Afterlife Department

Chapter 44 - Abilities

Huo Ling\'s face darkened. Why am I being fascinated of a man\'s face? He thought and wanted to frown, but his cheeks could only twitch. Suddenly, he felt himself burning. Then, his body caught on fire.

His face darkened. AAAAAAAHHHH!!! Why am I burning?! Hot! Hot! He thought and tried to move his body, but his body could only tilt to the side. AAAAAAAAAH!!! Help! Help! Am I going to be cremated \'alive\'!? HEEEEEEEEELLLLPPPP!!!!! He screamed in his mind with the highest note he could muster.

As he was doing all his could to move, his eyes caught sight of the grasses beneath him. Wait - ? He saw the grasses are not burning. The fire in his body did not spread.

It was then he heard Yi Bing speak. "That\'s your ability.." He told him. "It\'s your soul attribute." He added.

My… whut? Huo Ling thought and felt curling his tongue. However, just like all parts of his body, it already stiffened. He looked at Yi Bing, his gaze complicated. He\'s crazy. He thought. Too bad. He added as he stared at Yi Bing\'s face.

Yi Bing ignored his gaze as he continued to explain. "This world is the world of special ability users." He said. "Just as you saw, your ability is fire. My ability is ice." He opened his hand and a snowflake appeared on his palm. "Hoo~" he blew it and the snowflake fell on the stream near them. When the tip of the snowflake touched the surface of the water, the water was frozen and the ice spread on both sides, freezing all the water in the stream.

… Elsa? Huo Ling thought, then looked at his body burning. How do I put out my fire? He thought.

Seeing his look, Yi Bing paused. "You want to relieve yourself?" he said.

It took Huo Ling some time to understand what Yi Bing meant. His face darkened and the fire on his body became brighter and stronger. However, it didn\'t affect his body at all! Play dead! He glared at Yi Bing.

Yi Bing looked away. "You just awakened, so you still cannot control it. It was reacting according to your instincts." He said then raised his hand. "I\'ll freeze you." He said and waved his hand.

Ice appeared on Huo Ling\'s arm, creating smoke. Then, the ice spread all over his body, putting out the fire. After the fire on his hair was put off and his head smoked, the ice then also disappeared. He raised his gaze and looked at Yi Bing. … thanks. He wanted to tell him.

Yi Bing saw Huo Ling\'s grateful gaze. He didn\'t answer. "Later, many more like you will awaken." He said. "Then, chaos will befall this world. As to how long… it\'ll depend on how your government will react." He told him.

Huo Ling stared at him. Who are you? He asked in his mind. How do you know me? What is your relationship with me? Why are you helping me? He wanted to ask, but he cannot speak. He could only write these questions in his mind. I hope he could answer me later. He looked away.

Yi Bing noticed Huo Ling\'s dejected mood. Is he still upset? He thought. But, though he thought it that but he didn\'t do anything to cheer Huo Ling up. This guy will recover later. He just played with his ice.

Huo?Ling, who turned and saw Yi Bing making a snowman and placed a carrot on the snow man\'s nose after he put its eyes and hands, was speechless. He\'s Jack Frost! He thought.

Yi Bing seemed to have heard his thoughts. "No. I\'m Yi Bing."

One week later.

Morning. Huo Ling watched the news on Yi Bing\'s phone. Some things turned bizarre like the billboard was twisted to a plane. The walls were bent into the shape of trees. All these are happening all over the country.

Huo Ling wrote on the ground using his fire: these are what the ability users did?

Seeing Yi Bing nodded, Huo Ling fell silent. Just now, he can control his fire. It was due to Yi Bing. He taught him while Huo Ling was training his body to move. Now, he can do basic things like walking, jumping and running. But, not too fast or his limbs will break. He can\'t do complex things like writing or moving his fingers. He could only wave his hand, or slap (hit) Yi Bing every time Yi Bing irritates him.

They heard a noise near them and they turned. They saw a \'person\'. "Ho." It breathed. It stiffly raised its hand and the puddle of water on the ground moved, turning into a group of words: you\'re also an ability user?

Huo Ling nodded. He saw the water ability user was only looking at him. It can\'t see Yi Bing? He thought and turned to Yi Bing standing beside him. Does Yi Bing have an invisibility power? But, isn\'t his power ice? He was confused. He was about to raise his hand for his fire to write on the ground. However, he didn\'t. Yi Bing is too mysterious. He remembered he only know the man\'s name, and his ice ability. Other than that, he knew nothing of him.

Who is he? How did he know him? What is his relationship with him? Why is he helping him? These questions, he didn\'t ask. He couldn\'t. He felt that the moment he would, he would cross over that thin line that seems to separate him from something. Something he should know, but something he will be afraid of. Thus, he left these questions unanswered.

Huo Ling wrote on the ground: what should we do next?

Yi Bing glanced at it. "Just observe." He answered.

Huo Ling: why?

"Do you dare to join in with their \'fun\'?" Yi Bing asked him.

Huo Ling paused. He shook his head. He\'s just a normal person who was unjustly robbed and then killed. In other terms, he\'s just a cannon fodder.

Yi Bing saw Huo Ling made a decision. Actually, he shouldn\'t tell Huo Ling of these things. However, Huo Ling will never make even a single little change in this world\'s trajectory. In short, Huo Ling won\'t affect this world no matter what he does. The least Yi Bing could do for Huo Ling is accompany him. Those who killed Huo Ling are just amateur robbers who accidentally killed the unfortunate Huo Ling.

Yi Bing\'s task this time is very easy since he only would need to watch over Huo Ling and wait for his time in this world to end. Thus, he treats this world as a vacation.

Just as he thought that, they heard someone came again. When they turned, Yi Bing\'s face twisted. "Yo~!" the man wearing all black called and waved his hand to them – precisely to Yi Bing. He has a big smile on his face.

"Who… they…?" the \'person\' beside the man in black asked.

Huo Ling recognized the \'person\'. He\'s the film emperor – Lei Shan. The film emperor died not too long ago. "Hm~?" the man in black turned to Lei Shan, smiling widely. "I just saw my acquaintance." He answered.

"Hi… m?" Lei Shan asked, his gaze fell on Huo Ling.

"Oh, no. The one beside him… ai. You can\'t see him, alright." The man in black said. He looked at Yi Bing. "Nice to see you here, 0001."

"It\'s never anything good seeing you – " Yi Bing said, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the man – Qi Shan. " – 0007." He said.