I know what death feels like, it's the chill of despair in a dark city, it's the hesitation of half a step towards an unknown future, it's the last drop of tears shed by a female ghost for the people she loves in this world, it's the final journey taken with bowed head by the night fox to its fate.

  I know what it's like to wait for death, it's the struggle in the snowy ground when my back is heavily injured, it's the fear of intestinal perforation after inhaling the cold air, it's being choked by the neck and turning over repeatedly, it's watching the last distance between me and Old Yi slowly approaching.

  That little beast turned around and slowly walked towards us, its eggplant-colored face full of disdain. I was shocked, why would a puppet also have such an expression, as if Old Yi and I were now just white chickens on the chopping board waiting to be slaughtered.

  But sitting and waiting for death is the character of my brothers? I laughed, **** ancestors, I'm going to pick up the ticket, it's only me who can go, even if I die, I'll take you away.

  I reached into my pocket, where I had my last trump card.

  Come on, you little scoundrel, come over here by your old man's side, and then we'll hit the road together!

  Just as I had resigned myself to death, the little scamp's body suddenly shook and then quickly ran through the large iron gate. Leaving me and Old Yi stunned in the warehouse.

  The warehouse returned to calmness, and I sat on the ground with Lao Yi, panting heavily, enjoying this brief rebirth after the disaster.

  Why didn't it put the two of us down? Logically speaking, this doesn't make sense. Although this idea is a bit lowly, in reality it's true. Why did we come all the way on the Long March, only to fall short by just this much?

  Really?

  I turned back to look at the already nearly broken Sanqing altar, could it be that the mastermind behind the scenes had discovered that this was a scam? Oh no, he wouldn't go find Dong Shanshan and Zhang Yaxin again, would he?!

  Fortunately, that thing can only harm people in the Yuan Building. It's so late now, and I've already told Zhang Yaxin not to let them get close to the building, so I've temporarily put my mind at ease. Let's take it one step at a time. At least for now, I've managed to save my life, although the injuries are a bit severe. It looks like I'll have to go to the hospital again. Now that I've taken down one of them, I'll leave the remaining one to Old Yi.

  Because I really couldn't take it anymore, just when I thought it was safe, my leg started burning with pain again. Due to the intense tension earlier, my whole body was drenched in sweat, including my thighs. The sweat seeped into the wound, and the pain made me inhale a mouthful of cold air. Damn it.

  I weakly said to Old Yi, "Brother Yi, it seems that he has seen through our trap. He might have gone to the Yuan's building by now. Trouble you to clean up here and pick up those copper coins."

  Whenever I mention copper coins, my head gets big. If Uncle Wen knew that I had stolen his copper coin sword and even made it fragmented, he would have killed me. A bitter smile flashed in my heart, why is my life so bitter? It seems that I can only let Lao Yi quickly repair it and then find an opportunity to put it back.

  Lao Yi nodded and got up to start cleaning the warehouse, which was filled with the smell of urine and blood. I sat on the ground, and the bleeding from my wound seemed to have slowed down a bit, but I still felt dizzy. Damn it, this is the first time I've lost so much blood, it's really scary.

  As I watched Lao Yi cleaning the warehouse, I still couldn't put my mind at ease. So I took out my phone and wanted to call Zhang Yaxin again to confirm. Now she might be sleeping, but I couldn't care about that anymore.

  Before long, Zhang Yaxin's voice came from the other end of the phone, sounding like she hadn't woken up yet. She said to me: "Cui Ge, what's going on?"

  I'm speaking vaguely now, it seems I've really reached my limit. So I asked her: "Sorry, this end... hasn't been settled, you... are at home now, right? And your colleague with the surname Dong, tell her... these two days it's best to take leave, because it's not safe."

  Zhang Yaxin seemed to have fallen silent, and she said apologetically on the phone: "Sorry, Cui Ge... actually... Dong Shanshan is already working overtime at the company now."

