Life Countdown 1h20min
"Will it hurt?" Zhang Youzhi asked nervously, looking at his skin, which had already begun turning blue and stiff.
"Probably not. I've never died, so I wouldn't know." Number Two pushed Zhang Youzhi around a public cemetery in Crane City.
"How about giving me another pill?" Zhang Youzhi was getting cold feet.
"No more. Another one would probably give you fatal heart palpitations on the spot."
"I really can't take another?" Zhang Youzhi didn't believe it.
"Really."
"The medicine will last another twenty minutes. While you have those twenty minutes, think about whether you've forgotten anything. Once it wears off, you'll probably slip straight into a near-death state and lose consciousness."
Zhang Youzhi shrank back, wondering whether he had overlooked anything. He had settled everything with his family back home and his old friends, said everything he needed to his girlfriend, and given the assets in his online accounts to friends he had known online for years. In his ten-odd days in Crane City, he had met some new people and made a few friends, but that was about it.
He barely knew them. In a sense, they were strangers.
"Do you think people really have souls after they die?" Zhang Youzhi asked hesitantly.
Number Two looked into Zhang Youzhi's hopeful eyes and pondered for a moment.
"Well, the scientific community hasn't reached a conclusion yet. But judging by the latest developments in quantum mechanics, souls might actually exist. Still, dead is dead. Who knows?"
"Now I finally understand why there are so many religions. Without something to believe in, it's really hard to stay calm in the face of death."
"Religion is all fake. Reincarnation is even more ridiculous."
"Can't you humor a dying man? Show me some of your company's miraculous powers, tell me you're actually White Impermanence and I'll become Black Impermanence after I die, and then I'll be reincarnated..."
"Stop." Number Two crossed both hands in a T.
"Then I'll be reborn with my memories and become a business tycoon. I'll be born in the nineties and dominate real estate and the stock market..."
"Or I'll travel to a cultivation world with a system and embark on the glorious path of marrying holy maidens and goddesses from every world-no, that sounds a little unfair to Li Douyu."
"Or maybe my soul will leave my body the instant I die, and I'll arrive in a world where everything is still. I'll roam that frozen world, using endless time to explore the essence of life and the truths of the universe. It might get a little lonely, so give me a duck or a sunflower to raise. A cat would work too."
"Do you think there's a chance I'll travel to some magical world after I die and become a great oil painter...? Yeah, painting was always my dream as a kid."
Zhang Youzhi rambled on as though he would never run out of things to say.
Number Two covered their forehead and let out a long sigh.
"Seriously, Zhang Youzhi, where do you get all these wild ideas?"
"I need something to hope for." Zhang Youzhi gazed at the empty, silent cemetery, his eyes slightly vacant.
1h5min.
"Is the medicine about to wear off?" Zhang Youzhi gripped the handles of his custom wheelchair, nervous.
"Five minutes left." Number Two checked their watch.
"What about now? Is it almost time?"
"Five minutes left."
"What about now? Is it about to wear off?"
"Five minutes left."
"What about now...?"
Unable to take any more, Number Two left Zhang Youzhi where he was and walked away.
"Oh, it's just me now."
Zhang Youzhi looked at the endless gravestones before him and counted them one by one.
"One, two, three..."
"Is it crowded for the people living down there? Do houses down there cost thirty thousand a square meter too?"
"At least I won't have to work after I die, right?"
"But will I still get to eat good food?"
"When they cremate my body, I shouldn't feel any pain, right? If that won't work, bury me instead. Being burned to ashes is pretty scary."
Zhang Youzhi's thoughts began wandering uncontrollably. The gravestones before him seemed to glow faintly, and every one appeared to hold a hazy figure.
"Hey, hello." Zhang Youzhi raised his arm and waved at the strangers.
"Oh, thank you. I'm not hungry anymore. No buns for me." Zhang Youzhi looked down and shook his head at a cute girl with her hair in a bun, then patted her head.
"Yuyu, should we have a little girl like her someday?"
