Chapter 1 A Little Kindness

Zhou Ze reached out, his fingertips constantly twirling black gas to disperse the little devils gnawing at the black-clothed man, but the wisps of black gas still ensnared the little devils, preventing their escape.

Since the battle on the rooftop, Zhou Ze had found his grasp of this power seemed to have risen to another level.

"You're a cop?"

Zhou Ze lowered his head, looking at the black-clothed man lying on the ground, his soul nearly shattered.

"What do you think?"

The black-clothed man stood up, his soul tattered, looking rather miserable.

But his eyes were firm and bright.

"I just didn't expect it."

Zhou Ze remembered the last time he saw Bureau Chief Zhao, who entered his bookstore on the day of his funeral. In the end, he and Xu Qinglang couldn't tell if he was alive or dead.

Thinking about it,

He felt relieved again.

Bureau Chief Zhao was getting close to retirement, having worked diligently in his position for most of his life, a bit like Madam Bai, who had gone to hell earlier, her merits complete.

That kind of person was a special case among special cases.

It's like learning to do good deeds; it's precisely because good deeds are special cases in this society that we need to learn them. If everyone was doing good, what would be the point of learning?

"Come in with me."

…

Outside, the rain was still falling. The girl who had been sitting in the bookstore sketching from a magazine went out to check on her companion and found her asleep, leaning against the clothes rack. She draped a piece of clothing over her, but didn't go back inside, staying outside with her.

Two female college students, earning money by setting up a stall, were like delicate wildflowers in this city, stubborn and strong.

For them, it was just an ordinary day: set up a stall, encounter rain, take shelter.

They couldn't possibly know what kind of business the bookstore they were sheltering in was doing, nor did they remember that one of them had almost made a deal with a ghost just now.

Inside the bookstore, Zhou Ze had set out some peanuts and broad beans. The black-clothed man sat opposite him, the little devils standing to the side, shivering.

"Thank you for the hospitality,"

The black-clothed man said in a deep voice.

"Now that you've eaten, it's time to go on your way," Zhou Ze said.

The man raised his head and looked at Zhou Ze, clearly unwilling.

"They're already dead, and you've already sacrificed yourself. You've fulfilled the responsibilities you needed to. There's no need to stubbornly hold on to that wisp of obsession and take them all away with you.

If something goes wrong along the way, and their souls escape your control, there will be a few more lonely ghosts in this world, and they might even cause other troubles."

Zhou Ze explained patiently.

In fact, there was only one central idea.

I respect you,

But respect is respect, and work is work.

You have your obsessions, but I have my responsibilities.

You're in charge of the living,

I'm in charge of the dead.

"Then can I ask you for a favor?"

"Tell me first."

"Help me investigate the cause of my death." The black-clothed man raised his scarred face, which now looked particularly ferocious. "I was working undercover. Someone betrayed me, or I could have caught them and brought them to justice together."

The black-clothed man thought of the car ride, when one of them suddenly answered a phone call, and the atmosphere instantly changed. He realized in advance that his identity had been exposed. The two sides began to fight in the car, and eventually the car plunged into a mountain gully, resulting in a car crash with casualties.

"This seems like a scene from a crime drama."

After listening to the other party's account, Zhou Ze sighed.

Being an undercover agent is really not easy.

"Come on, let me offer you a toast."

Zhou Ze raised his glass, giving a perfunctory gesture.

Then, he put down his glass.

"Are you agreeing?" the other party asked.

"No, I'm just stalling for time to organize my words of refusal, afraid you and I would feel awkward."

"…" The black-clothed man was speechless.

"I'm sorry, I can't do it. I'm just a bookstore here, actually just a station, sending souls who shouldn't linger in the mortal realm to hell for reincarnation.

I don't handle matters of the living in the mortal realm, and I can't possibly handle them. The only thing I can do is send an anonymous letter to help you deliver it, but anything more than that,

I can't do it, and I'm not willing to do it."

The black-clothed man was a little disappointed. He wanted to say something more, but it turned into a sigh, and then he drank the wine.

Ghosts only absorb the alcohol when they drink, so the wine in the glass actually didn't change at all. Zhou Ze helped him pour out the wine in the glass and refilled it.

"Have two more drinks, and then I'll send you on your way. I wish you a good journey."

People about to die speak kindly.

Moreover, the ghost in front of him was about to be sent to hell by him, so there was no need for him to make up stories to deceive himself.

This was a good cop,

Worth three cups.

Zhou Ze pointed to the wine glass,

That was all he could do.

Every moment in this world, there are disturbances, and all kinds of injustices and tragedies are happening. Zhou Ze can't manage so much, and he's not willing to manage it.

Running this bookstore well and getting his second life on the right track is what he wants to do now.

"In hell, there's judgment, right?"

The black-clothed man asked Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze was stunned when he heard this.

He suddenly thought of the teacher wearing a tall hat with the words "Scoundrel" written on it.

Zhou Ze had tried to take off that hat for him, but there was no way to do it. The hat was very hard and firm, completely immovable.

This also meant that the Yama Palace in hell didn't seem to be the place to distinguish right from wrong as legend had it. Those judges weren't all discerning and insightful.

