Chapter 19

On the rooftop,

Zhou Ze, positioned at the edge, was slowly turning around.

The priest's lips parted in astonishment.

The headless woman still stood there. The wind on the rooftop was strong, but her skirt remained motionless.

"It shouldn't be. As a ghost messenger, his physical body from his previous life must be gone. Most can only walk among humans by borrowing someone else's body.

How did this jiangshi come about?"

The priest muttered to himself, his forehead covered in question marks.

As a qualified bystander, observation and contemplation are essential qualities.

As Zhou Ze turned around, the priest's parted lips slowly curved into a smile, realizing:

"So that's how it is!"

Unlike the increasingly bronze color of Zhou Ze's arms, the exposed skin on Zhou Ze's front, while also exhibiting a faint bronze luster, was very light and uneven.

At the same time, some areas of his skin began to wrinkle and crack, with blood slowly flowing out, creating a terrifying scene.

"His soul carries a small part of the jiangshi legacy, and now, after extreme mental stimulation, the jiangshi part of his soul has manifested.

But his body is still that of an ordinary human, unable to bear and inherit this burden, leading to this strange and incongruous situation.

This is a jiangshi, yet not a jiangshi."

The priest murmured to himself, a hint of excitement in his eyes. His hands under his sleeves slightly opened, and two scalpels appeared in his palms.

"Which part should I cut off to take back for slow study, or should I take the whole body back?"

Licking his lips, the priest seemed troubled.

The opponent was a ghost messenger. Qing Yi Niangniang might not care about the opponent's status as a ghost messenger, but he did. And if Qing Yi Niangniang completely killed him, then there would be no research value in taking back a corpse.

"It's really troubling."

The priest scratched his head, looking conflicted, but the two scalpels he held in his hand gleamed in the sunlight, instantly drawing the attention of both the headless woman and Zhou Ze.

"Oh!"

The priest's expression faltered.

He immediately dropped the two scalpels on the ground, took a step back,

bowed slightly,

and said very sincerely:

"Sorry to bother you, please continue."

A bystander who involves himself in the battle will die without knowing why, and this is a great taboo for a bystander.

Zhou Ze's gaze returned to the headless woman. To be honest, the previous Zhou Ze was a complete back-view killer. Only now, with the blood constantly seeping out and the skin constantly tearing, did Zhou Ze's extremely bad physical condition truly manifest.

Rather than saying that the current Zhou Ze was a jiangshi, it would be more accurate to say that he was some Zombie Mr. A running a bit part in a Western zombie movie.

The only difference was,

Zhou Ze's eyes emitted a green light.

This made him look a bit more advanced than the extras who could be knocked dead with an axe in a Western zombie movie.

Well, upgraded from an extra to an extra with five mao's worth of special effects.

"Ah!"

Zhou Ze opened his mouth,

and let out a roar,

without an earth-shattering volume,

nor surging, passionate boldness,

but more like a wail after damaged vocal cords.

The headless woman continued to stand there, motionless.

Then,

Zhou Ze moved. His physical movements were exaggerated, running like a sprinter in a 100-meter race, his body moving greatly, directly lunging at the headless woman.

There was no impact, no dazzling sparks,

just like a drunk man tackling a weak woman.

There was no aesthetic appeal whatsoever.

"Rattling..."

Zhou Ze, who had pounced to the ground, pressed down on the headless woman under him and directly raised his fist to smash down.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Punch after punch,

each landed on the concrete floor of the rooftop,

Surrounding them were bloodstains everywhere,

not Qing Yi Niangniang's bloodstains, but Zhou Ze's.

"Because in this state, only instinct remains and there is no room for thought, so he is no longer affected by Qing Yi Niangniang's ability.

Also, because he carries the aura of a jiangshi, he can touch the soul body and launch his own attacks."

The priest opened his mouth and said "Oh,"

"How did this kind of person become a ghost messenger? Has the hell's auditing system collapsed to this point?"

Under repeated blows, it seemed that Zhou Ze was hitting the concrete floor each time, but in reality, Qing Yi Niangniang's body was slowly distorting, like a pool of water, constantly rippling.

The water surface,

was no longer calm.

"It looks like Qing Yi Niangniang is doomed. Although she doesn't belong to the ghost sequence, she doesn't have any physical attack ability other than mental influence.

Now she can only passively take a beating."

Saying that, the priest looked at the distant construction site again.

"But it's almost over anyway. Dying because of that or dying because of the person in front of her, the ending is actually the same."

However,

just as the gloating ended,

the priest's eyes suddenly became turbid.

Qing Yi Niangniang, pressed under Zhou Ze, suddenly flipped her left hand towards the priest's direction.

"Made a mistake. I could have used binoculars to watch from afar, enjoying my own show,

Why did I have to get so close?

Now, I'm going to be controlled and become a fighter.

What bad luck..."

The priest lowered his head, then suddenly raised it, his eyes revealing a green light. Then, he quickly picked up the scalpels he had just dropped on the ground and charged directly towards Zhou Ze.

"Swish!

Swish!"

Two scalpels,

directly stabbed into Zhou Ze's back.

"Ah!"

Zhou Ze raised his head and let out a silent roar.

Immediately afterward, the priest, holding the scalpels, wanted to pull down along the inserted wounds, but the blades seemed to be stuck in Zhou Ze's bones, unable to move.

