Chapter 1 The Beginning

"Dong, dong, dong... dong, dong, dong..."

Knocking came from outside. Wang Ke, still sitting on the sofa in the living room, looked up, straightened his clothes, and walked to the entrance. He glanced at the monitor, which showed a stooped old man through the external camera.

The old man kept his head down, making it impossible to see his face clearly.

Wang Ke wasn't planning to open the door.

But then, with a "click,"

the door was opened.

Wang Ke took a step back as the old man appeared in the doorway.

A gust of cold wind swept in through the entrance, and the surrounding temperature slowly dropped.

With a "splat,"

the plastic bag in the old man's hand fell to the ground, spilling its contents: pickled cabbage, scallions, ginger, garlic, and other things.

"Gonna cook later."

The old man's voice was a bit sticky, not like a little girl's cute voice, but more like a sound coming from a throat full of fluid.

Wang Ke took a deep breath. At this moment, he was calm enough to take off his glasses, wipe them, and put them back on, saying:

"Although I know the chances of convincing you are slim, I still have to try. I really have nothing to do with that hospital."

"Oh."

The old man responded and then looked up. His skin began to wrinkle at this moment. Before, there were only a few age spots, but now, it had completely turned into the dry, shriveled bark of an elm tree.

Rough, chapped, and his eye sockets had also sunken in, with a flickering green flame in his hollow eyes.

"Who cares?"

The old man took a step forward, closing the distance between himself and Wang Ke.

"No one cares about the worthless lives of people like us, so why should I care about other people's lives?"

Watching the old man getting closer and closer, Wang Ke sighed, "I consider myself a good person, and I sympathize with what you've gone through.

Although I don't know exactly what you've experienced..."

"Bang!"

Before Wang Ke could finish his nonsense, he was knocked to the ground. The old man's strength was so great that Wang Ke, a grown man, was like a little chick in front of him.

The fall was severe. Wang Ke's left arm was fractured, and he didn't know how many ribs were broken in his chest.

"Sorry, I'm not a cop. I don't feel like presenting evidence."

The old man squatted down next to Wang Ke.

"In short, everyone in that photo and anyone connected to that hospital has to die."

With that, the old man patted Wang Ke's face. Several of the old man's fingers were missing, and green pus kept oozing from the broken ends, making it look very disgusting.

Wang Ke took a deep breath, enduring the intense pain. He seemed to have resigned himself to his fate.

Just then, the old man looked up at the top of the stairs. Wang Ke's wife was standing there, staring blankly at everything below. The woman had changed out of her pajamas and was now in workout clothes, apparently planning to go for a morning run.

"Go back to bed and behave. I don't kill women."

The old man grinned, stood up, and grabbed Wang Ke's ankle, dragging him into the kitchen.

Wang Ke's wife came downstairs and stood at the kitchen door.

The old man looked at the woman in surprise. He seemed to have prepared himself, but he had expected the woman to call the police, but she didn't.

He had expected the woman to grab something and fight him, trying to save her husband, but she didn't.

The old man could have even understood the woman screaming, crying, begging, or running away, but the woman's next reaction was somewhat shocking.

The woman paused at the kitchen door, then turned around, picked up the pickled cabbage and other ingredients the old man had brought, took out various seasonings from the kitchen cabinet, and started washing the pots and pans for the old man.

Lying on the floor, Wang Ke reached out and wiped his face, saying helplessly:

"Honey, you're having an episode again."

The old man was also a bit confused by the woman's behavior. Since he couldn't figure it out, he stopped thinking about it. The old man picked up Wang Ke, pressed his neck into the sink, turned on the faucet, and began to rinse him with cold water.

The woman picked up a knife, but instead of attacking the old man, she began to chop garlic and scallions for him, quickly demonstrating her cooking skills; at the same time, she turned on the gas valve, poured oil into the pot, and lit the fire.

It was already clear what the old man had brought so many ingredients for, and the woman seemed to be helping the old man as an assistant.

The kitchen was harmonious, each performing their duties, and everyone was working hard to prepare a delicious dish.

Wang Ke didn't resist, knowing he couldn't.

The old man reached out and grabbed Wang Ke's hair, lifting his head. Then, the old man ran his fingernails over the skin on Wang Ke's face.

Like a customer buying meat in a market, choosing which cut of meat to buy.

"First stir-fry, then bone broth, delicious."

Wang Ke's wife stood beside the old man and said. She said it seriously, indicating that she had given it careful consideration. At the same time, she swallowed, feeling a little hungry.

The old man seemed used to this crazy victim's wife and actually thought about it for a moment before agreeing with Wang Ke's wife.

The old man was about to cut the meat with his fingernails, but Wang Ke's wife took the initiative to hand him the kitchen knife, indicating that he should use it.

She pointed to the old man's fingernails and said, "Dirty, not sanitary."

A housewife with extensive kitchen experience knows that the freshness of the ingredients often determines the quality of a dish. One must be as meticulous and detailed as possible when dealing with ingredients, not allowing any external factors to affect the taste of the ingredients. This is a responsibility to oneself and to one's family.

The old man, who had become a corpse demon (shi mei), had been "eating" people from the hospital to replenish himself, so he was something of a gourmand.

He knew that the differences in a person's gender, age, work environment, and body shape often determined the difference in taste of the dish. The old man had taken a fancy to Wang Ke, who had a lot of lean meat, was middle-aged, not greasy, and had well-developed bones, making him very suitable for consumption.

This was a gift from nature, and the old man knew clearly how to cook this dish. This was the last person he planned to kill, so he planned to reward himself in a more grand way.

He believed that in this way, he could soothe the anger and sadness he had experienced before his death. This was the magical effect of food.

