Death… And Me

*Drip...*

*Drip...*

*Drip...*

Rean's eyes began to move as the sound of dripping water echoed in his ears. He was having a very nice nap without any intention of waking up. However, the sound of dripping water slowly took him away from his dream world. Eventually, he slowly opened his eyes as his conscience took over his body. He then looked in the direction of the restroom and noticed the faucet making an annoying sound through the door.

"Who left the tap open?"

But it was at this moment that he remembered that he lived alone. It was obvious that he was the one who did that. Or perhaps, the faucet was leaking due to overuse. In any case, he might need to call someone to fix it.

However, Rean's expression changed in the next second.

"My.. house?!"

Rean got up as fast as he could. Although that was what he tried to do, he felt that his body was several times slower than it should be. After cultivating to the Core Formation Realm and undergoing various body upgrades, his body would be as light as a feather. But now, it was just too slow and sluggish. Besides, his own point of view seemed to be a little lower than what he was used to while standing.

In the end, Rean stopped in front of a mirror, just to see his old self once again!

"This..."

Rean then felt a cold air blow on his back before taking a look at what it was. Sure enough, the aircon was on, making sure the room stayed cool. There was also the TV, his smartphone on the table, etc...

"I'm actually back on Earth?!"

"Wait! That doesn't make sense! I was hit by truck-kun, so my body was definitely mangled to bits. How come my body is fine?"

That wasn't all. Rean knew very well how his emotions played back on Earth. Because of the Soul Gem System, he was akin to a walking doll. He shouldn't feel surprise, shock, or anything of the sort. However, he truly can feel his emotions playing as normal as when he was in the Cultivation World.

As Rean tried to wrap his head around what was happening, his smartphone began to vibrate on the table. Because Rean didn't care about anything, his smartphone was one of the most basic and cheapest ones out there. Its only use was to read emails if need be or for a sporadic call here and there. Other than that, it wouldn't be wrong to call it a paperweight.

Rean then took the phone and looked at the identity of who was calling.

-Work-

Without any other choice, he took a deep breath and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Oh! You finally picked up. Rean, are you okay?"

Rean immediately recognized that voice. It was one of the Metal Engineers that worked in the same company as him. It was not like they were close or anything like that. Rean was basically no one's friend before his death. That being said, he felt that it was weird that his coworker would call him with such concern in his voice.

"I'm... fine. Why do you ask?"

The guy on the other side sighed before answering Rean's question with another.

"What do you mean with 'why do you ask?' You're late as hell for work. You've been working here for many years. This is literally the first time you got late for work. Naturally, the others thought you suffered some accident or something like that."

Rean could understand that logic. The man was correct. Rean was just moving his body as society dictated back then. With that said, he followed a strict routine even though he didn't think too much about it. Society said that becoming late to work was bad, so he had never done that ever since he got his job after graduating. If it did happen, he called in advance and gave a proper reason. For example, if he got sick. But even those occasions only happened three times in his previous life. The fact that he missed work after so many years of diligence worried his coworkers even though they didn't have much of a relationship.

"Oh, sorry. I'm incredibly sick at the moment. I was barely able to move last night, so I failed to call the company about it. I don't think I can go to work today."

Rean then heard his coworker talking on the other side.

"Hey, Luize. Rean said that he's sick. It seems he's feeling pretty bad."

A woman then took over the phone before answering the man's words. Luize was Rean's sector supervisor. She was also his boss back then.

"So that's why. Very well, Rean. Take as long as you need to recover. There's no need for you to give me your medical proof later either."

The coworkers behind the phone immediately complained when they heard that.

"Hey, hey, hey, Luize! Isn't that too unfair?"

Luize snorted straight away.

"Once you become a diligent worker like Rean, who's worthy of ones' trust, you can come to me and say that again. Rean had almost never missed work in the past ten years, but how about you guys? If you want to be treated like Rean, then shut up and go back to work."

Luize then passed the phone back to Rean's coworker, with the latter saying.

"Man... I wish I had such treatment. Well, I would probably pretend to be sick anyway, so I guess I better not have it. Anyway, see you when you get better."

Rean nodded, replying.

"Alright, sorry for the trouble."

Rean then turned off his phone. There was a good thing about Rean's problem with his soul back then, the fact that he would always follow all rules perfectly. It didn't mean that he was an outstanding worker or something like that. If anything, he was pretty average. However, he always completed his tasks and never lacked time when the company needed him. It turned out that ten plus years of good work brought something good to him, after all.

"Sigh... such nostalgic voices. However..."

Rean looked at his hands and his surroundings. The more he looked at it, the more real it seemed. After some time, he decided to sit on his bed and try to check his cultivation.

"As I thought, I have no cultivation whatsoever. First of all, I can't feel the presence of Spiritual Energy either. Roan... I guess his name is simply Death in this world... Anyway, he did tell me that our half of the Universe doesn't have Spiritual Energy. Naturally, there is no way that I have Spiritual Energy now."

Rean began to doubt himself. 

"Was everything I passed until now a dream? Or is this the effect of the Bloodline Trial? The trial is about the soul, so I guess it wouldn't be weird for my soul to be trapped in this world. Even though I say that, everything is still too real."

Rean then got up and changed his clothes before opening the door to his house. Outside, the sun shone brightly, and the people around moved as if nothing was happening. Rean passed by the convenience store where he usually bought food and was complimented by the same workers as before. Well, they found it quite weird since Rean saluted back, which never happened.

Rean continued to walk as he looked at everything, looking for some clue that this was all a dream.

"Just what could the Bloodline Trial be about? First of all, did that even happen? I looked into today's date, and this is just one day after my accident. Assuming that I survived and everything is a dream, there's no way my body would be this fine. But then again, what if the accident itself was a dream as well? Wait, can a dream last for decades?"

He could still remember all the years he spent in the cultivation world. If that was a dream, then it was an incredibly long one, that's for sure.

It was then that Rean had an idea.

"Wait! If this is all a dream made out of my memories in the Bloodline Trial, then it shouldn't be able to generate places I have never been before."

Rean quickly ran back to his home and took his car before driving away. He had a single destination, heading out of his city. Obviously, he had never cared about traveling or things like that in the past. Unless he was brought along with his family or had to travel for work, he would definitely be in his city. All he needed to do was to go to one of the nearby cities he had never stepped before.

However, just as he was passing by one of the roads, he remembered something.

"My parents' house... is close to this place."

Rean felt a little conflicted before finally gritting his teeth and entering the next exit.

He only had to drive another twenty minutes before he stopped in front of a common house that could be seen almost anywhere. Nevertheless, he recognized this one with a single glance. He quickly parked his car and came out before touching the doorbell.

"Just one second."

Rean immediately recognized the voice coming from behind the door. That was none other than his mother, that's for sure. Immediately, he began to feel a bit off. How should he act in front of his mother? He didn't know. The previous him never cared about his parents' existence, nor his siblings. In fact, he didn't even care about his own existence to start with.

The old woman then opened the door before showing a surprised expression as she said.

"That's rare. Unless we go out to visit you, we never had the chance to see your face. Weird... did something happen? You look somewhat... different."

Sure enough, a mother was a mother. She caught something unusual in Rean's behavior the moment her eyes saw him.

"Mom..."

Out of nowhere, Rean heard a voice echoing on his mind. No, it would be better to call it a cry, a little girl's cry.

*sniff, sniff...*