“Anything more specific? Did he say anything else?”

Half a Face asked.

Zhou Ze shook his head. "It was years ago. How could I remember everything word for word?"

Especially since so many things happened that day; the old man's affair was just a very, very small microcosm of that day.

"Then recall it," Half a Face said calmly.

"How do I recall it?"

"Recall?"

Half a Face pointed to the bronze ring on Zhou Ze's finger.

Honestly, Zhou Ze had been wearing this ring from Sanxiang Village for quite some time. At first, it was used by Ying Gou after his awakening to capture the spirits of those Japanese pirates.

But afterwards, its decorative function gradually outweighed its practical use.

After all, with Ying Gou around, it was best to feed Ying Gou first before anything else.

And then,

It was just a matter of one punch.

Where was the need for so much twisting and turning?

The enemy is preparing provisions,

I'm feeding Ying Gou;

The enemy is surveying the terrain,

I'm feeding Ying Gou;

The enemy is working hard to strengthen their country,

I'm feeding Ying Gou;

The enemy is thinking deeply and planning carefully,

I'm feeding Ying Gou;

It's not hard to understand why Boss Zhou would neglect many of the other things he already had, because most of the time, he didn't need them.

Actually, Boss Zhou quite liked wearing this ring on his hand. It was simple and elegant, more restrained than a diamond ring and more substantial than jade.

Now that Half a Face had pointed it out,

Zhou Ze raised his hand, his fingertips gently rubbing the ring.

A trace of intent permeated it,

And then,

The ring began to produce water.

Remember in *Journey to the West* when the Great Sage went to the Heavenly Court to ask for reinforcements, there was a god holding a small box, saying it contained so much water?

Boss Zhou had a similar feeling at this moment.

The water began to increase, accumulating in the bedroom at a speed visible to the naked eye, but it didn't soak any of the furniture or cause any leaks in the floor.

It could be said that the water was extremely well-behaved.

Boss Zhou was a little surprised at first, but then he seemed to remember something and felt relieved.

When the water had filled the entire bedroom, the light in front began to distort.

Strangely, Zhou Ze didn't feel any difficulty breathing underwater; he even felt a coolness different from the summer heat.

Ah,

This comfort,

Made Boss Zhou regret not using this good thing earlier.

The bookstore had central air conditioning after the renovation, and the Death Servants were always arranging things here, green refrigeration.

But in this hot summer, nothing was as comfortable and pleasant as throwing yourself directly into the water.

Moreover, in this summer, lying in the water, reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, and then turning his head to look at the pedestrians scorched by the sun outside the window,

What a pleasant and enjoyable thing that would be.

In front, a figure appeared in the distorted space, gradually solidifying.

Then,

A young man in a straw raincoat appeared.

The young man's face was calm, but between his eyebrows was a deep sorrow.

He looked at Zhou Ze,

And bowed slightly,

Saying:

"Have you already forgotten me?"

He really had forgotten him.

"How could I?" Boss Zhou said.

This young man was the lake spirit that he had taken from the old woman's gambling den; he wanted to see the real sea, so he entered Zhou Ze's ring.

But after entering,

That was it.

It could be said that this person was a young man chasing his dreams, lured to Zhou Ze's house by a sentence:

Tell me your dream!

The facts proved once again that when looking for a job, you should never go to a boss who constantly tells you about the company's future, dreams, and prospects, painting a magnificent picture for you.

Because these kinds of bosses often can't give you good benefits and can only desperately instill dreams and pep talks in you.

Today, if Half a Face hadn't reminded Zhou Ze, Zhou Ze might have continued to forget about him.

Half a Face didn't find this scene strange at all. He had seen too many big waves in his life, not to mention the methods that those old gangsters and immortal survivors had applied to him. Compared to those, this was just a drop in the bucket.

"This ring has the effect of a built-in enchantment. With this artifact spirit, you can trace the memory of that day after you connect your minds."

These words were easy to understand.

Even modern science has long proven the complexity of the human brain's internal structure, and a normally intelligent adult actually uses very little of their brain's potential. Geniuses like Einstein only used a little more than ordinary people, but compared to the entire brain, it was still a very small part.

Many people have had similar experiences: some things and details that they had long forgotten suddenly come to mind one day, either triggered by seeing something or simply in a dream.

