The man got up, paid the bill, and left the coffee shop. As soon as he stepped out the door, a gust of wind hit him, and he immediately bent over, coughing. The coughing grew more and more violent, as if he were trying to cough up his lungs.

This scene caused many passersby to glance sideways. Some even took out masks from their bags and put them on.

Five minutes later, the man slowly straightened up. He silently turned and walked down the pedestrian street.

He himself wore a mask all the time, but he didn't like the feeling of wearing one. It wasn't because he felt uncomfortable or unaccustomed to it, but because the idea that wearing a mask in this dirty environment made him feel fresh and clean was a bit ridiculous.

He walked faster and faster, and when he reached the bus stop, a No. 4 bus happened to pull up. He got on the bus.

He sat by the window, swaying with the movement of the bus, swaying, swaying…

After swaying for half an hour,

he got up from his seat and got off the bus at Xiaoshiqiao Station.

The afternoon sun was a bit scorching. In winter, sometimes this kind of weather was really torturous. Wearing a down jacket was too hot, but taking it off was too cold.

It could make people who were used to a simple and fast-paced life feel a little irritable.

He crossed the road and walked into an apartment building, took the elevator to the 24th floor, and stood in front of room 2408, his fingers gently turning on the door lock.

After a short while,

the door opened.

It was a one-bedroom apartment.

On the bed, a little girl was sitting and playing with a doll.

A middle-aged woman was picking vegetables.

When he opened the door and came in,

the two women stared at him with puzzled eyes.

He was stunned for a moment,

reached out and gently tapped his forehead.

Even with a mask on, one could still see his awkwardness and unease at this moment.

But he still said:

"Sorry, wrong door."

After saying sorry,

he didn't choose to turn around and leave.

A pocket watch hung down from his wrist,

and began to swing back and forth.

The two women instantly fell into a deep sleep.

He closed the door,

walked into the kitchen,

picked up the thermos and poured himself a cup of hot water,

then found a plastic stool and sat down.

He gently took off his mask, revealing a pale face, but his lips were crimson and purple.

While slowly blowing on the hot water, he slowly drank it.

He drank in a very down-to-earth way,

like an old man.

After finishing a bowl of hot water,

he let out a long sigh of relief,

as if he had completed the most important task of the day.

Just then,

a "ding-dong, ding-dong" sound came from the window.

A paper kite perched on the edge of the window.

He got up and opened the window. The paper kite flew in and then began to burn. In the black smoke, a face with a scar appeared.

"Come to Huai'an, the certificate has been obtained."

Hearing this, he shook his head slightly and said:

"I found something interesting in Tongcheng, and I don't plan to leave for the time being."

"Xue the Cripple divined that you have been targeted by the Yin Si’s (Underworld’s) hounds."

"Yes, those people are very fast."

"Yes, these people are indeed very fast."

"I mean, they die very quickly."

"The purpose of sending them up is to die. Their death is the real target for positioning. You shouldn't be impulsive."

He took a deep breath, not explaining to the scarred face that these hounds weren't killed by him. He just picked up the thermos again and poured himself another cup of hot water.

In fact, it didn't matter whether those people were killed by him or not. In the eyes of the Yin Si, they were killed by him and the others.

"Not coming back?" the scarred face asked.

"It's too stuffy there."

"Answer me seriously again, are you coming back to join us or not?"

He didn't answer, just kept blowing on the surface of the bowl.

The scarred face seemed very angry. He said angrily:

"Okay, then we'll go to Tongcheng from Huai'an right away. It's impossible for you to have all the fun alone. We want to have fun together too."

He nodded, indicating his agreement, and at the same time sighed:

"If you guys don't come, I wouldn't dare to keep playing."

Because he felt that if he played too much by himself, he might play himself to death.

"But the new batch of Yin Si people will definitely arrive here soon. At that time, this Tongcheng will be very crowded."

"Big cities are all crowded, but many people still enjoy squeezing in because small places are too boring."

"Hehe, anyway, we're a bunch of people. I've seen through it. After coming out this time, people's hearts have completely scattered. The leader is missing, and the vows we made before the uprising below are now bullshit.

We always ridicule the Yin Si as a collapsing building, but aren't we ourselves just dog meat that can't be served at the table?"

"Phone bills are expensive." He pointed to the half-burned paper kite in front of him, "Save some energy to play, don't just stay so far away and sigh."

"Okay, we still have something to deal with. We'll be there by noon tomorrow."

"Bye."

The paper kite fell,

lying on the floor.

He finished his second bowl of hot water,

looked at the stains on the floor, and frowned slightly. He picked up a broom and swept the area.

Then he felt that the oil stains on the ground were too heavy,

straightened up,

and slowly began to form hand seals.

