Life Game In Other World
Chapter 653: Shadow (Long - for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 653: Chapter 653: Shadow (Long Chapter for Monthly Pass)

"This is Mr. Kavi and his wife’s urn,"

Within the brightly lit and solemn hall of the funeral parlor, a staff member dressed in simple and neat clothes placed two connected urns on the small table in front of He Ao.

"According to your previous order, your total service fee this time, including body handling, cremation, and urns, is 4574 federal coins."

The staff member glanced at He Ao’s aged face and laid a ultra-thin tablet in front of him, "After deducting the 1000 federal coins deposit you paid earlier, you still need to pay the remaining balance of 3574 federal coins. Here is an itemized list of the expenses for you to review."

He Ao lowered his head to look at the tablet handed to him by the staff member.

The tablet detailed each expense, including 500 federal coins for the couple’s urn, 1800 federal coins for the cremation of two people, 200 federal coins for the obituary published in the news media, and 550 federal coins for two sets of shrouds and the transport of the bodies.

Besides these, there was also a cost for the embalming of the bodies, totaling 1524 federal coins for both people.

"Elderly sir, as you know,"

Seeing that He Ao’s gaze lingered on the embalming fee, the staff member explained, "The final preparation of your son and daughter-in-law... was somewhat difficult, hence the costs are inevitably higher. I’ve tried to select the most economical options for you in other areas, but there was no way around this one."

"I understand,"

He Ao nodded gently, "Thank you for your effort."

The high cost of embalming was actually understandable because by the time Kavi’s son and daughter-in-law’s bodies were brought to the funeral parlor, they were already mangled.

Kavi and his wife were not found at the scene of a car accident. They were discovered by a Scavenger in charge of cleaning up unidentified bodies in a corner of an alleyway in South City.

By then, Kavi and his wife had been dead for at least two days, with evident vehicle collision marks on their bodies, and their flesh was so mangled that their faces and shapes were nearly indistinguishable.

However, before their death, Kavi and his wife managed to arrange his social security card number on the ground; a Scavenger found the number, contacted the police, and then the police contacted Cito.

South City is the most chaotic district in Saint Joen City, filled with gang members; bodies can be found at the end of any alley, and there’s almost no city surveillance. Thus, the Kavi couple’s death was presumed to likely be a traffic accident, and Cito was notified.

When the police in South City met with Cito, they also made it clear that it would be nearly impossible to catch the culprit given the situation in South City and asked Cito to grieve with restraint.

In fact, if it weren’t for the social security card number Kavi wrote down at the last moment, Kavi and his wife might have ended up in the Scavenger’s corpse transport vehicle and then cremated with numerous unnamed deceased, with their ashes taken to the wilderness to be buried anywhere.

Until his dying day, Cito would never know what happened to his son.

He Ao returned his gaze to the expense list before him.

The funeral parlor was recommended by the young police officer who contacted Cito at the time.

It had no particular feature, but it was cheap.

Usually, without holding a memorial service, the funeral expenses for a deceased in Saint Joen City range from 3000 to 4000 federal coins.

The total expenses for both Kavi and his wife were just over four thousand federal coins, including the embalming fee for the mangled couple, which was indeed very cheap.

"Can I pay with a credit card?"

He Ao raised his wristband and looked at the staff member.

"Of course,"

The staff member immediately took out a payment device, entered the amount, and scanned He Ao’s wristband.

With a ’beep,’ the payment was complete, and He Ao withdrew his wristband.

The wristband now displayed the payment information sent by the credit card company.

As the years passed, Cito seldom made large purchases, so there was a lot of unused credit on his credit card.

On the other hand, after his wife’s serious illness, his savings were nearly depleted. In fact, his current cash savings total only 10740 federal coins.

After deducting the 3574 federal coins just paid, his assets dropped to just over seven thousand federal coins.

"The detailed bill has been sent to your email," the staff member retracted the payment device after confirming receipt of the payment, "Please make sure to check it."

Then he withdrew the tablet, tapped on it, opened a new interface, and handed it to He Ao, "These are the prices for couples’ cemetery plots in several public cemeteries in Saint Joen City. Would you like to see if there’s one you need?"

He Ao lowered his head to look at the displayed interface on the tablet.

At this moment, most of the screen was taken up by a picture of a vast cemetery surrounded by a dense jungle, and below was the cemetery’s advertising slogan.

[Pure natural plants, enjoying the afternoon sunlight, surrounded by a beautiful jungle, a semi-open park, playing beautiful music regularly every day, letting your loved ones rest peacefully and comfortably in the delightful environment, special shockingly low price, only 199,900!]

Below in brackets, there’s a line of tiny, barely noticeable words, (valid for 20 years).

"Ah, I’m sorry, not this one."

