"Boss, is this really okay?"

The old Daoist sat in the back, pointing nervously at the old man lying on his lap.

The old man was still in a semi-conscious state, able to open his eyes, but only for a moment before they closed again, his speech broken and disjointed.

He was awake.

He really was awake.

But this kind of awakening,

in a strict sense, should be considered a final, fleeting moment of clarity.

He was awake,

which meant he would soon be gone.

He had been living, holding onto a single breath. Before, Zhou Ze thought it might be due to his strong vitality or good medical care, coupled with some divine favor, but now he realized that he probably had something weighing on his heart, something that made him unwilling to close his eyes.

Xu Qinglang was driving, fast but steady. He had to be steady, because a sudden stop or sharp turn might cause the old man in the back to breathe his last.

Snatching a patient from the nursing home, especially one who had been comatose and near death for so long, was a crazy thing to do, but Zhou Ze didn't regret it, nor did he feel any guilt.

Although the old man hadn't said it clearly, his attitude had revealed it.

Sanxiang Village,

had always been in his heart, never erased.

In fact, humans are forgetful creatures, subconsciously blurring the things they don't want to see and erasing painful memories.

Many people were unfazed and indifferent as the elderly women who had been comfort women during the war passed away one by one, unaware that their departure was slowly sealing that period of history away from us.

Some things, in reality, cannot be forgotten.

When they reached the streets of Xingren Town, Xu Qinglang stopped the car, and together with the old Daoist, they lifted the old man out.

"Old brother, hang in there a little longer, we're almost there, almost there."

The old Daoist encouraged his 99-year-old companion.

Xu Qinglang felt the old man's hand on his shoulder, exerting a slight pressure.

The old man's half-open eyes were also looking at Zhou Ze. His eyes were very cloudy, as if covered by a layer of gauze. His body was exhausted, he needed to rest, he needed to go and rest.

"The villagers are all there." Zhou Ze said seriously, "I don't know what they're waiting for, but since you woke up because you heard me say 'Sanxiang Village,' it means I haven't found the wrong person, and you are also concerned about them."

As he spoke,

Zhou Ze reached out and tidied the old man's sparse hair, then fastened the buttons on his hospital gown.

The old man was experiencing a final moment of clarity.

Right and wrong, success and failure, would be judged by later generations.

The disputes of the past were difficult for modern people to understand or evaluate.

At least, one thing could be proven: when the old man was a soldier in the Tongcheng Security Regiment, he didn't desert or become a traitor. When a Japanese division landed in the harbor near Tongcheng, there were no regular Chinese troops in Tongcheng.

But relying solely on the local armed security regiment and the spontaneous resistance of the residents, the Japanese army suffered significant losses. The local armed forces had even planned more than once to counterattack the Tongcheng city gates. While the main forces and main focus were shifting towards the southwest,

in this isolated Japanese-occupied area, people were still resisting, and gunfire was still ringing out.

The old man was still looking at Zhou Ze. As he looked, he began to cough. He had lost most of his teeth, and his cough sounded weak, but he was smiling.

Then,

he reached out with difficulty, as if trying to reach Zhou Ze.

The old Daoist, watching from the side, felt a pang of heartache, thinking, *Old brother, just take it easy, don't wear yourself out before you even get there.*

Zhou Ze stood there without moving,

allowing the old man's thin, withered hand to gently grasp the fabric over his chest.

The old man's grasp was weak,

and then, Zhou Ze felt a light press twice on his chest,

there,

at the location of his heart.

After making this gesture, the old man slumped down, as if drained of all his strength, and his breathing became erratic.

"Let's go in, quickly."

After speaking, Zhou Ze began to circle in place, then rushed toward the road, and then disappeared.

Xu Qinglang took out a talisman and stuck it on his forehead. Instantly, his forehead turned black. Following Zhou Ze's example, he circled a few times in the same spot and rushed forward.

The old Daoist also circled a few times at the end, and then rushed forward,

Hey,

he didn't get in.

Hehehehe.

The old Daoist smiled so much that his face wrinkled up like a chrysanthemum, his heart truly blooming.

