Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“…Wh-when did you get here? Have you eaten?”

Listening to Uncle Cheng’s weak, hoarse voice, I couldn’t stop the ache that welled up in my chest.

A good man like him-what had he done to deserve this?

I was furious, but I did my best to calm myself down. I chatted with Uncle Cheng for a while before bringing up his “illness.”

Uncle Cheng couldn’t remember exactly when he’d started acting strange.

He said he kept seeing a pitch-black shadow walk into his house.

At first, it was mostly in his dreams, so he hadn’t taken it seriously.

But later, even in broad daylight, he could see that shadow.

Whenever an episode came over him, he always felt terribly cold, as if he’d been stripped naked and thrown into a world of ice and snow.

“I even dreamed about that snow disaster…”

Uncle Cheng let out a long sigh. “In the dream, I took Big Black to look for you all. But when I got to the car, I found you all inside, frozen to death.”

His voice trembled at the end. Leaning back against the seat, his body began to shake uncontrollably. “I reached out and touched you one by one. You were all stiff. Not a single one of you was breathing…”

Just then, Uncle Cheng suddenly reached out and clamped down on my wrist.

In that instant, those withered fingers were as strong as iron claws!

“You all should have died! Why did you get to survive?”

I pulled out the Soul-Whip with my left hand and lashed it back at him!

With a sharp crack through the air, Uncle Cheng’s pupils dilated. He slumped back into the seat and passed out on the spot.

“Fuck-” I cursed.

At that moment, a person suddenly appeared by the roadside up ahead and began waving at me.

That motion, and that dark, murky body, were exactly the same as what I’d seen in the snow that night.

I ignored it and floored the gas, driving straight past.

Just then, the radio in my car suddenly crackled to life.

Amid the static, my name came through in broken fragments.

“Long… Chang… dong… take… one… more… step…”

“Fuck your mother! If you’ve got the guts, get your ass out here!”

Gripping the Soul-Whip, I slammed my fist hard into the hissing radio!

The eerie voice stopped at once. After that, there was no more sound.

By the time I reached Fortune Teller Liu’s village, it was only two in the afternoon.

But the moment I brought the car to a stop, the front door of Fortune Teller Liu’s house opened. A girl in her twenties came out and hung up a strip of white cloth at the entrance.

My heart lurched. I hurriedly got out and ran over.

After the girl finished hanging the white cloth, she turned and looked at me.

I ran up to her, but before I could speak, she said first, “You’re too late. My Master is gone.”

I refused to believe it and immediately tried to rush into the courtyard, only for the girl to block me with a hostile look. “My Master just passed. You, an Asura, barging in-are you trying to scatter her soul? And she was still helping you divine a prophecy before she died!”

I quickly stopped. “I’m sorry, miss. But this is a matter of life and death for us. My uncle is a good man. He’s saved many people. He shouldn’t have to suffer a disaster like this.”

The girl clicked her tongue. Her gaze drifted past me. “Time and fate. If Heaven shows no mercy, what use are a good heart and good deeds? My Master spent her whole life doing good too.”

I looked back and saw that Uncle Cheng had somehow gotten out of the car by himself. He was following unsteadily behind me, as if afraid I would get into a fight with someone.

Hearing what the girl said, he lowered his head slightly. “It’s fine, Changdong. Let’s go back. This is all fate.”

“I don’t believe that. If this is all fate, why would Fortune Teller Liu have us make this trip?”

I was getting angry, and the girl seemed a little frightened by me too.

She lowered her head and dug a piece of paper out of her pocket. “Here. Don’t say my Master tricked you. She only got halfway through the divination, and from what I can tell, it probably won’t be of much use. But since you’re here, you might as well have it.”

I took the paper and opened it. There were only four lines written on it: “A life-saving kindness from fifteen years past planted the root of calamity, and hatred grew unseen. The black dog guarded its master, yet in the end could not prevail. A wronged evil comes to the door; life nears its end.”