A Strange Shutter Sound
"Sir/Madam."
The accountant's eyes immediately turned gloomy.
"Didn't the two waiters who greeted you tell you that this shop doesn't accept cash?"
"So I'm very curious!" Su Ling crossed her arms, tilted her body to the side, and hunched her head, looking at the Blood-giving Monster at a 45-degree angle—she slightly pushed up her sunglasses and saw a pair of sharp, fiery eyes.
What would happen if we stuffed silver into your mouth?
"I am a disciple of the Rootless Tree sect of Wuling Mountain, and my fellow disciples are all guardians of righteousness who slay demons and eliminate evil."
"And you? What kind of fairy are you? What kind?"
"Whose blood do they like to drink? Whose flesh do they like to eat?"
"A man? A woman? Or someone who particularly likes children?"
"Who is your master? Who gave you the holy blood?"
"If you're not going to confess voluntarily, then I'll have to resort to my fists."
After saying these words, the VIP stopped moving and even stopped breathing.
This put immense pressure on the accountant girl; she looked completely terrified, and cold sweat poured down her face.
The intense spiritual pressure was like a raging fire. When Su Ling channeled her spiritual energy, she was nothing like the Yellowstone People. She needed a bit of passion—and bright red, fiery jewelry would respond to her.
The Vita Imprint and the Holy Blood lost their balance in an instant, and the accountant girl, supporting herself on the counter, seemed to be pressed down by an invisible hand.
Her complexion grew increasingly pale, and red spots began to appear on her face. Two lines of tears streamed down her face, blurring her makeup and melting her eyeliner, revealing the monster's true form. Her once rounded ears gradually transformed into a pair of gray, pointed ears on her head.
"That woman is a rat!" Billy exclaimed in surprise.
The two "children" who were in charge of greeting guests had completely opposite attitudes when they saw the monster's true form.
The boy, like a new employee, knew nothing about the accounting department, let alone what kind of "gods" were hiding in the bathhouse. He was so frightened that he couldn't breathe and dared not scream, muttering under his breath.
"What?! Is the Luo family compound full of rats? Immortal from Wuling Mountain? You must save me! I..."
Another little girl--
Instead, she advised Su Ling to be careful with her VIP status.
"Immortal Master, this is the guardian beast of the Lingguang Buddha."
"You need to think this through. I've been in Baibei Port for over seventy years, cooking for the Luo family and doing errands for the bathhouse—any spirits who come looking for trouble under the guise of exorcising demons never return."
"If anything were to happen to the accountant, I'm afraid..."
At this moment, the gray mouse sister, who was lying on the counter and suffering repeated torment from spiritual pressure, could no longer utter a single word.
The customers coming and going had no Inspiration; they only knew that something seemed to have happened at the counter. Some busybodies came forward to help, seeing the accountant in distress, and wanted to ask what was going on.
Su Ling simply turned around and glared at him, and the man involuntarily retreated to the front corridor, not daring to ask another question.
"VIP! Are you planning to kill her?" Billy saw a pool of blood splattered on the table, and the accounting monster was vomiting blood.
Su Ling pointed to a small drawer on the side of the counter. "Go open it."
Billy wondered, "What's there?"
Su Ling: "This fat rat can't move. She keeps trying to open the cabinet; it seems to be her life-saving treasure."
Billy followed the directions and found a uniquely shaped Polaroid camera in the cabinet.
--An instant camera is a fast video camera that captures images in a single shot.
Unlike SLR or point-and-shoot cameras, it doesn't require complex chemical treatments or digital video development. You can get a photo instantly by simply pressing the shutter.
Due to its special structure, which requires the storage of medicine packets and the transfer of photos, Polaroid cameras are quite large; in Billy's hands, it was like a piece of furniture.
A bulky antique that's hard to describe.
Yes, it was far too advanced for Great Xia.
For visitors from Japan, it's rather outdated. Only a niche group that appreciates the quality of instant photos and the art of candid travel photography would bother to study this kind of photographic equipment.
"It seems this is what you've been looking for." [Phoenix] immediately began metaphysical analysis, providing Su Ling with various data from the camera.
[It is a single-card, single-lens camera that uses positive and negative film and optical paste for imaging, from 2009.]
