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

"You're not going to tell me, huh? Then I'm not leaving!"

Su Wantang huddled on the folding stool, clutching the half-finished can of beer. She was a little nervous and scared!

The disappearance of that momentary shadow left a huge crack in her materialistic worldview.

"As your senior, I have the right to demand your protection!" She glared at Lin Shoumo, her voice trembling slightly, her expression fierce but her words betraying her inner fear. "Besides, I feel something's off about this place. That chill... it's seeping into my bones..."

Lin Shoumo suddenly noticed her slightly bluish lips, his expression changed, and he stopped arguing.

She was being consumed by "evil energy," meaning some unknown force was slowly eroding her existence.

He guessed that this thing must be a defective product. If it were a fully-fledged "weapon of mass destruction," Su Wantang would probably be dead by now!

This thing is an unfinished product, which causes the "life-taking" power to fluctuate in strength, like a faulty light bulb, which instead torments people to the point of near death.

"Alright, then you stay here obediently! Watch me break this thing for you!" Lin Shoumo turned around and dragged a cardboard box used for holding beer from under the stall, arranging it in a strange shape at the doorway. "Don't go anywhere tonight, especially not near water. Water can conduct electricity, and it can also... conduct evil energy!"

"Are you... setting up an array?" Su Wantang asked, shrinking her neck.

"For theft prevention!" Lin Shoumo made up on the spot. "Hurry up and come inside, don't keep me from packing up!"

He pushed Su Wantang into the house. For some reason, the aroma of cumin and chili powder inside eased her tension and fear, and instead gave her a strange sense of peace.

After settling Su Wantang in, Lin Shoumo didn't linger. He pulled down the shutter of the barbecue stall and quickly disappeared into the night.

He was going to that unfinished building in the west of the city. Since this thing was aimed at Su Wantang, he had to go to the source and cut the "causal thread"!

……

Inside the small bungalow behind the barbecue stall.

Su Wantang wrapped herself in the old military overcoat that Lin Shoumo had thrown to her, curled up on the cot, but couldn't fall asleep no matter what.

The room was dark, with only a faint moonlight filtering in from the window. The air was filled with the musty smell of cumin and a faint musty odor. Su Wantang always felt that a pair of eyes were watching her in the darkness.

"A clear conscience fears no accusation... I'm a police officer, I don't believe in evil..." she silently chanted to herself, trying to bolster her courage.

Just then, she heard a strange sound.

"Tick-tock...tick-tock..."

It sounded like a tap that wasn't turned off properly.

The sound wasn't loud, but in the quiet of the night, it sounded particularly jarring, striking Su Wantang's nerves with each beat.

"Don't go near water... Don't look in the water!"

Lin Shoumo's words of advice flashed through his mind.

But who is Su Wantang? She is a criminal police officer and a staunch materialist. She felt that the sound of dripping water was a provocation, and if she didn't turn off the tap tightly, she would definitely have a nervous breakdown tonight.

"It must be that leaky valve that's loose."

She sat up cursing and grabbed the police flashlight beside her, striding toward the washbasin stand.

"I want to see if ghosts really exist in this world!"

She walked to the basin, turned on the flashlight, and the beam shone directly on the water.

However, the next second, her movements froze completely.

The water in the basin is not transparent!

Under the pale beam of the flashlight, the water in the basin was as black as ink and as viscous as oil!

That wasn't tap water at all; it was more like a basin of undissolved corpse oil!

Even more terrifying, her face was not reflected on the water, nor was the ceiling.

A pale woman's face was reflected in the water!

The face was pressed tightly against the bottom of the water, its features as if they had been forcibly smoothed out by something. There was no nose, no ears, only a mouth that split open to the earlobes, exhaling black bubbles!

"Gurgle..."

A bubble burst on the surface of the water, and a putrid stench wafted out.

Su Wantang's scalp tingled instantly, her whole body went cold, and the flashlight in her hand fell to the ground with a "thud"!

Her instinct was to back away, to draw her gun, to shout!

But she couldn't move!

The face underwater suddenly "came to life," defying the laws of physics, instantly "bulging" from the two-dimensional water surface into a three-dimensional entity.

