Afterlife Department

In the room next to where the grim reapers were having their meeting…

"Liu Lingling…" Huo Ling muttered, his brows scrunched and the corner of his lips were pulled down as he dreamed. He dreamed of his first meeting with Liu Lingling. It was not long after his mother died.

"Huo Ling." Harry Jackson called. To honor Huo Ning – his wife and Huo Ling's mother, Harry calls Huo Ling in his Chinese name privately. Harry has a brown and wavy hair which Huo Ling inherited, but his eyes were chocolate brown compared to Huo Ling's light brown amber eyes.

"Yes?" Huo Ling, who is sixteen years old, weakly answered. His head hung on his neck. He is still saddened for the passing of his mother.

"This person… I want you to meet." Harry said as they entered the elevator.

"Who is he?" Huo Ling asked.

Harry pressed the '6' button and the elevator doors closed. "A… friend." He answered.

"I haven't seen you have a friend." Huo Ling said. Which is true. It was always only he, his mother Huo Ning, and his father Harry. Not to mention his father, but also his mother and him had no one around them. They lived in a world of only three people.

So, his father saying that he has a friend, made Huo Ling doubt.

Harry just smiled at the cheekiness of his son. "Father is going somewhere. I am worried you have no one around you to look after you, so I'm bringing you to him." He explained.

"I can look after myself…" Huo Ling, but pursed his lips after seeing his father's stern expression. "Can he be trusted?" he silently asked.

"I won't bring you to him if he isn't." Harry said.

Huo Ling fell silent. This is the first time he had heard the stern tone of his father. Even after Huo Ning died, his father would just be silent at most. However, now… his father sounds indifferent.

He can't help but feel resentful. His mother had died, and there're only two of them left now. Why does his father feel distant now? He thought. However, his thoughts were halted when the elevator ding-ed and the doors opened.

He was about to step outside when he saw a shadow fell on him. His brows knitted. Strange… he thought. His father is not this large… he was about to turn his head when a voice spoke.

"Good afternoon." A deep, male voice greeted them followed by his footsteps. Each step reverberating in the walls of the empty hallway.

Huo Ling turned, but to the newcomer. And so, he missed to see the lumps of meat covered by furs that looked like thorns on his father's arm. No, it is right to say, his father's arm turned monstrous.

"Liu Lingling." Harry called.

The man named Liu Lingling, since he was facing them, naturally saw Harry's monstrous arm. Huo Ling, who didn't notice when did the shadow behind him disappeared, was staring at Liu Lingling.

'Liu Lingling'? This is a Chinese name, isn't it? But, this man doesn't look like it… he thought as he looked at the man wrapped from his head to feet, and even his face cannot be seen. He looked like a mummy, except that instead of bandages, the man is covered with multiple layers of clothes. Doesn't he feel hot? He thought as he finally exited the elevator.

Harry, after calming down his arm, followed behind Huo Ling. "I'm going somewhere. Sorry to bother you looking after Huo Ling." He told Liu Lingling.

"Let's talk inside." Liu Lingling just said, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. He didn't even glance at Huo Ling, who was silently following behind him.

Liu Lingling in the front, leading them; Huo Ling in the middle, silently scrutinizing the man that's doesn't look like a Chinese, but neither a foreign man; and Harry in the back, trying to suppress his monstrous arm. The three of them walked this way to the unit 600 at the end of the hallway.

Huo Ling looked at the number on top of the door. He didn't know he will live in this place starting that day.

Liu Lingling opened the door and went inside. Huo Ling, not a talkative youth, followed behind. It was Harry who made a pause before he finally went inside. He felt his arm had calmed down.

"I only have tea." Liu Lingling said as he went to the kitchen.

"No problem." Harry said as he sat on the single seater sofa.

Huo Ling who was on another sofa pondered as he stared at Liu Lingling's back. I heard Chinese loves tea. My mother is an example. So, this Liu Lingling is really Chinese? He thought as he suspiciously looked at Liu Lingling's back.

He doesn't know that under that scarf covering half of the man's face, the corner of the man's lips curled up as he brewed the tea. However, his lips were pulled down again when he felt the demonic aura coming from Harry. "The room on your left is your room." He said to make Huo Ling leave.

Huo Ling was surprised. He agreed? That easy? He thought. However, he didn't say anything. He just looked at his father, whose face is now inexplicably pale. Seeing his father nodded, he rose and then walked towards the door and opened it. He saw an intersection of hallways. On the both sides were rooms, and the hallway in the middle leads towards a balcony.

Adjusting his backpack on his shoulders, he went inside. The door behind him closed, blocking the sounds outside. He is not a nosy person, so he just glanced at the door on the right before he walked to the left and opened the door of the bedroom.

He didn't know, just as he had closed the door, Harry attacked Liu Lingling. Liu Lingling, relieved he had put an enchantment on the walls so Huo Ling wouldn't hear them, blocked Harry's attack and he counterattacked. What he didn't expect though, is for Huo Ling to just place his backpack and immediately go back. Because he was preoccupied with Harry's attack, he didn't notice that the door opened.

Huo Ling was never a nosy person, so he didn't wander around the bedroom that was meant for him. After he placed his backpack on the bed, he went out. He didn't dare touch anything and he'd just wait for Liu Lingling's instructions.

However, he didn't expect that after he opened the door to the living room, he saw his father lying on the floor and is bathed in his blood while Liu Lingling stood beside Harry's corpse.

"HAH!" Huo Ling gasped when he finally woke up. If he had just a body, he would have been soaked with his sweat. He then recalled his 'dream'.

It actually wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare. And this nightmare was buried deeply in his mind, he forgotten it. Or, should he say, he was forced to forget it?

Liu Lingling, this mysterious man, sealed this nightmare of his in a corner of his soul. And now all that remained of him is a soul, this memory recurred. Why did Liu Lingling sealed his memory? Why did Liu Ling kill his father, Harry?

If that was just all of nightmare, then Liu Lingling would be an antagonist. However, there's an extension of that nightmare.

"What… what…" Huo Ling said. His mouth opened and closed as he find the right words to say. His lips trembled and pale. However, just as he was to interrogate Liu Lingling of his actions, he saw his father's arms.

Yes – arms. His father's arms were more muscular, and veins were bulging to the point they're about to burst. However, the veins were neither blue nor red nor green nor purple. They were black. There were long thorns, their tip was dangerously gleaming. On the root of the thorns were fur. There were no nails on Harry's hand that turned into a fist of meat. Instead, there's a claw protruding on his knuckles.

"Huo Ling." Liu Lingling called as he slowly walked towards Huo Ling. "Your father may have become a monster, but he was possessed only after you were born. So, you won't turn to a monster." He said as he stopped before Huo Ling and he leaned down for their gazes to meet. "Your father originally has your mother's scent, but after you were born, the scent on your father became stronger. Thus, he was possessed by the monsters." He sighed as he raised his hand. His index finger touched the space between Huo Ling's brows. He felt Huo Ling tensed. He held himself back not to chuckle. "I won't hurt you. I promise." He told him as he sealed Huo Ling's memories.

Huo Ling stared at Liu Lingling and the man's eyes that were usually covered, he saw they were gentle as they looked at him. As he felt his mind became hazy, one thought entered his mind at that time as he stared at Liu Lingling's eyes that were tinged with blue

Liu Lingling isn't Chinese.