Chapter 17 The Feeling of Waiting to Die

The feeling of waiting to die is awful; the feeling of being slowly bitten to death alive is even worse.

Especially when those teeth bite into your flesh, sinking in deep. Human teeth aren't as sharp as a beast's; she has to bite hard and tear back and forth with force just to rip off a piece of meat. The whole process is a torment for Boss Zhou, tied to the wooden stake.

Many people enjoy oral sex, but probably very few would willingly experience such a heavy version of it.

Especially when you can hear the sound of teeth scraping against your bones.

It truly sends shivers down your spine.

Fortunately,

or perhaps it's something to be thankful for,

Boss Zhou is a man who has visited the crematorium several times.

Although it doesn't seem like something to be proud of or show off,

this experience, though painful, isn't enough to cause Zhou Ze's mental breakdown.

Tearing,

Swallowing,

The heavy breathing of a man and woman

echoed incessantly in the tent.

No one knows how long this process lasted.

When Zhou Ze's vision slowly began to blur again,

he seemed to realize

that Madam Bai had left.

Considering that Madam Bai was eventually captured by government troops in Tongcheng, she must have escaped from here in the end.

The Jade Faced Rakshasa is indeed not simple.

Perhaps after escaping, she was unwilling to give up and continued to cause trouble, eventually being captured by the Qing soldiers.

Or perhaps there was some other reason?

Boss Zhou didn't get much pleasure from solving historical mysteries. When he silently raised his head and opened his eyes again, he found himself still tied up, but this time to a bronze pillar.

He was bound by rusty iron chains, as if he had become a fossil, dried out by the wind.

This place again.

This was the second time Zhou Ze had entered.

There was no plaque here. If a plaque were needed, it could be erected in front with four large characters:

"Ying Clan Kennel."

And if that wasn't enough,

add a few more lines: "Grand Opening Specials" or "Buy One Get One Free."

It's just a pity,

because inside,

there were only dead dogs.

Not the kind that could jump around and act cute.

And not even enough bone scraps left.

The surroundings were originally empty, but slowly began to fill with "shadowy figures," as if countless eyes were staring at him.

These

were all his predecessors,

Ironhead who knows how many times he has been reincarnated,

and who knows how many generations of "watchdogs."

Zhou Ze tried to move, but found the iron chains very tight, so tight that they locked him into the "illusion," unable to break free and awaken.

If it had only been Madam Bai's illusion, it would have been fine. Zhou Ze didn't believe that Madam Bai really had the ability to trap him in an illusion.

If she were that powerful, she wouldn't have to hide and use such methods. It was precisely because her strength was insufficient and she didn't dare to confront him directly that she chose to take a roundabout route.

In the end,

he had taken a fall this time,

but the reason for entering the trap

wasn't external but internal. It's hard to guard against a thief in your own house.

In the past, Zhou Ze had no idea that there was such a place in the depths of his soul. Or rather, when Ying Gou was around, these weren't issues at all.

Zhou Ze had tried before to send things that attempted to possess him or influence his mind directly to Ying Gou, and Ying Gou could always handle them cleanly.

But now that Ying Gou had fallen into a permanent slumber, problems that originally weren't problems had become real problems.

"What's up, brothers? What's this all about?"

Zhou Ze asked.

Many possibilities

surfaced in his mind,

and he made many guesses.

What were their feelings towards him?

Jealousy?

Jealous that he was favored?

For example, Li Xiucheng was definitely among these shadowy figures. If Ying Gou had been willing to help him back then, even just a little, allowing him to escape from the vortex of the fall of Tianjing City, it would have been the simplest thing in the world.

Ying Gou could break through the armies of Hell's Yama, let alone the Qing army in the mortal realm with their half-firearm, half-cold weapon weaponry?

The two weren't even on the same level.

Resentment?

Resentment that he was still alive,

while they had become withered bones?

Judging by the looks of it,

it seemed that soul imprints had been left behind.

He didn't know if they would be unable to reincarnate because of this.

What was this for?

Souvenirs left behind by Ying Gou himself?

Something for him to take out and play with when he was bored?

He imagined many possibilities, but there was only one possibility that Zhou Ze hadn't considered: that these people regarded him as a junior and "cared" for him.

Heh,

Boss Zhou never thought he had such a big face; people's hearts hadn't become that simple.

"Clang, clang... clang, clang..."

The iron chains

began to contract.

The wind around him

grew stronger and stronger,

carrying with it a bone-chilling coldness.

Hostility,

Antagonism,

Even

irreconcilable animosity!

"I'm going to die too. When I die, I'll come and keep you company. Why force me now?"

Zhou Ze shouted.

Everyone,

don't laugh at each other;

what's the point?

However,

no one responded to Zhou Ze.

This sudden, unannounced coup caught Zhou Ze completely off guard.

But

Boss Zhou has never been one to sit still and wait for death.

Bound to the pillar,

fangs began to emerge at the corners of his mouth,

and his skin began to turn blue.

