Time Bureau: Bringing Down the Time Shop

With a tremendous splash, an unidentified creature about two meters long leapt into the river. Jili, an agent from the Time Regulation Bureau, had tracked a case there late at night.

All was silent. The residents of the town still had no idea that a criminal organization called the Time Shop was secretly influencing Candy Town.

Buy Crunchy Noodles and you might collect all 24 solar-term cards. You could then trade those cards with a peddler for a voucher to the Time Shop. The voucher read, "Anything can be traded."

"Can we get anything we want?"

"Of course, dear children. As long as you pay with your time, any wish can come true."

"Even getting first place in class?"

"Certainly."

It sounded like a real bargain, but Jili said there was no such thing as a free lunch. The time they paid was definitely not the only cost of the deal.

So what was the true price of trading time?

And who opened a shop like this?

Theme: Stand up to the powerful, resist temptation, and never take any stretch of life for granted.