Afterlife Department

Chapter 276 - Gu Shi

Jason Baurne cried on Jonathan Baurne\'s feet when they reached the hospital. "Uncle! I\'m sorry!" he apologized as he sobbed. "Xiao Ling shouldn\'t have died! He shouldn\'t!" he cried. "It\'s all my fault! If xiao Ling didn\'t help me avenging my parents, he shouldn\'t have… he shouldn\'t have - !" he said. "It\'s me… it\'s my fault!"

Lao Xie sighed as he patted Jason Baurne\'s back. "Blame me, Jonathan. This is all my plan." He said as he looked at Jonathan Baurne who was silently looking at him and Jason Baurne while he sat on his wheelchair. Lu Si was standing beside him, patting his shoulder to comfort him.

After a while, Jonathan Baurne finally spoke. "If I truly didn\'t know, then I would definitely have blamed you." He said. "Qiu Xi told me everything.. It is I, this useless brother. This is my fault." His eyes reddened. "I am the one who should avenge my elder brothers, but I am soft-hearted. I am so useless!" he said and slapped himself.

"Jonathan!" Lu Si called and held Jonathan Baurne\'s hand.

"Uncle! It isn\'t your fault! It is mine!" Jason Baurne sobbed. "Xiao Ling knew Xi Zhengteng would definitely doubt our performance back then, so he sacrificed himself!" he cried. "I am so useless! I let him die, right before my eyes!" he punched the floor in anguish.

Jonathan Baurne\'s room was filled with cries of regret and sadness. Lu Si was silent. He\'s the only one who has been in the dark this whole time. He clenched his fists in anger. But, his anger isn\'t directed to Lao Xie, nor Jonathan Baurne, nor even Jason Baurne. It was directed to Xi Zhengteng. If it wasn\'t for Xi Zhengteng, Joseph Baurne wouldn\'t die. He and James Baurne would still be alive, and Jonathan Baurne wouldn\'t be forced to inherit the family head\'s position and leave him.

He\'ll make Xi Zhengteng pay, along with the Lee family! They are all murderers that deserve to die in the most painful way!

Suddenly, Lao Xie\'s phone rang. "Xiao Shi?" he answered. He fell silent for a while before he heavily sighed. "Thank you." He told him before he ended the call.

"Gu Shi?" Jonathan Baurne said.

Lao Xie nodded. "He had already taken care of the public opinion towards the Lee family by releasing the evidence of their crimes. You can storm and kill them now." He told Lu Si.

"Finally!" Lu Si punched his hand, his eyes gleaming viciously.

Jonathan Baurne looked at Lu Si before he turned to Lao Xie. "Why didn\'t I see him?" he asked, referring to Gu Shi.

"He has been fatally wounded." Lao Xie answered.

"WHAT?!" they were shocked.

"Wait!" Jason Baurne cried. "They are all my people I planted around Xi Zhengteng while Xi Zhengteng was still in abroad. I have replaced all of his people. They should recognize Lao Xie\'s people." He explained. "They can\'t kill Gu Shi!" he said.

"What if one of them slipped in your net?" Lao Xie sighed.

Jason Baurne fell silent. Everything isn\'t full certain. They, in the underworld, know this. "I\'m sorry…" he apologized as he knelt before Lao Xie. His eyes dull in exhaustion and defeat.

Lao Xie didn\'t answer. "Xiao Shi has always had his mind somewhere else." He said. "I can\'t fathom his thoughts, but he is innately kind." Or else, he wouldn\'t have taken Gu Shi under his wing. "I heard him muttering someone\'s name." he said.

"Which name?" they curiously asked.

Lao Xie shook his head. The words Gu Shi was talking before are incoherent.

"I remember when I first met Gu Shi. You brought him to our residence to introduce him to us." Jonathan Baurne said as he recalled. "That time, he looked like he had lost his soul. His eyes are lifeless." He said.

Lu Si nodded. "His built is that of a mercenary\'s. I wanted to recruit him that time, but he\'s already one of your children." He told Lao Xie.

Lao Xie calls his subordinates as \'children\', since he doesn\'t have his own children. Lu Si calls his subordinates as his \'brothers\', since he has lost his brothers. Jonathan Baurne calls his subordinates as his \'people\', which their family lacks the most after Joseph Baurne and James Baurne died, rendering their family weaker after their father died.

