innate moral superiority over those guilty of Heinous Crimes.
At that moment, a woman appeared out of thin air at the end of the line, looking just as bewildered.
Ox-Head repeated Horse-Face's earlier words: "Another newcomer. You in the front, tell her where we are."
Chen Ran turned his head. Perhaps paralyzed by fear, he opened his mouth several times before finally managing to choke out, "The Yellow Springs Road."
"Get in line," Ox-Head ordered, pointing his Spiked Mace at the woman.
Staring at the razor-sharp spikes on the weapon, the woman highly cooperatively took her place at the back of the queue. However, she cast a profound look at Chen Ran's back, who was standing right in front of her.
As time passed.
Chen Ran noticed that no new people had appeared in the Secret Room for quite a while. Counting The Judge handling the registrations and Ox-Head and Horse-Face maintaining order...
There was a total of eighteen people in the room.
Soon enough, it was Chen Ran's turn.
"Name?"
"Chen Ran."
"Age?"
"Twenty-six."
"Hometown?"
"Jiangzhe."
"Did you commit any evil deeds while alive?"
He had been too far away to notice before, but now he saw that when The Judge asked this question, his face showed anticipation, yet his eyes betrayed a profound sense of boredom and apathy.
Chen Ran briefly organized his thoughts before replying, "When I was alive, I had an argument with my girlfriend..."
Perhaps feeling a bit apprehensive about confessing his own misdeeds, he paused for a moment before continuing, "I buried her. The police still haven't found her body."
After speaking, he noticed The Judge frowning slightly, seemingly ready to probe further. He quickly scrambled to defend himself, "Since they never found the body, I didn't commit a crime. Therefore... I never killed anyone while I was alive!"
"Hahaha, you certainly have a silver tongue. Murder is murder, cut the nonsense." The Judge's expression softened considerably, and he abandoned any intention of pressing the issue.
Seeing this, Chen Ran grew anxious.
He looked at Ox-Head and Horse-Face on either side. "I don't want to go to Hell! I really never killed anyone!"
"You are a murderer," Ox-Head stated coldly.
"That's right. Honestly, a kill is a kill. No one who ends up here was a saint in their past life," Horse-Face chimed in. Perhaps because only Chen Ran and the woman were left and their shift was ending, Ox-Head and Horse-Face seemed a bit more humane.
"Enough, go face the wall."
Chen Ran wanted to argue further, but seeing The Judge's face darken, he obediently went to face the wall.
It was finally the last woman's turn.
"Name?"
"I don't want to tell you," she said, stubbornly refusing to cooperate.
Bam! The Judge slammed his hand on the desk and stood up, roaring, "Don't bring your Living World attitude in here! You answer whatever I ask, so be honest!"
The Judge's sudden outburst of rage startled everyone. Ox-Head and Horse-Face quickly rushed over to placate him. "Boss, calm down. Don't lower yourself to a newcomer's level."
"Speak! Did you commit any evil deeds while alive?"
"Why should I answer your question? What's in it for me? If you're a Magistrate of The Underworld, my entire life is recorded in the Book of Life and Death. Go look it up yourself." The woman refused to be intimidated, putting on the haughty, entitled airs of a princess.
His authority challenged, The Judge flew into a blinding rage. He actually drew a Pistol from his waist and pressed the muzzle squarely against the woman's forehead.
"Are you going to speak?"
Feeling the intense murderous intent radiating from The Judge, the surrounding crowd instinctively shrank their necks back in fear.
Matthew, on the other hand, couldn't help but secretly marvel upon seeing the Pistol. 'The Underworld really keeps up with the times. They even use Pistols for law enforcement now,' he mused.
His eyes darted around shiftily before he trotted forward, barking at the woman like a loyal lapdog, "Do you still think you're in the Living World? When the Magistrate tells you to speak, you speak!"
The Judge ignored Matthew. He narrowed his eyes, staring dead at the female ghost, looking fully prepared to pull the trigger.
The woman remained silent. She tilted her chin up, adopting an arrogant 'shoot me if you dare' posture.
Just when everyone thought the woman was about to be executed, The Judge, Ox-Head, and Horse-Face suddenly burst into laughter.
The laughter of the three echoed throughout the Secret Room, bizarre and spine-chilling.
The Judge turned his head to count the number of people facing the wall, muttering to himself, "Thirteen it is, then."
Matthew was just about to say something when The Judge abruptly swung the muzzle around, aiming it directly at Matthew's forehead. He spoke in a flat, indifferent tone:
"You lied."
Bang! With the crack of the gunshot, Matthew's sycophantic expression froze instantly on his face, and his body tipped over backward, hitting the ground like a stiff board.
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