CH 9

“Not going to let me see?” Chi Jiayan was disappointed. “And today’s my birthday. You won’t grant my wish on my very last birthday?”

Such a pitiful appearance was really unbefitting of him. 

It completely disregarded the classroom full of manipulated people.

He was already old enough, as well as strong enough to deal with all matters in his life apart from the coming of the Grim Reaper.

The Grim Reaper took off his mask, staring at him unemotionally.

The moment the Grim Reaper took off his mask, naturally, the Grim Reaper’s face was visible. 

His skin was pale and his facial features were cold. He looked like an ice sculpture.

He stood there without expression, without care, without sadness, and without happiness.

Chi Jiayan should have liked this sharp yet handsome face, should have been surprised by how this face was a cold blade, but he merely stared numbly.

The two looked at each other. The Grim Reaper inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity by staring at each other like this, but that familiarity was like a tangled mess of yarn, forgotten as soon as he let it go.

The Grim Reaper abruptly put his mask back on, hiding his face once again.

Chi Jiayan’s dazed expression was also put away as he regained his senses. He returned to smiling, muttering absentmindedly with a sigh.

“As expected…it’s the same…”

“What?” asked the Grim Reaper. 

Chi Jiayan clapped his hands. “It’s nothing. It’s just that I realized you looked a bit like my friend.”

“You have friends now?” The Grim Reaper didn’t expect this.

“Yep.” Chi Jiayan nodded. “Is Gege not happy?”

The Grim Reaper: “…It’s not that.” 

“Oh…”

With his hands in his pockets and a little black cat on his shoulder, Chi Jiayan walked towards the ice cream shop across the road.

It was located near campus. Traffic became heavier when school was out. The traffic lights flashed, and the vehicles in wait drove towards the next intersection.

As the cars came and went, Chi Jiayan turned and beckoned his hand. “Gege, do you want ice cream? If you eat an ice cream, you’ll feel much happier. I’ll treat you.” 

The Grim Reaper said nothing.

He saw the aura of death spreading from under Chi Jiayan’s feet, and layers of black air gradually surrounded Chi Jiayan.

Not far away, a shopkeeper was carrying a basket full of oranges. Because the newly renovated store next door needed to install glass, the shopkeeper had to change usual positions.

Maybe the basket was too heavy, or maybe the material was too worn, but the bottom of the bamboo basket suddenly broke. 

The fresh, plump oranges freely rolled around.

“Damn it!” The shopkeeper cursed, annoyed. They warned those nearby loudly, “Be careful! Watch out! Don’t step on my oranges!”

Pedestrians passed by one after another.

Chi Jiayan bought two cones in the ice cream store, one chocolate and one matcha. 

He smiled and quietly thanked the clerk. He moved his legs to walk out, stepping into the sunlight.

Bang!!

A bicyclist ran over an orange and crashed to the ground.

“Woof woof woof!” 

The pug in the bike basket jumped out.

“Niuniu—” the owner shouted anxiously.

All of this played out in slow motion like a movie, stretched indefinitely in this perfect death instance. Every frame and every second was so clear.

The smile on Chi Jiayan’s face was still there, and the dimples on his cheeks were faintly visible. 

The pug ran away in fright and bumped into the glass installer’s leg. The worker stumbled, stepping on it. The pug screamed. The worker was startled and lost his balance.

At that moment, Chi Jiayan didn’t look back.

The glass hit the wall, and broken fragments flew. One of the sharpest triangular fragments bounced off the wall and pierced through Chi Jiayan’s artery.

If Chi Jiayan had avoided it by just a little, he would’ve missed it, but he was destined to be unable to escape this time. 

Blood spewed out under the snow-white sun. It reminded the Grim Reaper of that twenty-seven year-old Chi Jiayan on the pendulum who kept spitting up blood due to backlash.

No one could stop the footsteps of death from advancing.

—Except Death himself.

“Ling Xiao gege…” Chi Jiayan fell to his knees on the ground, then fell on his side. 

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This perfect instance of death was becoming the most perfect instance of death.

The Grim Reaper’s hand involuntarily reached out to touch the hand that Chi Jiayan had stretched towards him. Even before he touched it, his headache intensified further, because the memories of the Grim Reaper belonging to this timeline were rushing into his mind.

