Chapter 1 Water, Flag, and Gunfire

Zhou Ze spat out the water he had just drunk, feeling utterly speechless. Considering what had happened with Gou Xin before, and some of his past experiences, he had deliberately left the old Taoist behind for this trip. And yet, the old Taoist's prophecy had come true.

Fortunately, just as the old Taoist had said on the satellite phone, for their team, encountering those lawless individuals active along the border wasn't a misfortune for them, but for those criminals.

However, Boss Zhou had never liked being a hero, nor did he possess Spider-Man's uncle's "with great power comes great responsibility" enlightenment. Upon hearing Lawyer An's words, he simply shook his head and said,

"Then let's avoid them."

"Yes," Lawyer An agreed, "Let's move over there and let them pass first."

Lawyer An had also navigated the treacherous waters of officialdom, and his mind was more focused on the dead anyway, with little interest in the affairs of the living.

Boss Zhou was a lazy sort himself, especially with the example of the blind man in Shanghai fresh in his mind.

If trouble came knocking, he'd deal with it depending on his mood, but he'd never actively sought out trouble to lend a hand.

Everyone packed up their things and headed towards a depression in front of them. They didn't bother to hide; they simply changed their location and sat down. The forest was dense with branches and leaves, and the early morning mist made visibility very low.

Lawyer An took out an old-fashioned MP3 player from his backpack, a valuable item in previous years.

Before the widespread adoption of smartphones, MP3s and MP4s were popular gadgets among students, but few people used them now.

Lawyer An put the earphones in Zhou Ze's ears and pressed play.

"The flags are fluttering, the horses are neighing,

Guns on shoulders, knives at the waist, hot blood, hot blood like a tide…"

The powerful tenor voice rang out.

Zhou Ze looked at Lawyer An, puzzled.

"Boss, just listen for now. The lyrics aren't long. Remember the tune and learn it quickly."

Although Lawyer An had been careful not to reveal the ultimate purpose of their trip, Zhou Ze had some guesses. He simply nodded and patiently began listening to the song.

Lawyer An took out his own phone and found another pair of earphones for himself. There was no signal here, so the phone could only be used as a music player.

Seeing the boss listening intently and memorizing the lyrics,

Lawyer An smiled and tapped his knee lightly, humming softly:

"You are the most beautiful in my eyes, every smile makes me intoxicated; your flaws, your virtues, the pout of your lips when you're angry~~~~"

Unexpectedly,

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out,

Shattering the peaceful "listening to music on a picnic" atmosphere.

Bai Yingying immediately reached out and grasped something, then slowly opened her palm to reveal a bullet.

If Yingying hadn't intercepted it, Lawyer An would have taken a bullet to the head, judging by its trajectory.

Lawyer An took off his earphones, his face grim!

Boss Zhou also heard the gunshot and saw Yingying catch the bullet, but it seemed to have been a stray shot from a distance, not a sign that their position had been discovered.

He didn't pay much attention to it.

Zhou Ze didn't even take off his earphones,

And continued to listen to the song.

Lawyer An, however, couldn't take it anymore.

Damn it,

He was already going out of his way to avoid trouble,

They could do whatever they wanted over there,

But why did the bullet have to come his way?

No one can stay by the river without getting their feet wet, and Lawyer An was using a mortal body. He wouldn't feel good about catching a stray bullet.

What if it hit a vital point? Where would he find another body?

At that moment, a few more shrill screams came from the distance.

"Boss, since we've met, shouldn't we do something for the people of our motherland?"

Zhou Ze knew that Lawyer An was annoyed and wanted to retaliate. He didn't say anything, just nodded casually, letting him go.

Lawyer An glanced at Yingying, hesitating. Yingying was a jiangshi (僵尸, zombie); although killing people wouldn't necessarily attract lightning strikes, good steel should be used sparingly, so it wasn't necessary to waste her here.

As for himself, he was a condemned soul stripped of his origins by Hell, so he didn't want to be too conspicuous. Dealing with the occasional wandering ghost or minor demon was fine, but accumulating too much living blood was not good.

Finally,

His gaze fell on Xu Qinglang.

"Why don't you go? Just consider it upholding justice and eliminating evil. You've been swallowing incense offerings lately, so you need to exercise and avoid indigestion."

Lawyer An didn't say one thing:

If Xu Qinglang killed people here,

At most, a few lightning strikes would hit the python somewhere in the ocean thousands of miles away. Anyway, it had thick skin and flesh, so it could use it as a warm-up for its tribulation.

Seeing Lawyer An's gaze,

Xu Qinglang didn't hesitate, just nodded, reached out to part the branches and leaves in front of him, and walked in that direction.

Although he had forcibly sealed a portion of the Sea God within himself, he had never considered the Sea God as his ally. In fact, the two had a history of grievances.

He would be happy to see it struck by lightning at sea.

Immediately,

Blue scales grew from Xu Qinglang's skin beneath his trench coat, a deep green vortex appeared in his left eye, and fangs were faintly visible between his lips.

