Chapter 131 Ghost Call

Zhou Ze didn't eat much for lunch, striking an aloof and reserved pose as if he didn't need to replenish himself;

He ate a little with some plum juice.

The old Taoist, on the other hand, ate a lot, eating frantically, with an air of “though I, Lian Po, am old, can I still eat?” Half of the dishes on the table ended up in the old Taoist’s stomach.

In the afternoon, the old Taoist kept glancing towards the outside of the bookstore, probably getting restless and preparing to spread some love.

Anyway, Spider-Man could handle the cleaning work in the bookstore now, making his job much easier.

However, at three o’clock in the afternoon, Zhou Ze's phone rang.

The caller ID showed an unfamiliar number. Zhou Ze answered the phone, and a very hoarse voice came from the other end:

"Save me... save me..."

Zhou Ze tilted his head slightly, holding the phone a little further away from himself.

Because the background noise on the other end of the phone was really loud, like a string of small firecrackers going off.

"Hello?" Zhou Ze asked again.

"I'm at General Mountain, save me... save me..."

"Pa!"

Zhou Ze hung up the phone directly, tossed it on the coffee table, picked up his coffee again, and took a sip.

Xu Qinglang next to him looked up at Zhou Ze and asked casually, "Who was that?"

"A prank, a call for help."

"What if it's real?" Xu Qinglang asked with a smile.

"It's supposed to be at General Mountain, but it's too far, too lazy to go."

Boss Zhou was a person who hated trouble. If he could sit in the bookstore and wait for business to come to him, why would he bother running around?

Zhou Ze was even too lazy to think about the real reason for the call for help, and he didn't have the time to figure out whether it was real or fake. He wasn't God, nor was he a Powerpuff Girl, he didn’t need to go wherever he was needed.

"Boss, this poor Taoist wants to go out and buy some daily necessities."

The old Taoist walked up to Zhou Ze at this time to ask for leave.

Zhou Ze was just about to nod his head in agreement when, who knew, the phone rang again, still that unknown number.

Zhou Ze simply turned on the speakerphone:

"Hello?"

"Save me... save me... I'm at General Mountain... they're going to kill people... they're going to kill people... General Mountain... General Mountain..."

The voice in the phone was much clearer than last time, but there was still a lot of background noise.

"Save me... save me... I'm at General Mountain... they're going to kill people... they're going to kill people... child... woman... they're executioners... executioners..."

Xu Qinglang and the old Taoist looked at each other. If this was a prank, it was possible, but Zhou Ze's personal number was usually not noticed by anyone. Apart from themselves, no one would contact Zhou Ze, so who would be so bored as to arrange a prank for him?

Then... what if it was real?

But how would you explain that the number that someone dialed at random would definitely reach Zhou Ze? Wouldn't he call 110 for help himself?

Right now, both possibilities didn’t really make sense.

Zhou Ze hung up the phone again and reached out to rub his temples.

"What are we having for dinner tonight?" Boss Zhou asked.

Obviously, Boss Zhou's dislike of trouble was still making an effort, trying as much as possible not to get close to this strange call for help. Whether it was real or fake, he just didn't want to go out, could he?

"Spaghetti," Xu Qinglang said.

"Oh, right, old Taoist, you just said you wanted to go out for a bit, go out, remember to come back early."

"Okay."

The old Taoist went out cheerfully, striding forward valiantly, like an old man experiencing the exuberance of youth!

"Yingying, help me go out and buy an unregistered phone card," Zhou Ze said to Bai Yingying.

"Okay, Boss."

Bai Yingying left the store and returned after a while. Although the real-name registration system for phone cards was very strict in the country now, it was still possible to buy phone cards that didn't require ID registration everywhere. It was very likely that a stranger's ID was registered for it.

After switching to the card, Zhou Ze dialed 110, and the operator quickly connected the police hotline.

"Hello, this is Tongcheng Police Service Desk..."

"I want to report a crime, someone said that there's a murder case at General Mountain, you'd better go and check it out, I don't know if it's true or not, okay, that's all."

"Please wait a moment, did you say General Mountain?"

"Yes."

"Then would it be convenient for you to provide your contact information and address? We'll send someone to contact you specifically."

Zhou Ze hung up the phone again, then took out the phone card and switched back to his own.

After switching back the card, Zhou Ze hesitated a little and said, "Something seems a bit off."

"What's off?" Xu Qinglang asked.

"I can't say, but I just feel like something's off."

............

There were some clubs on South Street, but the prices and levels were too high. Although the old Taoist’s pockets were quite substantial, he preferred to comfort those old and faded women. Of course, no matter how old and faded they were, they were still about the age of his daughter, which was still a bit beastly.

But the ones in the clubs were the age of his granddaughters, so that would be worse than a beast!

Taking a taxi to Gangzha, the old Taoist found a foot massage shop with practiced ease.

The rolling shutter door was closed, but the old Taoist knew that this didn't mean that it was closed for business.

After smoking a cigarette outside and waiting for a while, the rolling shutter door was pulled open, and an old man who was a little younger than the old Taoist came out from inside, and smiled at the old Taoist.

The affection of "brothers-in-law."

Ten years of cultivation to cross the river in the same boat, a hundred years of cultivation to sleep on the same pillow, a thousand years of cultivation to become brothers-in-law.

The old Taoist bent over and walked in.

