Chapter 33: The Bell

"What are you shrieking about?" Lin Yu frowned, looking around. "Where's a ghost?"

"My Eighth Brother is right here!"

"Still afraid of ghosts?"

The subtext: Isn't he scarier than any ghost?

"Look, look!" Mickey handed over the camera, his fingers trembling as he pointed at the screen. "Just now, right there..."

The group crowded around to look at the photo, but they only saw the four of them, with the background showing nothing but empty, cold benches.

"Where is there a ghost?" Lin Yu frowned. "Are you just too tired?"

Mickey looked down at the camera screen again; the figure of the girl in the blue school uniform had indeed vanished.

He rubbed his eyes and muttered to himself, "But just a moment ago..."

"Stop messing around." Tang Xin patted his shoulder. "Take another one! This time I’m going to strike an even cooler pose!"

"Wait." Li Guanqi suddenly spoke, his gaze locked on the camera screen. "Look here..."

He pointed to the spot on the cold bench in the photo. There seemed to be a faint, shimmering halo, as if it were overexposed, but upon closer inspection, it felt like there was nothing there at all—just the reflection of the metal seat.

"What is it?" Qin Dongzhu leaned in to look.

Li Guanqi shook his head. "It's nothing, probably just a trick of the light."

A flicker of doubt crossed his eyes. As a transmigrator, he was exceptionally sensitive to such eerie occurrences.

In this world, Duel Monsters possessed true spirituality; it wouldn't be strange if other supernatural things existed as well.

"Come on, come on, keep shooting!" Tang Xin had already struck a pose. "This time I'm going to imitate Senior Binai's classic move!"

Just then, a staff member's voice rang out over the intercom.

"Participants of the current match, please vacate the area promptly. The next match will begin in half an hour."

"Let's go," Qin Dongzhu said with a smile. "Victory feast, my treat!"

"The Captain is generous!" Lin Yu packed his things, ready to leave.

Mickey carefully put away the camera, feeling as though that eerie image was still lingering before his eyes.

High above, a camera lens was trained directly on them, transmitting the scene to a mysterious group chat of nine.

Shadow Mist Lady: "A clean sweep, three-in-a-row. Reminds me of my style back in the day!"

Rabbit: "Data received. In the third match, the spirituality of [Super Polymerization] rose from level eight to level nine."

Swordsman: "Fiends. Truly a troublesome race."

Mahjong: "Not necessarily a Fiend. It’s a curse of the deck. His shadow still needs to be tested."

Mermaid: "No time."

Rabbit: "So much work, I want to switch to Dormouse form..."

Rose: "Me, me, me! I'll go, it's my territory!"

Orange Cat: "Meow!"

Rose: "Teacher is right! We must act before they do..."

The group chat fell into a brief silence. Most of them had tasks at hand, and since the incident occurred in the Shen-Five District, it was usually handled by the Twin Flowers.

However, that kid was truly unreliable.

A Fiend-type—this should be taken seriously.

No one argued, no one agreed; everyone was waiting for the King to speak.

***

At this moment, the person with the blank avatar finally spoke: "It's too late."

"They have already made their move."

The chat paused. After a long while, Rose felt a pang of pity for the handsome young man: "Should we save him?"

No one replied. No one agreed. No one argued.

Blank: "Eleven o'clock. Danger."

In every cliché story, there is always a group of madmen.

In Biantana, these madmen are called—The Clock.

The core tenet of the Clock organization:

"Only by destroying the world can there be fairness!"

Wang Gu was a member of the Clock, though he was merely one of the countless, unnamed [Second Hands].

What mattered were the sixty [Minute Hands].

And the most terrifying of all: the twelve [Hour Hands].

In the philosophy of the Spirit Detention Bureau, being a Dual-Shadow is a disease, and when an ordinary person becomes a Dual-Shadow, it is called [Infection].

During treatment, one must strictly control the sanity rate and suppress the shadow.

In the philosophy of the Clock organization, being a Dual-Shadow is an evolution, and when an ordinary person becomes a Dual-Shadow, it is called [Awakening].

