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

The lights flickered faster and faster, like a dying person gasping for breath.

"Followed us? What do you mean?" Su Wantang's instincts as a criminal investigator made her jump up from her chair instantly. Her right hand instinctively reached for the pistol at her waist, but it was empty. She hadn't brought it with her when she left!

"You mean the suspect in that case followed us here?"

She quickly scanned her surroundings. The alleyway was deserted, with only a few moths hovering around Lin Shoumo, flying back and forth around the charcoal fire.

But the moment she turned to look at the ground, she froze.

The streetlights cast a dim yellow light, and there was nothing beneath her feet!

"My...my shadow..." Su Wantang's voice trembled slightly. She raised her foot and stomped on the ground, but it was still just a pale white concrete floor, without any shadow cast. "Gone again?"

"Don't move!"

Lin Shoumo's voice was as cold as if it had frozen in the dead of winter.

He slowly stood up, still holding the iron skewers he usually used to skewer meat.

"Senior sister, listen to me, don't use your materialism to explain what's happening now!" Lin Shoumo stared at the void beneath her feet, his eyes sharp. "In Taoism, people have 'three fires': one on the head and one on each shoulder."

The fire above your head is your yang energy, also known as your "fetal light"!

He flicked the iron skewer in his hand, sending it flying through the air in a blur, making a crisp "humming" sound.

"Your shadow is gone now, not because the light is wrong, but because your 'fetal light' has left your body."

In other words, something in that unfinished building stole a glimmer of your 'pregnancy light,' and now it's come knocking to collect its remaining debt!

"Nonsense...nonsense!" Although Su Wantang was stubborn, her body betrayed her by shrinking back until her back bumped into Lin Shoumo's barbecue stall. "How could that be...I clearly..."

Before he finished speaking, a cold wind suddenly began to swirl through the alley without warning.

Dust billowed up from the ground, and the folding stool that Su Wantang had just sat on suddenly made a crisp "crack" sound, as if it had been crushed flat by an invisible hand.

"Ah!" Su Wantang exclaimed, grabbing a beer bottle to throw at him.

"Don't move! You can't hit me with that!" Lin Shoumo shouted, then suddenly grabbed Su Wantang's wrist and pulled her behind him.

The next second, Lin Shoumo grabbed a can of cumin powder from the table with his other hand and threw it into the air!

"town!"

With a low shout, the white powder exploded in the air, as if hitting an invisible barrier, making a teeth-grinding "sizzling" sound, like cold water being poured onto a red-hot iron plate.

A swirling cloud of black mist appeared in the air, and when it was stimulated by the cumin powder, it emitted a sharp whistling sound like fingernails scraping a blackboard.

"What...what is this?" Su Wantang stared at the distorted air, her worldview crumbling.

"It's a 'Substitute Demon'." Lin Shoumo casually tossed the empty can aside, his expression grave. "It wants to completely turn you into a 'Shadowless Man' so it can take your place. Once your 'Taiya' is extracted, you'll become a walking corpse!"

Just then, the black mist suddenly burst forth, like a black venomous snake, bypassing Lin Shoumo and rushing straight towards Su Wantang's face!

It was so fast that even the afterimage was not visible.

"Be careful!"

Lin Shoumo's pupils constricted sharply. He hadn't expected this thing to be so cunning, knowing how to avoid the strong and attack the weak. It was too late to use the iron skewers to block it now.

At the critical moment, Lin Shoumo did not retreat. Instead, he stepped forward and stretched out his broad palm to cover Su Wantang's eyes tightly!

The world was plunged into darkness in an instant.

Su Wantang felt a sudden darkness before her eyes, and then Lin Shoumo's scent, faintly carrying the aroma of tobacco and cumin, enveloped her.

His hands were warm, even a little rough, but they gave her an unprecedented sense of security.

"Don't look!" His voice whispered in her ear, deep and husky. "Some things, just looking at them will shorten your lifespan!"

Su Wantang's heart pounded like thunder. Just as she was about to struggle, she felt the hard ornament on Lin Shoumo's chest suddenly become scalding hot, burning her skin even through two layers of fabric.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Shoumo spoke slowly to the approaching void, his tone carrying an undeniable majesty, like an ancient incantation, or a whisper to a lover…

Om-!

