The fat man didn’t react at first: “Who? Who was detained?”
Then he realized that Lu Qingjia was likely responding to his earlier comment, and he was suddenly alarmed: “No way?”
His mind was in a fog when a cigarette was tossed into his hand, the same kind that Lu Qingjia had been smoking—Zhonghua.
He looked suspiciously at the cigarette box and quickly noticed the differences in details.
Just like the counterfeit money he had taken out yesterday, at first glance, the appearance and quality were almost indistinguishable from the real thing, but it was clearly not the same.
The architectural logo on it looked solemn and grand, but the details were somewhat twisted and bizarre, and the manufacturer was clearly labeled as “Mingfu Tobacco Group Limited Liability Company.”
Most importantly, the prominent warning on every cigarette box in his country, “Smoking is harmful to health,” had been changed here to “Smoking is harmless, better than being a god.”
Even in reality, even those selling fake cigarettes wouldn’t dare to be so reckless, right? Connecting this to the details he occasionally noticed in his dreams, the origin of the cigarettes became clear.
The fat man cautiously looked at Lu Qingjia: “Jiajia, did you—”
“I dreamed of a black-toothed, bald old lady last night who insisted I was handsome and had to let me smoke. I couldn’t push her away, so she stuffed two packs into my hands.” Lu Qingjia grinned at the fat man: “She said the money for the cigarettes was offered by a silly-looking fat man.”
Even though the fat man was mentally prepared, he jumped up at the words: “You really dreamed of that old lady?”
“Hurry, hurry, tell me what happened!” The fat man didn’t believe Lu Qingjia was just bragging.
Despite looking the most upright among their group of friends, Lu Qingjia was actually the most dishonest, especially fond of showing off, with a mind as full of tricks as a sieve. Most likely, he had tricked that old lady in his dream.
The fat man couldn’t fathom where Lu Qingjia got this efficiency, but after days of seeking help in vain, he found a breakthrough with Lu Qingjia, which made him feel a surge of excitement as if he had seen the dawn.
Lu Qingjia had encountered the old lady and had more specific details to ask the fat man, so he didn’t joke around and laid out the dream he had last night.
After hearing it, the fat man was dumbfounded: “It can be like that?”
Lu Qingjia replied matter-of-factly: “Of course, since there’s a hint telling you this is the so-called ‘selection’ stage, it can’t be that there’s no way out.”
“Even though the impact of ghosts on people is quite significant, both sides must start from the same starting line under certain rules.”
“In fact, after last night, I confirmed that this so-called ‘selection’ is quite easy to pass, as long as you remain vigilant at the beginning and don’t fall into the other party’s traps and become passive, maintaining a calm attitude towards the existence of ghosts. After all, they can’t actively seize your money, and you can also seek help by transferring the counterfeit money. No matter how you look at it, your side’s bargaining chips aren’t low.”
The fat man felt he was being thoroughly looked down upon and humiliated, with irrefutable evidence.
He exploded: “You make it sound easy, but that’s a ghost, a real fierce ghost! Don’t act like you just bumped into an old lady trying to scam you. What would you do if you opened the toilet and saw her head?”
Lu Qingjia: “Wake her up and ask her to change places? Peeking at a man in the toilet is also immoral.”
The fat man: “…Did you install a camera in my house? I’m telling you, I wasn’t scared to the point of wetting myself; I was just thinking exactly what you are.”
Lu Qingjia: “…”
Under his gaze, the fat man couldn’t hold his face, so he changed the subject: “So how did you get out? I dreamed about that station; the night before, I was caught off guard and got scammed out of two hundred there. There was nowhere to hide! No matter how far you run, you’ll end up back near the station. Where did you hide that the boss couldn’t find you?”
“I woke up and just came out,” Lu Qingjia said. “While the boss was getting something, I jumped onto the cash register and fell headfirst to the ground. It was easy to wake up.”
The fat man was stunned. It could be done like that? Then he excitedly said: “So that old lady being detained means we’re safe now?”
Lu Qingjia smiled: “You’ll know if you try tonight.”
The fat man quickly waved his hands: “Bro, you’re my real brother. Look, I originally weighed over two hundred pounds, and it took me a whole night to recover. How about—”
The fat man felt embarrassed saying this, but Lu Qingjia was straightforward: “Alright, I’ll keep this money for you for now.”
“What the hell, when did you become so easy to talk to?”
Lu Qingjia smiled faintly: “This matter is both dangerous and an opportunity. I’ve been looking for clues for so long, and the opportunity has presented itself to me. I can’t really stay here for the rest of my life, can I?”
The fat man fell silent. Three years ago, Lu Qingjia had a rough time. Growing up, the fat man had never seen him so desperate.
Although Lu Qingjia hadn’t told him much about the specifics, the fat man still knew a little.
