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

The old town of Nandu is like a scar forgotten by this rapidly developing modern metropolis. A tangled web of electrical wires hangs low, and the dim streetlights cast dappled shadows on the damp cobblestones.

At the end of the alley, the small stall with the tattered lightbox that read "Lin's Barbecue (also offering feng shui consultation, name selection, and exorcism)" has become the center of the storm.

"Boss, another piece of fried tofu skin! Extra spicy!"

Su Wantang sat on a rickety red plastic stool without any regard for her image, clutching a handful of dripping lamb skewers, her cheeks bulging.

Beside her feet, the golden retriever named "Big Yellow" was staring longingly at the meat in her hand, its tail sweeping the ground with a "swish swish" sound.

Sitting opposite Su Jing, he looked conflicted, his long legs hunched over in his custom-made Italian leather shoes.

His six-figure bespoke trench coat looked completely out of place in this environment filled with the smell of cooking oil and the hustle and bustle of the city.

"Wan Tang, that's enough." Su Jing frowned, trying to use the authoritative tone of a board member, but his voice was insignificant amidst the sounds of drinking games at the next table. "What you're doing... is too unseemly. And this place... is it even hygienic?"

"Oh dear, brother..."

Su Wantang swallowed a mouthful of meat, her eyes fierce. "You want me to go back to that house? Back to listen to Mom nagging about that 'antique appraisal expert'? That guy kept staring at my neck when we were on a date!"

He's estimating how much money I can get for this jade pendant! I'm not going back, not even if you kill me! I'm staying here!

Lin Shoumo, who was adding charcoal to the oven, turned green with heartache.

As he flipped the chicken wings, he quickly calculated: fifteen skewers of lamb, two skewers of beef, one skewer of chicken wings, and the two sausages that Da Huang had casually taken...

"I say, Miss Su," Lin Shoumo couldn't help but say, "I understand if you want to run away from the wedding, but what are you doing here, Young Master Su? Su Jing, your suit is stained with oil, even selling your Maybach wouldn't be enough to clean it."

Su Jing straightened his cuffs with a self-righteous air: "I'm doing this to keep an eye on Wan Tang. As for the expenses..." He casually pulled out two red banknotes and placed them under the condiment bottle, "That's enough for you to buy a case of mutton."

"Two?" Lin Shoumo was so angry he almost threw the chicken wings into the fire. "Those are top-quality pork fat! Su Wantang has already eaten seven or eight boxes of them! Are you trying to fob me off with two?"

"Alright, enough nonsense!" Su Wantang pushed the empty plate away. "We still need to investigate the case after we finish eating. I've been thinking about that thing in the illusion the whole way here."

Lin Shoumo took the meat platter over, casually stuffing the two hundred yuan into his pocket, but his expression turned serious: "Senior sister, your thinking is correct! Let's put Zhang Hansheng's name aside for now."

Whether he's a ghost from six hundred years ago or a demon of today, we only have one solid clue right now—the 'materializing agent'.

"Physical agent?" Su Jing keenly caught the word and put away his nonchalant expression.

"That's right." Lin Shoumo drew a circle on the greasy table with a bamboo stick. "In the illusion, the various potions that Zhang Hansheng announced seem impressive, but we don't know if they actually exist in reality!"

But the technology that turns people into dolls is real!

That's not magic; it's a chemical product. Since it's a product, it has a supply chain, raw materials, and a place of production!

Su Wantang's eyes lit up: "You mean, checking the medicine?"

"That's right!" Lin Shoumo looked at Su Jing. "Old Su, although the matter is very strange, that kind of drug that can 'solidify' living tissue must be a prohibited item or a highly classified scientific research project."

Only you can trace its distribution channels in the market!

Su Jing did not answer immediately. He stared at the oil stains on the table, his brows furrowed, and his fingers tapped lightly on the surface.

"Physical agent..." he muttered to himself, then pulled out a tablet from inside his trench coat and quickly pulled up an encrypted database:

"Although I'm in the manufacturing industry, I've been keeping an eye on new trends in the pharmaceutical sector. If this technology really exists, even if it's just an experimental product, its core raw materials would be very special."

His long, slender fingers flew across the screen: "The 'blockers' and 'regeneration technologies' you mentioned earlier... if we disregard ethics, the core of these technologies often requires extremely high-purity biological enzymes and a special stabilizer."

"For example?" Lin Shoumo leaned closer.

"For example, an industrial solvent called 'obsidian,' or an extract from a rare plant from a specific region!" Su Jing suddenly looked up, his eyes sharpening.

