Now that was a bad joke.
Fu narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he regarded the words. What would he not? Suspect that his oh-so-well fine, tasty-looking neighbor—of which he'd been an acquaintance for the past six months—was truly a killer? Or doubt where he was and believe that the nice, pleasing and gulp-inducing voice was trying to humor him?
Of course, he'd prefer the latter. But they say that if the universe would conspire to weave destiny to those fated, then this lucid situation of his was could be said the same. It was real and too distasteful of a joke that someone probably wished for it to become the reality. And what lie before him proved such jokes were not a figment of his imagination. It was real.
A screen floated in front of him that retold what had happened after he plopped down the bed.
While he was actually touching here and there, lost in his thoughts how the mattress' cover would shiver and wrinkle in his hand and their movements later on, the once upturned smile of Zou Yun could be seen turned into a scowl as he silently opened the door. As if knowing that Fu would actually be lost on his own thoughts and wouldn't see him coming back immediately. There was disgust present on his expression too as he saw Fu sordidly inhale a lung full of air of his bedsheets' scent.
Fu widened his eyes and couldn't believe how Zou who had always worn a smile everytime they met, Zou who'd always tease him with his mesmerizing chuckle, and Zou who'd always been there to help him would actually show such expression behind his back. But that wasn't what horrified him most. Not the sneer that formed on Zou's face as Fu—who could make ladies scream with his stoic face alone—groaned in satisfaction. It was the device Zou was holding with strained and vein-bulging grip as if he couldn't wait to point it at him and just be done with it.
A gun. And to boot it, a fucking silencer at that.
'Fuck, don't tell me this piece of shit is actually this dip of a shit.' Fu cursed and was already teetering over the fact everything that was happening is truly real, that he was actually killed by Zou Yun. His affection to him already steaming cold down the gutter when he saw how disgusted and how pretentious the bastard thought of him behind his back. And now that he was thinking about it, there were hints of this. Like that one time when he felt some kind of dagger etching itself on his back—wanting to cave out his life from his body—only to find the amiable and smile-stricken face of Zou Yun coming to view. Or that imaginary sneers he had heard Zou made, which in reality might actually be real.
A zip resounded and brought Fu Wen out of his pondering. Zou Yun had actually really fired it at him!
Fu Wen couldn't help but throw a series of curse, targeted at his lack of awareness and at Zou Yun himself. Especially when he saw his body lifelessly plunge on the soft mattress. Blood sputtering the white sheets to a ruddy hue—in huge amounts that a nomal wound should have. A testament that his body is no longer able to be saved.
He didn't deserve this, Fu Wen knew. Fuck that, he owed no one his life except for his fathers who whole-heartedly raised him before they died in an accident. So he kept in cursing at Zou Yun, questioning and raging why he was the target of this insane man's disregard of life.
He had been respectful of the man, barging not even the farthest extent of Zou Yun's privacy, never going into any argument with him. And frankly, he never even stepped to the point of starting a situation where any inclination of verbal conflict would arise between them. He perfectly portrayed a handsome man's amiability. And him being the silent type—reserved to any person and extending only as far as a half a minute of socialistic conversation—he damn knew well he didn't cause anything for this to happen.
As for being gay? Again, fuck that. If he didn't know that his screwed in the head neighbor was actually gay himself, he wouldn't have dared put forth his advances. So he didn't know why. Just why the damning hell he had to die this way.
The video had not ended yet when Fu Wen begrudgingly took reason to himself to watch it. At the same time, he narrowed his eyes when he saw a picture that Zou Yun held in his hand. It was as if time was suspended and his memory was quickly rekindled on who the man in the family of three was.
His stepfather.
In the midst of the one-night-stand harem his father had kept culminating when Fu Wen was but a child, the image of Mr. Lin Zen firmly planted the most vivid picture in his mind. Not only because he came to be his stepdad later on, but because how he was the most eye-catching man of them all. But beyond that was how he'd cared for him the most, and made his father realize he was starting to neglect him back then.
Like the clear skies finding its way within the devastation of an unrelenting storm, everything clicked together in Fu's mind.
Zou Yun was Lin Zen's son.
Immediately, he realized why he was so enamored to Zou Yun despite his reservedness around other people. It was because he could find similarities between his stepfather and Zou Yun. Like how their eye color was almost the same—both shaded with forest green color. And when everytime he looked at Zou Yun's face, despite how dazzling his looks are, he wouldn't be mesmerized at first glance but instead feel somewhat safe and at ease in his presence.
He had heard his stepfather having had a son. But he had pointed that the boy died at a young age when his then wife took him to a vacation. That was also one of the reason why he had divorced his wife along a multitude of problem her wife had and had caused. He also told them that it was one of his biggest regret that he didn't took away his son away by that time.
But it seems there were untold stories that was spun into his direction, thus implicating him.
The video ended as that picture was showed, as if to only hint to Fu Wen what had happened to him. Or the reason why he was killed.
Fu Wen took a breath of cold fresh air as he calmed himself down. There was no more point in trying to solve riddled thoughts or the complexity of how he died.
He's dead and that was it.
If this was just a dream then it'd be better. Like this was just the after-effects—afterglow—of losing one's virginity is.
But the realization that Zou Yun showed similarities to his late stepfather denied such perverse fantasies. Who'd even dream of getting killed by the same partner who'd had sex with them, anyway?
So Fu Wen took it to himself as he regarded the four-cornered room, sparse of everything else but wood, with crossed arms.
It felt nothing close to hell like they say were the abode of the sinners like himself in death. 'Damn egotistical cultists,' Fu Wen thought assessing he was very much alive—breathing still.
As if to remind him that such thoughts were neither the answer to his situation, the deep whispered breath of the voice he'd heard earlier came back again.
"For having exactly nine deaths caused by natural disasters, exactly nine deaths caused by physical ailments and accidents, and exactly nine deaths caused by other beings, you are to be reincarnated in the next world with memories and physical body retained."
Fu Wen widened his eyes at that. But before he could assess and imagine what such words entailed, the voice continued.
"You have broken the illusion of life and finally has stepped into the concrete reality of existence. The 'Origin Magic: System' has been rewarded to you as an aid for continued survival in this new world, along with that is, of course, the deed for the room you are currently residing in. Be guided and prevail."
"As you are yet to build yourself a Class, inventory never been set, the customary fashion/cultural clothes will be randomly placed inside the room."
The man's expository talks ended with that. Though the voice remained as astute and as tempting as it intially was, Fu Wen could hardly be concerned with that. His mind made way for what the essence of what the voice had said.
The promise of life.