The staff member immediately retracted the tablet and tapped on it a few more times, "Old sir, I made a mistake just now."

Then he handed the tablet back, "These cemetery plots are all quite nice, although the plants are artificial landscapes, the overall scenery is very good. I’m familiar with the cemetery management companies, they are all quite reliable. Compared to their price range, these plots are very affordable, and they even come with a faux stone headstone."

He glanced at He Ao, then at Jia Xi sitting beside He Ao, "Actually, with cemetery plots, there’s no need to demand too much. The children will need money for schooling later on, and since you’re older, it’s good to save some money for emergencies."

He paused, "Anyway, this cemetery plot has a twenty-year duration, and after twenty years you’ll have to purchase it anew. If our children make something of themselves in the future, they can also transfer their parents to a better cemetery plot."

He Ao lowered his head to look at the cemetery plots displayed on the tablet. This time, the prices of these plots had changed to around 5000 federal coins each.

Cito had also browsed some couple’s plots online before, and the average price was around ten thousand, and the scenery seemed not as good as the ones on the tablet.

He Ao raised his head to look at the urn on the table, "I haven’t decided on buying a plot yet. Can I contact you in a couple of days?

"Of course,"

The staff member took back the tablet, "You have my contact information. Feel free to reach out whenever you need. I’ll try my best to hold onto these plots for you."

Then he glanced at the urn on the table, "Wait a moment, I’ll find you a carry case for this."

He then hurriedly rose from his seat and left.

He Ao shifted his gaze to the side.

Since the beginning, Jia Xi had been silent, staring blankly at the urn.

At that moment, the girl seemed to realize she was being watched; she turned her head and gently grabbed He Ao’s fingers, "Grandpa."

He Ao slowly grasped his granddaughter’s small hand.

While they were talking, the staff member had already come over with a black carry case, and he said to He Ao, "This is complimentary."

Then he opened the carry case, revealing the hollowed sea inside, placed the two urns in it, closed the lid, and handed it to He Ao, "This way it’ll be easier for you to carry."

"Thank you."

He Ao stood up, took the carry case, then picked up his cane leaning against the table, hanging it on the handle of the carry case.

"No need to thank me," the staff member smiled, "Contact me whenever you have a need."

He then escorted He Ao all the way to the door until he watched him walk away, shuffling and leading his granddaughter through the crowd.

Finally, he sighed lightly, shook his head, and walked back into the funeral home.

······

On the way to the bus stop, Jia Xi kept looking at the carry case in He Ao’s hand.

The carry case was not entirely black; it was adorned with patterns that resembled stars.

"Grandpa,"

The girl looked up at the towering high rises, the high sky seemed squeezed by the buildings into dough, leaving only a long, narrow line, "Are there really a lot of stars in the sky?"

"Hmm," He Ao looked up at the sky and the dim light at their feet, then nodded, "There are many."

You can’t see the stars in Saint Joen City.

As one of the Federation’s largest grain-producing cities, sunlight here is one of the most scarce resources.

Each factory tries to build its towers as high as possible, using the latest focusing technology to obtain more light.

These towering steel jungles, like real jungles, strive to grow taller in pursuit of the sun’s bounty.

At night, these factories use artificial light sources to promote plant growth, causing the whole city to be covered in brilliance, mixing with the colored neon lights, masking the night, and hiding the stars.

"Grandpa, where can we see the stars then?"

Jia Xi asked curiously, tilting her head back, nearly parallel to the ground, trying to find a trace of the stars in the narrow gaps of sky between the buildings.

"In the wilderness, or places without so many tall buildings and lights."

He Ao reached out and ruffled his granddaughter’s hair.

"Oh."

Jia Xi nodded as if she understood, but didn’t quite grasp the concept.

She looked down, sweeping her gaze over the surroundings, eventually resting on a small pushcart stall not far ahead of them.

It was an ice cream stand.

"Would you like some?"

He Ao lowered his head, looking at his granddaughter.

Jia Xi glanced at her grandfather, hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

He Ao smiled, took his granddaughter, and walked over to the stand. "How much is a cone?"

"1.5 federal coins each, 2.5 federal coins for two."

The stand owner quickly looked at He Ao and said.

He Ao was about to say he wanted one when he felt Jia Xi scratch his palm with two fingers.

So he changed his mind, "I’ll take two."

"Alright, which flavors would you like?"

The boss swiftly pulled out two cone wrappers, "We have vanilla, strawberry, original, and mango."

"Uncle, one vanilla and one strawberry, please."

Jia Xi, who was not as tall as the stand, raised her hands so she could reach over the countertop, making herself seen by the owner.

"Okay."

The owner looked at Jia Xi and smiled.

He positioned the cone wrappers under the ice cream machine and carefully pressed the button, letting the slightly spotted ice cream flow out of the nozzle.

