Chapter 173 Singing

Zhou Ze stood up and picked up the "Seven Star Lamp" that Lawyer An had stayed up all night making from the ground.

Two wooden sticks, one in each hand, with three lamps on each side. A vine connected the wooden sticks, hanging the seventh lamp.

Lawyer An waved at Xu Qinglang, who handed over a stack of paper talismans.

These talismans weren't particularly effective; they were just easily flammable. Lawyer An clapped his hands together, and the entire stack of talismans burst into flames. Then, holding the burning talismans, he lit each of the seven lamps one by one.

While it might seem a bit like gilding the lily, according to tradition, directly using a lighter, match, or even earlier methods like flint and steel to light the lamps would be considered disrespectful.

Customs have changed a lot over time, but in many places, there's still a tradition of using burning sandalwood incense to light paper money and incense burners.

With all seven lamps lit, Zhou Ze slowly walked forward. They weren't heavy, but constantly holding his arms up and maintaining balance wasn't exactly easy, especially on the extremely muddy ground.

Yingying wanted to walk in front of her boss to help clear the "roadblocks," but Lawyer An stopped her. After quickly packing everything up, they caught up to Zhou Ze, who had been walking for a while but hadn't gotten very far.

They didn't get too close, just followed from a distance.

The fog in the mountains was getting thicker, and the visibility was extremely low.

Zhou Ze, a man who had seen a lot in his life, continued to maintain his balance, holding the Seven Star Lamp as he walked forward.

He walked,

for more than five hours.

He didn't know what secret recipe Lawyer An used to make the candles, but they showed no signs of burning out and extinguishing. However, Zhou Ze's arms were already numb. Fortunately, although he was usually lazy, he was also resilient and didn't complain or say he wanted to give up.

He had come all this way, been messing around in the rainforest for so long—how could he give up so easily?

"Why isn't there any movement yet?"

Bai Yingying felt sorry for her boss and couldn't help but ask Lawyer An.

Lawyer An licked his lips, didn't answer Yingying, but instead shouted to his boss in front,

"Sing!"

Zhou Ze paused in his tracks.

Even when he was a doctor in his previous life, he rarely went to places like karaoke. He was introverted, and while most people could get hyped up when singing alone, it became somewhat embarrassing when being watched.

Fortunately, Zhou Ze understood that this wasn't a song and dance performance where he needed to go on stage to show off, and there wouldn't be any judges giving scores or asking about his dreams.

Zhou Ze also understood Lawyer An's intentions and purpose in having him listen to that song earlier; otherwise, he wouldn't have listened to it so many times so carefully.

The song wasn't difficult.

Actually, it wasn't really a military song. It was written in 1933 and seemed to have originally been a movie theme song.

"Flags are fluttering, horses are neighing;

Gun on shoulder, knife at waist, blood like a surging tide;

Flags are fluttering, horses are neighing;

Good men serve the country in this moment.

Do not…………"

Zhou Ze sang well at first, but the more he sang, the lower his voice became. In the end, he couldn't sing anymore and fell silent.

He wasn't particularly emotional, and he didn't cry.

His face was a little embarrassed.

He bit his lip.

Zhou Ze put the Seven Star Lamp on the ground.

He blew them out one by one.

Then,

no longer thinking about his fastidiousness, he sat down directly on the muddy ground, panting heavily, drenched in sweat.

Yingying immediately ran over to massage Zhou Ze's arms. Holding them up for so long must have made them very sore.

Xu Qinglang glanced at the Seven Star Lamp on the ground and then looked around. There was a faint green glow in his left eye. In fact, he had been watching his surroundings all along.

However,

there was nothing unusual.

No abnormality was actually the biggest abnormality. Why wasn't there any reaction at all from the surroundings?

Lawyer An frowned, walked up to Zhou Ze, and squatted down, looking into his boss's eyes.

He wasn't foolish enough to think that his boss was afraid of singing off-key, so he was embarrassed to sing in front of the three of them and that's why he stopped.

Zhou Ze took the water bottle Yingying handed him, took two sips, lowered his head, and poured the remaining water over his head. He wiped his face and let out a long sigh, as if he had finally recovered.

"Old An."

"Yes, I'm here, Boss."

"Let's give up. I'm not seeking any fancy clothes or anything. Let's just honestly accumulate enough merit to become a Constable."

Lawyer An was a little surprised.

He didn't expect his boss to say he wanted to give up so directly.

Not to mention all the painstaking arrangements and planning he had done,

just the fact that everyone had worked so hard to come all the way here,

and he was just going to give up with a casual sentence?

Taking a deep breath,

Lawyer An suppressed the anger in his heart,

not showing it in the slightest.

After carefully looking at his boss's expression for a while, Lawyer An finally understood, and the anger in his heart dissipated.

Zhou Ze bit his lip a little embarrassedly and said,

"I can't do it."

Yes,

it wasn't because he was afraid of hardship, or even afraid of danger,

but because he couldn't do it.