Suppress the shadow?

How laughable.

What kind of idiot gains new power only to hide it away?

When the sanity rate drops below 50%, the Spirit Detention Bureau calls it a relapse; the Clock organization calls it—Activation.

Helping newly awakened Dual-Shadows to activate.

That is what everyone loves to do the most.

Every [Hour Hand] enjoys activating their chosen targets at the time they represent. High noon or midnight—the hour is the danger.

Duelist League, Shen-Five Venue, 10:58 PM.

In the underground laboratory, the lights were dim. Several doctors were surrounding a corpse, performing an autopsy.

One doctor wore a mask, his scalpel carving a "Y" incision into Wang Gu’s pale chest.

He peeled back the skin and flesh, revealing a dark red heart.

He carefully dissected the heart, and a pitch-black card was embedded within it, exuding a dark aura.

"This is..." Another doctor used tweezers to grip the edge of the card and gently pulled it out.

The card face was as black as ink. He wiped the blood away with gauze, revealing a dark red card name.

Trick Card—[White Bone Stone Knight of the Alien Remains].

"Tick—"

On the operating room wall, the clock struck eleven.

A chilly wind blew from an empty corner, and the lights flickered.

The doctors were focused on the autopsy, not noticing a figure that had appeared behind them out of nowhere.

"Who's there?!"

The doctors’ eyes went wide with shock.

It was a schoolgirl in a blue uniform, holding a white cane. Her face was delicate yet carried an eerie air. She stood there quietly, the corners of her mouth curling into a ghostly smile.

"Beat," White Paper whispered, tapping her cane lightly against the floor.

"Crack—"

Wang Gu’s corpse suddenly straightened, the sound of bones snapping echoing through the room. His pale hands clenched tightly, crushing the Trick Card in the doctor's grip into dust.

Black energy surged from the fragments, instantly enveloping his entire body.

When the aura dissipated, Wang Gu had become a Dead Servant, ghostly blue flames burning in his hollow eye sockets.

"Pathology... Ah—" The doctors' terrified screams had just begun before they were mercilessly strangled in their throats.

The Dead Servant Wang Gu’s claws slashed through the air, blood splattering against the pale walls.

White Paper whispered, "Good boy, you should go find your friends."

"Fri... friends," the Dead Servant Wang Gu rasped, walking out of the operating room like a zombie. "0748..."

On the other side, at Bianyuelong’s victory feast, the drinks had been flowing for a while.

"Cheers!" the drunkard Tang Xin shouted, raising her glass.

Another drunkard, Lin Yu, clinked his glass in agreement: "Cheers!"

Li Guanqi took a light sip and scanned the restaurant, as if looking for something.

"Looking for something?" Qin Dongzhu asked, puzzled.

"Not really." Li Guanqi withdrew his gaze and said casually, "I have a friend who seems to have wandered off."

"A friend?" Tang Xin’s face was flushed with alcohol, and she mumbled, "Eighth Brother, you have friends?"

"What kind of talk is that!" Lin Yu scolded. "Is it so strange for my Eighth Brother to have friends!"

"Ugh—"

He hiccuped, patted his chest, and said, "Bianyuelong... West District, Ninth Street. If anyone dares to bully you..."

"Just drop my name, Lin Yu!"

"Hahaha—" Tang Xin laughed loudly. "You’re just bragging..."

"Let me tell you!"

"If Eighth Brother hadn't taken my spot..."

"The one who swept three-in-a-row tonight..."

"Would have been yours truly!"

Hearing this, Lin Yu laughed until he convulsed, clapping his hands wildly. "Amazing, amazing."

"Forgive them," Qin Dongzhu said with a wry smile. "They’re always like this."

Li Guanqi raised his hand and said, "It's normal. Aren't you going to drink a little?"

"No," Qin Dongzhu replied. "I have to drive later to take these two idiots back to Bianyuelong."

"Cheers!" Tang Xin laughed and raised her glass again.

Li Guanqi was amused by the two drunks and raised his glass to meet theirs: "Cheers."

Current Sanity Rate: 75%