Midnight Bookstore

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

The girl did not reply. Zhou Ze slowly lit up a second cigarette and took out the girl’s box of foundation. He opened the lid, about to treat it as a cigarette tray.

Her parents were still arguing outside the room. Her mother started crying, saying that the man had no conscience. The husband cried too, saying that the woman had changed.

The girl slowly lifted her gaze and looked at Zhou Ze, “I don’t know what you mean. Lin Yi is my best friend, and you are her brother-in-law, which means…”

Thud! Zhou Ze took out a dagger from his pocket and stuck it into the girl’s desk.

It was one of the gyonshi’s burial objects. It was exaggerating to say the dagger could slice through metal, but it was still very sharp.

Zhou Ze did not want to show off his nails, so resembling Mei Chaofeng’s Nine Yin Skeleton Claws, in front of normal people, as it would bring him more trouble. Zhou Ze hated trouble.

{TL Note: Mei Chaofeng is a character from The Legend of Condor Heroes; she’s well-known for her Nine Yin Skeleton Claw.} 

A dagger sticking in the table meant more than words. The girl’s expression began to change.

Zhou Ze thought it was enough to do the job. He had only come to take back his money and his naive sister-in-law’s purse. He did not want any trouble, even though he believed it was best if the girl ended up being hit by a car and died.

Zhou Ze had taken the warning from the guy in Chengdu. He had no intention of serving justice by himself. He did not have the time, nor did he have the sentiment. He just needed money because of how poor he was.

Sometimes, life really demanded a lot of courage, especially when he looked around him.

His wife was extremely rich. She had bought his house just to remember him, and she drove a Cayenne. His sister-in-law was rich, too. Five thousand was just part of her monthly allowance.

Xu Qinglang had more than twenty properties, Bai Yingying had lots of burial possessions.

He was surrounded by rich people, yet he was living like a povo!

However, Zhou Ze still underestimated the girl.

She was oddly calm since she had long ‘trained’ herself by entering society at a young age; calm enough to intimidate Zhou Ze.

The girl slowly unbuttoned her shirt until only her lingerie was left. However, she was prepared to take off her underwear, too.

“Are you trying to kill me?” the girl smiled. She did not seem to be panicking at all. Her eyes were unbelievably deep. “Come kill me then.” The girl took a step closer to Zhou Ze. “My father is paralyzed on his bed. He wouldn’t be able to stop you. My mother and I are women. We won’t stand a chance against you. Just kill me and my family,” the girl said calmly as she approached Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze glanced at the girl while admiring her body. He immediately felt his head hurting.

The girl seemed fearless. She was confident that he had no intention of killing her.

Zhou Ze began to regret it. If he knew better, he would have asked Bai Yingying to handle the situation. It would have been more suitable for a woman to deal with a woman.

“Or maybe I can scream at the top of my lungs and accuse you of trying to rape me…” the girl lowered her face, sticking her young face close to Zhou Ze. “And then, my parents are going to come into the room after hearing my voice. The neighbors will come, too. Someone will call the cops, and your life will be ruined.”

Zhou Ze smiled and said, “So you’re saying that not only will I not get my money back, I have to pay extra to avoid trouble, too?”

“I believe you aren’t short on funds, right?” The girl lifted her head. Her lower jaw was smooth, her collar bones were attractive, even her brows were alluring, “The Lin family is pretty rich.”

-But I’m poor.- Zhou Ze let out a helpless sigh.

“A thousand yuan, I’ll sleep with you once.” The girl stared at Zhou Ze and licked her lips, “Right here in my house, just beside my parents’ room, what do you think?”

Zhou Ze immediately felt the strong presence of an old driver. He felt ashamed.

After his last failure, he suddenly felt that the girl was experienced enough to help him succeed this time. She was quite pretty , but she was a little vicious inside.

“Is this how you forced your teacher to kill himself?” Zhou Ze asked.

The girl was stunned. She frowned slightly, surprised that Zhou Ze would know about that.

“He was nice to you, he even helped you on many occasions, and even invited you to have dinner at his house considering the situation you were in. Yet you falsely accused him of sexually abusing you.”

“I have let him down,” the girl shrugged. “It’s true that he didn’t touch me, but I really didn’t expect him to jump off a building. I just wanted some money from the school.”

“I bet your parents know the truth, too,” Zhou Ze asked.

“Of course they do,” the girl smiled. She straightened herself and looked at Zhou Ze, “How did you learn all this?”

“What you did isn’t right,” Zhou Ze said sternly. He slightly raised his hand and mimicked the style of the middle-aged man who came to his bookstore. “He strictly abided by his conscience and moral values. These are the most important things for him, yet you destroyed them.”

“Are you here to teach me a lesson?” The girl did not understand what Zhou Ze was up to.

She had already taken off her clothes. She was waiting for the man to undo the last button, but the man was giving her a lecture instead.

She had a client before, a professor who liked to lecture people. He was very generous, too. He even asked the girl to focus on her studies, instead of doing what she was doing. He asked the girl to love herself more.

The professor ended up doing it seven times in a single night.

People like the professor were the greatest hypocrites. They already had the urge to unfasten their belt, yet they still had to pretend to be gentlemen.

“You should rectify your teacher’s reputation. He was set up,” Zhou Ze said.

“And why would I do that?” The girl backed away and put on her clothes back on. She realized the man was not interested in her.

