Stopping the rhythm of his typing, he reviewed the lines of code on the screen once more, finding nothing amiss.
"Finally finished—the Pokémon Super Cheat."
Chen Ming routinely picked up a cup of coffee that had been set aside at some unknown moment. He didn't even need to think about who had brewed it, though he still couldn't fathom why that person treated him so differently from everyone else.
Chen Ming didn't care much about such matters; sooner or later, the truth would come to light.
With everything done, he took a moment to tidy up his desk.
Pulling out his phone to check his messages, he saw—unsurprisingly—that the latest one was from Xie Feng, and it was the only one.
The restaurant they were supposed to go to tonight seemed rather high-end. What on earth was Xie Feng up to?
After a brief moment of thought, he decided to dial Xie Feng's number while walking.
"Hello, where are you?"
"I'm already at the West Van Restaurant. Where are you? Do you want me to come pick you up?"
"No need, I can just walk over. So you didn't get the wrong place, did you? Is today some sort of Labor Day or something?"
"Relax, we're just going to have a nice meal, no need to overthink it. Isn't money made to be spent? I'm hanging up now, we'll talk when you get here."
With a briefcase tucked under one arm and his phone gripped in the other, Chen Ming had a lingering sense that something was off today. Would Xie Feng normally hang up on him so abruptly?
Maybe I'm overthinking it, he thought. Perhaps he's finally grown tired of my obnoxious personality.
Wandering alone amidst a deep sense of solitude, Chen Ming had long since formed the habit of preparing for the worst-case scenario in every aspect of life—a principle once deeply engraved in his heart.
Yet accidents always strike hardest at the very moment a person lowers their guard.
Out of nowhere, a black van abruptly swerved out from the side of the road, charging straight toward him.
Even at the instant he was sent flying, the pedestrian crossing light was clearly still green.
*Ah, talk about terrible luck.*
Fortunately, though, there was no one else around. At least no one else would be dragged into mourning someone as lonely as him.
It hurt so much, and his consciousness was fading into blackness. It was a shame he hadn't cleared the flash drive and the computer yet; he really felt a tiny shred of reluctance.
The black car that hit him fled the scene in a panic, taking any route to escape. Few pedestrians ever crossed this street.
Chen Ming lay motionless in a pool of blood for a full half-hour, looking like the masterpiece of some avant-garde performance artist—both beautiful and desolate.
Xie Feng, who had been waiting in vain for Chen Ming, found the anxiety gnawing relentlessly at his mind.
"No way, absolutely no way. How could Xiao-Chen stand me up? He's the most honest person I've ever, ever, ever met."
Xie Feng muttered to himself, as if trying to dispel a sudden, baseless wave of unease.
As the minutes ticked by, a restaurant waiter approached with the menu.
"Good evening, sir. Shall I go ahead and serve your meal?"
The waiter was polite—perhaps Xie Feng had already paid for the food in advance.
Xie Feng raised his wrist and checked the time.
"Hold off on the dishes for a bit. I need to go pick up my friend," Xie Feng said with a solemn expression.
He grabbed his jacket, walked out to his silver-bodied car, and immediately pulled out his phone to call the person he had been talking to just half an hour ago.
*The number you have dialed is temporarily...*
At that moment, Xie Feng finally felt that something was terribly wrong. Xiao-Chen would never let his phone run out of battery. Besides, he barely had any close acquaintances, and even at home—
Could his phone just be dead?
No. Xiao-Chen's phone battery was always fully charged or nearly full. He never played games on it; a dead battery was simply impossible.
He drove along the familiar route of memories—the quiet path Xiao-Chen loved to take.
It wasn't far from the company, the traffic conditions there were uncomplicated, and even late at night, the streetlights shone brightly.
When Xie Feng arrived, he couldn't believe his eyes.
Lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the road, dark red blood flowing from his head obscured the greater part of his face.
Even so, Xie Feng instantly recognized who it was.
Xie Feng's hands shook as he opened the car door. His entire field of vision shrank until nothing existed in it except Chen Ming's fallen, motionless body.
With every ounce of strength he had left, he stumbled over to Chen Ming's side. His hands instinctively began their familiar movements, gently brushing across that face just as they had done countless times before.
