Ren Yi, Lu Zihan, and Zhang Qiuqiu exchanged looks.
Well, Ren Yi let out a silent sigh. He knew it wouldn't be that simple; there was definitely a catch.
However, to everyone's surprise, Ren Yi's first reaction wasn't to ask for more details about the exam.
His focus was on another matter that puzzled him even more.
He looked at Lord Cha and asked with a very serious expression, "Lord Cha, I have a question. Death... what exactly is it?"
This question had actually been circling in Ren Yi's mind for a long time, but he had never found the right opportunity to ask.
He had somewhat forgotten when he first encountered the concept of "death."
Was it when Aunt Lu Qing was teaching him general knowledge, or when Ren Man told him about the Alliance resurrecting large numbers of Anomalies who died in battle?
He only knew that the "death" of an Anomaly was fundamentally different from that of a human.
For humans, death was the end of life, an irreversible event. Once dead, they were gone forever.
But for an Anomaly, "death" seemed exceptionally blurry. The Alliance could resurrect them; many Anomalies claimed to have "died" before, yet they could still stand here perfectly fine and continue their lives.
Ren Yi had never truly witnessed the "death" of an Anomaly. To be precise, the first time he had truly encountered the shadow of "death" was in the Three Cities World.
Back then, in the Three Cities, humans had used firearms to give those Anomaly cubs—who had special abilities but were still vulnerable to physical means—a bit of a firepower-induced shock.
Come to think of it, there seemed to be some "blood debts" involved with Wang Zhixin—or more accurately, with Azure, who was occupying Wang Zhixin's body at the time.
Did that mean Ren Yi had technically avenged many of his "classmates"?
Furthermore, on various Anomaly Web forums, all Anomalies were extremely tight-lipped about the subject of "death."
No Anomaly ever discussed their experience of "dying" in detail, nor did anyone explain what death was actually like.
This was very strange. This was the Anomaly Web, after all. Could every single Anomaly on the internet really have that much self-restraint?
Ren Yi could only think of two possibilities.
First, any statements specifically related to "death" were being scrubbed from the web and the accounts banned by the Anomaly Web itself.
He wondered if the Alliance had any rules regarding freedom of speech...
The second possibility was that any Anomaly who had experienced "death" was simply unable to describe what it was like.
It wasn't that they didn't want to say; they just couldn't.
In the end, all Ren Yi knew was that every Anomaly was advising them to absolutely, under no circumstances, die.
They were told they must cherish their "lives."
It was contradictory. On one hand, they were told that Anomalies wouldn't truly die because the Alliance could resurrect them; on the other hand, they were desperately warned to avoid death.
Ren Yi's question immediately caught the attention of Lu Zihan and Zhang Qiuqiu. Both turned to look at Lord Cha, their eyes filled with curiosity and anticipation.
"Um, Lord Cha, we're just asking, so please don't be mad," Lu Zihan scratched his head and asked in a weak tone, fearing he might upset him. "Have... have you ever died?"
With a soft smack, Lord Cha helplessly and indignantly facepalmed his own Cha face.
"Old Lu, could you be a bit more tactful when asking such a question?"
Lu Zihan fell silent for a moment, seemingly searching his brain for words related to death. "Then... have you ever met your majestic imperial end?"
Lord Cha: "..."
He completely gave up. He slowly lowered his paw and threw both out in a gesture of utter despair. "Forget it, there's no communicating with you. I've died, okay? Happy now?"
Instantly, Ren Yi, Zhang Qiuqiu, and Lu Zihan perked up, their three pairs of eyes fixing on Lord Cha simultaneously.
"But even if you ask me to describe what death is like, I can't," Lord Cha said with a shrug of helplessness, a hint of confusion appearing on his face.
"I only know that I've died, but I have no memory of the process itself."
At that moment, the nearby Wutong Tree suddenly swayed its crown gently, its leaves rustling as if in agreement with Lord Cha's words.
"Wutong is the same. So is every resurrected Anomaly we know," Lord Cha added.
"It's just like closing and opening your eyes, and then we're back as if we've been reincarnated. We don't remember any of the process in between."
"Lord Cha..." Lu Zihan said helplessly, "The more you say that, the more curious we get."
"Seriously, hasn't any Anomaly ever tried it just because they were too curious...?"
"There are," Lord Cha gave an eerie smile. "Of course there are. The Alliance generally doesn't stop that kind of thing."
As they chatted, Ren Yi lowered his head in thought.
He felt like something was off about what Lord Cha said.
"Lord Cha, you just said you don't remember any of the process of death," Ren Yi looked up, his tone hesitant.
"But how can you be sure there even is a process when you die?"
"Isn't the time between death and resurrection supposed to be void of any process?"
"Are you saying you're certain something happened during the time you were 'dead,' but you just don't remember it?"
Lord Cha fell silent upon hearing this. He slowly sat down and smoothed his tail with a paw, seemingly trying hard to figure out how to explain.
"Let me put it this way..."
A troubled expression appeared on his face. After a long while, he finally spoke.
"Even though I truly don't remember, there are certain... feelings. Do you understand?"
"What kind of feelings?" Ren Yi pressed.
Lord Cha made a strange face—a mixture of fear, lingering dread, and a bit of a toothache.
"It's roughly like... the feeling of working from six in the morning until nine at night, every single day of the year without a single day off, for a hundred years straight!"
Rate on N.U.