There was a woman with heavy makeup inside, probably around forty years old, who said to the old Taoist:

"Brother, I'm going to take a shower first, you wait a moment, okay?"

"Okay, okay."

The old Taoist sat down on the sofa, facing the TV.

The woman was cleaning herself inside, and the old Taoist was already in a restless state outside.

But next,

The news broadcast on TV made the old Taoist immediately open his mouth wide.

"Our station's latest news, the family extermination case that happened at General Mountain a week ago has now made new progress. The police have identified the target suspect, a young man named 'Ye Qing'.

Now we are announcing the police's wanted order. Ye Qing, male, 25 years old, used to work at the Tongcheng Water Plant, a friend of the deceased family. He went to General Mountain for a vacation with the deceased family on the day of the incident.

After the incident, Ye Qing's whereabouts have been unknown. Please report to the police if you have any information. The police are offering a reward..."

The old Taoist looked at the picture on the TV screen, and his whole body was stunned.

Coincidentally, the woman came out after taking a shower. Seeing the old Taoist staring at the news on TV, she clicked her tongue and said:

"It happened last week, a family of three, all killed, their heads were cut off, and they haven't been found yet, it's really tragic, the couple were quite young, and the child seemed to be only five years old, a girl."

The old Taoist stood up abruptly,

Relying on his experience in solving cases with his previous boss, he keenly realized that the phone call that his boss had received before he came out was definitely unusual!

"Sis, brother didn't bring medicine today, I'm leaving first."

After saying that, the old Taoist ran directly out of the foot massage shop.

............

When the old Taoist took a taxi back to the bookstore, he found that Zhou Ze was not on the first floor.

Spider-Man was sitting there, motionless.

Xu Qinglang was sitting behind the bar, with cucumbers on his face.

"Where's the boss?" the old Taoist asked.

Xu Qinglang reached out and pointed upwards, without speaking.

The old Taoist immediately ran up the stairs and pushed open the door to the boss's bedroom.

In the bedroom,

The boss was lying on the tatami mat, resting his head on Bai Yingying's legs, and Bai Yingying was massaging his head.

The boss looked like "I'm so tired, I'm so busy, I'm so hardworking,"

Bai Yingying looked like "Boss, you're really too tired, too hardworking, too worried, people feel so sorry for you."

Pah,

Dog couple!

The old Taoist felt a surge of satisfaction in his heart.

Then, he said righteously:

"Boss, something's wrong."

Zhou Ze turned his head slightly, looked at the old Taoist standing at the door, and said, "What's wrong?"

"Boss, General Mountain, a murder case happened there last week, a family of three were killed, not only has the murderer not been found, but even the heads of the three victims haven't been found."

"Oh," Zhou Ze responded.

No wonder the police attached so much importance to his police report, now it made sense.

"Boss, that phone call you got, it's very likely that it's a message from an insider," the old Taoist reminded.

"Mm," Zhou Ze responded again.

Then, he continued to immerse himself in Bai Yingying's just-right massage techniques.

"............" The old Taoist.

He understood, the boss probably already knew, but the boss was probably just afraid of trouble and didn't want to bother with it. The trouble here probably wasn't just the trouble of investigating this matter, but also the trouble of a ghost messenger privately managing matters of the human world.

The latter trouble might be bigger and more sensitive than the former.

This made the old Taoist a little frustrated, the emperor wasn't worried, but the eunuch was, which was the most frustrating.

Just then, Zhou Ze's phone rang again. The phone was placed on the bedside table and was charging. Zhou Ze frowned, clearly not wanting to answer the phone, so he didn't ask Bai Yingying to help him get the phone.

The old Taoist ran over directly, and when he saw that it was still that unfamiliar number, he immediately pressed the answer button.

"Save me... save us... I'm at General Mountain... they're here... they're here... they're going to kill people... kill people..."

Zhou Ze reached out and rubbed his ears,

Didn't hear it, didn't hear it,

I'm deaf,

I'm deaf,

My ears are acting up.

But next,

Suddenly, a little girl's painful and miserable scream came from the phone: "Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!!!"

Zhou Ze opened his eyes, with an expression of helplessness and entanglement.

The phone on the other end was hung up,

The old Taoist swallowed his saliva, took out his phone, walked up to Zhou Ze, and pointed the phone at the boss, saying, "Boss, this is a photo of the victim's family of three's daughter."

A photo of an innocent and lovely five-year-old girl was placed in front of Zhou Ze,

Zhou Ze glanced at it and then looked away, while the old Taoist continued to point the phone screen at Zhou Ze's eyes.

Look,

Take a good look,

Can you bear it?

Can you bear it?

Are you even human!

Oh no, even a ghost wouldn't be able to bear it, right?

"Boss, investigate, this girl hasn't even found her head yet," the old Taoist incited.

Zhou Ze remained silent.

"Boss, I think this person who's calling is very suspicious, he's like he's at the scene."

Zhou Ze sighed, gave up struggling, and then silently stood up,

He said to Bai Yingying, "Help me find a set of casual clothes and sneakers."

"Okay, Boss," Bai Yingying immediately got up to find the clothes.

Zhou Ze looked at the old Taoist again and smiled: "With your level, you still want to learn from others to analyze and solve cases?"

"Ah?" The old Taoist was a little bewildered.

"Who am I?" Zhou Ze asked.

"A ghost messenger, Boss."

"Then what is the strange phone call that I got?"

"It's..."

"A ghost call."