“What's wrong?” Zhou Ze frowned; clearly, he smelled something too.

“Nothing, I need to pee! You go first!”

After the old Daoist finished speaking, he immediately turned and ran outside.

Zhou Ze looked at his hands and didn’t follow to ask anything; instead, he directly took a taxi back to the bookstore.

The old Daoist arrived at the roadside, reached into his crotch, and pulled out a talisman. The talisman had already turned red and, upon encountering the wind, turned to ash and scattered.

This was the old Daoist's ancestral talisman. As for why it was hidden in that location, it could only be said that it was not for outsiders to know.

But that scene just now had been branded in the old Daoist’s memory.

Of course, looking down at the walnuts that were烫得紧绷在一起 (tàng dé jǐnbēng zài yīqǐ, scorched and tightened together),

Actually, it was also branded on his flesh.

"Damn it, Boss, I never expected that I would encounter your fellow villager in Tongcheng, more than two thousand kilometers away."

In the dark,

Perhaps there was a kind of induction,

Just like when Zhou Ze was watching the old Daoist’s live broadcast video, seeing the young man sitting behind the counter of the Ming shop struggling to drink porridge, he felt a inexplicable emotion.

It wasn’t just anorexia,

Actually,

They were the same kind of person.

In this world, he wasn't the absolute only and unique outlier.

Just as the faceless woman in hell roared unwillingly:

“How can you leave too?”

This meant,

It wasn't just Zhou Ze; before, someone had also left in front of the faceless woman.

Adding in the old man with black fingernails whom Zhou Ze saved in the car accident,

This world,

Was really not as peaceful as imagined.

………………

By the time he took a taxi back to the bookstore, it was already one o'clock in the morning. Zhou Ze cleaned up the glass shards on the bathroom floor, then boiled a few pots of water and barely wiped his body with a towel.

He decided to have someone install a shower tomorrow to make it easier for him to bathe. For someone with a slight cleanliness obsession, not being able to bathe was definitely a form of torture.

Returning to the second floor, he set the temperature, lay down, closed his eyes, and prepared to bid farewell to the day's fatigue and all the disturbances of the day.

He slept very soundly and peacefully.

Nothing happened overnight.

When Zhou Ze woke up the next morning, he first went to wash up after coming out of the ice coffin, then opened the store door and glanced next door.

The door next door was closed again today.

Doctor Lin couldn’t be contacted for the time being,

His wife was gone,

Now even he was gone,

Zhou Ze shook his head violently. Damn it, how could he have such a thought?

Xu Le's poison was harmful,

Yes,

That must be it.

Having not eaten anything from last night until now, Zhou Ze could only take out his phone to order takeout, noting that the restaurant should send more vinegar.

After waiting for about twenty minutes, a delivery guy in a yellow uniform arrived on his electric scooter. He pushed open the store door and walked in, handing the takeout to Zhou Ze, who was sitting behind the counter reading a book.

"Thank you, it’s not easy, having to deliver takeout during the New Year." Zhou Ze said politely.

"It's not easy for you either, having to eat takeout during the New Year." The delivery guy replied directly.

"…………" Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze felt like he'd taken an arrow to the knee. He looked up specifically at the delivery guy in front of him. He was very young, looking only in his early twenties.

"Is this a bookstore?" The delivery guy looked at the environment in the store. "The kind where you can sit down and read? How much does it cost?"

"Pay what you want." Zhou Ze opened the takeout packaging.

"Got it."

The delivery guy sat down on a plastic stool and picked up a copy of *Doupo Cangqiong* (Battle Through the Heavens) and began to read, enjoying it very much.

Zhou Ze drank the vinegar that the restaurant had sent in one gulp. Perhaps because he had been trained by Xu Qinglang’s abnormal level of sour plum juice recently, Zhou Ze felt that this ordinary vinegar didn't have much of a kick.

Then, another round of gluttony, and halfway through eating, a feeling of nausea began to attack.

Zhou Ze pinched his neck with both hands, forcing himself not to throw up. Finally, after a terrible standoff, the nausea slowly subsided. Zhou Ze wiped the corners of his mouth and then began to cough heavily.

