After a brief daze, Meng Ruji came to her senses and delivered a slap, harshly striking the little thief’s face: “If it weren’t for you coming to rob my ‘grave’ for the core, would I have died so quickly and unjustly!?”
The young man was thick-skinned and tough. Though the hit hurt, he only furrowed his brows slightly without even a grunt, still not waking up.
Meng Ruji glanced at the young man’s exposed abdomen. After a moment’s thought, she reached out to touch it—not for any other reason, but to sense whether her Inner Core was still in this “ghost’s” body.
The answer was…
Still there.
Worthy of being her Inner Core, possessing Creation Power—even in death, it could follow along.
But unfortunately, it still couldn’t be extracted.
“Sigh…” Meng Ruji felt regretful but more helpless. She was dead, and he was dead too. Death cleared all debts—what could she do to him now?
Might as well consider it stolen by a dog.
Meng Ruji stood up, dusted off her clothes, and prepared to calmly go “reincarnate.” But looking around, all was pitch black except for the small river before her that emitted an eerie, mysterious glow. Upstream in the mist, there was vaguely a dock with red lanterns lit.
In the silent night, the distant dock appeared abrupt and sinister.
However…
“The underworld, after all,” Meng Ruji muttered. “This should be the atmosphere. It’s just that two big dead people have been lying here so long without a single ghost messenger coming to guide the way.”
Meng Ruji stepped toward the dock ahead. Along the entire riverbank, besides the tinkling sound of flowing water, only her muttering drifted by the river.
“The management of this netherworld isn’t even as good as our Hengxu Mountain…”
After walking for a while, the distant dock still looked far away, but Meng Ruji felt that walking was becoming increasingly tiring. With each step forward, it felt as if thousand-pound weights were hanging from her feet.
“Why is it… so exhausting to walk as a ghost?”
Meng Ruji looked toward the dock, panting heavily.
This reincarnation was too difficult… Wasn’t there a ghost messenger to lend a hand and guide the way?
Meng Ruji stopped halfway, feeling her consciousness growing fuzzy from exhaustion. As she struggled between giving up and continuing, a nonchalant shout suddenly came from beside her:
“Hey, you there, what are you doing?”
Meng Ruji turned her head and saw a boatman wearing a raincoat, holding a fishing rod in one hand and propping up his chin with the other, sitting in a small boat, fishing in this eerie luminescent river.
Leisurely fishing on this river?
A bit strange, but Meng Ruji was too tired to think carefully. She waved at the boatman and dazedly shuffled two steps toward him: “Great! Finally saw a ghost. I don’t need to rush to that dock ahead—why don’t you ferry me across the river for reincarnation right here?”
“Ferry across for reincarnation?”
“Isn’t that right?” Meng Ruji asked. “Don’t all the legends say you have to cross some Naihe Bridge and drink Meng Po’s soup to reincarnate?”
The boatman snorted with laughter: “This river is indeed called the Nai River, but if you want to pass on, you don’t need to cross—just jump in.”
“Jump in?”
“Right, jump in. Following the Nai River water, you’ll become a point of light in the river, then flow up to heaven with the water. When the light disappears, you’ll disappear too. This should be what you call passing on.”
That simple?
Meng Ruji looked at the river water that resembled a galaxy. Though unusual, it didn’t look dangerous. Jumping in should lead to a smooth passage?
“Thank you for the guidance.” Meng Ruji thanked him and stepped toward the river.
Seeing her walk so calmly, even somewhat eagerly, the fishing elder on the boat was rather curious: “Are these days so unbearable? Others fight desperately for a future, yet you’re eager to pass on?”
Meng Ruji was stunned by his words: “I can still fight for a future now?”
What future? A future of dying more spectacularly?
“Don’t you want to go back?”
“Go back where?”
“The mortal world.”
“I can still go back!?” Meng Ruji was even more surprised. “You people here support two-way traffic?”
“In the Land of No Retention, what comes naturally can go.”
“Land of No Retention?” Meng Ruji realized, “This isn’t the underworld? I’m not dead?”
“Not exactly—half-alive, half-dead,” the boatman set his fishing rod aside, picked up his water bottle, took a sip, and continued leisurely, “People who come here all have only half a life. Due to coincidental circumstances, in the instant between life and death, they fall into this place.”
So she had indeed been struck by lightning, but hadn’t died completely, struck to a half-dead state. Somehow touching upon some opportunity, she and that Core-stealing thief had fallen into this magical place together.
“Then how can I go back?” Meng Ruji perked up.
“Simple.” The boatman pointed upstream with his fishing rod toward the ferry: “Go there, buy a boat ticket, and I’ll ferry you across.”
“Can I buy it right here? Something’s wrong with this place—I really can’t walk much further…”
The boatman only shook his head: “You can only buy tickets at the ferry. I only recognize ferry tickets.”
With no spiritual power, Meng Ruji had no choice but to obediently comply.
She struggled to continue walking upstream, but the further she went, the more difficult each step became. After a few more steps, she wasn’t just feeling heavy-footed—there was even heart-rending pain.
This was not normal.
Meng Ruji had to stop and catch her breath: “May I ask one more thing—why have my steps been getting increasingly difficult since just now?”
Meng Ruji had barely walked a few steps total, all within this area. She wanted to ask the boatman again, but when she looked up, she saw only rippling light on the Nai River, having returned to its initial silence. Where were the lone boat and the fishing boatman?
With too many strange things happening, Meng Ruji couldn’t worry about him. She could only control her legs first, stepping back a few paces to try to alleviate her body’s pain.
And just these few steps back made Meng Ruji feel reborn.
Walking back required no effort at all.