Most of them were probably muddling through, getting by.

People are always filled with a kind of inexplicable expectation for things they don't understand,

Like heaven,

Like hell.

People always believe that in places they haven't been, there will be more beautiful flowers.

This is a kind of spiritual anesthesia, and also a kind of self-hypnosis.

At least for now,

Hell,

Doesn't seem to be too different from the mortal realm.

But Zhou Ze still nodded,

"Yes, everything in hell will come to light."

The black-clothed man stood up, looked at Zhou Ze, and said, "I don't want you to help me deliver an anonymous letter. Just help me find the bodies. If you regard yourself as a ghost messenger, consider it my request. If you regard yourself as a living person, as a citizen, you have an obligation to cooperate with our police's actions."

The man said a place name,

Qiming Road, Huangjia Town section.

"Your bodies haven't been discovered yet?" Zhou Ze was a little surprised.

"Yes, not yet, so I haven't been vindicated. Apart from the superior who knows my identity, everyone else thinks I've absconded with this gang."

"I'll give it a try."

Zhou Ze reached out and rubbed his brow.

Trouble,

Really troublesome.

As a newly minted homebody, he only thinks about opening a shop to do business every day, and then lying on Bai Yingying's lap at night to sleep and eat grapes she peeled for him.

Having to go on a trip now is really annoying.

"Please send us down, send us all down together. On the road to the Yellow Springs, I also want to escort them to see the judge. I want to see them brought to justice with my own eyes."

Zhou Ze nodded,

Opened the gate of hell,

And asked at the same time: "They are drug traffickers?"

The black-clothed man shook his head.

"Then they are smugglers?"

"It's gambling." The black-clothed man said in a deep voice.

"Oh." Zhou Ze was a little puzzled. Did it take so much trouble to catch gamblers?

"Gambling that uses human lives as stakes."

The black-clothed man looked at Zhou Ze and didn't continue, because he knew Zhou Ze wasn't very interested in this matter.

He took the three little devils and walked into the gate of hell together.

A short while later,

The smoke disappeared,

Zhou Ze clapped his hands and took out his notebook to check. The performance column had increased to twenty percent.

There was still eighty percent to go, but judging from the business of the new store, it shouldn't take long to become a full-time employee.

He picked up his teacup and prepared to walk to his bar, continuing to sway and be his Mr. Zhou, but he found that he didn't know when, but there was someone standing behind him.

It was Tang Shi,

She was still chewing on a White Rabbit candy.

"Why didn't you agree to investigate? It sounds so interesting?" Tang Shi asked.

"I'm not that free." Zhou Ze walked back to the bar and sat down.

"Gambling with lives as stakes, it sounds very interesting." Tang Shi continued, "If he were here, he would go and take a look."

"He is him, I am me."

"Oh, it seems business is good today. It seems that moving a tree kills it, but moving a person brings them to life." Tang Shi walked to the door, looking at the two female college students still sheltering from the rain outside.

"The rain hasn't stopped yet."

"You're not staying up there, you came down just to be sentimental?" Zhou Ze asked in surprise.

Tang Shi shook her head,

Then she spread out her hand,

A paper origami crane fluttered, lifelike.

"Zhou Ze, you know, sometimes it's not that you actively avoid trouble, that trouble won't fall on you."

"But at least it can make the trouble less." Zhou Ze lit a cigarette.

"I've been free the last couple of days, so I investigated you."

It sounded like she had something to do at all.

In Zhou Ze's view, if you put aside her special abilities and her status as a reborn, Tang Shi was just a vase, she couldn't do anything, and she wasn't willing to do anything.

Except for her beautiful legs,

He could play with them for a year.

"Where are your eyes looking?"

The ballpoint pen on Zhou Ze's counter floated up, dangling in front of Zhou Ze's eyes, seemingly ready to poke them out at any time.

"You look better in black stockings than nylons."

Zhou Ze commented.

Tang Shi threw out her phone, and the phone floated in front of Zhou Ze,

On it was a news screenshot,

A prison riot occurred in Subi Prison, killing one prisoner and injuring more than ten prisoners.

"What does it mean?" Zhou Ze asked, looking at the screen.

"How afraid of trouble are you?" Tang Shi shook her head helplessly, "Don't even recognize the person who crashed into you with a big truck?"

Zhou Ze's pupils immediately shrank.

"I didn't do it," Zhou Ze said.

"I know you didn't do it," Tang Shi said, "But he's dead."

"Accident, maybe they also like to play hide-and-seek?"

Zhou Ze shrugged.

At this moment, Xu Qinglang came down, patted his forehead, and said to Zhou Ze:

"Old Zhou, sorry, I forgot something a few days ago. Your uncle looked for you during the days you were missing, saying that his son, your cousin, died in a car accident, and wanted you to attend the funeral.

I thought that since you are Zhou Ze, and Xu Le's relatives have nothing to do with you, and you weren't around at that time, I forgot. I just remembered, so I'm telling you. The funeral should have been half a month ago, long over."

Hearing this,

Zhou Ze's face,

Finally became serious.

Vaguely,

It seemed that a vortex,

Had already been stirred up unknowingly.