“He’s my dad.”

A light and simple sentence,

Yet it seemed to carry an earth-shattering effect.

The middle-aged man took out a cigarette from his pocket, stuck one in his own mouth, and offered one to Zhou Ze and the old Daoist.

The old Daoist stared blankly, not moving.

Zhou Ze, however, calmly took the cigarette and lit it.

“So, have you thought it over?” the middle-aged man continued to persuade. “Don’t worry, I won’t cheat you. I can show you the bet I placed. You guys can just place the same bet at the same time as me.”

“You’re really a good son,”

Zhou Ze said, exhaling a smoke ring.

The middle-aged man frowned slightly and sneered, “This deal, are you doing it or not? Just say the word.”

He wasn't stupid; of course, he could hear the sarcasm in Zhou Ze's words.

“We’ll follow. Why wouldn’t we follow?” Zhou Ze said.

“Good. Five thousand, not expensive, right? You’ve already bet a hundred thousand, two bets, a hundred thousand. Another five thousand will guarantee you a profit.”

Mentioning money, the middle-aged man began to get excited, not minding Zhou Ze's previous ridicule at all.

“What if your dad doesn’t make it?” Zhou Ze asked.

“How could that be? He’s my dad, and he knows I’ve placed a bet too. Don’t worry, I’ll cheer him on, tell him to hold on. Even if he dies, he’ll have to hold on a bit longer before he does.”

The middle-aged man had an expression that suggested he had everything under control.

At this moment,

It truly felt like father and son were connected at heart,

A thick father-son bond permeated the air, causing one to be moved and sigh.

“You never know when a person will die,” Zhou Ze reminded him. “Even the ghost officers can’t be sure.”

Ghost officers can’t casually take the lives of the living. Of course, it’s not impossible, but the price is too great. One careless move, and it could lead to eternal damnation.

“Heh, I’d like to see a ghost officer come and take my dad away right now.”

The middle-aged man spat out another wad of phlegm, then took out his phone.

“Just transfer the money directly to me. Once the money’s transferred, I’ll show you my bet immediately.”

“This old Daoist will transfer your motherfucking ass!”

The old Daoist directly clenched his fist and smashed it towards the man's forehead.

"Bang!"

The middle-aged man was stunned by the punch and fell to the ground. He stood up and wanted to fight back, but the old Daoist glared at him with eyes as big as a bull's.

He chickened out.

You really can't expect a man who relies on his father's life to get rich to have much backbone or spirit.

“You wait, you hit someone, right? I’m calling the police!”

The man immediately reached for his phone, which had fallen on the ground.

“Call them, we’ll wait,”

Zhou Ze said.

The man’s eyelids twitched. He didn’t dare to call the police, he really didn’t dare. Immediately, he picked up his phone, glared fiercely at the old Daoist, then walked into the house, closing the door and locking it from the inside.

The old Daoist sighed deeply, turned around a little dejectedly, looked at Zhou Ze, and said:

“Boss, I’m sorry, I was impulsive.”

“It’s fine.” Zhou Ze didn’t care, and asked, “Why did you suddenly get so agitated?”

“The biggest regret of this old Daoist’s life is that when my dad died, I was away and didn’t make it back in time to see him one last time.

This little devil’s words, they really disgusted me. He’s a complete beast, his conscience has been eaten by dogs, using his own father’s life to make money.”

Zhou Ze flicked his cigarette ash and didn’t say anything.

“Boss, don’t you have any other feelings?” the old Daoist pursed his lips and asked, “Everyone would find this kind of beast unpleasant, right?”

“I’m an orphan.”

“…………” The old Daoist.

Zhou Ze smiled, exhaled a smoke ring, and said, “Actually, I’ve seen similar things in the hospital quite a bit. At first, I couldn’t understand it at all,

Even, very angry.

There are no filial sons by a sickbed for long, of course, there are indeed many unfilial sons, but the vast majority of people actually want to cure their family members.

Although the country's medical insurance and rural cooperative medical care have been popularized, and medical conditions are improving year by year, if you really suffer from those terminal or serious illnesses, it’s like throwing money into a bottomless pit.”

