Chapter 142 - 139: Three O’clock

Chapter 142: Chapter 139: Three O’clock

Cong Wanqiu grabbed onto Zhong Shu’s clothes.

"If you keep this up, I’m calling the police!"

She was just a young woman and couldn’t possibly stop Zhong Shu, so she could only cry out for help:

"Security! Security!"

Two patrolling security guards rushed to the information desk and pinned Zhong Shu down.

Fortunately, Zhong Shu had already grabbed the microphone and shouted:

"Everyone! Get out of the mall immediately! There’s a psychotic killer in the mall!"

But his voice didn’t boom throughout the mall.

Only a few customers passing by the information desk shot him suspicious glances.

Zhong Shu turned his head, stunned.

Cong Wanqiu was holding the microphone’s power cord, her expression dark.

"Zhong Shu, are you fucking crazy?!

Do you have any idea how this affects my job?!"

Zhong Shu swallowed hard and reached out to Cong Wanqiu.

"Give it to me! Quick!"

Cong Wanqiu glanced at the guards.

"Take him to the security office. I’m calling the police now."

As she spoke, she pulled her phone from her pocket, muttering,

’What a lunatic. How did he even find out I work here?’

Suddenly, Cong Wanqiu’s brow furrowed in confusion.

"Why is there no signal?"

The color drained from Zhong Shu’s face instantly.

"It’s too late."

Cong Wanqiu raised an eyebrow at Zhong Shu.

"What’s too late? It’s not too late. The police station is only ten minutes from here."

DONG!

DONG!

DONG!

A loud, resonant bell chimed.

Each toll was piercing enough to make one’s ears ache and set their teeth on edge.

Cong Wanqiu looked up at the large clock hanging from the mall’s ceiling.

"Huh? Why is that thing working all of a sudden?"

Hearing this, Zhong Shu snapped his head up, his gaze fixed on the clock on the dome, where the hour, minute, and second hands all pointed to ’3’.

’If the hour, minute, and second hands all point to three, it can’t possibly be three o’clock sharp!’

’So why would the clock be chiming for three o’clock?’

Zhong Shu violently broke free from the guards, grabbed Cong Wanqiu by the collar, his eyes wide.

"This clock... what’s the deal with it?"

Seeing the sheer terror and unease in Zhong Shu’s eyes, Cong Wanqiu was clearly frightened and answered instinctively:

"The owner of Changlong Square is quite superstitious. He believes that wearing a famous watch brings good luck."

In the Northeast, having a run of good fortune is also called ’walking the points.’

A clock face has twelve points. When the hour, minute, and second hands travel over those points, it perfectly matches the idea of ’walking the points.’

Cong Wanqiu continued:

"The owner wanted Changlong Square to have a constant run of good fortune, so he brought an antique clock from Europe and had it embedded in the mall’s dome."

Zhong Shu wanted to slap himself.

’I’ve been here for half an hour. How could I have missed that clock?’

Cong Wanqiu came to her senses, her face flushed red as she furiously berated him:

"Who do you think you are, grabbing my collar like that? Have you lost your mind?!"

The words had barely left her mouth when the lights in the mall began to flicker.

Shoppers and employees alike stared in bewilderment at the flickering lights.

’A power failure?’

Zhong Shu snatched the power cord from Cong Wanqiu’s hand and plugged it into the socket.

Cong Wanqiu shrieked:

"What the fuck, will you ever stop?!"

She pointed at the two guards and yelled:

"What are you two getting paid for?! I’m going to file a complaint against you!"

The guards hurried to grab Zhong Shu.

While fiddling with the microphone, Zhong Shu said:

"Li Xinyuan!"

The guards froze, and Cong Wanqiu was dumbfounded.

Because a thug in a sharp suit had suddenly appeared behind the information desk.

Li Xinyuan crossed his arms and shot Zhong Shu a glance.

"Why didn’t you call me sooner?"

After getting the microphone working, Zhong Shu gave a wry smile.

"I didn’t expect things to get this complicated."

Zhong Shu tapped the microphone.

A crackle of static echoed through the mall.

’Good, the mall’s PA system is working.’

This time, Cong Wanqiu and the guards didn’t dare touch Zhong Shu.

Who wouldn’t be scared after seeing someone suddenly summon a thug in a suit?

It was too freaky!

Zhong Shu yelled into the microphone:

"Everyone, stay where you are! Come to the first-floor information desk immediately!"

The moment he finished speaking, all the lights went out.

Cong Wanqiu suddenly saw something and, pointing toward the ceiling, let out a terrified scream.

Zhong Shu looked up.

There, in the mid-air of the mall, darkness gathered, gradually forming into a monster!