[No, judging from its wear and tear, it doesn't resemble the 20091010 batch number indicated by its production batch number and the stamped mark on the casing at all.]
[The camera's brand, Igood (Instant Camera), also ceased production of this type of photographic paper in the same year.]
[The replacement of traditional cameras with digital cameras is a historical trend, an irreversible fact.]
[You need to pay attention to its spawn area; there's a strong psionic tide there, and the enemy's soul power seems to be hidden within it.]
"Billy." Su Ling didn't rush to check the camera, but continued to instruct her assistant, "See if there are any photos in the display case."
Following the VIP's instructions, Billy hung the Polaroid camera around his neck and checked each drawer of the cashier's counter, finding eight complete photos.
--These photos include both boys and girls, all appearing to be three or four years old. Most of them are pasted onto a Yellow Pages contract.
Billy couldn't understand it. He didn't know who the photos were of, nor did he understand why these children, who were not even three or four years old, were being photographed.
The idea of signing an employment contract for a three-year-old child seems rather absurd.
"That's all." Billy had only found this much. If he wanted to examine the information at the front desk more closely, he would have to touch the body of the accounting girl who was moving the counter. This rat-like creature blocked most of the counter. For a moment, as if under the Inspiration Pressure, she knew she had no chance to escape and desperately protected the most important drawers.
"Come over slowly, don't touch her. Stay away from her," Su Ling said.
Billy was doing as the VIP instructed, but when he saw the blood- Blood-giving Monster in front of the counter...
For a fleeting moment, he felt a pang of sympathy as Blood-giving Retinue.
A shadow gradually overlapped in her mind; it was the image of Fay Foroisin.
Imagine, she was his first love, a girl who looked innocent and helpless, needing the care of an urban hero like him.
But one day, even Judas's feathers will be plucked, and perhaps lovers who once shared a bed and talked about everything will also suffer from this spiritual pressure, kneeling on the ground, bowing their heads, and spitting blood.
Of course, we may not be able to understand Billy.
Because those who are bleeding and shedding tears are not our relatives and loved ones.
At that moment, Billy hesitated, but only slowed down by a couple of steps.
The blurry shadow in his eyes overlapped with that of the gray rat nobleman.
His mind was in turmoil, and he immediately drifted off, causing his Polaroid camera to bump against the corner of the cabinet.
--The impact caused the magnesium powder in the flashlight to light up.
With a click, the shutter closed.
"VIP!" Billy had no idea what was happening. He was completely caught off guard and was still worried about Su Ling's safety. He mistook the sound of the shutter for something else and the flash for a sign of an enemy attack.
He barely dared to breathe, finally realizing something was wrong with his condition. A photograph was ejected from the camera's ball bearings.
It was initially black, fresh from being washed with developing chemicals, and still sticky when it fell to the ground.
At that very moment, the gray rat broke free from the restraints of spiritual pressure and was lifted up by an even stronger force—
She quickly retreated, running backwards.
Much like the psionic traits of [Regret Pill], she first returned to the inner vault, "scattered" the neatly stacked silver notes, then spoke to the air, and then left the inner room, like a character on a videotape playing in reverse speed, retreating from the first floor back to the shopkeeper's room on the second floor right under the noses of the two guests.
Unseen by Su Ling, the accountant's belly suddenly swelled up and immediately vomited out a foul-smelling, thick liquid, which all flew back into the bowl and was then fed into a stone mill.
The rat demon's four legs transformed into sharp claws, which were then caught on the millstone's winch in the second-floor garden. As it spun back and forth, the foul-smelling, viscous pus transformed back into a tender pink arm.
The arm was once again wrapped in black cloth by the rat spirit, carefully held, and carried backwards from the first-floor hall to the hot spring.
Su Ling wanted to capture that rapidly receding shadow, but no matter what she did, she couldn't.
Her hand touched the gray mouse's body and passed right through it without any resistance.
They could only watch helplessly as the Blood-giving Monster flew back to the underground level and retreated back to the hot spring bath.
Without a word, VIP followed. Billy didn't have that amazing stamina, so he could only stagger down the stairs, trying to make his way through the dim light. There were also footprints on the walls on both sides, showing Su Ling's footsteps as if she were walking on flat ground.
