Afterlife Department

Chapter 17 – Interrogation

"The Soul Eaters can easily digest the souls they ate since they now have digestive organs after they gained their physical form." Yi Bing said as they stood on the corner inside the interrogation room of the police station. "Their flesh can block the escaping emotions of the souls from their memories." He added.

Huo Ling nodded in understanding as they watched the neighbor entered the interrogation room again. "Where are Soul Eaters from?" he asked.

"They are evil ghosts that cannot enter reincarnation because of too much resentment they have, and the bad karma they have from harming – worse, killing, humans, or other souls." Yi Bing answered. "This happens during their Mania. They lost their sanity." He looked at Huo Ling.

Huo Ling heaved a sigh.. "Did the Foul cause their Mania to be worse?" he asked.

"Worse, the they can release Foul themselves." Yi Bing said and watched as the policemen and the neighbor took their seat. "The scary thing is that the manic souls didn't need Foul and become evil ghosts, then Soul Eaters." He sighed.

Huo Ling didn't ask more as the interrogation began. "Su Rong, 27. Unemployed. No family nor any relatives alive." He heard the policeman said as he read the neighbor's information on the folder. Then, he looked at Su Rong. "You said earlier that you do not know Miss Fu, nor the deliveryman Mr. Huo." He said. "But, you insinuated they might have an unspeakable relationship." He added.

Huo Ling jerked when he heard his name was mentioned. "This jerk!" he said and glared at Su Rong. "I don't know you yet why are you creating a rumor about me?!" he asked, mad, as he tried to punch Su Rong's face yet his fist just passed through Su Rong's head.

Yi Bing calmly pulled his 'tail' to separate him from Su Rong. "Calm down. Don't have a Mania, now, and become an evil ghost." He told him.

Huo Ling was immediately pacified. He waited for Su Rong to answer. "Anyone would think about that if it's about a man or a woman." Su Rong calmly said.

The policeman nodded, then turned to the other policeman sitting next to him. The other policeman picked up a box from under the table and placed it on the table. Seeing the contents of the box, Su Rong's eyes widened in shock. "Indeed, Mr. Huo and Miss Fu might have a relationship – " the policeman interrogating Su Rong said. " – if not for the presence of these ordered foods you've hid!" he said and glared at Su Rong as he harshly tapped the pen on the box containing the fast foods.

Su Rong paled. "You… you – !" he said as he rose from his seat. However, the policeman standing behind him pushed him down. "You entered my unit!" he said.

The interrogating policeman looked calm. "We have received a call from an anonymous caller saying that there are corpses hidden in certain apartment units." He said and meaningfully looked at Su Rong who became frozen from his seat. "Was Miss Fu's death related to you?" he asked. Su Rong became silent. The policeman wasn't impatient. "How about Mr. Huo's death?" he added.

Huo Ling's brow twitched and he was about to advance to Su Rong when Yi Bing reined him by pulling his 'tail'. "Damn you! Don't hold your tongue! Speak! You killed me!" he said as he pulled up his sleeves, exposing his skinny arm.

However, Su Rong remained silent like a dead log. "Escort him out." the interrogating policeman said. The policeman behind Su Rong nodded and taken the handcuffed Su Rong out. "Next." The interrogating policeman said and a woman who's shaking from head to feet and looked pale was escorted by a police inside the interrogating room.

"I – I… I don't know anything!" the woman immediately said. "Hii!" she gasped when the policeman escorting her made her sit on the chair. "I – I don't know anything!" she said and closed her eyes tight.

"Madam. I haven't asked anything yet." The interrogating policeman said. "The more you insist you don't know anything, the more we'll think you actually do know something." He gave her a kind smile. Yet, the woman became even more scared. However, she shut up. "Li Lingling, age 35. A widow, and doesn't have children." The interrogating policeman said and looked at Li Lingling.

Li Lingling spoke. "I – I had a child. But… but, I got a miscarriage." She said. "It was after when my husband died. I didn't remarry." She said.

The interrogating policeman nodded. "Do you know Mr. Su Rong?" he asked.

Li Lingling shook her head. "I don't." she answered.

The interrogating policeman looked at the papers in front of him. Fu Ling, the woman who died, was living in 201. Su Rong was living in 202, while 203 where three corpses were found was under Tan Yu's name.

"Eh? It's not senior's apartment unit?" Huo Ling was surprised. He became bored and he floated behind the interrogating policeman and looked at the documents in front of him.

Yi Bing soundlessly walked towards Huo Ling and also looked at the documents. "There's one corpse in 201, and three corpses in 203. However, there is no corpse in 202." He said. "In 101, there're two." He added, referring to the corpses of the mother and child who were killed by the man living in 101who was actually the administrator of the apartment building.

Li Lingling was living in 111, on the tenth floor. It is reasonable she wouldn't know Su Rong who was living in the second floor. "How about Miss Fu Ling?" the interrogating police asked.

Li Lingling shook her head. "No." she answered.

"Mr. Huo Ling?"

"No – " Li Lingling answered, when she suddenly paused. The interrogating policeman noticed her sudden pause. He waited for Li Lingling to answer, yet she didn't continue her words. "I don't." Li Lingling answered.

Obviously, she was lying. "What?!" Huo Ling was shocked. "She knows me?" he said, staring at Li Lingling with wide eyes. He turned to Yi Bing. "Can you investigate how she was related to me?" he asked. On the documents laid in front of the interrogating policeman, only Li Lingling's information was shown. She is a photographer and got married when she was 24. Her husband died when she was 32. Her parents were already dead while her in-laws were in the province. Huo Ling can't figure it out how Li Lingling knows him.

Yi Bing turned to Huo Ling. "I can't." he answered. "Only those who died their information will be given to us." He said. "Those who are living, the Living Department is in charge. We, the Afterlife Department, cannot interfere with living matters. Only those of dead's." he explained.

"How are the Living Department operate?" Huo Ling asked. "Is there a Dead Department?" he added.

"It's us." Yi Bing said.

Huo Ling shut up. He turned back to Li Lingling who was escorted out of the interrogation room like Su Rong earlier. However, she wasn't handcuffed. "Why are the policemen not pushing the answers out of the suspects?" he asked.

"It's not that they aren't capable." Yi Bing said. "They are looking at the bigger picture." He told him.

"What bigger picture?" Huo Ling asked.

"More than 20 corpses are hidden in the apartment building, yet no one noticed it." Yi Bing said, then turned to Huo Ling. "Don't you think this is strange?" he asked.

"It is. There's a Soul Eater, too." Huo Ling agreed.

"The Soul Eater aside, since the living cannot see it – " Yi Bing said. " – why are there so many deaths in one apartment building, and no one noticed it?" he asked. "Also, why would they hide the corpses?" he added.

Huo Ling was thinking of this, too, and so is the interrogating policeman.