This year in Dongcheng was much hotter than previous years.
It was only early June, yet people had already changed into summer clothing.
The bus was overcrowded with people. If one didn’t turn their head carefully, there was the chance of almost kissing ten people in the face.
Everyone wore light and cool clothing, but even then they still felt that the heat was unbearable. Amidst the moving mob of heads, the man with sunglasses, wearing long sleeves and long pants, particularly stood out.
He wore a thick, out-of-season suit, tightly wrapped up from head to toe. He held a briefcase under his arm as well as a long black umbrella in his hand. At first glance, he looked like an ordinary office worker.
From time to time he lowered his head to glance at his watch, then up at the road blocked by traffic in front of him, his face anxious.
As the capital of China, Dongcheng drew in a large population of people. Even though the Number Limit Policy had been implemented for a long time, traffic congestion remained a part of the norm. This man had been stuck on the road for half an hour. The cars in front stayed motionless. Looking out towards the sea of cars, it was impossible to see the other end.
[Ding dong, your client is about to ascend to heaven, please do not be late.]
A new message popped up on his phone, reminding the man to pay attention to the time.
As a grim reaper who guided the dead, punctuality was the first principle of professional conduct.
He took out his phone and tapped open the [Grim Reaper Delivery] app. The words ‘Sexy Grim Reaper, Receiving Orders Online’ popped up on the login page.
He then tapped ‘my orders’, and saw that his client’s dark energy was continuously filling up. There was clearly not much time left.
“If I had known earlier I wouldn’t have snatched this order, if something goes wrong I’ll lose this month’s pay raise.” As the man in sunglasses complained, he frantically tried to think of a solution.
He opened up WeChat and sent a message to his pinned contact: ‘Xu ge could you help me receive a person, I’m stuck in traffic again.’
“…”
The other side seemed used to this, and casually returned a line of text: ‘Location of death, client’s information.’
‘Thank you, Xu ge!’
After seeing Lu Xu’s reply, the man finally released a breath of relief and hurriedly sent over the client information and location.
**
“Open City Internet Cafe…” Lu Xu finished confirming the message and stepped on the skateboard. After the tall figure stepped on the skateboard, the trees and cars quickly rushed behind him. The wind swept past his ears, bringing a hissing faint chill.
Near the corner, a short-haired girl carrying her phone suddenly rushed out to cross the street. Fortunately, Lu Xu reacted quickly and jerked to a halt.
“Are you okay?”
“Okay…” The girl lifted her head to gaze into a pair of watery peach blossom eyes and she blushed.
“Don’t play with your phone when crossing the street.” Lu Xu quirked his lips and tilted his head, saying with a faint smile, “Otherwise I’ll have to work an extra job.”
The girl naturally did not understand the deeper meaning within his words, but obediently nodded her head in reflex. Only when Lu Xu had disappeared from sight did she recover her spirits, hurriedly sending a message to her friends: ‘Aaa sisters I just saw a super handsome little brother!!!’
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.
‘Pics!’
‘Glvc’a tjnf alwf ab ajxf!’ Ktf ulgi rlutfv, gfugfaalcu atja rtf vlvc’a atlcx bo jrxlcu obg tlr mbcajma lcobgwjalbc pera cbk. Cr rtf rfca tfg afzar jcv uba gfjvs ab mgbrr atf gbjv, obg rbwf gfjrbc rtf revvfcis gfwfwyfgfv Oe We’r kbgvr, jcv wbnfv tfg ilcf bo rluta jkjs ogbw tfg qtbcf rmgffc.
“Di—!”
Seeing the red light at the crosswalk and the cars passing by her, the girl couldn’t help but pat her chest with a lingering fear—good thing she came to her senses, something terrible almost happened…
**
Open City Internet Cafe was located at the entrance of West Street. It was two stories tall, comprising an upstairs and a basement. The environment wasn’t that great, but the computer network connection was fast and young people came and went in constant streams.
The front desk attendant sported dark eyebags and yawns. He blew out rings of smoke in boredom, occasionally checking to see which computer station ordered food and which wanted to renew its session.
In today’s world, every family had a laptop computer, but playing games at a computer cafe was still the best experience.
He randomly moved the mouse around, his gaze stopping at No. 44.
“Eh, it’s been three days already?”
He vaguely recalled that this station was a regular customer who often pulled all-nighters playing games, basically eating and living at the internet cafe.
He shook his head and didn’t think about it anymore.
Many young people came over after school or over the holidays. Once they sat down, they would stay for hours or even days. As long as they paid, nothing else mattered to the internet cafe.
Just as he was in the middle of a yawn and thinking about dozing off for a bit, he caught sight of a person walking through the door from the corner of his eye.
A pair of red Beats headphones hung from the person’s neck, and his hands carried a white skateboard. He wore black exercise clothing, his legs straight and long.
