Chapter 103 The Painting

Zhou Ze had never really understood the difference between having an official position in the underworld and not having one.

But at least in terms of outward displays,

Zhou Ze could clearly see that

Feng Si'er's strength and style

were far superior to Lawyer An's.

However, Boss Zhou was also a little surprised. He had also been promoted to constable, but Lawyer An only said that after some time, he could see what rewards the underworld would arrange for him, perhaps even rewards left by Lord Taishan, since he held Lord Taishan's "original certificate."

It was a bit like when the Nationalist government started issuing national ID cards, and Chiang Kai-shek's ID number was 000001.

Lawyer An was unaware that he had been completely overshadowed by Feng Si'er in his boss's heart.

But Feng Si was indeed formidable;

a woman wielding a whip still possessed a captivating air.

"Snap!"

Mu Chengen was struck on the knee and knelt down.

"Snap!"

Mu Chengen's hands were directly ensnared by the whip.

Feng Si'er pressed down with her palm,

and Mu Chengen's hands were pinned behind his back.

Just as Xu Qinglang stepped forward to apply a talisman to seal Mu Chengen,

Mu Chengen suddenly opened his mouth,

and a cloud of black smoke spewed out,

incredibly fast!

Feng Si's eyes narrowed, but she couldn't stop it in time, nor could she retract her whip, as releasing Mu Chengen's hands and feet would put Xu Qinglang, who was so close, in even greater danger.

The black mist directly hit Xu Qinglang's face,

intending to take his life,

determined to take someone down with him!

However, after the black mist passed, Xu Qinglang didn't pause at all and stepped forward.

Three talismans:

one was affixed to Mu Chengen's forehead,

one to his chest,

and one to his back.

Simultaneously, the copper coin sword in his hand pierced Mu Chengen's chest,

and twisted sharply!

The copper coins on the sword immediately scattered, covering Mu Chengen's body.

Although his body was still shaking,

Mu Chengen was now unable to move.

Zhou Ze immediately stepped forward to meet Xu Qinglang, who was retreating after completing the seal.

"How are you?"

Zhou Ze asked.

Xu Qinglang shook his head, saying nothing.

Zhou Ze reached out and grabbed Xu Qinglang's face, forcibly lifting his head,

only to find that Xu Qinglang's entire face was covered in snake scales.

It seemed that the previous black mist attack had been neutralized by these scales.

But the scales on his face were already rotting and falling off.

Xu Qinglang shook his head.

As the scales receded,

a large patch of black appeared on his originally fair face,

like a severe sunburn.

"Um..." Zhou Ze didn't know what to say.

Something that seemed certain had actually gone wrong.

Fortunately,

Xu Qinglang didn't foolishly ask, "Have I become ugly?"

Instead, he ignored it completely and silently prepared a new round of formations, ready to completely suppress Mu Chengen, not giving him a chance to breathe or resist.

This made Zhou Ze a little embarrassed. He had been watching from the sidelines and hadn't taken action. If he had, Old Xu might not have been disfigured. So, he said:

"Old Xu, buy some better beauty and skincare products when you get back, take good care of yourself, and you can still recover. If not, I'll take you to a cosmetic surgery hospital for a facelift. Don't worry, it'll be a business expense."

Xu Qinglang rolled his eyes at Zhou Ze indifferently,

and calmly said:

"Snakes shed their skin."

Zhou Ze was choked.

The meaning of this sentence was that

he didn't need any cosmetics or skincare products, nor did he need any cosmetic surgery. It was just a bit of black skin, and after shedding a few more times, he would recover.

No wonder Old Xu didn't take it seriously.

"Okay, good that you're alright."

Zhou Ze turned and walked to Mu Chengen, who could only glare at Zhou Ze with hatred, unable to even open his mouth.

Zhou Ze squatted down in front of Mu Chengen,

examining him.

Zombies were rare creatures in this world,

and zombies with souls

were rarer still,

even scarcer than pandas.

Meeting each other, they didn't have the "old friends meeting, tears in their eyes" feeling. At first, Mu Chengen had plotted against him; now, he had forcibly suppressed Mu Chengen.

"You can remove one talisman,"

Xu Qinglang, who had set up another suppression formation, reminded Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze nodded and reached out to remove the talisman from Mu Chengen's forehead.

Mu Chengen immediately opened his mouth,

but at this moment, his body trembled,

and his attempt to spew out black mist was forcibly suppressed.

"Tell me, why did you plot against me?"

Zhou Ze asked.

He used to watch spy movies and often saw scenes of interrogation and torture, but Boss Zhou didn't know how to do that. Besides, torturing a zombie wouldn't be very effective.

"Heh."

Mu Chengen grinned,

and started to laugh.

Clearly,

he didn't intend to confess.

He was a zombie; his special nature meant that even soul-searching would be extremely troublesome.

