Chapter 1 A Glimmer in the Darkness

In the darkness,
A glimmer seemed to appear,
Catching one off guard.

The stark contrast made the eyes ache.
Zhou Ze instinctively closed them.

In his ears,
The din of traffic and a hubbub of voices.
It was as if he were standing on the street.

After a long while, he reopened his eyes, vaguely seeing the familiar surroundings.

Familiar streets,
Familiar streetlights,
Familiar fire hydrants,
And,
The familiar plaque reading "Hear it as you will, thus have I heard." (Gu wang ting zhi, ru shi wo wen)

Turning his head,
Sure enough,
On the sofa by the bookstore's French window,
Lay another himself,
Holding a newspaper, adding sugar cubes to a coffee cup as he read.

This time,
Was this it?
The bookstore?

Zhou Ze didn't move, but continued to stand quietly in place, people passing by him without a shred of connection.

Some hesitation,
Some bewilderment,
And some nameless… trepidation.

In a daze,
This dream,
Had actually continued to here,
Here,
Was this the end?

Unbeknownst to Zhou Ze,
Within the crowd,
A man in a black hoodie stood leaning against a telephone pole.

Beneath the brim of his hood,
Was a face identical to his own.
The bustling crowd hid him well.

"Go in, hurry up and go in, you've already come this far, go in."
The man muttered to himself with a smile.

"Only two left, kill him, and I'll be the only one left, hehe."

"Hiss…"
The man groaned,
Instinctively clutching his chest, as if in unbearable pain, but his face still held a gleeful smile.

Tearing open a corner of his hoodie,
He revealed a bloody wound.
The passing crowd ignored it, as if they couldn't see anything.

In the center of the glaring wound,
Was stuck a fountain pen,
Most of its body inside.

"You sealed me, but was it useful?"
The man lowered his head,
As if speaking to the pen in his chest.

"As long as he kills the one in the bookstore, there'll only be me left, he is me, and I am him, is your seal useful?"

The pen coldly pierced his flesh, without any reaction.

All it could do,
Was to hold him in place,
As for anything else,
It was powerless.

After all,
What it sealed,
Was an ancient general,
Someone who once dared to rebel against the Yellow Emperor,
The Lord of the Netherworld,
Even in near-ruin,
He wasn't so easy to deal with.

"I helped him cut his three corpses, taught him how to fight, saving him so much time, so much energy;
Of course,
I must also collect some interest,
Cut it,
Cut it,
He's already cut off his past life,
And cut off the ties left by that Judge of Mount Tai,
Cut off his present self,
After that,
Even if this damned seal is still there,
It will be meaningless,
He,
Will have become me,
Completely fused with me!"

The man reached out and grabbed the pen.
He didn't pull it out,
But pressed it down harder,
Letting out a low moan,
As if this self-harm made him feel more exhilarated and happy!

"Hehe, stab, stab, keep stabbing,
How much longer,
Can you stab me?
A watchdog consciousness born when I was in fake reincarnation, sleeping and healing,
Actually dares to be insolent to me!
Who,
Gave it the courage,
And who,
Gave it the confidence?
Is it you, this pen?
Or that laughable Judge of Mount Tai who was once completely fooled by the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?
Coffee?
Newspaper?
Adding sugar?
Hehe…"

…………

Across the glass,
Looking at himself,
A little blurry,
But empathetic,
And truly empathetic.

Because,
This posture,
This action,
This scene,
Is what Zhou Ze has been doing for over a year.

As long as there were no accidents, no emergencies, or when emergencies were no use,
Waking up in the morning,
He would lie in that spot.
Not long after lying down,
Yingying would bring him the newspaper and coffee,
Starting his day.

He didn't know how long he had been watching,
Zhou Ze silently lifted his foot,
And walked toward the door.

Pushing open the door,
Zhou Ze saw the old Daoist sitting behind the bar,
The old Daoist was picking lice off the monkey,
The little monkey looked at the old Daoist with a resentful, helpless expression.

It was a spirit monkey, a spirit monkey that could livestream, switch songs, and order a ride,
It thought it was cleaner than the old Daoist,
Where were the lice?
But the old Daoist didn't think so, what kind of monkey doesn't have lice?
Or rather,
The old Daoist wasn't so much picking lice as he was enjoying the joy of being with the monkey, enjoying the family happiness.
He never started a family, although he occasionally helped fallen women,
But that was also consensual, a clear exchange of money for services,
Meeting a monkey in his old age,
The old Daoist was really raising it like a grandson.

"Yo, a customer."
The old Daoist raised his head, saw Zhou Ze walk in, and pointed to the sign:
"Minimum spending of one thousand in this store."

He remembered that the initial minimum spending was "one hundred,"
But because of the great achievements made since the reform and opening up,
With the continuous progress of society under the guidance of new-era thinking,
Even with a sign that read "Minimum Spending 100,"
There were still many customers coming in to spend money,
Later, it was simply changed to "one thousand,"
Estimating that, given the current rate of inflation, most people wouldn't be willing to come in and spend money for at least a few years.

