Afterlife Department

Chapter 37 - Water Mirror

Yi Bing placed his hands on the ground and heavily panted. He looked at the burn on his arms. Then, he turned to the unconscious Huo Ling whose soul is still burning. The corner of his lips can't help but curl up and he finally collapsed on the ground. He faced the sky. "He always surprises me…" he muttered and glanced at Huo Ling who stirred, then turned to find a comfortable position to sleep.

They are currently on the outskirt of the city. He exhausted his energy after he teleported the both of them earlier out of Gu Xingfeng's office. Even though Huo Ling experienced a Mania, but he looked like he still has some rationality left. Maybe, because, he knew the fact that nothing will change even if he'd make up a fuss about his death. Thus, Yi Bing didn't need to exert so much power to subdue Huo Ling. Just a little....

However! Because he was constantly using his power since earlier, and used up a big fraction of it when he dissolved his mortal body to enter Gu Xingfeng's office, so even if it was only little power he used to subdue Huo Ling, but he was still freaking tired. He doesn't know whether it is unfortunate or a misfortune he's in his soul form now. No one will see him lying here on the ground so he cannot scare them, but he also would find some things inconvenient since he cannot touch objects right now or that to call for help.

And so he and Huo Ling lied there on the ground, under the heavy rain, but unbothered with it since they're just souls.

S Apartment Building.

Due to many events that happened and they were all preoccupied, the police officers forgot to check the time. When they did, they almost hit themselves. It's now twelve midnight – the devil's hour! They all looked at the four new and transparent faces on the water with a pale face. They almost loosened their grip with their colleagues who were possessed because of fright. Fortunately, they were veterans in their job and can immediately adapt to the changes. "A-Assistant director Jing, w-w-what the hell is this?" they asked Jing Yu. The four ghost faces are comprised of one woman and three men! It can't be…

"What you're thinking is right." Jing Yu said. "They are the souls that possessed your friends." He told them.

So they are really Fu Ling, Tan Yu, Wei Jing and Wu She! The reason why they didn't recognize their face is because their face is pale and was mutilated! They heard that the ghosts will maintain their appearance after their death… they only saw Fu Ling's appearance, but she's covered with too much blood. Tan Yu, Wei Jing and Wu She, their corpse have already rotten so they don't know their face!

One of Fu Ling's eyes was missing and there's a cut around her eye. Her cheeks were looked like they were pierced since there were holes on them. Her mouth was split open. Tan Yu, Wei Jing and Wu She's face… they're too horrible to look at so the police officers who has trypophobia (A/N: don't search this up if you don't know this. You'll just have nightmares.) looked away. "What is this magic…?" Xiao Xie muttered under his breath as he looked at the four ghost faces overlapping Song Mingfan and the other three police officers' face.

"Water Mirror." Hao Baiyun answered. "It can see the real form of those touched beings." He said.

"'touched beings'?"

"Beings that were touched by something supernatural." Hao Baiyun answered. "Possessed, or something unhuman." He said and looked at his and Fei Xuli's reflection, but they didn't see Jing Yu's reflection. The Water Mirror can't show its user's reflection.

"How do we extract them out of their body?" Gu Xingfeng asked.

"I'll trap them inside the water." Jing Yu answered and increased the brightness of the flashlight.

"Aaaahh…. AAAAHHHH!!!!" Fu Ling, Tan Yu, Wei Jing and Wu She screamed when the light hit them and Song Mingfan, Zhang Bao, Xue Liping and the police officer possessed by Fu Ling – Ke Congyi, struggled violently.

"Mingfan! Fight that ghost!" Xiao Xie told Song Mingfan.

Song Mingfan seemed to hear him since his body made a pause. Hao Baiyun has seen this so he advised the police officers to call their friends. The police officers seemed excited. "Bao-ge, I'll treat you of your favorite food for one month!" a police officer told Zhang Bao.

Zhang Bao suddenly smiled. "… you'll lose so much money…" he said and suddenly coughed. Blood trickled out of his mouth.

"What happened?" Gu Xingfeng asked when he saw this.

"The souls inside their body are struggling, wanting to bring down your subordinates with them." Hao Baiyun explained.

Gu Xingfeng frowned. "What should we do?" he asked. They are his loyal subordinates and his brothers-in-arms. They have survived many storms, so he doesn't want to lose them.

"You can only hope they can survive this ordeal." Hao Baiyun said and turned to Jing Yu.

Jing Yu increased the brightness of the flashlight. "They refuse to go out." he said, his deep voice low. "I'll burn you, then." He said. If the light would be reflected in water, it'll become brighter.

"AAAAAHH!!!" Fu Ling, Tan Yu, Wei Jing and Wu She screamed louder and Song Mingfan, Zhang Bao, Xue Liping and Ke Congyi suddenly convulsed.

"H-hey!" the police officers said and held their friends tighter after their grip suddenly loosened in the sudden change.

"Let the light burn the evil in humans' heart." Jing Yu spoke.

"AAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!" four screams pierced through the thunder's roars and the noise of the heavy rain. It lasted for a quarter of an hour until they saw dark shadows came out of the four police officers' body.

The storm continued throughout the night, but the storm in their heart has already passed.

Afterlife Department, next morning.

Gu Shi looked at Yi Bing cleanly dressed in black suit. Yi Bing has just finished refreshing himself. "The Abnormal Soul you brought back…" he said as Yi Bing reached him.

Yi Bing nodded. "His soul is stronger than that of a normal soul." He answered and handed his printed report about Huo Ling.

Gu Shi took it and scanned it before he nodded. "Then, you can talk to him about that matter." He told Yi Bing and then left.

Yi Bing watched Gu Shi leave before he went to the infirmary. When he arrived, he saw a spacious room filled with multiple patient beds neatly arranged. He saw some of his colleagues having their wound sewn after their soul was torn. There were separate rooms for purifying the Foul after the souls were contaminated. It was similar to torture rooms with all the screams coming from it.

Yi Bing stopped when he reached Huo Ling who was comfortably sleeping. "Get up." He called. Huo Ling didn't move. "If you're ashamed and guilty after hurting me when you entered your Mania, then rest your mind. I'm already used to it – " he said.

Huo Ling immediately got up. His soul is no longer burning but his face is red in shame. "You - !" he said as he looked at the other 'people' who turned to them.

"A new guy?"

"Yo! Welcome to the Afterlife Department!"