Rebirth and wishing opportunities
The last feeling Song Jiu had in his life was a bone-crushing pain and endless darkness.
On Monday, the early morning sun, with the coolness of early autumn, shone through the old window lattice onto Song Jiu's face.
He got up quickly, put on his sportswear that was a little faded from washing, and started his morning run day after day.
The route is fixed, and he always passes by his real home - Sunshine Welfare Home.
Through the rusty iron fence, he saw the headmistress, the kind woman surnamed Song who had dedicated half her life to this place, struggling to move a heavy cardboard box from the door to the small warehouse in the yard.
"Headmaster Mom!" Song Jiu called out across the railings and quickly walked into the yard. "These are too heavy. I'll come and help you after get off work."
The headmistress looked up at the sound, beads of sweat on her forehead. Seeing Song Jiu, the wrinkles on her face relaxed like chrysanthemums in autumn. "Xiaojiu, you're here. It's okay. I can move these things slowly by myself." She habitually reached out to touch Song Jiu's head, just like she did when he was a child.
Song Jiu bent down slightly to cooperate, but pretended to be angry: "No! Your waist is not good to begin with, and the doctor said you can't exert yourself. If you don't listen to me, I will come to your place for free meals every day and eat you out of money!"
"Hahaha," the headmistress laughed, her eyes filled with unwavering love and heartache. "I wish you could come every day. I'm just afraid you're too busy with work to take care of an old woman like me."
Song Jiu, this name was given by the headmistress's mother. It was a casual name, but it marked his life as an orphan who grew up in an orphanage. Because he was young when he came, he was the ninth child in the family. The headmistress's mother's surname was Song, so he got the name "Song Jiu".
He was adopted by five families and was returned five times for various reasons, both obvious and hidden.
Those unpleasant comments were like tiny thorns that pierced his young heart.
Later, the headmistress stopped looking for someone to adopt him. She saved money and provided him with food, clothing, and education, and raised him to adulthood.
This child has suffered more than anyone else, but he is also more grateful and hardworking than anyone else.
Fortunately, Song Jiu worked hard and was admitted to a prestigious university with his determination. After graduation, he joined a good company. Although he was just an ordinary employee, his life was stable.
He specially rented a house near the welfare home so that he could come back at any time to take care of his mother, the headmistress.
"Headmistress, please wait for me and don't do it yourself!" Song Jiu saw that it was getting late, and while running out of the yard, he turned back and reminded her worriedly.
"I know, I know, be careful on the road!" The headmistress stood at the door, smiling and waving. The sunlight outlined her figure, which was no longer upright but extremely warm.
Song Jiu also waved and turned to join the crowd of people going to work.
He didn't know at that time that this was the last ray of warm sunshine belonging to the world he would see in his life.
------
After get off work, the office instantly becomes lively.
"Song Jiu, let's go. We have a department dinner today at the newly opened barbecue restaurant. I heard the food is amazing!" a colleague greeted enthusiastically.
Song Jiu quickened the pace of packing his things, with an apologetic smile on his face: "No, no, I really can't go. I have to go back and move things for the headmistress's mother. Her back is not in good condition. Next time, next time for sure!"
Like a nimble fish, he quickly passed through the noisy crowd and walked out of the company gate.
I was thinking that after moving the things, I could help the headmistress sort out the pile of old books in the yard.
The city is bustling with traffic during the evening rush hour.
Song Jiu stood at the familiar intersection, waiting for the red light to count down.
The afterglow of the setting sun gave the tall buildings a golden edge, and everything seemed so ordinary.
However, accidents always happen at the most unexpected moments.
A huge force suddenly hit him from the side and rear!
It was an out-of-control electric tricycle.
Song Jiu only felt a piercing pain in his leg bones, and his whole body fell forward uncontrollably, falling heavily in the middle of the road.
"Ah..." He grimaced in pain, his vision went dark, and in his ears were the terrified screams of passers-by and the harsh sounds of brakes.
He subconsciously wanted to use his hands to support his body and escape from this dangerous place.
At this moment, a larger and more suffocating shadow enveloped him.
A large truck loaded with cargo came towards him with irresistible inertia.
The driver seemed to have seen him as well and honked the horn desperately, but the huge wheel was already very close.
"Watch out for the car!" someone shouted at the top of his lungs.
Song Jiu only had time to raise his head, and the ever-larger, cold, rough tire tracks were reflected in his pupils...
"boom!"
It's not the sound, it's the feeling.
