Merchant of the Underworld

After saying this, the sweat on his forehead became more intense, as if he thought of something terrible, and even the hand holding the tea cup kept shaking.

I glanced at Professor Zhou, and even though it was broad daylight, I could feel his fear.

"Isn't it a good death?" I asked back.

Professor Zhou nodded and slowly told the content of the dream. As he narrated, I gradually paid more attention to it.

It turned out that almost a week ago at night, Professor Zhou suddenly had a nightmare. In the dream, he was standing on the roof of C University Library, and there were voices in his ears urging him to jump, and then he actually jumped. Was awakened during the fall.

He didn't take it seriously at first, but he would have such a dream every day in the next few days. At first, he woke up while falling, but the dream changed two days ago, and he fell straight from the roof of the building. , hit the ground, bloody and bloody, and even felt pain...

Professor Zhou was also frightened. He got Li Mazi’s phone number from somewhere and asked him for help, but Li Mazi didn’t see any problem, so he found me.

I touched my chin: "Has the dream changed again in the past two days?"

If he just dreamed of falling to his death, no matter how terrifying it was, Professor Zhou should not be like this. To be honest, authoritative professors in the history department will encounter strange things more or less, and their mental endurance should not be so bad.

Professor Zhou suddenly opened his eyes and stared at me. After a while, he lowered his head dejectedly and said tremblingly: "Yes, just yesterday, the dream changed again..."

At this point, he took a deep breath: "I dreamed that after I fell to my death, there was a woman standing next to me laughing. The voice was exactly the same as the voice that persuaded me to jump off the building, and... and she looked so scary. ”

After saying that, he drank the tea in the cup in one breath, looked at me as if asking for help, and asked me to help him.

I asked him if anything special happened a week ago. He thought for a long time and shook his head, saying that his days were pretty much the same every day and there was nothing strange.

"Is it convenient to go and see where you live?" I suggested.

If this nightmare is caused by evil spirits, you should be able to tell some clues when you go to where you live.

Professor Zhou shook his head and said with some embarrassment that it would be inconvenient these two days...

I looked at him in astonishment. Originally, I thought he would be happy to propose this idea. After all, judging from his appearance, this matter had a huge impact on him! He should be eager to solve it, but he actually refused.

Seeing me like this, Professor Zhou quickly explained that he was currently in the final stages of completing a thesis, and the school took it very seriously. They were afraid that his thesis would be stolen, so no one could go to his home except for a few students who were helping.

I nodded to express my understanding. Professor Zhou’s paper will definitely cause a sensation when it comes out, so it’s normal for the school to take it seriously. So I didn’t waste much time and just told him to contact me when it was more convenient.

"That Master Zhang..." Professor Zhou saw that I was about to leave and quickly called me to stop him, but he hesitated to speak.

I raised my chin and signaled to him. He asked me awkwardly if I had any peace charms. I laughed angrily at him. How dare he think of me as an ordinary Taoist priest when he saw me?

Professor Zhou saw the displeasure on my face and hurriedly explained: "Master, don't get me wrong, um, I'm just afraid that I won't be able to make it through these two days. Really, I'm just too scared and I want to feel at ease."

Even though I feel uncomfortable, this case has been taken over by Li Mazi, and I can't ignore it. So he took out two talismans from his arms and handed them to him, asking him to keep them close to his body. Then he took Li Mazi out of the teahouse.

Li Mazi scratched his head: "Um, brother, are you angry?"

"It's not wrong, I just feel unhappy, but it's not that I can't understand his behavior." I smiled, said nothing more, and went back to the antique shop with Li Mazi for a casual stroll.

Two days passed very quickly. At noon two days later, Li Mazi and I received a call from Professor Zhou just after dinner. He cautiously asked me if I had time.

"Is it more convenient now?" I sounded somewhat dissatisfied. Professor Zhou immediately apologized and asked someone to pick me up.

I refused. This place is not far from University C, so there was no need for him to go through the process again and again.

Li Mazi and I packed up and rushed to University C. Professor Zhou lived in the house assigned by the school, which was in the faculty and staff building.

When we arrived, we found that Professor Zhou was talking to a boy. The boy was tall and thin, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses. He looked very polite, but his face was not very good. He said a few words to Professor Zhou and left in a hurry. , but I couldn’t hear what they were saying because they were far away.

As soon as he left, I immediately called Professor Zhou. Professor Zhou turned around and saw me welcoming him enthusiastically: "Master, you are here. Sit in the room."

Professor Zhou's home is on the third floor. It is a three-bedroom apartment. The house is not very big, but it is more than enough for a family to live in.

I glanced at the room. The decoration of the room was very particular, and it seemed to be in line with Professor Zhou's taste. There were various gadgets on one wall shelf, which looked like antiques.

I immediately became interested and stood in front of the wall shelf and looked at it slowly. The more I came into contact with it, I could roughly tell the origins of these things. Although they were ancient relics, they were not valuable things. Some of them were not very old. .

"Huh?" Just when I was about to lose interest, a small and exquisite wooden dog attracted my attention.

It’s not that this wooden dog is so exquisitely made, the main thing is that it seems to be something from a long time ago, at least before the Yuan Dynasty...

After experiencing such a long period of wind and frost, this wooden dog not only did not rot, but also seemed to be intact.

Professor Zhou saw that I was interested in wooden dogs. He smiled and introduced: "I found this wooden dog at the antique market last week. It's not a good thing, but I don't know why I wanted to buy it when I saw it." Come down, maybe this is fate!"

"Oh?" After hearing this, I observed the wooden dog carefully, but I really couldn't see anything about this wooden dog that Professor Zhou could take a liking to at a glance. After all, compared to a bunch of gadgets around it, this wooden dog is really inconspicuous. I only noticed it because of its age.

Professor Zhou didn't say much about Mugou, but asked me to take a closer look at his home, because his nightmares have become more frequent in the past two days, and even if he just squints at noon, he will be troubled by dreams.

"The magic talisman doesn't work?" I asked strangely.

Professor Zhou smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying that he had placed the talisman close to his body, but unfortunately the situation did not improve at all.

I nodded and slowly walked around his house. There were not many things in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. After looking through them, I didn’t find anything wrong, so I asked Professor Zhou to take me to the three places. Take a look at the room.

Professor Zhou first showed me the master bedroom and the second bedroom next to it. There was nothing weird about it. Finally, he took me into the study.

Maybe because I have been busy with papers these past few days, the study room is not as tidy as other places. Instead, it is a bit messy, especially the desk is full of books and papers.

"We haven't had time to clean up this yet." Professor Zhou was a little embarrassed. I told him not to worry and took a look at the study.

Apart from books and computers, there was really nothing worth studying in the study. I shook my head, and Professor Zhou's eyes suddenly showed disappointment.

After returning to the living room, the three of us sat on the sofa. Professor Zhou looked dejected: "Master Zhang, is there really nothing wrong with this house?"

"At least there seems to be no problem for now." I didn't hide it from him.

He leaned slumped on the sofa and murmured: "What should I do? If this continues, I will go crazy."

I glanced at him without saying anything, then stood up to leave. Professor Zhou looked at me and wanted to say something but in the end he didn't. He just sighed and sent Li Mazi and I to the door.

"Professor Zhou...what?"

I was about to comfort him when I suddenly felt something staring at me. I turned around and looked towards the living room. There was no movement, but the feeling just now was definitely not wrong.

Professor Zhou was startled by me, and asked me what was going on with a pale face.

I shook my head: "Nothing, let's go out and talk."

Professor Zhou quickly closed the door, and the moment he closed the door, I felt that strange gaze again...