Afterlife Department

Chapter 158 – Survivor

Pennsylvania.

"Won't you see him?" the servant asked after a while of silence.

Harry Walter's handsome brows raised when he heard the question. "'him'?" he asked.

"Mr. Jackson." The servant reverently bowed as he answered, avoiding Harry Walter's reaction.

However, Harry Walter's face remained blank. "Jackson Jackson… that double Jackson?" he asked. He didn't wait for the servant to answer since he spoke again. "He's a Chinese, right? Such a ridiculous naming sense.." he muttered as his brows knitted. "That pesky doctor. Why should I bother myself with his little life?" he asked as he turned to the servant.

The servant. "…" sire. Not only he betrayed the family but he even abducted the perfect creation of the family. That's double crime! With just betrayal, the punishment is feeding one's corpse to the wolves. But he made two crimes! Two crimes to the family! Death is too light for him! So, why are you not punishing this traitor?! He shrieked in his mind in indignation. That Chinese doctor already abducted the perfect clone. Who knows what more crazy actions he'll do?!

Looking at Harry Walter's face, he felt he must be going crazy and blind. He must be mistaken when he seemed to see him smiling like he was in a good mood. He can only choke his grievance and nurse his heart, or else he'd be the one who will be choked if he'd meddle more in his master's affairs.

China, W City.

"Shushu, what do you want to eat for lunch?" Peng Li asked when he arrived home. He smiled when he saw the beautiful man sitting by the window. His deep green eyes the color of the leaves of the tree behind him were looking at the skyscrapers across the wide river.

Lin Shu slowly turned and caught Peng Li's smile. "Why do you always go home for lunch? Don't you have work?" he coldly asked.

Peng Li just chuckled as he wore slippers and walked towards the kitchen. He ignored the unfriendly tone of Lin Shu. "I will only see the ugly face of my colleagues. So why don't I go home to eat with a beauty?" he joked.

Lin Shu frowned. "Don't worry. I'll change my face to your colleagues – " he said and closed his eyes. However, he felt a tight grip on his wrist. He opened his eyes and saw the young and handsome face of Peng Li in front of him. Gone is his smile. "You only like my face." He told him.

"So what?" Peng Li said. "My feelings after are real." He told him.

Lin Shu didn't answer and pulled his hand. Peng Li lowered his head and returned to the kitchen. "What happened to that young girl's mother?" he asked after a while.

Peng Li froze before he resumed chopping the vegetables. "I already compensated her. After all, it wasn't me who committed the crime but my father instead." He explained.

They were talking about Lulu, one of the three teenage girls who died from the shipwreck. Lulu's friend, Leng Leng, won three tickets from the lottery and they boarded the Ascend Ship with their other friend Ping An. However, before that, this Lulu is actually being prostituted by her mother to provide their daily needs. And one of Lulu's clients is Peng Li's father, who joined the tourist group boarding the Ascend Cruise Ship to follow Lulu. Only to catch her selling herself to the wealthy passengers of the ship.

He immediately seized her, but the other men fought him and he died. His wife, Peng Li's mother, looked for him only to be killed by those men when they found out she's his wife. Before she died, those men told her about her husband's affair with Lulu. She immediately became enraged and she tried to kill Lulu who was currently preoccupied by three of those men. How can those men not make a move? They found an interesting toy. Thus, in order to protect Lulu, Peng Li's mother was killed by them.

Lin Shu, a tree yao, had seen all this with his spiritual sense. When Peng Li had rescued him on the shore after he swam back to S City, he told Peng Li after he regained his consciousness and learned Peng Li is the son of the old couple.

As for him, his reason why he boarded the Ascend Cruise Ship is also to follow someone. It was Wu Dong, the owner of a restaurant in S City and the man he fell in love with. They became friends, and it is filled with ambiguity. However, when he followed Wu Dong to the cruise ship, he found he was already married. When the shipwreck happened, he was forced to reveal his identity as a yao to save him. Only for him to see his disgusted expression and held his wife tight, afraid he might hurt her.

Wu Dong's wife, Susu, is a smart woman so she naturally noticed the atmosphere between the two men. However, she can see Wu Dong chose her. Thus, she can only tell kind words to Lin Shu. Then, she released her hold from her cheating husband and she plunged into the water. Wu Dong naturally was shocked of what happened. He blamed Lin Shu and, from somewhere, he took out a lighter when he saw Lin Shu's hands turned to branches. Then, ruthlessly, he burned Lin Shu's hand.

Lin Shu got no choice but to finally release Wu Dong. "All humans are superficial creatures." He muttered as his tears fell. Whatever they see that looked pleasing to the eye, they liked. However, once they saw its imperfection, they naturally hated it, forgetting the reason they liked it.

"Be as it may, but if one is sincere, then the feelings aren't wasted." Peng Li spoke, pulling Lin Shu from his thoughts. "Wasn't that happened to Leng Leng and Ping An?" he asked.

Lin Shu didn't answer. Like him, Ping An is also a yao that fell in love with a human – Leng Leng. Ping An is an hermaphrodite. To get closer to Leng Leng, she turned herself into a girl like her. When the shipwreck happened, Ping An saved Leng Leng and they fled. They don't know if Ping An would return Leng Leng to her family, given that the news about Leng Leng's death was known and her body is missing.

Seeing Lin Shu just silent, Peng Li smiled. He is a patient person. He knows feelings can't be forced. "Oh, right." he said when he remembered something. "What happened to that actor whom you saved?" he asked.

Having not answered Peng Li's previous question, Lin Shu was forced to answer the question. "He was heavily drugged. His manager fortunately arrived in time and killed those people. However, the manager was fatally wounded and almost died." He explained. They were talking about Lou Ying and Jing Li. "I gave him a choice to remain a human and die with his manager, or turn into a yao and survive with his manager." He said and looked at Peng Li.

Peng Li, lowering the dishes on the table, met Lin Shu's gaze and he smiled. "Hungry?" he asked.

Lin Shu stared at him before he sighed in defeat. He just can't hate this man who saved him and wholeheartedly treated him with kindness and love. "Mn." He answered and walked towards the table.

After his love with Wu Dong failed, he chose to cease being a yao that enhances his appearance. He wanted to become a human instead, who age and the appearance destroyed. Even if a human has a short life, but if he could find someone within that lifetime and love him sincerely, then he is satisfied with his death.

So, he will destroy his yao core. However, before he could, he met Luo Ying and Jing Li. Jing Li was dying, and Luo Ying, whose one of his investment as an artist is his voice, had destroyed his voice from crying over Jing Li's body that was riddled with bullets. Seeing the love between the two men, he was envious. However, he cannot break other's love. Thus, he chose to help their love instead.

He cured Luo Ying's body first by removing the drugs from his blood. Then, he made him choose. After Luo Ying chose, he then took out his core from his body and told him that after he turned to yao, his blood he's going to feed Jing Li will make Jing Li half a yao. Luo Ying, as well as Lin Shu, knew. Jing Li would be more than willing to turn into a yao so that he could be with Luo Ying.

Lin Shu lamented the love of two people before him. Thus, he took out his core and gave it to Luo Ying. Then, with his last strength, he swam back to his homeland and, when he finally reached it, he finally turned to human with his body wrapped in tree barks. However, when Peng Li saw him, he wasn't scare off.

"Why weren't you scared off by me at that time?" he asked.