21st Century Necromancer

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"Mr. Chen Yu, was that cat really Miss Chidori as the boss said?" After finishing their meal and hearing the story, Jounouchi Hiromi and Chen Yu left the small restaurant and were walking home, but Jounouchi Hiromi still couldn't stop thinking about that calico cat.

"Does it really matter whether it was or wasn't?" Chen Yu replied with a smile and did not tell Jounouchi Hiromi the answer.

After hearing Chen Yu's response, Jounouchi Hiromi thought for a moment. Although she still very much wanted to know the answer, as Chen Yu had said, whether it was or wasn't didn't seem so important after all. Chidori Miyuki had already died, and whether the cat was her or not was of no significance to the living.

As long as someone remembered her, remembered a singer who was like a stray cat, that would be enough.

Thinking this, Jounouchi Hiromi suddenly remembered some supernatural stories she had read and curiously asked Chen Yu, "Mr. Chen Yu, Necromancers also deal with the dead, so if a person died with unresolved grievances, would necromancers perform the rites to grant peace to the spirit and seek justice for the deceased?

And if there are places haunted by ghosts, would necromancers do something to exorcise them?"

"Hiromi, why would you think of something like that?" Chen Yu looked at Jounouchi Hiromi in surprise, not understanding why out of the blue she would come up with such questions.

"Is it strange? Just like Onmyoji, priests, and monks, don't they also deal with the dead? Guiding lost spirits, dispelling grudges, exorcizing... Necromancers should be able to do these things too, right?" Jounouchi Hiromi thought for a while and then asked Chen Yu. In her view, since necromancers deal with the dead, they should also be capable of performing similar tasks.

However, Chen Yu simply shook his head, "No, in the eyes of a necromancer, no matter how one dies, death is death, and death turns one into two materials: a soul and a corpse. As for grudges and seeking justice... The greater the grudge in death, the more useful the soul is to a necromancer, and seeking justice is a concern of the living.
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For necromancers, life and death are the universal rules themselves, no matter how one dies, whether it's deserved or not, life and death are a cycle. There is life, and then there is death, and no one can escape it."

"Eh? So you're saying that to a necromancer, all this doesn't really matter?" Jounouchi Hiromi looked at Chen Yu with some surprise, not expecting him to say something so... cold-hearted.

"Haven't I said it? The more tragic the death, the greater the resentment, the better the material for a necromancer," said Chen Yu, his expression still indifferent as if discussing not human lives, but merely materials: "Most necromancers only pursue the truth and transcendence over death. As for everything else, they're mostly indifferent and even emotionally detached.

Those evil necromancers depicted in fantasy novels do exist, and there are not a few who would create massacres or epidemics just to fulfill their own desires.

It's not about good or evil because all things in life, as well as the universe itself, will ultimately succumb to death. Unity of All Things, that is the creed of necromancers, and it is the only truth we follow.

For necromancers in pursuit of truth, when and how life ends only determines how it returns to death. Since everything will eventually return to death, why bother with how it gets there?"

After hearing Chen Yu's explanation, Jounouchi Hiromi looked visibly shaken. To her, life should be respected, and as a doctor, one should try to save every life, and the end of life should be a journey each person completes without regrets, not cut off in its prime, leaving behind a myriad of regrets.

But Jounouchi Hiromi also understood that Chen Yu's perspective differed from hers because they approached the matter from different angles, not because Chen Yu was emotionally detached or had an evil stance.

Chen Yu... or rather, Necromancers, look at life from a higher plane. In their eyes, all life is no different; none is exalted by wealth or power, nor are any despised for poverty or hardship. Whether it's accidental death or murder, birth, aging, sickness, and death are just parts of life's cycle, the wheel of life and death.

In the end, everything will succumb to death, and the process does not differentiate one life from another.

It was precisely because she understood these things that Jounouchi Hiromi felt struck, as it made her feel as though the efforts she had made as a doctor to save people and the beliefs she had steadfastly held were now meaningless. If everything ultimately succumbs to death, what meaning does being alive hold?

Seeing Jounouchi Hiromi appear so deeply affected, Chen Yu laughed helplessly, shook his head, and then gently pinched her cheek, "Alright, these questions have already touched on philosophy and higher truths. They're not for you to worry about right now! Besides, the meaning of life isn't found in its length or how it ends, but in the traces that were once present and the brightness it blossomed.

Even if all things must succumb to death, the traces left behind by life are not so easily erased; the radiance once shone will be remembered by people, and that is the true meaning of life's existence."

Though Jounouchi Hiromi recovered from the initial shock upon hearing Chen Yu's words, she still felt uneasy deep down. Chen Yu, noticing her state, could only wrap an arm around his fiancée and walk her home. What she needed now was emotional support.

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While Chen Yu had managed to console his fiancée's mind and spirit in time, enabling her to recover from her initial wavering and distress, such matters were not things one could easily make sense of or get over in a short while. Thus, when it came to going to work in the morning, Jounouchi Hiromi's spirits were still somewhat low.

However, after Jounouchi Hiromi repeatedly insisted that she was fine, Chen Yu could only let go of his worry and watched her walk into the surgery office before he returned to his own office, ready to start the day's work.

No sooner had Chen Yu turned on his computer and started browsing the medical records on the screen than his cell phone suddenly rang.

He picked it up to find that Misumi Mikoto had sent him a link, along with a single line of text: "Check out this link."

Chen Yu did as suggested and opened the web address. A huge red chili pepper on the screen made him raise an eyebrow in surprise. What was this? Why had Misumi Mikoto sent him this so early in the morning?

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