Chapter 1 A Daze

A hazy fog,
A prickling sensation all over his body,
Like countless needles,
From head to toe, incessantly stimulating him. Every movement felt like forcing open an old, decaying machine,
So dry,
So uncomfortable.

Opening his eyes,
His vision was blurred,
He moved his lips a few times,
His mouth was so dry,
He desperately wanted water.

His gaze swept towards the bedside table, searching for a possible water source.

Water,
There was water,
There was a teacup there.

His hand reached out, picked up the teacup, but as soon as he lifted it,
A sharp pain shot through his wrist,
The teacup slipped,
Falling down.

"Plop..."
The teacup crashed to the ground, and he rolled off the bed.

"Hiss..."
So painful…
Officer Zhang's eyes rolled back in pain, but he forced himself to sit up, the pain slowly receding, as if he had overcome the initial stage.

Here,
Where was this?
Not the hospital,
Nor home,
And it didn't seem like a hotel,
So,
Where was he?

Or perhaps,
Was this a dream?
His head, so painful…

"Wiping, wiping, wiping…"
Outside the door,
Footsteps approached.

Officer Zhang subconsciously grabbed the broken teacup from the ground, clutching it in his hand.

"Click…"
The door opened.

The old Taoist walked in, muttering as he entered, that damn lawyer really knew how to order people around, even making this poor Taoist come up to get the contract for him.

"And saying he wants to reform the bookstore, not to support idlers; damn it, isn't the biggest idler in the bookstore that guy who likes to sit there in the sun all day…"

Immediately afterwards,
A "whoosh" sound was heard,
The teacup smashed directly into the old Taoist's face.

"Ah!!!"
The old Taoist immediately squatted down, covering his face,
Pain,
So painful,
His face was ruined!

This poor Taoist hasn't even found a wife yet!!!

Actually, Officer Zhang didn't have much strength now. If he had enough strength, he definitely wouldn't have thrown it; he would have rushed up and smashed it directly. And even if he had thrown it, the force wouldn't have been very strong.

But the problem was that the face was a very vulnerable area, and even a light blow would hurt, especially if it touched the tip of the nose.

"It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!!!"
The old Taoist kept shouting.

At this moment,
Another figure appeared at the door.

Zhang Yanfeng instinctively lunged forward. Although his body had only just fully awakened and was still a little weak, the old detective's instincts still made him react subconsciously.

"Pa!"
"Pa!"
"Pa!"
Zhang Yanfeng's three attacks were casually deflected by the other party with one hand.

Immediately afterwards,
That hand pushed forward gently,
Directly hitting Zhang Yanfeng's chest.

"Bang!"
Zhang Yanfeng flew backwards, crashing into the wall, and then slumped down, landing right on the bed.

"Click!"
Lawyer An turned on the light,
And the room was instantly bright.

Zhang Yanfeng didn't recognize Lawyer An, but he recognized the old Taoist squatting on the ground, covering his face.

Uh…
For a moment,
Zhang Yanfeng realized,
He seemed to have done something wrong.

The old Taoist raised his head,
Staring at Zhang Yanfeng with wide, angry eyes,
"The second time, the second time, the second time!!!"

The old Taoist roared,
"A bald donkey can endure, but this poor Taoist cannot!"

Saying that,
The old Taoist picked up the broom next to the door and prepared to beat Zhang Yanfeng.

He didn't care if he had just woken up,
He didn't care if he was a hero,
He had been bullied twice, damn it!

Lawyer An gently stuck out his foot, tripping the old Taoist.

The old Taoist flew forward, his head hitting the wall, and he also fell onto the bed, feeling dizzy.

"Are… are you alright?"
Zhang Yanfeng asked, looking at the old Taoist.

"Now that you're awake, come downstairs with me to see the boss."
Lawyer An pointed at Zhang Yanfeng.

The boss?
Was it that person?

Zhang Yanfeng stood up and followed Lawyer An downstairs. He seemed to remember something; he was negotiating at the kindergarten, and then he only remembered a huge fire, so hot…

Did Zhou Ze save him?

Zhang Yanfeng patted his head, sorting out his thoughts.

It seemed,
He owed Zhou Ze another favor.

Hard to repay.

If there was really no other way, he could only help him get a driver's license?

Anyway, it wasn't like he was driving without a license; he knew how to drive, although it wasn't in accordance with the rules, but the rules were made for the living, right?

And he wasn't alive.

As he went down the stairs, Lawyer An asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

"Heh."
Lawyer An smiled. This police comrade who had just woken up didn't seem to understand what was going on.

Downstairs,
Boss Zhou was drinking coffee. When he looked up, he saw the unreliable An coming down, oh, and old Zhang behind him.

"Awake, old Zhang."
Zhou Ze greeted him.

"Yeah, awake, thank you."
Zhang Yanfeng walked over. He hadn't really owed people favors before, because he was a policeman. For ordinary people, favors were easy to repay, but precisely because he was a policeman, he often couldn't talk about favors.

"Did you get your driver's license?" Zhang Yanfeng asked.

