Chapter 1.30

"Sir, we've already tried everything that we can. But unfortunately, we cannot bring the dead back to life. They have already crossed over."

Bu Huai wasn't having it. "There has to be a way!" His hair was a mess, his expression even messier as he begged the emergency medical technician. They were still at the scene, the corpses of his friends laying on the ground just behind him, which only served to make his hysteria worse.

The woman took a step back, uncertain of what this man might do to her if she didn't cooperate with him. He looked like he was willing to kill a man to save his friends. "Please calm down, sir. You're disturbing the peace of those in the other world."

"No, I'm not! Stop saying that they're dead! They're not!" Bu Huai couldn't take it anymore. Unshed tears welled up in his eyes, pouring out in a torrent of protests against reality.

Why? After he had just made new friends, why did they have to go like this?

He looked over his shoulder to the scene where his friends died. Ling Xia laid on the sidewalk, his face peaceful. It seemed as if he was sleeping, but if one only shook him, they would notice that his body was too limp to be alive.

Then Yang Lizhen fell to the ground, dying right before Bu Huai's eyes without his notice.

And he ended up dead too.

Ji Shengge was next to Ling Xia, hand still curled around the knife he pulled from Ling Xia's body. His eyes appeared empty, void of life. Bu Huai watched him, a sob escaping his mouth.

He turned back to the EMT. Taking a shaky breath, he finally held in his grasp reality. "At least… at least tell me how they died."

He didn't even see how it happened. How that woman was able to stab his friend while he was kindly picking up coins for her.

"We will. And don't worry, we will bring their deaths to justice," the woman assured. "And you shouldn't try to do anything to help, you might get targeted by the same people that killed your friends. Stay safe, okay?"

Bu Huai nodded, wiping away his tears with the collar of his shirt roughly. "O-okay."

Yeah, that was right, he could still investigate their deaths, figure out why Ling Xia was brutally murdered, and what happened in that brief moment after his death to cause more to happen. And he would definitely find out.

…

Before Mu Ninghua even sat in the cold metal chair, she heard words that would elate her for the rest of her not-very-lengthy life.

"Li Ming's dead."

Mu Ninghua froze. Slowly, she lowered herself into the chair. A second passed, and the words finally registered in her mind. Her face broke into a burdenless smile, joy filling every morsel of her body.

"How did you do it?!" Mu Ninghua asked, unbearably curious.

Bai Xian sat across from her, separated merely by a glass panel. They could see each other, hear each other through telephones, but they could not touch.

"I didn't," Bai Xian's silky smooth voice transmitted through the phone. "It was on the news. Apparently, he was a victim of some serial killer on the loose. They originally thought they were targeting only the Ling family's members, but then Li Ming entered the equation, they tossed i–"

"Then I don't care who killed him! All that matters is that he's dead now." Mu Ninghua smiled evilly.

Bai Xian kept a passive face at Mu Ninghua's outburst. "Then I should go."

He was already in the motion of putting the phone down when Mu Ninghua realized what was happening. "Wait!" Bai Xian put the phone back to his ear when he saw her motion. "Why?"

He sighed in obvious displeasure. "Mu Ninghua, Li Ming was right. I should not associate myself with you. It only leads to bad results."

"But you helped me during the trial!" Mu Ninghua protested. She couldn't process this sudden change in behavior from a person who was previously smitten with her. What happened?

"Truth be told, after Li Ming tried to convince me to join his side, I was already swayed. I only helped you for one reason: my guilt."

"Guilt? For what?"

"My guilt for accidentally calling you 'my girl' when I was drunk during the school reunion. But then I realized that because you paid that man to act as your abusive boyfriend, it was your fault that I acted in the way that I did. Before the trial ended, I was completely blind to this, but it was you that set up this situation, so you should take the blame for my actions. I don't have to feel guilty anymore."

Mu Ninghua's face turned increasingly incredulous. "Are you even listening to yourself right now?!" She pulled the phone closer to her mouth while staring Bai Xian in the eye through the glass. "It doesn't matter if the situation was faked by me. I couldn't control your reaction to it! I had no idea you would jump in so rudely like that!"

Bai Xian smiled. "And it seems I am right to disassociate myself with you. I cannot be this close to somebody who is so often wrong."

Mu Ninghua opened her mouth to retort, to defend herself in indignation, but she was cut off by Bai Xian. "But thank you for keeping me here. You reminded me of the part of the recording you didn't hear. The part where Li Ming told me to at least do a favor for him."

A very confused Mu Ninghua watched Bai Xian pull a piece of paper out of his back pocket, uncrumpling it and showing it to her. "I tried to read it, but it's written in some kind of code…" Bai Xian trailed off, noticing the shade of Mu Ninghua's skin turn pallid.

He paused for a few seconds before shrugging it off. He threw the piece of paper in the small trash can under the table. "Whatever. I just want you to know that by making up all of these scenarios, coercing and tricking people, you'll never gain happiness because deep down, you'll know it's fake. And you will never be able to build any relationship, romantic or platonic, on lies."

Without another glance, Bai Xian placed the telephone back down and left, his coat billowing with his steps. He had no idea that Mu Ninghua had not heard any of his words. She was still stuck at the same moment, replaying the words in her mind over and over again.

She tried closing her eyes, hoping to shake herself out of it, but it was like they were seared into the backs of her eyelids.

'An otome game? Seriously? Sorry for being there to ruin your cliche ending. Though most people who are in a similar situation are less cunning and manipulative, so I suppose a non-cliche ending would be most befitting of you.'

She knew it was one last jab at her, one that she would never get to return because of his recent death. She had never been so affronted yet relieved about something in her life.

Affronted because she so wanted to pummel Ling Xia into the ground, and relieved because the thought of Ling Xia coming back was like ice water in her stomach, a crippling fear of the dark unknown. He knew her so well, yet she knew nothing about him, the real him. How could she possibly win against such an opponent?

No, how did he even know? How could he have possibly known?

Even if he came from the same world, and had the same circumstances, where had she slipped up?

Her mouth was moving fast, murmuring ideas, possibilities, anything to wrap her mind around this reality.

She didn't even notice the officer coming back to escort her to her cell. She absentmindedly followed him into it, slumping against the ground. Her mind was occupied by her racing thoughts. Five days passed unknowingly, and it was time for her execution.

She stumbled after the man leading her to the room. He told her to sit down; She did. The three people behind her pressed their buttons together. Her body shook with vigor then fell limp. She was dead.

From the moment she read the note to the moment she died, she never uncovered Ling Xia's secret.