Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 10 9. The Disaster of the Green Bell

"Ask a question..."

Under the dim light and harsh music, Merlin, who was wearing a black cowboy hat, picked up a glass of wine slightly drunk, and said to the drunk sitting opposite him:

"What belongs to you only, and everyone has it, but it is used by others far more than you?"

"Uh...let me see, I sure know this! Everyone knows I'm the smartest."

The drunk man's eyes were red from drinking, and he didn't know why he was sitting here, playing guessing games with this young kid with sunglasses.

But when a person is drunk, his self-control will drop too much, and he can't think of anything else in his chaotic mind.

Talking about solving the puzzle, but thinking about it, the rude guy tilted his head, and a moment later, a deep grunt sounded in the noisy small bar.

It stands to reason that it is not allowed to sell alcohol to young people under the age of 21, but at midnight, when the bar is the busiest, who cares about it?

Come on, this is 1989, even mobile phones have not been popularized, computers and the Internet are only toys for a small number of people, the future belongs to the light of technology, and the light of technology is still in the ascendant, here is still ruled by tradition, especially in this deep American interior .

Merlin drank his glass of wine slowly, took out the wrinkled money from his pocket, and pressed it under the glass.Then he checked the time again, then dragged the box next to his feet, preparing to leave here.

His train is coming to a stop...

When passing by the drunk man who was sleeping soundly, Merlin stretched out his hand, straightened the drunk man who was about to fall down on the chair, then patted him on the shoulder, and announced the answer to the riddle in his ear:

"The answer to the riddle is the name. Everyone has it, the most common thing."

Merlin conveniently took out a few banknotes from the pocket of the drunk with tattoos all over his arm, then stretched his shoulders, squeezed away the midnight carnival crowd, and left this little-known little bar.

After stepping out of the bar, standing on the dark street, being blown head-on by the icy night wind from Lake Michigan, Merlin sobered up from that slightly drunken posture.

He looked at the banknotes in his hand, shook his head, and handed most of the banknotes to the homeless man curled up on the side of the road.In the hoarse thanks of the homeless man, he put his left hand in the pocket of his coat, held the heavy suitcase in one hand, and lowered his cowboy hat. Under the light of the pale street lamp, he walked to the station not far away by himself.

In the wind, Merlin's slightly sad whisper echoed:

"Unfortunately... I have lost it completely."

This is Chicago, and this is the second stop of Merlin's purposeless long journey,

Starting from Madison, Merlin came to the real big city Chicago.Merlin still remembers that when he was 4 years old, the story that happened in Chicago was put on the Broadway stage by those screenwriters, and even people in Wisconsin knew the sensation of that play.

Those stories happened right under his feet, but unfortunately, at this moment, Merlin was not in the mood to enjoy the stage play.

He didn't come for the pleasure.

On a street not far from the train station, Merlin looked at the signs made up of various neon lights on the street. He strolled on the street until he came to a very small store.

The blue and red light tubes on the store formed a slightly mysterious pattern, and even standing outside the store, Merlin could smell the strong scent of incense coming from the house.

Most people don't use incense, let alone use incense as a mosquito coil like this.

This is a psychic shop, which is also a product of Western feudal civilization.This is the most important purpose of Merlin's coming to Chicago. He inquired on the train that this local psychic seemed to be very effective.

As an ordinary person who has lived for 18 years, Merlin wants to pursue the mysteries of magic. What else can he do besides looking for unreliable psychics and Indian shamans far away in Indian reservations?Do you really want to abandon all conscience and mix with cultists?

But this is not the first psychic that Merlin has visited in the past half month.

Merlin stood at the door of this store. He looked at the store in front of him with suspicion and scrutiny. To be honest, he didn't really believe that the people in the store could really help him.

But it's all here... give it a try.

Merlin stretched out his hand, and the moment he pushed the door open, the neon lights of the store suddenly flashed, and then the whole thing was like a firecracker being lit, with white sparks jumping, within 5 meters away from Merlin The place exploded.

This sudden noise did not surprise Merlin at all.

He's used to these things.

During this period of travel, he has summed up the rules.

As long as I stay in one place for more than 2 hours, the bad luck that originally affected me will start to spread to the surroundings, and after 6 hours, it will cause real troubles that may hurt people.

