Afterlife Department

Chapter 404 – Gather

"Why did you give it to the kid?" Shi Jiu asked after the little girl and the woman who is her nanny have left with the mini Anji Li. 

"A group of old males like us, playing a doll?" Yi Bing looked at Shi Jiu. His brows are raised. 

Shi Jiu fell silent. Then, his brow twitched imagining the scene. "You know that's not what I mean." He said, then sighed. He felt goosebumps appeared on his skin just the thought of it. 

Mini Anji Li possesses the new program Sha Jiu created. The reason why this new program is inside the mini Anji Li is because Sha Jiu needs to overhaul the big Anji Li's program to add this new program and assimilate with it. So, he stored this new program in mini Anji Li – Sha Jiu's new 'daughter'. 

If they just don't know Sha Jiu's character, they would think he is a pervert lolicon. Since there's not only one, but two, three, four, five mini Anji Lis he has made for them, and one is their spare! When they asked him why he made too many mini Anji Lis, he answered that he wanted to test the new program in other worlds, too, so he would also make the other grim reapers bring mini Anji Li. Although that sounds very reasonable, but Yi Bing and Shi Jiu can't help but still suspect Sha Jiu, especially when they look at Anji Li's new outfit which is goth Lolita – a complete opposite of the pure, white angel which is her first outfit. 

Yi Bing shook his head to dispel the disturbing thoughts that appeared in his mind. "I'm just kidding." He spoke. Then, he turned serious. "I gave the doll to the kid to spy." He said. 

Three gazes stared at him with complex emotions in their eyes. 

Yi Bing. "…" what's with that look of disgust? He thought as his face darkened. "It's not the little girl we're going to spy, but their family's situation." He explained. "I found out that a person went missing recently." He said. 

"How did you know that?" Shi Jiu asked as he looked at Yi Bing. His eyes are filled with surprise. 

Because they are in an ancient world, their devices from the future that can be used are limited since there is no computer or internet in this era. This is one of the reasons why Anji Li was overpowered by that something unknown. Their devices' uses were suppressed by this world. They can't use guns, bombs, or even photon lasers. They naturally can't wear wristwatch or sunglasses, as well as leather shoes. 

So, their communicators gathering information in this era is a failure because there's no internet or computers to pull data from. 

Yi Bing pointed with his thumb. "That wall." He spoke and tilted his head. 

They all turned. There, they saw some papers stuck on a wall outside of a restaurant. One of the papers is a notice that a person is missing. Since they have already learned the language of this world, which isn't that much different from the modern language of their world, they can read the words written using a brush. 

"Notice: the second young master of the Pei family, Pei Tinghe, has gone missing last two days. Anyone who seen him can either go to the Pei mansion or the xxx Office in xxx…" 

Below the words is a drawing of the face of a young man – the missing Pei Tinghe. His looks are just average and can be easily forgotten when placed in a crowd. In short, he is a mob character. 

"What the… not only the souls are missing, but also people?" Shi Jiu exclaimed in surprise. 

"You didn't know?" Yi Bing asked him. 

Shi Jiu turned to him while shaking his head as an answer. "No. After Anji Li and I lost track of the soul, I immediately investigated for weird events so I looked around." he said. "The missing notice wasn't there when I was here before." He told them. 

"So, something happened when you were gone." Huo Ling spoke as he pinched his chin while he lowered his eyes, pondering. "It's be such a pity if in this time period, a clue for our task must have appeared." He said. 

"Then… we'll go back here?" Jiu Ye asked. "We'll estimate the time this event has occurred and see if something has changed?" he said as he scratched his cheek. 

Like the reincarnation, the time in each world is also a cycle. From the beginning of a world, when it reaches its end – either it perished or was intentionally destroyed, it will return to the beginning after that. 

"No. We can't." Shi Jiu answered. 

They looked at him. 

"If it was before, then it might be possible. But – " Shi Jiu frowned. " – a soul from outside has entered and was lost." He told them. 

Their expressions changed. That's right. If this world was 'untouched', then they might be able to 'restart'. An Untouched World is as its name implied – untouched. Whether there were grim reapers that arrived, but, as long as the plot of the world, as well as its settings i.e. sceneries, characters, weren't changed, then it is possible to return to this world at a certain point in time. But, the time isn't specific, because of the unstable space between each worlds, making the time also unstable. 

So, Jiu Ye said earlier for them to estimate the time before they could reenter the world and go to another point in its time. But, right now, there is already a foreign soul added in this world. There is an additional 'character'. So, it isn't possible for them to 'restart'. 

"We can only find as much information as we can to fill in ourselves of what happened in that time period." Yi Bing spoke. 

"Yes." They nodded in agreement. 

"Let's split up." Yi Bing spoke. "If you found something, then send a message through our communicators." He said and raised his hand, showing a jade ring on his finger. 

They looked at their hands which also have a jade ring on their fingers. Since a wristwatch can't be worn in this era, they changed their communicators from wristwatches to jade rings to complement in this era. Of course, it was Sha Jiu who made the jade rings as their communicators. His hands are just magical. 

"Yes!" they answered. 

Huo Ling was about to turn, his sleeves aflutter, when Yi Bing pulled him back. "Let's split up in pairs." He said. 

"Okay." Shi Jiu agreed and glanced at Jiu Ye. He's the one who brought his younger brother here, so he should look after him. 

"Although splitting up in four is time-efficient, but there's something unknown here." Yi Bing spoke. "We don't know what it is and how strong it is, or how does it attack. It's better to pair up so you can assist each other." He explained. "Furthermore, if we found clues, it's better to have someone to compare opinions with so that we can be clearer about to clues found." He said. 

"That's right. Two is better than one." Shi Jiu smiled before he grabbed Jiu Ye by the back of his collar and pulled him away to leave. "Let's meet here after two hours!" he said and waved his hand at them without looking back. 

"En." Yi Bing nodded even though Shi Jiu can't see him. Then, he turned to look at Huo Ling who was standing beside him. He then released Huo Ling's sleeve. "Where shall we go first?" he asked him. 

Huo Ling lowered his eyes and watched his sleeve slipped from Yi Bing's fingers before he raised his head and met Yi Bing's gaze. He felt there's something subtle that happened, but he can't point what is it, or name it. He decided to ignore it. "You're leaving the decision to me?" he asked. 

Yi Bing nodded. "En." He answered. "Part of your test." He told him. 

Huo Ling. "…" asshole. He thought as his brow twitched in annoyance. He can just tell me that he's being lazy again. I already have seen through his real character, anyway. No need for pretenses. Although he thought this, but he remembers that Yi Bing is still his superior. "Oh." He muttered and looked around. "Why don't we go to an inn?" he asked when he saw a group of people entered the inn.

Yi Bing turned. "Why?" he asked. 

"The inns are like the bars in modern times. It is a potpourri of people." Huo Ling answered, then paused. "As well as gossips." He added. "Where there are people, there is gossip. Be it they are the source of gossip, or the gossipmongers." He shrugged. 

Yi Bing's lips curved into a smile. "Well said." He spoke and almost clapped. Fortunately, he held himself back not to. He looked at the open wide doors of the inn and watched the bustling people inside, chatting loudly. "Let's go." He said.