In the mid-stage of the Anti-Japanese War, 100,000 Chinese Expeditionary Force soldiers entered Burma to fight. This was the first large-scale overseas operation by the Chinese army since the First Sino-Japanese War. At first, they had some good results, but later, due to the intentions of the British and Americans and the small calculations of the National Government's high-ranking officials, the war situation became unstable, and they had to retreat to preserve their strength in preparation for the second round of battles.

Du Yuming followed Chiang Kai-shek's order and ordered the troops to retreat to Yunnan via the Savage Mountain to return to China.

Sun Liren refused this order and led his troops to retreat to India after completing the task of blocking the Japanese army and covering the retreat.

And the more than 40,000 Chinese Expeditionary Force soldiers who followed Du Yuming's order to go to the Savage Mountain suffered extremely tragic casualties due to the miasma and harsh environment of the Savage Mountain. In the end, only more than 3,000 people actually survived.

In other words, at least 30,000 Expeditionary Force soldiers were buried in this Savage Mountain range. The most infuriating thing was that they didn't die on the battlefield in a head-on confrontation with the enemy, but died because of the erroneous command of their superiors.

How many people shouted about going home, thinking of their parents, filled with longing and joy at returning home, but ultimately fell in the mud of the swamp with hatred.

"I've tried it, I really can't do it."

Zhou Ze clenched his fist.

He knew what he was here to do.

He wanted to become a Constable,

he needed achievements, he needed merit.

This was a great achievement, a great merit.

Taking this as his stepping stone, his official path would be easier in the future. It was precisely because he had Tie Hanhan and Taishan in his body that he was qualified to make this plan.

But when you have utilitarian thoughts in your heart, when you have thoughts of exploitation,

and then think about the tens of thousands of military souls who sacrificed here,

alas,

to put it more simply,

Zhou Ze felt like he was really scum.

To do a noble undertaking with a despicable mentality

was really too awkward.

Lawyer An thought again and again,

didn't say anything more, just nodded,

and said,

"It's okay, Boss, I understand. It's my oversight. This matter isn't as easy to do as I thought."

The injustice, hatred, helplessness, and confusion of tens of thousands of military souls who yearned to go home had been branded together, deeply imprinted in this Savage Mountain range that stretched for hundreds of miles.

Lawyer An knew that his boss had tried to do it.

It wasn't purely pretentious, nor was it really because of moral scruples.

Lawyer An knew his boss very well.

Because his boss was a very easy person to understand.

If there was enough profit, his boss would probably be willing to do some things against his conscience.

He did it,

but he wasn't successful.

The reason was still with Lawyer An himself,

because he had thought about this matter too simply.

He only thought that even if the Ancestor of all Zombies in his boss's body was currently in a dormant state, with Taishan suppressing him, he wouldn't become lost because of this matter.

But he didn't expect that the simplest link would be the one to cause problems.

It was as if he had only thought about how to design a bomb with great explosive power, but forgot to design how to detonate it.

Zhou Ze was a little tired.

Although it had only been a few hours, the mental fatigue was actually heavier than the physical fatigue. Lawyer An instructed Yingying to set up the tent again here and accompany the boss to rest first.

He sat in front of the extinguished Seven Star Lamp, staring blankly.

Xu Qinglang looked at the time

and silently began to prepare lunch.

Zhou Ze didn't get up for lunch, but slept until evening. After waking up, he drank two bowls of soup made with dehydrated vegetables before regaining his energy.

After putting down his chopsticks,

he happened to see Lawyer An walking out of the forest.

Zhou Ze lit a cigarette and asked,

"Where did you go?"

"I went to take a leak."

Lawyer An also sat down by the fire.

"Let's try again tomorrow," Zhou Ze said.

Lawyer An nodded. "Actually, I have a lot of other methods here. I also copied other military songs and folk songs from that era into my phone, and even the military flags from that era that I 'stole' specifically."

"However, the more methods there are, the less sincerity there is."

The matter had now reached a dead end.

Zhou Ze raised his head somewhat wistfully. Tonight, there were many stars.

He suddenly thought of a movie he had watched when he was young in his previous life, it should have been *The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber*. Zhang Sanfeng taught Zhang Wuji Tai Chi, asking him how much he had remembered.

At first, he answered eight percent or something, then he answered three percent, and finally, he answered that he had forgotten everything.

Then he unleashed a divine power!

Zhou Ze knew that

if he could now forget his identity, forget his transformation into a Ghost Messenger Constable, forget everything,

and just rely on a pure heart,

simply feeling grateful for the suffering of these military souls who went abroad to fight and were buried in foreign lands, wanting to guide their souls home,

maybe,

this matter would be successful.

But this wasn't realistic. He wasn't a child, nor was he a simple and pure person. Even if he deliberately tried to forget and ignore, he would ultimately only be able to deceive himself but not be able to deceive the tens of thousands of military souls here.

Very conflicted,

very contradictory,

Zhou Ze leaned back against the tree behind him,

looking at the starry sky,

feeling a sense of helplessness in his heart.

"Boss, don't put pressure on yourself. At worst, we'll just treat it as a hiking trip and come out to stretch our muscles."

Zhou Ze nodded,

but then shook his head,

seeming to have forgotten that he had asked the same question before,

and asked again,

"Where did you go before?"