滴答……滴答……滴答……

The sound of water droplets was so clear, so distinct, almost loud.

Even if you kept your eyes closed, trying to tell yourself not to focus on it, not to pay attention to it, even if you had dug a hole and buried your head in it;

That sound still exploded in your heart, again and again.

It buzzed in your head, plunging your consciousness into chaos.

Helpless, you were finally forced to open your eyes and look up.

Zhou Ze sat up from the ground, placing his hands on his knees.

A familiar scene, a familiar dream.

Beneath him was a layer of water, and all around, it was pitch black.

Oh no,

This time,

Something was different.

In his line of sight, the figure beneath the water's surface was gone.

Zhou Ze slowly stood up and walked to the place he remembered. A layer of cracks still remained there, but the scabbard below was gone.

He didn't harbor any wishful thinking. Zhou Ze wasn't naive enough to indulge in fantasy at this moment. Instead, he felt a strange sense of fear.

People always have an instinctive fear of things they can't control. It's human nature.

Zhou Ze turned around,

Surveying his surroundings.

The sword,

Where had it gone?

Everywhere his eyes could see was darkness, so utterly black that it made you unconsciously wonder what was hidden in its depths.

滴答……滴答……滴答……

The sound of dripping water continued, tireless.

Zhou Ze slowly closed his eyes.

If he couldn't see anything, he wouldn't look.

But,

Things didn't go as planned.

The moment his eyes closed,

A sharp pain

erupted in his chest.

Zhou Ze opened his eyes again and looked down.

At his left chest, the tip of a sword was already visible.

The Xuanyuan Sword,

Had it already pierced his body?

Zhou Ze wasn't sure what this dream meant, because he hadn't had time to ask the xiezhi, nor had he had time to ask the Bodhisattva.

If he could, he really wanted to ask them, where exactly was the sword that you saw when "disaster was imminent"?

But no matter what,

Compared to the shadow under the water now,

The Xuanyuan Sword, which had already entered his body,

Was far more aggressive.

He could vaguely sense that the sword's next target should be…himself.

The tip of the sword began to try to poke out, accompanied by intense pain.

His ribs were being rubbed raw, and his heart was enduring repeated "shredding," as if it had been thrown into a blender, constantly repeating the cycle.

Unfortunately,

This was still a dream.

The dream originated from you, and the dream was yours, but often, the dream wasn't completely controlled by its master.

Zhou Ze's forehead was covered in sweat. The process he was enduring was no less than a real torture.

"Buzz!"

Zhou Ze's hands

gripped the tip of the sword.

He was trying to pull the sword out of his body faster.

"Bang!"

The moment the sword was pulled out,

Zhou Ze sensed that his life force seemed to be forcibly extracted on a large scale.

A feeling of despair and loneliness enveloped him with seamless speed.

Coupled with the dark environment,

It was impossible not to think of a tomb.

This was

his own tomb.

………………

"Huff…"

He suddenly sat up in bed.

Outside the window, it was pitch black.

A familiar bed, familiar furnishings, and the all-too-familiar person beside him—his pillow companion.

Yingying's eyes were closed, her delicate eyelashes looking so cute.

However, Zhou Ze quickly realized that something was wrong. Generally, although Yingying would occasionally sleep now, she would immediately sense him waking up and wake up too.

It was almost unheard of for her to be sleeping soundly like this, even after he had already woken up.

The dream,

Was he already awake?

"Hiss... Hiss... Hiss... Hiss... Hiss... Hiss... Hiss... Hiss... Hiss... Hiss... Hiss..."

The sound of vines attacked.

A patch of green vegetation appeared on the ceiling of the room.

Then,

A lotus flower bloomed,

And a faint fragrance instantly filled the bedroom.

Zhou Ze remained sitting on the bed, motionless, quietly watching as sections of lotus root grew out from under the lotus flower.

The lotus roots slowly pieced together,

And then,

More subtle changes began.

Finally,

The figure of an adult man appeared in front of Zhou Ze. He sat in the chair behind the desk, looking at Zhou Ze straight in the eye.

This gaze didn't last long before the other person opened his mouth.

"You came back and went straight to sleep?"

Half a face wore his trademark sneer.

His tone also revealed a clear dissatisfaction.

Yes, dissatisfaction.

After being resurrected, he discovered that he had become a lotus root person. It was said that he was in the same boat as a hero from another mythological legend, a good friend to many.