The little monkey, watching the old Daoist's silly appearance, tilted its head slightly, indicating that it didn't recognize this old codger.

Entering Sanxiang Village again, Zhou Ze looked up and found that the moon in the sky had turned almost blood red. It hadn't been like this when he came in half a day ago.

It seemed that his rampage in the ancestral hall had intensified something, invisibly making the situation here even more urgent.

Therefore, if the old man on Xu Qinglang's back couldn't resolve the situation here and break the stalemate, then Zhou Ze, as a ghost messenger, would probably have to call the little loli to guard the exit.

Whether they could successfully defend the gate and prevent these vengeful ghosts from escaping into the human world,

was hard to say.

Xu Qinglang, carrying the old man, also entered. As soon as he entered, Xu Qinglang felt the person on his back become heavy. Xu Qinglang's eyes widened in disbelief.

*No way,*

*he's dead?*

*Old grandpa, don't scare me, you haven't even lived to be a hundred yet!*

Xu Qinglang anxiously wanted to turn around to check on the old man on his back, but he suddenly saw Zhou Ze looking calmly behind him.

"Put him down." Zhou Ze said.

Xu Qinglang slowly lowered the old man's body to the ground. Turning around, he saw a young man standing behind him.

The young man was wearing a black military uniform, carrying a rifle on his back, and wearing a hat.

A very typical uniform of the Security Regiment, with some places even patched, looking a little worn. This attire was very common in recent war films.

He was dead,

was this his soul?

The old man,

no,

the young man looked at Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang, nodded slightly, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, as if reminiscing, or perhaps commemorating.

Two lines of tears streamed down from the corners of his eyes.

He was dead,

but the tears weren't because he had died,

in fact, death was more of a relief for him. He had been lying in bed for too long, and before he lost consciousness, he had actually endured for far too long.

He didn't know what he was holding on to. His comrades who had gone through the years of war and fire together had left one by one, until he was the only one left.

He was about to live to be a hundred years old, but he wasn't living to be a hundred years old for the sake of living. He still had people he cared about, promises he cherished, and…

debts of gratitude.

What the old man didn't know was that nine years ago, when he hadn't yet fallen into a coma, a man named Li Shi had planned to drive to the nursing home to find him. He could have come here nine years earlier.

But the person who posted about Sanxiang Village, ultimately couldn't escape his own fate. The fact that he could enter Sanxiang Village meant that he was already close to death.

Li Shi, ultimately couldn't outrun his own destiny.

Perhaps, nine years ago, the villagers of this village weren't as insane as they were now, and there were still people… who could talk, who could communicate.

They told Li Shi some things, and Li Shi also planned to go out and help them find the person they had been waiting for.

At this time, Zhou Ze saw the old grandpa and the little girl walking over from the entrance of the village again.

The old and the young were walking somewhat stiffly. The little girl was pinching her sugar figurine, constantly pulling at it. The old grandpa was carrying a hoe, his face pale.

At the corners of their eyes, red light flickered faintly, and saliva was constantly drooling from their mouths.

It's getting more and more serious,

here.

The young man stepped forward, following the ridges of the field onto the road.

He wasn't afraid at all, because he had no need to be afraid.

The debt that had remained in his heart for nearly eighty years,

today,

would be repaid.

The young man, who was already an old man nearly a hundred years old, took off his hat and waved it vigorously, shouting:

"Uncle Xu, Ah Hua!"

Just like, eighty years ago!

The old grandpa heard the voice and was stunned for a moment.

The little girl also suddenly stopped.

The old and the young,

fell into a standstill.

Xu Qinglang stood beside Zhou Ze with his arms crossed, worried, "Will anything happen?"

"We can only try." Zhou Ze said.

After a short while,

the red light in the old man's eyes began to fade, and he shouted, "Xiao Na Kangzi (Young man), Xiao Chenzi hey, you're back!"

The expression on the little girl's face also changed from sinister to innocent and cheerful, and she ran joyfully towards the young man: "Uncle Chen, you're back!"

The old and the young ran to the young man's side, overjoyed.

The young man turned his head, glanced at Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang standing in the distance, and then nodded heavily to the old and the young in front of him, saying:

"Yes, I'm back, I'm back!"

