Death Knocks on Hell’s Door Chapter 60

Chapter 60 Social Death

The tightly drawn curtains blocked out the brilliant sunlight. The heavy drapes around the canopy bed hung low, and a thick black robe concealed the figure beneath it. With layers of protection in place, Thanatos was completely isolated from the outside world.

Leaning against the headboard, he quietly read one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels.

These books had been lent to him by Yanluo. In fact, this entire apartment belonged to Yanluo. The neighboring unit, Room 402, was unoccupied, so Yanluo had converted it into a personal library. Three entire rooms were packed with literary classics, modern publications, ancient texts, astronomy, geography, poetry, and prose. It was no wonder Yanluo carried himself with such refined elegance. He had been steeped in the fragrance of ink and paper for centuries.

Thanatos rarely left the apartment. To keep him from getting bored, Yanluo had sent over a large collection of books, so that they could have more common topics when chatting, and be a more qualified chat companion. If these books were finished, Thanatos could go to 402 to get books to read by himself.

Thanatos was genuinely starting to enjoy his job more. Not only did he have food, he also had books to read. Even back in Greece, he had loved reading, devouring every Western text available to him. Now, he had opened the doors to a whole new world.

The book hovered in midair. When Thanatos finished a page, it automatically turned with a mere flick of his thoughts. Just as he was about to turn the next one, a knock sounded at the door.

He lifted his head and closed the book.

In Room 401, there was only Yanluo who would knock on his door.

Yanluo often came by, inviting him to join him for a meal in the living room. Not that Yanluo ate much himself. Most of the time, he would simply sit, watching Thanatos eat.

Thanatos initially couldn’t understand why he was getting paid to accompany someone for a meal. It made him uneasy. But then Yanluo showed him countless mukbang videos on the internet, where the vloggers earned massive amounts in tips just by eating on camera. Thanatos then believed that such a strange demand actually existed. Over time, he got used to it.

However, there was still one thing that baffled him.

Most of those vloggers were at least pleasant to look at, and watching them eat could even stir up an appetite. But he was always cloaked in black, his face a dark void. Watching a black hole eat…… Did King Yan have some peculiar fetish?

Although curious, he didn’t ask.

Thanatos would never disturb this flatmate. Thanatos never knocked on Yanluo’s door even once.

In this dynamic, Yanluo was always the proactive one. Thanatos, on the other hand, was hardly an ideal flatmate. One-sided enthusiasm inevitably cooled over time, and too much warmth was a burden for him. The first month, when he had avoided Yanluo like the plague, had been proof enough.

But this was job. Yanluo was a client who had hired him as a chat companion. Thanatos simply needed to nod along, reply when necessary, and do whatever was asked of him. There was no need for him to take the initiative, which suited him just fine. It made things easier.

If they were only flatmates, Thanatos wouldn’t have even bothered responding. But once money was involved, he had no choice but to engage, if only to avoid ending up on the streets.

It was a reality most socially anxious and overworked people knew all too well.

Yanluo, to his credit, had chosen the perfect approach. By framing their interactions as a job first, there was a possibility of developing from a client to a friend. Without that foundation, they would have remained complete strangers.

For now, in Thanatos’ mind, Yanluo was simply a good client. Maybe Yanluo’s kindness made it seem like they could be friends, but Thanatos was very clear-headed. He reminded himself to keep his distance, to draw a clear boundary.

Feelings were expensive. He couldn’t afford them.

This was why Thanatos still refused to remove his black robe in front of Yanluo. His defenses remained firmly in place.

Thanatos got out of bed, walked to the door, and pulled it open.

As expected, Yanluo stood outside, smiling as he lifted a bag filled with desserts.

The Chinese antique tea table in the living room was soon covered with an assortment of exquisite sweets.

Among them sat a birthday cake.

No one was celebrating a birthday. Yanluo had simply chosen the cake because it was big and looked delicious. In Chinese tradition, birthdays were marked with longevity noodles, not cake. To Yanluo, the cake had no special meaning. It was just cake.

