Chapter 1 A Little Tired

A little tired in body and a little lost in mind, he dropped the cigarette butt, slung his coat over his shoulder, and walked along the dim path guided by the streetlights.

His shadow was stretched long behind him.

At the park exit stood an old man with white hair, dressed in a crisp, upright suit, meticulously groomed, like an old white poplar standing firm in the desert.

Just one glance told you that the old man was the kind of person who demanded extreme, even perverted, standards of appearance and dress.

Zhou Ze didn't look at him, but continued on his way.

The air was filled with the smell of watermelon sand, a little sweet and a little cloying, a smell that made Zhou Ze uncomfortable because watermelon flesh was red, and this reminded Zhou Ze of many unpleasant images.

"Sir, are you feeling down?"

The old man took the initiative to follow Zhou Ze's pace, slightly behind him, just right.

"A little," Zhou Ze replied.

The two continued to walk forward, step by step, forming a special kind of sameness.

"Sir, is it because of that monkey?

Or, for that contaminated baby?" the old man asked.

Zhou Ze didn't answer, but continued to walk slowly forward.

He didn't stop until he reached the traffic lights and waited for the green light.

The old man also stopped.

"There's no right or wrong in this matter," Zhou Ze replied.

"No right or wrong?" the old man repeated, then asked, "But everything has two sides, and naturally, right and wrong can be distinguished.

The monkey was a good monkey, it did even more good deeds than the so-called good people among the crowd.

You admit this, don't you, sir?"

"So, what's your point?" Zhou Ze took out another cigarette, shielding it from the wind with his hand as he lit it. "I was wrong?"

"Several rebirths, several bitter cultivations, and in the end, it all came to naught because of the person it saved. How would you feel if you were in its place?" the old man asked.

"I would be very angry," Zhou Ze answered bluntly, without even thinking about it.

"And after the anger?"

"If I had the chance, I would kill his entire family," Zhou Ze said, exhaling a smoke ring.

"Sir, your logic is sound," the old man commented, "But you stopped it from taking revenge, even after you learned the whole story and the truth from its mouth, you still personally ended its life."

"Yes."

"Do you think you did the right thing?" the old man asked again.

"I said, there's no right or wrong in this matter," Zhou Ze said, flicking the ash off his cigarette. "Putting aside all other considerations, the child is innocent."

"According to you, if the monkey had only chosen to take revenge on the husband, you could have understood it;

You probably wouldn't have stopped it, would you, sir?"

Zhou Ze was silent.

"But the reason why the husband killed the monkey and took its brain was to feed it to his wife in the hope of curing her infertility," the old man reminded him, "So, cause and effect, seemingly calculated on the monkey and the husband, but the real source lies in the monkey and the baby."

"Can cause and effect be calculated like that?" Zhou Ze asked.

"I'm calculating it, is there no reason?" the old man countered.

"According to your calculation, we can trace it back to the meteorite hitting the earth, the dinosaurs becoming extinct, the emergence of new species, the appearance of hominids, and then humans and monkeys, and then this tragedy.

So, the cause and effect must be calculated on the meteorite."

"That's sophistry, sir," the old man's tone seemed to have never changed, very calm, as if he were purely discussing the issue with you.

"I'm human," Zhou Ze pointed to his head. "Standing from a human's point of view, I don't think I can allow an alien creature to harm humans in a hospital."

"You're not human, you're a ghost," the old man reminded him again.

"Now, it's your turn to engage in sophistry."

"Heh," the old man smiled.

The light turned green.

Zhou Ze stepped forward, the old man followed.

A young man with tattered clothes,

An old man dressed meticulously,

The two of them left only a single shadow on the ground.

"In the end, the child still had problems," the old man continued in a calm tone that made you want to stab him, "It seems that at this time, you can sigh and say: The way of heaven is a cycle, and it spares no one."

"I never thought that the mistakes made by adults should be borne by a child in swaddling clothes."

"In ancient times, there were laws of collective punishment, which means that they had their reasons for existing," the old man said.

"Now it has been abolished, which means that its non-existence is better than its existence."

"Sir, you pity that child, but who pities the monkey?"

"You can go to Huaguo Mountain and ask its ancestors."

"So, in the final analysis, it's still the theory of species supremacy, which is nothing more than an extra layer of protective color compared to regional discrimination and racial discrimination."

"I have a piece of bread in my hand, this is my dinner tonight," Zhou Ze spread out one hand, indicating that he was holding a piece of bread.

"And then?"

"And then, when I was about to eat this piece of bread, I suddenly remembered that in some poor areas of the earth, there are still people who don't have enough to eat and are so hungry that they are skin and bones.

So I can't bear to eat this piece of bread and am willing to starve with them, even starve to death together."

"Sir, I don't think your irony is appropriate," the old man shook his head. "Can you think of the monkey as a beast? What it has done in the past three jiazi (a unit of sixty years), is more like a human being than most so-called humans."

