The ultimate master in the city

Chapter 53 Life and Death

As soon as this person entered, the temperature in the entire cabin seemed to drop, becoming chilly and damp. Sun Zhenguo and the others shivered and became fully awake.

The man smiled politely at them, then sat down in the corner and closed his eyes to rest, clutching the book tightly in his arms. The book's cover was brown and covered with strange patterns; it was unclear what kind of book it was.

Sun Zhenguo and the others stared at the man for a while, thinking that it was a bit silly for him to be wearing a thick woolen robe in the middle of summer, but they didn't think anything of it, after all, they didn't know the customs of the local mountain people.

The boat slowly sailed away, drifting on the Wujiang River under the night sky. The banks were rugged cliffs and dense forests. The evening breeze made a soft pattering sound on the deck. Sun Zhenguo and the others hadn't felt anything before, but now they suddenly felt a strange sense of unease.

Two hours passed, and the boat had no idea where it had reached. Sun Zhenguo and Li Mao chatted idly, while Zhou Hong and Zhang Yang next to them started to doze off again.

Just then, out of the blue, a woman's crying came from the shore. The crying was full of resentment and anger, making people's scalps tingle.

Everyone in the cabin jumped in surprise. Sun Zhenguo shouted towards the cabin entrance, "Captain, what's going on? Why is a woman crying?"

The boat captain poked his head in, his face pale, and said, "I don't know, it's pitch black on the shore, I can't see anything."

Sun Zhenguo and the others exchanged glances, feeling a chill run down their spines. A woman crying in the deep mountains in the middle of the night—it all seemed incredibly eerie.

At this moment, the long-robed man who had been resting with his eyes closed in the corner suddenly spoke up: "My sister is reluctant to let me go. Wait for me a moment, I'll go and comfort her."

He stood up, put the book aside, and said to Sun Zhenguo and the others before leaving, "Don't touch my book, thank you!"

Sun Zhenguo and the others nodded in agreement. The boatman brought the boat to shore, and the man in the long robe slowly disembarked.

As soon as the man in the long robe left, Sun Zhenguo asked in a low voice, "What was that man doing? He was so mysterious. The ship has been sailing for hours, and his sister was still able to catch up. It's really strange."

Li Mao chuckled and said, "Who in the mountains knows anything about this? You say she's my sister, but I suspect she's a lover."

Zhang Yang chuckled and said, "That's good. We're just waiting on the boat while he goes off to meet his sister."

Zhou Hong, a middle school teacher, had an instinctive interest in books. Driven by curiosity, she glanced out of the cabin, walked over, opened the man's book, glanced at it casually, and muttered, "What kind of rubbish is this?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Zhenguo and the others crowded around to take a look. They noticed that the book's paper was stiff and had a faint yellow tinge, suggesting it was quite old. Most strangely, the content was written in traditional Chinese characters:

Zhang Chengjia, 27, died in the year of the Ox and the Rooster, at the age of 36. He had been wandering for 3 years and has been detained!

Wang Puyi, 21, died in the summer of the Gengchen year at the age of 48. He wandered for 7 years, practicing as a ghost general. With the help of the monk Kuxin of Xuankong Temple, he has been detained.

Su Hehua was 7 years old when he died in the year Gengyi of the Republic of China at the age of 22. He had been wandering for 75 years. He was captured by the first tribulation of the Ghost King by the shackles and locks and was led back by me.

wait wait wait.

As Sun Zhenguo looked at it, he suddenly realized something. This book... why does it look like a register of dead people? Strange robes, strange books? He couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine and quickly said, "Stop looking, stop looking, they're coming back."

Zhou Hong quickly put the book away, and the four of them sat back down, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Zhang Yang said, "Is this guy crazy? What is he writing?"

Sun Zhenguo glared at him. "Don't talk nonsense."

Zhang Yang opened his mouth to speak, but the cabin door creaked open, and the man in the long robe returned, carrying a bulging cloth bag that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

Back in his seat, he glanced at the book, paused, and asked Sun Zhenguo and the other three with a grim expression, "Did you touch my book?"

Feeling guilty, Sun Zhenguo and the others quickly shook their heads, "No, no! It was probably just the boat rocking."

The man in the long robe snorted, opened the book, took out a brush and wrote something on it, then closed his eyes to rest.

The boat continued sailing away, and Sun Zhenguo and the other three suddenly lost their sleepiness, so they just chatted in a dry manner.

Before they knew it, it was the middle of the night. Suddenly, the man in the long robe opened his eyes and called out, "Captain, I need to relieve myself. Wait a moment."

After the boat stopped, he hurriedly got off with his bag.

Zhou Hong had been pondering something lately. Her brow furrowed, she walked over and reopened the man's book, turning to the last page. Her expression changed drastically, and she asked, "What was the name of the girl with the umbrella we met yesterday?"

Sun Zhenguo thought for a moment but couldn't remember. Zhang Yang, who had a good memory, said, "I think her name is He Xiaohua. Why are you mentioning her? It's kind of scary."

Zhou Hong waved, "Come and take a look."

The three of them were curious and ran over to take a look. When they looked at each other, they saw a hint of confusion and fear in each other's eyes.

The last line on the last page of the book reads: He Xiaohua, born in 1922, died in 1920. At the age of 21, after wandering for three years, she was arrested.

The ink wasn't dry yet.

Zhou Hong slammed the book shut and plopped back down, followed by the other three, who also sat down, panting heavily.

The woman who just cried...

The contents of the book...

They all figured out what was going on, and couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines.

Zhang Yang said dejectedly, "My God, what on earth happened to us?"

Just as Sun Zhenguo was about to speak, the man in the long robe returned, glaring coldly at them, and said, "You promised the ghosts, but you broke your word and became rich. You are not good people. Now you have twice peeked into the Book of Life and Death. You have lost all your virtue and your yang energy has dissipated. You will hardly live for more than three months. You should think twice."

He picked up the book, turned around, and disappeared.

"At the time, we all had a vague suspicion that this person might not be human. We could only vaguely understand what he was saying, but we all knew it was definitely not a good thing."

Sun Zhenguo said pitifully to Zhou Fengchen, "We had no desire to continue, so we ended our journey in the next town and went home. More than a month passed without anything happening. The four of us even chatted about it on QQ, but we couldn't really get to the bottom of it. Then, last month, Zhou Hong suddenly became unreachable. Zhang Yang lived nearby, so I asked him to inquire about her and see what was going on. The next day, Zhang Yang told me that Zhou Hong was dead!"

At this point, Sun Zhenguo's body trembled violently, and his eyes were filled with terror.

Zhou Fengchen patted him on the shoulder. "Don't be afraid! And then, what happened to Zhang Yang and Li Mao?"

After being patted on the shoulder by Zhou Fengchen, Sun Zhenguo felt less afraid and continued, "A few days after Zhou Hong died, Zhang Yang suddenly sent me a text message saying that he was also about to die. I asked him what he meant, and he said that his deceased grandfather appeared to him in a dream, saying that he had done something wrong and that his time was coming! Immediately after that, I could no longer contact Zhang Yang! At the beginning of this month, Li Mao's family posted a message in the group saying that Li Mao had also died and that his QQ number would no longer be used."

At this point, Sun Zhenguo knelt down before Zhou Fengchen with a thud: "Master! It's almost my turn, I don't want to die! I have two children in school, my wife is in poor health, and my mother is still alive. They all depend on me for support..."