Henry Clark's family background was not very good; it could only be described as lower-middle class. His parents were both wage earners, and after the country underwent economic reforms, both of them were laid off from their state-owned enterprise jobs. Fortunately, his parents had real skills and qualifications, so they barely managed to find two jobs to support the family. Besides him, there was also a younger sister five years his junior, so it could be said that this family was just barely getting by.

Precisely because the family situation was not great, Henry Clark worked especially hard at his studies from a young age. Last year, he graduated from university, and thanks to his excellent spoken English and knowledge, plus the fact that his diploma was at least from a key university, he smoothly entered a foreign-funded company as a junior white-collar worker. In just one year of hard work, he was promoted from a junior white-collar to a junior supervisor. Such a quick promotion in only a year was not only due to his diligence and hard work, but also his quick thinking. His prospects were highly regarded by the company, which planned to focus on cultivating him and had already put his name on the training list for the next year.

Because of this, Henry Clark occasionally got to use the company car. For example, on this rainy night, since he had worked overtime at the company until late, he was allowed to drive the car home. But this car actually belonged to the company... If his death could not be compensated by the other party, then his family would have to bear the cost of repairing the car, and might even face lawsuits and so on. This was something his family simply could not afford, especially if they lost his salary to support them, and his younger sister was still in school...

Thinking of all this, Henry Clark felt utterly hopeless. Then, thinking of his parents and sister, and also his girlfriend whom he had dated since university, now working as a white-collar in another city, his heart ached to the extreme. As the saying goes, desperation breeds recklessness. When his pain reached its peak, he looked at the two police officers still discussing how to handle the car accident, and he truly wished he could kill them on the spot.

"Screw you!" Henry Clark was filled with pain, anger, and regret, all kinds of emotions he couldn't vent. He finally couldn't hold back and threw a fierce punch at David Miller, but what was even more frustrating was that, as a ghost, he could only pass right through the person in front of him, not even making the slightest contact. This sense of powerlessness and pain made Henry Clark even more desperate, and he let out a wild, anguished howl toward the sky.

"Crackle!"

A flash of lightning snapped and flickered beside David Miller and the other police officer, startling them so much they almost jumped. But the flash only made a brief sound before disappearing instantly, looking much like the short spark produced by a power short-circuit. The two exchanged a glance and both took a few steps further away from the high-voltage transformer.

"Xiao Li, hurry up and get that body out of there. If you blow up the transformer, it won't be funny..." David Miller glanced a few times at the charred corpse, then turned to say a few words to the officer beside him, shook his head, and walked toward the police car.

When that flash of lightning appeared, Henry Clark was too agitated to notice. It wasn't until David Miller had already walked away that he slowly recovered a bit from his despair and grief. At this point, he had become a soul, his body burned to charcoal, separated from the living world, and nothing could be changed anymore. No matter how much grief and despair he felt, it was already a done deal. Henry Clark could only accept all this with silent resignation, but his heart felt even heavier, filled with guilt toward the parents who gave him life and raised him, making them suffer the pain of losing their child.

"I should go see them one last time, before the Black and White Impermanence appear—go see my parents and sister again... It's just a pity that Emma White is in Nanjing, and I probably won't get the chance to see her again..." Henry Clark sighed sadly, no longer caring about what the police were doing, and simply floated up, drifting toward the familiar streets where his home, his parents, and his sister were... This might be the last time he would ever see them.

As he flew along, Henry Clark gradually calmed down. His current situation was indeed a bit unbelievable—he never expected that after death, there would really be a soul, with consciousness and thought, not just a mindless zombie state. Other than lacking a physical body, he was no different from a normal person. In other words, maybe many of those legendary myths were actually true? Like the underworld, the Black and White Impermanence, and maybe even those immortals really existed...

Thinking of this, Henry Clark's heart slowly began to burn with hope again. He was not someone who gave up easily. Because his family was poor, he had worked hard at his studies since childhood, never envied or resented the rich, and never asked his parents to buy him anything expensive. You could say he had always been a tough and resilient person, with a stubborn spirit that refused to admit defeat. As long as there was a glimmer of hope, he was willing to try anything.