In the blink of an eye, the still-fresh “past events” reappeared in his mind, scene by scene.

It turned out that the moment he had left the thirteen year-old Chi Jiayan, the past had quietly changed. 

Five years ago.

A gas leak had caused an explosion on the first floor of a building. Because many people were resting at home on the weekend, thirty-one people, including elderly and children, died that day. Every unnaturally large-scaled death scene would follow with the appearance of the Grim Reaper. As soon as those dead souls appeared, they immediately heard the howling of Cang Feng, and one by one they turned into spirit beads that were returned to the natal chart.

When such a large-scale mass death occurred, many wandering ghosts also came to see. They wanted to get a piece of the action, looking for a substitute for the dead or something.

The Grim Reaper spent a long time dealing with those, exhausting himself. 

Cang Feng was out of breath. With a whimper, he turned back into the gold embroidered totem to attach to the robes, ready to rest.

At this moment, a voice muttered, “Ling Xiao?”

Hearing this name that no one had used for thousands of years, the grim reaper Ling Xiao turned his head to see a young boy standing on the barren lawn. He looked about thirteen or fourteen years old with delicate features, a clear temperament, and a curious face.

“Are you…Ling Xiao gege?” the boy asked again. 

Ling Xiao frowned under his mask. “That’s me. Who are you?”

Unexpectedly, just as he replied, the boy ran over, crashing into his arms like a small rocket, hugging him tightly.

“It really is you!” The boy’s voice was full of surprise at having found what he’d lost, chattering endlessly. “I almost thought you were that bad guy! Luckily, I knew your name. You really scared me to death. When I opened my eyes, you were gone! Gege! I really thought you’d left!”

Ling Xiao had never seen this boy before. 

Being hugged suddenly and feeling the warmth of a human being, the frosty exterior on Ling Xiao’s body quickly melted, like being exposed to the warmth of spring.

Ling Xiao didn’t like this change that left him feeling vulnerable. He stretched out a finger to prod the boy’s forehead, ruthlessly pushing him away.

The boy didn’t seem to be disgusted by this action of “disgust”. He seemed quite used to it, letting himself be pushed away by the forehead.

“Who are you,” Ling Xiao demanded condescendingly. “How can you see me?” 

The boy’s eyes widened incredulously. “I’m Chi Jiayan, of course! Gege, did you forget?”

The chill on Ling Xiao returned. He put his hand down indifferently. “Chi Jiayan?”

Chi Jiayan wasn’t even as tall as his shoulders. He was clearly just a human being, but he was not afraid at all.

He was not annoyed when he was pushed away, and he tugged at Ling Xiao’s robes familiarly, asking with concern, “Gege, have you been injured? Oh right, was it that guy who wore the same clothes as you?! Did he hurt you?! It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have passed out.” 

He said this, voice slowly growing lower. In the end, this handsome young boy’s face grew red all over.

Chi Jiayan was really annoyed. He felt that he was too cowardly, not at all of any use.

When he woke up, he found himself lying on the bed. Xiao Hei was lying on the head of the bed, and the house was quiet. Suddenly recalling what had happened before, he was startled to realize that his gege might have fought with the black-robed man who said he wanted to “correct his mistakes”, and he couldn’t help but grow worried.

Fortunately, he knew his gege’s identity. He heard his name before he passed out, and he knew where to look for his gege, so he found him. 

“A man in a black robe like me?” Ling Xiao frowned. “Who?”

“It’s probably a bad guy.” The young boy tugged on his sleeve and explained a summary.

The more Ling Xiao listened, the more he found it to be unbelievable. He more or less understood. Chi Jiayan was talking about his future self, and his future self and his future future self…had a fight?

This was ridiculous. 

Chi Jiayan didn’t seem to understand this. He didn’t understand why there were three “Gege”s appearing at the same time. He thought he was the same as his future self, and that the other black-robed man was just a villain.

Ling Xiao remained silent, and began to think about why such a situation occurred.

He looked at Chi Jiayan’s fair neck. There was a black and blue fingerprint on it, which matched his own finger mark.

It seemed like his future self wanted to protect him, but his future future self wanted to kill him? 

