Appointments and Return

The headless corpse that had already fallen to the ground suddenly stood up stiffly and strode five meters away.

The mud-smeared head rolling on the ground blinked.

His body walked up to the head on the ground, bent down to pick it up, rinsed it in the bucket of coolant beside him, then placed it back on his neck.

The head and body became one again.

The worker raised his head in confusion and looked around, only to see the shocked gazes of the crowd fixed upon him.

The pain from the angle grinder cutting through him—the trembling bones in his neck and the spasms of his brain nerves—still filled his mind vividly. Even his neck still ached faintly.

The worker touched his neck. It was perfectly intact, without even the slightest scar.

"Am I alive or dead?" he turned and blankly asked a worker standing only two meters away.

"Y-you...!"

The man being questioned stared at him, pointing at his neck with a trembling finger. He stammered for a long while, but ultimately said nothing.

Because he suddenly recalled certain folk tales. It was said that if a "dead person" asked whether they were alive, answering incorrectly would anger them.

But if he answered that the person was still alive, his own lifespan would be shortened—he would have to pay with his life.

He had a family. He did not dare.

The worker twisted his neck. Seeing his coworker's reaction, a thought surfaced in his heart: I might have won the gamble!

He felt his body brimming with strength. Looking down, he spotted a brick.

He reached out and gripped it.

Crack. The brick crumbled like tofu. It was real!

His heart filled with indescribable joy. This was an elevation in the very level of his life. No longer