Bai Yulao: The Night Watcher's Debt to the King of Hell

The illusion shattered like a broken mirror before Su Wantang's eyes.

She snapped back to reality, gasping for breath. The anger of betrayal burned like fire in her chest: "Scumbag! For money, he wouldn't even spare the person he loved most!"

Lin Shoumo did not respond immediately; he was staring intently at the small bronze bell in his hand.

When the illusion was activated, Su Wantang thought she was just watching a "movie," but as the bell-holder, Lin Shoumo experienced something completely different.

That force was too great.

It was so big that he didn't initiate it at all.

"Lin Shoumo? Are you alright?" Su Wantang noticed his pale face and the small bronze bell that was trembling slightly.

"Lin Shoumo? Are you alright?" Su Wantang noticed his pale face and the small bronze bell that was trembling slightly.

"It's nothing...just a bit of indigestion." Lin Shoumo took a deep breath, hastily wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and resumed his smug expression:

"Officer Su, wasn't that 'movie' amazing? This is my signature move—'Time Reversal.' How about it, isn't that a big spender? This appearance fee is three million!"

"Stop your nonsense!" Su Wantang frowned. "Just now... what happened? Did those things really happen?"

She pointed to the bell.

Lin Shoumo's eyes flickered for a moment, then he sighed, plopped down on the box next to him, and fiddled with the small bell in his hand.

"Officer Su, since we're in this together now, telling you won't hurt!"

He gently stroked the mottled rust on the surface of the bronze bell with his fingertips, his voice becoming somewhat faint:

"This thing is a family heirloom. As for what it's called, I don't know. In our line of work, it's called 'Yin Zhong'."

"Yin Zhong? What's that about?" Su Wantang asked, puzzled.

"Time in this world is like a great river; some flows downstream, and some flows upstream."

But this clock… it’s a monster that ‘eats time’!” Lin Shoumo narrowed his eyes, a hint of awe in them. “It doesn’t usually ring on its own; when it does, it ‘borrows’ time from the underworld! That’s why it’s called the Underworld Clock!”

He looked up at Su Wantang:

"This time it's different. It's not that I want to see it, it wants to see it on its own!"

"It started on its own?" Su Wantang asked in surprise. "Why?"

"Because that 'Zhang Hansheng,' or rather that 'Xu Wenbin'... he's burdened with something so heavy that even this clock, which can only devour time, was drawn to it by its scent!"

Lin Shoumo held the bronze bell to his ear and shook it gently.

when--

A crisp, light sound.

This sound carried no imposing force, but rather a strange sense of pleasure, like... a gluttonous ghost smelling a feast.

"This time, the regression didn't shorten my lifespan as usual," Lin Shoumo said, pointing to his rosy complexion. "That's because the 'resentment' within this stone tablet was so pure, so pure that it became a 'crystallization of time.' My clock...ate it like a snack!"

Su Wantang felt a chill run down her spine. This charlatan actually fed on resentment?

This is no magical artifact; it's clearly an evil object!

"So..." Lin Shoumo stood up, brushed the dust off his pants, and his eyes deepened, "Zhang Hansheng's story isn't true. If it were, there wouldn't be such deep resentment!"

"What?" Su Wantang was stunned. "We just saw it with our own eyes. He killed someone, stole their money, and stole their identity. How could that be fake?"

"No, the visuals are real, but the 'person' in the image is fake!"

Lin Shoumo walked to the pile of stone tablet dust, squatted down, and picked up the dark gold metal plate.

"Think about it, why would a greedy, ruthless, and heartless desperado go to such lengths to erect a stone tablet inscribed with poems to seal away resentment after killing someone and taking the gold bars? Wouldn't it have been simpler for him to just bury the body and run away with the money?"

Su Wantang stared intently at the weathered remains of the stone tablet, her eyes sharp as knives: "For gold bars, he killed to silence witnesses, even stealing their identities... This Zhang Hansheng is utterly depraved!"

She turned sharply to look at Lin Shoumo, her tone urgent and firm: "Lin Shoumo, the case is clear now. There is no tragedy of 'being separated by death' at all. This is an extremely heinous robbery and murder case!"

Zhang Hansheng impersonated Xu Wenbin to get close to Xiaoyu, his goal being the bag of gold bars. The car accident wasn't an accident; it was premeditated murder!

"We need to immediately investigate the name Zhang Hansheng, and the former site of the Bliss Group. He must still be there—"

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Lin Shoumo suddenly stretched out his hand and made an exaggerated "stop" gesture in front of Su Wantang.

He was holding the metal plate that had fallen out of the stone tablet, wiping the dust off it with his sleeve with a look of disgust, as if it were something dirty.

"Officer Su, did your PE teacher teach you this reading comprehension skill?"

Su Wantang frowned: "What do you mean? The evidence is conclusive; you and I both saw it with our own eyes. How could it be false?"

"Seeing is believing? Heh, not necessarily!"

Lin Shoumo tucked the metal plate into his coat, tilted his head to sized up Su Wantang, and wore that smug smile on his lips: "Senior sister, you're a police officer, you value the chain of evidence, I have no objection to that! But in our line of work, it's all about the 'feel'!"

