Afterlife Department

Normal World. 

"Teacher Howee, teacher Howee!" a child's voice came from the speaker of the phone. His voice is filled with excitement. "Are you still on a vacation?" he asked. 

"Yes." Huo Ling answered. 

"When will you be back?" the child asked. 

Suddenly, a chuckle was heard from the phone. "Hey, Justin. It's just the second day of your teacher Howee's vacation, and you're asking him to go back?" a male voice spoke. 

"Maxwell!" Huo Ling exclaimed. "Jason left Justin to you again?" he asked. 

"Can't help it. He has lots of work to do." Maxwell answered in a helpless tone. "Justin. He's your uncle. Call your teacher Howee 'uncle'." He told the child. 

"I miss uncle Howee!" Justin spoke. 

Huo Ling felt his heart melted. "I'll immediately go back." He said, feeling his heart softening. 

"Don't indulge him, Howee. You have to rest, too." Maxwell told him. 

Huo Ling laughed. "Alright. I'll see how things will end up on my part." He said. "By the way, I'm currently in – " 

Maxwell cut him off. "Don't tell us." He said, his voice turned serious. 

Huo Ling fell silent. "Okay." He said. 

Maxwell sighed and ended the call. 

"Something wrong?" Jason asked when he entered. 

Maxwell helplessly looked at him. His eyes are filled with distress. "Howee's sense of danger is too weak." He said. 

Jason smiled as he caressed Maxwell's cheek. "Don't worry. I've already sent someone to secretly follow him." He assured Maxwell. 

Maxwell nodded and hugged Jason tight. "I hope Howee will be alright." He said. 

"Did you regret, marrying me?" Jason asked. "After all, I've already got a kid, and a widower. Also, I am a prince and my life is always in danger being assassinated everyday – " he said. 

"Shh." Maxwell kissed him. "I love you as a person, not your identity." He told him. 

Salt Flats, Bolivia, night. 

"This is the person they sent? Too weak!" someone spoke in the darkness after he disposed of the corpse of the bodyguard. He turned and squinted, looking for his target. "Dang… his sense of danger is too weak! Choosing this place for a vacation, when you're a prince who doesn't know any kind of defense?!" he gnashed his teeth as he looked at the pitch-black darkness all around him. He can't even see a wink, nor his hands and clothes. 

He frustratingly sighed and began to walk over the water, going to the direction where there is light – the Milky Way galaxy. 

On the other side, Huo Ling gazed at the Milky Way galaxy in the sky, and then to its reflection on the water. He contentedly sighed as he lied on top of roof of his jeep. As he stared at the dark sky with only the Milky Way galaxy as the source of the light of both the sky and his surroundings, he felt like he's being embraced by the outer space. 

He closed his eyes to feel his surroundings when suddenly, he heard something whipping the air. Alarm bells rang in his mind and he immediately rolled off of the roof of his jeep. Just as his body fell, he heard the sound of something grazing the roof of his jeep, then fell on the water with a plop after it missed its target. 

Huo Ling's pupils constricted as he fell on the water with a loud splash. An assassin! He thought. He stood and was about to run when suddenly, he felt his feet sank! His breath hitched and, because of inertia, he fell forward. But, he found that it saved his life since another bullet whooped past him, just an inch above his head. 

But, aside from the assassin, he has another worry, which is the quagmire! He turned and noticed that the wheels of his vehicle have already sunk! And he didn't notice! So stupid! He hit his forehead. What to do?! He thought and ducked when another bullet hit his vehicle. 

Suddenly, as if gone impatient, Huo Ling heard the sound of something splashing in shallow water. He held his breath when he realized that the assassin is running towards his way! "F*ck!" he cursed as he crawled forward while pulling his feet out of the quagmire. "I can't die - !" he gasped as clutched the door of his jeep to pull his body upward. 

Between being shot to dead and suffocating to death, which will you choose? Naturally, the one with the lesser suffering! He is choosing to be shot! After all, you might still survive if your heart won't be shot or that if you won't die from the blood loss. Or that, after you've been shot in a vital area, it would be an instant death! Unlike in the quagmire, you are sure to suffocate first, and dunno how long you will suffer, before you die. Unless you have someone to rescue you. 

Yet, right now, there's no one around aside from him and the assassin. He, who can't even catch, much less truss, a chicken, versus an assassin who is a sniper, or worse, knows martial arts. Will the assassin save him from the quagmire? Definitely not! Instead, the assassin would be happy to push his head in the quagmire to drown him! 

F*ck! Now that he thought more about it, the more he felt his body terrible! He felt his chest feels tighter, and it is hard for him to breathe. Asphyxia?! His eyes widened and his pupils constricted when he realized the state he is currently is. Cold sweat appeared on his forehead, and his clothes are soaked with his sweat. His body is also trembling non-stop. 

Am I gonna die? He thought and wanted to laugh bitterly, as well as mockingly. I won't die suffocated and drowned in a quagmire, nor die from blood loss after being shot, not even in being shot to death. But, I will die because of asphyxia?! 

BANG! Another bullet hit the jeep. The sniper assassin's brows knitted when he didn't hear any sound except for the wind. He has been firing since earlier, but he didn't hear any cry nor a body falling. Not even the splashing of water. Did his target already die? Or was it his target is very lucky to dodge his bullets? But, he didn't hear any sound of movement on the other side. 

"What's going on?" he asked in confusion. He used his nightscope again, but he didn't see any human. Must be he is hiding behind his vehicle? He thought. He decided to set his gun aside and walk towards the vehicle while wearing his night vision goggles so that he won't miss anything. 

Splat. Splat. The sound of his feet walking on the water can be heard in this silent night as he approached the lone vehicle in the area. He didn't even bother hiding his presence, since he is very confident that he can kill his target. 

He took out his handgun and equipped it with the silencer tied on his thigh before he raised his hand with the gun as he walked towards the other side of the jeep where his target is hiding. Only for his eyes to widen in shock when he saw that there was no one there. "What the heck – " he cursed under his breath as he immediately walked around the jeep. 

He didn't see anyone. He immediately took out his flashlight and opened the door of the car to look inside. There is no one. Irritated, he climbed up the jeep and stood on the roof, and then looked around the area. Not a single being. 

"F*ck!" he cursed as he stomped his feet on the roof of the jeep in irritation. His target disappeared! How can he just suddenly disappear?! But, the truth is right in front of him. There is no one around! Even from afar! He didn't see anyone escaping! How can his target escape without him knowing?! Even if he escaped, he would definitely hear his footsteps! This is impossible! 

For his target to disappear without a trace, he must have encountered a ghost! 

…

No. Yi Bing thought as he looked at Huo Ling who is catching his breath after he had calmed down. The assassin didn't encounter a ghost. Since he isn't a ghost, and he didn't even see him – a grim reaper. 

"Alright now?" he asked as he handed Huo Ling a towel. They are inside a hotel room. 

"Y-yes." Huo Ling answered as he took a deep breath. He wiped his face before he raised his head and looked at the dark-haired and blue-eyed man standing before him. He is tall and handsome, and is wearing a dark suit. "T-thank you… for earlier…" he said as he lowered his gaze when the man looked at him. 

Earlier, when he thought that he is going to die, this man suddenly appeared before him and soundlessly took him away, without a trace. When Huo Ling, who was on the verge of collapse earlier, saw the man, for some reason, he didn't feel fear. Instead, it's as if everything around him became calm.