Double Vision

"Immortals of the Nine Heavens, soothe the body, cleanse the soul, illuminate the five viscera with mystery—Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise..."

Blue smoke curled upward as the incantation echoed ethereally.

Within a modern office building, there was unexpectedly a quaint Daoist temple, with red walls and gray tiles, ancient and secluded. The plaque above its entrance read: True Immortal Temple.

Before the temple stood an incense table. Believers crowded around it, their expressions solemn and reverent as they circled a kneeling man at the center.

A middle-aged Daoist priest in a gold-and-purple robe patterned with mysterious designs stood before the kneeling man. Wearing a lotus crown with hanging tassels and gold-rimmed glasses, he chanted an incantation and formed hand seals, conducting some unknown ritual.

The chanting grew louder. The believers circled faster and faster, while the man in the center twisted in agony.

Suddenly, another Daoist priest stepped behind the man and drove a dagger carved with talismans into his back. The man's expression abruptly calmed, and he walked into death with a smile.

The room was dim, the old temple grim and sinister. Sandalwood incense and the stench of blood lingered everywhere... Incense offerings, an ancient temple, an office building, believers, slaughter... together, they formed a bizarre and eerie sacrificial rite.

This scene was transmitted by a miniature hidden camera to the Taipei Police Department.

The footage caused an uproar.

"It really was them. They were behind the recent murder of that foreign pastor..."

"Chief, I found their information." The female officer beside him clattered away at the keyboard and pulled up two files.

"Lin Daosheng and Huang Yifeng, both from Kaohsiung. Founders of Overseas First Advanced Corporation. A few years ago, they suddenly sold off the company and returned to Taipei..."

The chief respectfully looked toward the young man seated before the computer. The man was pale, with regular features and long black hair.

He was their witness, as well as the financial backer of both the police department and the chief himself.

Half a month earlier, the financial investor Huang Bai had donated twenty million New Taiwan dollars to the police department. The chief had also received a private "donation" from Huang Bai.

This man had only one condition: help him solve the recent string of bizarre deaths. He had also proposed that the incidents were the work of a serial killer.

The footage sent back by the miniature camera today had indirectly confirmed his conjecture.

Faced with such a generous benefactor—and conditions that benefited the department—the chief was naturally ecstatic and immediately mobilized his finest officers.

"We have Boss Huang's lead to thank for this. Otherwise, we wouldn't even know where to begin... But how did Boss Huang know it was them?"

Huang Bai shifted his gaze from the screen and said,

"Two months ago, I worked with them, so I found some clues. Chief, this is a murder case involving an illegal civilian organization. There are many of them. You need to deploy a large number of riot-control officers, fully armed and equipped with riot shields, snipers, submachine guns..."

None of this was a coincidence. Huang Bai had known in advance because he was not from this world.

At that thought, Huang Bai subconsciously looked at his left forearm. On its inner side was a talisman no one else could see.

The talisman was pure gold and shimmered brilliantly. At its top were seal-script characters reading "Heavenly Dao Talisman Edict," while its center read, "Heavenly Dao Demon-Extermination Order: Prevent the demonic cultivator of this world from attaining immortality through corpse liberation, and you may leave this world with your task complete."

Huang Bai did not know the origins of the Heavenly Dao Talisman Edict, but it was this very object that had brought him here half a year ago.

This was the world of the film Double Vision.

The film told the story of Huang Huotu and a foreign detective investigating bizarre murders. During the investigation, they discovered that the killer was murdering people according to an ancient and rare Daoist secret art.

The ancient texts and secret art came from True Immortal Temple, excavated in Jiaozhi. True Immortal Temple recorded a Corpse-Liberation Immortalization Method: only by enduring the trials of the five hells—Cold-Ice Hell, Fire-Pit Prison, Intestine-Extraction Prison, Heart-Gouging Prison, and Tongue-Pulling Prison—could one overcome the tribulation and ascend to immortality.

To achieve immortality, one needed to use their Double Vision to identify the "Human Fiends" of the world—wicked people who had committed corresponding sins—and cast them one by one into the matching hells to complete the tribulation, after which they would undergo Liberation by Violence to become an immortal.

According to the plot, Xie Yali was the one with Double Vision. She was also the mastermind and the object of loyalty for the two Daoist priests.

All Huang Bai needed to do was stop Xie Yali from attaining immortality through corpse liberation.

"Riot-control officers, submachine guns, snipers... They're just ordinary civilians. Isn't that overkill..." The chief was somewhat troubled, but for the sake of his benefactor, he still picked up his radio.

"All riot-control special police, proceed to the technology building. The codename for this operation is—Demon Extermination! I will personally head to the scene and take command."

"Huang Huotu! Stay by Boss Huang's side and await orders!"

"Yes!!" A middle-aged man whose brow always carried a worried crease followed behind Huang Bai. He said nothing more and revealed no emotion.

Soon, police cars raced toward the technology building.

Huang Bai stood in the lobby, watching the scenes transmitted from the front line.

"How will you withstand the firepower of the authorities now?"

