As it turned out, the grannie’s late husband had been a veteran who participated in the counterattack against Vietnam. He had killed a few Vietnamese soldiers, which earned him an honor medal. However, the government didn’t arrange any work for him after he was done with the war. He didn’t even receive the least amount of support from the government.

As the married couple was middle-aged, they had to return to their hometown and work in their field to earn a living. Unfortunately, their piece of land was confiscated under the excuse of him being a soldier, which set the couple apart from the farmer social class. It meant they weren’t eligible to have land for cultivating.

Desperate, the two had to go to the back of the mountain, where no one would go, and exploit the soil there. That was the place where they had unearthed the bronze box.

I couldn’t help but interrupt the old lady. “Auntie, you mean this strange box has been here since a few decades ago?”

In principle, if the box was that fierce, this married couple would have encountered bad luck from the moment they found it. Why had it stayed dormant for a few decades and then suddenly decided to cause trouble?

“Yeah, it has been here for a long time.”

The grannie sighed, her blank eyes looking at the wall behind me. I turned to see what she was looking at. There was a black-and-white photo on the wall. It depicted a man in uniform with some medals on his chest. The square-jawed man was smiling confidently at the camera.

My heart suddenly felt heavy. If the heroes that had protected this country’s borders were unable to live a decent life after retiring, what hope did this nation have?

The grannie continued, “After we got the bronze box, my husband was delighted. He wanted to sell it to buy some food. Back then, we were having a hard time. We didn’t even have rice to eat…”

“Aunty, this nation let you down.” My nose felt sour as I replied.

The poor couple wanted to sell the bronze box, but they later found out that it wasn’t real bronze and held no value. Still, since it looked nice, they didn’t throw it away and decided to keep it in their house.

The box didn’t have a lid or any openings, and it would break if forcibly opened. That was why they never tried to open it.

As time went on, their situation improved thanks to their hard work, and they had a son in their old age. The couple thought that they could live happily like this until they passed away, but everything changed when their son turned eighteen.

Their son, Zhou Tian, had always been a bright kid. He was filial, smart, and sensible. All his relatives and friends liked him. They all thought that he would have a bright future.

Nobody had expected that Zhou Tian would change after his eighteenth birthday. He shut himself in his room, unwilling to talk to people. At night, he would cry loudly for no reason.

The old couple thought that Zhou Tian had something weighing on his mind. They tried to talk to him, but he gave them the cold shoulder. They decided not to bother him further and thought that he would get over it soon. But the situation got worse as days passed…

One night, they were awakened by a loud noise. Then, they heard Zhou Tian sobbing upstairs.

They dressed up and rushed upstairs. Zhou Tian had smashed the big TV they had just bought into pieces. All that remained were hand-sized shards.

Zhou Tian was lying on top of the shards, covering his eyes as he rolled around. He cried as if he had been subject to injustice.

The old couple wasn’t concerned about their new TV, but about their son’s well being. They hurried to help him stand up and pulled his hands off his face. What they saw next would haunt them for the rest of their lives—Zhou Tian’s eyes were gone, and blood streamed from his empty sockets!

The grannie was overwhelmed by the shock. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and fainted.

Zhou Tian’s father used to be a soldier. Although he was old, he didn’t falter and was ready to carry his son to the hospital. Unexpectedly, the skinny Zhou Tian seemed to have become quite strong at that moment. He directly knocked his father unconscious.

When they woke up the next day, Zhou Tian’s eyes were fine. But the shattered TV was proof that whatever happened the previous night had been real.

They both understood that their son had been haunted by a foul spirit. They hurried to find a master, and one had agreed to pay them a visit. However, he immediately ran away the moment he saw the bronze box. He simply didn’t want to accept this case.

The grannie didn’t want to give up. She invited a few more famous masters, but none had dared to help them.

Eventually, they decided to throw the bronze box away, hoping that things would turn for the better. However, her husband died that very night.

“My husband had a tragic death!” The grannie began to weep.

I knew she was about to reach the climax of this story. “Auntie, what happened that night?”

“I was sleeping. My husband appeared in my dream, crying and telling me to use sandalwood to worship that box. According to him, this was the only way to save our son. He told me how much he regretted taking the bronze box home. But now, it was too late.