Ling Xiao felt a headache coming on.

“Gege, don’t you remember anything?” Chi Jiayan said, squeezing his hand nervously.

Ling Xiao didn’t want to dwell too much on the future. He said coldly, “Mm. Let go.”

“…Oh.” Chi Jiayan let go of his hand. 

From Ling Xiao’s perspective, he could see the trembling in Chi Jiayan’s eyelashes.

It seemed like such indifference…made the boy a little sad.

This young boy was probably not simply just a stranger.

Ling Xiao had been a grim reaper for thousands of years. He wasn’t too surprised at this series of events. Maybe something went wrong, so he had to fix it. What he had to do now was go to the scene of the incident himself to see if one of the two future selves was still around. Only in this way could he figure out what had caused this mess. 

After all the work he had just done, Ling Xiao was already a little tired. He sighed, his tone of voice still cold. “Take me to see your house.”

This was just a little human boy, so he didn’t have to be that fierce.

Chi Jiayan raised his head and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

He broke into a smile, a pair of sweet dimples on his cheeks. “Okay!” 

It was the first time Ling Xiao had seen a human being smile at him like this.

When he wasn’t working, he would also take his mask off and roam the world. However, all he would see were all kinds of unbearable human desires.

He walked through this world indifferently and alienated, always out of place as a bystander. Their dimension was different from his. There, everyone was ruthless, grievances were clearly distinguished, and every grievance had to be avenged. As a god from a higher dimension, he had always looked at this world with the eyes of judgment.

He didn’t know when or where his future self had met this human child. 

Ling Xiao withdrew his gaze. “Cang Feng.”

The giant black wolf soared out of the sky with a golden light. When it landed, it had the force of a semi-truck, causing even the ground to rumble.

Chi Jiayan walked over to it and stroked its ears. “Cang Feng, don’t you remember me?”

Cang Feng had eaten a lot of wandering ghosts just now, rounding his belly. In fact, it felt quite comfortable to be touched by Chi Jiayan like this. Godlike beasts would sometimes slack off, too. But it caught Ling Xiao’s cold gaze, so it whimpered and bared its sharp fangs, trying to behave like a beast. 

Chi Jiayan, who wasn’t fazed at all: “…”

When they returned home, no one was there.

It looked like either Grim Reaper had already left.

The young boy seemed to live alone. The house was a mess, and Ling Xiao, the grim reaper who always loved cleanliness, didn’t want to go in. 

Chi Jiayan had a feeling of deja vu. He smiled and motioned his hand. “Gege, come in.”

On the table was a plate of yellowed fruit that looked like it had just been served.

Chi Jiayan put the fruit away. “Gege, let me change it for you. You didn’t even have time to eat it earlier.”

Ling Xiao couldn’t fathom that this expired fruit exuding signs of decay was what his future self had planned to eat. 

After cleaning up the fruit, Chi Jiayan came out with a new plate. He went to the window with familiarity. “Cang Feng—”

It was getting dark, and the night sky was littered with stars.

Cang Feng’s huge head appeared at the window.

Its wolf eyes looked full of doubts. How did this human know it was here? 

Chi Jiayan held up an apple, wanting to feed it to Cang Feng. “Do you want some?”

Cang Feng sniffed the apple. He glanced at the tall man behind Chi Jiayan before licking the apple up with his tongue—it wasn’t even enough to fill the space between his teeth.

Just at this moment, a small black shadow jumped onto the windowsill, frowning and wailing at Cang Feng.

Cang Feng and the cat really didn’t get along. It also let out a low growl, not wanting to admit defeat. 

Chi Jiayan laughed, cheeriness and joy in his youthful voice.

“Alright.” Ling Xiao was not used to this domesticity, cutting through it mercilessly. “Chi Jiayan…right? How do you know me?”

Chi Jiayan’s thin back froze.

Then he replied briskly, “We’re best friends.” 

Ling Xiao’s intuition told him it wasn’t that simple.

Chi Jiayan seemed to realize he didn’t believe him. He pointed to the black cat. “Look, we met when we were saving Xiao Hei! I was only five years old when we rescued him. Gege, you even bought me ice cream.”

