Cold,

So cold…

Zhou Ze didn't know why it was so cold here.

He was walking on a secluded path, the sides of which were covered with flowers, but there was no trace of romance or beauty. The flowers were delicate and beautiful, like a mockery, or like onlookers.

Flowers bloom on the other shore, people go to the afterlife;

Zhou Ze remembered that his last memory was fire, a great fire, terrifying flames that completely engulfed him, the palpitating heat baking him to ashes.

But in the blink of an eye,

He had arrived here.

On this road, there were actually many people,

There were old people,

There were children,

There were also young people and middle-aged people,

There were men and women,

Everyone was wearing different clothes.

Some people were dressed simply, while others were wearing bright red and purple clothes, with excessive rouge on their faces.

Everyone was walking on tiptoe,

No one spoke,

No one made any other sound,

Only the occasional "scrape, scrape, scrape" sound of soles rubbing against the ground remained.

Zhou Ze was also moving forward numbly with everyone else. He was constantly looking around and constantly looking back. He vaguely realized where he had come to.

He was already dead;

And here,

Was hell.

Here, was the world of the dead, the home of the departed,

He,

Had finally died.

He didn't know what to do, or what choice to make.

He didn't want to die. People never wanted to die, but in this place, he had no idea what to do. He was confused and helpless.

"Eerie…"

A clear and cold tune came from afar.

Zhou Ze turned his head and saw clusters of bright red approaching from a distance, while everyone else around him ignored them, continuing to walk forward numbly on their tiptoes.

When they got closer, Zhou Ze saw clearly that the clusters of bright red were peach blossom paper umbrellas. In the distance, a group of women, in a neat line, holding paper umbrellas, walked gracefully.

They were tall and slender, with a flirtatious air, all wearing purple qipao.

The women had their hair in neat buns, meticulous. Even their steps were orderly, like the most excellent song and dance troupe in the world, and they had been rehearsing for over a century.

They walked,

They proceeded,

From one end of the path to the other,

Inexplicably,

Passing in front of Zhou Ze.

The delicate makeup, the snow-white skin, the clear and cold long tune they hummed, created an atmosphere of misty rain in old Shanghai.

Each woman wore a bracelet on her wrist, different colors and sizes, setting off their snow-white wrists and making them even more dazzling.

Unfortunately,

They weren't walking in the South Street commercial pedestrian zone,

Nor were they in the glittering and luxurious high-end clubhouse,

They were treading on the Yellow Springs Road,

Passing through a sea of ​​*b彼岸花* (bǐ àn huā) flowers (red spider lilies that grow in hell),

They stared straight ahead, the latter staring at the former,

The foremost,

Had empty eyes.

When the last woman passed in front of Zhou Ze,

The woman suddenly turned her head and looked at Zhou Ze.

The world was originally beautiful,

But now,

It directly jumped to another extreme.

Horrifying?

Of course, horrifying!

Disgusting?

Of course, disgusting!

But Zhou Ze was already a dead person. People could be scared to death, but what about ghosts?

The woman looked at Zhou Ze,

Zhou Ze was also looking at the woman,

The two exchanged a brief glance, and then the woman continued to walk forward, her figure swaying, her back view graceful.

"Where… are you going?"

Zhou Ze subconsciously followed this group of women forward, thus leaving the original line.

But the people walking dully on the path,

None of them looked here. They didn't seem to think, nor did they have any perception. Zhou Ze seemed to be the odd one out.

The line of women walked, each step creating a wisp of smoke, constantly moving forward, murmuring tunes, seemingly sad and icy;

The originally oppressive environment, because of their appearance, made people feel even more desolate.

Zhou Ze continued to walk forward, following them.

Then, Zhou Ze saw them walking into the pool of water one by one.

The pool was not big,

Like a mirror,

Their entry seemed to break this calm, stirring up layers of ripples.

The heads of the first few women had already submerged into the water, and the women behind continued to follow.

Zhou Ze walked to the edge of the pool. He didn't follow them down. He just stood on the side and watched.

Everything here was an absolutely unfamiliar place to him. Anyone only had one chance to enter in their lifetime, and once they entered, they could never leave again.

In the center of the pool, something floated up,

It was a pair of hands,

With red nail polish and white skin,

Slender and delicate,

The two hands danced gracefully, dreamlike and illusionary, instantly attracting people's attention, making it impossible to look away.

