Ch55 - Another Order

cw: attempted suicide

In West Street’s garden room number 603, Lan Gaojie lay upon the balcony rocking chair by himself, two barrels of petrol by his feet.

A few hours ago, he had been glowing as he stood on stage, burning through his own lifeforce to release his charm. But who would have thought that not even six hours later, his body had aged so much and that the light in the lamp was about to flicker out.

“Ke ke…” Lan Gaojie began coughing heavily and could only feel that even his lungs were hurting. His breathing was ragged and he subconsciously looked towards the dining room. A Buddhist amulet was placed on the table; it was something he had specially invited back when he had gone abroad.

He didn’t recall when it started. He had realised that facing the amulet and praying would change things. He was originally just a fresh face, but after he made a wish, he became magnanimous and attractive. It was just that after every time he made a wish, his body would inexplicably become much weaker, so Lan Gaojie didn’t dare make wishes too frequently at the start.

Lan Gaojie’s dream since childhood was to become someone who glowed on stage. Up until now, he had been working hard to achieve this dream.

But just having a dream wasn’t enough.

His looks were merely average and he didn’t have much talent. Even though he had squeezed into the pool of potential BTT members through family connections, he had been abandoned for failing to meet the standards.

Sometimes, Lan Gaojie had thought of giving up, but when he saw BTT onstage, he couldn’t accept it. He always felt uncomfortable.

That night, Buddha entered his dream and told him he could wish for whatever he wanted as long as he sacrificed himself. The decision was completely within his hands and he could stop whenever he wanted to.

With his mind full of the scene of himself standing on stage in front of millions of worshipping fans, Lan Gaojie’s heart was moved in the end.

In the moment he had signed the contract with the Buddha amulet, he had believed he could stop when he wanted to. He hadn’t thought that once many things had occurred they would spiral out of his control.

His eyes were blinded by his desire; from the moment he tasted sweetness, Lan Gaojie began making wishes nonstop. Occasionally he would want to stop because his body felt too unwell, but in the moment he stopped, all the things he had wished for would vanish into thin air. How could he let go after tasting fame and wealth? Thus, he continued day by day, until all was lost.

When he woke up in the ambulance, Lan Gaojie accidentally saw his aged face.

He had finally gotten more popular online after much difficulty. He was unable to accept showing this kind of appearance in front of others. Once he ran away from the hospital, he announced his withdrawal from the competition.

He had no way to explain his current appearance to others, and he couldn’t think of any way his fans would still want to support him after seeing his face.

Instead of scaring them off from being fans due to his face, he might as well leave behind a beautiful memory instead.

“I don’t have anything left to give you, so you should come with me.” The once compassionate Buddhist amulet that seemed to pity all of humankind now had a strange smile that left chills upon others.

Lan Gaojie both loved and hated it. He didn’t want others to see his current elderly appearance after he died, so he wanted to die together with this Buddhist amulet.

His hands trembled, trying to light up the lighter.

However right at this moment, the doorbell suddenly sounded.

The abrupt sound of the doorbell shocked Lan Gaojie, and he became even more anxious in pushing the oil barrels over and lighting the curtains on fire.

“It’s dangerous playing with fire this late at night!” A familiar voice suddenly rang out. Lan Gaojie was stunned, and the lighter in his hand dropped down. Seeing that it was about to touch the ground, that person caught it and capped it with a speed that was beyond the limits of any human being. He played around with it in his hand. “I already told you that playing with fire is dangerous. If I hadn’t caught it in time you really would have been burned.”

“How did you get in?!” Lan Gaojie stared at Lu Xu with wide eyes, his entire body involuntarily shaking.

“I received your invitation.” Lu Xu replied somewhat sarcastically, then got up and walked around the room a few times. He noticed the Buddhist amulet in the dining room at a glance. “I say, you were living so well originally. Why did you invite death with a Yin amulet?”

Everyone knew that Buddhist amulets brought good luck, but no one knew how many people had used Yin amulets to harm others instead.

Greedy evil spirits lived within Yin amulets, luring others into signing contracts with them. Once someone was moved into doing so, then it was the same as sacrificing one’s soul to the devil.

Lan Gaojie’s life had only sustained him for three weeks; it was obvious how vicious this Yin amulet was.

“Yin amulet?” Lan Gaojie hadn’t thought Lu Xu would have this kind of reaction. He looked at the Buddhist amulet with contempt in his eyes, clearly placing it beneath him.

What was even more incredible to Lan Gaojie was that the amulet which had accepted his offerings and brought him infinite fear seemed to have a soul. In front of Lu Xu, it trembled, and the noise as it hit the table seemed as if to be begging for mercy.

“So ugly.” Lu Xu was too lazy to look at the face on that Yin amulet, and casually buckled it down. Then he looked at the time, then looked at Lan Gaojie. All right, he still had to wait three minutes.

Lan Gaojie looked at Lu Xu who had suddenly visited him, and only felt that a lot of things weren’t making sense.

It was also at this time that he remembered what he looked like right now, and immediately wanted to lift his hand to cover his face.

