Chapter 120: Fengdu Guest (10)
The time in the underworld is calculated based on the moon. One month is from the new moon to the full moon and then to the new moon again. There are twelve months in a day.
When Lu Ren and Chongtong arrived at the City of the Dead, it was exactly one of the full moons.
The moon was at its zenith, and a strong wind blew up the white sand and the gravel on the ground, making them fly up like a layer of flying gauze.
Against this desolate background, two travelers from afar came in from the wild land. The moonlight sprinkled on the two people, casting two tall and thin shadows on the desert. Although the pace of these two travelers was not slow, from a distance, they looked like two slowly moving dead trees, weird and strange.
This time point was exactly the time that Lao Li, the defender of the City of the Dead, had set for himself to stand guard on the city wall.
He was very surprised to see the two people in the desert, because the Blood Basin Realm of Bitterness and its surroundings are a place of death. Ever since the death of the previous Lord of Mount Tai, the place has been occupied by bloodthirsty evil spirits and huge and brutal pythons, and they, the resentful ghosts, dare not set foot there.
I didn't expect that two warriors would come over there today.
The city guard was surprised, but he still opened the gate, because the city of the dead was built to accommodate the souls in the underworld who could not be reborn and had nowhere to go. The souls who came here were treated equally by the city of the dead, regardless of their status, and they were all welcomed by the city of the dead.
Speaking of the guard of the Wrongful Death City, Lao Li, there is also a story. He was originally just an ordinary wronged ghost in the city. But later, the wronged ghosts who entered the Wrongful Death City with him all rushed to reincarnate early after their life spans were over. Only he, who insisted that he had something to do and was unwilling to be reborn, stayed in this Wrongful Death City with a shameless face.
Also, because he died early, at the end of the Sui and Tang dynasties, he was the oldest person in the entire City of the Dead, so this City of the Dead has sent away generation after generation of innocent people.
The lord of Wrongful Death City, Bian Cheng, the Lord of the Sixth Palace, is a not very qualified city lord. He is unwilling to take charge of affairs and is often elusive. There is a mix of good and bad people in Wrongful Death City, so there are constant disputes all day long.
Before he died, Lao Li was a good man. He was willing to help the elderly and children in the village. Even after he died, he still couldn't change this habit. He regarded the City of the Dead as half of his home, so he spent all day in the city taking care of things, helping this and persuading that. As time went on, the dead ghosts who couldn't find Biancheng began to get used to asking Lao Li for help.
At first, Lao Li was not a city guard, but was just called the wronged ghost Lao Li by people. Later, whenever there were new ghosts in the city, the old ghosts would call them to find Lao Li. They would say, "If you don't understand anything, go find that wronged ghost. He is willing to take care of everything."
Old Li heard this but he was not angry. He felt that they had no ill intentions. Wangsi City was a poor and remote place with bad mountains and rivers. It was normal for the residents to have some temper over time.
He would laugh and scold: "Aren't you an innocent? Our whole city is clearly full of innocent people who died innocently." Then he would continue to work diligently to help the people in the city.
Old Li is not after fame or money, he just likes this city. Old Li thinks that although Biancheng Mingjun is unreliable and this city is full of foul-mouthed dead ghosts, if there is no Wrongful Death City, these dead ghosts who have not yet finished their lives and have nowhere to go will have to wander in the sea of fire and swords all day long, enduring the torture of hell. If they are not careful, they will be swallowed by the powerful evil ghosts in hell and never reincarnate. Therefore, it is not easy for Biancheng Mingjun to build such a city to shelter them from the wind and rain, and they are very grateful.
After so many years, Lao Li has regarded the City of the Dead as his home. When something happened at home, there was no reason for him to ignore it.
Later one day, when he was helping a newly dead ghost find his lost head, he met Bian Cheng who was sitting on the city wall doing nothing.
At that time, Biancheng Mingjun was sitting on the city wall, staring at the distant world of suffering. Biancheng Mingjun's appearance has always been a mystery. He changes his face every few decades, and no one knows what his real appearance is. However, although his face has changed, his unique aura of Biancheng Mingjun will not change, and Lao Li can recognize it at a glance.
Today, Biancheng Hades had a resolute face, as if it had been chiseled by an axe. The moonlight shone on his face, making him look like a silent statue, majestic as a mountain, and calm as the sea. Only when he put away his cynical smile did the god who had ruled the City of the Dead since ancient times finally regain some of his due majesty.
Old Li recognized the face used by Lord Biancheng, it was the face of Lord Taishan, he had seen it from a distance when Lord Taishan came to find Lord Biancheng. Lord Taishan hated Lord Biancheng using his face, every time Lord Biancheng used this face he would fly into a rage, and would chase Lord Biancheng with a knife from the Wrongful Death City all the way to the Senluo Palace.
And at this moment, he was gazing into the distance with this face, his eyes looking melancholy and vague.
Old Li didn't know what the Lord of the Underworld in Biancheng was thinking, but he heard from the ghosts in the City of the Dead that "some time ago, the Lord of Mount Tai was eaten by an evil ghost in the Blood Basin Realm of Bitterness, and that evil ghost became the new Lord of Mount Tai. The Lords of the Underworld are not allowed to fight privately, so the Lord of the Underworld in Biancheng cannot take revenge..." During this period of time, these things were spread in the City of the Dead with details.
But Lao Li didn't believe it. He thought that how could such a powerful figure like Lord Taishan be eaten by an evil ghost so easily.
But those words that he originally thought were just hearsay now began to echo in his ears one by one. He looked at Bian Cheng Mingjun sitting alone under the moon, and knew in his heart that those rumors were probably true.
After all, Lord Taishan can be regarded as one of Lord Biancheng's few friends.
