Afterlife Department

Chapter 650 - Gossip

"Your entertainment circle is really nasty, huh!" Huo Ling told Mo Shi after he surfed the internet and saw the hot search about an actress named 'Xu Li'.

Mo Shi rolled his eyes at him. "Please, I had never been part of the entertainment circle!" he told him. "It is only my family!" he added.

"Oh." Huo Ling muttered and resumed scrolling the app to read the latest news in the entertainment circle.

It says that this actress named 'Xu Li' has claimed to have climbed a famous businessman's bed and used this to obtain the female lead role of a drama that is currently being filmed. This also made a promising young actress to lose her chance to obtain the said role. Now that the truth has come out, everyone is cursing her including the staff of the drama. The ones who is cursing Xu Li the most is the promising actress' fans. After all, this actress was said to have won the audition but then Xu Li came and snatched the role from her.

"Who is this 'Gu Lin'?" Huo Ling asked.

"I don't know. Must be from the business circle." Mo Shi shrugged. "Hey! Let's not talk about them! They are not related to our case! What about your plan on how to contact Hao Baiyun?" he asked him.

"Hmm… I am still thinking whether we should use our identities as grim reapers to contact them." Huo Ling answered.

"But, we will be breaking the rules of the Afterlife Department with this, right?" Mo Shi worriedly asked. "Hey! I am a member of the Disciplinary Committee! I am the one who are arresting souls and grim reapers, and not someone to be arrested by them!" he told Huo Ling.

Huo Ling grimaced. "I know, I know. Alright…" he said and heaved a sigh. "Let's think of new identities to contact them." he said.

"Okay!" Mo Shi agreed.

…

Lower Heaven, Afterlife Department, Collection Department.

Yi Bing's brows knitted as ice covered the entire floor and walls of Shou Ji's office. "What do you mean that you can't find it?" he asked and frowned.

Di San uncontrollably shivered and moved to the side to avoid the ice crawling on the floor, spreading.

Shi Jiu's brows knitted, too, while he help Shou Ji. "Yi Bing." He called.

"What?" Yi Bing answered. His expression is dark, indicating that Shi Jiu and Shou Ji better give him a reasonable explanation.

"You already know about the 'rebirth' matter before in Shou Ji's world. This 'rebirth' altered the data in the Name Record." Shi Jiu said.

"En." Yi Bing nodded, indicating that he is listening.

"So, Shou Ji and I have been carefully checking the lists always to avoid this matter from happening again. But – " Shi Jiu frowned. " – this exchanging of fates caught us off-guard. Fortunately, Shou Ji and I have seen this change in Li Fengxin's data. But…" his brows knitted as his expression turned ugly. "This matter happened too fast and we lost it." He said.

"'lost it'?" Di San exclaimed.

Shou Ji looked at him. "Li Fengxin's death day has changed to her new death day." He said. "There was not a trace of it being changed in the Name Record." He told them.

Yi Bing froze while Di San was stunned. "WHAT?!" Di San exclaimed. "How can this happen?!" he asked. "Didn't that 'rebirth' thingy before left a trace? So why exchanging of fates…" his voice abruptly stopped when he realized it.

Shou Ji didn't speak while Shi Jiu sighed. "This is why we have guessed that what happened was an exchange of fate." Shi Jiu said as he looked at them. "Exchanging of fate, as the name implies, means to exchange someone's fate with yours or with other's. Once that happened, someone's fate will be of another's and vice versa. So – " he took a deep breath. " – this also won't leave a trace in the Name Record, since these two people who are involved became the other person." He told them.

A deafening silence fell upon them. Di San's face was as white as a paper. "No way… nothing can be done?!" he asked.

Yi Bing frowned and he turned to leave.

"Wait, Yi Bing! Where are you going?!" Di San asked.

Yi Bing didn't answer and just left.

Di San sighed as he turned to Shou Ji and Shi Jiu who wore heavy expressions on their faces. "Damn it!" Di San cursed.

Shou Ji and Shi Jiu looked at each other. They have to go to the Middle Heaven to report this matter to Shen Sheng. Di San also knows this, so his face became darker.

…

S City Police Station.

"No family, nor a lover, nor even a child." Jiang Xinduo sighed as he checked Li Fengxin's file again after he left Gu Xingfeng's office. "As for acquaintances of friends… hmm…" he muttered.

"Vice chief, what are you looking at?" Xiao Xie asked as he and Song Mingfan, who was following behind him, approached him.

Jiang Xinduo raised his head and looked at the two. At first, he planned to hand the case to Xiao Xie and Song Mingfan. But, Mo Yang, the CEO of the Yuhua Entertainment insisted that he can't have any newbies handle the case since this is related to the entertainment circle. He can't let any slip ups happen in case the paparazzi or the media would know about Li Fengxin's death, albeit Li Fengxin doesn't have any relatives to pester the entertainment company and ask where is Li Fengxin.

"How was your recent case?" Jiang Xinduo asked.

Xiao Xie sat across Jiang Xinduo while Song Mingfan sat beside Xiao Xie. "This matter isn't simple…" Xiao Xie answered and frowned.

"Why? You still haven't found the person?" Jiang Xinduo was surprised. He is confident with Xiao Xie's and Song Mingfan's abilities so he left this missing person case to them two.

The case is like this. A middle-aged woman went to their police station recently to report that her daughter is missing. They asked her about her daughter and she said that she only knew that her daughter was working in the city. But, last two weeks, she didn't receive any messages from her daughter nor did her daughter answer her calls. She began to worry about her whether she was kidnapped or, worse, died. So, she decided to go to the city and report about her daughter missing.

The problem is, she doesn't know what exactly is her daughter's job and where is her daughter staying at. The woman admitted that she and her daughter has a strained relationship thus her daughter became secretive to her. When they asked how did their mother and daughter relationship become this bad, since they think that this was just the daughter wanting to cut off all her contact with her mother, the middle-aged woman cried and said that she was a mistress and chose to separate from the man.

Her daughter resented her for being a mistress and feels ashamed of her. The mother already explained that it was the man who deceived her but her daughter wouldn't believe and even accused her that she is a gold-digger. Then, when the daughter became of age, she left her mother and went to the city.

The police usually wouldn't dig into family affairs, but this time it was necessary. So, they asked the mother whether her daughter knows who is her biological father, since they think that maybe the daughter went to find her father. But, the mother said that she is certain that her daughter doesn't know who her father is, as she already destroyed everything about the man since the man hurt her, and she wanted to forget him.

The police has to stop here then. The case was then handed to Xiao Xie and Song Mingfan who just finished another case, but were looking for a new case to work on. Xiao Xie and Song Mingfan then asked the mother for her daughter's contact number and other means of contacting her. But, the daughter is really good (sarcastic) since she has changed her number, and probably has also changed her phone to prevent her mother from tracking her in case her mother asks someone for help.

Indeed, the daughter's thoughts are spot on, since her mother really came to the police to look for her. Xiao Xie and Song Mingfan asked the mother whether her daughter is sending her money, but the mother shook her head and said that she doesn't need her daughter's money, and she even want to send her money. But, the daughter seems like she really wanted to cut off all of her contact with her mother since the beginning since she only left her the contact number and nothing else.

The police pitied the mother. Although the daughter was the victim since she doesn't have any choice on who will give birth to her, how can she be this cruel to forsake her mother?