The bones of his hand had turned into a jet-black arm, sinewy and muscular!

The pain subsided, and Adam Carter dashed toward the corner of the alley on the right!

Chapter 10: Temple

“Ding-dang-dang-dang-dang!”

The shadow fiend gave chase.

Adam Carter shook the imperial bell, and with the sound of the bell, the shadow fiend moved forward in a stuttering, frame-skipping manner, as if its image was lagging.

But it was incredibly fast—even with the constant stuttering, it still kept a distance of two meters from Adam Carter, never closer, never farther!

At the same time, Adam Carter noticed that every time the imperial bell rang, the black hand attached to his armpit would also freeze for a moment, and the pain in his body would gradually fade.

This ghost hand could move on its own!

Earlier, when it tore off a fragment of the shadow fiend and grew flesh and skin, it was certainly influenced by Adam Carter's thoughts, but the reaction came from the ghost hand itself.

Adam Carter's consciousness could influence the ghost hand, but that influence was currently far too weak.

When his brain issued a command, his own hands could react instantly, but when the command was sent to the ghost hand, it would take a minute or even longer before there was the slightest response.

A minute—by then, the opportunity would be long gone!

“Ding-dang-dang-dang!”

The sound of the imperial bell echoed through the alley.

Dragging the eerie, jet-black ghost hand with ten fingers from his armpit, Adam Carter finally rounded the corner and entered a dim side passage.

At the corner, the shadow fiend kept trying to peer out. Its humanoid head poked out from the alley, its featureless black face turned toward Adam Carter.

Adam Carter seemed to see a pair of eyes on that black face, staring straight at him.

A chill inexplicably rose in his heart.

He glanced back at the bustling street at the end of the side passage.

The street was plunged into darkness—this was the sign of the lantern fiend’s imminent appearance.

When the red lantern was about to rise into the sky, all lights and neon within its range would be extinguished, plunging everything into darkness, with only daylight able to reach the ground.

Seeing this, Adam Carter suddenly felt a jolt of fear.

He turned his head instantly, and saw that in the brief moment when only daylight faintly illuminated the area, the shadow fiend at the corner, which had been ‘staring’ at him, instantly melted away.

In the next instant, it appeared in the shadows around Adam Carter!

In a flash, it stood upright, only two meters away from Adam Carter!

“Ding-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang—”

Adam Carter was so startled his hair stood on end, but at the most dangerous moment, his wrist acted on its own, making the best choice—he suddenly shook the bell, and the sound froze the shadow fiend in place!

Thoughts exploded in his mind.

“Before the lantern fiend appears, all lights will go out. And in the interval when the street is plunged into darkness, the shadow fiend can leave that apartment building and continue hunting me.”

“This period is extremely dangerous—I must not let my guard down!”

Step, step, step...

Adam Carter's footsteps echoed in the side passage.

The shadow fiend pressed closer with every step, but under the sound of the imperial bell, it was suppressed, always keeping a two-meter distance from Adam Carter.

A stretch of less than a hundred paces took Adam Carter nearly five minutes to walk!

At last, he reached the end of the passage.

The red lantern rose high into the sky, its crimson glow falling on Adam Carter's back. Cold sweat seeped down his back, and he worried that in the next moment, his perspective would rise up, looking down at his own corpse on the ground.

But this time, even bathed in the crimson light, his head remained firmly on his neck.

Only the shadow fiend in front of him vanished without a trace, like a bubble, with no warning at all.

Adam Carter turned around and saw, under the crimson glow, headless corpses in every shop along the street. They all maintained the posture of their final moments, like wax statues.

His face darkened.

The worst-case scenario had still happened.

Bathed in the red light, he was completely unharmed.

This meant that the lantern fiend’s method of killing was not as he had guessed—not everyone illuminated by the red light would die.

Its method of killing was completely random!

Whether or not one was illuminated by the red light meant nothing.

As long as it rose, everyone within its range could die—or could remain unscathed!

It was a blade hanging over the heads of the living, and when it would fall was not up to those beneath it, but to the blade itself!

“Hah! Hah!”

At that moment, a sharp pain suddenly shot from his right armpit, making Adam Carter's heart clench and forcing him to gasp for breath.

He looked down at his right armpit: the ghost hand was moving about at will, and every movement brought Adam Carter intense pain!

“Damn it! Damn it!”

Adam Carter gripped the imperial bell tightly, shaking it repeatedly, while his mind kept issuing commands, fighting for control over the ghost hand.

Under the double suppression, the ghost hand finally quieted down.

He looked around, and his gaze quickly locked onto a small temple next to a shop with the sign ‘Imperial Pastries’.

The small temple was built of dark red brick, completely different in style from the surrounding shops—easy to spot at a glance.

At this moment, orange light was shining from the temple, carving out a space of brightness in the crimson street.

“I’ll go there!”

Adam Carter no longer hesitated and broke into a run.