But as long as Merlin doesn't stop moving, the time for this bad luck to erupt will be greatly extended.It was as if some kind of force was urging him not to stop and move forward.

"Oh, another lost soul, come to me for help."

The moment Merlin stepped into this psychic shop filled with weird incense, a deep and hoarse voice sounded in the deliberately dim lights.That voice sounded a bit strange, but Merlin didn't sense any abnormal aura in the house.

Looking around the room with sunglasses, Merlin shook his head in disappointment. There was almost no trace of magic in this house, not even one or two weak spirits.

In the past few days, Merlin could still hear strange murmurs from time to time. Every night, he almost woke up from the bizarre nightmares, but the good news was that his double vision was finally completely cured.

The vision in front of him finally became clear again, even a little too clear.

Merlin discovered that his eyes could not only easily see things in the dark, but he could even vaguely see things that normal people should not see. Those spirit bodies, to be precise, were ghosts and other weird creatures.

Especially after Merlin took off his sunglasses, as long as he looked at it with his heart, those things would become very clear in his eyes.

Merlin called the ability of these eyes "spiritual vision", but the act of turning on spiritual vision is risky.

Because when you see them, it means they see you too.

For a young man like Merlin who doesn't understand magic at all, provoking those abnormal creatures is completely courting death.Therefore, after Merlin discovered the abnormality of his eyes, he almost never took off his sunglasses.

Bad luck was bad enough, and Merlin didn't want to get into other troubles before he solved this troublesome bad luck.

"Come on, sit down, boy."

The psychic in the room was dressed like a legendary wizard. This guy who looked like he was in his 50s even flirtatiously matched himself with a purple robe with stars and a nondescript pointy... Horned hat, like the kind used by wizards.

Coupled with the choking incense in the house, the white candles deliberately placed in some weird shape, and the unidentified magic circle drawn with black paint on the ground, all of these seem to be inviting anyone who walks into this room. The person in the store said that this psychic is a real "goods" person.

It's a pity that no matter how much he pretends to be a master, no matter how much he plays tricks, he can't conceal the fact that he is just a normal mortal.

At least in Merlin's eyes, the old man's spirit was a little weak, and what was reflected in his eyes was even a slightly ugly soul.

Merlin sat in front of this chattering psychic, the old man picked up a deck of tarot cards from the table, he looked at Merlin, with an inscrutable smile, he said:

"Son, do you have any questions?"

"I..."

Merlin didn't know what to say, he already knew the essence of the psychic in front of him, which made him a little bit less interested.He met several miraculous psychics, but all of them were liars.

This made him feel that this road might not work.

So Merlin was silent for a moment, he shook his head, stood up:

"Sorry for wasting your time, but I think you may not be able to solve my problem."

After finishing speaking, Merlin was about to leave, but behind him, the old man saw that a business was about to fail, so he lowered his voice and said in a very bluffing tone:

"You've fallen into darkness!"

"Ok?"

Merlin's footsteps stopped, which made the old man feel a burst of joy. A person like him who lives by cheating knows how to read words and expressions. Seeing Merlin's hesitation, he knew that he had guessed right.

Then he said again:

"You've been through something unimaginable, boy, it must be terrible. I guess, it has something to do with some legendary creature, I can feel it, you must be scared... Come on, tell me, Maybe, can I really help you?"

Merlin turned around, a mocking look on his face.

Such rhetoric is almost exactly the same as that of the previous psychic mediums who bluffed and deceived.

So he stretched out his hand and took off his sunglasses. The spark-like red light in those black eyes made the old psychic stand upright in fright.

The pointed hat on his head, which was used to bluff people, also fell to the ground because of too much movement, revealing the guy's true face.

He's a... bald.

"This question..."

Merlin pointed to his eyes, he said:

"Can you solve it?"

The old man was choked and speechless, Merlin looked at the fear on his face, he shrugged:

"Unfortunately, it seems that you can't solve it."

After speaking, he shook his head and put his sunglasses back on.He wasn't going to waste any more time, he'd been in Chicago a long time, it was time for him to leave.

But just as Merlin walked to the door, the old man behind him gritted his teeth and stopped him:

"Wait, kid, your problem is something I've never seen before, so to solve it, I'll have to use something dangerous... Which means, you'll have to pay more!"

"?"

