Falling In Love With The Grim Reaper

The Grim Reaper stood there for a long time, seemingly lost in thought.

After a while, he realized that Chi Jiayan hadn’t reacted. When he looked down, he saw that the boy had passed out. 

What did he mean when he said things have changed in the future? Why erase Chi Jiayan’s existence in advance?

The Grim Reaper could jump back in the past, but he couldn’t jump to the future. There was no way to find an answer to these questions.

He settled Chi Jiayan down in the bed in the bedroom. The black cat followed immediately, jumping up to find a place beside the pillow, curling up comfortably. It seemed that he was used to this position, stomach rumbling as it purred, content.

The Grim Reaper was expressionless as he looked at the bluish fingerprints bruised on Chi Jiayan’s fair neck. 

At this moment, he noticed a stack of papers on the bedside table.

It was one painting after another, all of which were murder scenes.

The main character in each painting starred Chi Jiayan.

There were versions of him at five or six years old being trampled by monsters and vomiting blood. There were others of him a little older being surrounded by ghosts. Most of them were of him huddled in a corner in the dark, ghosts approaching him with bloody grins and outstretched claws.

These paintings seemed to be Chi Jiayan’s dreams. Maybe they even happened in reality, but the Grim Reaper had no way of confirming that.

The Grim Reaper flipped to the last painting, which looked the most childish. It was likely painted by Chi Jiayan when he was younger.

In the painting, a tall man in a black robe was riding a wolf, smiling faintly.

A speech spirit’s life was ill-fated and destined to be difficult. No wonder Chi Jiayan became psychologically distorted when he grew up, and no wonder Chi Jiayan desperately wanted to find someone to rely on in the present. 

For him there was extremely little warmth in the world, and he looked for it with a patient and cautious heart.

The Grim Reaper tucked the last painting into his robes.

He entered the next death instance to see what the future was all about.

“Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~” 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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“It’s time to make a wish, Jiajia,” the teacher said in a daze. 

“Hm…what should I wish for?” Chi Jiayan grinned, deliberately taking a while to think hard. “Well then, I’ll make a wish not to die today.”

Nobody responded.

Chi Jiayan didn’t care. He folded his hands across his chest and closed his eyes, appearing to genuinely be making the wish.

He opened his eyes and blew out the candles. Everyone clapped one by one. 

Someone seemed to snap out of it. The smile in Chi Jiayan’s eyes abruptly disappeared. “Wait. Where do you think you’re going?”

That classmate trembled. “We—we finished singing…”

Chi Jiayan’s smile returned. “You haven’t eaten any cake yet.”

Nobody dared to move. 

Chi Jiayan was wearing a white T-shirt and a birthday hat. He looked clean and fresh, but it made everyone present feel cold. In fact, Chi Jiayan was no longer a student. He dropped out of school half a year ago without reason. At that time, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, because as long as Chi Jiayan was in the class, everyone who was close to him would be unlucky. Originally, he had a good personality, good looks, and was very popular with girls. Later, the fact that he was a disaster star gradually spread in the school, and when his deskmate got into a car accident, several boys put him in a sack and beat him up.

For some reason, Chi Jiayan suddenly returned to school today. Before everyone could regain their senses, the whole class was singing happy birthday to him.

After dividing up the cake, Chi Jiayan said, “Everyone should eat it all up. Because I made it myself.”

Once he finished speaking, he walked out of the classroom, the sun’s rays blinding him. 

When he readjusted his eyes, he found a tall figure in black robes standing at the end of the corridor.

The Grim Reaper had arrived.

For Chi Jiayan, they hadn’t seen each other in about five years.

But he didn’t display any sign of surprise. Smiling brightly, he said plainly, “Gege’s here.” 

In these five years, Chi Jiayan grew into a young man with a slim figure and a handsome face. Although he still had the youthful energy of a teenager, his appearance had changed a lot. Most notable was the cool and collected temperament he exuded, which was very different from the impulsive, lively, and expressive personality of the past.

The Grim Reaper still wore his mask, approaching him silently and coldly.

“I miscalculated. If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted my wish.” Chi Jiayan’s pupils were extraordinarily clear under the sunlight. “I just made a wish not to die today, and then Gege showed up.”

This tone of “ah, you came at such a bad time” felt like a rebuke exchanged between friends. 

The Grim Reaper felt like he was a bit unfamiliar. “You aren’t scared?”

Chi Jiayan said, “I’m scared.”

The Grim Reaper: “……”

“Let’s not speak of these unhappy things.” Chi Jiayan returned to the classroom to get a slice of cake. The classmates and teacher were eating ravenously, some of them still licking their plate after finishing eating. This was because of Chi Jiayan’s order to “eat it all up”.  

“Please, have some cake. Today’s my birthday, after all.”

A girl who was allergic to eggs cried in the classroom.

Chi Jiayan’s eyes darkened. He asked, “Am I bad?”

The Grim Reaper didn’t take the slice of cake, nor did he answer the question. He didn’t think there was any need to say more. He only had one purpose for this trip, and that was to take Chi Jiayan away. 

After a while, Chi Jiayan was supposed to be standing on the side of the road. A peddler selling oranges would overturn a bucket of oranges. 

The next moment, a cyclist would run over an orange and crash, and the dog in the bike basket would run around after being startled.

Then, the worker installing glass at the front of a store would miss—

Finally, the shattered glass would have the opportunity to cut through the arteries of Chi Jiayan, who would be passing by. 

In the original timeline, Chi Jiayan would be able to escape by his sharp eyesight and quick hands.

But this time, the Grim Reaper would ensure his death would happen.

In the present moment, Chi Jiayan sighed after seeing that the Grim Reaper wasn’t going to take his cake. He walked back to the classroom and said something to the crying girl. The girl grabbed her school bag and ran out as if she had been granted a pardon.

Only then did Chi Jiayan step back out, smiling at the Grim Reaper. “Let’s go.” 

A cat popped out of nowhere and jumped onto Chi Jiayan’s shoulder.

The Grim Reaper paused, recognizing that this was the black cat from before. Not only was he not even a little bit old, he looked no different from an ordinary adult cat. When he saw the Grim Reaper, his fur stood up and he bared his teeth, letting out a threatening “woo woo”.

Even the totem-shaped Cang Feng began to show signs of transformation.

“Cang Feng.” The Grim Reaper stopped it. 

Chi Jiayan chuckled, his brows and eyes relaxing. “Cang Feng still hates Xiao Hei so much.”

After five years of growth, Chi Jiayan had grown in height to reach the Grim Reaper’s ear, which was already quite tall. He had a calm demeanor, totally without the fear a dying person would have, walking in a leisurely manner.

After walking a long way, they came to a boulevard.

Chi Jiayan suddenly said, “Can you show me what you look like?” 

The Grim Reaper stopped in his tracks. He never thought that Chi Jiayan would make such a request.