He felt that

this room needed to be purified.

However, when his gaze swept over the two women on and off the bed, he slowly stopped forming the hand seals.

He took a rag

and started wiping the floor,

then,

wiping the walls,

then,

wiping the range hood…

By the time everything was done,

he was drenched in sweat. This body was still too weak.

This was a sick ghost's body. It wasn't that he had to use it out of necessity, but that he had deliberately chosen it.

He felt that living too healthily was boring and uninteresting.

This body gave him the illusion that he was still dead.

He opened the door, walked out, and closed it.

When the two women woke up in the middle of the night, they would probably be shocked to find that their home had been cleaned as if they had hired a cleaning service.

He took the elevator downstairs and returned to the street.

Xiaoshiqiao could only be considered a transportation hub in Tongcheng. There was a lot of traffic, but the popularity was really not good.

He sat alone on the edge of a flower bed.

He hadn't been sitting for long

when he started coughing heavily again,

coughing his lungs out,

but coughing with particular relish!

Painful,

comfortable,

pleasant!

After the coughing ended,

he raised his head,

enjoying the unrestrained aftertaste,

his hands involuntarily raised up,

but unfortunately, the sky above him was pitch black. The weather wasn't good tonight, the clouds were thick, and there was no starry sky for him to embrace.

But he already felt that this was pretty good.

The sky in hell was also like this, without stars. There used to be a blood moon hanging high, but half a year ago, that moon had also become much smaller.

After a while,

he put down his arms,

lowered his head,

and looked at the fallen leaves under his feet.

Winter meant desolation for this place.

However, no matter how desolate the mortal world was, it was still much more colorful than hell.

A black car stopped across the road.

The car window was slowly rolled down.

Lawyer An, with a cigarette in his hand, looked ahead.

The two men, separated by a wide road, did not look at each other, their eyes did not meet, but they were both aware of each other's existence.

Dense traffic was constantly moving back and forth on the road between them,

car lights and exhaust fumes

were constantly raging in the night's silence.

Lawyer An opened his mouth, yawned, pushed open the car door, and got out.

There was no traffic light, no crosswalk. Lawyer An walked while looking around. It took him about three minutes to walk from that side of the road to this side.

He slowly raised his head,

looking at Lawyer An, who was getting closer and closer to him.

He came to Tongcheng because he was here. He wanted to see him, he missed him, and by the way, he wanted to catch up and see if he was doing well.

If he wasn't doing well, he would drink with him, chat with him, and comfort him;

if he was doing very well, he would just kill him.

The masked man smiled.

That's right,

the person in front of him,

no matter where he was,

should be able to live well.

Lawyer An walked up to the masked man, took out a cigarette, and said:

"Buddy, can I borrow a light?"

The masked man reached into his pocket, took out a lighter, and after Lawyer An took it, the masked man said:

"Buddy, can I borrow some peace (an)?"

"Hehe."

Lawyer An lit his cigarette, sat down next to the masked man, and after exhaling a puff of smoke, Lawyer An said:

"If I hadn't asked Old Chenpi, I wouldn't have known that you came up this time."

Years ago, before Lawyer An met Zhou Ze, he did a lot of hell smuggling business and accumulated a lot of contacts. It was easy to find out some information.

Unless,

these people completely disappeared after coming up and completely cut off contact with the past, but that was impossible.

They weren't evil ghosts, they were defectors, and they still acted like officials. This made them feel that even if it wasn't necessary, they had to show some unconventional feeling.

"I told Old Chenpi to tell you, I was afraid you wouldn't be able to find me,"

the masked man explained.

"I said, it's been so many years, are you still holding a grudge?"

Lawyer An continued unhappily:

"Can't you be a little more generous?"

The masked man started coughing again,

but this time he didn't cough for long,

and asked:

"It seems that I should be the one saying that."

Lawyer An pursed his lips and said:

"I'm doing very well."

"I can see that."

"I know you can see that."

"Then… ha."

"Yes, I just want to say it on purpose to make you angry."

"Can't afford it."

"Huh?"

"You will die. You are too weak now."

"Tsk, tsk."

Lawyer An raised his head and said with a sigh:

"You haven't changed after all these years."

"Haven't changed what?"

"Still so stupid, haven't gotten smarter. Back then, I made an appointment with you to settle things one-on-one, but I still brought Feng Si and the others and beat you to death.

If it weren't for your good use of puppets, your soul might have been scattered at that time."

"Ha, it seems you haven't changed either."

"No, it's different."

Lawyer An shook his head and said:

"This time, I really came alone."

Lawyer An helplessly threw his phone into the flower bed next to him.

There was a new message on WeChat:

"Heavy traffic, estimated to be ten minutes late."

Lawyer An almost burst into tears…