Thinking, she continued retreating, becoming more relaxed the further back she went, until she returned to the Core-stealing thief’s side. Meng Ruji stopped, looked at the thief on the ground, then at the distant ferry, then tried walking outward again.
One hundred steps—that was the limit. The tearing pain returned, and Meng Ruji huffed and puffed back again.
She crouched beside the thief with a very ominous guess.
Then she began walking in other directions—downstream, to the thief’s right side. In every direction, the distance she could walk was about one hundred steps.
Meng Ruji confirmed her guess… She wasn’t unable to walk; she just couldn’t walk far. Or rather, she just couldn’t walk too far from this thief.
She crouched beside the thief, completely stunned.
What was this thief?
A debt from her past life? A sin created in this life? Why did she and this thief have such! Strange! Fate!
Now she had to go buy boat tickets while carrying him, too?
Unlucky!
But, whatever…
Meng Ruji thought—now that she wasn’t dead, since she could go back, she was going to bring this thief back anyway. After all, her Inner Core was still in his body.
She sighed deeply and had no choice but to reach for the young man’s arm. But just as she helped him sit up, before she could carry him, she heard the young man grunt and wake up.
His eyelashes fluttered, phoenix eyes opened, black pupils reflecting Meng Ruji’s face and the strange starry sky behind her.
Eyes meeting, the young man was leaning in Meng Ruji’s arms as they looked at each other.
The young man showed the confusion of just awakening; Meng Ruji showed the stunned surprise of being caught off guard.
The next instant, the young man’s eyes suddenly sharpened.
Seeing his expression was wrong, with seeming killing intent, Meng Ruji immediately pushed the young man away nimbly. The young man also leaped up accordingly, jumping back and standing by the river, warily staring at Meng Ruji.
“I didn’t harm you,” Meng Ruji quickly explained. “I just wanted to help you up and take you to buy boat tickets ahead. I’m kind-hearted—I wanted to take you back together.”
The young man hadn’t listened to Meng Ruji’s explanation, as he was currently looking around. The surrounding environment made him seem somewhat confused and tense.
His lips moved slightly: “This place… this place…” The young man’s voice was hoarse. As he spoke, he seemed to have a headache and covered his head again.
“What about this place?” Meng Ruji observed the young man, wanting to understand his condition. She couldn’t help stepping forward two paces: “Do you recognize this place?”
Sensing her approach, the young man’s hostility bristled up like a hedgehog’s spines. He glared viciously at Meng Ruji, jaw clenched tight, seemingly enduring physical pain while warning Meng Ruji not to come closer. Along with this, he stepped back two more paces.
Seeing his heels stepping into the river, Meng Ruji quickly called out: “Okay, okay! I won’t come closer. That river will carry you to the sky—come closer to shore…”
Don’t wash my Inner Core away too…
The young man also seemed to sense something wrong with the water flow under his feet. He walked two steps onto shore, looking toward where the Nai River flowed, watching it flow into the sky and eventually become scattered stars in the night, then fade from sight.
The young man rubbed his temples.
“Have you been here before or not?” Meng Ruji was curious.
Hearing her voice, the young man stepped diagonally back again, guarding against both her and the river behind him.
Meng Ruji felt nervous for him just watching. She really couldn’t understand why a thief would be so wary of others.
“Alright, you don’t need to be so afraid. I temporarily don’t want to take the Inner Core you stole,” Meng Ruji said. “The urgent matter is leaving here. Since you’re awake, walk by yourself. Let’s go to the ferry ahead to buy boat tickets first. We’ll discuss everything after returning to the mortal world.”
“Inner Core?” The young man murmured, touching his abdomen.
Watching his movement, Meng Ruji laughed in anger: “Don’t tell me you want to say you’ve forgotten everything?”
The young man finally showed a trace of confusion beyond wariness in his gaze toward Meng Ruji.
This expression of his…
Could it be he had forgotten everything?
Meng Ruji looked at him and once again fell into eerie silence.
“Forget it…” Meng Ruji pinched her temples. “This isn’t the time to worry about these things…”
Whether he remembered being a thief or not, once they returned to the mortal world, he’d have to return the Inner Core!
“Let’s still head toward the ferry first…”
If he kept standing here, she’d never reach the ferry in this lifetime! Couldn’t create conflict…
“Let’s go.”
Meng Ruji forced an insincere smile at the young man.
The young man might have amnesia, but he had a good grasp of Meng Ruji’s emotions. He knew her smile held little sincerity.
So he stepped back a few more paces.
“Don’t retreat anymore.” Meng Ruji maintained her fake smile, coaxing: “Come closer quickly. Come with your elder sister to the ferry. Let’s go back together.”
Before the young man finished listening, he turned and ran away!
The wind he stirred up messed up Meng Ruji’s hair.
She stared blankly as the young man ran in the opposite direction from the ferry. After a moment of speechlessness, heart-rending pain surged in her chest!
“Hey…”
Meng Ruji only called out once before realizing!
Damn it, they can’t be too far apart!
Meng Ruji chased after the young man like a mad dog, tumbling and crawling.
“Slow down!” Meng Ruji shouted while chasing, “Stop! I won’t kill you! Stop! I have no Inner Core! I can’t keep running!”
Running wildly all the way, in the silent night of the Land of No Retention, only two swift running figures remained, along with Meng Ruji’s hoarse shouting:
“You little bastard! Stop!”
Seeing they were getting farther and farther from the Nai River, and the ferry with red lanterns in the mist was no longer visible, Meng Ruji had no mind to think about the ferry, going back, or the mortal world. She now had only one thought—
Catch that Core-stealing thief and break his leg bones!
Walking the dog~