“Because of the conscience you should have as a human.”

“Conscience as a human?” the girl shrugged and teased. “I never wanted to be a human. If I could, I would rather be a ghost.”

“Oh, is that so?” Zhou Ze rose to his feet slowly.

He put his hands behind him. His nails had grown longer. His eyes began to emit a dark light. His temperament was different, too.

His carefree sister-in-law had wet her pants in fear when she saw this appearance. The girl was terrified, too. She fell to the floor and pointed at Zhou Ze. She was so scared that she could not speak a word.

“Are…are you human or ghost…”

Zhou Ze retrieved his five thousand yuan and his sister-in-law’s purse from the drawer and put them in his pockets.

He was not interested in anything else. He had only come for his money, it was reasonable. He was not planning to do anything else.

Before he left, he bent forward, lifted the girl’s chin, and said seriously, “I really hope that you become a ghost soon, so I can leave you without a chance to be reincarnated.”

Following that, Zhou Ze left the house and its foul atmosphere.

The girl sat on the floor. She was still trembling.

——

Bai Yingying was waiting outside, chewing gum. When Zhou Ze came out, she took the initiative to offer Zhou Ze a stick too, as if she was trying to fawn on him.

“Boss, did you get the money back?” Zhou Ze nodded. “How about the girl?” Bai Yingying did not really care about the money. That money could not buy any of the burial possessions she had. She was just curious about what had happened to the girl.

Her boss had beaten the crap out of her before, so she was looking forward to hearing what he had done to the girl.

“She’s home,” Zhou Ze proceeded to hail a ride.

“Home? She died in her home?” Bai Yingying asked.

“I didn’t do anything to her,” Zhou Ze replied.

“Why not!?” Bai Yingying was confused. “She deserves to be punished.”

“It’s not my jurisdiction,” Zhou Ze said calmly.

“Boss, you’re such a coward.”

“Her teacher already said it’s none of my business. Why would I bother to look for more trouble?”

Zhou Ze pointed at the bushes nearby and said, “Besides, who knows how many bloodshot eyes were in there waiting for me to make a mistake?”

Zhou Ze had no clue what had finally happened to the guy in Chengdu. He could not tell if the little girl had actually gathered other Envoys to take him out, including the faceless woman along the Yellow Spring Path.

Zhou Ze did hope the guy could overcome the situation, since he owed the man a favor for warning him in his dream. However, he could not judge the living like the guy was doing.

He was a doctor in his past life. He only knew how to save lives, instead of killing people.

——

The two hailed a ride back to the bookstore. Bai Yingying did not say a single word along the way. It was obvious that she was displeased by Zhou Ze’s approach.

When they arrived, Zhou Ze saw the man was still reading books. The man did not run away, even after Zhou Ze threatened to send him to Hell.

“Get me a glass of water,” Zhou Ze said to Bai Yingying.

“I’m tired, I’m going to get some rest,” Bai Yingying coldly harrumphed and sat behind the counter.

Zhou Ze did not say another word. He sat down in front of the man.

“Is your family still around?”

The man raised his head upon hearing the words, “My parents have passed away. There’s only my sister left.”

“Give me your sister’s contact number, or her address.”

Zhou Ze took out his phone and played a video recording. “Or maybe I can scream at the top of my lungs and accuse you of trying to rape me… and then, my parents are going to come into the room after hearing my voice. The neighbors will come, too. Someone will call the cops, and your life will be ruined…”

Zhou Ze had recorded everything that had happened.

The middle-aged man’s mouth was slightly open. He looked thrilled and hesitant. He said in a trembling voice, “Her life will be ruined if this is released to the public.”

“So, who’s going to be responsible for what happened to you, your school, and your relatives?” Zhou Ze replied. “And your reputation as a teacher…”

The man seemed to be struggling. He finally nodded, “Alright, I’ll tell you my sister’s address.”

The man’s body began to vanish after he gave Zhou Ze the address. He seemed to be melting into the ground.

He had finished the book, and his grudge was resolved too. He had proceeded to Hell without Zhou Ze’s help. The educated man left in a carefree manner.

—

Zhou Ze sent the video recording to Bai Yingying. She exclaimed in surprise, “Boss, if his sister shows this recording to the cops, he won’t have to wear the hat when he reaches the Yellow Spring!”

“Hah…” Zhou Ze laughed thinly, “He won’t be able to take the hat off.”

“Why is that? The accusations should be overturned,” Bai Yingying was confused, “Facts speak louder than words.”

“Normally, the news of a firefighter dying in the line of duty has fewer views than a pet being tortured to death.”

“What do you mean?” Bai Yingying was struggling to understand him. She had just learned about the internet. She only knew how to play some single-player games.

“Do you know what attracts attention the most?”

“About this case? Isn’t it the truth behind it?”

“No, people only care whether the ‘truth’ they see is interesting.” Zhou Ze pointed at his head. “It’s difficult to tell how many people that put the hat on him will learn the truth. Even if some of them see the news, what do you think their reaction would be?”

“Ashamed and guilty?”

“A normal person would feel that way, if they are accused of doing the wrong thing face-to-face.”

“Shouldn’t that be the case here, too?”

“But if you’re sitting in front of a screen, most people will only react a certain way.”

“What way?”

“Oh…”

“Oh?” Bai Yingying was confused. She asked further, “And then?”

“Then they will just continue on with their own business…”