The body was crushed and torn by an indescribable force. The "crackling" sound of broken bones was clearly transmitted to his eardrums, and his internal organs seemed to be squeezed and exploded in an instant.
The severe pain lasted only a very brief moment, and then endless darkness and coldness quickly swallowed up all his consciousness.
------
When he opened his eyes again, the horrific feeling of being run over by a car and crushed to pieces still made Song Jiu's soul tremble and feel scared.
He looked around blankly, then his eyes widened.
Where...is this place?
What comes into view is an extremely vast, solemn and magnificent space.
He seemed to be inside a huge ancient temple, but the scale was beyond imagination.
Above my head was a dome so high that I couldn't see any details, and there were faint star-like lights flickering and moving.
The black stone ground under my feet was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting everything around me, but I couldn't see my own shadow.
Countless giant pillars that require several people to hug rise from the ground, supporting the heaven and earth. Intricate and mysterious runes are carved on the pillars. Those runes are not static, but slowly flow, emitting faint light of different colors, like breathing.
The air was filled with a faint scent, which was hard to tell whether it was sandalwood or some kind of cold fragrance. It was refreshing, yet carried an absolute tranquility and solemnity.
In the distance, there is a hazy, aurora-like band of light slowly floating, illuminating the entire space with a light that is neither bright nor dim. It is a constant, mysterious glow between dusk and dawn.
Magnificent, magnificent, quiet and solemn.
This was the only adjective Song Jiu could think of.
The beauty here carries a sense of rules that cannot be desecrated and transcends life and death. It makes people feel awe, but strangely not afraid.
He subconsciously turned his gaze and looked behind him.
This sight frightened him so much that his soul almost disintegrated.
A person, at some unknown time, just stood there silently.
He was wearing a simple black robe with dark golden flowing cloud patterns on the fabric, which changed slightly with the angle of light.
His long jet-black hair was tied up with a simple jade hairpin. His face was handsome to the point of being almost unreal, with fair skin, sword-like eyebrows slanting into his temples, and a pair of eyes as deep as ancient wells, without any emotion visible.
He just stood there, as if he had merged with this magnificent space and become a part of the rules.
"Who are you? Where is this?" Song Jiu subconsciously took a step back, his voice trembling with fear.
The black-robed man's expression remained calm, his tone even steady, as if stating a settled fact. "I am the Judge. This is the Underworld. Due to a mistake in my work, your life ended abnormally. Now, the Underworld will grant you a chance at rebirth, along with one wish, as compensation."
His voice was cold, his words were clear and loud, without any emotion, but it exploded in Song Jiu's "mind" like thunder.
Judge? Underworld? Rebirth? Wishes?
Song Jiu read a lot of online novels during his lifetime, so his heart's ability to withstand stress is indeed much stronger than that of ordinary people.
After the initial shock, a feeling of ecstasy of surviving a disaster mixed with anxiety about reality surged into my heart.
"Really?! What are you waiting for? Take me back!" He shouted anxiously, afraid that it would be too late. "My headmistress is waiting for me to move some things! She has a bad back and can't do any heavy work!"
The judge understood what he meant, but simply shook his head slightly, the movement so small that it was almost invisible.
"I'm sorry, but you can't return to your original world. Your body was completely destroyed in that accident and can no longer hold your soul."
"What?!"
Song Jiu was filled with anger and grievance, "Your mistake?! It was your mistake that cost me my life! I don't care what method you use, I have to go back! The headmistress can't move those things by herself! I promised her that I would go back!"
His voice was tearful. In his 23 years of life, the headmistress was his only bond.
"I can help you with this." The judge's tone remained calm. He raised his slender fingers and casually drew them in the air.
A ripple like water waves spread in the air, forming a clear image - it was the entrance of Sunshine Welfare Home.
A sanitation worker in an orange vest was enthusiastically helping the headmistress move the heavy cardboard box into the warehouse, and the headmistress kept thanking him.
"Look, the problem has been solved." The judge withdrew his hand and the image disappeared.
Looking at the headmistress, Song Jiu felt even more sad.
Now that he is gone, is it as if he had never existed in that world and for the headmistress?
"Don't worry," the judge seemed to see through his thoughts. "In your original world, all records of your existence, as well as the parts of the memories of everyone who knew you, related to you will be properly erased or corrected. She will not be sad about your departure."