“My husband waved me goodbye, slowly moving away until his figure completely disappeared from my sight. I woke up and found him dead. He was hugging the box.”

The grannie couldn’t hold it anymore and cried.

From what she had told me, I could conclude that this box contained some otherworldly item or was the otherworldly item itself. Otherwise, her husband wouldn’t have asked her to worship the box.

If it were an otherworldly item, I was certain that I could solve this!

The otherworldly item had started to wreak havoc when Zhou Tian had turned eighteen. This otherworldly item’s owner must have had something to do with the number ‘eighteen.’

After the old lady had stopped weeping, I asked her, “Where is your son now?”

“He lives in Puyang. I have been worshipping this box ever since my husband died. My son Zhou Tian has not acted strange since then. After graduating from the university, he married and had kids. He then bought an apartment in the city.”

“Why don’t you live with him?”

I noticed that her face looked sad when she talked about her son.

She forced a smile. “Zhou Tian knows that this bronze box is evil, so he hasn’t returned home since then. Moreover, he’s scared of his wife.”

Her son didn’t want his mother to live with him, so he abandoned her, making the old woman live on her own.

What an unfilial son! This is too much.

I gritted my teeth and made up my mind. I would teach him a lesson after dealing with this otherworldly item.

I asked her for Zhou Tian’s new house address. “Auntie, you shouldn’t burn the joss sticks for the box tonight. I want to see what the otherworldly item would do to Zhou Tian.”

The grannie asked me to protect Zhou Tian, telling me that he was their only son. She wouldn’t be able to live anymore if something happened to him.

Mothers always worried for their children when they were away from home. But when it was the other way around, their children wouldn’t worry at all! I was touched by her sense of motherhood. I couldn’t help but remember my parents as I made my way to Zhou Tian’s house.

I had never seen my mother and father.

Although my grandfather had treated me well, I knew that parental love was something my grandfather was unable to give me. Zhou Tian was lucky, but he didn’t appreciate that. I cried in silence as I thought about it. I only pulled myself together when the driver urged me to get out.

I rubbed my eyes and exited the vehicle. I noticed that Zhou Tian was living in a high-end villa located in a luxurious residential area. The independent villas were rather lavish, very different from the granny’s little hostel.

The security guy at the gate was adamant, not allowing me to enter the neighborhood. I told him that I was Zhou Tian’s cousin, asking if I could talk to him.

A moment later, a square-jawed, middle-aged man arrived at the security booth. As he walked closer, he mumbled to himself, “Since when did I have a cousin?”

“Zhou Tian, there’s something I have to tell you.”

That middle-aged man was Zhou Tian. No longer pretending to be his cousin, I went straight to the point.

After listening to me, he questioned, “Who are you? Why are you looking for me?”

“Your mother asked me to come. Take a walk with me so we can talk.” I noticed the security guards were looking at me like hungry tigers.

Zhou Tian was puzzled. “What happened to my mother?”

“Your mother is okay, but you’re about to encounter danger.” I was maddened by his attitude. “I will be watching you for the next twenty-four hours. I’m here to help you.”

Zhou Tian burst out laughing. He took out a one-hundred-renminbi bill and threw it on the ground. He looked at me disdainfully. “You want money, right? No need to use such tactics, just take it.”

He then turned around to leave, not looking at me a second time.

I looked at the one-hundred-renminbi bill on the ground, thinking that Zhou Tian was a real scumbag.

His mother had been working tirelessly at the hostel, and the business wasn’t even good enough to earn one hundred renminbi a day. Yet, he was here throwing money around.

I really wanted to leave and let the bronze box kill this bastard. However, my heart softened when I remembered the grannie’s pitiful appearance. Eventually, I went to an Internet cafe and chose a seat by the window.

Around midnight, I stopped playing with the PC and turned to watch the neighborhood entrance.

If that otherworldly item went to trouble Zhou Tian, he would believe what I had told him. He would then return to his mother’s to find me.

It was really late at night, and there weren’t any people walking on the street. The security booth also looked silent. All the villas in the neighborhood had their lights off. Everything looked calm and peaceful.

I watched the scene for half an hour. The moment I thought nothing strange would happen, I heard a woman shrieking in the distance. Next, the lights of a villa were turned on.