On his way back, he had also picked up two cups of milk tea. He had always drank tea, but since he had already broken tradition today, he figured he might as well go all the way.

Thanatos’ gaze landed on the small chocolate plaque on top of the cake, where the words Happy Birthday were elegantly inscribed. He froze for a moment.

Was it King Yan’s birthday today?

But why would King Yan celebrate his birthday? Didn’t the underworld only commemorate death anniversaries?

Oh, right. King Yan was a god, not a ghost. He wasn’t dead.

Gods were immortal. When time stretched into eternity and death never arrived, a birthday lost all meaning.

This was the first time Thanatos had ever seen a god celebrate his birthday.

Should he offer a greeting?

He thought about it for a moment and decided against it.

No one would want to hear “Happy Birthday” from the God of Death. Coming from him, it wasn’t a blessing but a curse.

King Yan, though, probably wouldn’t mind.

It was Thanatos himself who couldn’t get past the thought.

His gaze swept over the table, now overflowing with desserts. Carefully, he picked up a cream puff and took a bite. The rich, sweet filling melted in his mouth.

He chewed slowly, savoring the unfamiliar taste.

So this was what cream tasted like.

Sweet. Delicious.

Thanatos sampled a little bit of everything, except the large cake.

Yanluo, thinking he was simply too reserved to cut into it himself, took the initiative and sliced a piece for him.

Thanatos shook his head in refusal.

“You don’t like cakes?” Yanluo asked.

Thanatos shook his head again.

He gave no explanation. He simply wouldn’t eat it.

Yanluo glanced at the neglected cake, falling into thought. Based on past experience, Thanatos only knew whether he liked something after tasting it. If he ate a lot, he liked it. If he barely touched it, he didn’t. But this time, he refused to take even a single bite.

Did the cake look unappetizing? Yanluo studied the beautifully decorated dessert, its surface adorned with fresh fruit and delicate swirls of cream. It looked perfectly fine to him.

Meanwhile, Thanatos sipped his milk tea in small, slow mouthfuls, deliberately ignoring the cake.

In the West, whenever Thanatos descended to the human world to reap souls, he often passed by bakery windows filled with exquisite cakes.

But he had always been too preoccupied with his work to linger. He would take a fleeting glance before moving on. There had been times when he wondered what cake tasted like, but he never had the courage to take human form, step inside a bakery, and buy a small slice for himself.

He had walked past those bakeries countless times, but he never knew the taste of cake.

Once, there was a terminally ill little girl who was celebrating her seventh birthday. Her parents had prepared a creamy birthday cake for her in the hospital room.

But fate had decided that her birthday would also be her death anniversary.

The bright-eyed little girl finished singing Happy Birthday with a cheerful smile, then closed her eyes to make a simple wish:

“Please, Mr. Death, don’t take me away. It would make my mommy and daddy so sad. I can share my cake with you.”

Her wish did not come true. Thanatos took her soul at the appointed time.

She closed her eyes to make a wish and never opened them again.

The seven candles on her cake were never blown out. In the hospital room, her parents broke down in anguish, sobbing over her small, lifeless body.

Thanatos, of course, never touched the cake.

He had done this countless times. Taking parents from their young children. Taking children from the parents who loved them. Taking one lover away from the other, leaving only grief behind……

If cake symbolized birth and death symbolized the end, then a God of Death had no right to eat cake.

Birth was joy. Death was sorrow.

He had no place in that happiness. No right to destroy it.

However, in reality, he had destroyed it, over and over again. Every single day.

Yanluo had bought an excessive amount of desserts today. As the sweetness became overwhelming, Thanatos gradually lost his appetite.

“You don’t have to force yourself,” Yanluo said. “If you’re full, save some for later. It’s all yours.” Then, after a pause, he added, “Are you really not going to have even a bite of the cake?”

Thanatos nodded.

Yanluo plucked the chocolate plaque from the cake. “Then how about just a bite of chocolate?”

