Hell

In a hazy sleep, Huai Shi felt himself falling.

In the darkness, down, down, and further down, as if many people were accompanying him. Some were screaming in terror, others struggling numbly, but soon, they all disappeared.

He fell into the water, as if sinking into a deep pool, or perhaps he was lifted without weight, drifting in the darkness with the current.

He felt as if he were already dead.

But also as if he were on the path to dying.

Almost there.

A voice told him so.

But death seemed endless, carrying him bit by bit into deeper darkness. Until he was washed ashore by the cold tide onto a muddy bank.

A hunched figure emerged from the dimness, looking down at him, bending to grab his leg, and dragging him to the side of a grass hut on the muddy shore.

Knock, knock.

The door opened.

The smell of rotting corpses spread out.

Inside the grass hut, light shone only on a blood-stained operating table. An old man with white hair and a wrinkled face, wearing a mask, was intently dissecting a corpse before him, occasionally pulling away to sketch on a drawing beside him.

Under the dim oil lamp, perfectly prepared specimens hanging from hooks dripped preservative fluid.

The hunched figure pointed at Huai Shi and reached out to the old man behind the door, asking for something.

The old man glanced at the boy on the ground with his cloudy eyes and slowly shook his head, "He's not dead yet. Why did you sell me a living person?"

"Almost, almost..."

The hunched shadow made a strange sound, like a mixture of a dog's and a fox's bark. "He's almost there... the origin essence... there's still origin essence..."

"I'll only give you half. If you agree, leave him. If not, drag him away." The old man crossed his arms, watching indifferently.

The shadow seemed angered and screamed loudly.

The old man remained unmoved, looking at it impassively until it dejectedly reached out its hand. "Half, half..."

An old copper coin was dropped into its hand.

"If you have nothing else, get lost. Don't disturb my work."

The old man looked down at Huai Shi on the ground, frowned, grabbed one of his legs, and with effort, dragged him onto the operating table, casually sweeping the already mangled corpse aside.

The sound of the shadow closing the door made Huai Shi's eyes twitch. He tried desperately to move, opening his mouth to mumble, but coughed out a mouthful of bloody foam.

"Still not dead?"

The old man pried open his eyelids, looking at the whites of his eyes in surprise. His dry hands grasped Huai Shi's bones, and finally, he nodded with satisfaction.

"A very standard structure. Though the strength is insufficient, it should serve as a temporary spare part... if I can maintain its best condition."

He sighed.

Huai Shi let out a gurgling sound in his throat, but it was useless.

"You have something to say?"

The old man looked at his trembling eyes, a little helplessly. "You're almost dead. Isn't it better to die peacefully? I've seen many people like you. You've already crossed the border and fallen into Hell, so dying is only natural, right? Now, it's just that your origin essence hasn't dissipated. What else is there to complain about?"

He took out a bottle of potion and poured it into Huai Shi's blood-foamed mouth. The intense spiciness and strange sourness stimulated Huai Shi's throat, and a molten-copper-like heat flowed down his throat, igniting his body like a raging fire, allowing him to let out a hoarse groan of pain.

"This is a potion I bought from that kobold, used for mummies. It can keep organs active when someone is dying. But don't expect to live; it's just converting your remaining lifespan into vitality and squeezing it out... This way, you can say a few more words before you die, and I can work more conveniently. Won't you cooperate?"

The old man lowered his head. "Remember, don't scream. I hate noisy sounds."

Huai Shi struggled to suppress the sounds of pain, his body convulsing. As the old man had said, he was actually able to emit a faint sound in his dying moments.

"...Where is this?"

"In your terms, it's Hell, depth twelve. My corpse workshop, a place where I sell small items to customers. Soon, you'll become one of those small items."

As the old man spoke, "Let's make a deal..." Huai Shi swallowed the taste of pain, gasping with difficulty. "Actually, I quite want to keep living. Let me go."

"No, I've already bought your corpse. How can you not die? Besides, you only have a few minutes left. If you die outside, I'll have to drag you back."

Under the dim light, the old man's eyeballs rotated on different axes. One black eye looked at Huai Shi, while a red one was focused on where he was about to cut. "Look at your body. Your origin essence is depleted; your time is almost up... Although your vitality is so strong, it's already like ashes, about to burn out. Wouldn't it be better to just die obediently? You can at least burn off your remaining value..."

Huai Shi stared blankly at the ceiling covered in dried blood. Pain had been replaced by numbness, and even his voice had become dry and hoarse.

"I can't die here..."

"Why can't you die?" the old man said earnestly. "Everyone can actually die."

As if his curiosity had been piqued, he began to chatter:

"I've seen many people. They all thought they were very important, playing the most special roles in this world. But when they came here, they were all dead.

After they died, the world continued to move forward. The sun rose as usual. Reality didn't stop or stagnate because of their absence. So they were wrong; they were actually no different from anyone else."

He pointed to various figures and explained to Huai Shi: "This person was once a high-ranking official; this person was a righteous warrior who had slain countless villains; this person was a dictator's teacher, and under his tutelage, the dictator transformed from a tyrannical man into a wise leader. This is the dictator he taught... but they all died.

Since one is born, death is irresistible. Even gods are the same. A hundred years, two hundred years, watching the world change... After a thousand years, even a god would find this world boring.

Compared to them, what are you?"

"But I still don't want to die."

Huai Shi blinked hard, trying to stop the tears from blurring his vision. "How about this? Don't look at me as weak; I'm actually a tough guy. A man's tears are worth a fortune. I've cried, so can you let me go?"