Watching the van ascend into the sky, William Dawson asked.

"Yes, and no," the woman in white replied. "Black and White Impermanence are not two people, but two families. Everyone in our families works as underworld messengers, but we can't represent all of Black and White Impermanence."

"So that's how it is..."

Who would have thought you could learn something new after death? William Dawson shook his head inwardly, but what use was there in learning all this?

"Let me confirm your file information," the girl in white took out a folder and pulled out an A4 sheet. "William Dawson, male, 26 years old, Han Chinese, workshop employee at a state-owned enterprise, cause of death as follows—"

At this point, the woman in white clearly fell silent.

"What's wrong? What's the cause of death?" William Dawson asked.

"Well," the woman in white glanced at the file and said, "Your cause of death might just qualify you for a 'wrongful death' quota."

"Wait, I don't get it. I died in a car accident, how does that count as 'wrongful death'?"

"Because the one who was supposed to die today wasn't you," the woman in black, who was driving, spoke up.

"That's right. According to the 'Book of Life and Death,' the person fated to die today is named 'Henry Carter', the old man you tried to give your seat to before you died."

If the girl in white hadn't mentioned it, William Dawson would have almost forgotten that a minute before his death, he had indeed planned to give up his seat to an old man. But the old man didn't accept and walked straight to the back of the bus.

The girl in white continued, "Henry Carter, thirty-six, thirty-nine, forty-two, and fifty-five years old, all committed rape and murder of women and escaped legal punishment. His 'soul summoning value' has reached 97%. So even if he hadn't been hit by that truck, he wouldn't have survived today."

"Good," the girl in black said, "People like that deserve to die early. I know people in the Mirror of Retribution Hell, I'll make sure he gets what's coming to him."

"Is... is that the point?" William Dawson couldn't sit still. "Shouldn't the point be that the old man was destined to die today, but why did I die instead? According to what you're saying... this has nothing to do with me at all."

"Ah, these things happen," the girl in white flipped through the documents. "According to the records, Henry Carter was supposed to accept your offer and die on this bus. The reason he didn't take your seat was because he saw a pretty girl at the back. But theoretically, that girl shouldn't have been in that spot in this timeline. We'll investigate this matter."

"I don't understand," William Dawson shook his head.

"I know, and I didn't expect you to," the girl in white said. "Let me put it in terms you can understand. If you're judged as a wrongful death, then you're in luck. There are two welfare policies for wrongful deaths..."

"Welfare policies...?"

"That's right. The first is, if you have attachments to the mortal world, you can choose your reincarnation family—rich second generation, celebrity offspring, whatever you like. But you'll have to queue and enter a lottery, since there aren't that many desirable families..."

"The second is, if you have no attachments to the human world, you can apply to become an underworld or overworld messenger. But it's really hard to get a permanent position these days—most of the official spots go to people with connections. You can start as a contract worker and wait for an opportunity. The benefits are about the same."

After listening, William Dawson was silent for a while, then said, "This familiar feeling... am I really dead?"

The car sped through the air, and along the way, the two girls—one in black, one in white—were completely at ease.

The girl in black drove while yawning, and the girl in white took out her phone and kept taking selfies.

If he didn't look down and see his own blurred body, William Dawson would have thought he was just carpooling with strangers.

"We're almost at Fengdu City. White Sis, let him fill out the form."

"Alright."

The girl in white pulled a stack of papers from the folder and handed them to William Dawson.

"Although the higher-ups haven't decided if you count as a wrongful death yet, in our experience, it's almost certain. Go ahead and sign the 'Wrongful Death Welfare Policy Application.'"

William Dawson took the document and saw at the top:

"On reducing the resentment of wrongful deaths, resolving disputes among immortal souls, and building a harmonious underworld—Provisional Measures for the Latest Welfare Policy for Wrongful Deaths, Document No. 78..."

William Dawson read the opening lines of the document silently and said, "I never dreamed it would be this official."

He flipped a few pages and, sure enough, saw the two options the Black and White Impermanence had mentioned. Now William Dawson had to choose between them.

"Of course I'll pick the rich second generation."

William Dawson barely hesitated, picked up the pen, and quickly wrote his name.

It wasn't just that he had attachments to the mortal world. All these years, William Dawson hadn't even held a girl's hand. After graduation, he'd been working in the workshop, exhausted every day, with hardly any savings. If he really got another chance, of course he wanted to live it up in the human world.

After signing his name and looking up, he saw that it was already dark outside. William Dawson clearly remembered it was afternoon—why was it so pitch black now? Before he could react, the van suddenly plunged straight down, and amid William Dawson's loud cries, it dove into the ground.

After a brief moment of darkness, a vast space appeared before his eyes.