In the early morning, Qiu Fang was standing in an alley without surveillance.
Unlike the crowd around him, who were looking down at their phones, he had nothing in his hands. His plain white T-shirt had no pockets, and his tight-fitting jeans revealed that he had nothing inside.
Qiu Fang’s face was relatively clean, and his outfit made him stand out on the street. Unfortunately, the dark alley was filled with smelly garbage cans, rats scurrying along the walls, and unconscious thugs.
Several badly dressed young people were lying on the ground, unconscious, with blood stains all over the ground. A few teeth were scattered in the blood. Qiu Fang leaned against the wall, without a single drop of blood on him, looking at the people on the ground with disgust, as if he were looking at cockroaches turned upside down.
Qiu Fang stood motionless for half an hour, watching those people struggling to breathe, until suddenly he turned his head and looked in the direction of Haigu Municipal Hospital.
“The gap is shaking,” he murmured to himself. “Someone is breaking into the gap there.”
Then he fell silent, as if listening to someone’s reply.
“It’s definitely not you, and it’s not Miss Qi… Mr. Le is not nearby… Sunken Society doesn’t have this kind of power. Could it be that they have made some kind of research breakthrough?” Qiu Fang frowned.
He made a gesture with his hand, as if holding a gun, and pointed towards the hospital, but didn’t take any further action.
“No, that person’s spatial magic is similar to the Fu family’s, so it’s not easy to target.” Qiu Fang lowered his arm. “I need to attack up close.”
Then he fell silent again, as if listening to something.
“My opinion is the same as that guy’s. You’d better not go.” A female voice came from above.
Qiu Fang looked up and saw Qi Xin in a gray-black suit. She smiled faintly and looked down at him with her sparse brows.
“You can’t aim at him and forcing you to show up at close range is clearly a trap. Mr. Qiu, although I understand your ‘nature’ of provoking disputes, attacking the Fu family is too reckless, don’t you think?” Her tone was very light, but it made him uncomfortable.
“It’s just a group of humans.”
Qiu Fang spat.
“If it weren’t for the ‘ending’ we want being too troublesome, I could easily kill them all. I just played with them casually before and don’t need you to get involved.”
“Is that so?” Qi Xin smiled more meaningfully. “Thanks to humans, you have been able to grow rapidly in the past few thousand years and sit on an equal footing with us. Humans also like to say that they should have a sense of awe towards food.”
Qiu Fang had no choice but to look up at Qi Xin, and he didn’t bother to hide his disgust.
Qi Xin remained unmoved. Her facial expression twisted so much that it didn’t look like a “smile”. “Besides, you are obviously the most human-like among the four of us, aren’t you?”
Qiu Fang was shocked. His eyes bulged as something quickly surged in his shadow, forming dark whirlpools.
“Not long ago, you attacked the Fu family, causing someone to be traumatized and seek revenge during that crazy attack. If they really break through to our side, who will be responsible?” Qi Xin continued in a calm and collected manner, as if she hadn’t seen his reaction.
“That’s enough.”
Two voices from the shadows simultaneously spoke on the dusty glass of the alleyway.
One was a gentle female voice.
“Mr. Qiu has been working hard to expel potential invaders, and his previous behavior was instinctive. Don’t provoke him.”
“I didn’t provoke him,” Qi Xin lightly said. “I’m just advising him not to fall into a trap.”
“I’ll go.”
The moment he heard the woman’s voice, Qiu Fang instantly stopped the whirlpool. He scratched his hair, but accidentally tore off a piece of his scalp due to the force.
“A trap? Even if humans dig out their six Evil Spirits and attack together, it’s just a finger’s work for me. With them, how big a storm can they make? If that gap is really opened up by humans, I’ll be fucking ridiculed by this surnamed Qi every day.”
Qi Xin looked in the direction of the hospital and smirked.
“You and him can go together and settle it quickly,” the shadow on the glass lip-synced, making a sound that only they could hear. “The top priority is to close the gap.”
“I’m not going.” Qi Xin tidied up her scattered hair and narrowed her eyes. “If I follow him, won’t it ruin Mr. Qiu’s enthusiasm? Besides, I’m not interested in this kind of fighting. Even if I win, there will be no food to eat.”