"I'm relieved? What am I relieved about?!" The sadness in Song Jiu's heart instantly turned into a nameless rage. He shouted at the judge, "That's the world I've lived in for twenty-three years! It's my only home! Now you say I can't go back? And you want to erase all traces of my existence? Why?!"
After roaring, a huge feeling of powerlessness swept over him.
He slowly squatted down. Although his soul body had no substantial weight, he still made this move, buried his face in his knees, and stared blankly at the shiny black ground beneath his feet.
It turned out that he tried hard to live and tried hard to leave some trace, but in the end it was so easily wiped out.
The judge looked at him quietly, without urging or comforting him.
After a long moment, the cold voice sounded again: "You can choose to go to another world and enjoy a brand new life. This is compensation."
Another world? A brand new life?
Song Jiu muttered sullenly, with a touch of self-abandonment and anger, "...Then I want to travel into a certain book and beat that scumbag to death!" He thought of a novel he had read recently, in which the scumbag top made him so angry that his teeth itched.
Judge: “…”
Even with his unchanging concentration for tens of millions of years, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
He silently looked at Song Jiu squatting on the ground, his eyes seemed to say, "Such a precious opportunity, and you're just thinking of slapping someone?"
Song Jiu looked up and caught the judge's subtle, almost non-existent speechless expression. He also felt that it was a bit outrageous and scratched his head: "...Okay, then, I'll think about it."
He stood up, rolled his eyes, and asked tentatively, "Then... can I have a few more wishes? Buy a resurrection armor... oh no, a resurrection package?"
This time, the judge's eye twitched noticeably.
He was probably thinking: Since you are so greedy, you should just go and reincarnate.
He said no more, took a step forward, stretched out his hand as if to pick up Song Jiu, and threw him directly into the Forgetful River not far away, which had appeared at some unknown time and was flowing with hazy starlight, to send him to the afterlife.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Song Jiu was so scared that he waved his hands repeatedly, "A wish! I really can't remember what I want! Can I wait until I want it, okay?"
The judge paused, looked at his anxious expression, and pondered for a moment, as if evaluating the rationality of this request.
Finally, he nodded almost imperceptibly: "Okay. The wish authority is reserved and can be fulfilled at any time."
"That's great!" Song Jiu immediately breathed a sigh of relief, his face instantly turning from gloomy to bright. All the sadness, anger and grievances before seemed to be thrown into the sky.
He opened his arms, as if embracing the future, his face radiating with a glow of extreme longing, his eyes shining, and he loudly declared:
"Since I can live my life over again, this time, I, Song Jiu, will live a life obsessed with money and luxury!!"
The sound echoed in this magnificent and solemn palace, appearing particularly abrupt and full of vitality.
The judge looked at his heartless and rapidly changing state and fell silent again.
He stroked his graceful chin and thought for a while, as if he was weighing some kind of consideration, and finally nodded slightly, almost imperceptibly.
"Yes." He said briefly.
Then, he flicked his sleeves lightly, and a ray of light flew out from his fingertips and landed on Song Jiu's shoulder.
The spiritual light dissipated and turned into a fist-sized, round, translucent object.
It was like a soft cloud, emitting a faint milky white halo. There were two small black dots on it that served as eyes. At this moment, they were blinking curiously and jumping lively twice on Song Jiu's shoulder.
"This is a guiding spirit that will follow you. Whenever you want to make a wish, just tell it," the judge explained.
Song Jiu looked at the harmless and even cute little ghost on his shoulder. Although he knew that this was probably his "wishing customer service"
But as a former materialist who had just died, he was still a little nervous. He nodded with a slightly stiff expression: "Oh... OK, okay."
The little ghost seemed to sense his emotions and rubbed his neck affectionately. It felt cool, but not uncomfortable.
The judge said no more, raising his hand and swiping it through the air. With his movement, the space before him was silently torn apart like a curtain, opening a portal filled with shimmering light and a hazy scene within.
The noisy atmosphere of the human world emanated from inside the door, forming a sharp contrast with the solemnity and tranquility of the underworld.
"Go ahead."
Before the judge finished speaking and Song Jiu had time to react, he felt a gentle but irresistible force acting on him.
"Hey? Wait—"
Before he could utter the word "down", he and the little ghost on his shoulder were "sent" into the door of resurrection.
With a flash of light, the portal closed instantly and disappeared without a trace.
In the magnificent palace of the underworld, eternal tranquility was restored once again.
Then, he turned around, took a step forward, and his figure blended into this boundless majesty and splendor, as if he had never appeared.
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