Merlin looked back at the old man, who already had an extra box in his hand.

He seemed to feel that he was despised by this young man, which made him, who claimed to be a great psychic, feel a kind of humiliation.The most important thing is that once this kid goes out and talks nonsense, he will suffer another blow after he managed to get a good business.

In the con man business, reputation is the most important thing.

"this thing!"

The bald psychic held up the box in his hand, as if holding a real treasure, and said to Merlin in an awe-inspiring tone:

"This thing was once worshiped by Indian tribes. There are legends that it contains a terrifying spirit body. After I got it, even a powerful psychic like me feared its power...boy, if it's not your problem It's too serious, I can't use it."

There was a sly gleam in the old man's eyes, and he said:

"Every time I use it, I need to pay a part of my life, so the price of this inquiry is high, 1000 US dollars! Otherwise, you can go."

Merlin didn't leave, because in his eyes, the box held by the old man was indeed surrounded by a strange halo, very obscure and dangerous, but this was the first time Merlin had really seen an item with magical radiance.

It seems that this psychic has something in his hands.

Merlin took out all his money from his pocket, and he threw it on the old man's desk, there were hundreds of dollars scattered here and there.

Merlin looked at him and said frankly:

"This is all my money, and if you're not willing to use it, then there's nothing I can do about it."

The old man looked at the money on the table, he frowned, but considering that today's business is really bad, he thought about it, finally nodded, pointed to the chair in front of him, and said to Merlin:

"Well, for the sake of you being a child, I will make an exception to help you once, sit there, no matter what you see in a while, don't be afraid."

Merlin did.

He watched the old man open the box, and there was a long-lost expectation in his heart. He was really tortured by the entangled bad luck, and he desperately wanted to get rid of it.

And the old man was chanting a "spell" that no one could understand, holding an unknown handprint with one hand, and lighting a few candles, and then, under Merlin's gaze, he took out something from the box .

That's a... bell.

The green bell looks very old, and there is even a green patina on it, and its appearance is very similar to the creations of some ancient civilizations.But the moment the old man took out the bell, Merlin's expression changed drastically.

He recognized the aura, which was very similar to the aura of the Sangong Demon. Although it was not the same and seemed a little weak, the smell of sulfur filling his mouth and nose, the faint feeling of burning flames, that yes...

Devil's breath!

"Don't touch it!"

Merlin screamed and got up, trying to stop that old liar who wanted to die without limit.

But this kind of behavior was misunderstood by the old man. He took a step back and avoided Merlin's outstretched hand. He said:

"Evil! I order you, get out of this young man's body!"

With the shaking of the old man's wrist, the ominous green bell was rang.

"Ding ding ding, ding ding ding."

A crisp sound came out from the bell, like a red-hot needle, piercing Merlin's soul fiercely.The young man covered his ears and howled and fell to the ground. The dark power from the Sangong Demon hidden in his soul was startled by the breath of another demon, and began to roll crazily in Merlin's soul.

The young man's ears were filled with wild laughter from the demons of hell, and his vision turned blood red.

Fear, hatred, anger, and all kinds of negative emotions erupted from the bottom of Merlin's heart. Those dark forces seemed to have found a breakthrough, rushing out of Merlin's broken soul and began to appear on his body.On his fingers, black smoke began to escape, and his flesh and blood were collapsing like quicksand.

It was as if Merlin was about to be gasified.

In the black smoke, there are dark red sparks that make the scalp tingle, like a storm of ash after the flame is extinguished.

"Stop! Stop!"

Merlin screamed and howled.But his request and mutation were thought by the ignorant old liar as his "exorcism ceremony" was successful, and he began to shake the green bell in his hand more vigorously.

"Evil! Get back!"

"Ding ding ding, ding ding ding."

The ringing of the bell became more and more urgent, and the disturbed dark power spread faster and faster.In the end, when Merlin raised his head again, his eyes turned completely pure white, and the dark will contained in them made the old man back several steps in fright.

But... it's too late.

The next moment, Merlin's body spread apart, like an endless storm of black ashes. With an explosive and pervasive posture, like a dark monster awakening, the entire room, including the one that had done evil things, was scattered. Together with the old liar, completely torn.

"boom"

Ask for a recommendation ticket! ! !Begging for tickets...

(End of this chapter)