Zhou Ze threw the cigarette butt in his hand and made a "smashing" motion.

“Human life is more important than money.” The old Daoist still insisted on his point of view.

“Human life is indeed more important than money, and ‘life is priceless’ is indeed a slogan that everyone is familiar with, but the value of anything can actually be measured, it just depends on the different perspectives.

For example, in order to treat a seriously ill elder, the whole family borrows money, making an originally ordinary family destitute, and then the elder's illness may still not be cured, and they still pass away.

Then how should the family's life, the children's education and future, be taken care of?

I once encountered something. There was an old man who secretly ran out of the hospital, and we found him. His son was very filial and willing to sell everything to treat him, kneeling and begging him to return to the hospital to continue treatment.

But he didn't want to burden his son, saying that either he would let him go home and wait for death, or he would rush onto the road and be hit by a car. In short, he didn't want to live in the hospital and spend money and burden his son.”

The old Daoist pursed his lips upon hearing this.

“This is the helplessness of life. This kind of helplessness runs through history, regardless of China or foreign countries. People will always have to face some trade-offs, and these trade-offs are sometimes very cruel.”

The old Daoist smiled bitterly: "Then should we still call the police?"

“Call them, why not?” Zhou Ze looked at the old Daoist, “Life sometimes has helplessness, but life should not be desecrated.

It can wither in helplessness, but it should not be stirred in a septic tank.

Using human life to gamble money, treating the lives of one's own kind as cockfights or cricket fights, seeking pleasure and excitement, these people should go to hell.

After we get back, I’ll give you some hell money, you can burn it.”

The old Daoist rubbed his hands subconsciously and said coyly:

“How could I, Boss, doing things for you is what I should be doing. Isn't it just a hundred thousand yuan? It's not a big deal, right? Am I such a stingy person?”

Immediately afterward, the old Daoist immediately continued, as if afraid that Zhou Ze would go back on his word:

“If you insist on giving it to me, Boss, I can’t refuse your kind intentions.”

“You’re thinking too much. Burning paper money is to get you some yin virtue, and then to turn yourself in as a tainted witness for the report. You also participated in gambling, but it’s estimated that the merits and demerits can be offset, plus the effect of hell money, you’ll be fine.”

“…………” The old Daoist.

Zhou Ze walked forward with his crutch, while the old Daoist followed behind dejectedly, probably drawing circles in his heart non-stop.

Just then, Zhou Ze suddenly stopped.

“Boss, are you tired?” the old Daoist asked.

The boss abuses me a thousand times, and I treat the boss like my first love.

The basic principles of serving ghosts, the old Daoist knew very well, otherwise he might turn you into a ghost too.

“There’s a bit of a problem, what time is it now?” Zhou Ze asked.

“It’s four thirty in the afternoon,” the old Daoist glanced at his phone.

“Why is the sky so gloomy?” Zhou Ze pointed to the top of his head.

“It’s going to rain,” the old Daoist guessed.

“But the weather forecast said there’s no rain today,” Zhou Ze said.

“The weather forecast predicts an 80% chance of rain tomorrow. There are probably only ten people in their station, and then they vote by show of hands. Eight people think it will rain, so there’s an 80% chance of rain.”

“Then, what about over there?” Zhou Ze pointed to the distant sky.

The old Daoist looked over and was immediately stunned. There, it was actually cloudless, and the sun was shining brightly.

This strange clear separation was indeed startling. You have to know that this isn’t Yunnan, it isn’t a plateau, this is the Yangtze River Delta plain area. This kind of situation where the sun rises in the east and it rains in the west is still very rare.

“There’s a problem,” Zhou Ze said, then he looked at a gate on the right, with a sign that read “Xinrui Hospital,” and inside the gate was a large clock.

It was the kind of large clock used for decoration, very large in size.

Zhou Ze pushed the door open and walked in, with the old Daoist following behind him.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

At this time, the hospital security guard came over.

This hospital was actually very small, probably didn't have any qualifications, and all the departments, including the inpatient department, were in a three-story building. There was only one security guard, but it wasn’t some old man, but a man with a fierce face despite wearing a security uniform.

