The Heir's Dominance

9

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass rang out from the meeting room window at the end of the fourth-floor corridor!

It wasn’t a direct attack on Harry, but a cloud of thick black smoke that had just burst through the glass. The smoke billowed on the wind, cutting through the darkness of the city this night.

“That’s the guardian spirit of yet another cursed artifact that has just been awakened! We must capture it!” cried the Spirit of the Padlock.

Harry turned around briefly to check that Boss Thomas was still breathing steadily beneath the neon-lit floor. He then ran down to the lobby via the emergency staircase.

In the lobby, Jack was still standing restlessly by the glass door. As soon as he saw Harry appear, his shirt stained with ink and his hand wrapped in a makeshift bandage, Jack nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Harry! Are you all right?! There was a loud crash from upstairs just now, and then the lights went out completely!” Jack stammered in a panic.

"I’ll explain later, Jack. We need to call for help. Siska and Mr. Thomas are unconscious."

Harry walked over to the security post; the guard there was still asleep.

"No wonder the office isn’t secure. Even the guard, who’s supposed to be on duty, is asleep," Jack muttered under his breath.

“He’s not asleep. It looks like the guard here was also affected by that spirit attack earlier.”

“A spirit? What sort of spirit?”

"Didn’t you see? Didn’t you just help me fight off that spirit?"

"So you…??? Don’t tell me you’re into the occult as well?" said Jack, gaping.

Harry paid no heed to Jack’s words. He picked up the phone at the guard post. Then he called the police and an ambulance, explaining in detail what had happened. Naturally, Harry explained it in terms that made sense to the human mind, whilst Jack, listening right beside him, grew increasingly puzzled by Harry's sudden change in behaviour.

After making sure that office matters were under control—all via the phone—Harry returned to his original plan of chasing after that escaped spirit.

“Where’s your car key?” Harry asked quickly.

“My car key? Where are we going? But Mr. Thomas and Sisi are still upstairs!”

“Don’t worry, the police will be here soon. There’s something more important we need to do.”

“Wait, Harry! Where are we going? I need to know where we’re heading.”

“We have to go to the Old Market area. Now!” Harry explained.

"Old Market?! Jack’s eyes widened, his voice rising an octave. “At one in the morning?! Are you mad? Besides, that place is an old residential area. Don’t you know it’s already deserted there in the afternoon, let alone at this hour? I’m not having any of it!”

Harry gripped Jack’s shirt sleeve, staring at him with an expression that was so cold and serious. Harry had never been like this before. It was as if he were racing against time.

“Hurry up, Jack! A life’s at stake!” Harry said firmly, without hesitation.

Seeing the intensity in Harry's eyes, Jack swallowed hard. His intention to argue vanished instantly. Without saying another word, Jack fished the keys out of his pocket, and the two of them immediately jumped into the old saloon car.

Throughout the journey, Harry focused his Third Eye on the car’s windscreen. Through his Third Eye, he could see a faint grey mist outside the windscreen, shrouding the road. Directly above the city sky, there were thick wisps of black aura.

That mass of negative energy soared high, slithering between the city’s concrete buildings like a giant serpent invisible to the naked eye.

“Take the left-hand lane at the next junction, Jack,” Harry instructed flatly, his eyes fixed on the trail of that mystical aura.

"Harry... to be honest, what’s got into you?" whispered Jack, sounding worried.

"You’ve been acting really weird this whole time. What on earth are we doing, anyway? You nearly had an accident earlier—are you trying to get yourself killed again?"

"Just concentrate on driving, Jack. Trust me, I won’t do anything crazy. If you knew what was really happening tonight, you wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink for a week,” replied Harry softly. Jack got goosebumps hearing that.

“You’ve gone mad, Harry. Just don’t drag me into this.”

He accelerated the car, cutting through the darkness of the night until they finally entered the Old Market area. Harry's heartbeat began to quicken.

The change in atmosphere felt so drastic. There were no streetlights to illuminate the area, unlike in the city center. Although not far from residential areas, this place seemed untouched by human hands.

Old Market was a labyrinth of old settlements. Rows of colonial-style general stores, ancient auction houses, and rusty corrugated iron roofs stood crammed together along the street. Street lighting here was minimal, relying solely on the dim light from the residents’ verandas.

“Turn right into that narrow alley,” Harry pointed out.

“It’s really narrow Harry. My car’s going to get scratched,” Jack grumbled, but he still turned the steering wheel and drove into the cobbled alley. Jack had no choice but to follow Harry's instructions.

It was an old residential area famous for its rows of general stores and ancient auction houses. It was a place people rarely passed through unless they were looking for antiques. The area was notorious for being haunted and dangerous.

Jack’s car finally came to a halt at a narrow alleyway junction.

“We’ll stop here. Wait in the car and don’t switch off the engine,” said Harry as he opened the door.

"Harry, are you seriously going to go down that dark alley on your own?!" whispered Jack anxiously, his hair standing on end as he stared at the row of old buildings with no proper street lighting.

"This place is notorious for being haunted; there are loads of stories about people going missing round here!"

Jack was just about to stop Harry but stopped short when he heard Harry's reply.

“I’m not alone,” Harry replied softly, touching the padlock pendant around his neck. Jack felt an even stronger chill as he watched his friend behaving so strangely. He remembered Harry talking to himself.

“It must be the ghost Harry was talking about earlier,” he thought to himself. Jack’s skin crawled even more. The way Harry spoke and the vacant yet piercing look in his eyes made Jack feel that the man beside him was not the Harry he knew as an ordinary office worker. Unable to hold back any longer, Jack slowly loosened his grip.