Chapter 1 The Bus

The bus, as always, drove slowly, swaying back and forth.

The people inside swayed along with it, like a pendulum, lifelessly repeating some fixed frequency;

From life,

To swaying,

To death.

Zhou Ze stood next to the old man, holding onto the handrail above. There were quite a few people around, but it wasn't too crowded, after all, they were all made of paper.

The old man looked up at Zhou Ze and smiled a little embarrassedly, apologizing,

"My legs aren't good, I have rheumatism."

Zhou Ze nodded.

"Although I know it won't hurt now, because I'm already dead, seeing the heavy rain outside still makes me feel like it hurts again."

The old man looked at the pouring rain outside the window, a look of reminiscence on his face.

The old rheumatism had been with him for many years, from the initial torment, slowly to numbness, and finally to habit;

To this day, after death, when he became a ghost,

It turned into longing again.

The bus arrived at the station.

Zhou Ze and the little loli each escorted a girl off the bus.

The bus slowly drove away again, carrying a busload of paper figures and a privileged old man.

Zhou Ze remembered reading in the news that the old man needed to weave bamboo baskets to supplement his family's income. A family that needed a man in his seventies to support them by weaving bamboo baskets was poor indeed.

Although the local government had given several condolence payments, at least enough to allow the old man's family to live stably, it still didn't seem like enough.

"What are you thinking about?"

The little loli stood under the bus stop, watching the pouring rain outside, and asked.

"I'm thinking about crowdfunding."

"Hmm?"

"A while ago, something happened at Doctor Lin's hospital. An older brother used his younger sister's car accident to slander the hospital for not giving money or treatment, and started a crowdfunding campaign online.

In fact, from a personal emotional perspective, people like the old man on the bus just now are more in need of crowdfunding."

"Uh-huh."

"There are too many sick people, too many miserable people. Whether it's true or false, whether it's exaggerated or not, honestly, I'm already numb.

Before, in my previous life, when people in my WeChat Moments posted messages about crowdfunding for medical treatment, I would donate a little. But later, there were just too many of these crowdfunding campaigns, and I really couldn't be bothered to care anymore.

But those who sacrifice and give for valorous acts, they do things that ordinary people don't dare to do. For most ordinary people, donating to such people is more proactive.

Most people are weak. If they can contribute money to encourage more brave people to stand up and be willing to put down their burdens and worries to protect everyone, it's definitely worth it."

"My dear boss, I think when you're being sentimental, you need to think about something else."

"What?"

"That's how we're going to get back now. It's really raining hard."

The little loli said, very depressed.

…………

When the two returned to Liu Chuyu's house,

What Liu Chuyu saw when he opened the door,

Was four drowned rats.

The little loli clamored to take a shower and blow-dry her hair first, but then she could only resentfully watch Zhou Ze walk into the bathroom first without saying a word. When Zhou Ze came out with a bath towel, drying his hair, the little loli shouted at Zhou Ze, her cheeks puffed out:

"Such an ungentlemanly man!"

"I took a shower first, so when you go in, the temperature in the bathroom will be warm. I was afraid you'd get cold."

The little loli was stunned for a moment, and immediately said, "It's summer! Also, don't be so disgusting, okay? No wonder you were a bachelor in your previous life!"

If the little loli was really just a little loli, she might have fallen for that. But actually, according to the little loli, what great storms hadn't she seen back then?

After the little loli finished her shower,

The three of them sat on the sofa in the living room.

Two boxes of biscuits were placed on the coffee table.

It was evident that when Zhou Ze and the little loli went out, Liu Chuyu, who was alone at home and injured, had been struggling with food the whole time.

He believed in the "one who suffers the most hardships will become the best" type of inspirational stories.

And he felt that Zhou Ze and the little loli were the kind of people with great perseverance, overcoming the soul's aversion to the sensation of eating in order to eat normally.

It was like a kind of ascetic practice.

Zhou Ze felt a little soft-hearted and couldn't bear it,

He wondered if there would really be a problem if he continued to make Liu Chuyu, his subordinate, struggle with food like this.

But when he thought about the Other Shore Flower oral solution that diminished with each use and was difficult to replenish,

Zhou Ze suddenly felt that it might not be a bad thing for young people to experience some setbacks and hardships.

Just like Doctor Lin back then, if he hadn't used them, those interns, like dogs, and pushed them to their limits, Doctor Lin wouldn't have such excellent medical skills today.

Yeah,

That was the reason.

Liu Chuyu looked at Zhou Ze a little embarrassed. Honestly, until this moment, he felt the care from his boss. He actually brought the evil spirits back in the rain, the purpose was to let him also share some merit points.

Zhou Ze didn't delay any longer and opened the Gates of Hell with his fingernails.

The little loli extracted the souls from the two girls and helped Zhou Ze throw them into the Gates of Hell.

Everything,

Was a complete success!

However, there were two more corpses in the house, collapsed on the ground, rapidly decaying and stinking, emitting a disgusting odor.