He swallowed hard: “Wait, what was your ex’s background? When he came to my house to catch you, I was really afraid he would pull out a rocket launcher and blow up my entire neighborhood.”
At this, Lu Qingjia shuddered, clearly not wanting to say more: “Don’t ask, it’s all in the past.”
“Past? Yet you’ve been hiding here for three years without daring to go out?”
The fat man was about to say more, but a customer arrived, so he changed the subject.
Lu Qingjia said this was a farm stay, but the building was quite grand and stylish. After he took over, he redecorated it to cater to the aesthetic of young people today.
Here, you could enjoy the pure, beautiful mountains and rivers, fish, pick fruits, row boats, and there were flower fields planted by Lu Qingjia with the local villagers, windmills, treehouses, swimming pools, and various beautiful photo spots.
In short, it satisfied young people’s desire to go out, take photos, and show off, and it was not far from the city, just a three-hour drive round trip, so business was quite good.
Although there were many employees, recently there had been a shortage of manpower, so Lu Qingjia hired some efficient local aunties as temporary workers. Since the fat man was still alive, he was naturally pulled in to work and had no time to think about anything else.
After a busy day, the fat man, being somewhat simple-minded, finished dinner early and went back to sleep.
After dark, an old man from a nearby village, holding a leaf pipe, came to the door and handed Lu Qingjia a package.
Lu Qingjia received it, paid the money, sent the old man off, and returned to his room to carefully store the counterfeit money, then took a pack of cigarettes from last night and fell asleep, entering a dream as expected.
It was still that lucid dream, but this time it wasn’t a silent wilderness; it was the entrance of a subway station.
At that moment, a train was just arriving, and a large wave of people surged out from the station, each in a hurry—those waiting for buses, those hailing taxis, and everywhere were drivers and hotel owners trying to attract customers.
Lu Qingjia wasn’t surprised by this situation because, based on the information provided by the fat man, it was just as he had guessed last night. The dreams experienced while carrying these paper bills not only included various scenes but were also clearly set against a modernized underworld backdrop.
Lu Qingjia checked his belongings; besides the counterfeit money, he also had a pack of cigarettes he had specifically brought. Indeed, the items the old man had brought him during the day were also here.
However, the folding knife he had kept close before sleeping was not with him, indicating that there were conditions and restrictions on what could be brought into the dream.
Aside from items that could be taken out of the dream and brought back in, only offerings to the underworld could be brought in. Ordinary items from reality couldn’t be taken in.
Lu Qingjia pulled out a smartphone. Before he fell asleep, this thing was just a small paper box, but now in the dream, it felt just like a real device, with full signal displayed. He opened a few commonly used apps and surprisingly logged into his own account, although the service provider had changed, indicating that this was indeed usable.
There were other items, but given the crowd, Lu Qingjia didn’t take them out to check one by one.
He didn’t stay long, casually hailed a taxi, and asked the driver to take a tour around the main city. He was quite curious about what the underworld looked like.
Sure enough, the underworld was also changing rapidly, integrating with reality—skyscrapers, neon lights, and everywhere were shops, banks, network operators, and entertainment venues named starting with “Mingfu.”
Lu Qingjia wanted to see if the counterfeit money the old man had prepared for him during the day had purchasing power here. However, when he took it out, the face value had changed dramatically.
As everyone knows, in reality, the denominations of paper money are exaggerated, with a single bill worth billions not being uncommon. But in the underworld, those bills had all transformed based on their material and texture, becoming various denominations, none exceeding twenty.
The quality of goods from the old man was limited. Lu Qingjia looked at the stack of paper money he had brought in; it was estimated to be worth less than three hundred.
By this calculation, people in the underworld couldn’t rely on their descendants’ offerings once or twice a year to live comfortably.
No wonder everyone here was working under conditions; those without conditions were resorting to scams and tricks.
While pondering this, the car suddenly braked hard, as if it had crashed into something.
Lu Qingjia steadied himself and heard the driver angrily get out of the car: “Damn, did you bump into my grandpa? Get lost!”
Saying that, he dragged an old man who was lying on the hood and moaning.
The old man ignored the driver’s shooing and wailed: “There’s no justice, no law! You hit someone and still want to hit me!”
“Poor me, my old partner hasn’t come home for a day and a night. I came out to look for someone and ended up suffering like this. I don’t care; you have to pay me. Neither of you can run away.”
The driver cursed: “Old fool, you think you’re getting away with this? Look closely, this is a dashcam. Who are you trying to extort? Do you believe I’ll call the police right now? Do you want to experience what it’s like to be detained by a ghost officer?”
The old man trembled, then showed a look of reliance, simply lying down on the ground: “Fine, go ahead, call the police. You can’t escape being an unlicensed driver either.”
Hearing this, the driver clearly felt guilty: “Bullshit, who told you that?”
