Test (2)

Zhang Mei Xing let her thoughts run wild to tame her racing heart that was filled with nervousness.

'At times like this, most people would cry.'

'But perhaps, I'm already amazing since I didn't?

'I didn't cry even if I know I'm no longer in a fleshly state...' Can souls even shed tears?

Zhang Mei Xing's eyelashes fluttered. She opened her eyes only to find herself no longer in her old room. Well, this was something she already expected. The hourglass in her subconscious had vanished after all.

The place was a white room. Literally. When she looked down, she could not even see her body, as if she were merely two pairs of eyes now hovering one and a half meters above the spotlessly clean white marbled floor. Or was it because she was too weak as a soul so she couldn't even manifest a ghostly appearance?

"Ah…" Zhang Mei Xing tried to speak. At least she willed to, trying to see if she could make a sound even though she could feel that she had no mouth or nose. Strangely, a sound was really produced.

"Hello…. Hello… Mic… Voice test." Zhang Mei Xing once again tried, having no shame in the childish act since there was nobody around to see her.

Moments later, deep confusion temporarily replaced the heavy, suffocating sadness in her unseen heart. When confronted with a very odd scenario, it was natural to feel baffled and at a loss. For a while, she wished the wall could have some mirror-reflective property so she could at least twirl and determine if she actually had a mouth somewhere that her sense of sight could just not reach.

'I should stop having useless thoughts,' a while later, she shook her head and helplessly smiled.

It happened then. She heard a noise not created by her. It was the sound of a footstep.

Zhang Mei Xing could not help but roll her eyes to the side to trace where the sound came from.

She froze.

A pristine white shirt and a pair of pristine white pants were the first things that greeted her eyesight.

She froze because there was no fleshly body underneath the clothes and her brain was still processing how that scene could be possible. The limbs were non-existent too...

Was the real afterlife this mysterious and mind-boggling?

There was a happy dreamland. When the one day service ended, she came into a white room where she became a pair of floating eyeballs. And the newcomer who might be the grim reaper or afterlife guide was a pair of clothes.

'You must be kidding me.'

It was hard not to fall into a daze.

She came to her senses when a voice rang by her ears as if it came from all the directions.

"Hello." The voice prompted her to check her surroundings again.

"Welcome, nominee Zhang Mei Xing." It rang again. There was no way to judge if the other party was a male or female. However, the voice was pleasant enough to not further scare her.

"Nominee?" Finally, she managed to ask upon finding the salutation strange to the ears. The girl was not surprised that the other party knew her name.

Instead of clarifying, the voice asked in a cheery mood, "So how have you been? Have you adapted to your current situation?"

"Yes."

Although reluctant, she nodded her head, aware that the other party was asking if she had already accepted her new reality, that she was just a deceased soul now.

Who knew what criteria determined whether one had accepted his or her death, but Zhang Mei Xing thought that probably being aware of their death itself was the key. After all, a lot of spiritists and mediums on earth said most spirits lingered there as they could not accept or not aware of their passing.

The situation now was bizarre, but at least all her previous worries, like souls getting thrown to the void, did not come true. The floating clothes in front of her did not seem malicious too and was even considerate to ask for her wellbeing.

Zhang Mei Xing opened her mouth, or rather, willed a voice to echo from her. "I thank the lord for his concern. I am well and no longer confused about my sudden passing."

"That sounds bad," said the voice, followed by a peal of laughter.

Naturally, a dumbfounded expression flashed across Zhang Mei Xing's eyes. She unconsciously blurted out, "Milord?"

"Oh. I don't mean anything negative there. I simply want to say, I have already finished reviewing your life and saw why you qualified for the test."

Hearing that, the confusion in her mind became deeper. Her brain recalled their brief conversation so far. Then a guess came to her.

Zhang Mei Xing looked at the one before her, whom she was assuming to be a real person only playing invisible to her. She spoke in a probing tone, "So that half a day experience that I just had was a test?"

A brief silence reigned before she heard the unseen being's reply.

"That's correct."