Chapter 117 Cao Ding

Zhou Ze knew who Cao Ding was. After all, the little loli was a newcomer, relying on Wang Rui. Zhou Ze didn't know where she was originally from or when she died, and he was too lazy to ask, but he guessed she wasn't a local.

Bai Yingying, on the other hand, was a naive girl who had been lying in a coffin for two hundred years. Usually, her conversations with Madam Bai were just idle gossip between girlfriends. When have you ever seen girlfriends promoting patriotic sentiments at a gathering?

So, neither of these two could be considered true Tongcheng natives. But Zhou Ze, in his two lifetimes, was a Tongcheng native. Cao Ding was quite a famous figure in Tongcheng. Of course, the most famous person in Tongcheng was Zhang Jian, who drafted the abdication edict for the Qing Emperor. After him, Cao Ding could be ranked in the top ten.

A hero of the resistance against the wokou pirates; his official rank and reputation didn't seem very high. Zhou Ze only knew this much, and he had long forgotten the specifics. He only knew that Cao Ding was a figure from the mid-Ming Dynasty, when the wokou pirates were at their worst, plaguing the coastal areas. The government troops were unreliable and often collapsed at the first encounter with the pirates. It wasn't until generals like Qi Jiguang gradually rose to prominence that the wokou rebellion was slowly quelled.

In other words, for a long time, the Ming Dynasty government troops were basically useless. It was a bit like the early stages of the War of Resistance Against Japan in later generations, when the Japanese army was fierce and almost unstoppable. That's why generals who dared to go against the tide at that time were the most commendable, because at that time there was basically no hope of winning. That was the true meaning of "Even if there are ten thousand people, I will go."

Since those three Japanese ghosts hated Cao Ding, Zhou Ze could only boldly speculate that those three ghosts might also have been窖藏(jiào cáng, aged) for five hundred years?

This guess was scary, making Zhou Ze want to think about it carefully.

Most importantly, the heroic spirit had been suppressing these ghost cubs here for so many years. What if he accidentally fell into their trap and released them? His sin would be great. What if the three bastards he released caused trouble in Tongcheng or nearby areas? Would these consequences eventually fall on his head?

Boss Zhou never denied that he was a salted fish who was afraid of getting into trouble. He usually had a live-and-let-live mentality, but he wouldn't just carelessly open Pandora's box and then shake it off and go back to sleep.

"How to get out?"

Zhou Ze asked the most crucial question. Of course, Zhou Ze actually knew that the Japanese girl in front of him probably didn't know how to get out either.

This place was like a special container. Zhou Ze guessed it was probably due to the special environment of General Mountain. Cao Ding's heroic spirit had suppressed these wokou pirates for five hundred years. Originally, it was a top-level prison, but the souls of those wokou pirates had begun to play "The Count of Monte Cristo," starting to break out of prison.

Not a one-time escape, but constantly increasing their degree of freedom, similar to slowly moving from the deepest, most heavily guarded cell to the outermost, most loosely guarded cell.

This was a bit like a compromise, which created this strange place. In this mirror world, the souls could not clearly interfere with the outside world. This was already the last layer of restraint.

The Japanese girl shook her head. She had already reattached her head to her neck.

She didn't know how to get out. If she did, she would have gone out to seek revenge long ago. Why wait until now?

Zhou Ze was a little helpless. He took out his phone, but there was still no signal. But Zhou Ze thought of something: those three Japanese ghosts had been able to call him here and play a ghost call, so could he do the same?

He tried dialing Xu Qinglang's number. The phone kept ringing on the other end. It could actually get through.

Zhou Ze was pleasantly surprised and walked to the picture frame, looking at Xu Qinglang's situation inside.

His phone kept ringing, and the "beep... beep..." sound was coming from the other side, but in his eyes, Xu Qinglang had no intention of answering the phone at all.

It got through, but there was no response on the other side?

Zhou Ze couldn't hear the sound inside, and he didn't know if Xu Qinglang's phone was ringing at all, but it was likely that the phone on the other side wasn't responding.

Zhou Ze tried calling Bai Yingying and the little loli again, and the results were the same: the calls could get through, but no one answered.

………………

While Zhou Ze was trying to make calls, Bai Yingying and the little loli had already entered the hotel and knocked on the door outside.

Xu Qinglang opened the door, looking a little haggard, like a husband bedridden and his wife exhausted from taking care of him.

This was indeed the case. He remembered that Xu Qinglang was still sleeping that night when the old Taoist let out a scream and peed blood, and then Zhou Ze lay on the ground unconscious. From that moment until now, Xu Qinglang had been like an ant on a hot pot, never letting out a breath.

Bai Yingying immediately found the unconscious boss lying on the sofa, knelt directly beside the sofa, reached out and held the boss's hand, and kept calling for the boss to wake up quickly and not leave Yingying.