"Bro, eat slower. The way you're eating, in my grandma's words, is like a hungry ghost being reborn."

The delivery guy said while reading the book.

Zhou Ze glared at him and simply sat down in his chair to catch his breath. He needed to rest.

Damn Xu Qinglang,

Why wasn't he opening up his shop yet!

Zhou Ze decided that if the other party didn't open his shop by the afternoon, he would have no choice but to smash the door open and look for the remaining sour plum juice or bitter gourd juice; otherwise, he really couldn't eat his meals.

The delivery guy seemed to have stopped taking orders and sat there reading the novel for an hour.

"Huh, why is there a smell of burning coal?" The delivery guy suddenly sniffed and then walked out of the bookstore.

Zhou Ze didn't take it seriously. The other party might have been thinking about reading for a while and didn't want to pay. It didn't matter.

This bookstore's earning money was really up to fate.

But then, the delivery guy who had just walked outside immediately opened his mouth and shouted:

"Wow, there's a fire!"

Zhou Ze then became alert and immediately walked out of the store. He looked up and his eyes immediately narrowed. On the fourth floor of the building above, thick smoke was billowing out from inside.

This was,

The location of the cinema!

The only place in the commercial center that still had a bit of popularity was that cinema, and recently, because it was the New Year season, many people came here to watch movies.

"Let's go, save people." The delivery guy ran directly toward that side.

Zhou Ze stood there hesitating for ten seconds. The fire must be very big, but it definitely wouldn't burn his bookstore. He was restraining his instinct to save people from the depths of his heart.

In the past, he couldn't remember how many times he had rushed to the front line of disaster scenes to participate in rescue efforts, but recently, he planned to change this bad habit.

However, after a fierce ideological struggle, Zhou Ze still ran over with him.

He,

Was still a sucker!

From the first floor to the third floor staircase, many people were running down, while Zhou Ze was running up.

Although this commercial center was "abandoned," it was located in the city center, and fire trucks should be able to arrive soon.

There weren't as many people watching movies in the morning as in the afternoon, but the number was still considerable. When Zhou Ze ran to the fourth floor along the stairs, he saw that the smoke inside was much thicker, and the flames were burning very strangely. Even if it was an accidental fire, it couldn't possibly burn so exaggeratedly!

But this wasn't the time to analyze the cause. In the thick smoke, Zhou Ze saw the delivery guy with a face blackened by smoke carrying an old woman out.

The other party glanced at Zhou Ze, smiled, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, and then turned his head and ran back to the viewing area to continue saving people.

The fire hadn't completely spread, but in the viewing area, the fire was very exaggerated.

Zhou Ze didn't hesitate any longer. Since he had already come, he had to do something. He immediately ran into the thick smoke.

"Cough cough…cough cough…"

Without any protective measures, rushing in hastily was a very stupid thing to do. It was easy to not save anyone and instead get himself killed.

So Zhou Ze knew that his time was limited. If he saw anyone who needed help, he would bring them out. He couldn't do too much else and could only wait for professional firefighters to come and handle it.

"Hoo…………"

Zhou Ze had just opened the door of Cinema 2, and the flames actually shot out directly. Zhou Ze could only retreat to avoid the brunt of the fire.

And inside, there were actually still cries for help.

Zhou Ze gritted his teeth and rushed in directly. Inside the cinema, there were flames everywhere, on the ground, on the ceiling, and on the walls, all burning. And because the space here was narrow, the smoke from the burning could only gather here.

Among the people who died in general fire scenes, more people were suffocated by smoke than burned to death.

Only at this time did everyone feel that the annoying fire safety video before each movie was so important.

As soon as Zhou Ze rushed in, he saw two people lying in the small space of the aisle.

One was an adult man in a black suit. He was lying on the ground coughing, obviously unable to get up.

The other was a boy of only about ten years old, lying on the ground unconscious. It was unknown whether he had fainted or had already suffocated to death.

"Save me…save me…save…………" The man in the suit barely raised his head, looking at Zhou Ze standing in front of him.