The attendant had seen many people in all shapes and sizes, but this young person was definitely the best looking out of all of them.
His flaxen blonde hair was curled slightly, his beautiful features stunning. His pale face, arms, and legs were a little dizzying at first glance.
When he saw the person curling his lips at him, the attendant returned to his senses and pointed at the notice on the door. “Did you bring your ID? Minors may not enter.”
Lu Xu was over 200 hundred years old but was still mistaken for a minor. He smiled as he shook his head.
He didn’t hurry to take out his ID and only lowered his head to glance at the time before saying to the attendant, “I came over to find someone.”
“Who are you looking for?” The attendant wanted to say that there were too many people and he couldn’t remember all of their names—he should just make a phone call.
Who knew Lu Xu would reach his hand out and lightly tap his fingertips against the counter. “No movement in three days, don’t you think that’s strange?”
The attendant unconsciously thought of No. 44 and looked suspiciously at Lu Xu.
“Once these gaming addicts come here, they often don’t leave their stations for three to five days.” Although he said that, the attendant was still in doubt for some reason.
He didn’t have to take this person’s words to heart, but without knowing why, his heart felt unsettled.
He first sent a notice to No. 44, then shouted that there was someone looking for him.
But the person didn’t show any signs of movement at all, completely no response.
The attendant had a bad feeling and immediately went over to that side. When he saw the person lying facedown on the table, he reached his hand out and shook him. “Hey, wake up…”
Clatter…
Along with the attendant’s movements, the person at the computer station fell lifelessly to the ground, devoid of any breathing.
The people nearly immediately rushed over to surround the scene, and a scream could be heard a moment later. “Fuck, someone died!!!”
For a while, it was complete chaos.
The attendant first dialed 120, then busied himself with calming the crowd, feeling as if his head could explode at any moment.
When he had come to his senses, he discovered that the youth who had been looking for someone was leaning against the counter and looking his way.
Despite the frantic confusion of the crowd, his gaze was tranquil, his expression even holding a thread of clarity. It was as if he had been expecting this scenario for a long time.
The manager of the internet cafe felt that the situation was very strange. He saw the corners of that person’s mouth curve upwards, his index finger curling as though beckoning someone to come over. The sunlight that filtered through the glass on the door shone on his face. Under the contrast of light and shadow, his face only looked more beautiful. His smile was sly, making his temperament seem enchanting, charming and dangerous at the same time.
He followed the line of the person’s gaze and lowered his head. It seemed like he was calling to the one who was lying on the floor. An inexplicable chill ran up his spine. He wanted to say something yet couldn’t manage to get a word out. Once he regained his senses, he discovered that the place by the counter was empty, and he had no idea where that person had gone…
“Chen Zheng, resident of Dongcheng, 19 years old. Cause of death was acute heart failure due to staying up late for a long time…” Lu Xu went through the process professionally, calmly declaring the client’s cause of death.
“I’m dead?” That slightly overweight soul was transparent. Even though he had seen his corpse lying on the floor, it was still difficult to accept reality.
He was only 19, how could his life have ended before it had even begun?
Lu Xu was used to life and death. Seeing the chubby soul start crying, he only lightly gave his shoulder a pat as comfort.
Through the replay of his death just now, he had already gotten an overview of the 19 year old’s life.
He was born in a well-off family. Neither of his parents’ incomes was bad, but they didn’t have much time to spend with their child. The child’s values were immature and he was easily swayed under bad influence. Since he was young, Chen Zheng became a rebellious youth in everyone’s eyes, always lying to skip class to go and play video games. It was common for him to stay up all night. In addition, his diet was unhealthy and excessive, with a limitless inflow of high-calorie and junk foods.
By the time he was 17, he already had high cholesterol and high blood pressure. After staying up for three nights in a row at 19 years of age, he had come to the end of his life.
People always thought this way, that they had a lot of time, but when they finally came to their senses, they realised that their life was already over.
Chen Zheng held his head in his hands and cried non-stop, regretting that he did not cherish his time properly, regretting that he did not go and do the things that he really wanted to do.
However, things were already like this. It was useless to regret it.
However unwilling he was, Chen Zheng could only go into the death portal that Lu Xu had opened for him.
In the end, he was still wondering. He didn’t even know if his mother and father, after hearing news of his death, would regret not spending more time with him…
Lu Xu stood on the rooftop, registering the customer’s information and then sending it out. Only then did he send the message to Xie An: ‘Done.’
Downstairs was the bustling city, full of traffic and currents that never ceased.
In this world, there were always lives that came to pass. But everyone chased their lives so fervently, believing that death was very far away. Who would care about things like that?
Lu Xu looked down. Any one of the people below him could become his client in the next second.
