The green taxi continued on the ring road, the mountain wind blowing. On both sides, trees towered into the sky. The higher they climbed, the sparser the human settlements became; sometimes, for hundreds of meters, not a soul was seen.
Not long after, the taxi driver finally applied the brakes. Ren Yuanhao, who had barely slept and had just participated in the Martial Arts Association competition, woke up from a short nap.
He looked around and was stunned.
Fifty to sixty meters ahead stood an old brick and tile building with a chimney piercing the sky. A black and white sign at the entrance was clearly written.
He peered closer and saw the words 'Crematorium' emblazoned there!
—Holy cow, a crematorium? What's going on?
Ren Yuanhao felt something was amiss and immediately asked, only to hear the driver say, "That's right, Jingping Mountain, the winding mountain road, number 106, that's the place."
It wasn't surprising that Ren Yuanhao thought of these things, as the employer's conditions were rather strange. He shook his head and sighed, noted down the driver's phone number, and reluctantly got out of the car.
As soon as he stepped out of the green taxi, the mountain wind whipped back, and a chilling aura assailed him, as if something had blown a cold breath down his neck.
He instinctively shivered and, steeling himself, walked towards the crematorium entrance.
Upon reaching the mountain gate, he saw funeral vehicles parked outside. Men and women, grieving their lost loved ones, wore expressions of sorrow and melancholy, like clouds hanging in the sky.
He steadied himself. No system prompt appeared in his mind. With no other choice, he stepped through the crematorium gates.
As soon as he entered, an icy chill rushed towards him, as if alive. The surroundings were shrouded in mist, and the smell of smoke and fire swirled upwards. A giant camphor tree stood majestically, like a canopy, blocking out the sun and sky. The cold wind rustled its leaves.
"So cold."
Ren Yuanhao felt the bone-chilling wind. The mourners, amidst the swirling, ghostly mist, seemed like souls adrift on the borders of the underworld.
"The employer is waiting for you in the backyard. Please proceed quickly."
"Backyard? That's the morgue!"
The system fell silent. Ren Yuanhao had no choice but to bravely walk through the dim, somber corridor to the backyard.
The eaves of the backyard were covered in green moss, and the white walls had a greenish tint. Lush, verdant ivy sprawled disorderly. On either side were carved beams, and on the wooden pillars, yellow talismans were occasionally pasted, bearing the inscription 'Taishang Laojun, urgent as the law.'
The gray and black marks left by dried water stains resembled vast nets. In the center of the backyard stood an incense burner, with ash scattering in the wind, making the air appear hazy and unbearable.
Ren Yuanhao fundamentally did not want to go any further. The dense deathly aura felt like a voracious demon, licking his skin with its damp tongue.
Just then, he saw a woman, about twenty years old, sitting under the eaves amidst the sparse mist, folding paper airplanes with her hands. The material, astonishingly, was that yellow talisman paper!
Ren Yuanhao was filled with surprise, when the young woman brought the folded paper airplane to her lips, blew a breath onto it, and casually tossed it forward. The paper airplane traced an arc in the air and then fluttered to the ground.
"May your next life be prosperous and peaceful, filled with joy and freedom."
The woman's face was pale, she wore plain clothes, and her hairstyle was somewhat peculiar, as if she had traveled from the Republic of China era. Her brows were etched with melancholy.
Ren Yuanhao was quite brave, but being in the eerie, gloomy backyard of the crematorium made him cautious.
At that moment, the woman's phone vibrated. She flipped it out, and a message appeared on the screen.
"DiDi Matchmaking is at your service. Your custom boyfriend, Ren Yuanhao, has arrived at the designated location. Please check. DiDi Matchmaking wishes you a smooth journey on the path to finding love. To cancel, please reply 'td'."
Simultaneously, Ren Yuanhao felt a chill on his forehead, and a string of data appeared in his mind.
"Employer Name: Murong Yan
Age: 23
Occupation: Mortician
Dating History: None"
—A mortician! You're trying to make me grow bolder, aren't you!
Ren Yuanhao got a headache. Speaking of which, this profession made it difficult to find a boyfriend. Therefore, even though the woman before him was beautiful, with well-proportioned features, looking like a beauty from the Republic of China era, the door to love had remained stubbornly shut.
"Is the host choosing to evade?"
"Evade my ass! Let me gather my thoughts, okay? Besides, this kind of woman is definitely hard to communicate with. I need to figure out how to greet her first!"
Ren Yuanhao was greatly troubled. Such women deal with corpses all day long, and sometimes encounter incomplete ones. Visual numbness and spiritual emptiness would likely lead to a decline in their ability to communicate with others.
As he was thinking this, Murong Yan's gaze fell upon him.
He had never been so awkwardly frozen in place, then he heard himself stuttering out: "Hello, I am, I am Ren Yuanhao, from DiDi Matchmaking's s-service."
Murong Yan nodded slightly, her expression unchanged. Her indifferent gaze was no different from examining a corpse. Ren Yuanhao's heart turned cold, his body stiffened, and he forgot what to do next.
"Won't you come sit down?"
Murong Yan spoke first, then tore another yellow talisman paper and began folding paper airplanes.
Ren Yuanhao took two deep breaths and, mustering his courage, walked forward.
"You seem to be afraid of me?"
Murong Yan was diligently folding paper airplanes. Ren Yuanhao turned his head to look, finding her face exquisitely delicate, like natural jade, a stark contrast to the "plastic surgery" beauties of today.
"No, I'm just not used to this place."
"There's no need to force yourself to get used to it. Just think of it as a special trip."
Ren Yuanhao felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. Just then, someone rushed in from the door. Seeing Murong Yan sitting with a man under the eaves, he immediately stepped forward and tremblingly asked, "Did you have breakfast today?"
Murong Yan shook her head.
"Alright, bring it in then."
Two men in black work clothes, with fearful expressions, slowly carried a corpse into the entrance.
"What's going on?" Murong Yan observed his expression and asked softly.
"You need to be prepared. This person drowned. When they were pulled out of the water, they had been dead for a long time, so..."
"So the body is highly swollen and decomposed, right?" Murong Yan said, as if speaking of something that had nothing to do with her.