Chapter 1 The Other Shore Flower

The other shore flower, blooming beside the road to the underworld, exudes a unique fragrance. It accompanies the returning dead and is one of the few colorful embellishments in the underworld.

It is a unique product of the underworld. Unlike "oranges south of the Huai River are oranges, while north of the Huai River they are trifoliate oranges," this thing simply cannot grow in the mortal realm.

Now, someone has transplanted it here. Although this is a special space and a special environment, it is, after all, still in the mortal realm.

Of course, compared to the "wildflowers" by the roadside, Boss Zhou was more interested in that group of his own "achievements" ahead.

However, when Zhou Ze walked over to check on the situation of those亡魂 (wánghún – wandering souls), he found that their bodies were very thin and their eyes were dull, as if they had hysteria.

The亡魂 (wánghún – wandering souls) have a shelf life. This shelf life is not about time. For example, even if a亡魂 (wánghún – wandering soul) that has become a vengeful ghost finally fulfills its obsession, it can only dissipate with the wind, losing the opportunity to enter hell and be reincarnated.

And although the亡魂 (wánghún – wandering souls) here have not become vengeful ghosts, they have long lost their minds and thoughts, leaving only pure soul energy clusters. They can’t be considered 亡魂 (wánghún – wandering souls) at all.

Hell doesn't want this kind of "ghost". Even if Zhou Ze forcibly sends them down, he won't get any credit.

This made Boss Zhou's teeth ache. Such pure white performance was wasted like this.

The little loli stood on the side, bent down, observed carefully, and said:

"This is normal. The other shore flower is a special species that grows by absorbing the aura of the dead. Of course, it can grow by the Yellow Springs Road, after all, so many dead people pass by the Yellow Springs Road every moment. Even if everyone loses a strand of hair, it is enough to nourish those other shore flowers.

"It's different here. The few other shore flowers that grow here are all supported by these dozens of亡魂 (wánghún – wandering souls) day and night, like human-shaped juicers. They have long been squeezed dry.

"If it weren't for the existence of this special space, allowing them to return to the sunlight, they would definitely be wiped out in an instant."

"Who is doing this?" Zhou Ze asked.

"I don't know, but the person or organization that can do this is not something we can touch. The only thing we can do is report this to the higher-ups."

The little loli stretched out her hand to pat Zhou Ze's shoulder, but she was too short to reach it. It wasn't like when Zhou Ze was just a toy in her hands, when she could pick him up and pat him, so she seemed a little uncomfortable.

Zhou Ze reached out and touched the little loli's head.

After a head pat,

The little loli bit her lip.

This stingy man never missed an opportunity to retaliate for what she had done to him in the past, and repeatedly reminded her that their positions had long changed.

"It's not a good habit to only say half of what you know," Zhou Ze said.

"Reporting this situation to the higher-ups can also get a certain reward. This reward will be converted into performance. Overall, it shouldn't be less than sending these dozens of亡魂 (wánghún – wandering souls) to hell."

"You should have said so sooner." Zhou Ze's mood suddenly improved.

However, Zhou Ze quickly thought of something else and said, "Then didn't you report what happened in Rongcheng last time?"

That person in Rongcheng is still alive and kicking. Last time, he even slept in his bookstore and shook a pile of ghost messenger certificates in front of him. Is that it?

"His matter is a bit special. At that time, the higher-ups also had disagreements on how to deal with it, and did not give specific operating instructions. We secretly pieced together the instructions we got privately. So, the mission failed, and that's it. As long as he doesn't continue to cause trouble, this matter may be put on ice."

The little loli said.

"Oh, like that."

Zhou Ze reached out and touched the little loli's head again, ignoring her pouting little mouth, and even scratched her little mouth with his finger, as if teasing his own niece.

However, to be honest, the little loli was indeed Zhou Ze's niece in terms of seniority.

"There is also infighting in the underworld, it's not a monolith?"

Zhou Ze originally thought that the underworld was like a computer.

The little loli took a deep breath. She looked at Zhou Ze and suddenly felt like laughing, because she knew whose ghost messenger certificate Zhou Ze was holding. The original owner of that ghost messenger certificate was tricked by the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva back then, so much so that he even lost his own Mount Tai Prefecture and ended up in an extremely desolate state.

"How much difference do you think there is between people and ghosts?"

The little loli didn't specifically mention the matter of the Lord of Mount Tai. Some things and layouts come from the hands of big figures. Even if the Lord of Mount Tai has already fallen, the arrangements he left behind are not something that she, a small ghost messenger, can casually comment on.

"Then let's go. What about these other shore flowers? Should we collect them?" Zhou Ze asked.

"Send them to hell. These things are ornamental flowers when they bloom in hell, but if they spread to the mortal realm, they will become more terrifying than poppies. Their impact on living people is even more terrifying."

Zhou Ze nodded, first walked to the original position, pointed to the hedgehog under his feet and said:

"Does this count as a妖物 (yāowù – demon creature)?"

This was the first time Zhou Ze had seen a妖 (yāo – demon). In the past year, Zhou Ze had basically seen ghosts, but he had hardly seen any妖精 (yāojīng – demon spirits). However, this妖 (yāo – demon)'s appearance was low enough, similar to those demon soldiers in "Calabash Brothers" when he was a child, without much combat power.

