Chapter 114 Unclean

Zhou Ze parted his lips slightly, then subconsciously grabbed the woman who was still walking forward.

The woman was a little surprised, glancing at Zhou Ze, not knowing what he intended to do.

"I take back what I just said."

Zhou Ze gently twisted his neck.

"Your house is really unclean."

A pensive look appeared on the woman's face.

"Don't worry, I'm not some charlatan."

"I believe you're not a charlatan," the woman said earnestly. "Besides, it's just a few million; being swindled out of it doesn't really matter."

That hit hard.

How jarring.

A few million like a few hundred, just to buy peace of mind?

What a spendthrift wife.

Zhou Ze mourned for the old man upstairs. Why was he still causing trouble at his age? Would all the family fortune he had worked so hard to build end up in this woman's hands?

Fortunately, Zhou Ze still had some professional ethics. This woman was the one who hired him, so he wouldn't meddle in unnecessary affairs.

Of course, in Bai Yingying's eyes, Zhou Ze and this woman looked like they were colluding, a modern-day version of Wu Dalang and Pan Jinlian.

If it were made into a TV series, the boss and this woman would be typical villains!

"Your husband isn't mentally disturbed; there really is something dirty here. Let's not talk about the money yet; we'll chat about it slowly after I've taken care of things here.

Yingying, take her upstairs."

"Boss, you alone..." Bai Yingying didn't want to go upstairs; the boss was injured.

At this moment, Zhou Ze really wanted to poke his maid's forehead. It wouldn't matter if something happened to him, but if something happened to this woman, who would he go to for his final payment?

The woman was very obedient. Even though she couldn't see anything, she at least showed an attitude of "I believe," and took the initiative to step back.

What a clever woman. Sensible, able to change her demeanor, wanton in bed, virtuous out of it, able to cook, act, and even pretend to be understanding.

Zhou Ze glanced at Bai Yingying again. Alas, his Yingying still had a lot to learn.

Under Zhou Ze's stern gaze, Bai Yingying could only accompany the woman upstairs. She needed to protect this woman and the old man.

Next, only that family and Zhou Ze were left in the entire hall.

These people maintained a proper sitting posture, like primary school students in class, sitting up straight, even the oldest old woman.

That old woman should be the old man's first wife.

Ordinary people might have one or two deceased relatives' souls lingering to come back and visit, but this old man was good; a whole family, four generations under one roof. Zhou Ze counted, and there were actually twenty-some people.

The scale of the family reunion was indeed huge, no wonder the old man was so scared.

If it were just his wife coming back, or a son or daughter, or a granddaughter, that would be acceptable, but for this whole family to come back together, anyone would be terrified.

Leaning on his crutch, Zhou Ze approached them. The closer he got, the more clearly he perceived a cold feeling constantly assailing him, and the surrounding air was filled with a thick, salty dampness.

The old man's family, it was said, had died at sea due to a cruise ship accident. As for whether there were any inside secrets, Zhou Ze didn't know and didn't want to know.

In any case, this family was quite a bit of business, and he could just take them away.

"Glug..."

"Glug..."

The sound of water began to come from all around.

The sound of water was coming from these people's necks. From the old woman to the children as young as a few years old, their necks were bulging, like inflated frogs.

Immediately afterward,

"呕..." (Ou...)

Everyone in the hall began to vomit.

Turbid seawater mixed with mud and sand poured from their mouths, along with some dead fish and shrimp!

Before, the hall only felt like it had just been mopped.

But now,

It was like a seafood market, exuding a strong, fishy smell, like a room in a love hotel that had been used continuously for a month without changing the sheets.

Zhou Ze covered his nose and lifted his foot, only to find that the seawater had quickly reached his ankles.

The hall was like a reservoir, and these twenty-odd people were like twenty-odd faucets on the edge of the reservoir, pouring water into it.

The water gathered and didn't dissipate, slowly filling the hall.

Zhou Ze leaned over, pressed a hand on a middle-aged man's shoulder, and his fingernails grew out, stabbing directly into the man's shoulder.

"Sizzle..."

The sound of something frying in oil came, and thick black smoke began to rise from the middle-aged man, but he still sat there motionless, as if completely letting Zhou Ze do as he pleased.

"Snap..."

A crisp sound came from under Zhou Ze's feet.

Then,

A blue belt wrapped around Zhou Ze's arm. Zhou Ze subconsciously stepped back. This belt was very agile and darted straight at him.

When one end of the belt lifted up, stopping less than a centimeter from Zhou Ze's eyes, it froze.

This wasn't a belt at all; it was clearly a sea snake that was entirely green.

The sea snake flicked its tongue. It had mastered an excellent attacking posture, but it stopped, seemingly just to intimidate Zhou Ze.

The surrounding water began to increase. The contents of those twenty-odd people's stomachs seemed endless. At this time, the water level in the living room had reached Zhou Ze's waist.

This was fake, but it was also real.

