Lu Xun once wrote in his "Random Thoughts" from *Erh Yi Ji*:

"Upon seeing short sleeves, one immediately thinks of white arms, immediately thinks of the entire n.u.d.e body, immediately thinks of s.e.x organs, immediately thinks of s.e.xual i.n.t.e.r.c.o.u.r.s.e, immediately thinks of hybridity, immediately thinks of illegitimate children..."

Zhou Ze was in a similar state at this moment.

Upon seeing this prison,

He thought of Old Zhang's brother-in-law, then of that pen, then of that haunted villa Yingying bought, then of the bathroom, and then of the mirror in the bathroom.

Therefore,

When Zhou Ze looked at the mirror in the sun visor above him,

It was as if the one in the mirror was her,

As if she could communicate with him,

Could gesture to him.

But in fact, everything was quiet. The one in the mirror was still himself.

He lit another cigarette, his hand holding the cigarette placed outside the car window.

That woman had been inside for almost half an hour.

Just as she said,

Once people in hell don't abide by the rules of the living world, they become very free;

But everyone abides by the rules. Little Loli abides by them, Zhou Ze abides by them. No one tells them what the specific consequences of not abiding by the rules would be.

Because,

Those who don't abide by the rules seem to all be dead.

He flicked the ash.

While he was driving, that woman kept staring at his fingers. She must have noticed something.

Ordinary ghost messengers and wandering souls don't have that kind of insight. Even if they did, they wouldn't have a channel to report it.

But this woman was different. She said she came from the Naihe Bridge (Bridge of Helplessness).

Furthermore,

Boss Zhou seemed to have a slight impression that

He seemed to have killed an old servant from the Naihe Bridge,

That old woman who came to the bookstore to ask him about the *bianhua* flower (red spider lily),

In the end, she couldn't go to hell and was torn to pieces by Boss Zhou.

Unconsciously,

Zhou Ze had become accustomed to this way of dealing with things. He wanted to continue his free and easy life in the living world, so he had to prevent the real bigwigs of hell from knowing about his affairs. Therefore, any wandering souls who might reveal his secrets were intercepted and killed by him. Most of them ended up in the belly of that consciousness within him.

It wasn't as extreme as rather killing a thousand than letting one go,

But it was close.

In fact, many people in the bookstore felt that Zhou Ze's personality had changed a little recently, but Zhou Ze himself was probably too caught up in it to notice.

In the entire bookstore, only Little Loli could clearly sense and confirm this, because she had personally witnessed that night when Zhou Ze in that conscious state held the corpse pill and pushed it back and forth near her and Bai Yingying's mouths.

"A little sleepy."

Zhou Ze yawned.

"I really want to sleep with Yingying."

…………

"You exist, deeply in my mind, in my dreams, in my heart, in my songs..."

Background music was still playing in the prison library, Qu Wanting's "You Exist In My Song."

The music was melodious, not loud, faint, and low...

The man in the prison uniform was still sitting there.

At his feet,

Was a pile of paper balls,

And a fountain pen,

Was placed on the table.

The story couldn't be written anymore. It had escaped his control.

At this time, the author was no longer the author, but rather like an object being dictated to. He was only responsible for writing down the words, recording the story. As for how this story would develop next, what kind of changes the characters would undergo,

He himself had no idea.

The woman's figure appeared in the library. The prison's security system was very strict and complete, but it could only prevent prisoners from going out, but it couldn't guard against wandering souls.

She came in and slowly walked to the man.

Looking at the man leaning back in his chair with his hands hanging down,

She smiled at first, then restrained her smile and showed a suspicious expression:

"It's so smooth that it's hard for me to imagine. I've only been out for a few hours, and I've already seen what I'm looking for and the person I'm looking for."

This feeling

Was like being told the day before Tang Sanzang was about to go to the Western Paradise to seek scriptures that

The Western Paradise's Vulture Peak was right next to Chang'an.

It was very unreal, too unreal, making people feel that it was all fake.

The prisoner turned his face and looked at the woman beside him.

At the same time, in a corner of a prison cell, a prisoner wrapped in a blanket was shivering, as if sensing a familiar aura.

But fortunately,

That aura wasn't coming for him.

"Are you looking for this pen?"

The prisoner pointed to the fountain pen on the table.

"And you."

The woman continued to approach.

"Actually, more than this pen, the Naihe Bridge wants to know, how are you able to wield this pen?"

The prisoner looked at the woman approaching,

His shoulders drooping,

With a smile that was not a smile.

"This pen has been wandering in the living world for sixty years. The Naihe Bridge has never thought of looking for it, because when this pen was at the Naihe Bridge, even Meng Po (Lady Meng), didn't know what this pen was used for other than drawing eyebrows. Everyone regarded it as a delicate piece of junk.

But now it's different. You can actually use it."

Saying that,

The woman finally walked up to the prisoner,

Bent down,

Squatted down,

Looked up,

Looking at the prisoner:

"I have to take the pen back, and I have to take the person back, but to be honest, taking the life of a living person for no reason, especially in the living world, will cause a lot of trouble. I don't want to cause this trouble, and I don't want to give the Yin Division (hell) an excuse to criticize our Naihe Bridge because of this."

