Chapter 48
Lu Li followed the prompts on the Evil Spirit Bracelet, step by step, preparing to return to the Streamer Waiting Hall.
But just as he completed the final step,
Bosi appeared in front of him.
The man was much taller than Lu Li, and the shadow of his Black Robe fell across the ground, the darkness just enough to wrap Lu Li within it.
This was Bosi’s first appearance during the day.
Lu Li blinked. “How amazing, did I summon you?”
He pointed at the Evil Spirit Bracelet to clarify, “I was just trying to enter the next Instance.”
Bosi looked down at him. “You sent me a message.”
Lu Li smiled. “That’s right, after I cleared the stage, the Evil Spirit Bracelet suddenly had lots of new features. Your name even showed up in my contacts.”
“I tried sending you a message this morning. I hope I didn’t bother you?”
Bosi replied, “You did.”
Lu Li apologized, “I won’t message you next time.”
Bosi’s gloved hand at his side tightened slightly. He looked away. “If it’s something urgent, you can message me.”
“Settling my salary should count as something extremely urgent, right? Boss Bosi?”
“Just about.” Bosi held out his palm. “Put your hand here.”
Realizing he was about to get paid, Lu Li’s eyes sparkled, and he eagerly took a few steps forward to stand beside Bosi.
His slender wrist looked especially pale against Bosi’s black glove.
The snake eye on the Bracelet glowed faintly.
Bosi said, “260,000 Points.”
“That much?!” Lu Li was genuinely surprised, having no idea he’d missed Bosi’s self-initiated pay raise because he was sleeping.
Once he received the Points, he immediately withdrew his hand.
“It looks like the Wristband chat has a transfer feature, so it didn’t really need to be so troublesome-having you come in person during the day. I already felt bad for taking up your whole night.”
Bosi said, “There’s something else.”
“The vacation I promised you – I’ll make it happen today.”
Lu Li smiled. “You really keep your word. You’re such a good ghost.”
Caught off guard by being given a ‘good ghost’ card, Bosi pressed his lips together and asked, “What kind of vacation do you want?”
“Your Necromancer Game isn’t fair. People who do bad things just keep living better and better,” Lu Li said. “I want to see a fair ending.”
–
When the sun rose, the neighbors all came out of their homes.
Their doors were connected, sharing a long corridor. As they looked up at the sky, they all sighed together, “The weather’s so nice-looks like it’ll be a sunny day.”
A woman who was going grocery shopping hummed a tune as she headed for the Elevator. When she passed the tightly closed door next door, a flash of resentment and regret crossed her face.
She spat at the door. “You think you know someone, but you really don’t. I used to think the Female Host was the crazy one, but it turns out you drove her insane! And that poor child, I should have helped her back then… You damn domestic abuser, go rot in jail for the rest of your life!”
Her voice faded behind the closing Elevator doors. “If I’d known, I never should have made those baseless comments to the media half a year ago. Sigh, I’m guilty.”
A doctor slumped against the wall, his previously tidy hair now a mess, staring in despair at the news on his phone.
The news detailed a major murder case that shocked all of City A: a wife and daughter were killed in a cruel, appalling manner.
The man who raised his head as he was taken to prison was his neighbor.
“My job, my duty, is to heal and save people-but why? Why did he lie to me?!”
“If only I hadn’t saved him back then! That murderer! I saved one life, but caused two deaths. Doesn’t that make me his accomplice? I’m guilty.”
Another door opened, and a little boy hurriedly hid behind his grandmother, crying, “I didn’t do well on my test-Mom’s going to hit me!”
Grandma sighed at the sky. “Are grades really that important? As long as you study hard, you’re a good kid.”
She looked at the bloodstains in the corner of the hallway that hadn’t yet been cleaned, feeling a pang of guilt. “I saw her skirt stained with blood that day. If only I’d asked a few more questions.”
“I knew that lunatic was hitting his kid at home. If only I’d called the police a bit sooner. I… I’m guilty too.”
A sporty girl was waiting for the Elevator with two dogs. One dog looked up at her, panting eagerly.
She pulled a piece of Jerky from her pocket, squatted down to feed the dog, and suddenly tears rolled down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand, muttering:
“That dog was so sweet, so little. How could he bring himself to cut it up… If only I’d knocked a little longer that day, if I’d gone in to see what was really happening.”
“That day, when you kept barking at the trash heap, you’d found the puppy’s Corpse, hadn’t you? You tried so hard to warn me, but I still didn’t realize… I’m guilty.”