Su Wantang felt as if she heard a very faint buzzing sound in her ear, followed by a strange wave that swept over her entire body.

She felt Lin Shoumo's body tense for a moment, and then the chilling killing intent that had been rushing towards her vanished without a trace.

It's as if... it never existed.

The alley was deathly silent.

Only the occasional barking of dogs in the distance proved that time was still passing.

After a long while, Lin Shoumo slowly released the hand that was covering her eyes.

Su Wantang gasped for breath, instinctively taking a step back, looking at Lin Shoumo with some lingering fear.

At this moment, his face was somewhat pale, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead, but his eyes remained calm as still water.

In his hand, an inconspicuous little red gourd, no bigger than a fingernail, lay quietly. A wisp of black smoke seemed to swirl around the gourd's mouth before being instantly sucked in and disappearing.

"So...it's...resolved?" Su Wantang swallowed, her voice trembling slightly.

Lin Shoumo didn't say anything, but picked up the unopened bottle of beer on the table, tilted his head back and took a big gulp, as if to calm his nerves. Then, he pointed to Su Wantang's feet.

Su Wantang looked down.

In the dim light, beside her, that long-lost shadow lay quietly on the ground, rising and falling gently with her breath.

"You're back!" Lin Shoumo said casually, then plopped down on a folding stool, picked up a palm-leaf fan, and fanned the now-extinguished fire in the stove. "That was called 'summoning the soul.' But your soul was a bit heavy; it took me quite a bit of effort!"

Su Wantang looked at her own shadow, then at Lin Shoumo. Although her mind was full of questions, she knew that some things were beyond her knowledge.

She was silent for a moment, then suddenly took out the exquisite little ledger from her bag, turned to a new page, and scribbled a line of text:

On a certain day of a certain month, Miss Su encountered danger late at night. Mr. Lin used his magic to save her life and recorded it as follows: "For saving my life, I will pay you with meat skewers. No credit will be given."

After finishing writing, she slammed the account book in front of Lin Shoumo, her eyes red, but she forced herself to remain calm and said:

"Alright, stop pretending! This... you're not allowed to tell anyone! Especially not my men, or I'll make you regret it! And... thank you for earlier!"

Lin Shoumo stared at the line of text in the ledger, his lips twitching slightly. "Su Wantang, I just saved your life, and you still want to steal a few skewers of mutton from me?"

"So what do you want? To repay me with your body?" Su Wantang raised an eyebrow, her unreasonable temper returning, but this time, there was something else in her eyes.

Lin Shoumo's face was somewhat pale. He reached out and pressed his hand to his chest, where there was a small bell. It had been unusually active just now, even trying to break free of the red rope shackles.

Lin Shoumo looked at her and suddenly smiled, a smile that held a deeper meaning:

"Offer yourself in return? Senior sister, you've already ruined junior brother like this, can't you find someone else to ruin this important part of your life?"

Su Wantang was taken aback, then rolled her eyes dramatically, plopped down, and picked up a skewer of grilled meat.

"How did I mistreat you? I just ate some of your kebabs, so what?! Want to get rid of me? You'd better show me what you've got!"

The lights at the alley entrance seemed to brighten a bit, casting long shadows of the two figures on the ground, intertwining together. It was as if, at this moment, only this small barbecue stall was a safe haven in the world.

But what Su Wantang didn't know was that the moment Lin Shoumo put down the wine bottle, he gently stroked the red gourd on his chest with his fingers.

He knew that the "black smoke" he had just inhaled was not some kind of demon or monster.

"Senior Sister!" Lin Shoumo sighed silently in his heart, "Your junior brother isn't some charlatan who just tries to fool people; he has real skills!"

"Tch... utter nonsense! Then tell me, what exactly is this 'substitute spirit' thing?" Su Wantang stared at Lin Shoumo. "Don't give me that 'tomb-light summoning' nonsense, I want the truth!"

Lin Shoumo glanced at her, finished his beer, and stood up to clean the stove.

"You can't hear the truth now," he said, "because it will keep you up at night!"

"I can't sleep either!"

"Then let's drink!" Lin Shoumo pushed the remaining half-bottle of beer towards her. "You'll fall asleep when you're drunk!"