"I’m sorry, Miss Thornton. This was a mistake on our side in the underworld. We grabbed the wrong soul."
Iris Thornton stared at the White Impermanence in front of her and nearly blew up on the spot.
She had just won a one-billion-yuan jackpot yesterday. Today, she was on her way to claim it, and before she could even get there, a brick dropped out of nowhere and smashed her dead.
And now they were telling her this idiot had taken the wrong soul?
"What do you mean, wrong soul? You think one light little 'we got it wrong' makes up for what I lost? I just won a billion! A whole billion! I was on the way to collect it, and then I got killed by a falling brick! Is this how you people do things? No, wait, you’re ghosts, not people. Is this how ghosts handle business? Get me back right now! Move it! Hurry up!"
Iris threw her head back and roared so loud the sound seemed to shake the air for yards.
Little White pulled a long face. "You can’t go back. Your head was smashed open. Brains everywhere. There’s no fixing that."
"Then what about my billion?" Iris’s voice trembled. "Do you even know how much money that is?"
"A billion! I already had my eye on a seaside villa, and a Ferrari 812 too. I’ve dreamed about that car more than once. And don’t even get me started on the bags, the clothes, the jewelry. My shopping cart was still full!"
"I was gonna travel around the world, stay in the fanciest five-star hotels, order the best food, and hire a few ridiculously handsome male models to tag along. I was finally gonna live it up for real."
"And because you dragged the wrong soul, it’s all gone. All of it’s gone!"
The more Iris talked, the louder she got, and the more wrecked she sounded.
She grabbed Little White by the shoulders with both hands and shook him like she’d gone mad.
"Give me back my ocean-view house! Give me back my Ferrari! Give me back my billion, aaahhhh!!!"
Thunk!
Little White’s head shook loose and rolled away across the ground.
Without a word, he bent down, picked it up, and stuck it back on.
Iris didn’t even pause. She kept shaking him.
Thunk!
Off it came again.
She shook him again.
Off it came again.
Back and forth like that, over and over, with no end in sight.
Little White had long since lost count of how many times his head had fallen off and how many times he’d put it back on. His once-round skull was now dented here and bulging there, looking like a beaten-up old ball.
All he kept saying, again and again, was one line:
"I’m sorry."
"It’s my first day reporting for duty in the underworld. I really wasn’t familiar with the process, and I messed the whole thing up."
"This is all on me. If you want to hit me, hit me. If you want to curse me out, go ahead. I’ll take it. I won’t complain."
By the end of it, he just shut his mouth and stood there with a look that said do whatever you want.
"I’m filing a complaint against you!"
Iris shouted it at full volume.
Little White was so scared he looked like his soul was about to leave his body all over again.
"Big sis! Please, don’t do that! I stood in line out there for a full hundred years before I finally got this underworld job! As long as you can be magnanimous and not report me, we can talk about anything. Anything at all, okay?!"
Iris said, "Then you compensate me."
Little White answered at once, "I will! Absolutely! You didn’t get your billion-yuan lottery money, right? I’ll convert it into actual goods and make it up to you that way. I’ll also throw in a storage space, and after that I’ll arrange for you to be reborn. That works, doesn’t it?"
"Deal!" Iris’s eyes lit up, and she started listing things immediately.
"First, put my seaside villa and my Ferrari 812 into the space. I’m not giving up either one."