Since swallowing the incense offerings last time, Xu Qinglang felt that he could borrow more of the Sea God's power, whether it was because it deepened their connection or because the Sea God was returning a favor. This was a good opportunity to test it out.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss…"

At first, he walked slowly,

But after a few steps,

He transformed into a green shadow and darted forward.

"Ahhh!!!"

"Ghost ah!!!"

"Ahhh!!!"

Over there,

Screams rose and fell,

And most of them were in Chinese.

Boss Zhou had just finished looping the song twice, and when he wanted to switch songs, he realized that Lawyer An had only downloaded one song on this MP3!

Zhou Ze could only helplessly take off his earphones.

Coincidentally,

Xu Qinglang was done over there.

He didn't hold back, so naturally, he didn't show mercy.

The Sea God daddy was teaching them how to behave.

Yingying helped Zhou Ze push aside the branches in front of him. Boss Zhou took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Yingying immediately took out a lighter and lit it for him.

With one hand in his pocket holding the MP3, and the other holding a cigarette,

Boss Zhou walked to the scene in a nonchalant manner.

On the ground,

Laying many people,

Some of them should have been "executed" by their own people earlier.

And seven or eight were killed by Xu Qinglang.

It was easy to tell the difference,

Because none of those killed by Xu Qinglang

Had a complete corpse.

At this moment,

Xu Qinglang was standing next to a corpse, looking at the back of his hand, which still had some blood on it. Of course, it wasn't his blood.

Seeing Xu Qinglang wanting to lick the blood on the back of his hand but also feeling disgusted and repulsed,

Zhou Ze smiled,

And said:

"If you want to drink, then drink. They're not good people, so you don't have to bear any guilt."

Boss Zhou always took a casual attitude toward such matters.

Xu Qinglang shook his head, but as he prepared to take out a tissue to wipe the back of his hand, his body suddenly trembled, and another will appeared in the depths of his eyes!

Instantly,

Xu Qinglang's aura changed,

He faced Zhou Ze,

His face contorted in struggle,

But he still managed to say:

"You, want, to die?"

It seemed that Xu Qinglang's struggle against the sudden descent of the Sea God's will forced the Sea God to grit his teeth and spit out the words, two at a time.

Xu Qinglang had just played "acting on behalf of Heaven" here,

So, it was estimated that in the ocean thousands of miles away,

A large python had already looked up and saw the rolling dark clouds in the sky,

So it directly projected its consciousness over to question them.

A faint glow emanated from Xu Qinglang's chest,

Indicating that the previous seal was working,

And it seemed that Xu Qinglang hadn't completely lost control of his body.

"Heh, you take their things and you work for them. Weren't you happy to swallow the incense energy the other day?

You took the money and didn’t want to do the work. There is no such principle in the world."

Lawyer An said coldly from the side.

Lawyer An knew that Xu Qinglang was plotting against this big python; in fact, he knew about it beforehand. However, he never stopped him or reminded Zhou Ze. This matter was extremely risky, and Lawyer An was a little surprised that it had succeeded.

"You, really, think, I dare not, kill you?"

Hearing this, Zhou Ze

Handed the MP3 to Yingying,

And walked towards Xu Qinglang with a smile.

When he stood in front of Xu Qinglang,

He looked at the pair of deep green eyes that were staring at him.

Zhou Ze's five fingernails on his left hand grew long,

And covered Xu Qinglang's face!

He didn't directly stab him,

Always keeping a few centimeters away from Xu Qinglang's face,

But wisps of black mist permeated from his fingertips.

Zhou Ze exerted force backward,

As if in a tug-of-war,

A green figure was forcibly pulled out of Xu Qinglang by Zhou Ze for a small half!

It was a green snake head!

"Open your dog eyes and see who I am?"

Zhou Ze roared at the snake head of light and shadow.

At the same time,

Zhou Ze's skin turned a dark cyan color, his two jiangshi (僵尸, zombie) fangs were revealed at the corners of his mouth, and the depths of his eyes were unfathomable.

When Xu Qinglang was preparing to seal the Sea God in the noodle shop, Zhou Ze was in the car outside the shop. He even met the Sea God and had the simple-minded Nether Sea educate the Sea God

On what true boundlessness was.

"You…"

"Shallow water breeds many turtles." Zhou Ze smiled. "Don't forget, we have old grudges. Do you believe that when I'm free in a while, I'll go to the sea to chat with you and settle our accounts?"

Zhou Ze exerted force again with his left hand,

Pulling until the snake head was twisted and deformed,

But the Sea God didn't resist or struggle this time.

When Zhou Ze let go,

The green light and shadow returned to Xu Qinglang's body,

And Xu Qinglang returned to normal.

Zhou Ze reached out to straighten Xu Qinglang's collar and said,

"Are you okay?"

Xu Qinglang breathed a sigh of relief and said,

"I'm fine."

"Mm."

Zhou Ze reached out, wanting to remove a half-leaf stuck to Xu Qinglang's hair.

Xu Qinglang took a step back,

A look of disgust on his face, and said:

"Disgusting."

Zhou Ze nodded, deeply agreeing,

"Indeed disgusting."