The day I inherited my family's pawnshop, I learned just how dangerous this business could be.
Take in a bloodstained jade bangle, and at night you'll hear a woman crying, “Give me back my life!”
Take in a self-playing piano, and bloody handprints from a child will appear on its keys out of nowhere.
Even an ordinary pocket watch can swallow its owner's shadow bit by bit when its hands run backward...
My name is Zhang Yan, third-generation heir to the Juzhen Pavilion. I can see the vengeful spirits wrapped inside old objects. Touch one, and contract markings will crawl over my skin. I'm only one step away from becoming a sacrifice to the Shadow Realm.
Then one day, a female reporter who takes paranormal photographs kicked open the pawnshop door and pointed her camera at me. “Boss Zhang, the shadow in your storeroom dragged off a third person yesterday.”
And there's the mysterious woman who always appears at midnight, slamming a bloodstained scalpel down on the counter. “You took the item in, so now you have to kill the Shadow Lord for me. Otherwise, you're the one who dies first.”
Only later did I understand: what this pawnshop takes in isn't old possessions.
It's human lives, and the last lifeline left by my parents, consumed by the Shadow Realm.
[Contract signed. Old objects devour lives. Who will come to redeem their pawn tonight?]