  What?! I couldn't believe my ears, this can't be possible!! For some reason, my whole body started shaking involuntarily, and even more so was my voice. I asked him: "You... what did you say... I didn't mishear, did I?"

  Zhang Yaxin said on the phone, "Sorry... Cui Ge, I told her that these two days the company is not very peaceful, let her go home early after work, but she didn't listen. And today coincidentally she had overtime, so she asked her boyfriend to accompany her. I was afraid you would worry, so I didn't notify you."

  I suddenly felt like the sky was falling, and I didn't care about the wound on my thigh anymore. I stood up abruptly and shouted at the phone: "Why didn't you stop her?! Do you know that this will kill her?!"

  This is the first time I've ever yelled at a woman in my life, and even I don't dare to believe it. Zhang Yaxin on the other end of the phone was clearly startled by my outburst. It's possible that in her impression, this honest guy has never been so angry before. She actually seemed to be crying, choking back tears as she said: "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

  Fear, anger and despair hit me at the same time, dazing my mind and making me a little unsteady. I shouted into the phone: "Sorry, what's the use!!!"

  I hung up the phone and felt a little dizzy, what does this represent? This represents that she will always be in danger, this represents that I will forever be separated from her by life and death.

  No!!!!

  Lao Yi heard my shout and turned around to see that I had actually stood up, so he hurried over to support me, asking what was wrong, if something unexpected had happened again.

  Although my head is now a mess, I thought that in this situation, I couldn't drag Old Yi into it anymore. After all, this was my own business. So I said to him: "Dong Shanshan has gotten into trouble, and I need to go rescue her now. Oh right, Brother Yi, I remember there's a copper sword on the shelf over there, quickly find it for me! I'll go out and hail a taxi first, hurry!"

  Stupid old Yi hastily said to me: "No way! If you go with this body now, isn't that sending yourself to death? Listen to me! Wait a minute, I'll send you to the hospital first, and then I'll go myself!"

  Looking at Lao Yi's anxious appearance, I knew that arguing with him about these things now had no meaning. So I said to him: "Alright, I know, I can still walk, try to save time and go hail a taxi first, you quickly go find one. Find one and come out."

  Lao Yi saw that I agreed, so he nodded and turned to rummage through the shelves, while I gritted my teeth and dragged that leg to the door, pulling open the iron gate.

  A cold wind blew in my face, making me a bit more alert. The streetlights along the road were still shining, but there were no pedestrians. On this deep winter night in Harbin, my leg, which was still bleeding, was emitting hot air due to the cold. The pain was constantly stimulating my nerves, and every step I took felt like being stabbed by a small knife. But this was nothing compared to what had happened.

  I ran frantically to the middle of the street, at this time if I was lucky, I should be able to catch a few night-shift taxis. Gritting my teeth in pain, I fished out a cigarette from my pocket and put it in my mouth, but my trembling hands couldn't light it no matter what. The filter tip of the cigarette was almost bitten off by me, finally, after much effort, it lit up. I took a deep drag, the smoke circulated in my lungs before being exhaled. It choked me to tears.

  I kept telling myself in my heart: It's okay, it's okay. There's still time. God, I beg of you, please hurry up and send a taxi!!

  It seems that God has finally heard my prayers, I saw a taxi really coming from afar, looking at the sign on the car with 'Taxi' written on it, I was suddenly overjoyed.

  The power that was so strong at the time was originally reckless, and I didn't know why at the time. I directly raised my arms in the middle of the road and actually managed to stop the car from coming.

  The taxi driver got out of the car and scolded me loudly: "Are you crazy!!! Are you looking for death???"

  He didn't finish what he was saying, and his face immediately turned pale. I had already reached my limit at that time, seeing him scold me, I glared at him, then saw him look at me with a fearful expression. I took a closer look, it was really coincidental, wasn't this the unlucky driver I scared half to death when I went to Jiangbei suburbs last time?

  It's a big world, but it can also be very small. I didn't expect to run into him again on this little road. If he had spoken up, things would have been easier. But since the situation was urgent, I quietly opened the car door and sat in the back.