All these people murmured confessions of their own guilt, passing by Lu Li one after another.
And one after another, they left.
Across from this building was a School.
Lu Li saw three girls in School uniforms first being dragged out by the teacher to stand outside the Classroom as punishment. After they shivered from the cold, their stationery and backpacks were thrown out, and their parents were summoned to the School.
In the end, the three girls followed their parents away, dejected and downcast.
One of the girls cried out, her voice heart-wrenching,
“I know I was wrong! But the dead can’t come back to life. I don’t want to drop out! Mom, I still want to go to School! Please, go beg the teacher, beg the School!”
Lu Li leaned his arms on the corridor balcony, eyes half-closed, enjoying the gentle breeze drifting by.
“They can’t see us?”
Bosi said, “This is the world of the living.”
“We don’t belong here.”
Lu Li fell into thought. Lying on the balcony, he looked down and saw the Park just a stone’s throw from the apartment building, its gate fastened with rusty Chains.
Bathed in sunlight, even the Park’s old facilities no longer seemed so dilapidated.
Lu Li pointed toward it. “I want to go take a look.”
–
Lu Li found a normal-sized Swing.
There were only two Swings here, side by side.
He sat on one and waved at Bosi.
“How do you make this move? Can you give me a push?”
Bosi gave the Chains of the Swing a push, and the Swing started to sway.
This light, floating sensation amazed Lu Li. He pushed off the ground with his feet. “I’ve got it.”
Finding it fun, he tried to coax Bosi to join in.
“There’s another one next to me. If you want to play, you can sit there.”
Bosi’s face was cold. “I don’t play.”
“Alright.”
The empty Swing beside him seemed to be caught by the wind, gently rocking and creaking.
Lu Li looked up at the sky, stretched out his hand, and watched the deep blue through his fingers. He said softly, “So, in a place without a roof, the sky is this high.”
“I really like it.”
He asked, “My holiday is only one day. Will this Instance disappear soon?”
Bosi had done some homework before coming. “It will return to its original world, but it will no longer meet the criteria to open the Necromancer Game, so it can’t serve as an Instance. Once it leaves the Game, it will exist forever.”
In the Sand Pit of the Park, there was a small mound of sand.
Suddenly, the dirt on top began to slide down with a soft rustling.
A hole appeared at the edge of the mound.
Nothing crawled out, but a string of Puppy paw prints appeared across the Sand Pit.
Lu Li leaned on the Swing and felt something furry brush against the side of his leg.
He looked down, but saw nothing.
He reached out and touched a small tail that kept wagging.
Following upward, he felt a Puppy’s head shaped like a bicycle seat.
A damp tongue licked his palm.
As if saying, thank you.
Lu Li turned and saw the empty Swing next to him swaying gently, as if someone were sitting on it, and another person was pushing the Chains to keep her company.
It made a joyful sound.
Suddenly, he broke into a smile. “Bosi, even if you wanted to play now, you couldn’t sit there.”
“Because someone is already sitting there.”
——–
[Dad’s Punishment]
Two prison guards were having a loud discussion.
“That prisoner! Calls himself a PhD! He’s a total pervert, if you ask me! His killing methods were extremely cruel. Now he’s got this strange illness and suffers burning and stabbing pain every day-serves him right!”
“Don’t get close to him, he’s got rabies! Get too close and he’ll bite you.”
“Yesterday, while he was eating, his Eyeball seemed to melt and fell right into his food. It was so disgusting I lost my appetite. I don’t know how his features could rot so badly when he’s still alive!”
“Isn’t living with this pain a hundred times worse than simply dying?”
“Where did that Diary on his desk come from? Who brought it in?”
Inside the prison, the man lay on the ground, crying out in pain. He wanted to die, but found he couldn’t, no matter what. Each day brought a different kind of agony.
This place was more terrifying than hell.
On the table, the mother’s Diary had turned to the last page, and a new page appeared:
[Nuo Nuo, Mama both hopes you’ll recognize me and hopes you won’t.
I won’t speak to you. Meeting like this, in these identities, is enough for me.
So I could hug you on your Birthday, I hugged every child who passed by me that day.
I know you’re very timid.
So I waited for you until very late.
*
You asked me, if something you must do has become so hopelessly bad, is it too late to do it? Does it still matter?
Nuo Nuo, you see, as long as you start today, it’s never too late for anything.]
——–
Now, having passed through storms and shadows, we have finally arrived at the Eternal Paradise.
Here, everyone is innocent.
Here, it is always sunny.