Chapter 1 The Old Taoist Returns

The old Taoist returned, his face bearing several clear scratch marks. He said it was from naughty monkeys, an accidental scratch.

Yes, everyone there believed him.

The old Taoist opened the fingerprint lock.

The group went inside.

Zhou Ze turned and pointed at the lock, "Get rid of it."

Opening a bookstore in such a prime location, Zhou Ze already felt he was "unique" enough.

If he also put a fingerprint lock on the door,

Zhou Ze really couldn't imagine how the pedestrians passing by every day would view him, the boss.

"Okay, okay, okay, I'll take care of it right away."

The old Taoist was very cooperative.

"You've worked hard these past few days."

Keeping an eye on the renovations alone must have been tiring. As for seeking pleasure outside, that wasn't anything new.

If the old Taoist wanted to relive his youth, to be vigorous in his old age, there was no reason to stop him.

"Boss, you can go upstairs and take a look. Since everyone's here today, should I notify Lin Ke and Lao Zhang?"

Zhou Ze nodded. It would be good for everyone to get together one last time, the whole team assembled.

"Oh, Boss, I have two more things to report. Lao Zhang has been getting very close to that Officer Chen recently."

Officer Chen?

Zhou Ze frowned, and the image of the pretty female police officer appeared in his mind.

"Also, the Qu siblings across the street moved away a while ago, and the internet cafe is closed too. These are the keys they left. Since you weren't here, I took the liberty of accepting them for you."

"Okay, I understand."

"Great, then I'll go notify people and order a feast from a restaurant outside?"

The old Taoist noticed that Xu Qinglang's complexion wasn't good, probably injured, so there was no reason to let him handle the banquet.

After Zhou Ze agreed, the old Taoist left the bookstore.

Zhou Ze lay down on his favorite sofa. The sofa had been reupholstered with leather, making it more comfortable to sit on. The ferret slowly slid off Zhou Ze's shoulder and lay down on the sofa as well, basking lazily in the sun.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

The little monkey hopped over,

reaching out to poke the ferret.

The ferret slightly opened its eyes, then closed them again, ignoring it.

The little monkey looked left and right, scratching its head. It seemed very excited about the appearance of another "animal" in the bookstore, but unfortunately, its affection was unrequited.

Besides a few cries at the phone initially, the ferret was truly indifferent to the little monkey.

The little monkey even took out its toys and snacks and put them on the sofa where the ferret was. However, the ferret only opened its eyes for a moment, looked disdainfully, and then closed them again.

Liu Chuyu, watching from the side, was a little envious. Two demon beasts, and not ordinary ones at that. He sighed with envy,

"Two at once, one fast and one strong. Is this what they call all-around talent?"

"Let's not talk about that. Lao An won't be back for a few days. Tonight, you guys can stay at the internet cafe across the street. Find a place to sleep. We should have something to do in a few days."

Zhou Ze needed Xu Qinglang to confirm the location further, not necessarily the exact spot, but any other hints would do.

When the time came,

he would naturally send all the ghosts under his command to search.

If he could kill Xu Qinglang's master before he fully "matured," it would undoubtedly be the most cost-effective.

"Okay, Boss."

"Understood."

"Have a seat first. We'll eat when it's ready."

Zhou Ze got up. This time, the ferret didn't follow Zhou Ze, as if it found the sofa more appealing.

Of course, it would be even better without this noisy monkey around.

Zhou Ze pushed open the small door. Hei Xiaoniu had come straight here upon her return. This was her true home.

As soon as he entered,

Zhou Ze was stunned.

The entire ground was covered in green vines. Dead Servant was still planted in the dirt, with only his head exposed.

But at this moment, Dead Servant gave off an overwhelming pressure,

as if the ground he was standing on was part of his body.

This feeling

was a bit like Sun Wukong standing in the palm of the Buddha.

Zhou Ze narrowed his eyes, not moving forward.

Hei Xiaoniu turned her head, glanced at Zhou Ze, and said, "He's growing well. He'll be out in a few days."

"I can feel it."

"Hehe, do you feel that a father will be surpassed by his son?"

"You can try."

Hei Xiaoniu shook her head, took out scissors, and began to give Dead Servant a haircut. She was very careful.

At this time,

Dead Servant slowly opened his eyes.

The entire muddy ground trembled at that moment.

Zhou Ze believed that

if he brought an excavator to dig this place up,

underneath,

there would definitely be dense and terrifying roots!

Hei Xiaoniu said before that she was going to plant Dead Servant, and Zhou Ze thought it was just for a little adjustment, but now it was clear that it was not.

Dead Servant's eyes were clear, and compared to his previous "dazed" feeling, he seemed a little more alert. After seeing Zhou Ze, he nodded slightly to him, showing clear submission.

"I'll arrange it. You can come and be planted tomorrow to restore your arm. I can't guarantee it will be as good as the original, but it should be enough to meet your...needs."

Zhou Ze ignored him, turned, and walked out.

Whether some things would get out of control was not something to worry about now. In the current situation, having Dead Servant rooted here was like adding another layer of insurance to the bookstore.

Although when Xu Qinglang's master appeared, the bookstore had relied on Yinggou to resolve the crisis.

