Chapter 131 Departure

The next morning, Zhou Ze drove the Late Night Bookstore's only remaining car, with Yingying, and set off.

Why the only remaining one?

Don't ask. If you must know, go ask the old Taoist.

The car stereo started playing music. Huai'an wasn't too far from Tongcheng, but it wasn't exactly close either. Although they were both in the same province, there were no high-speed trains or bullet trains to Huai'an yet, so you either took a four-hour slow train or drove yourself. Considering that he'd have to find that village after arriving in Huai'an, Boss Zhou chose to drive.

Yingying sat in the passenger seat, peeling sunflower seeds for Zhou Ze. She wanted to take over driving, since she had a license, but Boss Zhou had refused outright.

Some female drivers might be a bit timid and occasionally helpless when dealing with emergencies, but with Yingying, it was the opposite. Anyway, she'd be fine in a car accident.

Come on,

Let's hurt each other!

After a four-hour drive, once they got off the highway and entered the city of Huai'an, Boss Zhou drove to the Huai'an Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall since it was on the way.

After taking Yingying around for a look, they went to visit Wu Cheng'en's former residence.

Those were pretty much the only sights to see in Huai'an. There was also the He Xia Ancient Town, but even the locals didn't bother going there.

Towards evening, Zhou Ze found a restaurant and had dinner with Yingying.

It wasn't that Boss Zhou was deliberately dragging his feet; it was simply because the small lines of text indicating the location under the painting specified that the village could only be entered between 8 PM and midnight.

After dinner, Zhou Ze set off again. The coordinates of the village weren't in the city center, but not too far from it either. He stopped in a corner area of the Lianshui District.

Surrounding them were fields. Boss Zhou got out of the car, lit a cigarette, and the evening breeze carried a hint of warmth and coolness, making him feel very comfortable.

It had been slightly hot a few days ago, but recently, a cold front had moved south, making the climate much more pleasant for Zhou Ze and Yingying, who both preferred cooler weather.

The kind of scene from *Spirited Away* that he'd imagined didn't appear, nor was there any sign of a bustling ghost market. Boss Zhou wasn't an ordinary person, so it was impossible for him to experience the disconnect of standing there thinking he was alone when actually he was surrounded by ghosts.

That was strange.

This was clearly a village that had made its fortune through gambling.

Even if it was ghost business,

How could they make money if they had so few customers?

The four young people had only said that their grandmother was seriously ill and about to die, but they hadn't said that their village was under attack. Their regular business should still be going on.

"Boss, it's time."

Zhou Ze nodded, extended his finger, and a little bit of ghost energy condensed at the fingertip, which he then used to casually point forward.

Okay, all the instructions from under the painting had been completed.

Next was to see the reaction on the other side.

The reaction from the other side was quick. As soon as Zhou Ze retracted his finger, a lantern appeared in front of him. The lantern got closer and closer, and when it arrived, Zhou Ze saw that there was a shadow carrying the lantern.

This wasn't some vague description, but because the lantern carrier really was a shadow projected onto the ground.

"Creak..."

In the field in front of him, his vision distorted for a moment, and then a bronze gate appeared before Zhou Ze. The gate was half open, with light flickering inside, and the faint sound of people talking could be heard.

"Please..."

The shadow under the lantern spoke.

If anyone else had encountered this scene, they might have had all sorts of strange reactions, but for Boss Zhou, who had even made a scene in Hell, whatever spectacle appeared wasn't really that surprising.

Zhou Ze and Yingying walked in. Inside was a dark passage, but it wasn't very long. After lifting the slightly worn curtain at the end, the casino scene that Boss Zhou had imagined didn't appear.

In front of him was a vermilion round table, plus antique chairs. Dark red curtains surrounded them, and the area was large and spacious.

On the table were wine and delicacies.

But Zhou Ze would never touch the food here. His appetite had only recently started to improve thanks to the River of Forgetfulness oral solution, and he didn't want to go back to square one overnight.

The lantern floated to a corner on its own, and the shadow disappeared.

Zhou Ze was naturally familiar and didn't show the slightest bit of timidity. He sat directly in a chair, picked up a wine glass, and smelled it. The wine was fragrant, but he still didn't drink it!

Yingying didn't sit down, but stood obediently behind her boss, fulfilling her duties as a maid.

*A Maid's Self-Cultivation* emphasized that you could be more casual at home, but outside, you must give your boss enough face and respect.

He thought that a big shot would appear next; even if it wasn't the seriously ill grandmother, at least a leader would come out to receive him. But no, Boss Zhou sat there for half an hour, facing a table of dishes that he would never touch.