The old man pointed at Lu Qingjia: “That one is a living soul, right? I don’t believe a dead ghost would be with a living soul.”
The driver was somewhat puzzled. He had been in a closed space with that young man for so long and could naturally sense the other’s living soul aura, but how could this old man see it through the windshield?
But since the conversation had reached this point, the driver could only consider himself unlucky. After all, operating without a license was a serious crime. Although the underworld had mostly aligned with the upper world, the punitive measures were still quite traditional. A set of fines, confiscations, and punishments would be more trouble than it was worth.
Just as he was about to take out money, he felt the passenger door open.
The young man appeared in front of them, holding a brick he had picked up from somewhere.
Without hesitation, he swung it at the old man’s head, instantly causing blood to gush out, and the old man collapsed to the ground.
The driver was dumbfounded, and he heard the young man ask him: “Is there a shovel in the trunk? Since no one is around, let’s dig a hole quickly.”
Hearing this, the driver came back to his senses: “Brother, what kind of ruthless person are you in the upper world?”
He opened up without hesitation, completely without ambiguity.
Then the driver broke down: “Hitting him won’t help! Have you ever heard of a ghost being killed by a brick? When he wakes up, brother, you’ll be in even more trouble.”
Lu Qingjia understood: “Is that so? So conventional methods can’t kill him.”
Saying this, he showed no surprise or panic on his face and said to the driver: “Look at the light around; he shouldn’t be able to see your license plate.”
“Find me a bundle of rope, and you can leave first. If there’s no rope, just take off the seat cover for me.”
At this moment, the driver’s mood was both complicated and broken. He couldn’t understand why this young man would go to such lengths for a few hundred bucks in compensation, yet he felt a strange respect for his willingness to take on the burden alone.
Coincidentally, the driver rummaged through the trunk and found a bundle of rope, handing it to Lu Qingjia before speeding away.
Lu Qingjia tied up the old man, being cautious given the uncertainty of the old man’s attack power, and then searched the old man’s body.
He didn’t find any valuables, but there was a piece of paper in his pocket with a phone number written on it, which was a contact number left by his family in case he got lost.
Lu Qingjia took out his phone and dialed the number. A middle-aged woman’s voice came from the other end.
He spoke: “Sorry, is this the home of Elder Liu XX?”
“Here’s the thing, I saw him in a car accident, and now he’s lying on the roadside covered in blood with a severe head injury.”
“But the vehicle that caused the accident has already fled. I took the liberty of sending him to the hospital, and he’s about to undergo surgery. Although I mean well, I don’t have any money to cover the expenses. Could you please transfer the emergency fee?”
The woman on the other end clearly didn’t believe him: “Are you trying to fool me? You dead scammer can’t even come up with a believable excuse.”
“Do you really think anyone’s family is as precious as a wealthy household? It’s just a car accident; he’ll wake up and come back on his own. There are plenty of people out there who die in car accidents, missing limbs and bleeding out, and they still get by. Our family can’t afford to keep a ghost intact.”
After the woman finished speaking, she hung up. Lu Qingjia wasn’t in a hurry; he picked up the brick and hit the old man a few more times, trying to make it look sufficiently tragic.
Then he took a photo and sent it to the number, before calling again: “I was afraid of being mistaken for a scammer, so I specifically took a photo before coming.”
“Since your family has no intention of treating him, fine, I respect your wishes.”
“I’ll just leave him here and go, but I still remember the license plate number of the car that hit him. As long as I find the person, the medical expenses, compensation, and nutrition fees will all be covered.”
Saying this, he expressed his incomprehension of the family’s indifference towards the old man, but he also didn’t want to meddle further.
The woman on the other end, however, changed her attitude drastically, hurriedly saying: “Hey, wait! Young brother, please don’t rush to leave.”
“That damn driver who caused the accident definitely can’t be let go; we’ll come over right away.”
At this point, Lu Qingjia was displeased: “Sorry, I’m quite busy. Since you won’t treat the old man, there’s no need for compensation, right?”
“I took a look; although your elder is seriously injured, there are no visible wounds, so I think when he wakes up, he might just have some short-term head trauma, which won’t have much impact.”
A performance that vividly portrayed a pure-hearted young man’s disdain for the other party’s focus on money over the old man’s well-being.
The woman became anxious: “Who said we wouldn’t treat him? I was just joking, thinking you were a scammer.”
“How about this, young man, please do us a favor and stay at the hospital. I’ll transfer some money to you right away; please don’t leave!”
Only then did Lu Qingjia reluctantly say: “Alright, you all hurry up and come.”
Not long after hanging up, Lu Qingjia received a transfer of several thousand yuan via WeChat.
As soon as the money arrived, he saw the old man slowly waking up, and Lu Qingjia lifted his foot and kicked the tied-up old man off the road.
