Afterlife Department

Chapter 437 - Misled

Governor's residence.

Pei Tingming and Li Huchong has just returned from the coroner's office after Pei Tingming lashed out at the coroner for not properly watching over Pei Tingting's corpse.

"Why didn't you cremate the young lady's corpse and just directly held a small funeral for her?" Li Huchong asked Pei Tingming as they drank tea.

"Because everything's just strange." Pei Tingming answered.

"'strange'?" Li Huchong muttered. "Isn't it already strange? A ghost prowling at night… some people snooping around your family… wasn't it already strange?" Li Huchong asked.

Pei Tingming didn't answer.

Li Huchong saw that he is really serious. "What?" he asked. "You don't think there's a ghost?" he looked at him.

"I don't think so." Pei Tingming answered.

"Then, what's the point of having an early curfew and night rules?" Li Huchong frowned. "How can you explain your sons' and daughter's death?" he asked. "And that hypocrite pedophile's death?" he added when he remembered Xu Hongkai. "I heard that inside his belly, there's…" he didn't continue when he saw Pei Tingming's expression turned ugly.

He fell silent. Pei Tingsong died gruesomely. And it leaves them a worse feeling than with Pei Tingting's and Pei Tinghe's deaths since they are aware of Pei Tingsong falling ill. In the end, they couldn't save him.

He sighed, lamenting the Pei family's misfortune. "When will the small funeral be held?" he asked. With the successive deaths occurring in the Pei family, they couldn't take even a short breather in between.

"Before noon." Pei Tingming answered.

Meanwhile, the secretly hiding Shi Jiu is silently listening to them. Li Huchong and Pei Tingming are really in cahoots.

"That's right. What about one of the four new friends of my younger niece? Are you sure you didn't leave any trace?" Pei Tingming asked.

"Of course not." Li Huchong answered. "No one saw us leaving. Not even his friends. So, they wouldn't doubt me. His friends should blame this ghost prowling whoever it sees for their friend's 'disappearance'." He explained.

Shi Jiu frowned in disdain. These two really deserves to be killed by Xiao Hualing. Even though Shi Jiu isn't a human, but he is considered one in this world. Yet, Li Huchong and Pei Tingming are talking about his death as if just a small matter. They don't take his life seriously.

"What about that priestess?" Li Huchong asked. "How are you going to deal with her?" he asked.

Pei Tingming suddenly frowned. "I can't make a move with that Pei Ru around." he said. "I'll find a chance to kill her." He told him. There should be no one to investigate their family!

Shi Jiu's brows raised. Seeing that the conversation has already turned to the Anchuan's matters, he left and returned to the Pei family mansion to meet with Yi Bing, Huo Ling and Jiu Ye. But, he didn't expect to meet Jiu Ye on the way.

"Xiao Jiu!" he called when he saw him running behind Ji Qiuxin who ran out of the gate.?"What's wrong?" he asked as he followed him.

"This… uh…" Jiu Ye stammered. His face is filled with panic and alarm. "Let's follow her first! You'll know when we arrive!" he told him as he pulled him to ran after Ji Qiuxin.

Although puzzled, but Shi Jiu followed. Even though Jiu Ye is easily flustered, but he shouldn't be as flustered as he is now. Unless something big really happened.

Suddenly, he recalled the conversation of Pei Tingming and Li Huchong and then froze. This is bad… he thought as he felt his heart sinking. He then turned to look at his younger brother's panicking face. Something really big is happening. And it's definitely isn't good for them.

…

"Has it started?" Wu Deguang asked Pei Ru.

"Yes. They are now cremating Pei Tingsong's corpse." Pei Ru answered. "His funeral will start before noon. What's wrong?" she asked when she saw her husband's pensive expression.

"Say." Wu Deguang called. "Are there really ghosts?" he asked.

"There must be." Pei Ru answered. She also doesn't believe in ghosts and other supernatural things. "With the recent events… how can it be done by a human?" she asked, then paused. "The priestess also said that there is an evil thing in this place…" she looked at Wu Deguang.