The green flames in the old man's eyes flickered as he took the knife. However, he didn't have many fingers left, so he seemed a little unsteady when he picked up the knife, but he still gripped the handle with his remaining fingers.

Wang Ke was struggling, so the old man could only hit the back of Wang Ke's head with the back of the knife, knocking Wang Ke unconscious, just like stunning a fish when killing it.

Then,

the old man's knife fell!

"Clang!"

A crisp sound rang out.

The knife in the old man's hand flew away. A long tongue, no one knew where it came from, lashed at the old man's wrist like a whip, and swept away the knife.

Wang Ke's wife turned her head and looked behind her.

The old man also looked towards the kitchen door, where a little loli was standing.

The little loli had her mouth open, half of her tongue still sticking out. The kitchen knife was at her feet, and her eyes sparkled, making her look imposing. However, one of her hands was already gripping the doorframe to support herself. Obviously, she was already at the end of her rope, on the verge of collapse.

Wang Ke's wife looked at the little loli, waving gently, and said:

"Rui Rui, you're awake. Come on, go brush your teeth and wash your face. Come down for soup later."

The little loli glanced at the woman in front of her with a complicated expression. She was still there, excited and unable to control herself.

The old man turned his head slightly, staring at the little loli.

"The underworld has order, the Yellow Springs can be crossed!"

The little loli pulled herself together,

and her tongue stretched out again,

"The Yang world is not a place for lonely ghosts and monsters like you to run wild. You are just a corpse demon (shi mei) and don't have the qualifications to jump out!"

The tongue shot out again, hitting the old man's chest.

With a crisp "crack,"

the old man's chest caved in, and he flew backward, crashing into the tiled wall. A pit appeared in the wall behind him, and a large area was cracked.

But the old man with the hole in his chest slowly got up.

His fingernails were black and long, and pus was dripping from the corners of his mouth, but he still stood up again and continued to look at the little loli:

"There really is... the Yellow Springs?"

The old man was a little confused.

He seemed to be thinking of his relatives.

Everyone has a Yellow Springs complex, because everyone always encounters the departure of loved ones in the process of growing up.

In the eyes of the Chinese, the Yellow Springs is a place to place mourning.

The little loli's tongue stretched out again, but it was clear that this time the force was much weaker than last time.

The old man stretched out his hands and grabbed the tongue. His body shook, but he was not knocked away again. Then, his fingernails began to frantically cut the long tongue.

"Pfft!"

The tongue broke,

and the little loli knelt on the ground, her body spasming. The light in the depths of her eyes was sometimes clear and sometimes blurred.

She had finally escaped back from Rong City,

but unexpectedly, an unformed corpse demon (shi mei) had taken advantage of this opportunity to attack her home!

At any other time, if this kind of character dared to offend her, she would definitely make him disappear completely!

"You are... a ghost messenger? There really is an underworld, and there really is a hell?"

The old man looked terrible, with a big hole in his chest and pus all over his body. He first muttered to himself, then began to roar like crazy:

"Since there is an underworld, since there is a hell, then why haven't the people who should go to hell gone to hell!

Those evil people, those sinners, can still continue to harm people in the Yang world!

I...I...I'm going to eat you all, chop you up, you bunch of good-for-nothings, you bunch of freeloaders,

and throw you all into the pot to cook!"

As he spoke, the old man picked up the unconscious Wang Ke again, and with a "clang," he swept the original pot away, and the blue flames on the gas stove were still rising.

The old man grinned and pretended to send Wang Ke's head into the flames.

The little loli struggled to raise her head,

and scolded:

"How long are you going to stand by and watch? I understand if you don't want me to come back alive, but are you going to stand by and watch your childhood friend die?"

"I really didn't expect you to be back."

Zhou Ze's figure walked out of the entrance. He walked to the little loli and looked at her kneeling on the ground with her butt sticking up.

A low-level sense of pleasure belonging to a low-level cannon fodder character who couldn't live past half an episode inexplicably arose in his heart.

In short, it was a case of a petty man becoming arrogant!

So you have this day too.

"Come on, let Uncle touch."

As he spoke, Zhou Ze reached out and rubbed the little loli's head.

Hehe,

so you have this day too.

The little loli bit her lip tightly, her eyes full of shame and anger, and she bit out two words:

"Save him."

"You really treat him like a dad?"

Zhou Ze was a little surprised.

Zhou Ze knew she was injured, and she could have stayed upstairs, but she still appeared. It seemed that his childhood friend wasn't completely useless and could actually make a ghost messenger willing to sacrifice her life to save him.

Looking back at himself,

he was now completely playing the role of a villain.

He even felt that he was a bit of a scumbag.

Testing whether the little loli had returned was just a temporary idea, but if Zhou Ze had entered earlier, Wang Ke would not have suffered physical pain at least.

Zhou Ze was also a little dazed. People, it seemed, really changed.

The former self, how kind and eager to help others, a doctor with the heart of a parent,

the current self seemed to be much more selfish than before.

Of course, Zhou Ze couldn't help but be cautious. The existence of the little loli was a worry for him, and he had to treat it with caution.

The old man was stunned when he saw Zhou Ze walking in, but seeing that Zhou Ze ignored him and only talked to the little girl without looking at him, he didn't hesitate and continued to send Wang Ke's head towards the flames.

"Weeping!"

A cry came from outside the kitchen window,

and then,

a slender white figure crashed through the window glass and flew in, knocking the old man to the ground. Wang Ke also rolled to the side, avoiding the fate of being roasted, at least for now.

The old man quickly bounced up and grabbed at the white figure. For a time, muffled sounds kept coming from the kitchen, as if two people were swinging sledgehammers and desperately smashing things.

Next,

was the battle between the domesticated and the wild.