Chapter 1 The Start

Flicking off the ash,
Zhou Ze yawned again,
And twisted his neck.
But,
The movement stopped abruptly at that moment.
Because he suddenly forgot,
Why he had come here,
In the middle of the night.
Why wasn’t he at the bookstore, holding Bai Yingying as he slept,
Instead of driving such a long way to the prison gates to catch the breeze?
The logic in his head was twisted into a jumbled mess in an instant, as if some crucial link had been forcibly ripped out, leaving the remaining parts disjointed.
Zhou Ze tried to sort out his thoughts.
He remembered that he should have been at the hospital, trying to save Zhang Yanfeng. But Zhang Yanfeng's soul had floated off to the Pig Trotter Meat Shop. There was also a traffic light there. Then he met An Buqi. An Buqi had prepared a corpse in advance, so Zhang Yanfeng could return to life by possessing it, and even used the ghost messenger certificate he had given him.
No,
Something seemed wrong.
Zhou Ze lowered his head,
Forcing himself to think hard,
Because the biggest paradox was, why had he driven here to the prison?
What exactly had he come to the prison for?
He couldn't remember,
He couldn't remember at all.
If he had nothing to do at night and was just bored, so he drove out for a spin and got lost in thought, unconsciously ending up in this desolate place, that might explain it, even if it was a little far-fetched.
But looking at the car he was sitting in, it wasn't Lawyer An's car, nor was it Old Xu's Nissan. There was also a driver's license in the slot next to him, with a photo and name of another stranger.
If an ordinary person encountered this situation,
They might feel like they had a mental breakdown,
Or cover their mouths and exclaim that they had encountered a "supernatural event."
But the problem was, could Zhou Ze really imitate them and exclaim, "How terrifying, I've encountered a supernatural event!"?
He opened the car door,
And stepped out, constantly looking around.
Not far ahead was the towering wall of the prison.
There weren't many cars on the road in front of the prison late at night.
The sound of cicadas chirped incessantly all around.
Zhou Ze's eyes widened and then narrowed.
"Who am I?
Where do I come from?
Where am I going?"
Gritting his teeth,
Zhou Ze felt he should do something.
This sudden amnesia was making him feel very insecure.
He took out his phone,
And dialed Lawyer An's number.
Because Zhou Ze remembered that he had met with Lawyer An before coming to the prison.
The call was quickly answered.
"Hello, Boss."
"Old An, do you know where I am now?"
"How would I know?" An Buqi was a little baffled, then immediately said, as if he had thought of something, "That policeman has woken up. He's still unconscious, but his breathing and heartbeat have stabilized. There shouldn't be any major problems."
No,
Old Zhang's matter wasn't urgent.
"I'm at the prison gate now. Do you remember why I came to the prison gate?"
Lawyer An was stunned for a moment.
In his opinion, if you were at the entrance of a club or a vegetable market, and you asked him why you were there,
He could answer.
But you're asking him why you ran to the prison gate in the middle of the night.
Did you want to turn yourself in and go to jail?
Or,
Was he implying something else?
Was he hinting at something to himself?
"Boss,"
"Yes?"
"If you have any complaints about me, you can bring them up directly."
In other words,
There's no need to beat around the bush or make veiled accusations.
"Um..."
"I have a client in prison. Are you going there for that matter? I remember I told you about it, and I'll share the profits with you, so there's no need to rush..."
"It's not that."
Zhou Ze interrupted Lawyer An's rambling.
"The problem is, I really don't know why I ran here in the middle of the night."
"Then... why don't you come back and rest? Oh, Boss, I have another request."
"Speak."
"I saw that little brat constantly pestering the female zombie to sleep with her. I also asked the old Taoist priest. He said that you also sleep with her. Look, I'm also suffering from insomnia..."
"No way."
"Hiss..."
Lawyer An felt very distressed.
In Zhou Ze's opinion,
He could still tolerate the little loli (little girl) wanting to sleep together.
Waking up in the morning, first seeing the plump and charming Bai Yingying, and then seeing the little loli lying beside him, clinging to him, wasn't a bad way to start the day.
But if he added Lawyer An's leg, covered in leg hair, appearing before his eyes,
His mood for the whole day would definitely be affected.
Even if Lawyer An wanted to sleep on a mat under the bed to leech off the "air conditioning," it wouldn't work.
"Then I'll just continue meditating," Lawyer An said helplessly.
"I want to go into the prison and take a look," Zhou Ze said suddenly.
"Go into the prison?"
"I have to figure out why I came here in the middle of the night, right?"
…

