Chapter 1 A Terrible Tragedy

The female ghost, under Zhou Ze's fingernails, was beaten until her soul was damaged, even to the point of becoming transparent and unreal.

She was in pain, she was uncomfortable, she was pitiful, but for Zhou Ze, he could try to use her as a scapegoat, but he couldn't allow her to leave the hospital, much less let her leave his sight and control.

Now, she failed to be the knife, so he could only send her to where she should go.

The gates of hell opened.

Zhou Ze grabbed the female ghost's shoulder with one hand and threw her straight in. After being severely injured by his fingernails, the female ghost had no room or strength to resist.

Clapping his hands, Zhou Ze took out his ID book, which showed a progress of twenty-five percent.

The income from this female ghost was still very high, not just because Zhou Ze pushed her along, but because this female ghost was a monster born from the resentment of many people who died on this street.

It's a pity that she didn't have the ferocity of a truly terrifying ghost; her style and identity simply didn't match.

Zhou Ze leaned on his crutch and started to walk out. He didn't want to stay here any longer, didn't want to linger in this place that even made a ghost messenger like him feel uncomfortable and depressed.

The old Taoist followed along. After the two reached the street entrance, the old Taoist subconsciously glanced back. There were still several similar small hospitals and clinics inside, and of course, many wild practices hidden in the corners.

This was the mortal realm,

but it was more like hell's incinerator.

In the invisible sky, it was as if chimneys rose from the ground, with clouds of smoke drifting away, and those lying in bed, painfully waiting to die, were like carts of cinders being sent to the incinerator.

"Boss, back to the bookstore?" the old Taoist asked.

Zhou Ze nodded.

"Boss, it's not worth getting angry about that kind of thing. Just let it go. That female ghost was actually quite pitiful. At least, she was a good mother."

"That's exactly what makes me feel sad."

"Boss, I don't agree with the saying that a pitiful person must have something to hate. I think she did the right thing. Anyway, death is death, so why not sell herself before death and leave some income for her family? It's only human. Although lives can't be bought and sold, when it really comes down to it, using up one's last remaining value can actually be understood.

"Moreover, her actions didn't hurt anyone else. It was a consensual thing, actually."

"Old Taoist, have you ever been arrested by the police?" Zhou Ze suddenly asked.

"Um, a few times, that's because..."

"Have you ever been caught in an anti-vice raid?"

"Um, not that. I've been lucky. Actually, I'm sometimes worried, after all, I'm so old. Although I'm going to care for those women who have lost their way, my intentions are good, but I'm afraid of being misunderstood by outsiders.

"You know, in this world, when you want to do something, especially when you want to do something good, it's always easy to be criticized."

"Then what do you think, is the anti-vice campaign right or wrong?"

"This..." The old Taoist didn't know how to answer.

"According to your logic, the 'misses' are willing, they need money, and you also have a need, and you also give money. Both sides get what they need, so why should the police interfere?"

The old Taoist didn't know how to refute.

"Even in the United States, which prides itself on being free and open, prostitution is illegal in all states except Nevada, which borders Los Angeles.

"Law is actually the last moral standard of a society, and your so-called protection of those who have lost their way,

"seems to be a win-win situation, but if it's legalized or brought into the open, do you know how many prostitution gangs it would create? Many women would even be forced into prostitution. In an illegal environment, there are already many cases of forced prostitution.

"India is a country that advocates the legalization of individual prostitution. You also understand the rape rate in India."

"These are two different things..." the old Taoist explained.

"Two different things?"

Zhou Ze smiled,

pointed to the street behind him, and continued:

"This is just the tip of the iceberg that we can see. Do you know that the flames of sin, in the beginning, may just be a spark, and moths are willing to actively approach it, and the fire is willing to burn them. The moths are also making their own choices.

"But when this fire burns bigger and bigger, it will no longer be satisfied with just burning those moths that come voluntarily. It will burn the nearby houses, burn the nearby forests, and then, create a catastrophe.

"In the end, aren't those moths that fed the flames one of the culprits?

"When this industry begins to mature and expand, who can guarantee that there won't be more bloody and exciting gambling methods? Even, when there aren't enough voluntary moths, wouldn't those who are addicted to this game, those platforms that are used to getting huge incomes from this game, force and semi-forcefully find new chips to continue the game?

"Six months later,

"a year later,

"three years later,

"this increasingly large and mature black industry grabs an innocent person and creates some conditions for a similar death gamble.

"Does that person have the right to scold those idiots who initially voluntarily joined this game as resources and chips for money?"

The old Taoist smacked his lips. He felt that what the boss said made a lot of sense, but he still felt that something was wrong. He braced himself and retorted:

"Boss, I think the real culprits are still the organizers, the bookmakers."

"When an avalanche occurs, no snowflake is innocent."

***

When he returned to the bookstore, it was already dark. Because he was not in a good mood, Zhou Ze walked back, which took a lot of time.

The bookstore door was open, and Tang Shi was sitting behind the bar. There was a man and a woman sitting in the store reading books.

"Where's Bai Yingying?" Zhou Ze asked.

"She went upstairs to play games. I'm helping her watch for a while. She's been watching all day." Tang Shi said indifferently.