He was a little uneasy, and also inexplicably anxious. He wanted to go home or back to the police station. For some reason, he desperately wanted to leave this place.

Therefore, he decided to help Zhou Ze with something within his ability first, as a small repayment of the favor. As for the future, he would deal with it later.

"Not yet, been busy lately."
Zhou Ze replied.

Busy drinking tea,
Busy sunbathing,
Busy sleeping with the maid,
Such a fulfilling and busy life.

"I'll help you get it, shouldn't be a big problem, but you have to be careful when you drive in the future. That's it, I'll go back to the police station to take a look first. By the way, how long have I been unconscious?"

"Three or four days, I guess." Zhou Ze replied.

"Then I have to go back quickly."
Zhang Yanfeng walked towards the door, pushing open the door of the bookstore.

An old man stood at the entrance of the bookstore, his body hunched over. Zhang Yanfeng almost knocked him over when he opened the door.

The old man wasn't actually knocked over,
But he was badly frightened,
And fell directly to the ground.

Zhang Yanfeng thought that his opening the door too widely had startled the old man, so he immediately squatted down, preparing to help the old man up.

He was a policeman,
So he wasn't afraid of helping old people.

Oh,
To be precise,
He believed that he was a policeman, so he wasn't flustered.

However,
The old man wasn't that timid,
At this point, being timid was meaningless.
He wasn't startled by Zhang Yanfeng's sudden opening of the door,
But by Zhang Yanfeng himself.

Right now,
Zhang Yanfeng was actually squatting down to help him,
Which frightened the old man even more. He knelt down to Zhang Yanfeng, kowtowing in fear and trepidation.

"I can't accept it, I can't accept it, I can't accept it…"
Zhang Yanfeng was stunned.
What was going on?

Lawyer An stood next to Zhou Ze, watching the scene outside, and said helplessly, "Most people's souls are very fragile. The reason why ghost messengers and many evil ghosts who have escaped from hell have special abilities can also be understood as mutations.

Being stimulated or tortured in the environment of hell causes the strength of the soul to increase and produce other mutations. When they return to the yang world and enter the physical body, they will have special abilities accompanying them.

Like me, like Lin Ke,
But this one in front of you, his soul has never been to hell. After you used the flower-shifting technique, although it was successful, to be honest, he has no ability. Relying on a ghost messenger certificate alone, he can't be a good ghost messenger. It's useless to you."

Zhou Ze shook his head. "I just didn't want him to die."

As for whether it was useful or not,
That wasn't within Boss Zhou's consideration.

"Capricious." Lawyer An curled his lips.

The old man crawled into the bookstore,
Zhang Yanfeng followed behind him.

"What's wrong with him?" Zhang Yanfeng asked, pointing at the old man and looking at everyone in the bookstore.

Xu Qinglang turned around to prepare a cold dish.
The old Taoist with a band-aid on his face also came over to chat with the old man intimately about the education of his children,
Like, is your son filial?
Is your daughter filial?

"What's going on?"
Zhang Yanfeng asked again.

Zhou Ze looked at Zhang Yanfeng and said calmly, "He's not human."

"Not human?"

"Yeah." Zhou Ze nodded. "He's a ghost."

"Ghost…"
Zhang Yanfeng's lips moved slightly. It wasn't that he couldn't accept it. After all, he knew something about Zhou Ze's identity, but what he found strange was something else.

"Why can I see ghosts?"
Yeah,
Why could he see ghosts?

Moreover,
Ghosts were actually so real!

"Because you're already dead too." Zhou Ze leaned his hands on the bar, looking at Zhang Yanfeng in front of him with a calm expression.

"I'm… already… dead?"

"Yes, dead."
Zhang Yanfeng swallowed.
He finally remembered,
The ending of that day,
And the final scene,
He had pushed the criminal out of the window,
The criminal had ignited the gasoline on his body,
And then he and the criminal had burned together.

"I'm dead…"
Zhang Yanfeng sat down, leaning against the doorframe.
He didn't cry and wail because of his death,
In fact, when he went to negotiate with the criminal,
He had called Zhou Ze and asked him about what happened after death.

"What about the children and teachers at the kindergarten?"

"They were all saved. In the entire accident, everyone was fine except for you, who became a hero."

Zhang Yanfeng breathed a sigh of relief.
It was a worthwhile death,
No regrets.

"Actually, the feeling after death is quite real."
Zhang Yanfeng looked at his hands,
And pinched his arm.

"It feels no different from when I was alive."

"You can look at your left again." Zhou Ze said, taking out two cotton balls.

"The left?"

"The glass on the left, take a closer look." After saying this, Zhou Ze put the cotton balls into his ears, then picked up his cup and took a sip of coffee.

Zhang Yanfeng looked at the glass,
He saw his face reflected in the glass,
It was an unfamiliar face.
He reached out,
Touching his face,
The person in the glass also made the same movements as him.

After ten seconds of愣,
Zhang Yanfeng finally realized what had happened.
This old detective, who had been in the police force for two or three decades, at this moment,
Heard the sound of his worldview completely collapsing,
And,
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"