THE SERIAL SHORT STORY PROJECT WITH XIE SHI MIN CHAPTER 1
“Who are you? Where is my girlfriend?!” Jiajun demanded. The little boy in front of him shook his head. “You cannot see her,” he mocked, in a singsong voice, before becoming serious again. “It is against divine law for the living to pursue the dead.” “Who asked you for your opinion?” Jiajun snapped at him, annoyed. “Well, you did. You asked me for an audience, remember?” The little boy grinned. He transformed, growing taller and taller, older and older. At last, he was a grown man with a bushy beard and a crown. Somehow, a throne adorned with dragons appeared and he sat on it. A desk appeared before him and awnings framed his seat. The little boy had transformed–no, wait–was, the Lord of the Dead. Jiajun staggered back. “I’m surprised that you even made it this far.” Yan Luo Wang, the Lord of the Dead, remarked. “You–” the sixteen-year-old sputtered, staggering back. “Surprised? I take on many forms,” he said, his voice becoming raspy. The deity’s face became more and more wrinkled, with his beard growing grey. “Regardless of age, death comes to us all. This is something you must learn, Huang Jiajun.” The teenaged boy’s jaw had dropped to the floor, literally. He was in a dream, after all, and in dreams, anything was possible. “Welcome to the ten courts and eighteen levels of hell, Huang Jiajun. Except… you should not be here. Not yet. Few mortals come here when they are alive, and their requests usually amount to the same thing: bringing back a loved one. But it is not possible.”