Because the two girls had already died when the evil spirits possessed them. Originally, the evil spirits' souls occupied their bodies, maintaining a "living" state. After their souls were extracted, the two shells naturally returned to their original state.

Zhou Ze said he was going out for a walk, that the house was a bit stuffy.

The little loli looked up,

Looked at the sky,

And shouted, "The 'Bear Infestation' is on the Children's Channel, I want to watch it!"

In the living room,

Only Liu Chuyu, still wrapped in bandages, was left.

He looked at the two rotting corpses lying in his living room, somewhat stunned.

Even that moment of感动,

Instantly felt like it had been eaten by a dog.

At that moment,

He could only struggle to get up,

And start cleaning up the already stinking corpses.

…………

Walking out the door, it was still raining outside, but the rain was much lighter than before, and it was showing signs of stopping.

Zhou Ze didn't turn back again, otherwise he would have to face those two corpses again. Compared to dealing with two rotting corpses, it seemed more acceptable to get rained on a little.

A walk in the rain should be a slightly pleasant thing.

In fact, people like Boss Zhou could be comfortable in any environment. When you let go of chores and have no obsessions, the scenery you see is naturally different from others.

Boss Zhou strolled for half an hour, to make sure that Liu Chuyu had cleaned up the corpses, and because he was injured and his movements were a bit inconvenient, Boss Zhou decided to take another walk.

As he walked, the sound of bells rang out.

The sound of the bell made Zhou Ze frown, feeling uncomfortable.

He looked in that direction and saw a patch of yellow walls and golden tiles. In this city, there was actually a small temple.

The temple gate was very small, and the temple wall wasn't very wide. After all, it was located in the city, where every inch of land was precious. Even the Buddha felt the pressure from land prices and didn't dare to put on such a big show as they would in the deep mountains.

But the sound of the bell actually made him uncomfortable, which made Zhou Ze even more interested in the small temple.

As the saying goes, a mountain is not high, but it is famous if there is an immortal; water is not deep, but it is spiritual if there is a dragon.

Now, even many large temples and Taoist temples in major scenic spots or famous mountains are basically privately contracted places for making money. In those places, Boss Zhou would have no problem going in to visit, or even hugging the Buddha statue or the Three Pure Ones for a photo.

But this small temple gave Zhou Ze a feeling of being a little apprehensive.

Being able to make a ghost feel apprehensive,

Meant that this temple was truly efficacious.

Visiting inside was out of the question. Although there was no entrance fee, Boss Zhou felt that there was no need to take the risk.

Having an official identity was true, but the little loli herself had said that ghost messengers were only the lowest and most insignificant beings in hell. Perhaps the Buddha was in a bad mood, and if you went out of your way to get close, they might not mind slapping you to death.

There was a teahouse outside the small temple. Unlike the teahouses in Sichuan with mahjong tables, this was really just a place to drink tea.

Zhou Ze walked in and ordered a pot of bitter tea. When the tea came, he took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

Before he could light it, a middle-aged man came in from outside and sat down across from Zhou Ze.

The man was wearing a blue tracksuit. After sitting down, he casually ordered a pot of tea, his eyes fixed on the temple outside.

Honestly, sitting here drinking tea was pure torment. Ordinary tea drinkers came here, feeling that drinking a cup of tea while looking at the temple was quite artistic, and listening to the sound of the bells made them feel a little elevated.

But for Boss Zhou, every time the bell rang, he felt uncomfortable, even painful.

But this feeling was also a kind of reverse comfort, just like the old man on the Netherworld bus said, when the pain was really gone, he missed it instead.

He took a sip of bitter tea,

Then frowned and shivered,

Gently taking a breath of cold air,

He could actually taste the pleasure of being abused,

Wonderful,

Indescribable.

He drank a cup of tea with great relish.

He refilled his cup,

Raised his teacup,

Smelled the aroma of the bitter tea,

The bell rang again,

His hand holding the teacup trembled slightly, creating faint ripples,

Then he lowered his head,

Took a sip,

The slight pain in his body plus the bitterness between his lips and teeth,

Complementing each other perfectly.

However,

Just as Boss Zhou was about to lower his head for his second sip,

He unexpectedly discovered that,

The middle-aged man sitting across from him, the one who had just come in,

His hand holding the teacup,

Was also trembling slightly.

Zhou Ze didn't take it seriously.

After a while,

The next bell sound was much louder than before, probably because the young monk ringing the bell used all his strength as if it was the last bell.

"Boom!"

Zhou Ze took a deep breath,

His mind was dizzy for a moment,

But he still steadily controlled the teacup.

The middle-aged man sitting across from Zhou Ze let out a muffled groan, then his body shook violently, and he almost fell to the ground. The teacup in his hand was thrown out.

"Clatter!"

The tea was thrown out,

And splashed directly on Zhou Ze's face.

"…………" Zhou Ze.