Zhou Ze was speechless. It seemed that he had to limit that internet-addicted girl's game time. She actually dared to leave the store to Tang Shi to manage. Was she not afraid that something would really happen and blood would flow like a river in the bookstore?

"You guys were out long enough. By the way, where's Old Taoist?" Tang Shi saw that the old Taoist didn't follow Zhou Ze back to the bookstore and asked strangely.

"He went to the police station to report a crime," Zhou Ze replied.

"Want something to drink? A cocktail?"

"Can you mix one?"

Tang Shi didn't speak. She started mixing the drink on her own. Her movements were fast and skilled. Soon, a cocktail was placed in front of Zhou Ze.

"Try it."

Zhou Ze picked up the glass, took a sip, and then nodded.

"Very good."

"Thank you." Tang Shi sat back in her chair, holding a book called *Hell Origins* and reading it.

"Is this book from the bookstore?" Zhou Ze didn't have any impression of this book, and there was no publisher listed on it.

"His book, a fantasy book from his chuuni days. You can read it for fun to pass the time."

Zhou Ze walked up the stairs with his drink. As soon as he pushed open the bedroom door, he saw Bai Yingying wearing headphones in front of the computer desk, speaking excitedly, as if she was arguing with her teammates.

It seemed that they didn't know she was a woman at first. They only found out when she turned on the microphone during the argument. It seemed that they had said something else.

"Heh, you want me to play with you?"

Bai Yingying didn't know that Zhou Ze was standing behind her. She lowered her voice and said coquettishly:

"Do you want me to be a corpse bride, *xiao gege*? The kind that goes 'Eee-ing, eee-ing.'

"Go sleep with your mothers, you imbeciles. I'm old enough to be your great-grandmother!"

Then, Bai Yingying took off her headphones and threw them on the table disdainfully. She leaned back slightly, one long leg propped up on the table, and one hand naturally took out a pack of women's cigarettes from her pocket. She tapped the cigarette butt on the table familiarly, then put it in her mouth, rubbed her fingers, and a spark appeared, lighting the cigarette.

"That's a good way to light a cigarette," Zhou Ze said. "Can you teach me?"

"Go ask your mother to teach you. I don't have time..."

As Bai Yingying spoke, she suddenly took a deep breath, quickly extinguished the cigarette in her hand, then stood up, lowered her head to Zhou Ze, and greeted him in a soft voice:

"Boss, you're back."

Zhou Ze sat down in the chair that Bai Yingying had been sitting in. There was still warmth left on the chair. He took a cigarette from the cigarette case, lit it, took a puff of the women's cigarette, and frowned slightly. This cigarette was too light for Zhou Ze.

"You were holding back pretty hard, weren't you?"

Zhou Ze looked at the female corpse sideways.

He didn't know when, but he had become a little used to Bai Yingying being obediently by his side and "eee-ing."

He seemed to have forgotten the deterrence and terror that Bai Yingying had brought to him and Xu Qinglang when she first woke up in the bookstore. Zhou Ze was also a little dazed, wondering which was the real her.

"That's not it, Boss. Don't misunderstand. In front of you, Yingying will only act like a little bird clinging to a person. Boss, you should know it yourself,

"you are also a jiangshi (Chinese hopping vampire), and your bloodline is much higher than mine."

Zhou Ze narrowed his eyes and said:

"But in my previous life, I was just a doctor, just an ordinary person. I've always been curious about one thing, and that is that I've already died once and changed bodies. If it's just a matter of bloodline, it should be ruled out. Otherwise, there's only one explanation, and that is that Xu Le himself was a jiangshi, but that doesn't make sense either."

"Boss, my madam once told me that some jiangshi, he..."

At this moment, Zhou Ze's cell phone rang. Zhou Ze picked up his cell phone and signaled Bai Yingying to pause for a moment and wait to speak.

It was the old Taoist's call. The two had walked back together, but Zhou Ze had given the old Taoist some hell money to burn in a place before going to the police station to report the crime.

"Hello, did you report the crime?" Zhou Ze asked.

"Boss, I... I didn't dare to report..." the old Taoist said tremblingly.

"Didn't you burn the hell money? You were only involved in gambling, and you also have the circumstance of surrendering and reporting the crime. Plus, if you burn some hell money, you won't even be detained. At most, you'll just have to make a statement."

"No... no, Boss... I'm at the police station. There are a lot of reporters here now. It's said that half an hour ago, someone reported that all the nurses, doctors, and patients in a hospital were killed. It seems... it seems to be the hospital we went to before.

"Boss, we can't turn ourselves in. No matter how much hell money we burn, it won't work. If I turn myself in, the police will definitely detain me as the prime suspect."

"Everyone's dead?"

Zhou Ze frowned slightly. That shouldn't be. When he left, those doctors and nurses were just lying there unconscious. They were fine. He estimated that they would wake up in a while.

"It's definitely that hospital," the old Taoist said in a low voice. "I just asked a reporter, and he told me."

"How is that possible? We haven't been gone for long."

"Boss..." the old Taoist asked nervously, "Didn't you also find it strange before, why that female ghost didn't kill anyone or take revenge?"

"What do you want to say?"

"I'm thinking, at that time, did two ghosts appear, but one ghost, he hid himself."