As consciousness returned, Chen Xiaoya looked down at herself. However, the sight that greeted her made her entire body tremble: she was floating above two crashed and crumpled cars, and the unconscious body of her female friend was sprawled across the hood of the opposing vehicle.
Chen Xiaoya was so shocked she nearly lost consciousness again.
"Th-This... am I... dead? Has my s-soul left my body?" she stammered, her voice shaking, her face wide with panic, her lips trembling uncontrollably.
Then she burst into loud sobs. "Help! I don't want to die!" she wailed. "Waaah! Mom and Dad, help me! My soul has slipped out of my body!"
Shortly after regaining her senses, a curtain of white mist suddenly materialized before her, obscuring the gruesome sight of the accident and her own lifeless body trapped within the mangled wreckage of the car.
Then, from within the thick, shadowy mist, a man appeared. He was tall and slender, with the demeanor of a middle-aged man, yet he had long, flowing, snow-white hair. His tongue, long and dangling, constantly flickered out of his mouth, making his otherwise handsome face look utterly terrifying. He wore peculiar, ancient-style clothing, and held a clean, white fan in one hand.
The moment he saw Chen Xiaoya, the man frowned and scowled. "Are you Chen Xiaoya? Do you know what offense you have committed?" he roared at her in a furious voice.
Chen Xiaoya gasped and screamed loudly. "W-Who are you? A ghost?! Help, a ghost is going to haunt me!" She instinctively turned and started to run, completely forgetting that she was floating in the air.
Seeing Chen Xiaoya about to flee, the man flicked his hand. The white fan instantly transformed into a long, ropelike whip that shot out and bound the escaping Chen Xiaoya.
"Aah! What's happening?! W-Who are you? Why are you catching me? Let go!" she shouted in terror. However, the man paid her no heed, instead fixing her with a dangerously deep gaze.
Then he spoke. "I am Xie Bi'an, the White Psychopomp, whose duty is to escort human souls back to the afterlife."
"Chen Xiaoya, you drove while intoxicated and caused your own death. Your time has come. I shall now take your spirit to the underworld for judgment!"
His deep voice was ice-cold, making Chen Xiaoya's heart nearly burst from her chest. Terror seized her soul, causing her entire body to tremble. Suddenly, she dropped to her knees in the empty air, clasped her hands together, and pleaded.
"Lord Bai," she begged, "I... I don't want to die yet! I'm still so young! I just turned twenty-one this year! There are so many things I haven't done—most importantly, I've never even had a boyfriend! Please, don't take my soul yet! Please, send my spirit back into my body!"
The White Psychopomp glanced at her disdainfully before speaking in a clearly angry tone. "Impossible. Every human has a predetermined fate. You drove drunk—that is the result of your irresponsible actions. Therefore, you must pay for what you have done, for causing distress to others, for nearly killing people and causing severe injuries, not to mention the loss of property! I must take your soul down to be judged in the underworld to face punishment. Stop speaking and come with me now!" With a final word, he tugged the white rope in his hand.
Chen Xiaoya made a pained expression, held up three fingers, and pleaded miserably. "Please, I promise I won't do it again! This... this is my first mistake! Doesn't everyone have a first time? I swear! Next time I touch alcohol, I absolutely will not drive. If I get drunk, I'll take a taxi or the bus! Please give me a chance to redeem myself! Just this one chance!" Her voice was full of hope.
"You're still thinking about having a next time?" Bai Wuchaang's eyes widened as he looked at her, speaking incredulously.
"Doesn't everyone have a 'first time' for everything?" Chen Xiaoya offered a flimsy excuse.
Bai Wuchaang pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes dangerously at the young woman before him. After a long moment of silence, as if deep in thought, a cold smile suddenly surfaced on his thin lips, beneath which his red tongue perpetually flickered. The previously stern look in his eyes transformed into a knowing, sly glint.
"Hmph. You still dare to plead with me? How interesting. If you truly wish for a chance to redeem yourself, then I shall grant you one. However, it will not be by sending your soul back to your original world."
"W-What do you mean, sir?" His expression filled Chen Xiaoya with an inexplicable dread.
"Since you are guilty of the offense of drunk driving, causing severe injuries to the person in the other car and your friend—it is fortunate no one died except for you—you must be punished."
"However... very well. Since you claim this is the first time and you plead for a chance to redeem yourself, and you have caused no trouble to anyone other than this one incident since birth, I shall send you to be reborn as atonement, allowing you to learn and correct your own mistakes."
"Go back to the world of the novel you recently penned with your own hands. That world is like another plane of existence, similar to this human world. If you can live a better life than you did before, proving that your existence is worthy of continuance, I will grant you the chance to return to this world. You will have only three chances to succeed in a single mission. If you fail, I will take your soul for judgment in the City of the Dead."
"What?! The world of the novel I wrote?" Chen Xiaoya stared, her face falling as she thought about the novels she had written. She was a novice writer who had only graduated from high school and had just started earning a living by writing online novels. Even though it had only been a few years, she had written several stories, and in every single one, the protagonists' situations were far from pleasant... in fact, they all ended badly.
"W-Which story, sir? Which heroine do I have to become?" Chen Xiaoya hastily asked, her heart trembling.
'Lord Bai' glanced at her from the corner of his eye before letting out a sneering laugh. "Heh heh."
"Which story is it that you just wrote?" he said curtly, flicking his hand. Then, Chen Xiaoya's body was swallowed by the thick mist.
A few moments later, amidst the darkness that descended upon her, Chen Xiaoya felt as though she had been plunged into a bottomless abyss.
She shrieked, "Aaaah!" and shouted loudly. "You still haven't told me what heroine I'll become! Which novel do I have to go into... Lord Bai, tell me first!"
Bai Wuchaang sneered and shook his head. "Hmph. You half-witted child. Which novel is it that you just wrote, then?" ...