Chapter 14 - Meat

Afterlife Department.

"What is this Foul, director?" an intern asked.

"The Foul is an evil air that harms a being." Gu Shi answered. "It can confuse your mind. It can worsen your illness. It can cause you to be sick. It can also worsen your temper." He said.

"How can we cure our self if we're contaminated by Foul?" someone asked.

"Well, that's – " Gu Shi said and looked outside the glass window where the rain is heavily pouring down the earth.. " – there is no cure." He answered.

…

Huo Ling hissed when he felt stung. He turned and saw Yi Bing was pulling his soul's tail. The pain is coming from it. "Yi Bing…?" he called when he saw Yi Bing's hand turned pale gray. "Ouch!" he cried when he felt the pain became stronger. If he had a body, he would have jumped out of his aching skin.

"Sorry." Yi Bing apologized and let go of his 'tail' after he pulled him farther from the Soul Eater not far from them.

"Is that… the Foul?" Huo Ling asked when he saw ice covered Yi Bing's hand. He pulled up Yi Bing's sleeve and gasped when he saw Yi Bing's arm turned black. "Yi Bing…" he muttered and raised his head. The skin on Yi Bing's collar started to turn gray. "You were also contaminated by Foul?" he asked, surprised.

Yi Bing didn't answer and took out his ice scythe. Maybe due to the ice slowly moving to freeze the Foul in his body because his power was affected, he pointed the tip of the ice scythe on his neck. Huo Ling stared, wide-eyed, as Yi Bing froze his neck. "Don't… attract its attention." Yi Bing told Huo Ling as his body shook and he collapsed on the floor. "I can't move right now… don't do anything stupid." He heavily breathed. "Give me some time to rest…" he said and leaned on the wall. Then, he closed his eyes.

"Yi Bing…?" Huo Ling called. His orange soul, its fingertips touched Yi Bing. However, he immediately withdrew when his fingertip smoked because Yi Bing's body slowly turned to ice. He was stunned. "No way… Yi Bing!" he whispered. He doesn't know where to place his hands and feet… ehem. Tail. He can't carelessly touch Yi Bing or else his soul will freeze and he'll turn into an… ice ball.

Huo Ling was anxious. He looked at the meat monster – ehem. Soul Eater. It was slowly turning to their direction. What to do? What to do? What to do? He thought and sweated even though it's cold because of the storm. The creepy old apartment building just became creepier as the surroundings turned dark. There were the lights on the hallway, but it just made things scarier as the lights formed shadows on the corners.

Suddenly, he saw something popped out of the blind (eyeless) Soul Eater's head. Huo Ling felt his whole being froze in fear when he saw it's an antenna. … shit. Is it a soul detector?! He thought and turned to Yi Bing in panic. However, Yi Bing was still recuperating (even though Huo Ling has no idea how since Yi Bing became an ice sculpture).

Yi Bing has a mortal body right now, so the Soul Eater won't notice him (maybe). But, Huo Ling… he needed to run. He remembered Yi Bing told him to not attract the Soul Eater's attention. I haven't, yet the Soul Eater actually has an antenna! He thought and floated to the open space. As expected, the Soul Eater's antenna twitched and followed the direction where he flew.

Huo Ling has never been more thankful than now that he became a soul. He has short legs, so he would lose if he will have a running episode against the Soul Eater. Also, the only direction he could escape is where Yi Bing is. He can't lure the Soul Eater towards Yi Bing. (He secretly cares about this lying grim reaper.)

He only has one choice – fly away. Thus, he flew to the center of the U – shaped apartment building and floated in the open space under the rain. The rain never bothered him, anyway, since the cold water will just pass through his body.

But, he never expected for the Soul Eater to reach him. How? It suddenly (mysteriously) grew an arm and its arm lengthened until it reached him. Fortunately, Huo Ling had always been an alert person (even though he always daydreamed). He didn't let his guard down so he immediately flew to the side.

Huo Ling felt short of breath because of shock. He watched the Soul Eater's arm went back to its body when it didn't catch him after trying to reach him in all directions because he agilely dodged the meaty hand of the Soul Eater. His quick moves were all thanks to repeatedly beaten up of the school bullies. After two years of being bullied, he finally learned how to dodge on the third year and he fought back at them. "I need to lure it away." He muttered and looked at the Soul Eater that finally turned to Yi Bing's direction. His pupils shrank. "Could it be it actually can sense a grim reaper?" he saw the Soul Eater crawled towards Yi Bing. "Shit!" he cursed and flew to the attack range of the Soul Eater.

As expected, the Soul Eater stopped its movements and turned to him. Its meaty arm popped out of its abdomen and tried to reach him again. He tried his hardest to dodge, or else he'll turn to a thousand years the Soul Eater would cultivate.

"Curse you, Yi Bing. Wake up!" he gritted his teeth as he lowered his head when the palm flew towards his face. "Eh…?" he said and his eyes slowly widened when he saw two more arms came out of the Soul Eater's meaty body. "Damn it! There's this secret move?!" he exclaimed and did his best to fly very far so that he could be out of reach of the Soul Eater. "AAAAAH!!!!! Yi Bing, you bastard! Stop playing dead!!!!" he yelled as he flew to the back of the apartment building, trying to make the Soul Eater's arms wind around the building like he always watched in the anime.

He suddenly heard something broke from inside the building. He turned, only to be met by a hand. "Ah – " he muttered and felt his soul fell from the air. "AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" he screamed and immediately controlled his soul to fly again when the hand followed him. If his soul didn't fall that one moment, he would've been caught. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Yi Bing ahhhhh!!!!!! Help meeeeeee!!!!" he screamed as he passed through the wall and hid. However, a hand broke the vent and slipped through to catch him. "AAAAAHHHH!!!! Bastard! Liar! I really, really need your help!" he screamed and flew out of the wall, only to be almost flattened when a hand appeared above him. He immediately crawled on the ground and saw the whole apartment building was covered with lumps of meat. "AAAAAAAHHHH!!!! Damn it!" he cursed as he tried to hide behind the garbage cans, but the garbage cans were clawed up. … wait, 'clawed'? He thought and raised his gaze, only to see the Soul Eater's eyeless face. Its mouth was opened wide, and countless sharp and long teeth was inside. It's one hand was raised, and there are sharp nails on its hand.

Ah. I'm doomed. I won't have a chance to reincarnate. If I would, I promise I would be a vegetarian in my next life.