Since he was going to die anyway,

why make it easy for others to solve their doubts before death?

This gave Zhou Ze a headache,

but it wasn't as if there were no other options,

like Mu Chengen's family.

Boss Zhou wasn't a saint. If using Mu Chengen's family could force him to submit, Zhou Ze would do it without hesitation.

***

"What, they're all semi-corpses?"

At this moment, Zhou Ze, standing at the doorway of the mud house's bedroom, had a very ugly expression.

Just as Lawyer An had been struggling with how to complete the task assigned by his boss,

Zhou Ze was also caught off guard.

Mu Chengen's family had all been turned into semi-corpses by him.

Clearly, he had wanted to turn them into zombies as well.

So, how could he threaten him?

Killing them, completely ending their existence, would be a relief for Mu Chengen and his family.

Turning them into zombies would fulfill Mu Chengen's wish.

"Boss, there's a painting here,"

Yingying reminded Zhou Ze, looking up.

Zhou Ze turned around

and looked up.

The painting

entered his eyes.

His first reaction

was that Zhou Ze immediately recognized that the man sitting on the throne of bones was undoubtedly Ying Gou.

This had almost become the guy's standard entrance scene.

The gatekeepers of each generation certainly knew, including Zhou Ze who had seen similar works in the wax museum.

But,

the iron-headed fool in the painting was very angry!

And who was that guy sitting below the bone throne, drinking so demurely?

Instinctively,

Zhou Ze felt that this might be a dark history of the iron-headed fool. He looked more closely at the drinking man's attire in the painting. It didn't seem to be very ancient; the specific details Zhou Ze didn't know, but it was probably only a few hundred years ago.

That is to say,

a few hundred years ago,

the iron-headed fool had been plotted against?

Otherwise, why would he be so angry in the painting?

And who had plotted against him?

For thousands of years, through countless reincarnations, the iron-headed fool had been hiding in the depths of people's souls, slowly recovering his strength while avoiding the detection of his enemies.

Zhou Ze suddenly had a bold idea.

As for whether the scene in the painting was real,

Zhou Ze thought there was a high probability that it was.

Would someone who had seen Ying Gou's "true form" be bored enough to paint a picture hundreds of years ago to brag about himself?

Although Ying Gou had never mentioned this,

based on Zhou Ze's understanding of the iron-headed fool,

he would rather die than reveal his dark history.

This guy was a typical example of someone who was obsessed with saving face.

However, things were interesting now.

First, Mu Chengen's house had this ancient painting hanging in it.

Mu Chengen, like himself, was a zombie with a soul.

Heh,

Mu Chengen shouldn't be the person in the painting. First, the time didn't match up. Second, could someone who could plot against Ying Gou and drink in front of him, provoking him, be directly whipped to the ground by an underworld inspector?

However, at least one thing could be confirmed: this Mu Chengen definitely had some connection with Ying Gou, or even with himself. And this was likely the reason why he had immediately plotted against him after discovering him.

***

"What to do? I've done interrogations, but I've never interrogated a zombie before."

Lawyer An was currently yelling at Feng Si.

Clearly,

everyone wanted to get some information out of Mu Chengen's mouth. Feng Si directly said that this was Lawyer An's former specialty.

He knew illusions and was ruthless in both heart and hand. Many souls in the underworld had had their "mouths" pried open by him.

"Damn it, we still have to wait for the boss to come. If he can't do it, no one else can. A zombie's soul is different from a normal person's soul. It's difficult to even separate it from the body. As for torturing the body, do I have to prepare a diamond drill?

Where's the boss?

Hasn't the boss come out yet?

He has experience; he's a zombie himself and deals with zombies every day..."

"Oh,

Boss, you're out! Feng Si'er was just saying he missed you."

Zhou Ze ignored Lawyer An

and squatted down in front of Mu Chengen again.

"You saw my family?"

Mu Chengen asked.

Zhou Ze nodded.

"Promise me one thing, and I'll tell you what you want to know."

Zhou Ze didn't hesitate

and shook his head.

Mu Chengen's body trembled, and his breathing became rapid.

Seeing him like this,

Zhou Ze smiled.

"Knowing one less secret won't kill me. I'll still live my life. As for your family, if I'm not mistaken, you don't want them to become ordinary zombies without consciousness; you want them to have self-awareness.

You want both the lifespan of zombies and the intelligence of high-level zombies, but their age is too low, and you can't do it. You can only forcibly extend their lives like this while waiting."

Mu Chengen's body trembled non-stop.

"Alright, I understand. I'll do something later to make them directly undergo corpse transformation and let them go down the mountain to have fun.

Killing people, sucking blood,

lying there for who knows how many years because of you, it's time to stretch their muscles.

Then I'll have people carry you,

so you can watch your children and grandchildren have fun with your own eyes,

have fun until the heavens send down divine punishment,

and then let you watch them,

have fun until they explode!"