Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 6 5. Reminders and warnings

"The Sangong looks down on the Seven Lords of Hell. It thinks that they are a weak group of cowards and conspirators, trying to rule hell in a political game, trying to truly unify the dark world. But the Seven Lords of Hell have their own ideas. , as well as the constraints of heaven and other forces, the so-called unity is an impossible grand sight.”

Phantom Stranger lightly tapped Merlin's forehead with his fingers, and he was talking to Merlin about these strange things that mortals cannot know, and probably cannot understand.

Like a lunatic caught in his own delusions.

But at least his powers are real.

Under the restraint of the faint blue light, Merlin couldn't move a single finger, and couldn't even blink.He watched wisps of dark red smoke being "drawn" out of his body by Judas, like some kind of weird detoxification ritual.

"But the arrogant Sangong longs to become the real king of hell. Although it has several hell dimensions, Sangong is still a little bit short of the authority of the real king of hell. Since many years ago, It uses a very cruel method to carry out the difficult improvement of self-power."

"You know, the more powerful you are, the harder it is to improve."

The Phantom Stranger's fingers clasped Merlin's heart, and he slammed it outward. A mass of struggling dark red power was pulled out abruptly, struggling in his palm like a bug, but was easily captured by Judas. crushed and let it dissipate in the air.

"Believe me, Merlin, you don't want to know what it means to be the 'son' of Sannomiya."

Judas let out a deep laugh, he turned behind Merlin, and knocked hard on his back three times, and Merlin's restraint was also released at this moment.

Merlin himself, who was freed, suddenly had a strong desire to vomit, covered his mouth and rushed into the bathroom of the coffee shop.

A moment later, the pale-faced Merlin came back. He took the tissue from Phantom Stranger, wiped his mouth, and looked back at the bathroom in fear.

He said in amazement:

"Those bugs..."

"Soul parasites, a method that can't be put on the table."

Judas explained to Merlin with a relaxed face:

"Mortals always think that demons or demons are omnipotent. In fact, their activities in the human world are more restricted than you imagine. The farther they are from hell, the more their power will be weakened."

"So they like to play this kind of trick, leave parasites or other things in your body, and then manipulate the parasites to make you feel wrong, as if they can dominate everything."

"But in fact, you can live in the world with peace of mind. As long as you don't seek death yourself, it will be difficult for those demons, including a powerful maharaja like Sangong, to really hurt you. Unless you are killed by yourself The inner fear is overwhelmed, and that is the result those demons want to see."

"It's always easier to manipulate a walking dead with a broken heart."

The Phantom Stranger made a puppet pose, but this kind of explanation hardly reassured Merlin.

Merlin's worry was noticed by Judas, the mysterious man paused, changed the subject, and said to Merlin:

"I've already removed the magic imprint Sangong left on you just now, it can't 'see' you anymore, don't worry."

"But that contract!"

Merlin couldn't help touching his neck, he said:

"It says that the contract can take away my soul, is it true?"

"Well, in a sense, yes."

The Phantom Stranger took out a pocket watch from his pocket, looked at the time on the pocket watch, and explained to Merlin:

"Sangong behaves violently, just like a barbarian. It seldom uses contracts to gather potential souls. This time your encounter is purely because of the competition between Sangong and Mephisto. Those two Both guys are ambitious and competing in every way."

"Mephisto is very good at using contracts to create powerful fighters for himself, but in this respect, Sangong is a real layman. Let's put it this way, the contract is actually not complete, at least not as strict as the devil's contract, There are loopholes that can be exploited."

Judas pushed his hat with his hand, took a sip of coffee, and said:

"But now I can't tell you how to take advantage of the loopholes, because even if you knew, you couldn't do it."

"As for your soul, you don't need to worry about it. Sangong said that your soul is very strange. It's true. You will pass through this disaster safely. But if you want to cross the gate of death, how can you not leave something behind? ?”

The Phantom Stranger stretched out his hand and patted Merlin on the shoulder, as if saying goodbye, he said to Merlin:

"I'm going to tell you up front that you're going to lose something."

"Get ready. Don't ask more, you already know what you should know now. It may be difficult for you to see me in the future, but when necessary, I will not be late..."

Judas stood up, straightened his hat and clothes, and told Merlin:

"Go and see your father, get along well with your family, Merlin, cherish them, the time left for you is really running out."

"Also, at midnight tomorrow night..."

The figure of the Phantom Stranger gradually faded from Merlin's eyes. Before he disappeared completely, he blinked at Merlin:

"When the contract takes effect, you'd better stay away from mortals, if you don't want them to be affected."

"Swish"

Judas left as quietly as when he came, and Merlin was the only one left in the whole cafe.

He stood in an empty house, with no evidence of Judas' presence other than the two cups of coffee on the table in front of him.

All of this is like a dream, just like last night's dream, so real, yet so unreal.

Merlin's heart was in a mess, he didn't know how to face all this.It seemed that overnight, the peaceful world disappeared completely, and what appeared in front of his eyes turned into a bizarre world, a world that was hard to like.

Does he have a choice?

No!

Never.

Not even an option to escape.

