Chapter 176 Continued Operations

Zhou Ze wasn't in a rush, but Lawyer An was the fastest. He quickly arrived at the school gate with the old Taoist. Across the street from the gate was a small residential area adjacent to the school. It was a bit old, but due to its prime location, many faculty members and even more students rented apartments there.

Lawyer An sensed the aura as he and the old Taoist crossed the street. Surprisingly, there wasn't even a traffic light at the school gate or across the street, just a large pedestrian crossing.

However, just as Lawyer An and the old Taoist were halfway across the pedestrian crossing, they saw a young man in a black down jacket standing dazedly in the middle of the road less than a hundred meters away.

His face wore an extremely clear look of longing, his hands outstretched as if to receive something incredibly precious.

His hair was messy, and his eyes revealed a touch of hysterical madness.

Lawyer An immediately moved closer, keeping an eye on the surrounding traffic, but he started running.

Dashing across a busy road was something many action movie protagonists liked to do.

In action movies, the protagonist was basically fine no matter how they jumped around, whether they were speeding in a car or on a motorcycle.

But in romantic dramas, the female lead often liked to court death by running out and getting hit by a car, with some token of love falling beside her.

Clearly,

Wang Shen wasn't a protagonist.

At that moment,

all he saw were banknotes falling from the sky, not just RMB, but also US dollars and euros, and in front of him was Bai, his favorite counselor.

The "fantasy" world built on money was constantly battering his defenses. The already fragmented and muddy line of defense had completely collapsed. He was immersed in this beautiful fantasy, completely unaware of where he was or what he was doing.

The old Taoist wanted to chase after him, but as he stepped forward, a black car rushed past, narrowly missing him.

One hundred meters,

fifty meters,

twenty meters,

ten meters!

Lawyer An closed the distance completely.

Closer,

closer,

closer!

Lawyer An even saw the black shadow behind the young man.

The shadow was facing the young man's ear, as if whispering something,

causing the young man's face to maintain a morbid flush.

"The underworld has its order, the dead………………"

Lawyer An ran while forming a hand seal in front of his chest.

However,

at that moment,

a black Audi sideswiped the young man, sending him spinning to the other side, and then a small truck drove over.

"Splat!"

The spray of blood,

the tearing of flesh,

humans once again proved their own fragility and vulnerability in the face of the steel machines they had created.

It was like the sound system suddenly being turned off at a fiery concert.

Everything fell silent at that moment.

The old Taoist, who was running towards them, only saw a black shadow flying towards him.

He subconsciously reached out and caught it.

It was a human head,

still wearing a smile of longing and greed.

"Holy shit!"

………………

The scene was cordoned off.

The road was blocked.

Traffic police and police officers were dispatched directly.

Many police officers who were already at the school rushed over,

including the school leaders.

When Zhou Ze sat on the circular stone pier at the school gate, leaning on his crutch, he even saw the hurried figure of the vice-principal.

Suicide,

it can actually be contagious.

Most people actually have an urge deep down to "end it all" at some point, but only a few people commit suicide because that urge is quickly suppressed.

But once news of suicides starts happening one after another around them, especially if they are their "own kind"—referring to the same age group or the same profession—then that inner urge seems to find a suitable outlet and begins to follow suit.

Of course,

the school leaders insisted that it was just an accident.

Although the deceased was a student of the school,

he must have died in a traffic accident and not committed suicide!

What a joke, if three students committed suicide at or near the school in a short period of time, how could they cover it up?

Who would dare to cover it up?

It was like throwing firecrackers down a manhole. If they kept standing on the cover, wouldn't they be afraid of being blown away?

But soon,

after the road surveillance footage and the school gate surveillance footage were retrieved,

the school leaders, who had insisted it was an accident, fell silent.

What the hell,

how could it be an accident?

It was clearly courting death, deliberately throwing himself in front of the car!

Of course, the affairs of the living had nothing to do with Zhou Ze. Lawyer An walked to Zhou Ze's side with a somewhat dejected expression and gritted his teeth.

He was very unwilling.

He was just one step away,

really just one step away,

but the man died,

and then the black shadow disappeared quickly,

vanishing so fast

it was astonishing!

As a former gold-medal inspector, Lawyer An felt ashamed that a ghost had harmed two people under his very nose.

Most importantly, it would have been one thing if this ghost was like that old man, Master Xu Qinglang, from last time.

That old man was truly powerful.