"Have you no shame? Have one yourself. I'm not giving birth to a little rival." Li Douyu made a show of trying to hit Zhang Youzhi, then crouched down, held the little girl, and looked her over.
"She's so pretty, like a porcelain doll." Li Douyu marveled as she pinched Duoduo's little cheeks.
Duoduo held a little gray kitten, presenting the kitten to Zhang Youzhi as though showing off a treasure.
"Meow~"
"Oh, your leg's healed." Gray Kitten jumped into Zhang Youzhi's lap, and he lifted the kitten's right forepaw, turning it this way and that to inspect it.
"It really has." Li Douyu leaned against Zhang Youzhi's back, bobbing her head.
"We'll raise this kitten together from now on."
"Sure." With a grand flourish, Li Douyu took the kitten's paw and pointed at Zhang Youzhi.
"Say Daddy."
Then she pointed at herself.
"Say Mommy!"
Then she pointed at Duoduo.
"Say big sister!"
"Stop tormenting the kitten. Cats can't talk." Zhang Youzhi held Li Douyu in his arms and nodded at the man before him.
"Dad, you can trust me with her. As long as I have a bite of meat to eat, she'll have a bite of sweet-and-sour ribs."
The man nodded, looking rather melancholy at the thought of his grown daughter leaving home, then simply stood there in silence.
"I was looking for the cat. So this is where the little one went." The homeless man scratched his head and gave Zhang Youzhi an embarrassed smile.
"You can keep the cat. If it weren't for you, the infection would definitely have killed the poor thing."
"All right, thanks!" Zhang Youzhi laughed heartily, then turned to He Min.
"How's your company doing?"
He Min looked enviously at Li Douyu in his arms, her expression dimming. "The other vice chairman took over. I even landed the CEO position. Dozens of people from the company went to prison, so we're short-staffed. It's still giving me a headache."
"Hey, having something to look forward to is good. You won't keep trying to kill yourself now, right?"
He Min blushed and shook her head. Now, whenever that came up, she felt mortified. All she could do was loudly retort, "Let me tell you, I made that cheating pair suffer. You should've seen how he begged me afterward. It felt so good. Hmph."
"Not bad. You've come a long way." Zhang Youzhi gave He Min a thumbs-up.
Then Zhang Youzhi looked at the older couple approaching.
"Hey, Dad, Mom." Zhang Youzhi tucked Li Douyu behind him, scratched his head, and looked rather sheepishly at the two people before him.
His mother didn't even spare her son a proper glance.
"Oh, Yuyu, when are you going to give us a grandson?" His mother held Li Douyu's hand as though admiring some rare treasure.
"It's still too early, Mom." Li Douyu's cheeks flushed, and she fidgeted shyly.
"What do you mean, too early? When your father and I were your age, Youzhi was already crawling all over the place."
"How long ago was that? How can you compare it to now?" Zhang Youzhi hurried over to rescue his wife.
"Well, Mr. Li."
"Let's discuss the wedding for these two kids."
"It's settled, then. Everyone come to the wedding banquet."
"We will!" The group nodded at Zhang Youzhi's beaming mother.
"Ah, it's evening."
You should all head home.
Only Zhang Youzhi and Li Douyu remained.
"Nobody's around. How about a kiss?"
Li Douyu shook her head and pressed her lips together without speaking.
"What's wrong? Who's been picking on you?" Seeing her expression, Zhang Youzhi didn't dare tease her anymore. He simply took her in his arms, as he always did.
"You have."
"As if I could." Zhang Youzhi shook his head.
"You have."
"I'm sorry. I was wrong, okay?" Zhang Youzhi kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly again.
After everyone had disappeared.
Looking at the pitch-black world before him, Zhang Youzhi took a step forward.
"Which of you wants to find me?"
Nobody answered.
"All right, then I'll come find you."
As the figure before them vanished into the darkness, light returned to the world in an instant.
Someone checked his pulse and gently shook their head.
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