Chapter 1 A Glimpse into the Darkness

Pitch black, so dark that one couldn't see their own fingers. The viscous, restrictive sensation surrounding him was so distinct, making Zhou Ze unable to discern whether it was illusion or reality.

This was quite a high-level treatment, signifying that this ghost's depth and cultivation had reached a certain realm, not the ordinary sort that would simply wander into his bookstore.

Zhou Ze remembered that when Madam Bai hosted him and Xu Qinglang, she also used similar abilities, blurring the lines between virtuality and reality. Xu Qinglang even ate dishes made of flies and earthworms at the time.

Wang Baogang might not be the one behind everything; he wasn't qualified. He couldn't have become so powerful in such a short time after death. That would mean that the one who killed Sun Qiu and prevented Sun Qiu's soul from being complete was also someone else.

Zhou Ze slowly stretched out his arms. The swaying sensation around him gave him the illusion of walking in outer space, as if gravity had been completely removed.

But as Zhou Ze extended his fingernails, black mist scattered wildly, and the surrounding black, viscous blood began to retreat rapidly, as if encountering a natural enemy.

Having come step by step to this day, the current Zhou Ze was no longer the simpleton he once was. Even when encountering such a situation, he still exuded a sense of composure and confidence.

"Clang!"

A crisp sound.

A broom fell to the ground.

The blood color completely disappeared.

The dormitory room was empty.

Zhou Ze turned around and looked behind him. The dormitory door was open, and outside, a pair of black leather shoes were placed quietly.

It was as if someone was standing right in front of him.

After a moment,

The shoes moved on their own, starting to walk outward, no, to run outward.

Zhou Ze rushed out, chasing the shoes down the stairs. The shoes ran faster and faster, but Zhou Ze's speed was not slow either. In fact, Zhou Ze deliberately slowed down, just waiting to see where these shoes would lead him.

He only needed one more wandering soul to become a full-fledged employee, but the problem was that this one percent quota gave him such a huge existence. Zhou Ze even guessed that the one manipulating everything behind the scenes, even if not as strong as the former Madam Bai, wouldn't be too far off.

After all, the picture and feeling of surging blood earlier weren't too different from the quality and resonance of Madam Bai's banquet that day.

"Drip... drip... drip..."

This was the sound made by the leather shoes as they moved. Zhou Ze hadn't noticed it before, but now he did. Why was the sound of the leather shoes walking "drip, drip"?

As he walked, Zhou Ze suddenly realized that after going around in a circle, going up one floor and then another, he had followed the shoes back to the outside of the dormitory room that was used as a storage room.

The shoes went inside, and Zhou Ze followed again.

Only,

This time,

This dormitory room no longer looked like a storage room, nor was it a sea of blood. Everything, everything, had become very ordinary. There were neat blankets on the beds, washbasins and plastic cabinets under the beds, and toothbrushes and towels neatly placed by the sink.

This was a dormitory room where students lived.

Zhou Ze looked at the changes around him, a smile appearing on the corner of his mouth. He didn't know what the other party's purpose was, but the other party was just focused on making a Daoist site in a snail shell, using this one dormitory room. (Daoist site in a snail shell is a Chinese idiom)

Zhou Ze waited for a while. This time there was no sea of blood, and no "glug, glug" sounds. Everything seemed very peaceful, as if he had walked into an ordinary dormitory room.

However, anyone with a brain could see the unusualness here. Not to mention why the dormitory room was empty at lights out, but why, even though it was the early hours of the morning, was there sunlight shining in from outside the window?

"Scrape... scrape... scrape..."

The sound of friction came from the tiles, on the balcony.

Zhou Ze was just about to walk to the balcony to take a look, but he stopped directly, because the thing that was making the noise on the balcony had already crawled in.

Yes,

He was crawling.

This was a boy.

His lower body was completely severed at the waist, leaving only his upper body. He was crawling on the ground with his hands, and his body was covered in blood, especially in the places he crawled through, leaving behind dense bloodstains that made one's scalp tingle.

The boy tilted his head, looking at Zhou Ze as he crawled.

He seemed to be sizing up Zhou Ze, filled with curiosity about Zhou Ze, but he didn't stop crawling towards Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze slowly squatted down, looking at the boy in front of him at eye level.

"I..."

The boy opened his mouth, but when he was about to speak, blood began to pour out of his mouth non-stop, and it couldn't be stopped at all. He looked at Zhou Ze, his mouth opening and closing non-stop, but he couldn't make any clear syllables.

He seemed a little anxious, but the more anxious he was, the more he couldn't make a sound. In the end, it even turned into a sound similar to a dog barking!

His half of his body was trembling, he was furious,

He wanted to speak, he wanted to tell Zhou Ze something, but he couldn't!