It had the form of an Angel, but its wings were black.

Screams echoed through the mall.

No one would believe this was some kind of holographic special effect.

After all, no mall would create such a terrifying effect.

A single glance would be enough to make a child burst into tears.

Half of the Angel’s head was sheared off, leaving only half of a handsome face.

Vicious hatred poured from the Angel’s single remaining eye, as if it had suffered a great injustice in life.

The Angel’s half-mouth opened:

"God betrayed me... God betrayed me..."

It repeated the phrase mechanically.

Zhong Shu’s eyes widened, his gaze darting all over the Angel, trying to commit every detail to memory.

’God betrayed him?’

Besides having only half a head, it also had no toes.

The toes had been cleanly sliced off.

Zhong Shu’s mind boiled like water in a kettle.

"A Fallen Angel with no toes... Lucifer?!"

Zhong Shu whipped his head toward the dome, staring at the hour, minute, and second hands all pointing to three, and murmured:

"Right... a mockery of the Trinity, blasphemy against God.

In all of Western legend, the only one who would dare do such a thing is Lucifer."

Legend says that Jesus was killed at three in the afternoon.

Therefore, in folklore, three in the afternoon is the hour of the Demon’s revelry.

Legend also says that three in the morning is the hour of the Devil’s rebellion.

Because this is a mockery of the Trinity: the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Zhong Shu swallowed with difficulty.

"The Fallen Angel Lucifer actually exists... Is my opponent this time a legendary deity?"

This Lucifer was a bit different from the legends.

In the legends, Lucifer, believing his own power to be unparalleled, betrayed God out of pride. After God cut off his toes, he fell into Hell.

’But why was this Lucifer saying that God had betrayed him?’

’And how had half of Lucifer’s head been blown off?’

Cong Wanqiu clearly caught the keywords in Zhong Shu’s muttering: "Is my opponent a deity this time?"

Connecting this to Zhong Shu’s earlier actions, she immediately understood something.

Zhong Shu not only knew that monsters were about to appear, but he had also fought them multiple times before!

This time, Cong Wanqiu no longer looked at Zhong Shu with disdain. Her eyes wide with terror, she said:

"Zhong Shu, you... you’ll protect me, right? I’m so scared."

Zhong Shu ignored Cong Wanqiu and quickly turned back to Li Xinyuan.

"Can you... handle him?"

Li Xinyuan stared gravely at Lucifer.

"Even ten thousand Dragon Kings would be no match for this thing.

You’re not an Extraordinary Being, so you wouldn’t understand. Just looking at him makes me want to kneel."

Zhong Shu’s heart sank.

’I’ll have to find a way to outsmart it.’

Based on his experience on the Sea Train, he knew he had to figure out Lucifer’s behavioral patterns.

’No, not behavioral patterns. I should call them rules.’

Just like on the Sea Train: don’t open your eyes at midnight, don’t eat the food the conductor gives you, and so on...

Lucifer, hovering in mid-air, spoke again:

"God claims that he gave you five fingers, enabling you to use tools.

I command you: do not use those filthy hands!"

His voice was filled with hatred, fury, and an indescribable resentment.

Hearing his tone, many of the shoppers in the mall were so terrified their legs trembled uncontrollably.

Before a deity, mortals were no different from ants. The voice alone was enough to scare them to death.

Zhong Shu’s eyes lit up.

’So that’s Lucifer’s rule?’

Hearing Lucifer’s voice made Cong Wanqiu even more terrified. She took a step forward, grabbing Zhong Shu’s hand, her face pale as a sheet.

"Zhong Shu, you must know something! Don’t abandon me! We were classmates!"

Zhong Shu looked at the hand Cong Wanqiu had clamped on his arm and said urgently:

"Let go! Don’t move!"

The pupil in Lucifer’s eye darted around its socket, looking like it might fly out at any moment.

He was looking for whoever dared to defy his command!

It wasn’t just Cong Wanqiu. In the chaos, many customers had broken the rule.

After all, using one’s hands is a human instinct.

The elevator doors opened without warning.

Swarms of Dwarf Demons—with goat horns on their heads, demonic wings on their backs, and hooves for feet—flew out of the elevator.

They shrieked as they charged into the crowd, selecting their targets.

Screams rose and fell throughout the crowd as pairs of hands were snatched up in the Dwarf Demons’ mouths.

The Dwarf Demons flew toward the ceiling, dropping the severed hands one by one.

It was intimidation, a way of toying with the fragility of the mortal body.

One of the Dwarf Demons charged toward Zhong Shu. Before he could react, Cong Wanqiu let out a bloodcurdling scream as both her hands were torn away by the creature.

.....