Afterlife Department

Chapter 149 - Indifference

"He's so fierce…" Si Shui said, summarizing what Huo Ling looked like now.

Huo Ling's face is distorted because of anger after he flew into a rage when Yi Bing provoked his ire. Huo Ling's orange slitted eyes almost turned red as he looked at Yi Bing. He looked like a demon – an evil yao. He threw balls of flame, which each has terrifying amount of heat, one after another at Yi Bing. Yi Bing easily dodged them, yet Huo Ling looked like he didn't care even if he'd exhaust his strength and power. As long as he could hit Yi Bing, even just once, he'd show a satisfied expression.

He looked like a brat playing with his toy. If he couldn't vent his anger, he would just become more agitated. But, if he could hit Yi Bing, then his anger would lessen.

This thought made Liu Lin shiver. He immediately pulled Si Shui back to avoid a flame that escaped from Huo Ling and Yi Bing's fight and floated towards them as it fell.. "Won't we stop them?" he asked Di San.

Feng Er turned and saw black shadows flying from the distance and is going towards their direction.

Di San didn't answer and watched as Yi Bing threw icicles towards the approaching shadows. Meanwhile, Huo Ling saw Yi Bing is inattentive. However, instead of attacking Yi Bing, he also turned to see what made Yi Bing shift his attention from him. When he saw the frozen shadows, his eyes narrowed as he became agitated and attacked them with a large ball of flame.

Smoke appeared the moment the fire and ice met. The leaves of the trees swayed with the wind and their tip burned when it touched the surface of the flame.

Di San saw it and he looked at Liu Lin. Liu Lin immediately healed the plants around them and formed a barrier for them to not be harmed. He turned back to Huo Ling and Yi Bing. After Huo Ling took care of the annoyance, he turned back to Yi Bing, only to be caught by Yi Bing.

Huo Ling's eyes widened as he stared at Yi Bing who held him by his neck. Even though Yi Bing's grip isn't tight, but Huo Ling, even if he wanted to, but his body wouldn't listen to him thus he couldn't move. What spell did Yi Bing applied on him?! He glared at Yi Bing, but Yi Bing, unexpectedly, just faintly smiled at him. Before Huo Ling could respond, he felt his burning soul cooled until the flames disappeared. He felt comfortable and then sleepy.

He slowly closed his eyes before his soul fell forward. However, Yi Bing was standing – flying, in front of him. He removed his hand from Huo Ling's neck and caught Huo Ling's soul by the waist. He looked at Huo Ling's tail that turned to human legs after his soul solidified. Now, Huo Ling looked like just any other human, except that if he's touched, one's hand would just pass through his 'skin'. This is one of the fox clan's illusion technique – mirage.

"Huo Ling…" he called even though he knew Huo Ling wouldn't hear him. "You're not indifferent at all. You love your parents the most, especially your mother, that's why." He said as he held Huo Ling tight. If Huo Ling really doesn't care about Hao Ning, then Huo Ling wouldn't risk depleting his power and exhausting his soul – leading to his soul being extinguished. Thus, Yi Bing stopped him.

Di San, Feng Er, Liu Lin and Si Shui watched them from below. "…" why do we feel our eyes stung? Can they now stop flirting?

S City Police Station.

"WHAT?!" Gu Xingfeng abruptly rose from his seat when he heard what the person from the other line said.

"Don't be agitated, sir." The person spoke in English. "Our people can be trusted. Some passengers indeed have taken poisoned food while some has a gunshot wound." He said. "There were also some who died in other ways." He sighed. "The initial autopsy report we passed on to your police force, as well as the other countries, the cause of death of the passengers was drowning. However, since the corpses were immediately claimed by their own families, we cannot do a reinvestigation." He explained. "I ask of you to relay this to the victims' families, and it's their own choice if they want their deceased family member to be reexamined." He said.

"No worries. This is a part of my job. Thank you." Gu Xingfeng replied in English before he ended the call. The meaning of the message was clear – there was a murder, or maybe murders, that happened in the Ascend Cruise Ship. Maybe, that shipwreck is no accident. If this is so, then Renata Yuu was wronged.

He glanced at the television and saw there was no breaking news. It seemed like the person in charge in the foreign country contacted him first. The reason is Hao Baiyun. Hao Baiyun must have given his contact number to those foreigners and have him contacted immediately if something happened.

Gu Xingfeng sighed as he dialed Hao Baiyun's number. "Xiao Yun." He called when the man on the other line picked up the call.

After he called Hao Baiyun and explained the situation, he called the family of the other victims in S City. It was not long after, the national broadcasting station finally released the news.

Australia.

"Sir." Thomas Wilson's secretary called after she ended the call. "The police called and asked if you wanted for the reexamination of…" she said, her voice fell when her superior raised his hand.

"No need." Thomas said and waved his hand at her, indicating for her to leave.

The secretary respectfully bowed her head and immediately left. As soon as the door closed, Thomas lowered his hand and gazed at the skyscrapers in front of him.

Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped around his waist and hugged him from behind. A hard and muscular chest stuck to his back. Instead of heat, cold emanated from the body and seeped through their clothes, then touched Thomas' skin.

Thomas shivered and instinctively reached for the locked hands on his abdomen, securing him. "Reluctant to part?" a familiar male voice asked him. Then, the man behind him bit his earlobe.

"No way." Thomas answered and smiled when he felt the pain from his ear. He slowly raised his head and gazed at the handsome face leaning down at him, and staring at him. "Parents are capitalists, and their child is their capital. However, what if a child refuses to be a capital? Then – " he said and raised held the hands on his abdomen, then raised his other hand to touch the cold skin of Loui Ford's face. " – they can only wait for their suffering." He smiled.

He was born out of marriage of convenience between his parents. Then, he was raised like a robot and, the moment he turned fifteen, he was sent to a singing audition. He was his parents' capital, and his voice is his capital. When he turned sixteen, he became his parents' cash cow. When he turned seventeen, he rebelled and tried to escape. When he was eighteen, the person who helped him was arrested because of 'kidnapping'. When he was nineteen, he started to stop trusting people. When he was twenty, he worked non-stop to earn money and escape again. When he was twenty-one, his parents controlled him again by placing one of their people as his agent. When he was twenty-two, he met Loui, his childhood friend. When he was twenty-three, his parents separated Loui from him. When he was twenty-four, he was arranged to marry Jacqueline. When he was twenty-five, he married Jacqueline. When he was twenty-six, he created Times Record. When he was twenty-seven, his parents fell ill. When he was twenty-eight, he was released from their shackles. When he was twenty-nine, he stopped singing. When he was thirty, his parents died. When he was thirty-one, his best friend and Jacqueline died.

Now, he turned thirty-two, and met Loui again – as a ghost. In order to resurrect Loui, he told the witch to use his parents' souls. Now, their debt to him by taking his life away from him was repaid.

"My love…" Loui called. "That whore's debt to us was also already paid." He told him. He has been in love with Thomas since he was young. However, Thomas' parents were strict. So, he got no choice but to just watch him from afar, feigning his indifference.

When they grew up, he heard Thomas can sing. Thus, he started to write songs, hoping he could sing it for him. When Thomas ran away from his home, he felt sad for his written songs, but also hoped for Thomas' success. Yet, Thomas was caught again by his parents.

In order to help Thomas break away from his parents, he finally approached Thomas and made a partnership between them. Finally, the Time Records was born. He was about to confess, yet Jacqueline arrived and got in between him and Thomas. He doesn't know how, but maybe it was a woman's intuition that made Jacqueline knew he is in love with Thomas. Thus, she started to sow discord between him and Thomas.