The truck sped towards them, failing to brake in time and colliding violently with the old woman by the road.
Just after a loud crash, terrified screams erupted.
The truck overturned, and the old woman lay motionless in a pool of fresh blood.
Lin Xiayi walked over, took the old woman's hand, and gently helped her to her feet.
It was as if only she and the old woman's soul were in that space; no one else could see them.
"This is...!Am I really dead?" The old woman looked at her hand as if she could see through it, then turned her gaze to her own motionless body, her voice tinged with bitterness.
Lin Xiayi smiled, her eyes crinkling. Her soft hair cascaded down her back, and she wore a flowing white dress that reached past her knees, with matching shoes.
"Let's go." Her voice was clear and ethereal. She turned and walked ahead, leading the way. The old woman followed behind, but kept looking back several times, a lingering attachment to the mortal world in her gaze.
The old woman asked, "Where are we going?"
"I don't know," she replied, "just to where we need to be."
Though unspoken, the old woman knew that the beautiful girl with the sweet voice before her was an angel who had come to collect her soul. This brought her some comfort, easing the shock she hadn't yet accepted.
Ahead, a young man came running. He wore a school uniform, his body covered in blood, apparently having just been in a fight.
He was panting heavily and ran right through her.
Lin Xiayi froze. For the first time, she felt such difficulty breathing, and her left chest throbbed with sharp pains.
"What's wrong, child?" the old woman asked, concerned.
Lin Xiayi seemed not to hear. She knew exactly what she was; she had no true physical form, so she could easily pass through anyone. What had just happened left her bewildered.
A few days later, a little angel sat close to the screen in a movie theater.
She was engrossed in the unfolding stories, but when she could partly guess the ending, she looked bored.
Hearing her name called, she turned her head.
Before her was a man dressed in a sophisticated black suit, with sharp, distinct facial features.
His expression seemed cold.
"Hello, Senior Ying Jun," she giggled.
He was Wu Ying Jun, bearing the mission of an angel. His personality was somewhat eccentric, peculiar, and extremely serious.
"Lin Xiayi, what are you doing?" From start to finish, he kept his eyes fixed on her, frowning like a boss catching a lazy employee during work hours.
She pointed at the large screen, which showed a couple kissing passionately. With that same mischievous smile, she replied, "Watching a movie!"
"Pointless," he said. He glanced at it once, then turned away.
Lin Xiayi pouted. She was very interested in the human world.
The total number of movies she had watched amounted to hundreds, even thousands. She had also absorbed a great deal of knowledge, no different from a human.
"You should remember your duties. Stop daydreaming." Having said that, he vanished.
Wu Ying Jun seemed to have read her thoughts and issued a warning, but after all, daydreaming cost nothing, so she might as well enjoy it.
Lin Xiayi happily continued her movie-watching session.
Not long after, she was informed that she needed to collect another soul. She lazily stood up, sighed a few times, and then vanished.
The movie theater continued to operate as if nothing had happened.
Following the soul's light signal she was assigned to, she arrived in front of an alley. The darkness within made her sigh again.
Before her was a scene of a dozen thugs, all covered in wounds, ganging up on someone. Because they obscured her view, she couldn't see clearly. She could only lean against the wall and wait for the unfortunate person being beaten to die so she could collect their soul.
The boisterous laughter of the thugs drove her mad. Yet, she didn't hear a single whimper.
Lâm Hạ Y approached, alternately crouching and craning her neck to get a look at the dying person.
Feeling helpless after a few failed attempts, she shrugged and walked through the crowd.
Seeing the person curled up, clutching their head on the ground, something stirred within her, boiling over until she lost her composure.
The person glanced at her, staring intently with a look of surprise, but before long, they were kicked a few more times by the others.
Doubtful and disbelieving, she waved her hand in front of him, but to her surprise, one of the men grabbed him by the collar, yanked him up, and landed a direct punch to his face. Blood splattered.
Lâm Hạ Y was stunned, blood splattered onto her.
Suddenly, thunder rumbled, lightning flashed a few times, and then rain poured down in sheets.
The men were also startled and ran off, or rather, ran to escape the rain.
He was thrown against the wall with a thud, coughed a few times, then panted, his eyes finding her as she fumbled with the blood on her clothes.
“No, this can’t be! How could this happen, I’m covered in blood…” Lâm Hạ Y exclaimed, anxious and wide-eyed with disbelief.
“Hey…” His faint voice reached her through the din of the rain.
She heard him and looked up, rainwater streaming from her forehead into her eyes, as tiny raindrops danced lightly on the ground.