He was extremely manic, rolling around on the ground, hitting the tile floor with his fists non-stop.

Zhou Ze reached out, touched the bloodstains on the ground with his finger, and then gently drew on the tiles.

Meaning,

If you can't say it,

You can write it.

The boy was stunned for a moment, seemingly only realizing that there was this method. He nodded immediately, dipped his finger in his blood, and prepared to write on the ground.

But as soon as he wrote a horizontal stroke,

"Crack!"

The boy's index finger broke off directly.

The boy was stunned,

Zhou Ze's eyes also narrowed,

But the boy was not convinced. He continued to write with his ring finger, but this time he couldn't even write a stroke. The ring finger also broke off directly as soon as it touched the tile.

The boy used his thumb, his thumb broke off,

The boy used his little finger, his little finger broke off,

In the end,

The boy was desperate. He raised his arm,

Raising his only middle finger,

Roaring non-stop.

This middle finger was his, but it was another being's mockery of him.

The boy looked at Zhou Ze, and then looked at the cabinet on the side.

It was an iron cabinet, divided into eight compartments, meaning that each of the eight people in the dormitory could use a cabinet to store their belongings.

The boy's gaze was fixed on the bottom cabinet. Zhou Ze walked over and opened it.

"Creak... creak..."

What was revealed was a leg, and then there were other things inside, like a piece of clothing that had been folded neatly and placed here.

But in reality,

This was a person's,

Lower body!

The boy desperately crawled towards that cabinet, and the two legs in the cabinet were also moving non-stop, as if responding to him, but the entire lower body was folded too neatly, and it couldn't move in this narrow space at all, and it couldn't walk out on its own. It could only stomp and wriggle anxiously.

This was a very bizarre scene, enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Just as the boy was about to touch his feet,

Suddenly,

It was as if something was holding the boy back, and the boy was pulled back towards the balcony. The boy struggled non-stop, roaring, howling, and his body rolled up and down on the tiles.

But he was like a fish on a chopping board, and all his struggles seemed so pale and weak.

Zhou Ze stood up and chased towards there, but as soon as he took a step, the view in front of him began to retreat desperately,

The next moment,

Zhou Ze found himself standing at the door of the dormitory room,

And the dormitory room,

Had returned to its original appearance.

There were no bloodstains, no boy, and no exasperated roars.

What does this mean?

Zhou Ze found it a little difficult to understand. This dormitory room was like walking into a cinema that played ghost movies late at night. Every time he came in, he could always get a new experience.

"Drip... drip..."

The familiar sound rang out again,

Looking back,

Sure enough,

The pair of leather shoes appeared again in the aisle behind the door.

This time, Zhou Ze finally understood why the footprints of the leather shoes were so dense outside this dormitory room. He seemed to be doing the same thing over and over again.

Taking people away,

Then bringing them back,

And then waiting here to lead people away again,

And then bringing them back.

Like a waiter in a restaurant,

Welcome, sir?

Sir, please take your time.

The shoes seemed to be waiting for Zhou Ze to turn around and look at them before they started to leave.

It was the "drip, drip" sound again. Zhou Ze walked over, but this time, Zhou Ze couldn't solve the doubts in his heart. First of all, why did these leather shoes make a "drip, drip" sound when they walked?

Shouldn't it be a "pat, pat"

Or a "scrape, scrape" sound?

Zhou Ze reached out, and the black mist from his fingertips began to release, directly enveloping the pair of black leather shoes.

It was like casting a net, finally catching the fish.

Slowly,

The owner of the shoes began to reveal his true face. He was still continuing to walk forward, continuing to make the "drip, drip" sound;

With his stubbornness,

With his persistence,

Continuing to walk forward.

"Drip... drip..."

His head,

Was half rotten,

Upside down,

Half of his head was hitting the tile floor again and again;

"Drip... drip..."

He was jumping non-stop, and every time he landed, it was his head hitting the ground,

His hands were stretched into the leather shoes, swinging back and forth non-stop.

He was actually walking with his head,

But his two hands were propping up the leather shoes, pretending to be the shoes walking forward step by step.

Xiao Ping Tou had said that Wang Baogang liked to wear leather shoes and suits every time he went to inspect the rooms. He regarded himself as a teacher, not a so-called dormitory manager or thug.

So,

Even after he died,

He would maintain his decency,

Even if,

He walked with his hands in leather shoes.

"Drip... drip..."

Sun Qiu said that he saw Wang Baogang's head slowly sliding down from the wall on the balcony,

Including Wang Baogang walking on his head in front of him,

There was also a reason,

Because Xiao Ping Tou also said that when Wang Baogang jumped off the building,

It was his head,

That hit the ground first.