As guides of the dead, they belonged to the underworld, and were considered civil servants of the three realms.
Due to the development of society and the increasing quality of healthcare, mortality rates had greatly decreased as a whole.
There were fewer and fewer reincarnations, so the pressure from up above was also great. Even the funding for their ‘Grim Reaper Bureau’ had decreased accordingly.
Reapers like Xie An and him who have worked for so many years had to learn to act like humans, and rush to fill their quotas.
Lu Xu raised his head, and saw the humongous LED advertising billboard across the road along with the overly handsome face on it. His popularity was so great that even Lu Xu, who didn’t chase after celebrities, knew that that was the Film Emperor Ji Xiunian.
As he looked at that beautiful face, Lu Xu couldn’t help but think that once this person was at the end of his life, when he went to the underworld, he could probably still organise a fanmeet.
At this moment, Xie An suddenly called. “Xu ge, we discovered a super-stowaway, you better hurry back for a meeting…”
This so-called ‘stowaway’ was basically a human who was supposed to have died but used various methods to forcibly prolong their stay in the mortal realm.
It was no easy feat to change their fate by force. In order for these ‘stowaways’ to continue their lives, they would have had to do some pretty blasphemous things.
The higher-ups had a deep loathing for the actions of these people, and the ruling they passed down was aggressive, severe punishment once found.
After working for so many years, Lu Xu had dealt with quite a few ‘stowaway’ cases. He never thought that a super-stowaway would appear now.
It would be difficult to go over the details clearly over the phone, so Lu Xu put his headphones on and rushed to the office.
For the convenience of their work, the Grim Reaper Bureau had many offices in the mortal world. They were usually branches located downstairs of community residences. It was more cost efficient that way, after all.
Lu Xu rode his skateboard through the streets and alleys, passing around the residence building next to the community hospital. There were many shops selling wreaths near the hospital. Lu Xu kept his gaze straight and headed to the end of the street, then entered a funeral supplies store called ‘Life’s End Service Terminal’.
The size of the shop was not very large, it didn’t seem to be 20 square metres. It was filled with wreaths, handcrafted items, and bundles of yellow paper all piled up in the corner, and it all looked a bit damp.
At this time, Xie An was holding a fat orange cat and lighting incense. He saw that Lu Xu had entered and greeted him warmly, “Xu ge, you came at just the right time. Do you want to get some supper together?”
The initially lazy orange cat brightened up when it saw Lu Xu. It wriggled its round, chubby body and ran towards Lu Xu to rub against his calf.
Lu Xu gently scratched the orange cat’s head then said to Xie An, “No need, just tell me about what’s going on with the super-stowaway.”
Xie An took in two deep breathes of incense, then picked up the laptop on the table and showed it to Lu Xu, “There, that’s him!”
The man in the picture had excellent features, his eyes were deep-set and gleamed with light. Although he looked a bit cold, it seemed to add an invisible charm. Even through a computer screen, it made people feel an inexplicable sort of attraction.
Upon seeing this familiar face, Lu Xu raised a brow. “Ji Xiunian?”
nao: welcome to the Official Alien Bureau™️we are excited to bring you this grim reaper x produce 101 extravaganza uwu
cael: join us for this crazy ride uwu
Ooh a great start, I’m loving the humor so far lol
Thanks for the chapter~♡♡♡
Thank you for the chapter!!
Ah, I suddenly remember Earth is Only after reading the word “stowaway” haha.
This is so good! Thank you for the great translation ♥️
*Earth is Online
I thought I was the only one that read that. (>~<)
lol i also read that before
Produce 101 😭
Grim Reaper x Produce 101 extravaganza hahaha I love it!
Thanks for the chapter! 💕
Lu Xu prevented an isekai XD
thank you for the chapter!
my bet was on the girl isekai-ing into an otome novel as the villainess but sadly, Lu Xu deprived us of a new novel, smh
😂
It look like a great story. Ready for the new journey.😄
So excited you picked this up uwu
xD
wow this story is very interesting, like goblin and awtg movies. anyways thanks for the chapter~
Mm, seems quite interesting, I’m onboard!
I just thought of Kayden from Eleceed webtoon when I read the fat cat xd
Super interesting!! I’m so excited for this!! I will binge this since my Christmas break just started yeheyyyyy
Same here xD
Interesting!
Sorry I actually replied here
Thanks for the chapter! ^-^
Look forward to reading ty for your hard work. 😄
LOL at the pairing description. The title itself looks funny.
Weeee excited for the ride!!! Might not comment much because i’m binging it so i’ll probably get too into it- sorry about that😣
Thank you for the chapter!!💜💜💜💜
Imma read this now uwu uwu. The first chapter caught me!!
here i go
Thanks for translation 🥰
ah! this seems very interesting.
Thank you for the chapter!