Chapter 20: Night Watch

Without hesitation, the Distorted Spiritual Root forcibly activated, unleashing the sealed power in an instant. Yuan Zhu, standing in Running, eyes gleaming with dark gold, pupils narrowing into vertical slits. As his breath rose and fell, the shadows within a ten-meter radius around him stirred restlessly, like boiling, churning water.

The oppressive aura brought by the armored warrior receded like a tide, while the man rushing toward him revealed a flicker of joy amid surprise, silently admiring: Indeed! Anyone daring to roam at night and face temporal distortions without flinching is no ordinary foe. This time, he had been fooled.

The black-armored warrior suddenly halted and raised his right arm toward Yuan Zhu’s direction. The chains entwined around his arm clinked sharply, vibrating incessantly.

His right hand formed a gesture measuring distance, then shifted to a sword-point, silently aiming at the back of the fleeing man. The chained claw leaped into motion, soaring swiftly through the air, piercing the man’s chest from behind just before he could step out of the alley.

Crack!

Under the moonlight, a burst of blood appeared as the mechanical claw drilled through the man’s chest, petals of metal opening and closing before stabbing back into flesh. The armored man swung the chain in his right hand, shaping it into a forward-moving arc, ultimately striking the man’s chest.

With a sharp ‘pfft,’ the man, having stepped halfway into Running’s range, was yanked high into the air by the chained claw before crashing heavily onto the ground of Sweetwater Well Alley, coughing up a cloud of blood.

“Help… help me!”

With one hand clutching a bundled package tightly, the other trembled as it reached out toward Yuan Zhu, desperate for aid.

At this moment, Yuan Zhu’s body was enveloped and entwined by shadows, his entire form a pitch-black mass, trembling with a gelatinous elasticity. He struggled to control himself, resisting transformation into the Shadow Tiger Demon, striving instead to maintain a human silhouette, revealing a faint cat-like shadow standing upright.

He had a premonition that once he mastered the shadow power perfectly, he might not have to transform entirely into the black Shadow Tiger Demon. He could retain human traits, assume a humanoid demon form more suited for combat.

Clatter… clatter…

The armored figure resumed his steps toward the alley exit, not rashly attacking the shadow creature. He twisted his right arm back and forth, reeling the chain claw back to his wrist, dragging the bloodied man backward, leaving a vivid trail of blood on the cobblestone.

Ding dong… ding dong…

Copper bells rang one after another, their sound spreading through both the moonlit and shadowed realms, suppressing all abnormal elements and dispersing hidden dangers lurking in the dark.

Even Yuan Zhu, transformed by shadows, was compelled into an unprecedentedly calm and rational state. Power surged within him like a volcano about to erupt, ready at any moment to unleash shadow attacks. Yet his mind remained clear and composed, unwilling to strike impulsively, displaying extraordinary restraint and logic.

“I’m as cold and calculating as Zhuge Liang right now!” Yuan Zhu boasted to himself with great confidence.

The little spirit remarked, “Your mental state is strange—too rational, like a cold machine. That bell sound has a ‘calming the mind’ effect. Judging by that fellow’s appearance, he can’t be just a midnight patrolman, can he?”

Since the armored warrior showed no sign of offense, Yuan Zhu held back, maintaining his shadow-enhanced state, silently observing his moves.

Crack!

The armored warrior approached the man who was crazily coughing blood, eyes beginning to glaze over. He tightened the iron chain, causing blood to gush anew from the wound. Then, with a heavy step, his iron boot crushed the man’s shoulder. The package, once clutched tightly, slipped from the man’s limp arm onto the ground.

The armored figure held a blood-glowing lantern in his left hand, bent down, and with his right hand grabbed the package, tugging hard to reveal a chubby doll gleaming with metallic luster inside.

It was a plump doll the size of a full-term infant, its little arms and legs pudgy, eyes tightly shut and breathless. Its surface shone like metal, resembling a lifelike masterpiece.

However, the doll’s hands and feet seemed deliberately severed, leaving no limbs. Instead, dense root-like tendrils extended from the severed areas, resembling processed ginseng roots.

The armored man paid no attention to Yuan Zhu’s intense gaze nearby. His fingers curled into claws, gripping the doll’s nape with fierce strength.

In the next instant, the chubby metallic doll suddenly opened its mouth, revealing rows of sharp fangs, emitting a piercing, shrill scream. Yuan Zhu felt a stabbing pain as if his mind was being ripped apart. That scream was toxic!

The doll writhed violently, limbs struggling fiercely. Though metallic in appearance, its flesh-like elasticity was evident. The root tendrils sprouted wildly in the air.

Some roots penetrated the bloodied man’s flesh, siphoning his life force ferociously. Others coiled along the armored man’s arm that gripped the doll’s neck, spreading rapidly.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding…!

The armored man shook the blood lantern swiftly, causing the copper bells to sound urgently, their resonance suppressing the metallic doll’s sharp cries.

In this clash of sounds, the chain on the armored man’s right arm sprang to life again, writhing like a serpent, entwining the doll and the rampant roots in the air. The two battled fiercely before the chain finally bound and sealed the monstrous metallic infant, ending its desperate resistance.

After it was over, Yuan Zhu noticed the scene in the opposite alley gradually blur. The transparent air rippled violently, distorting. The dying man, with but a breath left, twitched his fingers faintly, his eyes filled with despair, regret, unwillingness, and hatred—fixated with fury on Yuan Zhu, who had not intervened.

The armored warrior lifted the bundled iron ball doll, glanced at Yuan Zhu’s fading silhouette, then threw a token into the air. It shattered the distorted, separated spatial ripple, escaping from the moonlit world into the dim shadow realm.

Snap.

Yuan Zhu caught the flying copper token. Suddenly, the scene before him vanished like a television shutting off. Sweetwater Well Alley disappeared, replaced by a row of shuttered, closed shops.

The two briefly connected worlds silently severed.

Removing the unused “Boss Template,” Yuan Zhu examined the copper token inscribed with the words “Night Patrol.” As he suspected, it belonged to a night security guard.

Yet what kind of world was across from him? A mere night patrolman had exerted such pressure. Were there formidable individuals over there, or was his Shadow Tiger Demon form actually weak?

The little spirit, freed from the bell’s calming influence, regained vitality and said, “It seems the recent temporal anomaly wasn’t caused by the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture. You were merely an incidental NPC; the real protagonist was the unlucky man who died. He was likely a local of Running who stole something forbidden and was hunted down!”

Yuan Zhu pieced the matter together, feeling uneasy. “Is this world excessively dangerous? It feels like every few steps I encounter some foul thing. Am I really qualified to traverse these intersecting times and spaces? Too bad—if that guy had run faster and escaped the armored warrior’s chase to return to Running, I might have had a chance to steal that root-infested doll.”

The little spirit advised, “I don’t recommend it. That strange doll contains extreme contamination—far stronger than the ‘Shadow Source’ devoured by your Tiger Demon Template. It’s a super bomb. That armored warrior might be a righteous ally tasked with containing such forbidden evils. His copper bells are talismans to ward off demons and calm the mind.”

Yuan Zhu pondered, “So what exactly was that moonlit alley? Another corner of the Script Spirit planet? Or some other dimensional space? Or one of eight external universes?”

Confused, he studied the night patrol token closely, muttering, “It’s written in Earth’s clerical script? Surely there’s a secret connection between Script Spirit and Earth! I wonder what this token is for… could it let me cross over as well?”