CH 6

The Grim Reaper stood there coldly, not uttering a single word.

The Grim Reaper had no way of understanding his blunder. He gazed icily at the young boy. The other was short. He looked like a malnourished little turnip, fragile enough to fall apart with a single blow. He could easily be taken away. 

Thousands of thoughts were spinning through the Grim Reaper’s head. He was already preparing to look for the next perfect death instance.

Each death instance could only be used in a time-space jump once. If the opportunity was missed, there was no jumping back to it.

The Grim Reaper searched through the natal chart in his mind and found it!

The next instance, Chi Jiayan’s eighteenth birthday. 

That day would also be the perfect occasion.

The Grim Reaper felt like he had wasted too much time on this matter, so he needed to wrap things up quickly. In the original timeline, there were many more deaths waiting for him to deal with. He couldn’t dilly-dally any longer.

“Gege, do you think I’m bad?”

The boy’s voice interrupted the Grim Reaper’s train of thought.

He opened his eyes.

Chi Jiayan stared at the ground, his body still drenched. He said in a low voice, “I cursed him, but I don’t regret it at all. Gege probably hates bad people like me. Actually, I didn’t mean to be bad on purpose…”

“That has nothing to do with me,” the Grim Reaper said.

All things considered, the boy’s future was more than ten times worse than the present. 

However, the Grim Reaper hadn’t forgotten that his efforts saved twenty-three lives. This was a very interesting and contradictory soul.

Chi Jiayan’s hands unconsciously fidgeted with the fabric of his shorts. “Oh…”

The Grim Reaper turned to leave, but he found that Chi Jiayan was following him.

“Gege, where did you come from?” Chi Jiayan walked beside him with a smiling face. “Why do you wear this mask all the time? And these robes, last time I saw you, the, um…is it a totem? I saw it turned into a handsome wolf.” 

Hearing the praise, the totem had the intention of appearing in midair.

“Cang Feng,” the Grim Reaper said coldly.

The totem whimpered like a puppy, reluctantly quieting down.

“Is its name Cang Feng?” asked Chi Jiayan. “Its name is cool, too.” 

The Grim Reaper spoke. “Don’t follow me.”

Chi Jiayan kept talking. “Gege must be a guardian angel.”

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Being a guardian angel was a term far removed from him.

They had walked out of the villa, coming to an open boulevard.

The area around the villa was unique. Part of the foundation was very high, and part of it was very low, like it was constructed on a mountain. The driveway winded up, and the sidewalk was built in steps. From a distance, it looked like there was no end in sight.

Chi Jiayan stood at a taller angle. As if he was aware of the Grim Reaper’s doubts, he explained, “I guessed.” 

The Grim Reaper spoke, his voice icy. “How did you guess?”

“Last time when I was about to be hit by a car, you appeared.” Chi Jiayan analyzed, “This time, when I was about to die, you appeared again. You must be my guardian angel. When I’m in danger, you come out to save me.”

Actually, he had guessed all wrong.

The Grim Reaper didn’t interrupt his explanation. After all, nobody knew he was the Grim Reaper, eyeing his life force like a tiger eyed prey. 

“Thank you for saving me.” Chi Jiayan grinned.

In the dappled sunlight cast by the shade, Chi Jiayan’s skin was so white that it seemed to glow. His pupils were black and big, and he had a pair of clear almond eyes. Anyone could see his sincerity just by looking at him. His gratitude came from the heart, and the Grim Reaper knew that he wasn’t lying.

“Actually, I was so angry earlier that I even thought about letting my cousin die. Good thing you showed up, so I didn’t have to go that far.”

The Grim Reaper asked coldly, “Why?” 

Chi Jiayan said, “When I was little, I always felt bad for myself. I was abandoned by the whole world, so I had a lot of bad thoughts. But that time I met you when we went to rescue the kitten together, I realized that I’m not alone in the world. Even up till just now, I’ve guessed that you must be my guardian angel, appearing just as I’m in danger.”

The Grim Reaper: “…”

“Thinking about it, I guess what my cousin did wasn’t all that unforgivable. After all, I’ve got a guardian angel!” Chi Jiayan smiled craftily.

The Grim Reaper thought back to the second half of the swimming pool incident. 

Within his consciousness, he watched a different version of that event. In a timeline where he didn’t appear, after Chi Jiayan was rescued, he didn’t simply stop at cursing Chi Rui to never find love—he took revenge on Chi Rui as well. He kicked him into the pool and used spiritual power to prevent Chi Rui from climbing ashore, making Chi Rui nearly drown for an hour, causing him to be extremely fearful of water after that.

Why was that version of Chi Jiayan so fierce?

The Grim Reaper mentally browsed through that timeline’s past. Five year-old Chi Jiayan never saw him on the side of the road, nor had he held an umbrella for him. Naturally, he never rescued the kitten, nor ate the ice cream he bought for him.