"In other words, I won't die?"

Only the dead

Can go to hell.

The woman nodded, "Yes, you don't have to die, as long as you can tell me how to use this pen, you won't die.

In return, the Naihe Bridge will let you drink half a mouthful less of Meng Po soup when you cross the bridge next time when your lifespan is over, so that you can still remember some things from your previous life."

"Sounds good." The prisoner thought for a moment, then asked, "What if I don't want to?"

"It's more troublesome, but it's not impossible to take your soul down.

Maybe you don't know,

Wandering souls in hell don't have any so-called ghost rights.

When that time comes,

It will be difficult for you not to speak."

The woman slowly stood up, reached out, and stroked the prisoner's cheek.

Sensing the hardness of the beard on his face.

In prison, of course, there was no way to shave every day.

"I can't really use this pen either." The prisoner pointed to the pen in front of him, "I can't control it."

"Yes, because you are just an ordinary person," the woman said.

"Maybe." The prisoner nodded.

Zhou Ze once guessed that this prisoner might be a judge of hell,

Lawyer An guessed that this prisoner was a remarkable figure,

But now the answer was out,

He,

Was just an ordinary person.

Hell has the Ten Kings of Hell, the Naihe Bridge, the Nether Sea, Kshitigarbha, and countless terrifying demons in the eyes of ordinary people.

But the living world, from ancient times to the present, has always been the world of living people, the world of ordinary people.

It's not that the bigwigs in hell are content and safe, guarding their own little patch of land;

But rather that the living world

Isn't that simple either.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you." The prisoner said apologetically, "Because I don't even know how I can use it."

The woman looked at the prisoner.

The prisoner smiled wryly, "As you said, I am just an ordinary person. How could I know something that even you don't know?"

The woman didn't say anything, just calmly said:

"Then I can only take your soul down."

In other words,

You have to die.

"After going down, will I be able to see my wife and children?" the prisoner asked earnestly.

Many people had asked Boss Zhou similar questions,

Because scenes like "I'll go ahead and wait for you on the road to the Yellow Springs" and "We'll go to the Yellow Springs together" often appear in various film and literary works.

Whether you are a high-ranking official, a wealthy businessman, or a carefree hermit, everyone is curious about the unknown, especially about what happens after death.

But,

Boss Zhou could only give a very cold answer each time,

Because on the road to the Yellow Springs, wandering souls could only move forward numbly like walking corpses, like puppets on strings, and like components on a factory assembly line.

"That depends on your luck." The woman didn't directly answer this question. She didn't bother to popularize the situation in hell to living people. She reached out and placed her hand on the prisoner's forehead,

Preparing to extract his soul.

The prisoner slowly closed his eyes,

He didn't struggle,

Nor did he resist,

Appearing

Very calm.

He knew that he wasn't brave, but rather fearless because he had nothing, a bit like the barefoot not being afraid of those wearing shoes.

"I'll ask you one last time, will you tell me or not..."

"Just fast forward, stop being so long-winded."

The prisoner raised his hand and urged:

"The story is too long-winded and has too much nonsense. Readers will think you're padding it out."

"..." The woman.

"That's your own fault."

A red rune appeared in the palm of the woman's hand.

The rune was sensing the soul in the prisoner's body in order to extract it.

For a moment,

The area between the two was also covered with a faint red glow that ordinary people couldn't see, as if a layer of blood had been sprinkled on the ground.

The woman was very calm at first.

Extract his soul,

Take the pen,

And she could return to the underworld to report.

Of course,

There was also the ghost messenger who sent her back,

Who also needed to report to the higher-ups.

It wasn't that the ghost messenger's act of substituting something else was too taboo. In fact, for the major forces in hell, the law was only used to restrain the lower-level wandering souls and ghost messengers. It didn't apply to them.

Which family didn't have its own little secret thoughts behind the scenes?

Even the Naihe Bridge had approached Lawyer An to discuss business.

What the woman wanted to report was the ghost messenger's fingernail. When that fingernail appeared, she actually felt a palpitation in her heart, which made her a little afraid.

A ghost messenger

Made her afraid,

Heh.

However, what the woman didn't know was that the ghost messenger who sent her here hadn't left yet. The car was still parked outside the prison, waiting to see if she could come out.

If she couldn't come out, so be it;

If she came out,

Whether he would let her go back down safely,

Might not be up to her.

Although for Boss Zhou, each time he allowed that consciousness to awaken more, his own safety would be undermined a little more, even if it was like drinking poison to quench thirst, it was better than his current easy life suddenly being brought to an end.

Leaving aside all sorts of miscellaneous matters for the time being,

The rune in the woman's palm had been flashing for a long time,

But nothing had been extracted.

A hint of doubt appeared on the woman's face:

"You're not a living person!"

No,

That's not right,

Even if you weren't a living person,

It was impossible not to have a soul, and this was in the living world!

Then,

The woman seemed to realize something,

And shouted in even greater horror:

"No, no, you don't even exist at all!!!"

"You exist, deeply in my mind, in my dreams, in my heart, in my songs..."

The background music in the library,

Continued slowly,

Playing.

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