For the past two days, besides eating that woman, he had been waiting, waiting for Zhou Ze and that person to come back.

He had prepared a lot of words and imagined many scenarios.

He wouldn't admit that he was nervous and excited. As the most handsome guy in Dog Village, he really needed to think more about the honor of Dog Village.

After all, your every move represents Dog Village's external image, and you can't be careless.

However,

What made him speechless was that

Zhou Ze came back,

And then,

Didn't go to the wax museum to find him,

But chose to sleep after coming back.

As if he hadn't had a good night's sleep in eight lifetimes.

This posture

made Half a Face a little angry.

Helpless, he could only come to him himself.

"Tired."

Zhou Ze reached out and rubbed the corners of his eyes.

Even now, he still felt a little sleepy. He didn't know if it was because of the inexplicable fatigue of the past two days or the dream he just had that made him unable to muster any energy.

"Perhaps, you are more suitable for eternal sleep than I am."

Half a Face said gloomily.

Zhou Ze nodded, indicating his agreement. Then, somewhat reluctantly, he got out of bed and habitually reached into the drawer of the bedside table.

Generally speaking, Yingying would have prepared cigarettes in the places he needed them.

A pack of cigarettes was pulled out. He walked to the window and lit one for himself, leaving Half a Face with a tired back standing in front of the window.

He opened the window, and the night breeze came in.

"How does it feel to be resurrected?"

It sounded like small talk.

"Putting aside this strange body, it's pretty good."

"What exactly is the feeling of death?"

The death Zhou Ze was asking about wasn't the kind where a person dies and their soul comes out to go to hell, but a complete and utter ending.

"It's like falling asleep, but there are no dreams to be had."

"That's not bad."

"It's really not bad."

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Choking on a mouthful of smoke, Zhou Ze leaned one hand on the windowsill and shook the ashes off the cigarette with the other.

"That Tarzan, did he escape?"

Tarzan?

"Heh, hehe..."

Coming to his senses, Zhou Ze couldn't help but laugh.

Comparing the City God to Tarzan was really apt. Not a single word was superfluous.

"Yes, he escaped."

"He used a scapegoat, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'm tired too."

Half a Face stood up, walked to Zhou Ze's side, and looked at the streetlights on South Street with him.

"Then what?"

Zhou Ze looked at Half a Face.

"Wasn't the reason for resurrecting me for this?" Half a Face asked rhetorically.

"I don't know."

"But that's certainly the case; otherwise, how do you explain this series of coincidences?"

"It doesn't seem to have anything to do with him."

"If it has nothing to do with him, does it have something to do with you?" Half a Face asked with a mocking expression.

Zhou Ze shook his head and silently blew out smoke rings.

"After dying, I realized that living is really tiring. Most importantly, I suddenly don't understand how I should continue to live."

"I also suggest that you see a psychologist. I have a childhood friend who is very good."

"Interesting."

"What, you came out to find me in the middle of the night just to tell me that you want to die in our place?"

"Are you touched?"

"A little."

"A long, long time ago, I told you that he really isn't as simple as he seems."

"Perhaps, but I don't care anymore."

Half a Face was also helpless and couldn't help but say:

"Among the dogs of all generations, I know that there are many who are simps because they have no ability. Since they have no ability to resist and no ability to change the status quo, they can only be simps.

"There are also some who are similar to me and chose to resist. Maybe I'm the only one who succeeded, but at least the others resisted.

"You're a weirdo. You clearly have the ability to resist, but you still continue to be a simp."

"Your words are as numerous as ever."

"I said, there aren't many days left, right?" Half a Face asked.

Recalling the dream just now, the sword had already pierced his body.

"Indeed, it's soon. It should be me next."

"Then you should try to prepare. While I'm still a little confused after being resurrected and don't want to live so much, while I haven't changed my mind;

"I'm warning you, if it's too late, maybe I won't want to be that scapegoat anymore.

"You can talk to him, urge him..."

Zhou Ze threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray on the desk next to him,

interrupting Half a Face's rambling,

and said directly:

"He said it."

"Hmm, what did he say?" Half a Face crossed his arms, seemingly very interested.

"Do you want me to imitate him?"

"Imitate him, the more similar the better. I want to see what he looks like when he's touched by me."

The story of Ying Gou and the dog can completely imitate the story of the City God and the monkey, publishing many versions.

Zhou Ze took a deep breath,

and imitated word by word:

"He... is... not... worthy..."

"..." Half a Face.