"Ring ring… ring ring…"
The phone rang.
The prison warden, who was nearing retirement age, picked up the phone with some dissatisfaction. As people got older, it wasn't easy to sleep soundly, and he would be retiring in another year or two.
But he didn't dare not answer the phone call in the middle of the night, for fear that something might happen in the prison.
"Hello, what's the matter?"
"Warden, I'm sorry, but it's about the selection of advanced reformers for this quarter. The list has to be submitted tomorrow, but our prison hasn't decided on a candidate yet."
"What do you mean, you haven't decided on a candidate? Didn't we have a meeting last week to discuss it? Give it to that person who writes books, publishes them, and wins awards…"
The prison warden frowned suddenly.
What was he saying?
"Give it to who?"
"Give it to…"
The prison warden scratched his head and sat up on the bed. Why did he feel like he had forgotten something, or was he just a little confused because he had been woken up by the phone?
"You find a few more people to study it overnight, and submit it directly tomorrow. Pay attention to being fair and impartial, and don't allow any favoritism. If I find out, I won't tolerate it!"
"Okay, Warden, don't worry."
The phone was hung up.
The prison warden, whose hair was already half white, didn't lie down to rest.
Instead, he got up and walked to the bookshelf.
And began to search.
He searched for a long time.
He didn't know what he was looking for,
So naturally, he couldn't find anything.
In the end,
He could only sit down in his chair and light a cigarette.
His wife was also woken up by him and got up to take a look, asking, "What's wrong? You seem uneasy."
"It's nothing."
The prison warden scratched his head and smiled at his wife, mocking himself:
"Maybe it's because I'm old, and my memory is starting to fail."
"What are you saying? You're not old at all. When you retire, I'm still planning to go out and travel with you. We never had the chance before."
"Hehe, that's right."

…

For Zhou Ze, entering the detention center wasn't actually that difficult. The black mist emanating from his ten fingernails was enough to make the people nearby unaware of his existence. At least, it was no problem to deal with ordinary people.
Boss Zhou didn't dare to openly use his fingernails to break open the iron gate and walk in. Instead, he learned from Spider-Man and climbed the wall.
His fingernails easily embedded themselves into the wall, and he slowly climbed up. He also smoothed out the barbed wire and barbs on top. After passing two walls in a row, Boss Zhou was already a little out of breath.
The prison at night was as quiet as a boarding school.
Zhou Ze inserted his fingernails into the ground,
And the black mist began to point in one direction.
Sure enough,
There was something there.
However, the black mist was pointing in two directions, which made Zhou Ze a little hesitant. For now, he could only choose one direction to walk in first.
That direction should be the prison cell block. Zhou Ze climbed up the wall and went to the second floor.
On the second floor, a man was facing a bed near the iron bars. He seemed to sense something and looked out the window in horror, just in time to meet Zhou Ze's eyes.
Huh?
A prisoner?
Still wearing prison clothes?
The prisoner had a look of astonishment on his face.
Oh heavens,
This ghost messenger was too dedicated.
He even came to the prison in the middle of the night, climbing the walls to catch him.
The prisoner's hands and feet were cold. He knew from Lawyer An that the ghost messengers in Tongcheng were not to be trifled with. At that moment, he was filled with despair.
But the next moment,
The tone seemed to change abruptly!
That ghost messenger actually smiled at him,
And then gestured for him to sleep well.
"…" Prisoner.
Kill me or punish me as you wish. Sending me to hell is also no problem.
Even evil spirits have dignity!
What do you mean by running over here in the middle of the night to act like a prison guard checking rooms after climbing the wall?
And telling me to sleep well?
Are you sick in the head!
But then,
That ghost messenger really left.
He,
Left???
Damn it,
Really,
Just like that,
Left?
He climbed over the wall to get into the prison in the middle of the night and then climbed over the wall to get here,
Just to see if he was sleeping well?
Yes, Zhou Ze left, because he guessed who this person was.
It should be the customer that Lawyer An had mentioned that he was "observing" in prison.
Now he was also equivalent to Zhou Ze's customer.
So Boss Zhou chose to turn a blind eye, went downstairs, and walked in the second direction.
After passing through the prisoner activity area, Zhou Ze arrived at the prison's small library.
It wasn't locked, and the lights were still on inside.
He pushed the door open and walked in.
All around,
There was a burnt smell,
As if someone had just grilled something here,
And had even used 84 disinfectant to disinfect it.
In short,
This smell made Zhou Ze very uncomfortable and even made him feel like he wanted to vomit.
莫名地，
An idiom surfaced in Zhou Ze's mind,
Which was… spontaneous human combustion.
Forcing himself to calm down,
Zhou Ze slowly walked towards the place where the lights were on. The black mist began to slowly fade here, and even began to lose its direction.
This meant that there was something emitting ghost-like aura here before, but now, it had disappeared, to the point that his black mist didn't even have the ability to track it.
This was the first time Zhou Ze had encountered this situation.
But soon,
Zhou Ze saw that there seemed to be something on the table.
A slightly damaged and old-fashioned fountain pen,
Was lying quietly on the table,
Reflecting a strange luster
Under the light.