The corners of the mouths of the people around her twitched unconsciously.

Please,

Zhou Ze wasn't dead yet,

You're being a little too exaggerated. You look like a concubine from an ancient aristocratic family, packing up her belongings and preparing to run away after crying at the funeral.

The little loli seemed much calmer. From her perspective, she seemed to value more whether Zhou Ze was conscious or not. If he was consciously unconscious, then her life was still in his hands. If he was completely unconscious,

Then would she be free if she killed him now?

Of course, the little loli was just thinking about it, just like a man walking on the street looking at plump or slender beauties and unconsciously fantasizing about them. She didn't dare to do it or gamble on it.

In the end, the little loli walked to Zhou Ze's side and began to check on Zhou Ze's condition.

The old Taoist began to explain in detail what had happened in the past few days.

"How is it?" Bai Yingying asked the little loli.

"The soul is still there." The little loli frowned and said, "But it's not complete."

"Not complete?"

The little loli looked around, as if she was looking for something.

"Yes, it's not complete, so he can't wake up."

The old Taoist on the side heard this and said, "I seem to remember that there was a villain in the Investiture of the Gods who seemed to have a magic weapon that could take away part of a person's soul."

The little loli ignored the old Taoist's words and didn't have the time to study the Investiture of the Gods with him. She began to walk around the room, especially after seeing the broken glass all over the bathroom. She focused more on the reflective objects.

Even, in the end, the little loli stood in front of the Eight骏图(jùn tú, Eight骏 Horses) picture frame in the living room and began to look inside at the mirror frame.

…………

From Zhou Ze's perspective, the little loli now seemed to be looking directly at him, but she shouldn't be able to see inside. This was enough to show that the little loli's level and knowledge surpassed those of the people around her.

Lao Xu and the old Taoist had been studying how to wake up the unconscious Zhou Ze, but they never thought that Zhou Ze was actually by their side, but trapped.

"Can she see you?" the Japanese girl on the side asked.

"Give her some time, she should be able to find out." Zhou Ze continued to look at his phone. Actually, the problem now was very awkward. Even if he gave the little loli some more time, even if she could determine that he was in the mirror,

How would he get out?

There must be a way out, Zhou Ze believed. This was like facing a complex game, but you had to have enough time to complete it, at least with countless failures and exploration experience. However, Zhou Ze didn't have that much time now. He had to know that those three Japanese ghosts had been here for a year, and most importantly, they might have been playing this game for five hundred years!

"Crack..."

The sound of glass breaking came from outside the door.

The Japanese girl looked at Zhou Ze and said, "It's meal time."

"..." Zhou Ze.

"Aren't you going?" the Japanese girl continued to ask.

"Are you hungry? Or, do you get hungry?" Zhou Ze asked.

"I just want to go out for a walk."

Zhou Ze understood. Eating meals for people in the mirror was like prisoners in a prison being released at regular intervals to get some fresh air and outdoor activities.

"I'm not intereste—"

Before Zhou Ze could finish his words,

Suddenly, there were continuous sounds of "crack... crack... crack..." outside.

Zhou Ze immediately rushed to the door and opened it.

Yes,

Originally, there should have been a glass corridor directly leading to the restaurant outside, but the surrounding glass was now breaking one after another. More and more souls began to wander aimlessly, as if they had lost their original restraints and were at a loss.

"What's going on?" Zhou Ze asked the Japanese girl behind him.

"I don't know either." The Japanese girl also showed a surprised expression.

Zhou Ze rushed out of the door. The glass all around, from far to near, was continuing to break. This gave Zhou Ze a very ominous premonition. He was also a prisoner being held here, and the glass could be understood as the iron bars in a prison. The iron bars were now constantly breaking and disappearing, which was actually a very good thing for the prisoners, because they would regain their freedom.

But for Zhou Ze, it was different, because it meant that the restrictions and restraints here were disappearing, and the things that had been suppressed were seizing the opportunity to escape.

There were more and more souls here. Because of the special reasons of General Mountain, the souls of people who died nearby would subconsciously gather here, a bit like a cornucopia.

And now, these people began to move forward blankly, as if receiving some kind of guidance.

Zhou Ze walked among the crowd, eager to know what was the source of all this.

Finally,

Zhou Ze saw a flag in front,

And under the flag,

There were three sets of black Japanese samurai armor, with many scars and damages, but revealing a special kind of grimness.

The flag emitted a black light, covering a circle. Any soul that was attracted and entered the circle would be bound by black lines. And those three sets of armor that were originally neatly stacked there,

Inside,

Began to slowly swell...

——————

Sorry, last night after the interview I returned to the hotel and originally set an alarm to sleep for two hours and get up to write, but the alarm didn't wake up the Dragon, and I ended up sleeping until the early morning of the next day...