Just when his mind was full of these trivial things, Biancheng Mingjun discovered Lao Li and the new ghost under the city wall.
Bian Cheng looked down at Lao Li and Xin Gui who were digging a hole on the ground, and said expressionlessly: "Head northeast."
Be brief and to the point.
Bian Cheng didn't even bother to maintain his usual smile, but kept a cold expression, and then turned his head to look at the bloody world in the distance. Lao Li felt that although Bian Cheng Mingjun didn't say it, he must be very sad in his heart.
He led the new ghost to kneel on the ground, and kowtowed to Biancheng Mingjun just like he did when he was paying homage to the officials before. Then he led the new ghost and turned to walk towards the northeast.
Who would have thought that after he had taken two steps, Lord Biancheng called him: "Li Da."
Hearing the Lord of Hell's call, Lao Li quickly turned around and knelt down, hurriedly bowed, and prostrated himself on the ground, not daring to breathe. He thought: "How does Lord of Hell in Biancheng know my name? Did I do something wrong to anger Lord of Hell?"
Just as Old Li was daydreaming, Bian Cheng's majestic voice reached his ears. He said, "I heard that you have contributed to various affairs in the City of the Dead. Considering your contribution, you will be the city guard of the City of the Dead from now on."
After Bian Cheng Mingjun finished speaking, a white light fell from his fingers onto Lao Li, and then Lao Li was given a city guard uniform: a black work suit with a black peaked cap, and two epaulettes on his shoulders, the right epaulette read "The voice and appearance are still there", and the left epaulette read "The smile will last forever". There were also two words embroidered on his chest: "Security".
Although this uniform is mixed with Bian Cheng's personal bad taste, Lao Li can be considered as a daughter-in-law who has finally become a mother-in-law after many years of hard work and has become a regular city guard officer in the City of the Dead.
Thinking of the past, Lao Li touched the feather arrow stuck on his head, the culprit that caused his death thousands of years ago. Erniu from the same village was a hunter, but he was not very skilled and liked to shoot arrows randomly. One arrow hit his brain and sent him directly to the City of Wrongful Death. However, because of the arrow, even if he became a ghost, he still lost half of his brain, which directly caused his IQ to drop by more than one level after his death.
The main reason why the city guard refused to reincarnate was that he wanted to get back his other half of the brain. Although the sky and the underworld are very different, the city guard felt that his brain would always return to him.
The city guard has a new subordinate who died in the past 20 years. He said that he used to be a domineering CEO in the world of the living, with a net worth of 2 billion, waking up in a 2,000-foot mansion every day, and controlling the lifeblood of the entire city with just one sentence. Although the new subordinate is so powerful, he only likes women who pour coffee on his head.
The city guard didn't understand what was meant by "luxury house" and "coffee". He couldn't get a word in, so he had to ask the president: "Mr. Zhang, how did you die?"
The CEO's full name is Zhang Yushu. The ghost who escorted him to the Wrongly Dead City was an old acquaintance of the city guard. On the day he was sent here, he happily said to the city guard: "Old Li! Good news, I caught a smart wrongly dead ghost! Look, I'm sending him to you as an assistant! It can just fill in the half of your brain that you lost."
At first, they were not familiar with each other, because Zhang Yushu was not very talkative and always kept people at a distance. The city guard remembered that when he first met Zhang Yushu, he said to him, "Your name is a little hard to remember, why don't I call you Little Taro?"
Zhang Yushu said, "Call me Mr. Zhang."
The city guard agreed. From then on, although he taught and directed Zhang Yushu to do things every day, he always respectfully called him "Mr. Zhang".
Mr. Zhang disliked the uniforms of the city guards. He said that he did not want to be a security guard, so he insisted on wearing a suit and tie every day when patrolling. It is said that his suit and tie were custom-made paper suits from Al-Hermi, and his family insisted on burning a hundred suits for him every year for easy replacement.
Although Mr. Zhang had many quirks, he was very organized and helped the city guards a lot.
In the past, if an unlucky ghost was eaten in the city, the city guards would rack their brains but still not be able to figure out who did it, and could only throw up their hands in front of everyone. Then everyone would go back to their homes, each looking for their own mothers, and at the same time feel sorry for the death of a ghost:
"Damn it, if I had known I would have eaten it first. I have always thought that boy must be delicious."
"Who says he isn't? When I look at his eyes, I think he must be very tender."
"Looking at the crime scene makes me hungry. It's a pity that Lao Li couldn't find out who did it. Otherwise, we could have eaten the culprit together."
But since Zhang Yushu came, everything has changed!
After another crime, Zhang Yushu pointed at an evil ghost in the crowd and said seriously, "You are the murderer!"
Then he presented facts and reasoned with a bunch of arguments that even the city guards couldn't understand. In short, the ghost actually admitted his guilt in the end.
The other onlookers cheered and rushed towards the murderer, fearing that they would get less if they arrived too late.
The city guard opened his mouth, looking at Mr. Zhang, who was famous and accomplished, and his heart was filled with excitement.
What is this? This is genius!
The city guard has always admired smart people because he lacks half of his brain. You know, it is not easy to have a complete brain and be able to use it flexibly!
The city guard gave Zhang Yushu one of the two fingers given to him by the people in gratitude, and told him his opinion. Zhang Yushu pulled his perpetual smile and said to the city guard, "Of course, people like me are rare."
Although Zhang Yushu is taciturn, he is narcissistic.
In short, they are the best partners in the City of the Dead, jointly managing the public security of the City of the Dead, and guiding the newly dead ghosts and taking them to familiarize themselves with life in the City of the Dead. Their slogan is: Help the poor and wronged souls and strive for a better afterlife!
At this moment, Lao Li and Mr. Zhang were already standing behind the open city gate, welcoming Chongtong and Lu Ren who were about to enter the city.
