An Lawyer drove to a nearby town to buy a shovel and some other things, then returned and started digging a pit.

Zhou Ze squatted beside him, smoking and drinking water, with no intention of helping. An Lawyer didn't force him.

An Lawyer was also strong. He spent half the afternoon digging a large pit more than a person tall.

"Still digging? I'm tired just watching."

Zhou Ze said, squatting beside him.

"I'm not burying them; I'm burying my past."

An Lawyer wiped his sweat and continued digging without stopping. When digging a pit for others, you might think about being lazy and stalling, but when digging a pit for yourself, you have to make yourself comfortable.

You have to be able to stretch out your arms and legs when you lie down; you can't feel cramped.

Boss Zhou had only been in the business for a short time, and his path was a bit peculiar and bumpy. Unlike An Lawyer, who had spent more time working in the underworld than he had genuinely lived in the yang world in his previous life.

The focus of life had long shifted, like Zhuang Zhou's dream of a butterfly.

Even though he had been stripped of his origin and background, even though he had been hunted down by the Yin Si (underworld government) and almost lost his life, he treated the Yin Si like his first love, even after it had abused him a thousand times.

What was buried was the old man Lu Pingzhi.

But what was truly buried was An Lawyer's own feelings for his time in the system.

Two candles and two bags of yellow wine were bought casually in town; they weren't anything grand.

In fact,

there was no need for too much grandeur,

funerals were for the living to see;

and they,

were no longer living.

There was no tombstone erected, firstly because it was too troublesome, and secondly because there was no need for it. Even if you specially erected a tombstone, would you write "Tomb of Lu Pingzhi, a Ninth Hall Yin Si official" on it?

Or "Collective Cenotaph of the Ninth Hall Equality King"?

No matter how you wrote it, it would look a bit chuuni (cringey), and if it was really put up, it might be dug up and played with by bored passersby.

The candles burned for the most part,

and the yellow wine was also sprinkled in front of the grave.

An Lawyer stood for a long time before picking up the suit he had taken off and placed beside him while working.

He said:

"Boss, let's go back."

On the way back, Zhou Ze drove because An Lawyer's hands had blisters from the digging.

He usually didn't do any heavy work, so suddenly working with a shovel for an afternoon was bound to be too much for him.

An Lawyer smoked, his eyes a little dazed. Zhou Ze rarely saw An Lawyer in this state.

A little melancholy, a little sad, and also a little confused and at a loss, like a lost lamb.

Baa~~~~

The first time Zhou Ze met An Lawyer was in Doctor Lin's car. At that time, Zhou Ze had an instinctive dislike for him.

Then they ate together, and An Lawyer "ordered food."

He also gave Zhou Ze a card.

Later, in Changzhou, An Lawyer was also shameless.

But in any case, he had always been very positive, very upbeat, and good at giving people pep talks. He had to drink the first bowl himself.

But now,

it was a rare scene.

"Hey, still grieving?"

"Boss, I now feel like I'm a laid-off employee during the state-owned enterprise reforms.

The Ninth Hall,

The Ninth Hall,

Damn it,

you don't understand, or maybe you don't have this kind of experience.

The lofty yamen (government office),

suddenly collapsed,

and my heart feels so empty."

"Mm."

"In the past, the factory provided food and drink, and the children could go to the factory's elementary school, and even middle school. If they got sick, they could get reimbursed for medical treatment at the factory, and the factory could also take care of housing.

Suddenly, one day, you're told that the factory is going bankrupt, that it's gone, and that no one will really take care of you anymore.

People who don't know what it's like will tell you that you have hands and feet, so why don't you start your own business? Why don't you go and work for someone else?

Bullshit,

they simply don't understand what a factory meant to us at that time;

it wasn't just a job, a way to make a living,

it was life,

it was faith,

it was dignity.

In my heart,

now,

it really feels a bit empty."

"It's just one less; aren't there still nine?"

"This isn't like eating steamed buns. If you eat one, there are still several left. A thousand-mile dike is destroyed by an ant hole. If one is gone, the remaining nine are actually shaken.

The entire Yin Si,

the entire Hell,

is really going to change.

I always thought it was just the wind rising, but who knew that the sky was falling."

"Alright, continue to grieve."

"Oh, right." An Lawyer shook his head and said, "Later, pass by the Xiaoxi Station to pick up the little zombie."

"It's so late; hasn't he finished school yet?"

"Didn't Wang Rui sign up for a piano class? He goes to learn piano every day after school, so I signed him up too."

"Heh heh."

"I also bought him a piano. I estimate it'll be at the store tomorrow."

"You're really willing to spend money."

"It's not a question of being willing or unwilling. As a laid-off worker with no one to rely on, I look forward to getting a good night's sleep;

that's not too much to ask, is it?"

"It's not too much."

"When we get back, I'll try to contact the underworld and ask what's going on.

Boss,

you know,

what scares me the most

isn't actually the fact that the Ninth Hall is gone."

"What is it?"

"It's that the Ninth Hall is gone, but I didn't receive any news at all. That's the scariest thing."

Zhou Ze nodded.

"Looking at it this way, no, no, let me recall, wait a moment..."

An Lawyer seemed to have suddenly thought of something.

He immediately closed his eyes and began to think.

After a short while,

he immediately slapped his thigh,

exclaiming:

"Damn it, so that's how it is!"

