Chapter 39: Already Dead

“So, so adorable!!” The moment she stepped through the door, Ye Chen was startled by an ecstatic scream coming from within. Although the voice was tinged with excitement, making it subtly different from usual, Ye Chen instantly recognized it as Shiina’s.

“Ugh...!” A familiar, anguished cry followed; anxiety flared in Ye Chen’s heart, and she rushed inside. There she found Xiao Bai cradled in the arms of a girl who, despite the warm season, wore a scarf with effortless grace. Her blood-red eyes, rather than being intimidating, exuded an unexpected cuteness in that moment.

Xiao Bai, having entered, deliberately refrained from hiding. She sat openly in the center of the warehouse, intending to offer Ye Chen a sincere apology. But she hadn’t anticipated another person inside—and that person was Shiina, whose resistance to cute things was negative MAX. Upon discovering Xiao Bai, Shiina surged forward with a speed surpassing all previous records.

Xiao Bai, her head drawn close and innocent, was nuzzled by Shiina, who held her tightly. Disliking such intimate gestures from strangers, Xiao Bai released a gust of energy, tossing the confused Shiina in a graceful arc right into Ye Chen’s waiting arms at the entrance.

“Huh? Shiina?” As Ye Chen entered the warehouse, something flew toward her. Catching it, she found herself gazing into a pair of crimson eyes filled with pain. Usually cold and aloof, they now sparkled as Shiina stared at Xiao Bai, who had landed elegantly in the warehouse.

The shelves, randomly stacked and often visited, wobbled under the impact of the blast, teetering on the brink of collapse. Shiina, just released from Ye Chen’s embrace, barely managed to utter a perfunctory thank you—perhaps something dismissive—before glancing toward a particular spot beside the shelves and dashing over.

Ye Chen followed her gaze and saw several wind-up toy puppies, their tails wagging left and right. The scene instantly recalled the episode at the underground guild, when Shiina had nearly sacrificed herself to save a flooded toy puppy. The ones here were nearly identical to those from before.

By now, Ye Chen understood exactly what Shiina intended—a reenactment of the guild’s drama. In the blink of an eye, Shiina reached the shelf just as it toppled toward the toy puppies. Alarmed, she cried out, “Oh no! The puppies are in danger!”

She threw herself forward, gathering all the toy puppies into her arms and shielding them beneath her. Eyes squeezed shut, she braced herself for the iron shelf to crash down on her body. Metal clanged nearby; objects fell around and onto her, but none of it hurt as much as she had feared. When all was calm once more, Shiina opened her eyes, immediately checking the puppies beneath her.

After carefully confirming they were unscathed, she sighed in relief and finally looked around the warehouse. Raising her head, a drop of red liquid fell onto her fair cheek, its warmth spreading across her skin. Shiina was intimately familiar with that liquid.

Blood—something Shiina encountered almost daily, yet its appearance now left her stunned.

“Since you’re alright, come help me. It won’t kill me, but it still hurts!” Seeing Shiina inspect the puppies, then her surroundings, and finally freeze in place, Ye Chen could hardly believe this was the nimble female ninja she knew. Annoyed, she called out.

“How shallow…” Noticing Ye Chen supporting the shelf with her back, blood trickling down, Shiina’s usually blank face curved with a faint smile even she herself didn’t notice. She uttered her habitual phrase, then silently climbed up to help lift the shelf away.

“Star, are you alright? How could these things injure you? You must be treated!” Seeing Ye Chen wounded, Xiao Bai reverted to her enchanting, otherworldly form, flusteredly examining the wound as a soft pink energy surged in her palm.

“No need!” Grasping Xiao Bai’s wrist, Ye Chen shook her head. “In this afterlife, even death is reversible, let alone ordinary injuries. I’ll recover in no time.” With the protruding iron piece pulled out, the bleeding slowed and the wound began to heal at remarkable speed.

“This shelf is ruined! For the students’ safety, it should’ve been scrapped long ago!” She pointed at the sharp metal, grumbling at the object that had hurt her.

“Star, I wanted to ask—how could something like this injure you? Isn’t your body’s defense so strong even bullets can’t harm you?” Xiao Bai frowned, gazing tenderly at the rapidly healing wound.

“Huh? You didn’t know? I’m already dead, so I’ve lost my old defenses. It’ll take time to retrain them, but with so little time, there’s barely any progress.” Ye Chen herself was puzzled that her body hadn’t improved much, only gaining a slight boost in strength and defense.

“That’s only natural!” While Ye Chen pondered, Ruo Xing appeared out of nowhere to answer. “Think about it: you’re in a spiritual form now. Even though it feels like a real body, it’s still just spirit. You’ll have to reincarnate and improve later, so training your body here won’t help. Ruo Chen and I are masters of music—if you’re free, we can teach you all sorts of instruments. That’s settled, I’m off~~~”

From the moment Ruo Xing appeared, Ye Chen sensed a guilty evasiveness. She realized Ruo Xing had long known that training her body here was futile, but had forgotten to tell her, thus offering music lessons instead. Ye Chen could only smile wryly and shake her head.

“You’re dead?” Xiao Bai recalled only following Ye Xingchen into a spatial rift, then inexplicably arriving in this world with injuries, but since Ye Chen was nearby, she hadn’t worried. Later, Ye Chen explained everything, but this was the first mention of her death.

“Everyone in this world except you is dead. Didn’t you notice anything odd about them?” Ye Chen was surprised by Xiao Bai’s slow reaction.

“I noticed everyone else right away, but you were always the exception in my heart. So I treated you as still alive. Hmph! Such an important thing, and you didn’t tell me sooner. I’m not planning to forgive you just yet!” Xiao Bai turned away in a haughty pout.