Afterlife Department

Chapter 473 – Disobedience

No matter if Yi Bing likes Huo Ling, but he definitely has to punish him for his insubordination. Even so, this isn't the right time and right place.

"You will receive your punishment when we return to the Stable World." Yi Bing spoke with a dark face while Jin Wu and Mo Shi are silent, doing their best to minimize their presence because Yi Bing is, literally, emitting a low pressure inside the room.

No matter if Huo Ling is gutsy, but he knows that he is in the wrong this time. Even though he always butts heads with Yi Bing, but he also knows how to admit his mistake. So, he didn't use his fire to protect himself and just let the coldness from Yi Bing penetrate his skin. Although their bodies are made from corpses, but because of the Conferment Seal, not only they can have vital signs but they can also have sensations.

So, he gritted his teeth as he endured the frightening cold. "I swear that I won't do it again." He spoke in a shaking voice due to the coldness that reached the inside of his chest. But, he held on and remained standing on the side.

Yi Bing didn't answer. "Jin Wu. Mo Shi." He called.

"Yes." Jin Wu spoke.

"The meeting has concluded now. Just follow the plan starting from tomorrow." Yi Bing spoke. "You two are dismissed." He said.

"Yes." Jin Wu answered.

Before Mo Shi could react, they already have returned to their room.

"Whew!" Jin Wu let out a sigh of relief and removed the cold sweat on his forehead that solidified into ice. "He is really scary!" he grimaced.

Mo Shi didn't answer since he is still shocked earlier when Yi Bing suddenly snapped after their meeting has concluded.

"Hey." Jin Wu patted Mo Shi's shoulder. "Don't think too much about it. Although Yi Bing was very scary, but you have seen how he acted yesterday, and the days before that, right?" he asked. "Yi Bing seems to be approachable, judging how he acted when he is with Huo Ling. Although he is serious, but he is also friendly towards us, right?" he said, then paused. "Though, because of this, it made me forget how Yi Bing was before." He heaved a sigh.

Mo Shi blankly nodded.

Jin Wu laughed. "Go to sleep." He told him.

Mo Shi stiffly walked towards his bed and then lie down while Jin Wu remained seated on the chair.

…

"Hmph." Yi Bing scoffed as he glanced at Huo Ling before he moved his cold gaze elsewhere.

Damn. This guy is really scary. Huo Ling thought and slightly moved his limbs that gone stiff because of Yi Bing's power earlier. He can't help but remember the first time that he met Yi Bing in the Stable World after he died.

"I really didn't mean it earlier." He spoke.

"Then why did you do it?" Yi Bing asked with a harsh voice.

Huo Ling felt his eardrums sting and he closed his eyes, enduring the discomfort. "I have a feeling that we don't have much time." He answered.

Yi Bing finally turned to him. "What do you mean that we don't have much time?" he asked.

Huo Ling slowly opened his eyes and stared at the carpeted floor. "Aside from saving more lives… I have this unsettling feeling after we left that mountain where Luo Ye lived." He answered.

"'unsettling feeling'?" Yi Bing spoke.

Huo Ling nodded and raised his head to look at the other person. "Yes. Like a warning." He spoke.

Yi Bing fell silent. After a while, he spoke. "… you don't say, this might be because of…" he didn't continue.

"… en." Huo Ling muttered.

He didn't speak of Shen Sheng's name since Jin Wu and Mo Shi are just in the neighboring room. Jin Wu is also a sharp person, so he avoided mentioning during their meeting earlier about what they saw in Luo Ye's memories… about Shen Sheng who unexpectedly appeared before Luo Ming and Luo Ye.

"A warning… but not a threat?" Yi Bing muttered as he pondered.

Huo Ling didn't speak. There is a difference between a warning and a threat. Threat was done out of malicious intention while a warning was done out of kind intention. So – "He must be telling us something…" he spoke in a soft voice.

Yi Bing turned to him. "Do you have an idea what it is?" he asked.

Huo Ling bit his tongue, stopping himself from saying 'wasn't it you who know him the best?'. "He must have intended for us to meet Luo Ye." He just said.

Yi Bing nodded with a thoughtful gaze. "That must be why Luo Ye recognized us." He said and touched his chest where the Conferment Seal is.

The Conferment Seal contains Shen Sheng's power. Luo Ye must have sensed Shen Sheng's aura on them because of the Conferment Seal.

"Do you want to ask if it's from Luo Ming that he learned how to create us, grim reapers?" Yi Bing asked when he saw Huo Ling's eyes that is filled of curiosity, and his expression of wanting to say something but is holding himself back.

"… if you want to answer." Huo Ling spoke.

Time flows differently from each world because of the unstable space. So, even though it was only three years that have passed in this world, but in the Stable World, it was already a thousand years. But, time was never fixed in this ratio. Sometimes, it would be the other way around, like three years in the Stable World and a thousand years for this world.

You could say that time is fickle.

"What if I don't know the answer?" Yi Bing asked, rousing Huo Ling from his drifting thoughts.

"Then don't answer." Huo Ling answered.

They stared at each other. One is standing while the other is sitting. Though he was sitting but he is still intimidating, making the other one standing rigid.

"Then I won't answer." Yi Bing spoke.

Huo Ling forced himself with all his might for his brow not to twitch in annoyance. Yi Bing could see that he is curious. Whether Yi Bing really knows something or not, Huo Ling bet five cents that it was the former! This Yi Bing knows something but because he has been disobedient today, Yi Bing doesn't like to answer him!

Damn it! Huo Ling inwardly cursed. But, he should praise himself for being so smart since he still can guess.

"You already have a guess, don't you?" Yi Bing asked as his lips curved into a smile that is not a smile when he saw Huo Ling didn't react.

Huo Ling. "…" wasn't it you who doesn't want me to react so that I won't piss you more? He thought. He should answer 'no', out of politeness, but he knows that Yi Bing isn't fond of lying, and Huo Ling has already offended Huo Ling enough (though it was only one misdeed!) today, he didn't speak.

He definitely wouldn't test Yi Bing's patience just for the heck of it. Yi Bing is already generous towards him for only almost freezing him, albeit there was a punishment waiting for him when they return to the Stable World.

"Speak." Yi Bing spoke. "I'm not mad at you anymore." He said in a soft voice. Seeing Huo Ling's stiff expression, Yi Bing felt his icy heart melting. In the end, he can't feel mad at Huo Ling for a long time. Instead, he now feels his heart aching when he remembered Huo Ling's pallid face earlier when he almost froze him.

But, he was still his superior, so he has to discipline him even if he wanted him to be his lover and spoil him. Or else, even though knowing that Huo Ling can be obedient, but who knows when will Huo Ling's obedience last, seeing how impertinent he is not only today, but also before?

"I also think that he has acquired the method from Luo Ming." Huo Ling spoke in the end.

Yi Bing stared at him.

"And that's how the grim reapers were made." Huo Ling added.

Yi Bing nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"But, Luo Ming is a mortal after all. And something must have happened, so monsters… the zombies were made." Huo Ling spoke. "Unlike him who is a… his power is… so, here we all are now." He said.

Shen Sheng, who is a god and his power his holy, managed to turn them all to grim reapers instead of zombies. Both were from the bodies of corpses, but the end products are entire different from each other. This was why Luo Ye has mistaken them before as zombies, and thought that Luo Ming has come again in the mountain.

"But, this method…" Huo Ling spoke and stared at Yi Bing.

Yi Bing nodded. He understood. "This method must definitely has come from this world, so he went here." He spoke. "Each world, to say, is special." He said.