Ling Xiao: “…”

Chi Jiayan turned his head and grinned. “It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember. Gege, you can think about it little by little. Maybe by staying with me, you’ll remember something.” 

Chi Jiayan concluded that the Grim Reaper lost his memory because of the black-robed man. Of course, he would rather the Grim Reaper not remember so that…so that the Grim Reaper could always be his friend and not have to take him away in the future.

He needed a friend so desperately that he didn’t care if that friend was the Grim Reaper—he knew that not even ghosts would want to be friends with him.

Xiao Hei jumped into his arms, cat eyes cautious.

Like owner, like pet; this human and cat pair looked very cunning. 

Ling Xiao searched through Chi Jiayan’s eyes to try to deduce the veracity of his words, but only found calmness.

He knew the boy was hiding something but wasn’t saying it. However, this acquaintanceship wasn’t fake; otherwise, no human would dare to not be afraid of him.

Ling Xiao thought hard. Maybe he really could try to see if there were any hints.

He retracted Cang Feng and walked around the room. 

Chi Jiayan seemed a little excited.

Perhaps it was because no one else had been in the house for a long time. He searched through boxes to find something to entertain his guests.

Finally, he took out two bowls of instant noodles. He poured cold water into them, knelt down at the table, and closed his eyes with both hands folded.

Just when Ling Xiao thought he was going to start praying, he heard him saying, “Start heating up, instant noodles.” 

A trace of heat came out of the instant noodle cover.

Ling Xiao facepalmed.

It turned out this was a rare speech spirit among humans. No wonder he could see him.

It was also no wonder why besides this young boy being able to see the supernatural, he was also alone. He was clearly a speech spirit who was a heavenly lonely fiend. 

Any human being who was close to this speech spirit would encounter trouble soon. Ling Xiao once met a speech spirit hundreds of years ago, and the other was always surrounded by ghosts and monsters.

The instant noodles heated sluggishly, a little weakly.

Chi Jiayan put his head level with the instant noodles. One of his hands was clenched into a fist, his face serious. “Instant noodles, you can do it. Instant noodles, you can do it.”

Ling Xiao: “…” 

The sound of bubbles began to sound, and the soup of the instant noodles boiled, taking a full minute before gradually subsiding. The boy looked like he was facing some delicious meal, holding his fork eagerly. He carefully lifted the lid. Feeling it was a little hot, he put his finger on his earlobe.

“Okay!” Chi Jiayan said. “Let’s dig in!”

Ling Xiao did not want to dig in.

“Gege, come smell this!” 

“Smell?”

“Yeah!” Chi Jiayan nodded. “I know your kind uses smell! I’ve seen ghosts eat offerings all the time, and they all gather together, usually taking several hours just to smell it.”

Ling Xiao’s forehead twitched twice.

He took off his mask. 

It was like the pause button had been pressed on Chi Jiayan. His pupils gradually dilated in surprise.

Illuminated by the dim light bulb, there was an aloof and handsome face.

The Grim Reaper looked completely different from the skull-head that Chi Jiayan had imagined.

Perhaps it was the impact of Western legend illustrations that affected his impression. No one told him that Death would look exactly like a human after taking off his mask. 

Ling Xiao’s phoenix eyes were indifferent. When he wasn’t working, he often ate food from the human world.

However, such low-quality and cheap fare had never been on his menu.

He also never expected a human to pop up in front of him, claiming to know his future self, nor that there would be three of him on a single timeline.

It was such a complicated situation that thinking about it made his head hurt. The ancient natal chart was probably going crazy. Would its ancient processing burn up from all the overwork? 

Ling Xiao picked up his plastic fork.

He took a bite. The taste was too unpalatable, so he paused, happening to meet the gaze of the boy opposite from him.

The boy’s face was as red as a tomato.

“What’s wrong?” Ling Xiao’s voice was cold and unfeeling. 

But this icy voice wasn’t enough to make the temperature of Chi Jiayan’s face drop one bit.

Blushing, he lowered his head to eat, slurping up the whole bowl of instant noodles in a short amount of time, including every drop of the seasoning and soup.

Ling Xiao felt that a speech spirit’s life must’ve really been hard.

TL Note: Ling Xiao doesn’t understand how good instant noodles are :/