Demons Beside You

Faur left, not staying for the night. After she left, Chen Zhao and Fali felt much more relaxed.

It had been as if they were meeting the parents. Faur kept asking a bunch of questions, making them uncomfortable.

Fali walked around the living room in her bra. Chen Zhao sat on the sofa in his boxers.

He flipped through the art appraisal book. To be honest, most of the content was good at curing insomnia. He’d rather flip through medical books than this book.

However, his hand stopped on the explanation on one page. It was a colored picture of the Lost Doom Star. It was a huge black diamond. The caption also stated that this picture was made digitally. It wasn’t the true Lost Doom Star.

The right page introduced the diamond. The Doom Star had been discovered in 1820 in Africa. It was 380 karats.

The expedition team that had discovered this diamond had massacred the tribe that owned it. It had been 163 lives. When this bloodied black diamond was brought back to Britain, the most skilled artisan at the time turned it into a pendant.

However, after the artisan completed the work, he lost both his hands in an accident.

A noble received the pendant, but both he and his manor was lost in a fire. The pendant then fell into the hands of a prostitute. She was killed by her client.

This pendant encasing the black diamond continued being passed on, but none of the owners had good endings.

The name “Doom Star” began spreading. In the end, no one dared to collect it.

Finally, it was sent to the Royal Museum to be exhibited. However, the museum had a fire and the Doom Star disappeared once again.

In 1882, an American businessman bought it from a city rogue for $800. He planned on taking the Doom Star to America.

He was traveling on the brigantine Mary Celeste to New York. However, the Mary Celeste never reached New York. It disappeared in the Pacific Ocean.

In 1883, a ship met the Mary Celeste in the ocean and the sailors even boarded the ship to look. The Mary Celeste was empty of people. The goods that were to be shipped were all intact. There were no signs of struggle.

After checking, they also found that there was sufficient food and fresh water. Most of the food was still edible even though the ship had been lost for more than a year.

However, the sailors and passengers had all disappeared. Not a single bone was there.

This was also the Mary Celeste’s last time appearing in everyone’s eyes. No one ever saw it again.

Some people claimed to have seen the ship, but these comments had no evidence, so that was that. Even now, some people claimed to have seen the ship with some vintage and blurry pictures for proof.

The Doom Star also disappeared with the Mary Celeste.

Chen Zhao picked up his tablet and searched for the Mary Celeste. Many pictures popped up. Most of them were pictures of an aged brigantine.

One picture attracted his attention. This was a black and white picture from the 60s. It seemed to have been taken from a mile away.

The brigantine in the picture looked very old. As if it had been fished out of the sea, there was a lot of seaweed on it and the entire ship was rotten.

“What are you looking at?” Fali came to Chen Zhao’s side and poked her head over. When she saw the picture on the tablet, Chen Zhao felt her arms shake.

“Is it this one?”

Fali nodded powerfully. “Yes, this one! You found it?”

“Walter had found a wooden board that said Mary on it. Do you know about the Doom Star?”

“Doom Star? What’s that?”

“This.” Chen Zhao handed the art appraisal book to her.

“Uh…” Fali furrowed her brows.

“You really saw it before?”

“I bought a pendant from a flea market before. The black diamond looks like this too, but it only costed $100. The seller and I both thought that it was a fake.”

“Is it here?”

“Wait, I’ll go get it.”

Fali jogged to her room. A moment later, she took out a pendant. The black diamond on it really was the lost Doom Star.

Chen Zhao gasped. Black Ma suddenly started growling at Fali’s pendant.

“Black Ma, what’s wrong?”

“Demon badge. It’s a demon badge!” Beelzebub also stood up, staring hard at the Doom Star.

“Master, this demon badge has a powerful curse.”

Chen Zhao thought for a moment. Turning to Fali, he said, “Fali, I’m afraid you can’t keep this lost Doom Star. It will hurt you.”

“Is everything true on the book?”

“It has evil power.”

“What should I do with it? Toss it?”

“Give it to me,” Beelzebub said immediately. “I can eat it.”

“Give me, give me,” Black Ma said. “I can wear it. Its power is similar to mine. I can unleash its power.” It was evident that he really wanted the Doom Star.

“Is there a way to expel the power and keep the Doom Star?” Chen Zhao asked.

Beelzebub and Black Ma shook their heads at once. “Impossible.”

Chen Zhao looked at Fali. “You have two choices now. Let Black Ma wear it or let Beelzebub eat it.”

“Let Beelzebub eat it? Are you serious?”

“He likes eating weird things.” Chen Zhao shrugged.

Just then, Chen Zhao’s phone rang. It was from Sienna.

“Chen, I discovered the ghost ship. Yesterday, some people on a yacht near Angel Beach recorded something and posted it online. It’s the Mary Celeste. My teacher and a dozen witches died on that ghost ship. I advise you to give up. This ghost ship is scary.”

“I’m afraid I have to face it,” Chen Zhao said. “This ghost ship is here for Fali.”

“What?”

“Fali bought something amazing. She used $100 to buy what she thought was a fake but is actually a 380-karat black diamond. This is what started it all.”

“What?!” Sienna cried. “Why don’t I have this luck? Why? I feel pain…no…I can’t breathe…”