Chapter 2: The Woman Who Shouldn’t Die

[What the hell! Are these symptoms of late-stage liver cancer?]

[No, why does it look like she’s possessed?]

[I heard dying people are easy targets for ghosts!]

That’s when it hit me—something was seriously wrong. If she really was Marissa Lane, born in St. Louis in 1992, then she couldn’t die now. Because her file in the Book of Life and Death says:

Marissa Lane, person of great fortune, will die peacefully at a hundred.

At that moment, a man suddenly rushed into Marissa’s livestream, holding a baby, looking nervously at the woman on the ground. The chat calmed down—finally, someone was there:

[Great, her husband is here!]

[Good thing someone’s home, or she might have really died on my phone!]

But just as we relaxed, the man walked straight past Marissa lying on the ground. Then, something strange happened! The baby in his arms, who had been crying loudly, suddenly stopped and started laughing. The man’s eyes were full of tenderness, but the way he looked at the baby—it wasn’t the way a dad looks at his kid.

The comments rolled in:

[Something’s wrong!]

[Didn’t he notice his wife is on the ground?!]

[Dude, help your wife!]

I muted the livestream. The man didn’t seem to notice the phone was on. He lovingly stroked the baby’s face, murmuring, "Honey, I’ve waited for you for six years..." The words just hung there, weird and unsettling.

The viewers were disgusted:

[Did I hear that right? He ignores his fainted wife and calls the baby ‘honey’?!]

[Isn’t he a pervert?!]

[Gross, gross (vomit) (vomit)]

A few minutes later, the man was still sitting on the bed holding the baby, looking totally lost. The camera caught his face—he looked totally lost. But the viewers were furious:

[What the hell is he doing just sitting there?!]

[Why isn’t he helping his wife?!]

[I get it! This man must have used black magic! He traded his wife’s life for his lover’s!]

[No wonder he called the baby ‘honey’ and said he’d waited six years?!]

[Autumn, aren’t you from the afterlife? Can’t you check?]

[Host, say something!]

[What’s going on!]

Looking at the rapid-fire comments, I frowned even more. Then a strange thought struck me...

I turned up the livestream volume and spoke loudly: "It’s not that he’s not helping his wife..."

After watching the man’s reaction, I had my answer: "It’s that he can’t see... Marissa!"

As soon as I finished, the comments exploded!

[What do you mean? Is the man blind or deaf?]

[Impossible, he doesn’t act like a blind person!]

[Wait! Could it be... Marissa has been dead for a long time?]

[What about the baby? The baby must be alive, right?]

[Host, stop keeping us in suspense! Say it!]

I continued to watch the comments in silence, waiting for something useful. Sure enough, very soon—

A user named ‘SnackingOnPopcorn’ kept spamming the comments:

[Are their names Marissa Lane and Ryan Decker?]

[This couple are my neighbors!]

[But the whole family of three died a long time ago!]

‘SnackingOnPopcorn’ accepted my request to join the livestream. He stared at Marissa’s stream in disbelief, his voice trembling: "No, that’s impossible, they look so alike! Even the name Marissa Lane is the same!"

Someone retorted: "There are over three hundred million people in the U.S., it’s not impossible for people to look alike and have the same name! How do you know it’s really them?"

‘SnackingOnPopcorn’ ignored the doubters. After a moment, he shouted at the livestream: "Marissa, it’s your old neighbor, Greg! Wake up!"

He shouted at the screen, but... Marissa’s husband still held the baby, ignoring both the fainted Marissa and the sounds from her phone.

The viewers grew more confused:

[If Marissa is really dead, how can she be livestreaming with us? That’s ridiculous!]

[This must be a shill hired by the host. Everyone leave, it’s just a scam!]

[I think we should call the police!]

[If the host is lying, arrest her. If not, the police can save her!]

A clever viewer asked ‘SnackingOnPopcorn’: [Aren’t you their neighbor? Look at the buildings outside their window, is it your area?]

‘SnackingOnPopcorn’ nodded confidently on camera: "No mistake! That’s my building, no doubt."

I asked him: "So, what happened to them?"

‘SnackingOnPopcorn’ began to recall: "It was really tragic! Before midnight on their wedding night, everyone was still at the groom’s house celebrating. After midnight, the groom was stabbed to death by a mugger while taking his mother-in-law home! They’d been together for seven years before getting married, and who would’ve thought the groom would die overnight, turning the wedding into a funeral! As a neighbor, I often visited Marissa, but watched her waste away."

"A few months later, her belly got big. But her husband’s family resented her, saying if their son hadn’t taken the mother-in-law home, he wouldn’t have been stabbed. So they slandered Marissa, saying the child wasn’t their son’s, and refused to accept her."

At this point, ‘SnackingOnPopcorn’ looked angry. The viewers started to defend her:

[Why blame her? Victim blaming?]

[Wasn’t he killed by a mugger?]

[Poor Marissa! Her husband died, leaving her to bear gossip and a child.]

Looking at the comments, ‘SnackingOnPopcorn’ showed sympathy and admiration:

"But Marissa is the strongest woman I’ve ever seen. She fought through depression, endured her in-laws’ slander, and bravely gave birth to the child! She just got dealt a bad hand. After giving birth, she was diagnosed with late-stage cancer and died at home not long after!"

The viewers urgently asked: "What about her child! How is the child now!"

‘SnackingOnPopcorn’ sighed deeply, his eyes moist: "When her family arrived, they found the child lying motionless in her arms, said to have starved to death."

The chat was full of crying emojis. ‘SnackingOnPopcorn’ suddenly seemed sad: "Should I go to her house and check?"

But something about his reaction was a bit off. Too much sadness, and a little bit of resentment. I smiled at him through the camera: "You better not be lying to me."

‘SnackingOnPopcorn’ went offline. He sent me a message privately: [Just give me half an hour, okay?]

Not long after he left, Marissa, who had fainted, suddenly coughed a few times and then sat up as if nothing had happened. The moment she sat up, and just like that, the man and the baby were gone.

The viewers questioned each other:

[Guys? Was I hallucinating just now?]

[You didn’t see wrong, the moment Marissa woke up, her husband and baby disappeared!]

[Oh my god! I swear! I saw it too!]

Finally, they all asked me: [Autumn, did you already know something?]

I glanced at the time, figuring the memorial offerings I’d sent to Marissa should be arriving in the afterlife by now. Sure enough—

A message from the afterlife came to my ear just in time:

[Dear Afterlife Civil Servant Autumn Harper, your order No. 19987 for Marissa Lane’s luxury memorial package could not find the recipient. Please verify and resend~]