But now, everyone in the bookstore had clearly grown, and with the opportunity to take the initiative this time, even without Yinggou, Zhou Ze didn't think he would definitely lose.

Going up the stairs, Zhou Ze pushed open his room.

Yingying was already changing the sheets here. Hearing someone open the door, she turned to look at her boss and said,

"Boss, the old Taoist did a good job decorating."

The layout of the bedroom hadn't changed much, but it had been changed to a Japanese-style tatami style, making it more spacious and bright.

Zhou Ze took a few steps back and found that Xu Qinglang's room hadn't been changed much, just the windows that had been damaged by the explosion had been restored.

The old Taoist knew how to measure things. Xu Qinglang's room still had formations drawn in it, and he didn't dare to mess with them.

Zhou Ze walked into his bedroom, lay down on the tatami, and Yingying brought a pillow.

Zhou Ze took a nap, about half an hour, and woke up.

Getting up, accompanied by Yingying, he went downstairs. Below, Little Loli and Lao Zhang had also arrived. A large round table had been set up at the bookstore bar, with twelve cold dishes on it.

"Greetings, Captain!"

Five people saluted together.

"Get up."

Zhou Ze responded.

In hell, he had seen even the scene of thousands of demon soldiers and generals of the Jiuli tribe kneeling together, so in theory, Boss Zhou should have been calm;

but in fact, he was really a little excited.

After all, the war souls of Jiuli knelt to Yinggou, but these five in front of him were all his subordinates.

After the simple formalities were done, everyone took their seats.

Many people didn't really like socializing at the dinner table, but sometimes there was really no way. The dinner table was indeed a good place to ease awkwardness.

After the meal, Zhang Qiang, Yue Ya, and Liu Chuyu, the three ghost messengers from out of town, went to the internet cafe across the street to prepare their lodgings.

"Call me when the time comes."

Little Loli made a phone call gesture, then turned to go home.

Her situation was a bit special, and Zhou Ze had acquiesced.

The little boy took the initiative to walk over at this time, "It's not safe outside, let me take you home."

As he spoke,

the little boy followed directly behind Little Loli and left together.

Zhou Ze handed Lao Zhang a cigarette. Lao Zhang took it and clipped it to his ear, tapping the table with both hands.

"Something on your mind?"

Lao Zhang nodded.

"Official business or personal business?"

"It's both official business and personal business."

"Oh, then there's no need to talk about it."

"Recently, there have been several cases of missing persons."

Lao Zhang directly filtered out Zhou Ze's words.

"Old Taoist, why hasn't this combination lock been changed yet? Why are you so slow with this?"

Zhou Ze stood up and walked towards the old Taoist.

Lao Zhang also stood up, continuing to follow Zhou Ze, and at the same time said, "What's strange is that people are indeed missing, but their immediate family members haven't reported it. Instead, colleagues or neighbors have reported it more often."

Zhou Ze was helpless,

holding up his only hand in front of Lao Zhang,

and said:

"See this?"

"Uh, I see it."

"It's good that you see it. I only have one hand left now, I'm sorry, Zhang Sir.

Not to mention that I'm not alive, not a citizen, and have no obligation to cooperate with your work.

Just look at me now, I'm missing an arm, and I just came back from a trip to the Southwest, and you want to drag me to help you fight evil and maintain justice before I even get a good night's sleep.

Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

Zhou Ze poked Lao Zhang's chest a few times with his finger.

The knuckles were hard,

Lao Zhang staggered back a few steps and coughed a few times.

"You know it hurts too." Zhou Ze shrugged.

"No, Boss, I think this thing is a little strange. At first, after we received the alarm, we contacted the missing person's family members, and they all denied the disappearance, but those missing persons who were reported by colleagues or neighbors were indeed nowhere to be found.

I think there's a problem here. It's likely that things aren't that simple."

"Their family members don't care, saying they didn't disappear, why are you being so serious?"

"I'm a policeman, I'm not handling the case for the family members."

Zhou Ze reached out and pointed to the old Taoist, who was cleaning the table next to him, and said to Lao Zhang:

"Okay, I'll send you a capable assistant?"

"............" Lao Zhang.

Zhou Ze paused, then pointed to the internet cafe across the street,

"Just say I said, you can ask any of them to help you solve the case, okay?

There may be a big thing I need to deal with soon, and what I need to do now is to change myself from Yang Guo back to Louis Koo."

"Okay, thank you."

Zhou Ze waved his hand,

"By the way, that Officer Chen, why did she run to Tong City again?"

Lao Zhang looked at the old Taoist beside him,

obviously, since the boss wasn't here during this period, someone must have been tattling.

The old Taoist, feeling guilty, pretended to bend down to look for fallen chopsticks under the table.

Lao Zhang was a little embarrassed and said, "She's been transferred here."

"People like us shouldn't get too close to ordinary people, otherwise it will bring bad luck to them."

"I know the limits, I understand."

Zhou Ze narrowed his eyes, wanting to say something more, but then thought better of it, walked to the bathroom door, pushed it open, and shouted to the stairs:

"Yingying, get the clothes, I'm taking a shower."