A few hours since Jiang Li arrived at the hospital.
It was not a good day for him. Memories kept playing. Not He Chen's, but the one belonging to him.
It all began when he he had a talk with He Chen's father. No one could uplift his mood as he remembered his own Dad. That person who, liked the Father Jiang from the previous world, had been very strict and cold at him on the surface, yet warm and loving underneath. He wondered if it would be really possible to see him alongside his other loved ones again. Are they doing okay in heaven?
He sighed.
'Here I am, dead. And still stupid and heartbroken...'
The hospital's rooftop was specially dark today. No stars nor moon. From the railings, he looked down the dazzling lights below and realized the streets of this city was similar to the one in his childhood memories. Yet he knew he was not in his real world. That place had long been ruled by zombies.
'I hate that I'm remembering it all...'
In this rare moment of nostalgia that he discovered, all this time, something in him, beside his brain, was broken. He couldn't understand himself right now. He suddenly wanted release. And it was overpowering his desire to come back in time and take revenge.
"The system is always giving me a good and loving family... Is it intentional?" He laughed merrily yet self-mockery was hidden in it.
Silence remained for quite a while. In that place which only had one light bulb situated near the door, a man stood there alone overlooking the city. His back looking specially lonely.
Feng Ru appeared behind him and saw this. The young female ghost felt a bit confused, then recalled him saying he was also a spirit. Understanding then flashed in her mind. She thought, ghosts were really the loneliest beings in the world.
"How's the game?" Jiang Li asked the moment he felt her presence.
The villainess thought for a moment before deciding to materialize and step forward. It was an ability that beings like her could do if they wanted to be seen by regular people and appear like they had a real body, not an incorporeal one.
She grabbed the handrail, or at least pretended that she could grab it, then stayed a meter away from him. Even if she was just a ghost, there was no way she would stay so close to a man.
After a few seconds of hesitation, a strange but sweet voice came out of her mouth. "... Punishment is still ongoing. It's been four hours, but in his perception it's still around 5 pm. All the 'residents' of this hospital is keeping him and cramming him inside the elevator. He was unable to come out because whenever he tried to go out, one of our friends would immediately close the elevator."
Jiang Li chuckled. "I'm sure he is here due to what happened to him yesterday. It must be very funny. While he thought everyone inside are people, annoyed that it's so crowded that he couldn't move, those who wanted to take the elevator from the outside could see no one besides him. I bet you had them take turns so it will not be that obvious at first how the same type of 'people' are always accompanying him."
Quite creepy once considered from the victim's point, since no matter how much of an idiot Gu Cheng was, he would still be able to realize that something was wrong. How soulless and spooked out would he be when he discovers he's been with hundreds or thousands of ghosts for almost a day? The reaction should be pretty amusing, no?
The villainess looked at him and nodded. He chuckled again, "I'll look forward to when the patients and visitors run out of patience and report him for hoarding that elevator to himself."
Three seconds later, the grin disappeared, replaced by a bored expression. "Okay. Let's stop the talk about that shameless guy. What makes you decide to appear like that?"
He was referring to her current look. Feng Ru appeared like her alive eighteen years old self, beautiful and charming, just factor out the aura of death and gloominess around her. It was due to being in this state that she could speak without dragging every word for so long.
"What's your real name?" she asked.
"Oh?" The ghost was curious about him? The man knitted his brow, then laughed. "Since you're a helper, fine. Outwardly it's He Chen. Soul-wise, Jiang Li."
"... Jiang Li, then." She tilted her head to the left as she observed him. "... I don't understand you. You seem to be a good man occasionally helping those in need. They are not your parents but you're okay helping them. That woman is not your acquaintance but you're okay saving her. Why?"
After saying that, she blinked her strange-looking eyes at him. The way she looked was the kind which could send shivers to a normal person.
The man replied, "If not for the sake of the mission, why would I act as if I care about people I don't know?"
"..."
Feng Ru: ... Alien talk?
He indifferently added, "Don't ask about the former. What I want to say is if not for a few benefits or some selfish purpose, no one will really do good to others. Even those friends laughing and sharing food with each other are subconsciously doing so to deepen their bond, that way it will be easier to ask favors in the future. There is always a hidden purpose. The give-and-take principle is always at work. Sometimes people are beautifying the phrase by saying it is for 'good karma'."
Feng Ru was silent for a couple of seconds, then repeatedly murmured the last word he said.
"... I died because my friend pulled me when she was falling down from the heights. She's suffered so much. But when the man he likes broke up with her, she chose to free herself from the pain through that way. I'm guilty back then. The guy she likes confessed to me, and I accepted it. Of course, loving someone and being loved in return is not really my fault. That friend of mine also understood it and didn't blame me. But the guilt won't fade away. Because I was part of the catalyst that made her choose suicide."
Jiang Li asked, "I thought you simply think the world is at fault for driving all the depressed people to commit the unthinkable. So it's actually a self-punishment? It's a wonder how you can still remain in the world with that kind of obsession."
He hadn't forgotten yet that the system said villainesses are dangerous because they went crazy in love and then harbored great resentment that assimilated with the world after their death. There was no way Feng Ru was in love with Gu Feng. The two didn't have any prior connection.
'Who said a person could only be crazily in love with another person?' The thought suddenly popped up in his mind.