"This doesn't count as a妖物 (yāowù – demon creature). You'll know when you dig open this grave later." The little loli shook her head.

Afterward, the three of them left the brothel together and returned the way they came. After Zhou Ze walked out, he still bent over, then closed his eyes and adjusted and calmed his state. When he opened his eyes again, the surrounding archway with lanterns that he had entered before had completely disappeared, leaving only a tomb here.

Xu Qinglang also took off the talisman paper on his forehead and patted his head at the same time. Obviously, there were quite a few side effects after applying this talisman paper. It was a bit like having a cold and fever.

"Lao Xu, please work hard." Zhou Ze reached out and patted Xu Qinglang's shoulder. "You seem to have tools in your car. Dig it up."

"Why is digging someone's grave…"

Xu Qinglang instinctively wanted to refuse, but when he saw that Zhou Ze was sick and the little loli took out her homework book again, Xu Qinglang didn't say anything more, and took out a multi-functional engineering shovel from the car and started digging.

The reason why he had this in the car was actually for self-defense. Knives would be confiscated if encountered during security checks, so he put this in instead. It came in handy at this time.

In fact, it didn't take long to dig, because the inside was hollow. Xu Qinglang only dug for a while, and the bottom directly collapsed, revealing a pit of more than twenty square meters.

"This is the area we entered before. In fact, only that brothel in that small town can be entered. The other shops on the street are all fake. You can only look at them, you can't enter them at all. As for that brothel, only the empty space on the first floor can people stand. The rooms upstairs used for business are also painted on."

The little loli explained from the side.

Many talisman papers were hung on the walls of the pit, as well as paper puppets pasted there, in different images, but they were also lifelike. These were all the people who performed and shouted on the street, of course, including those young ladies and the leper monk.

Zhou Ze jumped into the pit, followed the location in his memory, bent down, took the shovel and started digging. After a while, several bright red things emerged, like pomegranates, and there was even red juice flowing out of them.

The smell was very fragrant.

"This is the other shore flower?" Zhou Ze asked.

"Yes, the other shore flower." The little loli nodded, "But in the normal mortal environment, it looks like this."

Xu Qinglang also wanted to come over to take a look, but as soon as he smelled a little of the scent, his face suddenly changed, and he immediately sat cross-legged and began to chant something, looking like he had to calm down.

Looking at his face turning red in an instant, so red that it seemed like water could be squeezed out of it, it proved how terrible the other shore flower was to ordinary people.

Even if poppies are planted in the ground, they have to be processed to become d-goods, and they will go through a series of transformations and operations, but the other shore flower doesn't need to. It's just placed here, and ordinary people can't stand a little smell.

Xu Qinglang was already prepared, and he had to restrain himself so solemnly.

Zhou Ze dug around again and found a few more, and also found the corpse of a dead hedgehog. This hedgehog should be the one he killed before, but it should have been dead for a long time. It was dried into jerky.

There was also a talisman paper pasted on the hedgehog's corpse. Zhou Ze reached out and tore it off.

"You just asked me if this is a妖 (yāo – demon), I said no. This is just a kind of精魅 (jīngmèi – elemental spirit), the effect produced by adding an阴魂符 (yīnhún fú – underworld soul talisman) to the corpse of an animal. It's much lower level than a corpse魅 (mèi – spirit)."

Zhou Ze nodded. He didn't choose to burn all these other shore flowers, but took off his coat and wrapped all these things in it.

"What are you doing?" The little loli frowned.

"How about this, I'll take these things to a deserted place and wait. You guys go back and find some bottles with good airtightness for me. This thing is useful to me." Zhou Ze said.

"Don't play with fire and burn yourself." The little loli warned with a solemn expression.

"Do you know, I just smelled this thing and suddenly felt like I had an appetite and wanted to eat something. It's more useful than sour plum juice or blueberry juice. It's really a pity to burn this thing. I'll deal with it myself and use it as a seasoning before I eat."

For someone who has long entered a salted fish life state, the problem of sleeping can be solved by hugging Bai Yingying, but the problem of eating, even sour plum juice, is really hard to drink.

With this thing, he should be able to taste delicious food. Zhou Ze felt that no matter how dangerous it was, he had to keep it.

"You... you…"

Xu Qinglang on the side seemed unable to resist the psychedelic effect of this smell with his Heart-Clearing Mantra.

It looked like Lao Xu was really deeply poisoned.

"Wake him up, I feel disgusted hearing this, I'm going to throw up."

Zhou Ze pointed at the little loli.

The little loli stepped forward, stuck out her tongue, and directly slapped it on Xu Qinglang's neck. Xu Qinglang was struck by lightning and passed out directly, but even if he passed out, his body was still twitching non-stop, as if he was doing something in his dreams.

After solving Xu Qinglang, the little loli continued to look at Zhou Ze with a stern face.

"Don't remind me and warn me again, it's useless. Food is the most important thing for the people." Zhou Ze seemed very domineering.

The little loli shook her head,

and said:

"After you make it, can you share some with me?"