His movements were very skilled, and he made two ice creams quickly.

He Ao lifted his hand to make the payment.

"Here you go, little sister, your ice cream."

The boss, however, handed both ice creams to Jia Xi.

"Thank you, uncle,"

Jia Xi excitedly accepted the ice cream. "Goodbye, uncle."

Usually, the soft-serve ice creams pressed out by machines at fast-food restaurants would only twirl two and a half times, and half of the space inside the cone wrapper would be hollow.

But this owner had twirled them three times, and the cones were packed tight.

"Goodbye."

The store owner smiled and said farewell to Jia Xi.

With two ice creams in hand, Jia Xi’s steps became lighter.

This time she walked ahead of He Ao, holding out the vanilla ice cream toward him, "Grandpa, eat."

He Ao looked at Jia Xi lifting the ice cream high above her head to offer it to him, pausing for a moment.

Cito used to love vanilla-flavored ice cream, and when he first began taking his granddaughter out, whenever she wanted ice cream and didn’t specify, he would usually buy her vanilla because he thought it was delicious.

"Grandpa, eat."

Seeing He Ao not reacting, Jia Xi moved the ice cream closer to his face.

"Alright, grandpa will eat,"

He Ao took the ice cream, looking at the small face below with a touch of anticipation, he bit into the ice cream and showed a smile, "It’s delicious."

"Hehe."

Jia Xi lowered her head and began to eat her own ice cream.

The two ate their ice creams and boarded the bus.

"Grandpa, where are we going next?"

Sitting in the back seat, Jia Xi took a sip of her ice cream, her lips dotted with pink and white spots, and quietly asked.

"Let’s head back to my parent’s place first," He Ao glanced out the window and spoke softly, "to see if anything is still preserved."

In the fading light, he spotted a fluid Shadow moving in a dark alley outside the bus.

From a certain moment on, this Shadow had been lurking in the corners, trailing the bus he was on.

The bus soon arrived at the station near Cito’s son’s house. He Ao led his granddaughter off the bus, and during the moment they disembarked, he caught a vague glimpse of that Shadow in the corner of an alley.

He Ao didn’t make a sound but looked up at the building not far away, where the scorched black house from last night’s fire stood out starkly among the sleek structures.

He lifted his feet, one hand holding the suitcase and cane, the other leading his granddaughter, and quickly entered the building.

It was then that a woman with brown-gold hair caught a fleeting glimpse of He Ao’s back amid the scattered crowd below the building, and without hesitation, she swiftly gave chase.

——

Ding——

The elevator doors opened slowly.

The woman took a deep breath.

She was somewhat nervous now.

It wasn’t her first time on this floor. After confirming that the room from last night’s fire was in this building, she had come here in advance to look around and familiarize herself with the surroundings.

After that, she had gone downstairs and stayed nearby the building.

Her nervousness was because she saw someone who looked very much like the elderly gentleman from last night, but she couldn’t confirm it, so she had been following behind him like some kind of stalker.

But now, it was time to reveal the mystery.

If she hadn’t been mistaken, that elderly man should be on this floor right now, possibly even inside the burned room.

She took another deep breath, stepped out of the elevator, and quickly left the elevator area.

The fire-damaged room wasn’t far from the elevator, just a right turn out of the elevator area, at the far end of the hallway.

She lifted her head, turned right, and looked towards the end of the hallway.

The first thing that caught her eye was a slightly deformed door that was open.

When she had been here earlier, the door was closed tight.

A hint of excitement began to swirl around her heart, and her gaze continued upward, settling on the back of an elderly man in a crisp suit leaning on a cane.

A smile curled her lips, and she took a step forward toward the room.

At that moment, she noticed a writhing Shadow dropping from the fire-damaged ceiling.

It was a twisted creature, like a worm with countless tiny flesh feet.

At this moment, the creature was spreading its body, lunging toward the back of the elderly man.

"Watch out!"

The woman reached for the weapon at her waist and shouted.

But as she cried out, the creature was already in mid-air, about to envelop the elderly man’s figure.

At that time, her hand had not yet reached the blade at her waist.

It seemed it was all too late.

Thud——

The sound of a sharp object piercing flesh erupted suddenly.

A cane tip, still with bits of dirt, stabbed through the body of the worm-like monster. Then a hand followed through the hole made by the cane, grabbed hold of the husk of the creature, and with a fierce pull—

Rip——

The nearly man-high monster was torn apart as easily as fragile paper and discarded on the ground like trash.

The woman’s expression and movements froze in place, and the hand reaching for the weapon at her waist hung in mid-air.

In her field of view, at the very center of the carnage and rubble, an elderly man with greying hair and an upright stature took out a white silk handkerchief from his suit’s inner pocket and began to slowly wipe the bloodied palm of his hand.

He lifted his head and saw the woman standing at the door.