Chapter 105: The Night Watcher's Secret

Kun walked slowly toward the monster pinned to the ground.

He was surrounded by an aura that made Zhang Jun and Lin Xue feel a tightness in their chests.

Kun extended his right index finger; its tip glowed with an odd black light, unlike the light of the living world.

"Go back."

The voice carried no emotion at all.

His index finger lightly touched the monster's brow.

The monster's huge body arched violently, emitting an extremely mournful wail; the sound scraped sharply at the eardrums, pierced the lab walls, and echoed throughout the research institute.

It struggled madly, yet could not break free of the invisible restraint from that finger.

Its bluish-gray skin began to dissolve, muscle fibers peeled off layer by layer, blood vessels burst, and pus flowed out.

In just a dozen seconds, the monster that had been ferocious enough to almost doom Zhang Jun and Lin Xue shriveled and melted before their eyes.

Finally, it turned into a puddle of foul-smelling black water that hissed, seeped into the ground, and left no trace.

Kun withdrew his finger; the black glow at its tip faded.

The whole process was clean to a frightening degree.

Zhang Jun leaned against the cold glass wall, barely standing upright, his inner shock beyond words.

Having personally experienced the monster's tenacity and terrifying power, he found it utterly feeble before Kun.

"You're late." A sweet-sour taste rose in Zhang Jun's throat, which he forced down.

Kun turned his back to the two, surveying the ruined laboratory.

"No. I came just in time."

Lin Xue used cold energy to temporarily seal her arm wound, walked to Zhang Jun's side, and gave him a hand.

The two locked eyes, each sensing the same doubt and wariness in the other.

"This is one of Lin Zhen's bases." Kun turned, his voice flat. "They study how to mass-produce 'Yin-Sha bodies' to work for him."

"Yin-Sha body?" Zhang Jun pointed at the black water that had seeped into the ground. "That thing?"

"It's just a failed product." Kun casually picked up a scattered document, flicked it with his fingertip, and the paper turned silently to ash. "Lin Zhen's people tried to combine modern tech with ancestral methods to make a shell that could hold lots of energy, but it never worked out."

Kun looked at the two.

"So he's set his sights on you—innate Yin-Yang dual bodies."

Lin Xue's hand behind her waist tightened around the hidden ice needle.

"What exactly does Lin Zhen want to do?"

"To open some ancient ruin." Kun paced to the lab's center. "He needs vast amounts of special energy as a key, or rather… fuel. Pure Yang power, Profound Yin qi, and these man-made Yin-Sha trinkets are all part of his plan."

"An ancient ruin?" Zhang Jun pressed. "What ruin is worth him going to such trouble?"

Kun stopped his steps and stood for a while.

"The things behind Lin Zhen are deeper than you imagine. Even, they relate to some rules of our mountain." Kun's tone carried, for the first time, something hard to put into words. "If you keep charging ahead like a clueless hothead, you won't understand how you die."

Zhang Jun's mind flashed to that strange cave in the snow mountain, those eerie drawings, and the secret room Lin Zhen left behind in the old house years ago.

All the clues seemed to point to a place, yet a layer of fog still lay between.

"The mountain's rules?" He seized on that phrase from Kun's words.

Kun didn't answer right away; instead, he sized up the two again.

"Your two powers are resonating and have begun to merge."

Those words made Zhang Jun's and Lin Xue's hearts jump.

They had only just sensed the hint themselves, but Kun saw through it at a glance.

"I can help you settle this immediate trouble, even give you some news about Lin Zhen." Kun stated plainly. "But you must agree to one condition."

Zhang Jun snorted inwardly. Having just gone through the Zhou Mu affair and barely escaped this monster, he instinctively resisted such deals.

"What condition?"

"When the time comes, I'll borrow your two powers to handle a matter." Kun said lightly. "It might also benefit you."

Lin Xue jumped ahead of Zhang Jun: "What matter?"

"It'll be clear then." Kun gave no chance for details. "But I can guarantee it won't cost your lives. It might even be your only way out."

Zhang Jun and Lin Xue locked eyes.

They both knew they had few options right now.

The lab's alarm had stopped, but who knows if anyone remains outside.

More importantly, Kun's attitude was clear—either accept his help or bear it on your own.

"We need to think." Zhang Jun didn't immediately agree.

Kun snorted.

"You have no time to consider."

He waved his hand; the few remaining surveillance probes on the wall cracked and burst, and the alarm he had just silenced vanished completely.

"In three minutes, this place will be gone. Choose?"

From deeper in the lab came a low, dull mechanical rumble, followed by several muffled explosions; the ground began to tremble slightly.

Zhang Jun's forehead twitched.

"Deal—but we reserve the right to back out."

"Suit yourself." Kun seemed not to care about such verbal agreements.

He searched the lab's wreckage for a moment, bent down, picked up an inconspicuous metal box, and tossed it casually to Zhang Jun.

"This might help you understand a bit more about what's in you."

The box felt icy in hand, about palm-sized, its surface covered in fine patterns, heavily worn, making the original carving indiscernible.

Zhang Jun tried to twist it, but it didn't move at all.

"How—"

Kun had already turned around and was walking back the way they came.

"Come with me, if you still want to get out."

His voice left no room for doubt.

Zhang Jun slipped the box into his pocket and hurried after Lin Xue.

The three rushed through a corridor littered with bones and debris, running straight for the underground parking lot.

Cracks had appeared in the walls, the lights flickered erratically, and the whole building groaned ominously, on the verge of collapse.

"Night Watcher." Lin Xue broke the silence abruptly. "Just who are you, really?"

Kun's steps did not halt.

"Being a Night Watcher is not a title, it's an identity."

"Guard what?"

"Boundary." Kun uttered the two words. "That crystal of yours was left behind by the first-generation Night Watcher."

Zhang Jun and Lin Xue both felt a jolt in their hearts.

Lin Xue instinctively touched the blue crystal at her throat.

"Is that monster in the lab related to the cave in the snow mountains?" Zhang Jun pressed.

Kun's back stiffened for a moment.

"Have you been to that mountain cave?"

His tone carried a rare hint of emotion.

"We have." Zhang Jun didn't hide it. "Inside were all kinds of ghostly symbols, somewhat like the patterns on that lab monster."

Kun walked a few steps in silence.

"That place isn't something you should have been able to find."

The three reached the underground parking lot, and Kun gestured for them to get into the car they had arrived in.

"Head to the Mohist School. That old man should have sent someone to meet us."