A Former Police Officer Who Died And Get A Second Life!-Chapter 172: Moving Forward

He was so sad, painfully sad, but he didn’t know who he could share that sadness with.

So he grieved alone.

"But one day, when he suddenly looked up at the sky, I understood something," Qiong Xing said.

"Understood what?" Joa asked.

"That no matter how long I kept grieving, they wouldn’t come back. No matter how much I suffered, the world would keep turning. Just like those clouds that keep moving and the sun that keeps shining on everyone. Even if I couldn’t accept reality, the world would still keep going."

Whether Qiong Xing cried or laughed until he fell over from laughter, the world would continue turning.

"If the world keeps moving, then I wasn’t truly standing still either. I just thought I was."

"...Yeah," Joa said quietly.

Joa who had lost Vita probably understood.

No matter how much someone cries or begs, time will never stop or go back.

It only moves forward.

"So isn’t it a waste not to laugh?" Qiong Xing continued. "Eat delicious food. Joke around with friends. Even small things should be enjoyed. But sometimes it’s also good to look up at the sky like this, watch the drifting clouds, and remember your parents."

"...Yeah," Joa said again.

Qiong Xing had lost his life in that other world, but in this world he had gained three wonderful partners and even a baby.

More and more precious people had entered his life, and now he truly felt happy to be alive.

"If I could see them now, I could proudly tell my parents that I was very happy. Right, Lian?"

He gently poked the sleeping baby’s cheek.

Lian made a small uncomfortable sound in her sleep.

She was so adorable.

So precious.

She’s a treasure that was more valuable than anything else.

Qiong Xing never said it to Joa and the others, but for Lian’s sake, he would not hesitate to give up his own life.

"Living can be painful sometimes, but there are probably even more happy moments. That’s why I wants to live as long as possible. Yes! Now that I’ve decided that, I should start building more muscle for the future—"

"That completely ruined the mood," Joa said.

Joa lightly tapped Qiong Xing’s forehead.

It didn’t hurt at all.

But strangely, Lian suddenly started crying.

It was almost as if she understood that Qiong Xing had been hit.

"Looks like we got the gender wrong," Joa said. "She’s more like a knight."

As if she was saying that no one was allowed to hurt her mother.

"That’s very reassuring," Qiong Xing said. "But it also makes me feel like she’ll grow taller than me someday. In that case, I really needs to start training my muscles!"

"Don’t do that. Lian, if you don’t want a super muscular Mama, you can stop crying now—...oh, she stopped."

What was that supposed to mean?

"Wait, what kind of special ability is that?" Qiong Xing said. "She’s my child, but still."

Someone as ordinary as him shouldn’t be able to have a child with such an amazing special power.

"Ah! Could it be Elias’s hidden special pow—"

"That’s not it," Joa interrupted.

While the two of them joked back and forth like a comedy duo, Lian had already stopped crying and was sleeping peacefully again.

What exactly had that been?

In the end, only a mystery remained.

...

"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad... this is way too bad!"

It’s so loud.

"Please don’t shout so loudly. If she ends up disliking you, don’t blame me."

"That would be terrible! But this is bad! She’s just too cute!"

"Shut up!"

Seriously, both of them were too noisy.

At the guild, which Qiong Xing had finally managed to visit, Sarin let out a shout like a battle cry the moment he saw Lian.

Katarina immediately punched him.

"It’s been a while. The baby was born safely, so I came to let you know."

Qiong Xing ignored Sarin who had fallen silent, well, technically unconscious and greeted Katarina instead.

She welcomed him warmly and pulled him into a hug.

"That must have been hard. You did well."

When she gently patted his head like she was praising him, Qiong Xing felt as if he had turned into a small child again.

"Her name is Qiong Lian. You can call her Lian. She’s a girl. Isn’t she cute?"

Qiong Xing proudly showed the baby in his arms.

At that exact moment, Sarin somehow sprang back up as if powered by unknown strength and leaned in to look.

He looked like a hopping corpse from an old ghost story.

"Eek."

Albe took a half step back in fear.

"She’s so cute."

Sarin’s face looked exactly like a grandfather who is completely in love with his grandchild.

When Qiong Xing remembered the first time he had met Cari, he realized he might have made the same face back then.

The thought made him feel a little embarrassed.

"Still, this baby is surprisingly calm," Katarina said. "Even with all this noise, she hasn’t cried once."

"That’s true," Sarin added. "Well, she doesn’t cry... but she doesn’t smile either."

Even without smiling, she was more than cute enough. But Katarina looked a little worried about the baby’s lack of reaction.

"Hmm. She’s usually not like this... maybe she just isn’t used to new people and a new place yet."

Surely she hadn’t already started taking after Elias... no, no, that couldn’t be it.

They had joked about that before she was born, but surely that wasn’t the case.

"She probably just needs time to get used to it. Well then, we’ll be going now. We’re planning to stop by Naz’s place next and—"

"It’s fine. We’ll come with you."

"...What?"

"Huh? Why are you both looking at me like that’s the most obvious thing... wait? Katarina too? Are you actually excited about this? Am I the one who’s mistaken here?"

"Well, you see, we were planning to go check on things over there anyway," Katarina said.