“I don’t need an old bastard like you to deal with a few pieces of trash,” Qiu Fang sneered.
The shadows on the window sighed together.
“I understand,” the woman’s voice said, even gentler now. “The Haigu branch of Sunken Society is just below the hospital and is also built on a shrinking gap. You should act swiftly and don’t touch Sunken Society for now.”
“Okay.” Mr. Qiu bowed to the shadows on the glass.
He walked out of the alleyway quickly without even a glance at Qi Xin.
“You were a little harsh just now.” The woman’s voice became even more gentle. “He’s still young, and his nature affects him. We’re all companions working together. Why be so harsh on him?”
“Maybe I don’t like playing the ‘hero game’.”
Qi Xin grabbed a stone from the wall and weighed it in her hand. “I’ve never been a ‘righteous partner’ with you guys. I just promised not to make trouble. Stop using your methods on me.”
Crack!
Qi Xin flung the stone, hitting the glass window and shattering the shadow figures.
Confirming that those broken shadows would no longer move on their own, she lightly clapped her hands and also looked in the direction of the Haigu Municipal Hospital.
The smile on her face became even more apparent.
……
Zhong Chengshuo had some free time and followed the same route back, carefully disposing of Minister Zou’s body.
Confirming that there were no monitoring devices on the upper floors, his movements became much more calm.
With two bodies, he could do a lot more—
Minister Zou’s head was also finely cut off by him, and he became more proficient at it with practice. This time, Zhong Chengshuo had sewn it more skillfully.
Minister Zou was slightly taller than Zhang Wei and had a slightly larger body so Zhong Chengshuo put Zhang Wei’s clothes on the outer layer of the lining and adjusted it to roughly match the appearance, then he put on a coat. The sturdy and beautiful body was covered up, suddenly appearing much richer and almost identical to Minister Zou from before.
Maybe it was because his neural processing was more refined, this time he was much more precise in manipulating the head; at least not as slowly as before.
After doing all this, Zhong Chengshuo stepped out of the morgue again. He moved forward along the clear route in his mind and walked all the way to the elevator.
Ding.
After a long time, the elevator’s crisp sound echoed on the first floor of the morgue.
At the door of the underground morgue.
“The elevator just rang,” the human guard said.
“Yes, the elevator rang.” The zombie guard picked his nose. “That guy who went down just now finally came back. I thought we were going to lose another one. I don’t know if he found what he was looking for. Let him fill out a brief record form later.”
Half an hour passed.
The tall, thin human guard said, “Strange, why isn’t Minister Zou coming out? Can it be that he could still get lost on the first floor?”
“Who knows.” The zombie guard continued to concentrate on picking his nose. “Maybe he ran into something and got scared.”
Ding.
In the corridor behind the two guards, a faint and distant sound was heard, which was the sound of the elevator arriving on the first floor.
The two guards looked at each other.
Ding.
Five minutes later, the sound rang again.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
In the underground morgue, where no one was supposed to be, the crisp electronic sound effect was extremely regular, with intervals of almost exactly one second. The human guard immediately got goosebumps all over his body. He glanced at the tightly closed door of the underground morgue and rubbed his exposed forearm.
“This is not right. Go check the surveillance.”
The zombie guard sprayed out a disdainful breath and slowly moved to the side guard room. The screen was full of surveillance footage.
The “Minister Zou” who entered a while ago was shown in the footage.
The picture was dim near the elevator door, which creaked and rattled as it slid open. Minister Zou’s shadow stretched long down the corridor. When the elevator door opened completely, he walked out normally, but then walked backwards step by step.
The indicator light blinked, and the elevator descended.
Five minutes passed, and the elevator arrived on the first floor again. The door opened as usual, and the above scene repeated. If it weren’t for the constantly advancing time on the surveillance footage, the zombie would almost think that this was a looped video.
Strange things happened frequently, but those monsters usually came straightforwardly. There were rarely such… bizarre phenomena.
As a zombie guard who had been dead for more than ten years, it was the first time he felt a little scared.
He leaned closer to the screen, carefully observing the details of the footage.