“Aiya, I’ve already seen it, is there any point in covering your face now?”

Lan Gaojie had been aggravated too hard, so he couldn’t resist shooting back, “Did you come here especially to laugh at me? Are you all especially happy because I withdrew from the competition, and think that there are fewer competitors now? Are you looking down on me now that I look like this? Do you still want to go out and break the news to the media to get clout?”

Right now, Lan Gaojie seemed to have been possessed by a professional rapper, firing countless questions at Lu Xu like a machine gun.

Lu Xu frowned, really not knowing which question would be best to answer first.

“Cough cough cough…” Lan Gaojie had been shouting for a long time. It wasn’t easy for him to stop coughing, and he felt like his lungs were on fire. It was unbearable.

Lu Xu had originally not planned on arguing with him, so he organised his thoughts and said, “I already said it just now, you invited me over, I’m not here to laugh at you. And no one is happy that you withdrew, they even think that it’s a pity…”

“How is that possible! They want to treat me like a joke, and of course, they’ll be happy with fewer competitors…”

Lan Gaojie harshly interrupted Lu Xu’s words and then muttered on. It didn’t seem like he was talking to Lu Xu, more like he was trying to convince himself.

“Nothing is impossible. And you’re thinking too much, few of them treat you as a rival.”

With the gap in abilities, everyone looking for a rival would look upwards.

Lu Xu didn’t elaborate, but his meaning was right there, that Lan Gaojie thought too highly of himself.

“You’re really harsh…” Lan Gaojie didn’t catch his breath, and was almost about to double over. Right now it was hard for him to even breathe, and he felt that his throat was unbearably thirsty. “Water, give me water…”

Lu Xu looked at the time. There were less than twenty seconds left, so he very passionately introduced him to the features of the underworld. “After you die and walk the road to the underworld, you can try the water from Wangchuan River. It’s clear and sweet, and you’ll want to keep drinking. If you want to drink something hot, you can go to Meng Po restaurant and try the soup there, it’s unforgettable…”

Lunatic!

The curse was stuck in his throat. In the final moment of his life, Lan Gaojie wasn’t able to recall the chapters of his life from the past twenty years. Right now, there was only one thought in his mind. It would be good not to have to face Lu Xu’s cynicism and mockery when he died.

Living awkwardly in life, don’t meet again in death!

There were only a few seconds left. Lan Gaojie opened his eyes again and saw that his soul had floated out of his body. Only then did he clearly realise that he was dead.

“Your client is about to ascend to heaven, please collect…”

The time had finally come!

Lu Xu had merely clapped his hands to evoke Lan Gaojie’s attention. He then took out his work log to confirm. “Lan Gaojie, male, Dongcheng resident. Born on March 14, 1997, 23 years old this year…”

The soul form of Lan Gaojie was completely stupefied as he looked at Lu Xu. He didn’t understand why the person he saw right before death was still the same person when he opened his eyes after dying.

It was also after he had become a soul that he discovered that Lu Xu’s body glowed, inexplicably making him feel attracted and with the need to get closer.

After hearing Lu Xu ask him about his own life details, Lan Gaojie nodded woodenly before being unable to resist asking Lu Xu, “Exactly what kind of person are you?”

It was only now that Lan Gaojie realised Lu Xu was not in any way an ordinary person.

Thinking of the way Lu Xu had looked at him before, along with his words, Lan Gaojie finally realised that the person who had come over had always been waiting for his passing.

When he asked this out loud, he already had an answer in his heart.

Sure enough, Lu Xu first asked him to confirm that the message was correct before having him sign it. He then smiled slightly. “I, Lu Xu, am a professional grim reaper. I am your guide to the underworld and will customise your death services.”

Grim reaper?!

Lan Gaojie only felt that all ghosts were not good. No wonder those four ghosts had been chasing Lu Xu around and calling him master.

He had worked for so long, but it turned out to be like this!

Thinking of the fact that he had once thought of Lu Xu as his competitor, Lan Gaojie suddenly realised he was a wreck. Competing against humans was already very difficult; now there was actually a grim reaper playing along with them.

In the moment before he set foot onto the road to the underworld, Lan Gaojie couldn’t resist asking Lu Xu, “You’re doing fine as a grim reaper, why have you come over to participate in an idol survival show?”

Was this the ‘leaving no path for others’ of the legends?

Lu Xu didn’t hide from him and only said casually, “Hai, it’s all necessary for work.”

He didn’t exactly say what work needed this. Lao Gaojie also did not have the time to ask before he went on the road.

Seeing that another order had been added to his performance index, Lu Xu was in an extremely good mood and even helped Lan Gaojie fix his appearance, making him look at least around twenty years old.

Seeing that Lu Xu was about to leave, the Yin amulet on the table sprawled there pretending to be dead, hoping that this master wouldn’t notice itself.

But Lu Xu turned back after walking a few steps, placing the amulet in his pocket along the way—

It was better to not leave evil spirits and such in the mortal realm.