Next to the counter, the photos on the floor have fully revealed their images.
It's more like a narrative painting, more like a prophecy.
The scene points directly to the men's bathing pool of the hot spring. Amidst the rising steam, a sharp sword pierces Su Ling's chest. In the background, with blood splattering everywhere, Gray Rat leans against the flag bearer, trembling, as if accusing him to the camera.
After entering the hot spring cave, the oxygen content in the air became lower and lower, and even though Su Ling ran very fast, she still felt suffocated.
Steam rose all around, and she nearly slipped and fell several times on the slippery rock platform. She managed to keep up with the ethereal phantom, and although she couldn't figure out the power of this soul force, she could guess some of its basic characteristics—
--It is time-dependent and requires a Polaroid camera or other medium tools to activate. The master of the Soul Power uses these tools to share this power with the Blood-giving Monster.
Without hesitation, she burst into the men's bathhouse, running and leaping amidst the screams of the guests, until she reached the dining area with the natural hot spring—a place with extremely high temperatures, a natural sauna, and also the location of the restaurant, perfect for keeping food warm.
The shadow of the rat demon stopped here, and the arm in her arms seemed to have been cleanly and neatly "closed" by a large knife, as if a victim had been tortured here, and the blood that had been splattered on the floor returned to this arm.
The long process of reversing time finally ended, and the accountant girl regained her senses.
She leaned against the brick side of the hot spring platform, embracing the tender, pink human flesh, and pleaded for help from the dark, undulating figure in the river.
"My lord! Save me! Save me! The stinking Daoist priest from Wuling Mountain is here!"
Two greeters followed along, accompanying Billy to the natural hot spring.
The boy's face grew increasingly pale. Seeing the accountant's arm in his arms, he immediately explained, "You already ate it! Why did you spit it out? It was a promise! You can't go back on your word!"
Billy quickly pulled open the boy's outer robe and then his undershirt, revealing that the boy's right hand had exceptionally white skin—clearly newly grown.
Thinking about it carefully, it must be that this newcomer traded one of his arms for a job with the monster.
On the other side, a jumble of bubbles emerged from the hot spring. First, a head of dark green hair, resembling the texture of algae, appeared. Then, a greasy, slippery, pale face appeared and disappeared among the strands of hair, slowly coming into the light.
He was a tall, strong man—who, like Shasha, seemed to be a fish-man hybrid.
However, this man was more mature and stronger, with a body length of almost 220 centimeters.
When he emerged from the hot spring, his body was still emitting white smoke, as if he had absorbed ample heat from the depths of the underground hot spring. Even the water temperature of nearly 70 degrees Celsius could not cook this monster. His chest muscles, shoulders, neck, and sides were covered with pure white scales, and there were four gills on each side of his neck. In the slightly open gaps of the gill openings, there were also blood-red eyes.
Its arms and legs had overlapping fins that resembled armor, and upon hearing the gray-haired rat's call, this "Commander-in-Chief" would respond.
Is this the person?
He leaned forward, standing no more than twelve meters away from Su Ling, and reached out a finger to poke at her from a distance, confirming with the accountant once again.
"Is that her?"
The accountant dared not answer directly, like a primary school student complaining to the teacher—having been bullied by a bully, she was now too cowardly to muster the courage to settle scores. She feared that even the Commander-in-Chief was no match for the Daoist priest of Wuling Mountain, and in the end, she would suffer even harsher punishment.
As for the greeter boy's arm, it came out of her stomach intact.
--She was both hungry and frantic, and nodded with all her might.
The officers and soldiers at Baibei Wharf calmly shook the hot water off their hair and cleaned the grease stuck to their gill fins. After stepping into the shallow pool, they retrieved two swords from the water.
He raised his sword and pointed it at Su Ling.
"Are you looking for death?"
There's no registration number required to follow the process; it's that simple.
"I told you so," the hostess said, picking up the photo from the first floor. Seeing the gruesome scene in the picture, she whispered to Billy, "Guest, you'd better be quick-witted and give this young lady some advice—otherwise, she'll also die from a sword through her chest!"