There was no signal for his phone here, so he couldn't even play games to pass the time.

But Boss Zhou was decisive. Seeing that no one was coming out, he simply had Yingying put a few chairs together, lay down, and Yingying squatted beside him, massaging him.

After a while,

Zhou Ze actually fell asleep.

He wasn't faking it, and there was no need to pretend here. Tie Hanhan was in his body, plus the half-face buff, giving him the confidence of two cheat codes.

This was different from the anxiety he felt when facing Qing Shi.

The other party clearly knew his identity. Either way, it was a one-way street, with no retreat, so he wasn't afraid.

Another half hour passed.

Another door in the round hall was pushed open.

Along with it,

Came a nauseating, stale smell, a bit like a whole carriage of canned sardines that had expired for ten years being opened all at once. That pungent aroma...

Ordinary people wouldn't even get to see the actual person. Just being exposed to this smell would send them to bed for months, and if they were unlucky, they might kick the bucket directly.

Boss Zhou, who had been sleeping, felt like he had been thrown into a stinky ditch and immediately woke up, covering his nose, his face full of undisguised disgust.

They weren't relatives or friends, and he was even prepared to start fighting at any moment, so naturally, he didn't need to care about the other party's embarrassment or lack thereof.

A very bloated woman walked out of that door.

It wasn't to say that she was fat. In fact, her face, aside from the excessive rouge and powder, was a very standard oval shape, so it could be seen that her figure, excluding the extreme possibility of a huge innate difference, shouldn't be too fat.

It was just that her clothes were a bit like those that had once been popular among Western socialites: abnormally large, making the whole person look like a walking meatball.

The other party walked in, and under her skirt, three young men actually ran out. They brought over a chair and then returned under the woman's skirt.

The woman sat down, her skirt spreading out, covering a large area.

After seeing this scene, Boss Zhou couldn't help but admire her, and he even felt like his eyes had been opened. Keeping a group of gigolos under her skirt was a way of playing that blew the Bai Ma Clubhouse out of the water.

"Constable Zhou?"

The woman opened her mouth, her voice not old, but full of a deep weariness.

Zhou Ze didn't know what had happened to her, but he felt like she might have been using some special method to maintain eternal youth, but in reality, she was already running on fumes inside.

The woman's emphasis on appearance was really quite frightening.

"Mm."

Zhou Ze nodded in response.

He actually hated this kind of perfunctory small talk. Whatever it was, everyone should just get straight to the point.

In this regard, he was a bit like Tie Hanhan.

"It's an honor for this old one that you could come."

"Let me come? What's the matter? Just say it directly."

"Someone, half a month ago, made a bet here."

"The person in the painting?"

The woman nodded and continued:

"The bet was... lifespan."

Boss Zhou licked his lips. Look at how high-end their gambling was. In comparison, those who gambled on the Sanya Hainan Rendez-Vous with Russian Roulette were just too weak.

"My stake was 29 and a half years of my remaining 30 years of lifespan. His stake was one day of his life.

I don't think he got the better deal. In fact, one day of his life is worth more than 100 years of my lifespan. I think I'm the one who got the better deal."

Zhou Ze was silent. If that person really was a Lord Judge of a certain generation, then what she said was indeed correct.

One day of a Lord Judge's life was indeed far more precious than 100 years of an ordinary person's life, and it was a kind of opportunity that was hard to come by.

Looking at the woman's appearance, she must have lost, which was why she didn't have half a year left to live.

At the same time,

Qing's two buddies were still in Jinling arresting that person. If they knew that that person had just recharged a bit, maybe they wouldn't be so relaxed?

Zhou Ze leaned back slightly and said:

"Losers pay up. What do you want me to do?"

"Because, you are his guarantor in this gambling game."

Guarantor?

Why did it feel like applying for a loan or a credit card?

"Uh, is it because he still has things he won that he didn't have time to take away, so they need to be transferred to me?"

As Zhou Ze thought this, even the rotten smell seemed less repulsive. It seemed that this Lord Judge did things properly and was ethical, and this woman was also a person who valued integrity.

This trip was worth it!

The woman smiled slightly,

Her expression a bit stiff,

And said:

"Who told you that I lost?"

"Isn't it obvious? If you didn't lose, how could you have become like this?"

Besides, although the Lord Judge wasn't the same as the God of Gamblers, that kind of person must be undoubtedly excellent and mysterious in all aspects.

"Heh." The woman sneered and said, "I won."

"How is that possible..."

"He lost."

"No way?"

"And then, he welched on the debt. Not only did he not give me his day, but he also snatched away my lifespan."

"..." Zhou Ze.