Ch107 - Taking You to Collect Their Heads

TW: suicide

In the episode where the trainees were allowed to call home, Lu Xu was the only one that didn’t have a family, yet had a lot of “family members”.

And as the instructor, Ji Xiunian had acted even moreso like a family member by calling Lu Xu. It had to be said that Lu Xu was certainly the apple of the production team’s eye.

It seemed that the trainees had actually discussed the matter of Lu Xu’s family call privately, and had wanted to give Lu Xu a surprise. But Ji Xiunian’s phone call had taken everyone by surprise, and made them think that they really did have a close relationship.

Though they were still in the process of filming, anyone could imagine the popularity of those two’s relationship once the episode aired.

At this point, absolutely no one could doubt the intimacy between Ji Xiunian and Lu Xu.

There were at least 60 trainees, but Ji Xiunian only cared about one: Lu Xu.

Even Xu Lele couldn’t help but lament. “Xu ge really is the textbook definition of chasing your idol.”

On the first day of filming, he vaguely remembered Lu Xu telling him that he had joined because of Ji Xiunian. Now looking at the care Ji Xiunian had for Lu Xu, as a true fan, how fortunate that must be.

Lu Xu had never expected that Ji Xiunian would give him a call, but when he picked up the phone and listened to him speak, he felt quite good.

“I just wanted to say that you’re not alone. No matter what, I’ll be here…”

Ji Xiunian’s voice was warm and gentle. He wanted to give Lu Xu kindness, but also didn’t want to cause any trouble for him.

Lu Xu listened and smiled, nodding. “Thank you, Nian ge. I’ll remember that.”

The two of them didn’t talk for very long, but everyone thought that it was a warm and sweet moment.

When Lu Xu hung up the phone, his tasks for today were considered complete.

According to the schedule put out by the production team, the trainees were free to roam inside the dorm during the remainder of the day. They could mingle with the other trainees they liked, and it would also act as an opportunity for them to say their early farewells.

Although the final line-up had not been announced, quite a few of them felt that they would be leaving soon. The competition had gone on for so long, that no matter whether they were teammates or roommates, some rapport had been established. No one wanted to leave the stage. After all, elimination was a bleak future. If they stayed, they would have the opportunity to go even further. Leaving the competition early did not leave them with many options, and they might even have to give up this path before long.

But no matter what, they would fight together to the very end.

There was sweat and there were tears. If they could take a picture of this moment to capture this memory, then they could leave with no regrets.

201 candidates with the potential to debut had joined, including Lu Xu, and everyone had been extremely capable. Not only was there overwhelming support from the audience, there were also many fans among the trainees themselves.

They had not left the dorm yet, but there were already people knocking on the door asking for Lu Xu’s contact information and a picture together.

Lu Xu was a man of many styles, and was captivating on the stage, so there were many fans among the trainees. As such, a lot of people came asking for a picture.

After accommodating them and chatting for a while, the Grim Reaper APP pinged with a new order.

Lu Xu immediately accepted it, and initially wanted to rush to the bathroom, but he thought of Ji Xiunian and went to knock on his door instead.

“Mn?” It had not been very long since their phone call earlier, and Ji Xiunian did not think he would see Lu Xu standing outside his door just like that.

Lu Xu tilted his head and smiled, his eyes crinkling which gave him an even more bright and youthful look. “Nian ge, can I come in?”

“Of course. Come in.” Ji Xiunian stepped aside, and waited for Lu Xu to enter before closing the door. “Did something happen?”

Although Ji Xiunian was quite happy to see Lu Xu, his instincts told him that something was going on.

As expected, Lu Xu did not take a seat after entering, and simply stood in the hallway as he said, “I just received a new order. Nian ge, I want to take you along so you can familiarise yourself with the process. When you’re officially employed, you can start immediately…”

Ji Xiunian was very smart, and immediately understood what Lu Xu meant by “order”.

Although he had already been informed about his identity as a grim reaper, suddenly being called to take on an order was a bit unusual to Ji Xiunian.

Naturally he was stunned for a moment, but he picked up his car keys off the table in preparation to leave. He then remembered that the premises were closed and no one was supposed to leave, so he had to think about how to deal with that.

Lu Xu saw the car keys and raised a brow. “Nian ge, we don’t have to drive.”

“Ah?” Ji Xiunian was confused, and asked, “How are we going to get there if we don’t drive? ”

Lu Xu stepped forward and offered his hand. “Hold tight and don’t let go. I’ll take you there.”

The proffered hand was pale and slender, the knuckles prominent and his nails neat. One look and it was the hand of a clean and sensible boy.

Faced with Lu Xu suddenly stretching his hand out, Ji Xiunian’s heart skipped a beat, but he silently took it.

Before he could think of why holding his hand would take them there, he only felt his entire body shake, and when he opened his eyes, he was in a different place.

The curtains in the room were closed tight, not allowing any light in. It was dark and stuffy.

The doors and windows were shut, and a long period without ventilation meant the smell was quite bad. The room was filled with many take out boxes and other pieces of rubbish. Ji Xiunian was a bit of a clean freak, and was not happy at all with this kind of circumstance. He wanted to leave quickly.