"Okay, then let's change the example.

I have a luxury car next to me, and there are famous wines and caviar in front of me, and I think of people on Earth who are starving, and I can't bear to eat them, and I decide to starve with them, and starve to death with them.

If you eat such good things, if you drive such a good car, people will point their fingers at you and scold you, scolding you that you should donate the money you use for enjoyment to people in poor areas."

The old man stopped, as if he was thinking.

Zhou Ze didn't stop and continued to walk forward.

Finally, the old man caught up.

"I'm still very curious, why did you stop it."

"What do you think I should do?"

"Pretend you didn't see it," the old man replied, "You are a ghost messenger, a guardian of the rules of the underworld in the human world. The reason why referees are respected is because of their neutrality. Once they are both referees and athletes, the game collapses."

"I don't understand what you mean," Zhou Ze stopped and looked at the old man, the old man who was so meticulously dressed that he couldn't help but want to tear his suit.

"The meaning is very simple, the two examples you gave earlier are nothing more than to show that you are just making your own choices at that time, and what I just came up to ask are just the clamors of outsiders."

"I thought you didn't understand."

"I understand, you are a good person," the old man repeated, "A good 'person'."

Standing from the perspective of a 'person', that's indeed the case.

"So, you deliberately came up to me just to give me a definition?" Zhou Ze looked at the old man, his fingers still burning with pain. "I didn't know that trouble would come so quickly after I picked up that thing."

Before, the little loli said that she was a bright light in the dark night, now Zhou Ze felt that he was a burning bomb in the dark night.

The old man shook his head and said, "I am not your trouble, in fact, I am a servant left by the master, and you have just inherited the master's identity card.

Therefore, my seal was lifted, I woke up, and then I found you. By the way, I observed you for a while."

"Picking up a good thing, and then sending an old grandpa?"

A smile appeared on the corner of Zhou Ze's mouth,

"Should I say another sentence:

Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, don't bully the young and poor?

By the way, sigh at how terrifying it is?

That seems to be more appropriate."

"I don't understand, sir," the old man said bluntly.

"You need to read more," Zhou Ze reminded him.

"Okay," the old man nodded solemnly. "I am taught."

Ahead, they encountered another red light, and the two stopped again.

"Sir, you have inherited the master's identity card, so naturally you have become my new master," the old man said, and at the same time, bowed to Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze stood in place, looking at the old man.

Today has been a truly rich day,

He picked up a certificate, killed a monkey, and even had an old grandpa pop out, saying he wanted to recognize him as his master.

Zhou Ze wasn't overjoyed, he just felt a little troubled. He couldn't see clearly what the purpose of this suddenly emerging old man was.

"The master once gave an order, asking me to tell his successor," the old man said again, "Of course, this sentence is for you, and also for me, the servant."

"Speak."

"If his successor is a good person, then..."

"Puff!"

The sound of a sharp object piercing the body came out,

Zhou Ze lowered his head in a daze,

He saw the old man's hand directly piercing his chest,

So simply,

So abruptly,

He didn't even have the slightest psychological preparation.

Slowly, Zhou Ze's feet left the ground, the old man raised his arm, and Zhou Ze was also lifted up by him.

Under the dim streetlights, Zhou Ze could clearly see the blood on his body flowing down the old man's arm, staining half of the old man's suit red.

"The master said, if his successor is a good person, then kill him and wait for the next one."

The old man was still saying these words very calmly,

He wasn't killing someone,

It was like throwing away garbage,

Just like a picky chef choosing his side dishes, if he didn't like it, he would throw it away and replace it with a new one.

And Zhou Ze was the garbage that was inexplicably thrown away.

Blood kept flowing, and Zhou Ze's ten broken fingernails grew out, but before Zhou Ze could take his next action, the old man pierced Zhou Ze's palm and suddenly exerted force,

In an instant,

Zhou Ze felt great pain coming from all over his body, and Zhou Ze's body was also spasming, unable to fight back.

"I'm sorry, sir, a minute ago, you may have thought that today was your lucky day because you got something you really wanted.

I don't know if you have noticed the blurry white spots under the name and position columns of the certificate.

You may think that under the white spots are the master's name and position;

In fact, that's indeed the case.

But not only that,

There are also the names and positions of the eight successors before you."

The old man continued to say calmly.

"They... they... they... were... all... good people?"

Zhou Ze opened his mouth, and blood kept overflowing from the corners of his mouth. He felt like a salted fish, hanging on a tree branch,

Slowly, waiting to dry.

"No, sir, you are the only good person among these nine people," the old man replied.

"Then... why... they... also... died..."

"Because when I asked them if they were good people, they all felt that answering 'yes' seemed to be more beneficial."

The old man tilted his head slightly, revealing a hint of helplessness,

"Then,

They all died."