Little Chi Jiayan lived in isolation. His family members passed away, he lived in poverty, growing up with a distorted mentality, resorting to many extremes. 

This timeline’s Chi Jiayan, though put in the same situations, was an optimistic young man.

It turned out the last time the Grim Reaper appeared, he’d already changed the trajectory of Chi Jiayan’s life. Such a small ripple had caused a big wave.

Everything was messed up.

“I am not your guardian angel,” the Grim Reaper said. 

“Okay.” Chi Jiayan declined to comment, realizing that this gege was keeping his real intentions to himself.

They walked for a while, the Grim Reaper in front, Chi Jiayan in the back.

The roads in the villa area were intricate and complex. The Grim Reaper might’ve taken a wrong turn, but Chi Jiayan didn’t tell him, silently accompanying him around in circles.

In actuality, the Grim Reaper was lost in thought. He just had a habit of walking when thinking. 

Because things were changed, he mentally established countless possibilities in his consciousness, calculating the possible impacts of the next death instance in Chi Jiayan’s future. Because of his hesitation and soft-heartedness this time, things became complicated. He had to clean up the mess quickly to put an end to this mistake.

Chi Jiayan’s strides began to not be able to keep up. “Gege, wait for me.”

The Grim Reaper said, “I’m not your gege.”

“Huh?” Chi Jiayan was puzzled. Afterwards, he came to a conclusion, face turning red. “Could it be, you’re actually a jiejie?” 

“……” The Grim Reaper had no way of explaining to him that it was just because his seniority was too large, but he didn’t want to argue. “No.”

“Then you have to be a gege. Good think you’re not a jiejie. Your voice is too manly.” Chi Jiayan patted his chest to suppress his initial shock, then raised his foot. “Gege, my foot hurts too much. I can’t walk anymore.”

It was only then that the Grim Reaper noticed Chi Jiayan’s left ankle was as swollen as a steamed bun.

Perhaps it had been twisted while he was struggling in the swimming pool. And yet, the teenage boy had kept walking behind him without saying a word about it. 

The Grim Reaper said coldly, “Then stop walking.”

“I can’t,” Chi Jiayan protested. “I want to follow you. If you suddenly disappear again, I’ll lose my only friend.”

The Grim Reaper turned away to keep walking. “I’m not your friend.”

This time, Chi Jiayan didn’t follow him. The Grim Reaper had walked quite far when he heard Chi Jiayan shout out behind him. 

“Please be my friend!” With the words came the power of a speech spirit’s ability, hitting the Grim Reaper wave after wave.

It was a pity that the Grim Reaper was a higher power, so the speech spirit couldn’t affect him at all.

The Grim Reaper summoned Cang Feng. He wanted to leave now to find the next death instance, to bring everything back on track.

“Gege!” Chi Jiayan was still shouting behind him, his clear and youthful voice growing a little hoarse. “Please, be my friend! It’s okay if you don’t stick around me, please promise me, be my first friend!” 

A sports car roared past. Chi Rui’s group of friends was piled in the car. Seeing Chi Jiayan standing on the side of the road awkwardly, they all whistled and jeered.

“Hey, unlucky devil!”

“Bad omen—”

“We’re gonna find your Qiuqiu jie and…” 

Chi Jiayan watched the red sports car drive away. The last sentence might’ve been a threat or a prank, but he didn’t hear clearly.

Out of the blue, Chi Jiayan’s eyes reddened. His pair of almond eyes watered, delicate but filled with hatred.

“Bastards.” Chi Jiayan swiped at his eyes. “You’re all bastards. I hope you all—”

The word “die” was stuck in his throat. 

The Grim Reaper had returned at some point. He nipped Chi Jiayan’s curse in the bud.

It was three peoples’ lives, which was another unpredictable variable.

The young boy’s eyes widened suddenly, his pupils shining brightly under the shadow of the tree. “Gege?”

The tall Grim Reaper was cold all over. Even his palms were freezing cold. His touch on the young boy’s lips had felt like a piece of ice. 

The Grim Reaper’s face was hidden behind his mask, so his expression couldn’t be seen.

Maybe it was impatience, or maybe it was disgust. Chi Jiayan couldn’t tell the difference.

He was a little happy, really. His eyes curved upwards. “You promised to be my friend.”

The Grim Reaper didn’t speak. His level of taciturnity was incompatible with this world. 

“Gege, you’re too nice.” Chi Jiayan threw himself into the Grim Reaper’s embrace. The silky material of his black robes was smooth and hard to grab onto.

The Grim Reaper stood stiffly.

This human was really too strange of an existence!

“I really can’t walk anymore. Can you carry me?” Chi Jiayan said in a muffled voice, his tone acting a little pitiful. 

But from the perspective of the Grim Reaper, he could see a sly dimple on the boy’s fair cheek.

He felt that this human who held no reverence for him could be poisonous.