Minister Zou’s face was calm and his movements were natural, indicating there was no stiffness which meant he shouldn’t be controlled or possessed. His clothes were clean, and there were no suspicious marks on them.
The eerie loop continued, and this “normal” scene made the zombie guard even more uneasy.
“Minister Zou seems to have been possessed. You go in and take a look. I’ll stay here and guard.” The zombie rubbed the non-existent goosebumps and tremblingly returned to his post.
“You can’t say that,” the human guard said sternly. “You’re the monster here, and the other side is just an ordinary person possessed by an evil spirit. Why don’t you go? I’m flesh and blood and may end up in the hospital.”
The zombie gritted his teeth angrily and pushed open the thick door.
The corridor leading to the elevator was neither short nor long. The zombie nervously sharpened his nails, ready to attack at any moment.
Ding.
The elevator door opened slowly again, and Minister Zou appeared in front of the zombie guard with a calm expression.
Zhong Chengshuo quickly scanned the zombie in front of him.
Not too long ago, wearing a staff uniform, the evil qi emanating from his body was typical of Sunken Society. Such zombies were artificially created and durable, but not particularly powerful.
Nearby guards.
Zhong Chengshuo took two steps forward, and this time he didn’t retreat into the elevator.
“Just you?” The zombie looked behind him. “What about Zhang Wei?”
Zhong Chengshuo shook his head.
Seeing that “Minister Zou” could still react normally, the zombie relaxed. “What was that all about just now, going up and down like that? Are you playing with us?”
Zhong Chengshuo continued to shake his head, pressing his temple hard and pointing to his neck, making a dizzying gesture.
“Oh, your throat is injured, no wonder there’s a bloody smell.” The zombie sniffed. “It’s not that bad. There’s no evil qi on your body. You were probably just possessed. When you go out, have someone exorcize you.”
Zhong Chengshuo nodded pitifully.
With the zombie in front and him behind, the two walked straight towards the door. But as they passed the corner and reached the final exit corridor, the zombie’s steps slowed down.
“Something isn’t right,” it muttered. “I just felt it. Your human smell is too weak, almost like a freshly dead person…urgh!”
It didn’t finish the sentence.
Zhong Chengshuo’s hand pierced through its flesh directly, stabbing the corpse talisman inside that was as vital as a heart. The movement of his hand was as precise as that of a scalpel, directly breaking through its weakest defense and hitting the vital point.
The zombie had never been so scared—comparable to a bank clerk with a gun pointed at his back.
“You… You… You have something to say. We’re all evil things, so there’s nothing we can’t talk about.”
“I’m not an evil thing,” Zhong Chengshuo said in a low voice. “Cooperate with me. Take me out, and you might still have a chance to survive,” he continued solemnly.
Feeling the hand lightly scraping the corpse talisman, the zombie’s teeth chattered.
The human guard quickly saw his monster colleague.
Looking through the peephole from afar, the zombie was leading Minister Zou out. Minister Zou looked fine, but the two seemed a bit too familiar, with their shoulders hooked and their faces close together.
There was no expression on the zombie’s face, and his steps seemed even stiffer than usual.
“Hurry up, fill out the registration form, and get out.” The human guard put his heart back in his stomach. “Seriously, we still haven’t found anyone, and we’re just causing trouble for ourselves.”
Zhong Chengshuo nodded sincerely and glanced at the nearby light.
“Alright, hurry up and come out.” The human guard kept muttering, but then saw Minister Zou maintaining the posture of “embracing” the zombie, taking off his own work card with one hand.
“Registration doesn’t require a card…”
Before the human guard could finish his sentence, a thin work card flew past his temple and directly shattered the only lamp at the entrance of the morgue.
The surrounding area instantly plunged into darkness.
Bang!
In an instant, the nearby guard room was tightly closed.
Zhong Chengshuo, who was stuck in the small guard room, slowly took off his obstructive lab coat.
“Hello. Excuse me, where are the personal items of the corpses stored?”
He spoke softly with a gentle tone.
“I want to get my things back.”
The author has something to say:
Xiao Zhong: That’s the token of love my lover gave me (referring to the hamster).