After arriving in this world, Huang Bai discovered that this world's history in 2002 was largely the same as that of his original timeline.

So, using his foreknowledge of the stock market and the World Cup, he amassed tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars and put all of it to use this time.

The surrounding clamor fell silent as Huang Bai stared intently at the large screen.

He did not merely want to stop Xie Yali's corpse liberation. He also wanted the corpse-liberation secret art excavated from True Immortal Temple.

In the original plot, Lin Daosheng had merely chanted an incantation, yet he possessed swordsmanship capable of slicing through iron like mud. He had nearly wiped out the police.

In Huang Bai's view, the fungal powder used by the people of True Immortal Temple might have been a Daoist external elixir. It could not only induce hallucinations, but also strengthen the body.

If he obtained this secret art, he could open the door to supernatural power.

"Don't move!!!"

"Hands up!"

With submachine guns in hand and riot shields raised before them, the officers suddenly smashed through the gates of True Immortal Temple.

The man's corpse still lay in the courtyard, blood flowing across the ground.

The scene instantly fell silent. The believers did not panic, merely gazing calmly at those who had burst through the doors.

Then Lin Daosheng drew his longsword. With a hum, it actually broke through a riot shield and sliced off half of a man's shoulder.

"Ahhh!"

The scream shattered the silence as the believers surged forward.

Everyone had ultimately been too careless.

"Fire, fire!!" the chief ordered in a panic.

Fortunately, Huang Bai had repeatedly warned them in advance. Even though they had let their guard down, they still reacted in time and riddled Lin Daosheng and Huang Yifeng with bullets.

The remaining believers were either dead, injured, or captured alive. Not a single one knelt to surrender.

That atmosphere of fanaticism carved itself deeply into the memories of everyone present.

Soon, they found a woman in white hidden underground.

The woman was pale and short-haired. Her abdomen bore a bloody wound, and some kind of mold seemed to be growing within it.

"The victim is Xie Yali. She has suffered from a severe brain tumor since childhood and claims she can see her dead older sister..."

They transferred Xie Yali to the hospital room Huang Bai had prepared for her in advance.

Huang Bai did not reveal that Xie Yali was the mastermind. Instead, he allowed events to proceed as they had in the original plot.

"It is almost over."

Huang Bai let out a breath of relief. Though there had been a minor incident, things had gone fairly well overall, without massive casualties.

He had also kept Huang Huotu, the original protagonist, alive to prevent any further accidents.

He turned and headed to a tea house outside the police station.

Creak.

Huang Bai brewed a pot of hot tea.

The private room door opened, and the chief entered with several trusted subordinates, carrying a suitcase.

"Boss Huang, these are the ancient texts we found in True Immortal Temple, along with several bottles of unidentified pills and fungal samples taken from Xie Yali."

"Thank you, everyone."

Huang Bai handed over a thick envelope, which the chief accepted with great satisfaction.

"It was our duty. If not for Boss Huang, how could we have solved such a shocking case?"

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the chief left with his men.

The door closed. Huang Bai's expression became calm. Only the final step remained.

"You scheming Corpse-Liberation Immortal, wait for your next life."

He took a remote control from his pocket. A trace of mockery flashed in his eyes as he forcefully pressed the button.

Six months of planning ended today.

Meanwhile, in a high-class hospital room.

The pale, short-haired woman lay on the bed.

Beep, beep, beep...

At that moment, hurried electronic beeping came from beneath the bed.

Whoosh!

Xie Yali opened her eyes. Each of her pupils had two irises—Double Vision.

Boom!!!

Flames exploded everywhere, instantly engulfing Xie Yali.

"No!!"

Xie Yali's face twisted in disbelief. Distorted green light emerged around her body, blocking the first wave of flames.

Boom!

Another explosion followed.

The flames completely consumed Xie Yali's fleshly body.

Inside the tea house.

Huang Bai rolled up his sleeve. The golden talisman edict on his forearm shone brightly as the words in its center gradually faded.

Demon Extermination complete. You may return immediately.

"A corpse-liberation ritual requires killing five people. I interrupted it at only the fourth. It seems it failed."

Corpse-Liberation Immortals were one type of Daoist immortal. The murder-based method of becoming immortal in the world of Double Vision was likely a heretical and unorthodox art, and the Corpse-Liberation Immortal it created might hold an even lower status.

Judging from the original plot, Xie Yali's sister had little ability to interfere with reality. That was why Huang Bai had dared to make these arrangements.

Of course, they had not been destroyed. They had merely begun their next cycle of reincarnation.

But that was no longer Huang Bai's concern.

Huang Bai hugged the suitcase as his figure gradually faded.

Whoosh!

A violent wind blew open the doors and windows, and the temperature inside dropped by more than ten degrees.

Thud, thud, thud!!

Hurried footsteps approached from afar. The newcomer was a tea house waitress. She held a kitchen knife, her eyes bloodshot, as though something had possessed her.

"So fast. As expected of a Corpse-Liberation Immortal. Until we meet again." Huang Bai smiled.

Whoosh!

The next moment, Huang Bai vanished.

(The old author has returned. Please follow and support.)