Beauty was attractive, but this kind of beauty was soul-stirring.

A look of intoxication slowly appeared in Zhou Ze's eyes, and he didn't even realize that he had involuntarily started to walk forward.

First, the instep,

Then the knees,

Then the waist,

Until finally,

The water submerged his neck,

And then, his entire body entered the pool.

The pool water was not cold, even warm. The water surface was clear, with high visibility. When you entered here, you didn't even feel the pain of suffocation.

Zhou Ze saw the group of women holding paper umbrellas earlier. They were still graceful and moving under the water, continuing to walk forward.

And closest to him,

Was a woman dressed in red. She stood in the water, but her hands danced above the water.

Zhou Ze began to approach this woman in red,

Not because of her beauty,

Nor because of other vain influences,

But because this woman seemed to have an inexplicable magic power that made you want to approach, get close, and be unable to help yourself.

Finally,

Zhou Ze approached her,

And her hands slowly retracted from the water.

The woman's hair was long and thick, dancing in the water, making it impossible to see her face clearly.

"Finally… waited… for someone like this again…"

The woman's voice was clear, sweet, and soft.

The woman's beautiful hands stretched out and rested on Zhou Ze's shoulders. This action was very intimate.

"You… come… keep me company…"

The next moment,

The woman's hair began to scatter, strands of dark hair began to blow across Zhou Ze's face;

A beautiful woman's hair caressing your face seemed like a very romantic thing, but then, the woman's hair turned into the strongest steel cable in the world, and began to bind Zhou Ze's neck.

"You come… keep me company…"

Her hair was scattered, no longer concealing,

The woman's face was finally revealed,

She had no face,

Her face was flat, without any undulation or wrinkles. It was a smooth face that would make thousands of girls jealous and envious,

But she had no nose, no mouth, no eyes, and no ears,

A faceless… woman.

Zhou Ze sensed that he couldn't breathe. His chest was about to explode, and at the same time, his body seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

The faceless woman's laughter was still clear and ethereal, but in Zhou Ze's ears at this moment, it was like demonic sounds piercing his ears.

Zhou Ze had woken up,

He didn't know what it meant to be entangled in this way in this place,

But in short,

It wouldn't be a good ending.

"You'll stay here… keep me company!"

The faceless woman continued to laugh, her hair dancing wildly.

Zhou Ze subconsciously stretched out his hand to grab the hair wrapped around his neck, trying to break free.

The faceless woman found his overestimation of his abilities very interesting.

"You can't break free, stop struggling. Those who can walk here have spirits. Once I swallow enough people with spirits, I'll have a chance to go back!

You are destined,

To become,

My sacrifice!"

But just as the words fell,

The faceless woman exclaimed, "How is this possible… impossible…"

Zhou Ze's fingernails began to slowly lengthen, the black and transparent color shining with its strange light in this pool. The color of this nail was exactly the same as the color of the old man's nails that Zhou Ze had rescued before his death.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle… sizzle sizzle sizzle…"

The sound of hot oil in a pot came.

The faceless woman's hair, which was entangled with Zhou Ze, directly melted and broke when it touched Zhou Ze's fingernails, and Zhou Ze's body began to slowly retreat, beginning to break free from the faceless woman's restraint.

"Impossible… impossible… this is impossible… why! Why can you also leave!

Why can you leave and I can't!

Why!

Why!

This is unfair!

Unfair!"

The faceless woman reached out to stop Zhou Ze,

But when Zhou Ze used his hand to break free, once his fingernails touched the faceless woman's hand, a hole was immediately burned into the faceless woman's originally flawless jade hand.

"Ah ah ah ah!!!"

The faceless woman screamed,

Her figure began to retreat, and from then on, she lost control of Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze's body began to float up,

About to float to the surface of the water.

"You can't escape… you will be… will be caught back!

Here,

Is the home of the dead!

You, you and them, even if you leave, you will eventually be caught back!"

The faceless woman hysterically shouted and roared below,

She was jealous,

She envied,

She was crazy!!!

And Zhou Ze, who was constantly rising,

Slowly lost consciousness,

The secluded Yellow Springs Path,

The dazzling *b彼岸花* (bǐ àn huā) flowers (red spider lilies that grow in hell),

The faceless woman's roar,

The graceful qipao women,

Everything,

Seemed to be gradually moving away from him…