Xin Long had only been trying to save a little brat who had run a red light.
The next second, a blinding flash of white filled her vision.
Then everything went black.
When she came to her senses again, she found herself still holding the grocery bags she’d just bought from the supermarket, standing in a long line that was steadily moving forward. Before long, it was her turn.
At the front of the line was a service window.
A pale-faced female clerk with delicate features sat behind a computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
When Xin Long stepped up, the clerk glanced at her and mechanically read from the screen.
“Hello. Welcome to the Underworld Service Office. Please verify your name and cause of death.
Xing Long, male, deceased at the age of forty. Convicted of robbery and rape. Died in a traffic accident while fleeing from the police. Reincarnation assignment: Animal Realm…”
What the hell was she talking about?
Xin Long hurriedly interrupted.
“Wait a second! Can’t you even tell men from women? Do I look like a forty-year-old man to you?”
The clerk, who had been typing nonstop, paused.
She looked at the photo on the screen, then at Xin Long.
The ghost standing before her had a face so mangled and bloody that it was impossible to tell the person’s gender. But… judging from the voice, it did sound like…
…a woman?
Then again, some men had feminine voices.
This ghost was pretty crafty.
The clerk straightened her back and said sternly,
“Our Underworld Soul Collection System has been in trial operation for a full year. It provides fully automated soul collection and reincarnation management. There have been zero errors and zero complaints from either humans or ghosts! It is impossible for the system to make a mistake.”
“Sir, you are Xing Long. Stop arguing and proceed to reincarnation.”
“Next!”
Seeing herself about to be sent off to be reborn as livestock without understanding what was happening, Xin Long finally lost her temper.
“Miss, what kind of attitude is that? Who’s your supervisor? Call them out right now! Otherwise, I’m filing a complaint!”
She only said it casually. She had no idea whether filing complaints in the Underworld actually accomplished anything.
Unexpectedly, the clerk’s expression changed the moment she heard the word complaint.
Her icy face softened noticeably, and she forced a stiff smile.
“Please remain calm, Mr. Xing Long. Filing a complaint won’t solve the problem. Please tell me your concerns, and perhaps we can resolve this peacefully.”
Xin Long was growing impatient.
She still had to go home and cook dinner.
She was a food content creator.
She had a decent following on Douyin’s cooking livestream scene, with over two hundred thousand followers.
She had already promised tonight’s audience that she’d livestream several homemade dishes.
Who would’ve thought that after buying groceries, she’d somehow end up here?
She instinctively reached into her pocket.
To her surprise, her phone was still there.
She pulled her ID card out from behind the strawberry bear phone case and slapped it onto the counter.
“Here’s my ID. Take a good look.”
“I’m really not a man.”
The clerk casually picked it up.
One glance—
Her dead-fish eyes suddenly flew wide open.
She opened them so wide that her right eyeball actually popped out of its socket and dropped onto the desk.
She frantically stuffed it back in with both hands.
“X-X-Xin… Xin Long?”
She even started stuttering.
She looked from the computer screen to the ID card, then back at the blood-covered Xin Long.
Clutching her eyeball as it threatened to fall out again, the clerk let out a horrified scream.
“Boss! This is bad! The Soul Collection System has another bug!!”
Xin Long blinked.
Another?
Didn’t she just say there had never been any mistakes?
The reception room was bright, spotless, and surprisingly modern.
Xin Long had connected to the Underworld Wi-Fi and was sitting on a sofa playing Honor of Kings.
Just as the enemy team pushed into her base, her teammates exploded in chat.
[Seriously?! What kind of ghost teammates are you people? Even if I let my pet chicken walk across the screen, it’d play better than you!]
Xin Long: “…”
As an actual ghost now, she couldn’t help feeling personally attacked.
Embarrassed, she quietly exited the game.
Looking up, she glanced across the reception room.
The person who had invited her in was a dignified-looking supervisor.
Two bald male ghosts stood before him with their heads lowered, being thoroughly scolded.
From what she overheard, these two bald ghosts were the programmers responsible for the Soul Collection System.
“Um…”
Xin Long raised her hand timidly.
Everyone turned toward her.
“It’s getting late. I still need to go home and cook dinner. Since you collected the wrong soul, just send me back and I’ll let this whole thing go.”
The two programmer ghosts exchanged guilty glances before quickly looking away.
A bad feeling immediately crept into Xin Long’s heart.
“Ahem.”
The supervisor coughed lightly before smiling kindly.
“Please don’t worry. Aren’t we trying to figure out a solution right now?”
“This was indeed our programming error. We promise we’ll give you a satisfactory explanation.”
“You must be bored sitting here alone.”
“Xiao Lin.”
He waved a hand.