This is enough to show that the human brain, or rather the human soul, is more like a storage strip; what you've seen, what you've heard, what you've read, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is all recorded.

Some people are born with good memories, which means their reading and retrieval abilities are stronger.

Now, with this lake spirit and the bronze ring, it's like a 3D projection that can completely project the images from Zhou Ze's memory.

It can automatically help you retrieve, read, complete, and present it.

"Get to work."

Half a Face glanced at the lake spirit.

The lake spirit bowed to Half a Face.

Surrounded by such powerful people, he had no choice but to be humble.

Therefore, he had no right to continue complaining about being almost forgotten by his master.

Once he was trapped, what happened next was no longer something that a small lake could control.

Boss Zhou felt a little guilty about this, but there was nothing he could do. Over the past few years, Boss Zhou's habit of picking up things outside and bringing them home had caused the bookstore to be "overcrowded." As a great leader, he was inevitably going to overlook some people and things under him when he was dealing with a myriad of affairs every day.

Although Ying Gou had expressed his dissatisfaction with Zhou Ze's behavior of frantically piling up garbage at home more than once;

Picking up things and being able to use them when you get back is called taking what is useful. If it's just for hoarding, it's a disease called hoarding disorder.

But because Boss Zhou continued to go his own way, Ying Gou could only helplessly let him do as he pleased.

After all, this dog of his seemed to have no other hobbies besides this.

The lake spirit walked up to Zhou Ze and knelt down.

At the same time, he stretched out his hands, grabbed Zhou Ze's hands, and placed them on top of his head.

For a moment, Zhou Ze felt countless tentacles gently tickling the palms of his hands.

A little itchy, a little comfortable.

Zhou Ze also released the defenses of his soul, allowing those tentacles to go deeper, deeper, deeper…

"Do you remember what day it was?"

The lake spirit asked.

He was very aware of his limitations; in fact, anyone would have a natural resistance and aversion to the act of peeping into their privacy.

The lake spirit didn't dare to flip through and present Zhou Ze's memories randomly; otherwise, it wouldn't just be a matter of him being forgotten in the future.

Although it was impossible to remember every word the old man said when they met, Zhou Ze would always remember what day it was.

After all, that was his death anniversary;

On that day, his past life ended. It was an important watershed in his life.

Therefore,

When faced with this question,

Zhou Ze gave the answer without hesitation:

"February 9, 2018."

Soon,

The water-soaked bedroom began to change drastically, as if entering an extremely realistic virtual fantasy world. Everything here was realistic enough to be mistaken for reality.

The hospital corridor,

The ward,

The doctor's office,

All the furnishings,

Began to become clear.

At this time, Half a Face and Zhou Ze were as if they were standing in that hospital environment. Patients and medical staff passed by from time to time, and various sounds from reality were constantly coming.

However, everyone was in a hurry, moving much faster than usual, as if they were pressing the fast-forward button when watching a video.

The lake spirit was searching for the exact time period of that day.

Half a Face looked calm, but in his heart, he was a little curious.

Throughout history, Ying Gou had raised countless dogs, but most of the dogs had lived "ordinary" lives. Not to mention communicating with Ying Gou, even those who could stimulate Ying Gou's power were rare.

And as the most handsome dog in the history of Dog Village,

Half a Face's gaze when looking at Zhou Ze was really different from how he treated other "dogs."

For one thing, Zhou Ze was one of the very few dogs who knew about Ying Gou's existence and could communicate with Ying Gou, but that wasn't anything special to Half a Face.

But compared to his own feat of directly rebelling against Ying Gou and taking away Ying Gou's thousands of years of accumulation,

He was more curious about the current way Zhou Ze and Ying Gou got along.

Everyone was crossing the river by feeling the stones,

The ways of crossing the river were different,

It was hard to say which was superior or inferior,

But sometimes when he looked back,

Would he,

Feel envious?

If he hadn't made that choice back then, would the ending be different?

Therefore, it was not difficult to understand why Half a Face was interested in how Zhou Ze triggered Ying Gou's power.

Finally,

The surrounding images began to slow down,

Slowly,

Gradually returning to normal playback speed,

Zhou Ze saw himself washing his face in the bathroom. At that time, his face had the exhaustion that was standard for an emergency room doctor.

"Dr. Zhou, a new patient is about to arrive, apparently they fell from upstairs. I don't know if it was a suicide!"