Thanatos turned his head away, his rejection absolute.

Yanluo was puzzled. He distinctly remembered that Thanatos loved chocolate.

He flipped the plaque over and saw the words Happy Birthday written in English. In that instant, he understood.

A silent sigh escaped him.

……What a kind little reaper.

But for gods of the underworld, kindness was a cruel thing.

They could empathize with all living beings, but they could not show them mercy. They must turn them into spirits of the dead and take them away from the human world.

The Greek underworld clearly lacked proper psychological counseling. Yanluo thought of his own subordinates, Heibai Wuchang. They were lively, untroubled, and completely free of emotional burdens.

Perhaps he should send them to give the little reaper some guidance.

Casually, he asked, “Do you have a social media account? Let’s add each other.”

After all this time spent building rapport and raising goodwill, the moment had finally arrived for Yanluo to aske this question naturally.

With Thanatos’ personality, asking to add him as a friend too soon would have resulted in silent rejection. But now that they were more familiar, it should have been much easier to get a friend request approved.

Or so Yanluo thought.

To his surprise, Thanatos still shook his head.

“No?” Yanluo’s expression showed a hint of disappointment. “I thought we were already friends.”

Friends? Thanatos froze.

Weren’t they just client and companion?

In private, he had always considered Yanluo a good friend. But on the surface, their relationship was purely transactional. He had assumed Yanluo saw it the same way.

He hadn’t expected Yanluo to genuinely regard him as a friend.

Thanatos had never had friends before. The closest people in his life were his boss and his brother. Yanluo was the first person he could truly call a friend.

And…… he didn’t dislike the idea.

In fact, it made him a little happy.

Not wanting Yanluo to misunderstand, Thanatos finally spoke. “I don’t have a social media account.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to add Yanluo. He simply had no way to.

Now it was Yanluo’s turn to be stunned.

He had always known the little reaper was reclusive, but he hadn’t realized this was the extent of it.

Many socially anxious people feared interacting in the real world but they usually made countless friends effortlessly online.

But Thanatos? He was so withdrawn that he hadn’t even bothered to register a social media account.

“You don’t even keep in touch with your boss and your brother?” Yanluo asked.

Thanatos shook his head. In Greece, there had never been a need. Whenever they wanted to talk, they simply met in person. He hadn’t expected to stay in the East for this long, so he never set up a way to contact them. Now, he was completely out of touch with both Hades and Hypnos. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been struggling with rent. He could have just called them to dig up some treasure and send him money.

But this unexpected situation hardly fazed Yanluo. “Then I’ll register an account for you. That way, we can still chat online even when we don’t see each other.”

Thanatos agreed.

Talking face-to-face always made him uneasy. A screen between them would make things easier.

Yanluo quickly set up an account for him, adding himself as the first friend. Then, he pulled out his own phone, accepted Thanatos’ request, and saved his contact under the name Little Reaper.

Thanatos took back his phone and found that his list not only included King Yan, but also a group chat called “Yanluo Community Family”. The group was very lively, with 99+ messages every minute.

“All the residents in the apartment complex are in this group,” Yanluo explained. “They are very noisy, so if it bothers you, you can mute it. But you can also chat with them. Maybe you’ll make a few more friends.”

With only one friend in his contacts, things looked a little too empty. Yanluo hoped Thanatos would be able to befriend others as well. Maybe then, he’d be more willing to go outside.

Most of the group members were ghosts and demons. King Yan himself, Heibai Wuchang, and even Venus’ entire family were in the group chat. Every day, they spammed conversations, shared stickers, and flooded the chat with messages. Even Yanluo didn’t bother keeping up. He had muted the group long ago.

Right now, the chat was as lively as ever, with messages rolling in at breakneck speed. No one even noticed the new member who had just joined. Thanatos glanced at the endless flood of texts, completely lost on where to start.

Suddenly, the entire group was put on silent mode. The frantically rolling screen instantly froze.