"Wait a minute, last week, Nandu Customs intercepted a batch of smuggled chemical reagents. The customs declaration said 'industrial glue,' but my people found it strange at the time. The molecular structure of that stuff is very rare; it's definitely not ordinary glue!"

"Can you find out where they went?" Su Wantang asked nervously.

"Of course!" Su Jing sneered, his aura as a business tycoon instantly returning. "In this city, there's no product the Su family can't find!"

He dialed a number, his voice icy: "This is Su Jing. Check if that batch of 'industrial glue' seized by customs last week was bought by any company through a bidding process...

What? It failed to sell at auction? It was privately acquired by a small company called "Heng'an Biotechnology"? ...Where is Heng'an Biotechnology registered?

A few words were spoken on the other end of the phone.

Su Jing's face instantly darkened. He hung up the phone and turned the tablet towards the two of them.

An electronic map was displayed on the screen, with a red marker flashing.

"The western part of the city, the unfinished building commercial area!" Su Jing's voice was deep. "That's where 'Heng'an Biotechnology' is registered!"

"An unfinished building..." Su Wantang gasped, "...the place where that hiker found the ring!"

"That makes sense!" Lin Shoumo took a deep breath. "Zhang Hansheng may be a phantom, but the 'materializing agent' is real!"

Someone is conducting experiments on living people in an unfinished building, attempting to recreate or improve the technologies in the illusion. That ring might be a 'byproduct' of their failed experiment, accidentally spilled out!

Just then, a gust of cold wind blew through the alleyway.

The once bustling barbecue stall suddenly fell silent. The two drunken contractors at the next table had already paid their bill and left, leaving only empty bottles swirling in the wind.

Lin Shoumo suddenly stopped moving.

He stared intently at the shadow beneath Su Wantang.

At that moment, the lights at the barbecue stall flickered on and off. According to the principles of optics, Su Wantang's shadow should have been projected backward. But the shadow on the ground was in an extremely strange posture—it was standing.

Moreover, one of its hands was slowly and silently reaching towards Su Jing's neck at a twisted angle!

"Don't move!" Lin Shoumo's voice was as cold as ice. He didn't shout, but slowly reached for the tin can full of chili powder. "Senior sister, the 'materialization' reaction in your body is faster than I expected. The resentment in that potion wants to use you to kill the Su family."

Su Jing clearly sensed something too. He instinctively reached for his neck, but Lin Shoumo stopped him with a sharp shout: "Don't move! If you move, it will lock its throat!"

Su Wantang's face was deathly pale. She felt as if there was a block of ice on her back, and a chilling aura was creeping up her spine. It was the residual toxicity of the "materializing agent" stimulating her nerves.

"evil creature!"

Lin Shoumo roared, grabbed the chili powder jar, and smashed it hard at the shadow at Su Wantang's feet!

"break!!!"

"Clang!"

The red chili powder exploded, and a piercing scream erupted in the air—the shrill sound of an old spring snapping! The shadow on the ground convulsed wildly, then shrank back as if burned, returning to its normal sitting posture.

"Cough cough cough..." Su Jing suddenly clutched his neck and gasped for breath, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

"This...this is what you called 'objectification'?" Su Jing was still in shock, looking at Lin Shoumo with genuine fear in his eyes for the first time.

"That's a side effect of the drug taking effect!" Lin Shoumo picked up the empty can from the ground and smashed it on the floor.

"The thing in the abandoned building is remotely 'activating' the residual toxins in Su Wantang's body through that ring. Su Jing, if you die, your sister will become a puppet of that shadow."

There was a deathly silence all around.

Su Jing wiped away a cold sweat, looked at his still-shaken sister, and then at the mess on the ground.

He took a deep breath, pulled a black card from his pocket, and slammed it onto the greasy table!

"Lin Shoumo, the Su family can't handle this. From now on, all of the Su family's resources are at your disposal. The Su family will cover all expenses!"

He pointed at Big Yellow: "This dog is yours too!"

Lin Shoumo looked at the black card, then at the golden retriever that was still baring its teeth at the air. He pursed his lips and put the card in his pocket.

"You said it yourself. From now on, if your sister comes over for a free meal, I won't be giving her a discount!"

Lin Shoumo stood up, dusted off his backside, and looked at the unfinished building that was faintly visible in the night.

"Now that we've found out where the medicine went, let's not stand on ceremony. Tonight, let's go to the abandoned building and see who's brewing this 'human flesh soup'."

Su Wantang stood up: "Let's go! This time, I'm going to take down that pharmaceutical manufacturing den!"

Big Yellow barked excitedly and charged towards the alley entrance first. Its golden fur shone like a burning flame under the streetlights, dispelling the heavy gloom around it.