Wu Deguang was about to feel jealous again when he heard his wife's last sentence. "I don't believe in ghosts." He said.

Pei Ru fell silent. She also doesn't believe in them. And she knows Wu Deguang doesn't, too.

"But – " Wu Deguang spoke. " – I also feel that there is an evil thing here." he told her.

Pei Ru raised her head and looked at him in shock.

"After all – " Wu Deguang said. " – someone's black heart and devilish mind can also be considered as evil things, right?" he asked. "And someone who possessed both… that must be an evil thing, that person." he told her.

Pei Ru watched her husband sit on a chair and started to write a letter to be sent to his father in Anhe. "Are you referring to Pei Tingming as the evil thing?" she asked. When she didn't hear him answer, she spoke. "Although Pei Tingming is the worst person, and I loathe him, but I don't lose my mind in hate." She said. "Even the tiger won't devour its cubs. Pei Tingming wouldn't kill his children just to seek personal gains." She told him.

"I know that." Wu Deguang spoke.

"Then, you're referring to…?" Pei Ru asked, waiting for Wu Deguang to answer.

Wu Deguang finished his writing and waited for the ink to dry before he turned to Pei Ru. Pei Ru was curious of what her husband wrote. She wants to know how will Wu Deguang explain to his father about Xu Hongkai's death.

But, when she stood beside him and read the content of the letter, she was stunned. It wasn't about Xu Hongkai and his death, but about another person.

"Fck." Huo Ling, who was standing on the other side of Wu Deguang, uttered a low curse before he sent a brief message to Shi Jiu and Jiu Ye before he left to go to Yi Bing. He remembered what Yi Bing told him earlier.

And Yi Bing was right on the mark. Now, everything is overturned.

…

The sound of a message notification from their communicators accompanied the horrified screams around them as the workers splashed water on the burning 'corpse' to quench the fire. But, it's as if the fire is alive, and so is the 'corpse'. The fire can't be removed from the body and continued to burn, intending to turn the 'corpse' to ashes. It really will, regardless of whether the body it latched onto is dead, or alive.

And the 'corpse' is actually alive. That's why everyone is frantic to remove the fire. But, it is futile. Pei Tingsong, who is actually and incredibly still alive, is now really going to die.

"What… how…" Jiu Ye stammered as he stared wide-eyed in horror at Pei Tingsong's burning body.

"AAAAARRRHHH!!!" Pei Tingsong screamed.

"THIRD YOUNG MASTERRRR!!!" the Pei family servants who are responsible for cremating Pei Tingsong's corpse cried in horror as they watched Pei Tingsong's skin slowly burn.

"QUICK!!! MORE WATER! MORE WATTERRRRR!!!!!" they screamed as they ran to the nearby river to fetch water.

"HOW CAN THIS BE?!?!?!" Jiu Ye exclaimed as he fell on his knees.

Shi Jiu didn't answer and silently opened the message sent by Huo Ling, which just made his heart further sink. He heavily sighed and closed the holographic screen before he turned to the crying Jiu Ye, summarizing everything in just one sentence.

"We were misled." He told him.

"Mis… led…" Jiu Ye muttered as his tears streamed down his face.

Shi Jiu closed his eyes, regretting his decisions. He shouldn't have brought Jiu Ye here with him. He should have just let him remained peacefully as an assignment-bound grim reaper. His desire to protect his younger brother has backfired. Now, he can only bear the pain of watching his younger brother shed his tears.

He didn't move when he saw Jiu Ye ran away, back to the Pei mansion to confirm his thoughts. He just opened Huo Ling's message and read it again, and again, then again, with the horrified screams and cries of the people around him in the background.

It is just one sentence, but the impact is enough to send them to the moon and back.

0000: The 'ghost' is Ke Hanying.

"Fck." Shi Jiu lowly cursed before he closed the holographic screen and followed after Jiu Ye.

But, when he saw him, Jiu Ye was standing frozen before the Pei family's gate. He is staring at the burning mansion before him, where they have stayed for a couple of days. The people around him stared in horror at the burning Pei mansion, unable to react. The large, blazing fire are reflected in their eyes that are wide in horror.