Merlin took out the wallet from his pocket, took out a piece of money and put it on the counter. He glanced back at the table, where there were two cups of coffee.Merlin was stunned for a moment, and took out another piece of money, which was also paid for the Phantom Stranger who escaped the order.

Well, let's treat him to a cup of coffee.

Ten minutes later, Merlin, who arrived late, arrived at Madison's hospital.When seeing Merlin walk into the ward, Mrs. Coulson cried and hugged her son. Merlin comforted the sad mother while looking at his father.

James was lying in the emergency room in front of him. Behind the thick glass, dozens of tubes were inserted into his body. These medical instruments were maintaining James' life like a candle in the wind.

He survived, but only alive.

Phil Coulson sat on the side, and the young man's face was full of hesitation and bewilderment.

He hadn't been able to accept what was happening in front of him, and there was a trace of self-blame in his gray eyes.When he saw Merlin walking towards him, Phil stood up subconsciously. He looked at his brother nervously, and said:

"Merlin...really, it's because I rejected that demon that father..."

"No!"

Merlin stretched out his hand and held his dazed and frightened younger brother in his arms. He patted Phil on the back and said softly:

"It's none of your business. Forget it, Phil. It was just a dream."

He looked at the haggard look on his younger brother's face, and Merlin sighed, and with his hands on Phil's shoulders, he said to the 15-year-old:

"You have to grow up, as fast as you can, and you have to take care of mom and dad, can you do it?"

Phil gritted his teeth and nodded:

"I can!"

"it is good!"

Merlin looked around, lowered his voice and said to Phil:

"Help me hold my mother, don't let her go home, and then wait for me to come back, okay?"

"okay."

-------------

The day after James' car accident, Merlin has been busy.

At 9 o'clock in the evening, a haggard Merlin walked into the hospital with a black handbag.

Phil was still waiting outside James' ward, while Anna, Mrs. Coulson, was lying in a chair and dozed off. She had been too sad these two days, which made her very tired.

"Come here, Phil."

Merlin didn't disturb his mother's rest, he called his younger brother over.At the corner of the ward, he handed the handbag to his younger brother.

Phil took the heavy handbag, opened it for a glance, and his eyes immediately widened.

The handbag is full of wads of green dollars, it seems that there are as many as 10,000+.

"Where did you get the money? Merlin!"

Phil lowered his voice and asked his brother:

"Have you borrowed money?"

Faced with his younger brother's questioning, Merlin, who had never smoked, took out a pack of crumpled cigarettes from his pocket rarely.

He opened the window and lit the cigarette. Amidst the smog, he took a deep breath and coughed a few more times. He said in a hoarse voice:

"No, I sold the farm."

After Merlin's parents died, Merlin had the right to inherit the ancestral home of the Riley family.But the house was demolished, and Merlin's adoptive father, James, used the compensation to buy a farm for Merlin again, as a legacy left to Merlin in the future.

The ownership of this farm has always been under Merlin's name. He is already 18 years old, and he is fully qualified to handle the property freely.

Although, due to time constraints, the sale of the farm was severely suppressed by the intermediary company, but due to an instinctive sense of urgency, Merlin had no time to take care of these.

He had to arrange everything as quickly as possible. Merlin never forgot the warning when the Phantom Stranger left. Judah told him that his time was running out.Merlin could easily feel a kind of ominousness from it.

He didn't know what he was going to face, and he didn't know how he would end up.

Therefore, before the end comes, he must do his best to arrange a future life for his family.

"you!"

Phil was really shocked now, he grabbed Merlin's wrist, and he scolded:

"You're crazy! That's what your father left for you!"

"I know, brother."

Merlin looked at Phil, and he said:

"But I'm fine without it, and James needs surgery, and I've seen a lot of these patients in Rubes' private hospital, and they need a lot of money after surgery. You have to go to school. , the mother has to take care of the father. James' pension and insurance are simply not enough to pay for this."

"I don't want you to live in poverty. This is just a down payment, and some money will go into James' bank account later. It should be enough to support you until you are an adult. At that time, you and I have jobs, and everything will be fine." It's going to get better."

"Anyway, don't tell mother just yet, okay?"

Phil lowered his head, looked at the handbag in his hand, felt the weight of the handbag, and finally nodded.

This slightly jumpy child seemed to have grown up overnight.

Merlin looked down at the time. He coughed, stubbed out the cigarette, and said to Phil:

"I'm going out for a while, maybe be back after midnight, take care of them for me, okay?"

"midnight?"

Phil looked at Merlin suspiciously:

"What are you going to do?"

"Don't ask."

Merlin patted his younger brother on the shoulder, and he said vaguely:

"I'm going to deal with the intermediary. Those bastards lowered the price of the farm while we were in a hurry to use the money. We can't let them take advantage of the loopholes."

Phil believed it was true, the young man didn't notice the nervousness and slight fear in his brother's eyes when he turned to leave.

Merlin walked out of the hospital. Logically speaking, the summer night would not be too cold, but when he saw the deep and flowing night beyond the lights, Merlin subconsciously wrapped his coat tightly.

He felt a chill, stemming from the fear of what was to come.

The midnight of the third day is approaching, and the contract of Sangongmo will be fulfilled.

Merlin is not going to deal with any intermediary affairs.

He is about to face his fate.

Just tonight.

(End of this chapter)