Chapter 2 The Next Day

The next morning, Old Zhang arrived, and the investigation into the matter had yielded results.

The man who had been ranting about "rabies" at the pharmacy yesterday had died suddenly while receiving treatment at the hospital; he had died in the emergency room.

This incident did not cause too much of a stir. Once "rabies" develops, it basically means a death sentence.

In some ways, it's even more terrifying than AIDS.

In recorded history, there are only a handful of people who have survived after the onset of the disease, but either they have extremely severe sequelae, making life worse than death, or they only lived for two or three more years before dying anyway.

That's why the vaccine issue caused so much attention and panic a while ago.

What made Boss Zhou very uncomfortable was that Old Zhang came right at mealtime again. After handing over what he had found, he sat down to eat breakfast without any regard for anyone else.

Ever since Old Xu refocused on his job, the Late Night Bookstore's food standards had instantly improved by several notches.

Adding in the residual soul from yesterday, their consumption records had one thing in common: they had all been to a health spa.

And they generally went there a week before the onset of the disease.

After breakfast, Zhou Ze and Lawyer An drove to the health spa.

Because it was late morning, the health spa's door was open, but it clearly wasn't ready for business yet.

The front desk manager asked Zhou Ze and Lawyer An to wait on the sofa, saying that she would call for technicians to come over.

After waiting for about half an hour, two technicians who were rushing to work finally arrived, and Zhou Ze and Lawyer An were led into two separate rooms.

The rooms were decorated in a classical style, with no ambiguous suggestions. The two technicians weren't the type of beautiful young women you might expect; they both looked older, but they were wearing qipaos, which gave them a certain charm.

Zhou Ze lay down.

The technician started by cleaning his face, carefully wiping every part of it.

Then she started massaging his head and cervical spine.

Her technique was meticulous, and it was clear from the start that she had been professionally trained.

If you were an experienced patron, you would know that the massage at this shop was legitimate and not the kind where they just pretended to massage you while waiting for an opportunity to ask if you wanted any special services.

"It smells good," Zhou Ze said.

"Yes, it's a special sandalwood incense," the technician replied. "Sir, you can take a nap; I'll continue to massage you."

Zhou Ze smiled.

Without Yingying here, he couldn't sleep.

But his eyelids instinctively reacted a little, as if he really was starting to feel drowsy.

This sandalwood incense must have been tampered with, Zhou Ze thought to himself.

So, all the customers who come here for a massage fall asleep under the influence of the sandalwood and then think the massage service is excellent?

"Sir, would you like to add more time?"

"No, thank you."

"Okay, the service is over. You can go to the bath to soak for a while."

The technician left, and Zhou Ze also stood up and walked out of the room.

"Hey, miss, really not possible? I'll pay more."

"No, really not possible."

"How much do you want? Just name it."

"I'm so old."

"It's okay, you're quite charming."

"No, it's not allowed here. Sorry, we're a legitimate massage service."

"Crack!"

The room door opened, and the technician walked out with a flushed face.

A moment later, Lawyer An also came out and was met with Zhou Ze's contemptuous gaze.

"Well, I'm sacrificing myself to investigate the truth. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Heh."

"Tch, men are men, how could they not have thoughts when they come here? What if they all fell for it this way?"

After explaining, Lawyer An handed Zhou Ze a cigarette and said, "Let's go, let's take a bath."

The pool wasn't very big, but it wasn't a specialized bathhouse, so it was good enough.

Only Zhou Ze and Lawyer An were soaking here at this time. The water was very hot, and it felt comfortable to lie in it.

"Nothing seems wrong here," Lawyer An said.

"Yeah," Zhou Ze nodded.

At this moment, a man wearing a bathrobe walked in and said with a smile, "Gentlemen, do you need a back scrub?"

"Yes, a back scrub," Lawyer An stood up and lay down on the bed over there.

"Boss, if we go back like this, it seems a little embarrassing, hahaha, like we came out specifically to enjoy ourselves at public expense. Ouch! Brother, easy, are you using me as a floor to scrub?"

"There's a lot of dirt," the back-scrubbing master said.

Lawyer An shook his head and didn't say anything.

After scrubbing sides A and B, the back-scrubbing master asked, "Want to try threading?"

"Threading?" Lawyer An said with some surprise, "I've heard of salt scrubs and milk rubs, but this is the first time I've heard of threading."

"It's just using a thin thread to loosen your pores."

As he spoke, the back-scrubbing master took out a cotton thread.

"Oh, novel, sure, I'll give it a try."

Zhou Ze, who was still soaking in the pool, laughed and said, "Usually, girls have their faces threaded before they get married."

"Sure, I'll get married today, and go to someone's house as a groom tonight." Lawyer An didn't care and continued, "Have you heard of a walking marriage?"

The back-scrubbing master ran the thread over Lawyer An's body.

