Museum

Old Man watched helplessly as wisps of black energy drifted into the distance.

His eyes suddenly widened, and he couldn't stop himself from waving his hands.

"Aiya! This is bad!"

Museum

Violet Exhibition

The Wraith Tewal strode across the polished marble tiles with heavy, eerie steps.

At times he lifted his feet; at others he waved his hands, as though worshipping some entity.

Or perhaps he was simply dancing.

Clang!

He struck an iron object, producing a heavy, solemn thud.

As the final strike faded, wisps of black energy began converging on the museum.

With dusk approaching, the faint black energy drew little attention.

Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D. was certainly not among those who failed to notice.

After days of research and so many samples to work with, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s researchers still hadn't figured out exactly what Wraiths were, but they could at least track the black energy.

The person who arrived to take command was, once again, the Model Employee, Coulson.

"Evacuate the nearby streets and seal them off immediately!"

Coulson slowly scanned the point where the black energy converged-the museum. His sharp eyes spotted a figure through the glass, standing in the middle of the building.

Coulson turned to the Tactical Team's captain behind him.

"Is anyone still inside this museum?"

"No, sir. After closing, only the security team stays here at the entrance. Another security team enters the museum around eight to check on the exhibits."

Coulson nodded and checked his firearm.

"Have you accessed the internal surveillance?"

"The live footage is blurry."

Coulson wasn't surprised. Their experiments had shown that the power Wraiths emitted interfered with signals, further confirming that there was a Wraith here.

Watching the black energy steadily grow, Coulson dared not act rashly. After all, Old Man's lessons and demonstrations had made it clear that ordinary people couldn't handle Wraiths.

Screeech-

The urgent squeal of brakes came from the distance.

Coulson recognized Frank as the driver.

"Let them through!"

Then he went over to welcome Old Man.

"Aiya! Frank, that tin turtle you drive is too fast!"

Looking rather pale, Old Man kept criticizing Frank's driving.

Frank was getting fed up with Old Man's nagging. He hurried toward Coulson and changed the subject as he walked. "Old Man, look at all that black energy. What's going on?"

"Come here."

Frank bent down and leaned his head closer, waiting for Old Man to explain.

Smack-

Old Man straightened two fingers and struck Frank on the head.

Frank clutched his head and cried out.

"I'm not an Immortal left over from ancient times, much less a long-lived Guardian! How could I possibly know everything?"

An Immortal? A Guardian?

Coulson quietly committed both terms to memory.

"Mr. Cheng, this is an emergency. Could you take a look and tell us what this anomaly is?"

The color returned to Old Man's face as he observed the museum with remarkable composure.

Clink-

Old Man tossed a glass bottle to test the situation.

The bottle hit the ground and shattered into several pieces with a crisp crack.

"Is that a figure?"

Old Man carefully observed the changes inside the museum.

When the black energy met the mist released from the bottle, it dissolved with a sizzling hiss.

Old Man's expression grew grave.

An entire bottle of magic potion had dissolved only this tiny amount of demonic energy. The magic potion he had prepared was nowhere near enough.

From Coulson's perspective, Old Man's magic potion worked just as well as before, easily clearing such a large patch of black energy.

When his gaze shifted to Old Man's face, his heart lurched.

I'd guessed wrong!

It clearly wasn't enough!

Old Man prepared to contact Ah Xing.

[Emotional Value from Coulson +15]

"Demons and monsters, begone-"

A slip of paper burned away and vanished without a trace.

Jiang Xiang sensed Old Man's signal and hastily split off his Ah Xing avatar to receive the message.

Thud-

A figure jumped down from a rooftop, landing precisely behind Old Man.

What was going on?

Inside the Antique Shop.

Was the script going off track again?

He breathed a sigh of relief.

It wasn't a big problem.

The Wraith had absorbed a little of the Rooster Talisman's demonic energy and undergone something resembling an evolution.

But that evolution depended on the talisman's demonic energy, not on having gathered enough black energy to evolve.

With the talisman in his possession, Jiang Xiang could reclaim the Rooster Talisman's power.

He could revert the Wraith to his original form at any moment.

Ah Xing's expression remained impassive, with only a crease between his brows. Inside, he even felt like laughing.

"Mr. Ah Xing, you're here."

Coulson greeted him eagerly and anxiously.

His meaning was obvious: how were they supposed to deal with this Wraith?

"Let me take a look first."

Ah Xing moved closer to the museum and made a show of examining it.

He briefly put on a surprised expression.

Coulson's emotions lurched up and down like a roller coaster.

[Emotional Value from Coulson +15]

[Total Emotional Value from ... +6]

Nearly forty minutes had passed since the black energy spread and the streets were sealed off.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was under considerable pressure from all sides.

The higher-ups knew the truth, so they wouldn't actively obstruct things for the time being. They merely watched from the sidelines, waiting for the situation to be resolved.

But ordinary workers saw things differently.

Their workplaces had been sealed off?

They had to protest and demand an explanation!

The reporters weren't about to be left behind either. Streets in every direction had been blocked, and whether there was a story or not, they would show up first and worry about that later.

Outside the cordon were bright lights and camera lenses; inside it, everyone was frazzled.

Ah Xing rested his chin on his hand, his gaze wandering as he said to Old Man, "It looks like there's more than just black energy in there. It seems, perhaps... there's demonic energy?"

Old Man suddenly jumped up, nearly reaching Frank's height.

"Demons and monsters, begone-demons and monsters, begone-"

Old Man took out a pile of assorted ingredients and tossed them into a metal bottle.

In a wondrous display, two curved streaks of green light slowly flowed out of the bottle, forming an oval mirror before finally becoming an arrow that pointed toward the museum, flickering in pulses.

There really was!

Old Man was no longer relaxed.

Coulson looked utterly baffled.

Say something!

What did this mean?

Was it dangerous?

"Mr. Cheng, I'd like to know more about this black energy."

Coulson put on his trademark friendly smile, deliberately maintaining a comfortable conversational distance from Old Man.

"At least tell us whether there might be casualties, and how much time we have to evacuate people..."

Coulson backed off, hoping to get at least a little information.

A surprised look appeared on Old Man's face. He gave Ah Xing a pointed glance. "Ah Xing, you haven't even told them what your mission is? You've already promised to let me keep that demonic-energy artifact."

Ah Xing nodded. "All right. Since it's come to this, let's tell them."

Hearing this, Coulson relaxed in relief.

He was finally willing to talk!

As an agent, Coulson knew this was an excellent start. If he could get that first piece of information from Ah Xing, he might build a good relationship with him and obtain more information in the future.

Ah Xing glanced at Coulson and began silently running through the script he had prepared, then adapting it.