"Is his condition before that bad?" Jason Baurne asked as he recalled Gu Shi\'s appearance when he first met him. "Lao Xie. Where did you pick him up?" he asked as he turned to Lao Xie.

"I found him wandering in the streets." Lao Xie answered. "He has bumped into a group of gangsters and they\'re about to kill him when I arrived. The gangsters recognized me from the business news and I traded him for a bag of cash." He sighed with emotion when he remembered what happened before. "The gangsters were shocked for me to trade a waste life for a big cash. Then, they asked me if I need more people. That time, I arrived not that long in the underworld and I, indeed, need more new people, particularly more familiar with the underworld. And so, I hired them along with xiao Shi." He told them.

They couldn\'t help but marvel the fate. They continued to talk inside the room while Yi Bing was silently listening, leaning on the wall not far from Jonathan Baurne\'s hospital room. Now that his soul is complete, his power became stronger.

Before, because of his prejudice to Jason Baurne, he sees the other as an eyesore. Added to the fact that Jason Baurne indirectly killed Huo Ling, Yi Bing\'s dislike towards him grew more. Then, when he sensed Jason Baurne after the other left the Baurne residence to meet with Xi Zhengteng who was disguising as Xi Zhengting, he was shocked. Jason Baurne has his half soul! What\'s more, he dislikes him!

His dislike reached its peak, since he knows Jason Baurne would fall in love with Huo Ling after being possessed by Yi Bing\'s half soul. However, what he didn\'t expect is that…

He lowered his head as he looked at his open Death Note in his hand. A video was playing in the page. He remembered that he had watched the video before when he went to the Baurne residence to go to Huo Ling\'s funeral together with Di San.

The video is one of Huo Ling\'s memories when he was alive. Huo Ling is standing on the stone bridge decorated with wild flowers that can be found in the Baurne residence. Then, Yi Bing immediately closed the Death Note, like he did before, when he saw someone approached Huo Ling.

The person is a handsome man with a sunny disposition, and he approached Huo Ling with a bright smile on his face filled with so much affection. His facial features surprisingly looked like Jonathan Baurne\'s. However, Jonathan Baurne didn\'t have a son.

The man who approached Huo Ling is Jason Baurne. Yi Bing may be prejudiced, but he doesn\'t let it affect his judgement. He could see that, in Huo Ling\'s memories, Jason Baurne is affectionate towards Huo Ling, completely contrary to everyone\'s impression of Jason Baurne\'s relationship with Huo Ling, since the two are always competing with Jonathan Baurne\'s affection.

One is a blood-related nephew, while the other one is an adopted son. It is really inevitable for the two to clash, but, contrary to everyone\'s expectations, the two are actually acting like blood-related brothers. Yi Bing thought it was the familiarity of being near to one\'s blood-related kin. However, the look in Jason Baurne\'s eyes as he looked at Huo Ling in Huo Ling\'s memories tells otherwise.

The affection in Jason Baurne\'s is way beyond of the affection towards a brother. Yi Bing knew, when transmigrating to another world, unless you have specified a time, you can definitely go at that point in time in a world. However, since they crashed their way transmigrating in this world because of an accident, Yi Bing suspected the half of his soul time travelled and possessed Jason Baurne in the past, thus changed his original relationship with Huo Ling.

This increased Yi Bing\'s dislike towards Jason Baurne. He doesn\'t want anyone lusting after Huo Ling. However, he is helpless about it since it is his fault in the first place, anyway. As for whether Jason Baurne originally hates Huo Ling, or likes, it doesn\'t matter to Yi Bing now since he has fulfilled one of Huo Ling\'s wishes in this world.

Yi Bing left and entered the elevator. His figure is gone the moment the elevator doors closed. However, at the same moment, the door of Jonathan Baurne\'s room opened and Jason Baurne came out. He turned, and knitted his brows when he thought he saw someone familiar. He was about to go when he heard Jonathan Baurne\'s voice from inside called.

"Get me a hot milk. How about you, Lao Xie?" Jonathan Baurne asked.

"Tea." Lao Xie answered.

"Black coffee for me!" Lu Si said.

Jason Baurne turned and looked at the closed door before he smiled. "Alright!" he yelled before he turned to look at the elevator again. The elevator doors opened and a couple came out. He immediately shook off the strange feeling earlier and left to buy their drinks.