But Lu Xu did not make any movements, so Ji Xiunian endured the uncomfortable feeling in his gut, and pushed the thought of leaving out of his head. “What is this place?”

Lu Xu looked at the time, then back at Ji Xiunian with a smile before he explained, “This is where the client died.”

As he said that, there was another notification on the Grim Reaper APP.

[Your client has passed on, please provide guidance services]

Ji Xiunian looked in surprised at the unfamiliar phone in Lu Xu’s hand, noticing that the APP was quite unusual.

Taking advantage of the fact that the client had not yet appeared, Lu Xu explained to Ji Xiunian, “This app is called the Grim Reaper Delivery APP. It’s our Grim Reaper Bureau’s professional service. Almost everyone’s case file is recorded here. You can set your region and district details and it will filter orders for you. You can accept orders, then wait for the client to pass on before providing them with the appropriate guidance and service…”

Before Ji Xiunian could ask what the appropriate guidance and service was, a “person” floated out of the room.

Strictly speaking, it was a humanoid spirit. After all, a real living person could not just float through a wall.

He unconsciously scooted closer to Lu Xu, thinking that if anything happened, he could protect Lu Xu. But Lu Xu was not the slightest bit afraid. He stepped forward. “Guo Lian, 23 years old, from Dongcheng. Cause of death: suicide by hanging…”

As though to prove Lu Xu’s words, not long after he spoke, the door to the bathroom was pushed open by a breeze.

Suspended in the air was a pair of legs, and looking further up, an ashen pale face distorted by the noose around its neck. It was a terrifying sight.

Ji Xiunin had not expected that his first time accompanying Lu Xu to collect an order would be so intense, and he was stunned.

Lu Xu raised his hand to cover Ji Xiunian’s eyes, signaling for him to not look at it for too long. “Nian ge, this is your first mission. It’s normal to not be used to it. Don’t worry. Take it slow.”

“Okay.” Lu Xu’s voice was gentle, and it was clear he cared.

Upon noticing this, Ji Xiunian couldn’t  help but smile a little. He even felt that the sight of the client was not so bad anymore.

And this young person named Guo Lian was extremely confused.

A successful suicide attempt was already an immensely shocking thing to the victim, but dying and seeing the scene after was even more unimaginable.

He raised his hand, and pointed at Ji Xiunian, then at Lu Xu. “Film Emperor… Lu Xu…”

One was a nationally famous actor, the other was a currently trending center position trainee. The two of them appearing together in his rental apartment was of course extremely shocking and incredible.

Who would have thought that Lu Xu, charming on stage and adored by many fans, was a grim reaper, and Ji Xiunian as well, an incredible actor with countless fans. This blew his mind. He even wanted to try opening his phone and logging in to expose their true identities. The searches would certainly blow up.

However, he was already a spirit, and there was nothing he could do.

On the other side of the screen, he had just thought that Lu Xu was quite handsome. He had not expected the real person to have such a strong and oppressive aura.

Upon hearing the information from Lu Xu, Guo Lian did not have anything to hide, so he just nodded to confirm it.

While Lu Xu was busy working, he did not forget to explain to Ji Xiunian. “Right now, I’m confirming the information with the client, in order to avoid a situation where I pick up the wrong person.”

Ji Xiunian nodded, and felt that this dark side of business was quite professional.

Lu Xu stood there explaining and Ji Xiunian listened attentively. He was just short of taking out a notebook and pen.

The cause of Guo Lian’s death was simple. He did not want to live anymore so he took matters into his own hands, he went into the bathroom and hung himself. The process was of course extremely painful, and the scene was hard to look at. However, he had still succeeded in killing himself.

23 years was a good age. Ji Xiunian looked at this young ghost, and asked out of curiosity, “Why did you kill yourself?”

Guo Lian sighed, as though he wanted to cry. “If living was possible, who would want to die…”

Guo Lian was born into an ordinary working family. His home situation was not very good, but he was quite well-off.

After going to university, his friends were big spenders, and quite extravagant. But Guo Lian was an ordinary person doing ordinary things, and he was trapped in this group of people while being painfully ordinary.

In the beginning, Guo Lian wanted to get an iPhone.

His family felt that 10,000 yuan for a phone was not worth it, so they bought him one that was worth 2,000 instead.

But Guo Lian was unwilling to compromise.

It just so happened that the campus’ microcredit service appeared in his vision.

He saw that the conditions for taking out a loan were very lax, so Guo Lian did not think twice before taking one out to buy a phone.

Before he could celebrate for too long, he realized that his debt had multiplied. All of his daily expenses and income were being used to pay it back, but it was not enough.

Then Guo Lian had taken loan after loan from other platforms, incurring more debt he had to pay back.

He thought that it would be fine if he just graduated, but even when he started working, he could not pay it all off.

At the time, he took a loan of 10,000 yuan, and it was a debt of 8,000. But after two years, that 8,000 quickly became 100,000 and had kept increasing.

Guo Lian felt more and more depressed. In the end, he was completely at a loss. He left a will to sue the campus, and then took out a cable to hang himself.

t/n: it’s been a hot minute but next chapter will be on sunday uwu