A beautiful young woman with long flowing hair floated in through the doorway.
“Take Miss Xin around for a tour.”
“I don’t—”
She wanted to refuse.
Xin Long was convinced the man was simply trying to distract her while they discussed something behind her back.
Unfortunately, before she could protest, the cheerful ghost girl enthusiastically dragged her outside.
“Miss Xin, where would you like to look around?”
Since it was hard to reject someone smiling so warmly—and she didn’t have anywhere else to go anyway—Xin Long reluctantly followed her through the Underworld lobby.
She had to admit…
The Underworld was surprisingly modern.
The halls were bright and immaculate.
Security cameras were installed everywhere.
A giant LCD display flashed several bold slogans:
A New Era, A New Underworld!
The ghost guide introduced everything enthusiastically.
“Ever since more programmers started dying and coming here, the Underworld has been upgrading its systems.”
“The old Book of Life and Death was far too inefficient.”
“Now the system automatically calculates each person’s merit points and assigns reincarnation directly. Much faster.”
Xin Long curled her lips.
“It can’t even tell men from women. Doesn’t sound that impressive to me.”
Fortunately, Xing Long’s gender happened to be different from hers.
Otherwise, she might’ve been sent off to be reincarnated as livestock without ever realizing the mistake.
“Uh…”
The guide coughed awkwardly.
Xin Long noticed another service hall nearby where an extremely long line stretched into the distance.
The people waiting looked strange.
Some wore modern clothes.
Others were dressed in ancient robes.
Every single one wore a bitter expression, radiating murderous resentment.
Curious, she pointed toward the window.
“What does this department handle?”
The guide glanced over.
“Oh. That’s the Rebirth Office.”
“They’re all waiting to be reborn.”
Rebirth?
Xin Long curiously looked toward the last person in line.
He was a young man dressed in an ancient white prisoner’s robe.
He was astonishingly handsome.
His brows looked as though they had been painted, his nose long and elegant, giving him an air of nobility and refinement.
Even though his body was stained with blood, it couldn’t conceal the aristocratic grace he carried.
Yet…
From mid-thigh down, both of his legs were gone.
His right arm had also been severed below the elbow.
Sensing her gaze, the ancient ghost turned to look at her.
Only then did Xin Long notice that one side of his face bore the brand of an ancient criminal tattoo.
Dark black markings stretched from his cheekbone to his jaw.
Half celestial.
Half demonic.
Judging by his bearing, he must once have been someone of extraordinary status.
Yet he’d been crippled and branded before dying.
His death must have been unimaginably tragic.
No wonder he qualified for rebirth.
“Damn…”
“That’s awful.”
Unfortunately, he heard her.
The man—Xiao Jinghe—glanced lazily at the mangled female ghost standing not far away, missing both an arm and a leg.
“Likewise.”
Xin Long: “…?”
She was still wondering what he meant when she caught sight of her own reflection in the glass.
Her hair hung in tangled clumps.
Her face was nothing but a mass of blood and mangled flesh.
Her right lower leg was gone.
Several fingers on her left hand were missing.
She looked no better than he did.
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
I’d been walking around looking like this the whole time?
No wonder the clerk couldn’t tell whether she was male or female!
People said that whatever state you died in was exactly how you’d appear as a ghost.
Apparently, it was true.
If this was what she’d look like even after returning to life…
Disfigured.
Disabled.
How could she possibly keep living?
She might as well stay dead.
Immediately, she declared,
“I want to be reborn too!”
The ghost guide shook her head.
“Rebirth requires both merit points and resentment points.”
“Not everyone qualifies.”
Xin Long looked at the people waiting in line.
Sure enough, every one of them radiated overwhelming resentment, looking ready to become vengeful spirits.
“But…”
“Then why does he get to be reborn?”
She pointed at Xiao Jinghe.
Although he had suffered terribly, he actually looked surprisingly calm.
Hearing himself mentioned, Xiao Jinghe raised an eyebrow.
The guide scanned his face with her phone’s facial recognition app and checked his profile.
“He saved an entire city.”
“His whole family died as loyal martyrs.”
“He has one hundred thousand merit points.”
“That’s why he’s eligible for rebirth.”
Just as Xin Long was about to ask how many merit points she had, someone came to fetch her.
Back in the reception room, the two unlucky programmer ghosts were gone.
Only the supervisor remained.
The moment Xin Long saw the warm, kindly smile on his face, her sense of foreboding intensified.
Sure enough—
“Miss Xin…”
“I’m very sorry.”
“I’m afraid… you can’t go back.”
“Your body was far too badly damaged in the accident.”
“Even if we revived you, you’d be permanently disfigured and disabled.”
“And believe me… that’s not something we wanted to see either.”