"Smell?" Su Wantang rolled her eyes. "Are you going to say this case smells like a corpse again?"

"No, this time it smells like 'powder'!"

Lin Shoumo held up a finger and waved it in the air: "Look at that illusion just now, Zhang Hansheng acted so 'well'."

Cold-hearted, ruthless, greedy, and even deliberately tearing up the photo while saying that melodramatic line… Officer Su, don’t you think this is too much like a villain from a TV drama?

He walked up to Su Wantang, his smile fading, his eyes becoming somewhat deep:

"Bad people in real life are often flustered, confused, and even a little bit lucky."

But Zhang Hansheng, his every move seemed... like he was acting out a script!

"Script?" Su Wantang sneered. "Lin Shoumo, don't try to make the case complicated just for that little bit of overtime pay!"

You said it yourself, those are memories from the dead. Do you think the dead can lie? The name Xiaoyu called out before she died, the despair in her eyes—were those just an act?

"Xiaoyu wasn't lying; she was truly desperate."

But what she said before she died! Lin Shoumo stroked his chin thoughtfully: "Zhang Hansheng, why is God so unfair? It means she knew this person was Zhang Hansheng, and my little Zhong..."

"What's wrong?"

"It gets hot when it encounters something extremely dangerous, but in the very instant Zhang Hansheng tore up the photo and took the gold bar, this clock..." Lin Shoumo patted the small bronze bell at his waist, "...it actually burped!"

"Hiccups?" Su Wantang looked at him like he was an idiot. "You mean, your magical artifact is full?"

"No, it's because it felt the 'resentment' in that scene was impure!" Lin Shoumo explained seriously. "If Zhang Hansheng were really that bad, then the scene should be filled with resentment, the bell's sound would be unstable, and the illusion would fluctuate."

But the truth is, the bell tolled very steadily, as steadily as watching a play!

He leaned closer to Su Wantang and lowered his voice: "Officer Su, think about this using your criminal investigation logic."

If you were a ruthless criminal who killed for money, and you'd already committed murder and robbery, wouldn't you linger at the scene for even a second longer? Would you tear up a photo or swear an oath? Aren't you afraid the police will come after you?

"That action—tearing up the photo—was too deliberate. It was like it was deliberately done for the 'audience,' to convince us that he was a bad guy, to make us overlook certain details!"

Su Wantang was stunned for a moment.

Although Lin Shoumo's words sounded mystical, the phrase "murderers and thieves dare not linger" was indeed common sense in criminal investigation. Zhang Hansheng's actions were indeed excessively composed.

"Then what's your explanation?" Su Wantang took a deep breath and analyzed with Lin Shoumo, "Could it be that Zhang Hansheng was actually a good person? Was he forced into it?"

"I don't know about that." Lin Shoumo spread his hands, instantly reverting to his nonchalant demeanor. "My intuition is only responsible for calling the police, not for solving cases."

But I'm certain this isn't as simple as a 'scumbag murders' story. Maybe... the real Xu Wenbin didn't die at all?

Perhaps Zhang Hansheng and Xiaoyu are in cahoots? Perhaps... that bag of gold bars wasn't even gold bars at all?

"Alright!" Su Wantang impatiently interrupted his wild guesses. "Whether it's an act or not, Zhang Hansheng is the key suspect. Since the stone tablet left an address, whether it's a treasure vault or hell down there, I have to go down!"

She snatched the metal plate from Lin Shoumo's arms, turned around and walked out with firm steps.

"If you don't dare go, just wait here. I'll save you the 20,000 yuan!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Officer Su, that's not right of you!"

Upon hearing that his pay would be deducted, Lin Shoumo immediately followed, chattering incessantly: "What do you mean you're afraid to go? This humble Taoist is doing this to protect your personal safety!"

That place is filled with yin energy. Without me, the one who 'suppresses evil spirits,' you might go in and come out as two... oh no, you'd come out as one ghost."

"Stop talking nonsense!" Su Wantang said without turning her head. "If you dare to spout off any more nonsensical commands, I'll leave you down there as a tomb guardian!"

"Tomb guardian beasts are expensive! That'll cost extra!"

"Five thousand!"

"Deal! ...Wait, Officer Su, why did you bargain so hard?"

The two walked out of the cold, dark museum storeroom one after the other.

The sunlight outside was bright, but it couldn't penetrate the gloom in their hearts. Su Wantang gripped the metal plate tightly, her eyes resolute—she believed in the law and the evidence; that cold-blooded murderer must be brought to justice.

Lin Shoumo, who was following behind, played with the small bronze bell in his hand, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.

His intuition told him that the so-called "villain" Zhang Hansheng, at the moment he tore up the photos, did not have greed in his eyes, but rather a kind of... desperate resolve.

This play has only just begun.

"Officer Su, wait for me! We need to grab a good meal to calm our nerves before we get to the former site of the Bliss Group. I heard there's a good duck blood vermicelli soup place nearby..."

"Shut up!"