"I'm driving," Zhou Ze reminded him. "If you keep startling me like this, after the car accident, we won't have to ask anyone; we can go down and find the answers ourselves."

"No, Boss, that judge who's going to run the training, he, he, his surname is Lu!"

"Huh?" Zhou Ze was stunned for a moment. "What does that have to do with the Ninth Hall?"

The First Hall, King Qinguang Jiang; the Second Hall, King Chujiang Li; the Third Hall, King Songdi Yu; the Fourth Hall, King Wuguan Lu; the Fifth Hall, Yama, Son of Heaven Bao;

The Sixth Hall, King Biancheng Bi; the Seventh Hall, King Taishan Dong; the Eighth Hall, King Dushi Huang; the Ninth Hall, King Pingdeng Lu; the Tenth Hall, King Zhuanlun Xue;

Each hall has its own jurisdiction and responsibilities. For example, the First Hall, King Qinguang Jiang, is in charge of premature death and life, governing the good and bad omens of the netherworld, and guiding good people to ascend after their death.

The Ninth Hall, King Pingdeng Lu, governs Fengdu, suppressing the evil ghosts of hell while also shouldering the work of criminal punishment.

Each hall is actually equivalent to an ancient great feudal lord guarding one side, and the "lackeys" under each hall, the so-called bureaucrats, except in special circumstances, most of them actually change their surnames to be the same as the king of that hall, a bit like the meaning of ancient family slaves.

So, the old man's name was Lu Pingzhi, which followed the surname of King Pingdeng.

"I remember now, that judge came out of the Ninth Hall back then."

As An Lawyer spoke, he became more and more excited, grabbing Zhou Ze's shoulders with both hands and shaking them, his lips biting tightly.

Zhou Ze was forced to pull over to the side of the road.

"Boss, it's very possible, very possible, very possible that this training is actually that judge, who may be responsible for reorganizing the Ninth Hall!"

An Lawyer kept taking deep breaths, panting, deep breaths, panting.

"Hey, do you want to get your blood pressure checked?"

"It must be, it must be. That Lu Pingzhi should have been up there for a while. Combining that with the news of that judge doing the training, it's almost there, it's almost there.

The Ninth Hall is gone, but Hell has blocked the news.

The kings of the other halls will definitely organize a reconstruction, although I don't know the reason for its destruction, but it should be right.

This time, it's nominally training, but in reality, it should be an assessment to select his own team.

Once you're selected, once you're picked,

you'll likely become the middle backbone of the Ninth Hall after its reconstruction!"

"And then?"

"And then, then it's a meteoric rise.

Boss, think about it, being transferred from the director of a township police station to a position in a ministry in Beijing, that's really a step up to heaven!"

"Actually, I think it's pretty good to be the director of a local police station, the heavens are high and the emperor is far away..."

As Zhou Ze spoke, he stopped talking because he saw An Lawyer looking at him with a very sad, angry, and disappointed gaze.

"Uh..."

"Sigh."

An Lawyer sighed,

reached out his finger,

and poked Zhou Ze's chest.

"..." Zhou Ze.

Can you be normal?

"Hey, Old Big Bro."

"Who are you calling?"

"I'm calling that one," An Lawyer replied. "Old Big Bro, think about it, although you definitely look down on that Ninth Hall bastard, I know that kind of small temple can't hire you.

But,

think about it,

how many evil ghosts are suppressed in Fengdu Ghost City?

Also,

every moment in Hell, there are souls that need to be punished and tortured being sent to the sixteen small hells of the Ninth Hall to receive torture and cruel punishment.

Think about it,

if you went there,

lying there all day without moving,

happy, you swallow an evil ghost;

unhappy, you swallow two evil ghosts;

bored with nothing to do, you swallow three evil ghosts;

how wonderful would that life be?"

An Lawyer knew that he couldn't persuade Boss Zhou,

so he planned to report directly to that one.

It was truly a pity for An Lawyer's painstaking efforts. He had analyzed everything. A great opportunity was right in front of him, but other ghost messengers didn't have this insight and knowledge, nor could they know this kind of secret.

"He can't hear what you're saying now. He has to sleep for ten days or half a month after just coming out."

"Uh..." An Lawyer.

"Also, he can't openly return to Hell, nor can he eat and drink in the Ninth Hall.

He's just a tsundere (cold and aloof) teddy bear,

fierce at home,

shouting to fuck the sky,

but he's a coward when he goes out."

An Lawyer didn't dare to answer.

Zhou Ze could say these words, could joke about them,

but he couldn't afford to answer.

Otherwise, what if that one woke up next time

and gave him a punch like he did to Lu Pingzhi without saying a word?

That one,

didn't have a good temper.

"If the higher-ups in Hell find out that he's still alive," Zhou Ze said, shrugging his shoulders and then "heh heh."

"Then forget it, Boss, you should go and try your luck. No, wait, what if the boss is favored and they insist..."

That's impossible,

someone like you,

no leader would want.

"..." Zhou Ze.

"Then I'll go back and talk to Lao Zhang more to see if he can get some crash course training. The first thing to do is to correct Lao Zhang's thoughts and attitude.

The people of the yang world are people, but the people who have died are not people?

I want to tell him,

the people of Hell,

are eager for him to save them!"