Nightmare's Call

After circling the pet store alley, Lin Sheng finally felt a reaction from the mark on the back of his hand.

The reaction was weak and flat. If he had not been focusing his senses, he may have very well missed it.

Just over at the second last pet store, he slowed down and stopped before a steel cage before the entrance.

An old black-brownish lizard sat in it. It was an odd one. It had dark skin, yet its eyes were faint grey.

Lin Sheng noticed that its skin was folded all over, meaning that it was already old, so old to the point that it did not even bother moving.

When Lin Sheng’s eyes met its eyes, he felt a certain indifference.

It was an indifference so extreme that there was an odd sensation of calm cruelty to it.

“How much is this?” Lin Sheng straightened himself and asked the shop owner as he made his way to him.

The shop owner’s belly was exposed, as he held cards in his hand, seemingly in the midst of a gamble. The moment he heard a voice, the shop owner turned back.

“I’ll let it off for a hundred. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. That old lizard is dying of old edge soon, it won’t last more than a couple of months.”

The shop owner was an honest person at least.

Just as he finished, an old lady who was playing cards quipped.

“That lizard is still around? Didn’t you bring in a whole load earlier? And only that was left?”

“Yeah, it killed all of them.” The fat boss got miffed as soon as that matter was brought up.

“I had only placed them together for one night to wait for the new containers to arrive. I’ve even placed cardboards between them! But just my rotten luck, all of them were dead the next morning!

“What sickness did they had?” Lin Sheng asked.

“None, god darn it! Ah, forget about that. A hundred, take it or leave it.” The fat shop owner turned back to play his card game.

Lin Sheng placed his hand gently over to the glass container, facing the old lizard.

As the distance closed between the silver mark on the back of his hand and the old lizard, that unknown hunger became more and more apparent.

“So it’s the one...”

Lin Sheng was sure now, and as he pulled out two hundred from his wallet and handed it over.

“I’ll take the container as well.”

“The container is more than a hundred.” The shop owner said as he took the money. “It’s yours if you add another fifty.”

“Sure.” Lin Sheng could not be bothered to bargain, and two hundred fifty for a lizard with a supernatural bloodline, it was simply a steal.

As he paid, he grabbed the glass container and got the shop owner to help him put it into a large plastic bag. He then wrapped a couple of thick cardboard sheets over the box and carried it around.

This time around, the lizard in the box seemed to have some sort of interference, causing the hunger of the mark to be active.

After a few more rounds, he could not find any other beings with a supernatural bloodline.

Without anything else to do, he took the old lizard back to his base, the old abandoned factory warehouse.

The warehouse was quite a distance away from town, resulting in him needing to call a cab everything he wants to go there and that left him feeling a little inconvenienced.

As he pondered when should he get a car to drive around, Lin Sheng picked up the box and walked into the warehouse.

He then placed the glass box aside.

He quickly set up the Elementary Summoning of Otherworlders ritual circle once again. Most of the materials needed are ready-made, and only a rare few fresh items that needed him to find himself.

So this time around, Lin Sheng had simply just drawn the magic circle out to use later.

“The supernatural bloodline of the lizard is too weak and unstable. So even if I fuse with it I cannot predict how much of an increase it will be. So I guess the best way is still to summon.”

Lin Sheng was sure about using his summoned beings to draw out the blood fusion extract.

So even if he loses a summoned being in the process in return for a powerful blood fusion, that loss would be acceptable.

“And luckily I have enough spiritual load to summon a stronger being.” Lin Sheng looked at the old lizard in the box. He planned to bond with the lizard just as he previously did with the crow.

However, such things required materials.

So he put away all his thoughts, and started drawing the magic circles in the abandoned warehouse.

Six hours later. The sky was getting dark and he finally finished two different circles after a whole day.

As he squatted on the warehouse floor, Lin Sheng took a peek at the sky outside and understood that no matter what he did, the preparations would not be done by today, so he got up.

“Stand guard, and don’t let anyone come close.”

He calmly ordered.

*Hiss...*

A gust of black mist quickly formed into a powerful swordsman with a bandaged head.

The Blackfeather Swordsman nodded slightly at Lin Sheng without a word.

As it was the holidays, his parents were mostly at home due to his sister’s matters. So he did not need to delegate too many people to guard them.

He had the Sacred Shield Tyrant to protect his house while the two Blackfeather Swordsmen were made to handle whatever menial tasks he had. Mainly because compared to the tyrant, the swordsmen were better at hiding. As long as they put on a hat to cover the bandages, they looked no different than a usual young adult.

Lin Sheng carefully folded the magic circle sheets up and placed them in his bag. As for the remaining materials, due to the numbers of bottles present, he simply placed them by a corner and gotten the swordsman to guard them.

“Look after them!” Lin Sheng gave the swordsman another order.

The swordsman then straightened up and darted over to the pile of bottles before lowering his head to stare at them.

His movement was swift and precise as he gazed upon the items entrusted to him through the bandage.

“Is he planning to stare at the bottles like this until tomorrow?” Lin Sheng was speechless.

Without much ado, he then turned away and left.

As for the rituals, the key items were the matrix circle and the activation chant, the materials, on the other hand, were easily obtainable.

As long as he does not leak the matrix circles in his bag out, or the activation chants in his head, the ritual would not be compromised.

Back home, Lin Sheng finally relaxed a little as he chatted with Lin Xiao about her university life, trying to cheer her up.

During dinner time, as he had not eaten in the afternoon, Lin Sheng wolfed down five bowls of rice, all filled to the brim.

That scared Gu Wanqiu enough to place her hand on his forehead to check if he was unwell.

Lin Sheng could not be bothered to explain, and after some niceties, he then used revision as an excuse to retreat to his bedroom and started meditating on the Ashen Seal.

The Ashen Seal meditation, plus the study of holy power was repeated after a short rest. And with that cycle, it was soon bedtime.

Lin Sheng was almost anticipating as he changed into his sportswear and lay on the bed, breathing slowly to try to stabilize himself.

*Tick tock, tick tock...*

A strange ticking of the clock entered his ears.

And Lin Sheng’s consciousness quickly faded away along with it.

*Clack!*

Something fell on the group.

Lin Sheng opened his eyes and saw a piece of leg armor had fallen off.

He looked around and noticed the armor on his body was beyond worn. The left leg armor dangled and knocked against the back of his leg before it fell to the side.

“What is this? Some cheap sh*t?”

He ended up taking the entire armor off him.