Funeral

Soon after, Will was going to go to bed, when he noticed a message had been sent in the school reunion group.

"In a tragic incident, Zaina passed away. Tomorrow is her funeral. Is anyone willing to come?"

A friend of Zaina's posted on the group chat. Will saw that and was stunned. "So she actually died just like that?" Will didn't know how should react to that as he suddenly felt a guilt weigh on his shoulders.

"Did she die because of me?" Will wondered. He closed his eyes as he lay on his bed, wondering about Zaina's motivations in being a spy for the black market.

The next day, after practicing his exercise Will took a bus to the residence of Zaina, where a funeral was being held. Many people were standing in silence, while Zaina's mother was in tears.

"Newman family! A bunch of murdering bastards! Those demons murdered my innocent daughter!" She wailed.

As Will stood quietly in the corner, looking at the scene, he remembered the moment where he met Zaina in the alley. She didn't seem to have fear in her eyes. It was as if she was doing her duty.

At that moment, a girl came and tapped Will's shoulder. Her eyes had tears in them. It was the friend of Zaina who had messaged everyone in the group. Surprisingly enough, after hearing that Zaina died as a result of a war between two large factions, most of the people from the school stayed away from the funeral, unwilling to be sucked into such a dangerous vortex.

"I didn't think you would come to Zaina's funeral." The girl said with tears in her eyes.

"I never thought I would either." Will said.

"Thank you. Thank you for coming." The girl suddenly said as she wiped her tears and looked towards the coffin.

Will looked at the girl. He had never interacted much with her in high school and had only seen her tagging along with Zaina when she used to pursue him. He tried recollecting her name and remembered that her name was Aria.

"Were you in touch with Zaina after school?" Will asked her gently.

"I tried to be... But she told me to stay away from her." Aria said sadly. "She was my best friend."

Will did not know how to pacify her. He suspected that she probably cut ties from Aria to not implicate her in the future.

"I didn't imagine you of all people would come." Aria said again. "It is so ironic. She was murdered by Gary and you came to her funeral."

"I had to come. I owe her for helping me out." Will calmly replied. "Thankfully, her murderer has been avenged."

Aria nodded as she gazed at Will silently. "You've changed." She said abruptly.

"Time changes everyone." Will said as he smiled bitterly.

At that moment a pot bellied man appeared beside Will. He too looked towards the funeral. When Will saw who it was he wasn't too surprised.

Bull looked at Will's gaze and nodded. "Zaina was my sister's daughter." He then suddenly took Will's hand and checked his pulse without permission again.

However, when Bull checked the pulse he was dignified as he looked at Will with horror. "I can't believe you can still walk with such a damaged Life Wheel. The damaged is progressing so fast, you don't have more than a few months left." He whispered.

Will shrugged. "It is what it is."

Aria heard what the pot bellied man said and was shocked. She looked at the man and asked. "Uncle, is what you said true?"

Bull looked at Will with pity and nodded. "He probably has two months left to live." He told Aria, before asking Will. "When did this damage to your life force begin?"

"Two and a half years ago, give or take. Anyway, there's no point discussing about this." Will shook his head. He was reluctant to talk about his life wheel, and he was irritated by Bull constantly taking his pulse without his permission.

Aria, who heard this conversation began to recollect her memories. Two and a half years ago was when Will's life had changed tragically and he had fallen sick. Even if she had never interacted much with Will, how could she not know him? Her eyes had always been on him, but he shined too brightly, only now she discovered that he was actually dying.

After the funeral got over, Will laid a flower near the tombstone and then walked away. Life was truly fleeting, who knew what would happen in the next coming moment?

While going, he made sure to purchase a large amount of Nutrition packs, mostly Grade E but also a few Grade D packs. He was not lacking money now, with two large jobs.

He spent the next few days practicing the Clean Body Tablet's exercises. Since the sublimation of his cells and their minor evolution, Will felt it much easier to complete exercises. He had been able to do five of the exercises consecutively now and the amount of the Life Wheel melting each time was much more than before.

At the same time, the each time fragments of the Life Wheel melted away, they turned into a beautiful red gold molten liquid, however, the Red blood like substance would be purified out of the body, excreted out of his pores like sweat after each exercise.

Each time, Will now had to secretively return home from the park. Luckily, the park he went to was rather unused. If some kid saw a man covered in scarlet red gooey blood, they would probably freak out.

Will had tried every night, to interact with the blood red wooden box within his mind, but no matter what, he was unable to since the first time. Today, he once again tried to interact with the box in his mind and to his shock it activated.

"Is it because my body sublimated once?" Will wondered as he felt his vision twisting and turning until he found himself in a forest, a bright yellow sun, unlike the red sun he was used to shining high in the pale blue cloudy skies.