It had no eyes, only two dark holes, which locked onto Su Wantang!

"Hehe...hehe..."

The sharp laughter, like fingernails scraping a blackboard, drilled straight into Su Wantang's mind.

The thing suddenly opened its mouth wide, and a visible white light shot out from its mouth, turning into a sharp arrow that shot straight at Su Wantang's brow!

That was the materialization of "evil energy," moving at a speed too fast for the naked eye to detect!

Su Wantang watched helplessly as the white light approached. The fear of death overwhelmed her instantly. She wanted to move, but she didn't even have the strength to pull the trigger!

Finished!

Junior brother, I was wrong. I shouldn't have disobeyed you!

Just as the white light was millimeter away from Su Wantang's brow, about to pierce her skull—

"when--!!!"

A clear, deep bell, seemingly from the ancient past, suddenly rang out in the small bungalow!

The voice wasn't loud, but it carried an indescribable majesty, as if some supreme law had descended!

In an instant, the world stood still…

The menacing white light stopped in mid-air, only one centimeter away from Su Wantang's brow. The killing intent it emitted had even stung Su Wantang's skin, but it just couldn't get any closer.

The vengeful ghost, spewing white light, remained with its mouth open, stiff as a statue.

Even the strand of Su Wantang's hair that had been stirred up by the murderous aura hovered in mid-air, no longer fluttering.

The dust particles illuminated by the flashlight stopped in the air and ceased to dance.

Time was forcibly paused.

Su Wantang's pupils dilated violently. Her mind was still racing, terror, confusion, and the will to survive exploding in her head, but her body felt as if it had been encased in cement, and she couldn't even blink.

Is this... a revolving lantern display before death?

No, that's not right!

She caught a glimpse of the corner out of the corner of her eye.

On the old shrine in the bungalow, a small, rusty bronze bell, about the size of a fist, was trembling slightly.

On the bell, the ancient cloud and thunder patterns that were originally blurred are now swirling with wisps of faint purple aura.

As the lingering echo of the bronze bell's tremors faded, everything around fell into a deathly silence.

This is not a revolving lantern.

This is a "town"!

In this absolute stillness and deathly silence, the door of the bungalow was kicked open!

Su Wantang was still unable to move her eyes, but she could feel that familiar figure rushing in!

Lin Shoumo was panting heavily, his face deathly pale!

Without even glancing at the frozen ghost, he rushed to Su Wantang, pulled her into his arms, and with his other hand pulled out the red gourd from his pocket, pointing it fiercely at the stagnant white light!

"A mere trick! Take it away!"

The white light that was originally meant to kill suddenly changed direction like an obedient snake and was sucked into the red gourd.

Lin Shoumo put the stopper back on and let out a long sigh of relief.

But he didn't relax immediately. Instead, he abruptly turned to look at the still-vibrating small bronze bell, his brow furrowed, and he hissed in a low voice:

"Certainly!"

The small bronze bell suddenly sank, and the purple aura instantly receded, turning back into that inconspicuous piece of broken copper and iron.

"call--"

The sound of the wind resumed.

The light dust continued to dance.

Su Wantang suddenly collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, her back instantly soaked with cold sweat.

She looked at Lin Shoumo, still shaken, and then at the small bronze bell in the corner.

"Why...why couldn't I move just now?" she asked, trembling.

Lin Shoumo appeared somewhat weak at this moment. He wiped away the trickle of blood from his nose and glared at her irritably:

"That was a moment borrowed from the 'Heavenly Dao.' In that moment, all laws ceased to exist, and even gods and demons stopped in their tracks!"

He pointed to the small bronze bell, his tone complex:

"Luckily, I left this replica of the 'Yin Zhong' here, otherwise, you would be dead a second ago!"

Su Wantang looked at the rusty little thing and couldn't connect it with the terrifying power that controlled the passage of time she had just seen.

"This...this is also an antique?" she asked instinctively.

"No!" Lin Shoumo stood up, a deep fear flashing in his eyes. "This is a cage. It didn't save you; it just temporarily locked up the possibility of your death!"

"But this debt will have to be repaid sooner or later!"