Billy took a look and his expression changed drastically.
The image captured by the Polaroid camera is more like a prophetic scene; it shows exactly where the three people were positioned in the natural hot spring, with the exact same precision.
If this soul power continues to be effective, then it won't be long before...
"Pfft!"
A ghostly light flashed in the flag-bearer's hand, and his right-handed sword shot through the air!
It's almost like the blink of an eye, a mere two hundred milliseconds of reaction time!
It pierced through Su Ling's chest, severely impacting the oblivious VIP and causing him to lose his balance, almost collapsing.
The flying sword pierced his chest, striking the vital point directly—a Gate of Death blow that leaves no chance of survival!
At this moment, the accountant girl finally felt triumphant, her revenge fulfilled. Tears streamed down her face as she burst into tears, clinging to the captain's arm, and bravely pointing and arguing loudly, her voice filled with grievance.
"It's her! She wants to kill me! She's going to kill me! Waaah, Commander! She bullied me! Cut off her head! Cut off her head!"
Billy never imagined that this photograph would actually become an illustration for a book of prophecy.
--It happened, in a very straightforward and bloody way, right in front of him.
There are no miracles to reverse the "real world" depicted in this photograph, and no shortcuts to circumvent it.
But
What happened after that?
After the Polaroid camera produced this photo, what happened to Su Ling after she was stabbed in the chest?
"Not dead yet!" Daoheng County Commander gritted his teeth. Seeing the enemy standing still, he immediately rushed forward to finish him off.
Su Ling struggled, but her expression remained unchanged.
--Oh, by the way, she has facial paralysis.
The moment he pulled a string of red stone prayer beads from his bag and hung it on his arm was also the moment when the two mortal enemies came into close contact.
Billy was speechless for a moment.
He was so terrified by the merman freak's flying sword trick that he completely forgot about the [Phoenix].
According to the data displayed in the UI section, Su Ling's avatar frame was only turning red and near death; she hadn't completely left the team and wasn't truly dead.
With the redstone bracelet on his arm, this VIP's status monitoring instantly gained four highlighted buffs.
[A feeling of humiliation: You were pierced through the chest by an elite monster in front of your grand-disciple, and you were furious. The red stone bracelet of the Eight Heavenly Dragon Beads granted you a burst power boost of 1217 kilograms.]
[A sudden surge of murderous intent: This godforsaken place is eating people right in front of its guests, and you are extremely angry about it. Your power increases by 30%.]
[Brain Overheating: The excessively high ambient temperature makes you oblivious to other clues, completely ignoring the transitional plot, while also increasing your concentration]
[Near-Death Experience: When you are in a Gate of Death state, the buffs for Type A addition and Type B multiplication will increase by 1.35 times. This is the final calculation of Type C values. Survive this stage, and your desire to live will make your output explode. Due to a fatal wound to your chest and spine, your upper limb accuracy will decrease by 50%.]
[The above buffs are combined into: Angry]
[Note: I'm furious!!!]
The captain drew his sword and launched a surprise attack, intending to kill the dying man completely and then send him to the millstone as fish food.
In an instant, a torrent of blood splattered everywhere!
Billy's eyes were burning and itchy from being drenched in hot blood!
When he opened his eyes again and looked closely, he saw that Su Ling, who had been maintaining her slashing motion, suddenly shifted several meters to the side and appeared on the other side of the hot spring!
A shimmering wave still lingered in the shallow pool, a remnant of the wind pressure left by the Phoenix's charge and slash.
Looking at the flag bearer's body again, the monster was still thrusting its sword, but its head and torso had been cleaved in two by a tremendous force, and a steady stream of blood gushed out from the huge gash!
"You're so strong," Billy stammered, "Why didn't you dodge?"
Su Ling took out the Universal Elixir and drank it all in one gulp. The wound on her chest, which had been gushing blood in sync with her heartbeat, quickly healed.
"Since you've asked so sincerely, then I'll mercifully tell you—"
She swung her sword to shake off the blood, tossed aside the medicine bottle, took off her bright red sunglasses, revealing a confident look in her eyes, wiped the blood off the sunglasses, and put them back on.
"--Because I didn't react in time!"