Zhou Ze skipped over him directly, picked up the little boy, and prepared to rush out first.

He was already feeling dizzy. Obviously, without professional equipment such as a gas mask, he wouldn't be able to last long either.

However, just as he was carrying the boy and preparing to run out, Zhou Ze only felt that someone had pulled his feet, and the whole person fell to the ground, and the boy on his back also rolled down.

"Save…save…first…save me…I…give you…money…first…save me…………"

The man in the suit exhausted his last bit of strength, grabbing Zhou Ze's ankle tightly. He knew that he wouldn't be able to hold on for too long. He couldn't breathe at all now, and he only felt a burning pain in his lungs.

Falling down, Zhou Ze only felt a dizzy spell on his forehead, almost fainting. Immediately, he bit his tongue, forcing himself to wake up.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Zhou Ze used his other foot to kick the man's hand and head that was grabbing him.

After kicking a few times in a row, the other party finally let go.

Zhou Ze staggered to his feet again, carried the boy on his back, and rushed out of Cinema 2.

Rushing out of the billowing smoke and into the safe area, Zhou Ze's knees went weak, and the whole person knelt down directly. The boy on his back also fell down, but because Zhou Ze had subconsciously cushioned the fall, he didn't fall too hard.

The firefighters had arrived and were starting to put out the fire. Some firefighters wearing equipment rushed into the fire.

"There are still people in Cinema 2."

Zhou Ze grabbed the clothes of a firefighter who ran past him.

"Okay, I know." The other party nodded and rushed into the fire.

"Huff huff…huff huff…"

Zhou Ze lay horizontally on the tile floor, breathing heavily. Opposite him, the delivery guy in the yellow uniform that had been blackened by the smoke was also leaning there, panting. The two looked at each other and smiled weakly.

The paramedics had also arrived, a group of white angels and doctors. Zhou Ze didn't have the strength to search for whether Doctor Lin was also in this rescue operation.

Gritting his teeth, he stood up again. Zhou Ze glanced at the boy who was being given emergency treatment by the doctor. The boy's chest was still rising and falling, so there shouldn't be any major problems.

At the same time, Zhou Ze also saw several people who were carried out by the firefighters afterwards. Some couldn't be saved, and some were saved. The man in the black suit was lying on a stretcher, motionless. He should have been dead.

Zhou Ze didn't feel guilty. He had no reason to feel guilty.

He was doing good, saving people, but who he saved first depended on him. No one had any reason to morally kidnap him.

Moreover, at that time, he simply didn't have the ability to carry a child on his back and carry an adult man out at the same time. If he had done that, the end result would only be that he would have died inside as well.

He was a "scholar" with no power to restrain a chicken, and he wasn't Schwarzenegger reincarnated into Xu Le's body.

Besides, that guy almost caused him to die in the cinema as well.

Struggling to get up, refusing the help of the nurse beside him who wanted to check his physical condition, Zhou Ze walked to the bathroom at the other end of the building, turned on the faucet, and vigorously rubbed his face with cold water in his hands.

Finally,

He had caught his breath.

Raising his head,

Zhou Ze looked at himself in the mirror,

Suddenly discovered,

In the mirror, behind him, a faint figure slowly appeared,

This person,

Wearing a black suit,

Stared at himself with a look of resentment.

His mouth was open, constantly shouting, as if questioning himself about something, hysterically, crazily agitated.

After a person dies, if they encounter a specific opportunity, there is a certain probability that they may transform into a vengeful ghost to take revenge.

And now, this man had just died. His soul was still in the stage of transforming into a ghost and would probably completely form during the first seven days after death.

He wasn't a ghost yet; he could only be said to be a prototype.

But because of Zhou Ze's own uniqueness, he could detect the other party's existence in advance.

He hated himself,

For not saving him,

Even this hate,

Was enough to make him become a vengeful ghost!

"Heh, interesting."

Zhou Ze smiled,

He put his head back into the sink and continued to wash himself with water,

At the same time, he sighed in his heart:

"Heh, people ah…………"