Yanluo: Welcome, new member. @God of Death

Then, he unmuted everyone.

For a brief moment, the chat remained eerily silent. Then—

Fan Wujiu: Welcome, new member. @God of Death

Xie Bian: Welcome, new member. @God of Death

Nine-Tailed Fox: Welcome, new member. @God of Death

Floppy-Eared Rabbit: Welcome, new member. @God of Death

Ragdoll Cat: Welcome, new member. @God of Death

……

The chain of greetings stretched on endlessly. After all, King Yan himself had muted the entire group just to personally welcome someone. No one in the complex would dare ignore such a grand gesture.

Thanatos: “……”

A moment ago, he had felt lost because he couldn’t find a way to join the conversation. Now, being at the center of this overwhelming welcome, he felt equally out of place.

Silently, he set the group on mute and refrained from replying.

The group members, however, were buzzing with curiosity. Just who was important enough to receive such a special welcome from King Yan himself…… Oh. The username said it was God of Death. That did sound like a fitting counterpart to the King of Hell.

They waited eagerly for the God of Death to make an appearance in the chat. But in the end, the new member never said a word.

Impressive. Ignoring King Yan, that was another first.

That night, Thanatos sat on his bed, not reading, but scrolling through the neighborhood group chat’s past messages.

He had added Yanluo as a friend but had no idea how to start a conversation. No matter how he typed out a greeting, it all felt awkward. So, instead, he decided to observe how others chatted in the group.

The chat history wasn’t exactly meaningful. It was mostly silly memes and lighthearted banter, but to Thanatos, it was all new and fascinating. The group members’ usernames were based on their true forms, making him feel like he had stumbled into an animal exchange convention.

He also saved a large collection of absurd stickers. Whenever he didn’t know what to say, these images seemed like the perfect way to avoid awkwardness.

Panda-head stickers were particularly popular in the chat. Coincidentally, the group actually had a real panda spirit among its members.

Giant Panda: How many times do I have to say this? Can you all stop using panda-head stickers? This panda is NOT that ridiculous in real life!

Whitefin Dolphin: Hey, it’s not my fault! When I use text to automatically convert to stickers, many of the ones that pop up are panda heads. I’m not doing it on purpose.

Thanatos paused, his finger hovering over the screen.

Text could also be automatically converted into stickers?

That sounded like a blessing for the socially anxious. Typing out responses felt awkward, but sending a sticker? That could smooth over anything.

Thanatos navigated through the settings and quickly enabled the feature.

Just as he finished, a private message popped up.

Yanluo: Done with the desserts? They shouldn’t be left overnight. If you’re feeling full and can’t finish them, I’ll come over and take them back. No need to waste food.

Thanatos glanced at the pile of untouched desserts and typed out two short words: Not done.

He was a man of few words in speech, and the same applied to his typing.

Thanatos: Not done.jpg

The text itself was simple and harmless, but it was accompanied by a picture of a warrior carrying a 40-meter-long sword, full of murderous intent.

……

After a long while, Yanluo slowly sent a question mark.

Yanluo: ?

Had he somehow offended the little reaper?

The little reaper was quite protective of his food.

Yanluo: Alright, alright, I won’t take them. Take your time and put the sword away.

Thanatos fell silent for a moment. Then, as if nothing had happened, he calmly retracted the previous sticker and typed a proper, neutral response: Come over.

Just as he hit send, his keyboard’s predictive text function helpfully auto-attached another sticker.

Thanatos: Come over, baby.jpg

It was a ridiculous image of a little cartoon figure grinning smugly while smacking its own butt.

……

Thanatos: ……

Yanluo: ……

Yanluo stared at the message in a daze. Had Thanatos always been this adaptable to the online world?

Meanwhile, Thanatos, utterly expressionless, methodically disabled the keyboard’s predictive sticker function, then tossed his phone aside. Curling into a tight ball under his black robes, he reduced himself into a small, miserable sphere of regret.

So much for being a blessing for the socially anxious.

This was straight-up social death.

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