Afterlife Department

Chapter 566 - Misery

The grim reapers don't have complicated minds like the boatman so they ignored him for the rest of the ride. After they paid him, Huo Ling immediately asked some residents for directions to the Zhuo family while Qian San, Wu ling, Shi Yi and Qi Bai asked for the direction and news about the Snow Clouds Spring Blossoms Mountain.

Then, they split up.

"Zhuo Xia's biography is missing some parts." Huo Ling spoke as they walked down the road. "The cause of his death wasn't mentioned nor how he died. It wasn't even stated what happened to him after the massacre of his family. Where he went to or has anyone took him in, there is nothing." He said.

"Are you complaining?" Yi Bing asked.

"No." Huo Ling immediately answered.

Yi Bing stared at him. After seeing that there was no fluctuation on Huo Ling's face, he retracted his gaze. "Aside from the type of the world, everything is simple despite the lack of information." He spoke.

Huo Ling remained silent and just quietly listened.

"First of all, this is normal for the information we have to lack some information." Yi Bing spoke. "Remember. We only focus on the afterlife. Thus, not everything when the assignment was alive were written on his biography in the Death Note." He explained. "Second, if the cause of death wasn't written, then, there must be a special circumstance that triggered the assignment's death." He said.

When Huo Ling heard the words 'special circumstance', his brow twitched.

Yi Bing saw his expression and could guess what he is thinking. "You Ri's case is special, indeed. But, look how detailed her cause of death is. Yet, her case still turned out very complicated." He told him.

"You have a point." Huo Ling nodded in agreement.

"Thirdly, not everything has to be fed to us." Yi Bing said and stopped.

Huo Ling also stopped. "I know." He softly spoke. "I just… felt irritated when I read about Zhuo Xia's life." He explained.

"When he was abandoned by the world?" Yi Bing said.

Huo Ling didn't answer.

Yi Bing doesn't want to poke Huo Ling's sore spot so he changed the subject. "The Zhuo manor should be right there." He pointed ahead when they finally saw a mansion afar.

"Yes." Huo Ling nodded and they resumed walking.

…

"We have asked many people yet no one knows what happened and why was the Snow Clouds Spring Blossoms Mountain was sealed." Wu Ling frowned as they walk down the street.

Many people are walking to and fro, and the vendors' loud voices calling to attract customers to buy food, accessories, wares, etc. from them made the street so lively. The steam coming out of the pots of foods and dumplings brought a good scent that wafted to their noses, making them feel hungry.

"This ancient world is good." Qi Bai suddenly said, completely unrelated to what they are talking about.

Everyone turned to him, only to see him looking at the stall selling dumplings.

"… just say that you wanted to eat some delicacy." Shi Yi told him.

Qi Bai didn't answer and just went to buy some dumplings. Qian San smiled while Wu Ling didn't say anything. They already know that Qi Bai is a foodie, although he doesn't look like it.

Shi Yi turned to the other two. "What can you say about our assignments this time?" he asked them.

"Wu Tong, Yu Qiao, Zhang Yi and Ping Kun…" Qian San muttered as they stood on the side while they watched the natives of this world pass them by. "Our assignments this time aren't lovers. This is the first thing." He said.

Wu Ling nodded in agreement. Usually, the four of them would ferry the souls of pairs of lovers or the souls of the left behind ones and reunite them with their loved ones in the afterlife before sending them to reincarnation.

But, it was the first time that they would ferry the souls of those who died for love. Although it is for love that they died, still… wouldn't their codes aggravate these souls? However, fortunately, this is an ancient world so the souls here don't know the meaning behind their codes, since they don't have internet here.

"Fortunately, all of them belong to one sect, too." Wu Ling added.

"Yes. We don't have to look in a wide-scale and just directly go to the Snow Clouds Spring Blossoms Mountain." Shi Yi said.

"Another thing that is common among them is – " Qian San muttered.

Wu Tong, Yu Qiao, Zhang Yi and Ping Kun were the disciples of Huai Sen, the patriarch of the Snow Clouds Spring Blossoms Mountain. Each of them has their story to tell, but what is common among them four is that they are miserable.

Ping Kun, the eldest of the four disciples, grew up in a small village. When the bandits attacked, his parents chose his younger siblings to escape. He was about to be killed by one of the bandits when Huai Sen appeared and saved him. Huai Sen then took him under his wing.

Zhang Yi was the son of a prostitute. Naturally, in this era, being a son of a prostitute brings you no good since no matter what you do, you will be looked down. But, Zhang Yi's mother was kind to him. She appealed to Zhang Yi's father to take Zhang Yi in, and said that he is also a son. But, Zhang Yi's father denied him and her and even hired people to beat them two. Zhang Yi's mother fought against those thugs after she hid him. Then, he saw her died before his eyes.

He was too shocked that he even forgotten to escape after the thugs failed to find him. He remained in that crouching position and continued to stare at his mother's cold and stiff corpse until it was buried by the snow. Just as he was about to die from cold, hunger and suffocation, Huai Sen found him and his mother's corpse. Huai Sen fed him and clothed him before he buried Zhang Yi's mother's corpse properly. Then, he took Zhang Yi with him when he left.

Wu Tong is a girl and lost her parents when they were killed due to a conflict. She was then took in by her relatives but none of them had a time to look after her. Thus, one of the enemies of her parents saw her alone and abducted her. Such a sadder thing is, her relatives didn't want to pay the ransom and even said that he is doing them a kindness if he could 'take care' of that little girl.

The man wanted to sell her to a brothel but she is too young so he decided to kill her. But, before he could, Huai Sen heard the girl's screams and he saved her.

Yu Qiao, the youngest, was orphaned after her parents were killed. She has no relatives so she was forced to live as a beggar. But, because there was also a competition between beggars, and she is weak to resist, she starved each day. Just when she was about to die, she was saved by Huai Sen.

"These disciples… they are too pitiful." Qian San said.

Wu Ling and Shi Yi nodded in agreement. They had never seen souls that lived these kind of lives. Utterly miserable and almost became tragic had Huai Sen, this man who later became their teacher, didn't appear before them and saved them.

"But, the Snow Clouds Spring Blossoms Mountain was sealed.…" Qi Bai muttered when he returned to them with a bag of dumplings in his hands.

Wu Ling felt hungry when he smelled the scent of dumplings and he snatched the bag of dumplings before he took one and ate it. Qi Bai glared at him but in the end, he didn't say anything.

"That's right. Although mostly everyone has heard that the Snow Clouds Spring Blossoms Mountain was sealed, they don't know what really happened, what was the cause of it." Qian San said and heaved a sigh.

Their task this time is difficult. The Snow Clouds Spring Blossoms Mountain where they are supposed to investigate was sealed. Although they could teleport there, they don't dare to because this world is a complicated world where the natives have sharp senses that even just a drop of water could be heard. They don't dare take the risk of testing it out.

Also, they definitely have to investigate first about this Snow Clouds Spring Blossoms Mountain, especially this Huai Sen. And of the matter of the Snow Clouds Spring Blossoms Mountain being sealed. There is also the degree of the relationship between Huai Sen and his disciples. Since his disciples died for love, Huai Sen might know something about it since, after all, he raised them like his children. He definitely should know many things about his disciples. Thus, they have to see him.

"Let's continue asking where the Snow Clouds Spring Blossoms Mountain is, and what exactly happened to it." Qian San spoke.

"Yes!" they agreed and resumed walking.