As i

t 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 tu

rned to see what she was looking at

. There was a black-and-white photo on the wall

. I

t 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 u

nable 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.

T

he 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 w

ould break if forcibly opened

. That 

was

 why they never tried to 

open

 it.

As time went on, 

t

he

ir 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

, b

ut everything changed when their son turned eighteen.

Their son

,

 Zhou Tian

,

 had always been a bright kid. He was filial, smart, and sensi

ble

. 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.

T

he old couple thought that Zhou Tian had some

thing 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 h

elp him stand

 up

 and

 pulled his hands off his face. What they saw nex

t would

haunt

 them for the rest of their lives

—

Zhou Tian’s eyes were gone

, and

b

lood 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, th

e 

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 a

greed 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.

Event

ually, t

hey 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 th

e 

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 h

e 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 i

f something happened to him.

M

others 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 lu

xurious 

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

, b

ut 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

.”

H

e the

n 

turned around

 to leave

, not 

l

ooking 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 

g

ood

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 softene

d 

when I remembered 

the grannie’s

 pitiful appearance. Eventually, I went to an 

I

nternet 

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 t

here 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. 

T

he moment I thought nothing strange would happen, I heard a woman shrieking in the distance. 

Next

, the lights 

of 

a villa were turned on

.