Chapter 494
In the depths of the Mini Reaper Garden, the City of the Dead was always bathed in a soft, warm light.
Here, time seemed to stop, and peaceful days stretched endlessly. The Mini Reapers and the humans they cherished reveled in small joys they had never been able to experience during their lives.
“Let’s have a snack in the park today!”
A young man said brightly.
A small golden Reaper was perched on his shoulder.
In life, he had been a worker at a so-called “black company,” tirelessly working without rest.
He had barely survived the days filled with overtime and weekend shifts, with only the smile of the golden Reaper to keep him going, but now, everything had changed.
There were no signs of the exhaustion that once etched his face, nor the hunched shoulders that had been his constant companions.
“What should we eat today?”
Pudding!
Instead, his face was filled with pure joy, just like the golden Reaper’s.
In a corner of the park the young man headed toward, there was an elderly man sitting on a bench.
“Human, look here!”
Around the elderly man, another golden Reaper fluttered like a butterfly, pointing at all sorts of things and chattering away, as if it was fascinated by everything.
“An enormous cloud!”
The elderly man followed the tiny golden finger’s direction and looked up at the sky.
Indeed, a massive cloud floated gently in the air, as soft as cotton candy.
“Yellow flowers on the ground!”
This time, the golden Reaper pointed at the ground.
A yellow dandelion, almost the same size as the golden Reaper, was pushing through the stones.
The golden Reaper giggled, comparing its height with the dandelion.
The elderly man smiled softly at the sight.
In life, the elderly man had always been lonely.
He had lost his wife early, and his children lived far away.
The golden Reaper, his only friend, had visited him every day, its eyes shining with curiosity about everything. But at that time, he could not hear its voice.
Of course, it was expressive enough that there was no difficulty understanding what it wanted to say.
“You had a voice like this. Just as I imagined.”
The elderly man patted the golden Reaper’s head, his voice filled with deep affection.
?
The golden Reaper tilted its head, confused, but it still smiled back at the affectionate human, as if satisfied with his happiness.
Hehe.
A little farther from the bench where the elderly man sat, in a grassy field, the director of the Golden Reaper Research Institute and several researchers were celebrating a festival.
Under the warm sunshine, balloons of all colors swayed between the branches, and the sweet scent of snacks and drinks filled the air.
A banner stretched across the grass, reading “A New Beginning for the Golden Reaper Institute!” in sparkling letters.
The researchers greeted each other warmly, like family members meeting after a long time.
Their faces bore a lighter, more carefree smile than before.
No longer did they feel the burden or pressure of research.
Instead, they were filled with pure curiosity and the joy of exploration.
“Director, we’ll make an institute here too.”
One researcher said excitedly.
Another researcher chimed in, equally thrilled.
“Doesn’t it sound fascinating? The characteristics of the afterlife and its objects!”
Among the group of researchers was the director of the Golden Reaper Research Institute, wearing a white lab coat.
He seemed a bit flustered by the enthusiastic suggestions but couldn’t hide the joy in his small golden eyes.
The researchers, still smiling brightly, pulled out a gift box the size of a golden Reaper and presented it to him.
“Here, open the gift box quickly!”
All the researchers looked at him expectantly.
The golden Reaper hesitated for a moment.
Was it because of the nightmare it had seen before? Just seeing the gift box made its heart race, as if it was full of wood for a fire.
Carefully, almost like it was checking for something scary, the golden Reaper opened the box with its eyes half-closed.
At that moment, its eyes sparkled with excitement.
Inside the box was a new design of the director’s uniform, neatly folded.
Though it wasn’t drastically different from the previous one, the subtle changes in the details felt like a herald of a new beginning.
“It’s a uniform made for the new research institute!”
The researchers proudly explained.
They too pulled out similar new lab coats from their bags.
The director of the Golden Reaper Research Institute changed into the new uniform.
Once the new uniform was on, the remnants of the nightmare from before seemed to disappear, leaving behind only a sense of freshness.
The researchers immediately suggested taking a commemorative photo.
Everyone gathered around the golden Reaper on the high platform, and they all smiled brightly, as if they had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
With a click, that moment was forever captured.
In the photo, the director of the Golden Reaper Research Institute was wearing the new uniform, surrounded by researchers, smiling happily.
In a corner of the dream garden, atop a high mountain peak.
I was looking down at the spectacle created by the lead puppet.
