Chapter 25: Their Own Stories

After the incident with TK, the members of the SSS placed even greater trust in Ye Chen. That was the only reason they had just risked their lives to save TK, and when a small mishap occurred, Yuri had no choice but to forge ahead to scout the way, easing TK’s embarrassment.

They reached a floor paved with long stone slabs. As Yuri stepped forward, she seemed to recall something and stopped in her tracks, momentarily lost in thought. The instant Ye Chen’s foot touched the stone, he realized the ground beneath was hollow—a trap, without a doubt. “The stone floor here is hollow underneath!”

“That’s right! I remember now, this is a collapse trap!” With Ye Chen’s reminder, Oyama finally recalled the danger just in time. As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of cracking stone rang out. In a flash, everyone lost their balance except Ye Chen, who happened to be standing on a solitary stone bridge.

Determined to save whomever he could, Ye Chen grabbed a nearby figure. Shiina, quick as ever, tied a rope around the arm of the person next to her, managing to link most of the group together as they hung precariously in midair. Fortunately, Ye Chen’s body, though now much like any ordinary person’s in this afterlife, still retained the strength he had trained so hard for in life.

But his stamina was nothing like before. With one hand gripping Shiina and the other barely holding onto the stone bridge, he was bearing not only his own weight but that of several others—a situation that would inevitably end in a fall into the abyss if it continued much longer.

“Shiina, just how many people are you holding down there? If I so much as move, we’ll all go down!” Ye Chen tried to haul himself up with one hand, but his strength was failing him.

After considering for a moment, he asked, “Shiina, do you have any more rope on you?”

“Yes!” she answered without hesitation.

“Good. Then listen to me—if we keep this up, I won’t last much longer. If anyone moves unpredictably, we could drop at any moment…” After a brief discussion, they quickly decided on their course; those below were already at their limit.

“Let go!” Shiina replied, releasing Ye Chen’s hand. She swiftly pulled out a longer rope and tossed it to him. Now unburdened by the weight of so many SSS members, Ye Chen leapt up onto the stone bridge, seized Shiina’s rope, and with all his might, hauled the group up to safety.

“Was it Hinata and Oyama who fell? Now there are only five of us left!”

“As a newcomer, you’ve done well to survive this long! But now it’s your turn!” Fujimaki, unwilling to provoke Ye Chen—who had just saved him—turned his sights instead on Otonashi, speaking with a mysterious air.

…

Next came the water trap. Fujimaki, a hopeless non-swimmer, went down as expected. When they finally found the exit and surfaced, a toy puppy, carried downstream, floated into a cardboard box. At the sight, Shiina suddenly transformed, rushing forward at full speed and shouting, “The puppy’s going to be swept away!”

As she passed, Ye Chen caught her scarf and pulled her back with force. She staggered but continued to struggle toward the water. Ye Chen sighed, “That’s just a toy. If you can calm down, I’ll let you hold our Xiao Bai when we get home.”

“Really?” Shiina stopped at once, her mind filled with thoughts of the adorable Xiao Bai.

“Of course. By the way, where did Otonashi go?” After calming Shiina, Ye Chen noticed that Otonashi, who had been swimming behind them, had disappeared.

Yuri closed her eyes in sorrow. “Otonashi sacrificed himself without us even realizing it.”

“So it’s just Shiina and Ye Chen left? If this were a real army, this would be considered total annihilation. I really am a failure of a commander,” Yuri muttered in despair.

Shiina and Ye Chen exchanged glances. Both were poor at comforting others and didn’t know what to say in such a situation.

After a moment’s silence, Yuri began to share her story. “I’m the eldest of four siblings. Our parents were successful in their careers, and we lived in a wealthy family, in a house surrounded by nature, like a villa. During one summer holiday, when our parents were away, several masked men broke into our home. Their intentions were obvious.

“As the eldest, I resolved to protect my younger siblings. But how could I possibly stop them? They were there for money, but when they couldn’t find any, they smashed everything. In the end, they came up with the cruelest idea for us children. They demanded I find the family fortune. If I failed to present what they wanted every ten minutes, they would kill one of my siblings.

“But I had no idea where anything valuable was. By the time the police arrived, thirty minutes had passed. I was the only one left alive. I thought, if there really is a god, then I will defy him, because this is just too unfair! We hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Until that day, I’d always prided myself on being a good big sister. And in just thirty minutes, everything I wanted to protect was taken from me. Isn’t that unreasonable? I will never forgive a life like this.” As Yuri finished, a tear slid down her cheek.

Only now did Ye Chen truly understand why Yuri fought against God. Though nothing he had heard so far suggested there was any divine hand in these events, Ye Chen felt that blaming God was no more reasonable than blaming the world for one’s misfortunes. What had the world ever done to anyone?

“What a moving story!” A gentle voice sounded beside him. Ruo Chen had appeared unnoticed, leaning lightly against Ye Chen and dabbing her eyes with a flower-patterned handkerchief. Ye Chen could barely restrain himself from retorting—what exactly was so moving? Couldn’t she show some respect for someone’s tragic life?

Sensing the mood had sunk, Ye Chen understood that anyone who ended up in this world must have suffered greatly before dying. He spoke up, “Let me tell my story as well.”

“My life wasn’t like Yuri’s. From the moment I was aware, I lived on a peaceful little island, with a loving older sister and a gentle mother. Until the age of four, my days were nothing but carefree play.

“But one day, when I was four, a group of men in black appeared out of nowhere. They said nothing—they just killed my mother. My sister grabbed me and jumped into the sea.

“After that, there’s not much to tell—just years of running from assassins. When I was finally strong enough, I learned those men had been sent by my biological father. He even demanded I put aside my hatred and return to him! How could I just let go like that? I killed his men, cut off his head, and sent it back to him. One by one, I eliminated all his subordinates. The day before I died, I finally killed him as well. When I returned to the island to pay respects to my mother, I encountered a powerful enemy and was killed.”

As he recounted these memories, Ye Chen’s face wore the same gentle smile, as if he were speaking of someone else’s life. “My life before death was simple, wasn’t it?”