Zhou Ze could choose to leave this feeling and then choose to leave, but that would mean he had admitted defeat, voluntarily stepping down from the ring.

Not to mention whether he could get the labor fee, he wouldn't be able to take this family's souls to exchange for performance.

"Thud..."

The painting hanging on the living room wall was also washed down by the water, slowly floating to Zhou Ze's side.

Zhou Ze had thought this statue was a bit strange before, because most families hung statues of Maitreya Buddha, Guanyin, or the God of Wealth in their halls, but the god in this painting was clearly not a mainstream one.

The image was of a man with the body of a fish, but with human hands and feet, riding a two-headed dragon. It was definitely a god, but ordinary families basically didn't hang this, which was quite unconventional.

At this time, the sea snake seemed to be slowly contracting its body, and Zhou Ze's wrist also felt a kind of restraint. This was a warning, a second warning.

Warning Zhou Ze,

That he didn't need to interfere in this matter.

The painting slowly floated in front of Zhou Ze, touching his body.

Zhou Ze frowned slightly, thinking hard. Finally, he figured out who the sacred figure in this painting was!

So, he really had to thank himself for reading more books after becoming a bookstore owner. He had nothing to do every day, so he sat on the sofa downstairs, drinking coffee and reading, and he focused on studying ancient tales of the strange.

This was... the Sea God!

For people today, the first thing that comes to mind when mentioning the Sea God seems to be Mazu, or Poseidon, but in fact, there is an even older Sea God in the Chinese mythology system.

A passage in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas, Classic of the Great Wilderness East* records: "In the islands of the East Sea, there is a god with a human face and a bird's body, wearing two yellow snakes in his ears and treading on two yellow snakes, named Yu Qiang. The Yellow Emperor gave birth to Yu Qiang, and Yu Qiang gave birth to Yu Jing. Yu Jing lives in the North Sea, and Yu Qiang lives in the East Sea. These are the Sea Gods."

The ancient Sea God. Actually, thinking about how the old man upstairs started his business with maritime smuggling, it made sense for him to hang this statue at home.

But what did this mean?

A group of deceased relatives' souls who died at sea suddenly returned for revenge after five years?

Who brought them back?

Who allowed them to return?

Those who died in remote places and had unnatural deaths were actually very difficult for their souls to return. Therefore, there was an indispensable step in the folk custom of burning scriptures and paper money, which was "calling the soul," meaning to let the soul of the person you want to sacrifice to return and enjoy the offerings of their descendants.

And those who died at sea, they either went directly to hell, or even if they could remain as wandering souls, they could only sink to the bottom of the sea like in *Pirates of the Caribbean*, or float around with some ghost ship.

Now, the whole family had returned neatly, sitting upright, coming to visit the old man, without any external force pushing them, without the tacit consent of one party,

Was that possible?

Could it be that the Sea God was really angry?

It was almost certain that the old man's family had died suspiciously, and the old man had married this woman in the same year.

If it was really some great god who was angry, coming to carry out punishment and retribution,

A small ghost messenger like himself,

Seemed to really not have the qualifications to stop it, right?

Moreover, to confront a being from the sea for something like "making money,"

Wasn't that a bit silly?

Zhou Ze raised his head. That woman and the old man should be upstairs. That woman wanted the old man to die naturally so she could inherit the estate, and ghosts and gods wouldn't be caught on camera.

"Hey, buddy, let's talk about something. Can you let that old man die a little more naturally?

Then, the old man's second wife upstairs, I'll take her away, okay?"

Zhou Ze asked the portrait.

"Sizzle!"

The sea snake suddenly became angry,

Directly opening its fangs and biting at Zhou Ze's chest.

Zhou Ze's eyes narrowed. He had been guarding against this snake all along. Immediately, his fingertip grabbed the snake's tail, and the snake's tongue stopped a few centimeters from Zhou Ze's chest.

"There's no room for discussion? Give me some room to negotiate, big brother,"

Zhou Ze said with a wry smile.

Although I'm a ghost messenger, the lowest-level Yin Division cadre, I'm still a cadre after all. Don't ignore me so much,大佬 (dàlǎo - big shot).

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle!"

The sea snake twisted its body frantically,

With a "splat,"

The snake's body broke directly, and the snake's head flew to Zhou Ze's chest, biting into Zhou Ze's body.

In an instant,

What Zhou Ze felt wasn't an injury to his body, but a piercing pain from his soul, as if the snake's fangs had pierced two holes in his soul.

Cold sweat immediately poured out, and Zhou Ze knelt down on one knee, using one hand to support himself on the ground to keep himself from falling into the "water."

"Huff... huff..."

The snake's head was pulled out by Zhou Ze with brute force,

The black fingernails directly crushed the snake's head.

"You're not being reasonable..."

Zhou Ze muttered to himself, his face becoming increasingly gloomy,

Then, he slowly raised his head, and in the depths of his eyes, there was a black light flowing.

"Then I'll see if you can really run from the sea to the land to show off!"