If you're going to be impolite to me,

then I won't be polite to you either!

The wind grew stronger and stronger,

and the chains grew tighter and tighter.

Zhou Ze's anger also grew more and more intense.

He roared:

"When he was here, you didn't dare to make a sound.

Now that he's gone,

you dare to attack your own kind?

To be considered the same kind as you,

is truly

shameful!"

..................

Zhou Ze's car was parked in front of the bookstore, on the side of the road. People were coming and going, but he didn't get out of the car.

In the hidden spot of the roadside flower bed, there were small candles, talisman papers, and red threads gently wound around them.

And beneath the soil of the flower bed,

a black token was deeply buried, the token trembling slightly, emitting a sound similar to an infant's cries.

Fortunately, Zhou Ze was driving Lawyer An's car. The car's tinted windows made it impossible to see inside from the outside. It was originally designed by Lawyer An to facilitate car-shaking games.

But now it prevented passersby from noticing the strange changes happening to the person sitting in the driver's seat.

...................

Inside the bookstore,

a chilling coldness hung in the air.

Nothing could be seen from the outside, but as soon as one pushed open the door and walked in, they would feel as if they were standing in a world of ice and snow.

Madam Bai was standing at the door,

kneeling there,

her face full of resentment.

She and Bai Yingying had the exact same face, but she was no longer the innocent and carefree girl she once was.

The shadow behind Bai Yingying was slowly dissipating.

Ying Gou, after all, had fallen into endless slumber.

Whether it was his deduction or his casual, jealous jest that Yingying only liked Zhou Ze and didn't care about him,

after dissolving Madam Bai's control over Yingying,

this shadow

no longer had any other purpose.

Yingying's hair was snow-white.

She walked in front of Madam Bai,

and looked at the kneeling Madam Bai.

She slowly squatted down as well.

Her pretty face was covered in frost,

and her eyes were filled with bone-chilling cold.

This was her sister, her mistress,

who had accompanied her, talking, chatting, and relieving her boredom during those lonely days lying in the coffin for two hundred years.

"Yingying, live well for me. He's coming back. He's coming back..."

A look of longing appeared in Madam Bai's eyes.

"Your body is pure. Back then, he was unwilling to accept me and only considered me a goddaughter, but I have always kept my body for him.

He's coming back. He's coming back soon!"

Hearing these words,

for some reason,

a look of anger appeared on Yingying's face.

Instinctively,

she seemed to sense something was wrong.

Madam Bai's gaze shifted towards the shadow that hadn't completely dissipated behind her.

A look of resentment reappeared on her face.

She hated,

she hated it very much.

Back then,

if that person had simply moved a finger, the Loyal King wouldn't have died!

Even if they no longer pursued any great cause or tried to restore the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they could have lived in seclusion.

But that person

had really been inside the Loyal King's body all along,

doing nothing,

just watching the Loyal King fall into distress!

If it was only like this, it would have been fine.

But Madam Bai knew

that that person treated the owner of this bookstore

differently from the past!

Without that person,

the owner of this bookstore, this little ghost messenger, would have died long ago, even if he had ten lives!

Why!

Why!

The problem is not scarcity but inequality.

That was the principle.

She hated Ying Gou, very, very much, especially the day on the city wall when the Loyal King spoke of the person he had seen in his dreams with a look of longing and worship!

"Your goal isn't me..." Bai Yingying said coldly, "It's... the boss?"

Madam Bai laughed,

laughing happily

and unrestrainedly.

"The Cold Clothes Festival is for burning you, but it will destroy his heart.

When the Loyal King returns,

you must,

serve him well for me."

Madam Bai said word by word.

Yingying's lips slowly pursed.

The nails on her left hand grew out,

and she suddenly lashed out!

"Bitch!"

"Bang!"

Madam Bai's soul was directly shattered by this powerful burst of baleful aura.

Before finally dissipating,

Madam Bai seemed to see herself at the age of seven, having lost her family in the war, kneeling and weeping in front of a roadside grass mat.

And he,

on horseback,

came before her.

..................

Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai were lying haphazardly on the back seat.

These two had tenacious life forces.

No one knew how many bones they had broken, but they hadn't died.

Gou Xin was arranged by the old Daoist to sit in the passenger seat, and the old Daoist got into the driver's seat, preparing to start the car and go back.

Lawyer An and the others still had to stay in the City God Temple for a while to help Xu Qinglang absorb the power of incense.

As soon as the car started,

the sickly Gou Xin next to him suddenly said:

"He's gone back."

"Who?" The old Daoist was a little confused.

"I told you, he's going to have a disaster."

"Heh, then how didn't you see that you would be so miserable today?"

The old Daoist thought to himself, "I'm a charlatan myself, how could I be fooled by you?"

"I've always had good luck since I was a kid."

"I really can't see it," the old Daoist retorted.

"Because..."

Gou Xin smiled,

turned his head,

looked at the old Daoist next to him, and continued:

"When I was a kid, I saw an immortal."