Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

{TL Note: Nongfu Spring is a famous brand of mineral water in China.}

Zhou Ze transported the corpse back to the bookstore with the scooter before morning arrived. As for Xu Qinglang, he had no choice but to hail a ride back.

He had come here in a palanquin, but there was no palanquin to send him back!

Zhou Ze placed the corpse in the freezer on the second floor before going downstairs to take a shower. Xu Qinglang walked into the bookstore just after Zhou Ze came out of the shower. The man glanced at his wet hair and teased, “You should really control yourself.”

“Very funny,” Zhou Ze replied flatly.

Xu Qinglang shook his head and left the bookstore. He was quite worn out too.

Zhou Ze locked the door and went to the second floor. He stood beside the freezer and observed the corpse.

The woman was indeed very beautiful, with a unique temperament. It was quite common for women to marry at a young age in the past. Some girls already became mothers by the age of sixteen. As a result, Madam Bai’s corpse looked as young as a high school student, with a natural and alluring temperament.

Xu Qinglang’s charm was like a blossoming flower, but Madam Bai’s charm was reserved.

That being said, Zhou Ze was not so desperate that he would indulge in wild and fanciful thoughts over a woman’s corpse. His thoughts were somewhere else.

His nails would occasionally touch the woman’s body when he was transporting it back to the bookstore with the scooter. Every time it happened, it felt like an electric current was surging into his body from his nails and the corpse.

Luckily, Xu Qinglang was not around when it happened. Otherwise, he would feel utterly ashamed, as he had been moaning just like Xu Qinglang was on the palanquin.

Zhou Ze discovered that the cold aura of the corpse had halved when he arrived at the bookstore.

The body was like a rechargeable battery. He had just taken some energy from it, but it should not be a problem. The body would slowly recharge on its own.

He raised his hands and looked at his nails as they elongated. The black nails surprisingly had some blood-red lines on them now. It was likely because of the energy the nails had absorbed from the body.

They were somewhat fascinating…

Zhou Ze smiled and grabbed the glass of warm water he brought upstairs with him. He was surprised when he realized that the water was icy cold.

The temperature on the second floor was even lower than the outside because of the corpse. Somehow, Zhou Ze was quite insensitive to the cold.

Unfortunately, it was not summer at the moment. Otherwise, he might even save on the cost of turning on the air-conditioner as long as the corpse was in the bookstore. It might even drive the mosquitoes away.

Zhou Ze slept on the ground beside the freezer that night. He actually had a good rest.

The little girl mentioned that Zhou Ze could easily fall asleep without the freezer by hugging her. It seemed like the corpse had the same effect.

——

Zhou Ze stretched when he woke up the next morning. He placed his nails on the corpse’s stomach and immediately felt the same coldness surging into his body.

It felt extremely pleasant…

However, the sensation only lasted for half a minute. It seemed that the corpse had only recharged that much energy over the night.

Madam Bai mentioned that she was worried her body would misbehave after she left. Xu Qinglang also mentioned that the evil presence would turn the body into a gyonshi. However, it was unlikely that any of their worries would happen, since he could easily absorb the evil presence that the body accumulated every day.

He had no idea if the energy he absorbed would be of any use to him, but he was quite content with the pleasant sensation he felt from doing so!

——

After having a meal in Xu Qinglang’s restaurant, Zhou Ze went back to the bookstore and sat down behind the counter lazily. He was wondering which book he should read when his phone rang.

It was a call from his sister-in-law. “Xu Le, you should come back.”

“What’s wrong?” Zhou Ze would not believe that his sister-in-law was actually concerned about his well being. The girl was currently at her rebellious stage. She was only concerned about herself.

“Your uncle came. Come and bring him away.” The sister-in-law sounded impatient.

“My uncle?” Zhou Ze frowned. He remembered Xu Le was an orphan, just like him. However, Xu Le did not grow up in an orphanage as he did. His parents had passed away soon after he was born. “Alright, I’m coming back.”

Zhou Ze hung up the call and asked Xu Qinglang to look after the bookstore for him. He hailed a ride to pay the Lin family a visit.

Wang Ke had advised him to separate himself from Xu Le’s social relationships temporarily, but things had changed. He was once an illegal immigrant living in the dark, but he was now a temporary official of the government. He no longer had to worry much about the possible dangers of his situation.

Furthermore, Zhou Ze had also read Xu Le’s posts online. He did recall reading about Xu Le’s uncle. The man had been supporting Xu Le financially while he was studying in university.

There were things he needed to settle since he had claimed Xu Le’s body. Xu Le had long gone to Hell to be reincarnated. The poor devil had nothing to do with the shift of Zhou Ze’s personalities. It was only the side effect of claiming another person’s body.

——

When Zhou Ze arrived at his destination, he saw a man in a sweater with wrinkles sitting on the stairs. He was smoking a cigarette.

The old man had a few plastic bags with him. One had some chicken and duck, while the other contained something like sausages.

“Ah Le (Xu Le)!” The old man quickly rose to his feet when he saw Xu Le. He patted the young man on the shoulder. “You’ve grown taller again.”

Zhou Ze smiled. He did not ask why his uncle was smoking on the stairs. It was completely unnecessary.

Even if his uncle was smoking at the stairs because he did not want to smoke indoors, he would still leave the gifts inside the house. The only possibility was the Lin family did not welcome him. They did not even let him go inside.