  The driver didn't dare to get on the car, apparently he also recognized me. All I saw was his whole body trembling non-stop, and I don't know if it's because of the cold outside or because of fear. But I couldn't wait any longer, my head had already started spinning, this might be a symptom of losing too much blood.

  So I opened the car door and said coldly to him: "If you don't get in, I'll go to your home tonight!"

  He heard me say that, and he didn't dare to hesitate anymore. He hastily got on the car, sat in the driver's seat, and said to me with a crying tone: "Brother, let's not play like this, okay? Didn't we agree last time that I would take you to your destination and then you wouldn't look for me again? We don't have any grudges against each other. Are you short of money or something? I'll definitely give you some tomorrow. Please, can't you just find someone else?"

  If he was still suspicious of me being a ghost last time, then this second encounter would have made him really certain that I am indeed a ghost. After all, the probability of running into each other twice at night is extremely low, and now I'm in this getup with my lower body covered in bloodstains. He has completely taken me for a 'door-to-door' ghost.

  What is called "串门儿" or "投宿" is a kind of wandering soul, which I mentioned before. As the saying goes, "three feet above the head, there are gods; three feet below, ghosts are different." This kind of "串门儿" is one of them. Most of them have no home to return to at night, so they look for people with low fire energy on the road and follow them back home. Usually, it doesn't cause any harm, just staying overnight and leaving, but some lazy ones may harm this family. As for how they harm, I won't say much here, and maybe next time I'll explain to everyone.

  I forced a smile and thought to myself that maybe he was right, I'm probably not far from being a ghost either, because this time, it's very likely that I'll be heading down the path of death.

  So I weakly told him: "Don't worry, this time... is the last time... take me to the headquarters of the Yuan Group... afterwards, I won't look for you again... otherwise... I'll go to your home every day to visit."

  This thirty-something old man, as soon as he heard my words, was so scared that he almost peed his pants. With tears in his eyes, he shouted at me: "No no no!!! Let's leave now, let's leave now!!!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped on the gas pedal and the taxi quickly drove forward. This brief interlude made my heart slightly relax, I turned back to look in the direction of Fuzetang, sorry, Lao Yi, but I still have to go alone. Because there is someone waiting for me there, waiting for me to protect with my life.

  All the way, the driver in the front seat kept trembling, and I also trembled in the back seat. Looking at the night view outside the window that was constantly retreating, I suddenly felt that Harbin's night was also so beautiful, although this may be my last time to see it.

  I took a deep breath, the white seat cushion in the back of the car had already been stained red with my blood. I suddenly felt that everything in front of me became very blurry, as if it was covered with a layer of dust. I tried to wipe it off with my hand, but it didn't work. I suddenly felt very cold, and the mark on my neck also sent out intense pain. Maybe my limit was approaching, I smiled bitterly.

  The taxi was speeding along, and in my slowly emptying mind, there was nothing else except for Dong Shanshan.

  Indeed, I really had the idea of giving up. People are selfish, including me. Although we broke up several years ago, I admit that I still can't forget her. The games on my computer have been deleted many times, but the KOF simulator has always been kept. Her every smile and frown, the way she put a scarf around me, our kisses, her sad crying face... The look in her eyes when she turned back to me yesterday as she was leaving the car is all deeply etched in my mind. Yes, even though she's about to get married soon, even though we both know that doing anything now would be pointless. But I'm only now daring to truly face myself.

  After all, I still love her so much.

  This feeling has been lingering in my damaged soul for years, and I couldn't shake it off.

  As long as one is alive, there will be hope.

  I'm still alive now, I won't let you have trouble.

  I patted my pocket, and the 'Long Life Wood Solution Talisman' that I drew yesterday was quietly staying there.

  I'd like to apologize first, due to physical issues, I overslept for two hours yesterday, which resulted in the previous chapter being written hastily. When I have time, I will revise it. Thank you everyone for your support.