Zhou Ze nodded, without saying anything.

Seeing that Zhou Ze didn't order anything, the old Daoist was too lazy to pay attention to him and continued to pick lice off the monkey.

The bookstore has always been less enthusiastic about living customers than dead ones,
This is tradition,
And also a characteristic.

"Nice weather today."
Xu Qinglang walked down from upstairs,
He was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans today,
Looking very heroic.

Honestly,
Maybe charm is innate,
But Lao Xu has never really been coy or acted like a woman to disgust people,
It's not his fault for being handsome,
It's not his fault for being more handsome than most women.
Judging from his usual speech and behavior, he is actually quite manly.

"Lao Xu ah."
Zhou Ze saw the other self sitting on the sofa wave to Xu Qinglang,
"Lao Xu ah, I'll tell you some good news."

"What?"
"It seems like the property tax is really going to be introduced."
"............" Xu Qinglang.

"Hehe."
After sharing the joy with Lao Xu,
The other self sitting on the sofa continued to read the newspaper.

He really hated housing prices, in his past life he worked so hard for so long, and could only buy a small house.

His income, as a doctor occasionally doing freelance surgery, was actually very considerable, much higher than the average person's;
But the problem was, he was an orphan.
He didn't have six wallets to rely on (for downpayment).

Xu Qinglang went to the kitchen, and soon the sound of rolling noodles could be heard.
Zhou Ze remembered,
Lao Xu used to run a noodle shop,
It was next door to Xu Le's bookstore back then, with a noodle shop sign and doing takeout business.

Lao Xu's noodles,
Were indeed excellent.
The last time he made sauerkraut pork noodles, even Cuihua from hell praised it, eating it while vomiting, but still finishing it.

"Waaah,
Boss,
I just got a chicken dinner!"
Yingying ran down excitedly,
Coddling up to the other self lying on the sofa.

Sweet and cute,
Even the hardest steel seemed to turn into softness in front of Yingying at this time.

Zhou Ze suddenly realized,
This seemed to be the most relaxed period of the bookstore,
Lao Xu hadn't experienced his master's incident yet, and hadn't become crazy about drawing talismans;
The old Daoist had just met the monkey, and Yingying was still addicted to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, a game that was very popular back then but is now dying.

The little loli hadn't moved in yet,
Lawyer An was nowhere to be seen either,
Everyone lived leisurely and comfortably in the bookstore,
Waiting for ghosts to come to the door every night to do a business,
Listening to stories,
Chatting.

Not so many worries, not so many troubles,
Leisurely,
Peaceful and quiet.

Taking a deep breath,
Zhou Ze narrowed his eyes,
And then,
Walked to the opposite side of that self, and sat down.

He didn't know why,
But when he sat down,
Looking at the other self across from him,
Lounging,
Sipping coffee,
Reading the newspaper,
Soaking up the sun,
Lazy,
Unambitious,
And looking quite pleased with himself;
Zhou Ze suddenly felt an uncontrollable urge,
To slap him.

At the same time,
Zhou Ze also thought,
The position he was sitting in now, was the position Lawyer An most often sits in the bookstore now,
When he reads the newspaper and drinks coffee there every day,
Lawyer An likes to sit opposite him,
Damn,
This guy always wanted to slap me!

…………

Outside the bookstore,
The man in the black hoodie slowly walked over,
He didn't go in,
But stood at the door of the bookstore watching.

Soon,
Soon,
He's going to do it.
Keep reminiscing,
Reminisce a little more,
This is the good fortune I bestow upon you,
And,
Also your last good fortune.

"Buzz!"
The pen stuck in his chest vibrated,
The man had to kneel on one knee, one hand pressing hard on the wound.

"Hehe, are you afraid?
But you can't stop it,
Can't stop it.
He gave me this opportunity,
So I just pushed the boat along and gave him this opportunity,
You,
You can only watch from the side,
Very unwilling, right?
Very unwilling, right?
Then you can go out and tell him,
Go and warn him,
As soon as you leave, transform into a concrete consciousness and communicate with him,
This seal,
Will be completely gone,
You can't,
You absolutely can't,
Right?"

"Buzz!"
The pen vibrated again,
And then,
The vibration became weaker and weaker.

"What, surrendered?"

"Buzz!"
The pen vibrated once more.

"Cherish the time you can still seal me, soon, you won't have the qualifications;
One day, being able to seal me once,
Is the glory of you and the master who created you back then."

"Ding-dong..."
The pen cap fell to the ground,
And rolled once.

The man looked at the pen cap on the ground,
His originally smiling face suddenly twisted in anger,
And he roared in a low voice:

"You're saying I'm afraid?
Hehe,
Laughable,
What am I afraid of?"