Considering the tone his sister-in-law had when she called him, it was enough to clarify their attitude toward his uncle.

That being said, he had no reason to blame the Lin family. His relationship with the Lin family was already on the verge of collapsing.

“Have you eaten?” Zhou Ze asked.

“Not yet,” the old man replied honestly.

“Let’s go eat then.”

“Sure.”

——

Zhou Ze chose a restaurant. He ordered a few dishes and a bottle of white wine.

The old man poured himself some wine and took a few sips. It was quite obvious that the man was not in a good mood. He was disheartened by the way the Lin family had treated him, even though they were still relatives by marriage.

“Ah Le, if you aren’t happy here, you can always come home.” His uncle patted himself on the chest. “The government has announced several policies to help the poor. Life isn’t as tough as it used to be. Besides, you are a university graduate too. We can just build a specialized poultry farm and easily get by in life.”

“Sure, we’ll discuss it again later,” Zhou Ze said apathetically.

The man knew Xu Le did not usually drink, thus he did not ask Xu Le to drink with him. He sighed and slowly finished the bottle of wine himself. He also ate two bowls of rice. The two left the restaurant after Zhou Ze paid the bill.

“Take these, they didn’t want my gifts,” Xu Le’s uncle handed Zhou Ze the plastic bags. “I’m going back in the afternoon.”

“Alright,” Zhou Ze did not ask the man to stay.

The man seemed to be a good drinker. Zhou Ze hailed a cab for him and paid the fees to the bus station in advance. He then went back to his bookstore.

——

Xu Qinglang was sitting in front of the restaurant. Zhou Ze placed the gifts in front of him.

“What are these for?”

“Just use them for ingredients,” Zhou Ze found himself a chair and sat down.

“Sure,” Xu Qinglang gladly accepted the gifts. He never asked Zhou Ze to pay anyways. “By the way, you told me your real name is Zhou Ze, but you never mentioned what you did for living before.”

“I was a doctor,” Zhou Ze said.

It was unnecessary to keep it a secret. Besides, he was no longer an ‘illegal immigrant’.

“A doctor? You really are the perfect match for your wife, then,” Xu Qinglang took a puff of the cigarette and mentioned, “I haven’t seen your wife in days…”

“It’s over,” Zhou Ze replied neutrally.

“Mm.”

——

The two smoked for a while before Zhou Ze went back into the bookstore. He did not lock the door as he already asked Xu Qinglang to keep an eye out for him.

Zhou Ze sat behind the counter and turned on the computer. He clicked on an icon that brought up a video.

Zhou Ze had installed some surveillance cameras recently. One was located close to the stairs, and the other was located on the top left corner of the bookstore.

Zhou Ze subconsciously took a few sips of water from the glass on the counter. He proceeded to fast forward the time of the recording.

Zhou Ze left the door open and asked Xu Qinglang to keep an eye out for him on purpose.

The day before, Madam Bai had invited him to her place and sent a palanquin to pick up Xu Qinglang too. Even though she explained that she was only pulling a prank on Xu Qinglang because of a joke he said when he was young, Zhou Ze was struggling to believe it.

He had brought the corpse back to his bookstore. As such, if Madam Bai was somehow related to Xu Qinglang, the man would have done something in the morning.

It was necessary to be vigilant toward others, especially considering that he was no longer human.

The camera showed that Xu Qinglang had come into the bookstore around half past eleven in the morning.

Zhou Ze took another sip from the glass. For some reason, the water was a little sweet.

He must have imagined it, or perhaps he was overjoyed because he had guessed right?

However, Xu Qinglang only sat down and read the newspapers for half an hour. He put the newspaper back and left without going upstairs.

Did he guess wrong? Was he gauging the heart of a gentleman with his own mean measure?

Zhou Ze twisted his lips and burst out laughing. He emptied the glass of water.

When Zhou Ze was about to close the window and go to the washroom to wash his face, he suddenly remembered the camera that was installed at the stairs. The camera was covering the stairs and the counter.

It did not make any difference, since Xu Qinglang never went to the counter or the stairs.

However, since the surveillance cameras were quite cheap, they only had limited storage. Zhou Ze had to manually delete the recordings to empty the storage.

Zhou Ze opened the recording of the second surveillance camera out of boredom.

However, he quickly noticed a white figure moving past.

“Mm?!” Zhou Ze quickly rewound the recording with the cursor while reaching for the glass of water, before he realized he had already emptied it.

He did not bother grabbing another glass of water, as he was fully preoccupied with the recording. He slowly clicked on the timeframe of the recording.

He soon found the part he was interested in. A woman in white clothes slowly came down the stairs!

-The corpse, it can move!-

Zhou Ze felt his blood surging inside his brain, together with a strong sense of danger. His heart was pounding heavily and his breathing intensified, too.

The recording was still playing as Zhou Ze was immersed in his thoughts.

Madam Bai’s corpse reached the counter and picked up the glass on it. She reached her tongue out into the glass and rotated it around in a few circles, like how a dog normally drank water.

She put the glass of water back down. It was as if she had woken up from her sleep just because she was feeling thirsty.

She turned around and slowly headed upstairs.

Zhou Ze took a deep breath. He looked at the glass of water he had just emptied.

-No wonder the water was a little sweet…-