He knew he couldn't give up yet. Time meant life; he couldn't afford to drag his feet any longer.
Yet his hands refused to steady, and his body still failed to resist the raw instincts of the flesh.
At that moment, a passing pedestrian noticed something was wrong and hurriedly dialed for an ambulance, stating the specifics of the situation in a concise manner.
Xie Feng heard the call, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face, soaking his chest and staining his gray-white shirt. His meticulously groomed appearance was completely ruined.
Once inside the ambulance, Xie Feng never once took his eyes off Chen Ming. Even as the stretcher was loaded, Xie Feng kept a tight grip on the center of Chen Ming's palm.
The siren of the ambulance wailed through the bustling night city. Passersby stared from afar, detached from the reality of it all—such scenes seemed almost commonplace in this metropolis.
Through a long, drawn-out waiting period, Chen Ming kept hearing the voices of unfamiliar people in his ears, mixed with a vaguely irritating yet oddly comforting vocal tone.
Who on earth could it be? Chen Ming had no energy left to ponder it; falling peacefully asleep seemed far more relaxing.
As Chen Ming's conscious will sank into the abyss, the steady beep of the electrocardiogram flatlined toward the end.
Sitting in the nearest seat, Xie Feng found himself utterly incapable of accepting reality. He didn't care that his tears were spilling unbidden, nor could he contain the surging emotions that could only find release in muffled sobs pressed into the hospital sheets.
—
An Old Man with white hair sat cross-legged on the ground, wearing a warm smile as he looked down at the lying figure of Chen Ming.
"Little one, did you sleep well?"
Chen Ming was still lying in the same posture as he had been on the hospital bed. He managed to force his heavy eyelids open and looked at the Old Man not far away.
His memory of being struck by a flying car and dying on the spot was far too vivid—it wasn't something that could just be forgotten. So what was happening right now?
*Am I not dead?*
The Old Man gently stroked his excessively long goatee and spoke in a leisurely, unhurried tone.
"Little one, you are indeed dead. There is no need to doubt that much—this old man can at least guarantee you that."
"How do you know what I'm thinking? What is my current situation? Also, where is this place, and why is everything shrouded in mist?"
Chen Ming considered himself quite adaptable to bizarre occurrences; after all, he was already a dead man—was there any reason to fear whatever else came next?
The Old Man remained completely unruffled, his face and breath steady. "No need to rush, no need to rush. I will explain everything to you in detail."
An impatient young man would have been driven crazy by such a leisurely pace.
Hearing this, Chen Ming stopped asking questions and stood up to look around.
The surroundings were wrapped in a dense, heavy fog, rendering everything completely indistinct. Only a three-zhang radius around Chen Ming and the Old Man remained clearly visible.
The Old Man sat in a grand armchair with a relaxed and composed demeanor. On the wooden table beside his elbow, some modern-style pastries and tea gave the scene a faint touch of the Human Realm.
Seeing the arm the Old Man had been hiding behind his back stop trembling slightly, the Old Man smoothly invited him over. "Your name is Chen Ming, right, little one? Come, sit and have a few cups of tea with this old grandfather of yours, and I'll tell you all about it slowly."
Chen Ming had no objections. If he wanted to figure out his situation, this Old Man was his only lead.
"Xiao-Chen, this old man happens to be a newly appointed deity. Well, I drank a bit of fake wine and wasn't paying attention, and accidentally dragged your soul up here with me."
Without any intention of making a long story short, the Old Man euphemistically explained the situation.
"Huh? So I was supposed to go to some place like the Underworld, but accidentally ended up following you up here instead?"
After repeatedly confirming the unusual nature of this place, Chen Ming realized that the Old Man he had encountered was no ordinary figure. Since he was already dead anyway, meeting anything else wouldn't be strange at all.
Unfazed, the Old Man continued, "Not at all, not at all! It's simply that my young friend's lifespan has not yet ended, and this old man accidentally disturbed the order of the mortal realm."
Whether he had truly disturbed the cosmic order was anyone's guess, but the only annoying part was that he had been collateral damage!
Chen Ming didn't have much attachment to the human world anyway. It was just a pity about his very first breach of contract, and that newly finished cheat—he hadn't even had time to warm it up before he couldn't use it anymore.