“Taking a look,” Zhou Ze replied.

“What’s there to see?” the security guard scolded.

“Hey, is there something wrong with your brain? The hospital has its doors open, but you’re not letting people in?” The old Daoist directly retorted.

Ever heard of borrowing the tiger’s might?

This old Daoist is relying on the ghost’s power,

To scare you to death!

Wait, something seems wrong?

“This isn’t a place to see a doctor. If you want to see a doctor, go somewhere else. Also, this is a private place, no tours allowed, go, go, go…”

The security guard didn’t pay any attention to the old Daoist at all and directly came up to drive them away.

Zhou Ze looked at the large clock placed at the entrance of the hospital hall and was lost in thought.

The old Daoist stepped forward and made direct physical contact with the security guard, colliding with him.

My boss is doing something very important… uh, spacing out, but you can’t disturb him!

“You want to fight?” The security guard pointed at the old Daoist.

“Come on, try it!” The old Daoist retorted the same way.

The old Daoist wasn’t afraid of a fistfight!

“Do you know what this hospital does?” Zhou Ze opened his mouth, looking at the large clock.

“What’s it to you? This is just a crematorium, and it has nothing to do with you. If you know what’s good for you, get out of here. If you lost money gambling, don’t come here to make trouble, go find the bookie!”

The security guard shouted directly.

Zhou Ze nodded,

It seemed that he knew.

Then Zhou Ze reached out and patted the old Daoist on the shoulder,

“Let’s go.”

“Boss, why are you so cowardly today… letting out a sigh of relief, haha, it’s good not to fight, it’s good not to fight, everyone gets rich in harmony, harmony brings wealth.”

The old Daoist chuckled, then followed Zhou Ze out.

The security guard glanced at the two people walking out and snorted through his nose.

Walking to the street outside the door, Zhou Ze lit another cigarette.

The old Daoist was a little downcast,

He always felt that this boss wasn’t as inspiring as the previous one. If it were the previous boss, when that guy said "He's my dad," the previous boss would have probably made his dad bury his son alive.

The boss in front of him was too disciplined, too self-restrained.

“He’s a living person, not under my jurisdiction,” Zhou Ze explained.

“Mm,” the old Daoist replied weakly.

“Old Daoist, I really don’t like this place.”

Zhou Ze said.

“This old Daoist doesn’t like it either,” the old Daoist echoed.

“What time is it?” Zhou Ze asked again.

“Four forty-three.”

Zhou Ze held a cigarette in his hand, nodded, and said:

“It’s about to come out.”

…………

The security guard picked up the walkie-talkie and said, “Hello, monitoring room? I drove away the two people who just came in, they didn’t seem like they were here to make trouble after losing money.”

Just as he finished saying these words, a dense static noise suddenly came from the walkie-talkie.

“Hello? Hello?” The security guard patted the walkie-talkie, “What a crappy machine.”

"Dong… Dong…"

The large clock next to him rang,

The security guard subconsciously turned his head, then frowned, then scratched his head and moved closer. Damn it, it’s not the hour yet, why are you ringing?

Four forty-three… four minutes.

Just then, the security guard suddenly saw the sound of gears rubbing coming from inside the clock. The sound was very loud, very terrifying,

And it had a texture of juice being crushed and splashed, like a large piece of pork being stirred in a blender.

The security guard was at a loss and took a step back subconsciously,

Immediately afterward,

He saw from inside the clock,

Slowly reaching out a hand,

This hand seemed to have just been crushed by the gears, completely covered in blood and gore,

This scene,

Was definitely a nightmare for people with trypophobia.

The surrounding temperature,

Suddenly dropped down,

Giving people the illusion of falling into an ice cellar.

The security guard was so frightened that his body began to tremble. He wanted to run, he wanted to shout, but his legs were as heavy as lead at this time, and he couldn’t move at all.

This hand slowly grabbed the security guard's neck,

A terrifying force came from the arm, pulling the security guard closer to the clock.

The security guard's face was pressed against the outer wall of the clock, and his face was almost deformed.

A sinister and trembling voice came from the walkie-talkie:

“What… time… is it… I… I… should… die… should die… yet?”