"Creak!"

Zhou Ze suddenly turned around, his arm directly sweeping across.

Yes,

Zhou Ze didn't know how to fight, nor had he learned martial arts, let alone Muay Thai or anything like that. Therefore, in his madness, he could only counterattack according to an instinct.

If a mosquito bites me,

I'll swat the mosquito.

Zhou Ze's arm directly struck the priest's face.

The priest's entire face was almost distorted, and he was sent flying, landing right on the edge of the rooftop. If it had been just a little bit further, he would have fallen.

The left side of his face was swollen high, and he opened his mouth, spitting out several broken teeth,

His teeth were stained with blood.

"Baga!"

The priest flipped his hands again, and two talisman papers appeared. These were Onmyōji's demon-subduing runes.

As he charged towards Zhou Ze again, he dodged Zhou Ze's fist, and then directly stuck the two talisman papers on Zhou Ze's chest.

In an instant, the runes seemed to burn, leaving two charred marks on Zhou Ze's chest, and the smell of burning flesh even permeated the air.

However, Zhou Ze directly wrapped his arms around and hugged the priest, then hugged him tightly and slammed him against the rooftop's surrounding wall.

"Bang!"

Most of the cement wall shattered, and the priest spat out a large mouthful of blood.

Two grown men,

on the rooftop,

because of a woman,

fighting to the death.

…………

"Hey, pay attention over there, hurry up and push it down. Push it down before those old geezers come over, hurry!"

A construction foreman directed the bulldozer forward.

In front was a dilapidated old temple. The temple did not enshrine any bodhisattvas, nor any Taoist figures. In fact, the temple didn't even have a plaque.

"Boom!"

The temple wall was pushed down, along with the broken statue inside, which had been missing its head for who knows how many years.

Excavators and bulldozers worked together to finally level the temple completely.

"Hey, what kind of temple was this?"

The excavator operator came down from his machine. To be honest, he was most afraid of encountering this situation during demolition. Demolishing someone's temple could damage his karma and easily invite misfortune.

Every industry, in fact, has some similar superstitions to varying degrees.

"A small temple. When I was a kid, people used to go and worship there, but not anymore. My grandfather even took me to worship there, called Qing Yi Niangniang, similar to the Child-Giving Guanyin, worshiping her to pray for children."

"Then why did you let us tear it down?"

"If we don't tear it down, how will the project proceed? You don't know, just because of this broken temple, the old people who originally lived here argued with us for a long time. Now who still worships this damned Qing Yi Niangniang? There are infertility hospitals everywhere. If you can't have children, just go to the doctor.

Besides, when I was a kid, I thought this Qing Yi Niangniang was some big shot, but later I grew up and realized that there doesn't seem to be anyone like that in history. It's just old superstition and feudal things being passed down. We're also breaking superstitions."

The foreman spat a thick wad of phlegm on the ground and shouted:

"Tell those over there to hurry up and demolish this area before sunset!"

…………

On the rooftop,

The Qing Yi Niangniang's body, which had been pounced on by Zhou Ze, slowly disintegrated.

The priest was right,

she wasn't a ghost.

As Qing Yi Niangniang collapsed,

A touch of clarity appeared in the priest's eyes. He stood up, clutching his chest, heaven knows how many ribs were broken. When he saw Zhou Ze charging towards him again, he was so frightened that he opened the rooftop door and fled towards the stairwell, not even daring to look back.

And Zhou Ze, who was halfway through his charge, suddenly slowed down, his whole body staggering and swaying, the green light in his eyes gradually fading,

The bronze luster on his body also gradually faded,

Leaving only from top to bottom,

Those dense and terrifying wounds.

Zhou Ze's body swayed for a moment, and finally he walked to the edge of the rooftop, unable to control his figure,

One slip,

and he fell straight down.

The back of the building was a garbage disposal area,

Piles of household garbage were piled up like mountains, and many stray cats and dogs were searching for food here.

"Bang!"

"Meow meow meow!!!"

"Woof woof woof!!!"

When Zhou Ze crashed into this place,

It startled the cats and dogs here.

Zhou Ze had almost lost most of his consciousness, with only his fingers still curling instinctively.

Two brave stray dogs came over, sniffing Zhou Ze's body with their noses.

"Squeak squeak squeak!!!"

At this moment, a golden monkey holding a plastic toy hammer jumped up in three steps and two steps, waving the plastic toy hammer to drive away the two dogs.

Then it looked at this man who was covered in wounds and more gasping than breathing.

When it saw the man's face,

The monkey scratched its head,

It didn't know why,

It felt so uncomfortable when it saw this face,

It didn't remember the past, and had been living here for a while, these stray dogs and stray cats had also been tamed by it, and it was nice to be a grandpa in the garbage dump.

But this face,

Really made the monkey very upset, although it didn't know where this unpleasant feeling came from, but it was just unpleasant!

"Bo bo bo!"

The monkey knocked Zhou Ze's head several times with the plastic toy hammer,

Telling you to make this monkey uncomfortable,

Telling you to look so unpleasant to this monkey!

After knocking several times,

Zhou Ze's head tilted,

Completely fainted.

"Huo!"

The monkey was so frightened that it immediately dropped the plastic toy hammer in its hand,

Covering its mouth with both hands,

It was really worried that it had just hammered this guy to death.