Lawyer An felt that, apart from his boss, no one in Tongcheng could subdue him, at least for now.

But this ghost was obviously not strong, just a common vengeful spirit; otherwise, it wouldn't have come and gone so quickly each time.

Three people had already died.

The first, Sun Tiecheng, was because it happened suddenly.

Then,

Xue Yuying and Wang Shen died right before the eyes of the bookstore's staff.

Being trifled with so brazenly by a ghost, even a salted fish like Boss Zhou felt a surge of anger in his heart.

People often say that you need to put yourself in someone else's shoes, but that's just an excuse for compromise. If you have enough strength and the cost is low, who wouldn't want to be willful and reckless?

Old Zhang walked over, holding Wang Shen's phone, and said,

"He also took out a lot of online loans."

More online loans.

Zhou Ze nodded

and said,

"Any specific discoveries?"

If they were just passively defending, not only would the effect be poor and purely based on luck, but with the opponent's rapid approach and departure, even if you were guarding a tree stump waiting for a rabbit, you wouldn't have time to deal with it.

"Wang Shen's phone has been sent to the technical department to be unlocked, but I previously investigated several online loan apps. Xue Yuying and Sun Tiecheng both borrowed from four of the same online lenders.

I focused my investigation on these four,

and discovered that one of the apps had already gone out of business three months ago.

It's called 'Que Qian Bei' (Extremely Short of Money)."

"Out of business?" Lawyer An was a little surprised.

"Yes, because the country has been vigorously cracking down on and rectifying the campus loan market this year, many unqualified online lenders have been shut down. This 'Que Qian Bei' wasn't directly shut down; it seems it went bankrupt due to poor management."

"These past two years, anything related to finance has been difficult," Lawyer An said with emotion. "When P2P exploded, it dragged many finance-related industries down with it."

"I'm not in the mood to listen to you discuss economic issues, unless you have the ability to persuade the underworld's Yin Si (underworld government) to also start a heaven-and-earth banking business."

Zhou Ze stood up and continued,

"Let's start with this 'Que Qian Bei.' Where is the company registered?"

"In Tongcheng."

Zhou Ze nodded thoughtfully.

Generally speaking, ghosts have limitations. They may seem magical and unfathomable, but for a ghost from Tongcheng to run all the way to Rongcheng to cause trouble is like a pipe dream.

At this moment, Old Zhang's phone rang. He answered the call, and after a while, he hung up and looked at Zhou Ze.

"Wang Shen's phone has been unlocked. The last app he used before he died was 'Que Qian Bei.'"

"Can we still find the company's operations point in Tongcheng? Even if it's just the old one?"

"We've already found it. It's in Chongchuan, not far from South Street."

"Heh, right at our doorstep."

Zhou Ze leaned on his crutch.

"Let's go take a look."

………………

For every object, there is a shady side to its shiny side.

This place

is really not far from the bustling area of Tongcheng's old city center, just two blocks away, but it's like Mexico next to Uncle Sam.

Dirty,

messy,

poor,

old residential area,

alleys full of sewage,

filled with the atmosphere of a rural-urban fringe area from the 1990s.

It is said that this area was originally planned for demolition and redevelopment, but due to various reasons, it was not successful. At that time, the real estate construction industry was booming.

After that, as the cost of demolition and resettlement increased, this place was shelved and became a "scar" in the city of Tongcheng.

The headquarters of "Que Qian Bei" was in this alley, seemingly a rented residential building. The sign was still hanging at the entrance of the alley, even though the company had long gone out of business, still preserving the traces of its existence.

Following the signs all the way in,

Zhou Ze's crutch propped against the side of the ditch, his body standing on one side.

Lawyer An, the old Taoist, and Old Zhang were all standing behind him.

They stopped,

not because they wanted to take a group photo here,

like "The bookstore staff exorcised demons here on such-and-such day."

It was because they saw through the window glass

that the online loan company, which should have gone out of business long ago,

was still bustling with activity inside,

a busy office scene.

The house was

filled with ghostly energy.

This was a model of dedication, continuing to work even after death.

Zhou Ze lit a cigarette

and joked with a smile,

"We should find a camera that can capture them and send the photos to the people in the Yin Si (underworld government) to see.

They're all dead ghosts.

Look how dedicated others are,

and how ashamed they should be for slacking off."

The old Taoist immediately prepared to flatter him, agreeing,

"Boss is right. After the photos are developed,

should we also hang one up in our bookstore………………"