"What about the troops? Are the troops back? Yesterday I heard that the Japanese devils are still killing people in the city, and the bodies are hanging on the city walls."

"The troops, the troops are back too." The young man shouted loudly, "We're preparing to fight the Japanese devils!"

"Good!" The old grandpa waved his fist and then said, "Come, before you left, you told us to help collect grain for the troops when the main force came back. The grain from our village is all collected and hidden under the ancestral hall. The devils came a while ago, but they didn't find it."

"Does everyone have food at home?" The young man asked worriedly.

"Hey, it's all voluntary from everyone. We'll fill our stomachs with some wild vegetables, we won't die if we're hungry for a while. We're definitely hungry, but it's nothing."

The old grandpa took the young man's hand and walked towards the village, while the little girl was picked up by the young man, very happy.

Zhou Ze, hearing this conversation from afar,

was touched.

The old man said it was okay to be hungry for a few days,

but they had been hungry for eighty years.

Being hungry for a while is indeed nothing to people;

but eighty years of hunger is enough for even ghosts to be unbearable, it's an unimaginable torture!

"Xiao Chenzi is back, the main force is coming back!"

As soon as they entered the village, the old grandpa shouted.

The entire Sanxiang Village instantly boiled.

The old woman sitting at the door, originally drooling while making soles, shuddered, stood up, and shouted:

"Xiao Chenzi is back!"

The widow who was drawing water at the well while chewing on her own hair immediately spat out the hair in her mouth,

her face blooming with spring,

revealing a hint of her charm, swaying her waist, and shouting:

"Xiao Chenzi, if you don't come back, my breasts will shrink from hunger, and if I can't find a man then you have to take me!"

In the tile-roofed house, the man who was boiling water immediately dropped the firewood in his hand and rushed out of the house with his wife's hand.

The villagers gathered around,

together crowding around the young man and walking towards the ancestral hall.

The blind old man sitting at the entrance of the ancestral hall stood up shakily. He heard the voice, he heard the commotion. Xiao Chenzi, who had been recuperating in the village, was back.

He had said that the main force would be back soon,

He had said that the Japanese devils wouldn't be around for long,

He had asked everyone to help prepare grain for the main force when it came back.

The blind old man dropped his crutches and knelt on the ground in the ancestral hall, feeling around the floor tiles with his hands. Then, he lifted a few tiles,

and put his hand under the tiles. As the crowd surged to the entrance of the ancestral hall,

the blind old man held up the white rice in his hand,

and shouted:

"Xiao Chenzi, grain!

The grain the villagers prepared for the main force,

we've been hiding it,

the devils didn't find it,

we're saving it for the main force!

You eat your fill, so you can fight the devils!"

The young man stood at the entrance of the ancestral hall, looking at the grains of rice constantly slipping through the blind old man's fingers.

Slowly raising his head,

he cried.

Back then, he had been full of confidence, telling the villagers while recuperating in the village that the main force would be back soon.

The villagers believed him,

but in reality,

the main force didn't come back until nearly seven years later. The villagers didn't wait for seven years. In fact, less than a week after he had recovered from his injuries and went out to find the main force, the news that the village was harboring the wounded and sick was leaked.

The Japanese army and the puppet army rushed here, massacring the entire village, old and young, as a warning to others.

This was also why he didn't want to fight in the civil war and eventually revolted.

Some people,

were still waiting for him,

waiting for him to return.

The Japanese had been driven away, and he should go back too.

"Can there really… be such deep obsession?" Xu Qinglang was shocked.

"There must be external factors influencing it."

Zhou Ze looked up and saw that the blood moon in the sky was slowly becoming clear, and the evil aura in the village was also slowly dissipating;

At the same time, a crystalline object fell from the sky and landed in the thatched pile in front of them.

Zhou Ze walked over and searched, finding a bronze ring in the thatched pile, with strange patterns on it. It felt heavy in his hand.

He hadn't finished what he was saying,

Picking up the ring, Zhou Ze continued:

"But external things are ultimately external things. Some obsessions are deeply ingrained, and external things can't stop them.

Otherwise,

eighty years ago, we would have been conquered."