It felt quite comfortable, and Lawyer An even started making nasal sounds.

But in the next moment, Lawyer An's eyes suddenly narrowed, and he instantly flipped over, one hand grabbing the back-scrubbing master's wrist and the other directly gripping his neck.

"Bang!"

In the blink of an eye, the back-scrubbing master was slammed onto the bathroom tile floor by Lawyer An.

Zhou Ze stood up from the bath and walked out.

"Damn, so that's where the trick is," Lawyer An reached out and picked up the cotton thread from the ground, and with a sharp pinch, the cotton thread fell away, revealing a thin black strip with a metallic sheen.

"If I hadn't been careful, I might not have even noticed a piece of my soul being cut off! Tell me, what the hell are you?"

The back-scrubbing master, pinned to the ground by Lawyer An, stubbornly refused to speak.

"Oh, playing the loyal and unyielding game with me?"

Lawyer An pretended to give the other party a little taste of hardship, but who knew that the other party would suddenly flip over, instantly activating countless threads from within the surface of his skin, directly stabbing towards Lawyer An, who was closest to him.

If he were hit by this, Lawyer An would have an easier time watering flowers in the future; he could just stand in the flower bed and drink water.

Lawyer An immediately rolled to the side, but because the tile floor was slippery, he fell to the ground with a "plop."

The back-scrubbing master immediately got up, without hesitation, preparing to escape.

"Coffee!"

Zhou Ze pressed down with one hand.

Five streaks of black mist instantly locked onto the back-scrubbing master, and then, with a lift of his palm, the back-scrubbing master was directly pulled up and thrown into the bath.

However, at this moment, the plug in the pool was suddenly pulled out.

The water level in the pool began to drop rapidly, and the body of the back-scrubbing master, who had just fallen into the pool, actually seemed to melt into the water like dye.

It flowed down the drain immediately.

Lawyer An had just gotten up, and when he saw this scene, he was shocked. When he quickly jumped into the pool, the pool water had already dried up, and the back-scrubbing master was nowhere to be seen.

It is often said that women are made of water; this man can actually dissolve in water!

"He must still be nearby!"

Zhou Ze didn't panic.

If this operation couldn't catch the culprit, it would be like alerting the snake in the grass. For the sake of business, and to avoid receiving useless defective products in the future, Boss Zhou wouldn't allow the other party to escape from under his nose.

Five fingernails grew out, directly piercing into the tiles.

Black mist began to spread, extending in one direction.

"Over there!"

Lawyer An took the lead and rushed out directly, chasing all the way to the lobby. At this time, the back-scrubbing master had actually reached the lobby door. He turned his head and was startled to see Lawyer An chasing after him, seemingly not expecting the other party to catch up so quickly.

Immediately, he didn't dare to take the elevator and rushed down the stairs directly.

"Damn it, don't run!"

Lawyer An was even more direct, and jumped out of the open window in the stunned gazes of the staff in the lobby.

"Bang!"

Only three floors.

Landing wasn't a problem.

And at this time, the back-scrubbing master had just run out.

"Let you run from me!"

Lawyer An's skeletal hand stretched out directly, and the illusion realm opened wide, locking the other party in!

But the body of the back-scrubbing master suddenly became blurred again, seemingly actively integrating himself into the illusion. Then, streaks of thread began to spread along the illusion, planning to counterattack him in turn!

Having no choice, Lawyer An decisively ended the illusion.

After the illusion ended, the two were still standing in their original places.

The back-scrubbing master didn't hesitate and flipped over into the flower bed, and Lawyer An immediately chased after him.

"Bang!"

The next second, the back-scrubbing master was kicked out of the flower bed and fell to the ground.

"Roar!"

The back-scrubbing master let out an angry roar.

The threads on his body boiled again, shooting forward.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

Ten scythe-like fingernails waved.

Every single one of the threads was entangled on the fingernails.

Then Zhou Ze exerted force, and the entire back-scrubbing master was pulled up.

Because the threads grew out of his body, he was now equivalent to being tied up by Zhou Ze with "ropes," and the ropes were from himself.

"Run, keep running, why don't you?"

Zhou Ze's fingernails held the back-scrubbing master in place.

This guy was really like a loach, slippery as can be.

Finally caught him, Lawyer An breathed a sigh of relief and said unhappily, "Boss, why did you come out so slowly?"

"Oh, sorry, I just went to put on some clothes."

Lawyer An was suddenly shocked.

At this time, he felt that his whole body was chilly. He had been in such a hurry that he had forgotten that he had chased out of the bath.

Immediately, Lawyer An ran upstairs to get his clothes.

Zhou Ze shouted from below, "By the way, pay the bill. I came out in a hurry, and I haven't paid yet. People will think I'm skipping out on the bill."

"............" Lawyer An.