"For this reason, this old man has come up with a way out. How about I give you three options as compensation for cutting your life short?"
Ignoring whatever Chen Ming might be thinking, the Old Man pressed on.
Chen Ming shrugged. Given the Old Man's abilities, could he not simply do whatever he pleased? Being offered a choice already showed a kind heart, though Chen Ming still wanted to ask a quiet question.
"I wonder if you might let me skip returning to life? I really don't have much attachment to the mortal world."
The Old Man waved his hand in refusal. "That won't do. I'm the one who broke the rules in the first place, and using your method would only make this old man's mistakes compound."
To prevent Chen Ming from saying anything more that he couldn't handle listening to, the Old Man decisively stated the compensatory options.
"Listen carefully. The three options are: First, let you return to the moment right before your hospital bed, and I will personally cure you. Second, I can send you directly to the Underworld to drink Meng Po's soup, though your next life can be chosen according to your wishes. As for the third—well, I don't really recommend you choose it, but I can tell you anyway: I can send you away from this realm entirely, and naturally, you won't fall under my jurisdiction anymore. Of course, since it's compensation, I'll send you off with some protective talismans."
"Well? You may choose one of the three."
The Old Man finished speaking rapidly and sat there with an air of profound detachment, waiting for Chen Ming's answer.
So that was it. In the end, things were never going to go entirely his way.
Chen Ming rubbed the bridge of his nose, considering it settled. After all, it wasn't a particularly difficult choice.
"Immortal sir, I wonder if you could let me see what happens after my death?"
"I certainly can, but if you choose to return to the human realm, your memories of this place will be wiped completely. Are you sure you still want to see?"
Chen Ming nodded without the slightest hesitation.
Moments later, the white mist parted slightly, revealing a mirror-like surface shimmering with blue ripples.
From the very moment of Chen Ming's death, Xie Feng personally arranged all the funeral affairs, keeping that tiny cinerary casket constantly by his side—even refusing to part with it during his showers in the initial stages.
Not a single relative had ever come to visit him while he was alive, yet they frequently dropped by after his death. Weren't they simply after the apartment Chen Ming's parents had left behind? Too bad their calculations fell short.
Ever since he was a child, Chen Ming had feared dying out of nowhere and having the few meager belongings his parents left behind snatched away, so he had once taken the time to draft a will stating that upon his death, everything would be donated to orphanages and similar charities in need.
Watching those relatives leave empty-handed, Chen Ming found himself experiencing a rare, genuine spark of joy.
The only thing Chen Ming couldn't figure out was Xie Feng. Within his limited memories, the two of them shouldn't have had that much interaction.
Yet Xie Feng had taken Chen Ming's casket, resigned from his company, saved up a sufficient amount of money, and traveled all across the length and breadth of the country.
Chen Ming watched the scenes repeat a few times, still unable to understand.
The Old Man smiled silently to himself on the side. The world is fair; it never inflicts perpetual hardship, and those blossoms that fail to open early will still eventually bloom in their own fragrance.
Chen Ming didn't understand the depth of Xie Feng's feelings for him, but he could at least comprehend that such emotion had not faded in the slightest with the passage of time; instead, it had only grown heavier under the accumulation of years.
Everyone always said Xie Feng looked like a romantic flirt who could never be truly devoted, but who could have known that he simply had never tasted the true bitterness of love?
As an old man nearing death, he clutched the time-weathered cinerary casket and chose to be buried alongside it.
At death's door, he finally spoke the words he had never managed to say aloud: "Xiao-Chen, I had everything ready. Why did you have to leave so fast without even waiting for me? Look, now I'm the one who has to drag you around everywhere just so you don't stay cooped up in that gloomy shell of yours. Ah... I'm tired too. I can't carry you around anymore; I want to rest as well. Let's sleep together for a while."
That white-haired, aged face—so devoid of its former youthful handsomeness—still shed the hottest tears before finally exhausting the last breath of mortal life.
Chen Ming watched it all to the very end. His chest felt heavy, filled with an incomprehensible sorrow and a nameless dread.
The Old Man smiled warmly. "So, little one, have you made your decision?"
Chen Ming closed his eyes deeply. After a long silence, he finally hardened his resolve.