The City of the Dead sprawled beneath me like a massive work of art.
The enormous city, endlessly expanding, didn’t feel like just a collection of buildings—it felt like one enormous living being.
It’s more impressive than I thought.
I couldn’t help but admire it.
This was no mere city; it seemed like a giant machine designed to manage the flow of souls.
From its massive structure to the intricate details.
It was too much of a hassle for me to manage on my own.
Looking at its structure, the key seemed to lie in the Halo of Circulation and the Blue Giant’s abilities.
The Halo of Circulation, which governs life, captured the souls of humans, and then the Blue Giant’s abilities were used to bring the dead here one by one.
It was effective, but it was something I could never do myself.
The moment I stopped guiding the dead, this space would lose its purpose.
I could have left it to the Mini Reapers, but I couldn’t be bothered to do such a thing.
Unfortunately, none of the Mini Reapers had grown enough to handle this task.
Speaking of which, when did the lead puppet get so strong?
It had grown significantly since it devoured the Blue Immutable Orb not long ago.
Did it secretly take some sort of potion?
Besides, no matter how I thought about it, it seemed difficult for me to operate it myself.
Maybe it was because I was originally human, but my mental capabilities were still at the level of a human, except for Time Acceleration.
In other words, the idea of harvesting a massive number of souls one by one sounded like an incredibly tedious task.
In that sense, the lead puppet was truly an object.
It had quickly harvested all those human souls, and now, as a Dekkji, it was tirelessly collecting the dead.
I turned my gaze downward to the one who had caused this massive change.
[ Dekkji… ]
The lead puppet had become a perfectly round transcendental Dekkji and was sprawled out.
In fact, the construction of this City of the Dead wasn’t the problem.
It had been a necessary task for the Mini Reapers, who had long been engulfed in deep sorrow.
But the true issue with the lead puppet was something else.
It was the lack of follow-up measures.
I let out a silent sigh.
Creating a paradise-like space and leaving no safety measures in place.
What if the existence of this place was revealed to the outside?
Or what if someone thought to contact the outside world or return?
Just the thought of these troublesome scenarios made my head spin.
Of course, the golden Reaper’s mental corruption would likely take care of most of these problems, but there was still a chance that an unexpected issue could arise.
To avoid such troublesome matters, the afterlife should remain a mysterious, eternal secret.
Then, an interesting thought crossed my mind.
Come to think of it, is the lead puppet going to become the god of the afterlife?
It felt like something out of an ancient myth, and for some reason, I found it amusing.
Hehe.
I quickly put on a serious expression and pointed at the Dekkji lead puppet.
Then, I sent a firm message to the gathered Mini Reapers.
“Under no circumstances should the existence of the City of the Dead be revealed to the outside. Understand?”
?
At first, the Mini Reapers tilted their heads, clearly not understanding what I meant about keeping the city a secret.
For them, Valhalla was nothing but a good place with no drawbacks.
But since it was my command, they all nodded obediently.
At the top floor of James Tower, in James’s office.
James had piled up various snacks in his office and invited a number of golden Reapers to throw a party.
“Hehe.”
“This snack looks weird!”
“What is this?”
After causing a ruckus in the office, James used candy to lure some of the golden Reapers and casually asked a few questions.
“Recently, a lot of people died. Do you have any solutions for that?”
James asked the question as naturally as possible, making it seem like just another casual remark.
?
The golden Reapers, tilting their heads in confusion at James’s words, eventually understood and giggled.
“It’s a secret!”
“Mom said it’s a secret!”
The golden Reapers covered their mouths with both hands as if they couldn’t speak, laughing.
But for James, that response was enough.
The golden Reapers’ reaction itself revealed the existence of a solution.
The reason James threw this party was to see the golden Reapers’ reactions.
His pet Reaper had become so smart that it no longer displayed such obvious reactions.
“Aha! It was a secret!”
Realizing that James had tricked the golden Reapers, his pet Reaper, slightly annoyed, ran over and began whacking James on the head.
As James was being playfully hit, his phone buzzed three short times.
James picked up the phone with a serious expression, and the golden Reaper stopped its playful attack with a similar serious look.
“This is…”
James stood up with an even graver expression.
On the screen of his phone was a blurry photo taken from a great distance, with the following message:
“A massive object has appeared near Eastern Europe.”
“It is classified as high risk. The shape of a giant.”
“Currently, no external corrosion or contamination is visible.”
