Borrowing Life for a Birthday ①

Chapter 1: Born in the Yin Hour The Li family mansion sat at the foot of North Mountain, in the most remote corner of Blackwater Town, a place perpetually shrouded in an unshakeable stench of damp rot. At the stroke of midnight, the midwife severed the umbilical cord with trembling hands. Instead of crying, the infant let out a low grunt, like the death rattle of an old cat. A sudden gust of strange wind swept past the window, extinguishing the three butter lamps on the table. Old Master Shen leaned closer to the lamplight and took a look. A black birthmark, shaped like a dead man's fingerprint, had appeared on the infant's back. "Yin year, yin month, yin day, yin hour..." The midwife's face turned deathly pale. She hastily took three steps back, dropping the child in her arms onto a soft cushion. "Old Master Shen, this child won't live past eighteen. Their fate is to come to the Shen family to collect a debt!" Old Master Shen's expression turned as dark as water. He raised his hand, took out a heavy ingot of silver, and tossed it to the midwife, his voice terrifyingly low: "Keep your mouth shut. If a single word gets out, the mass grave on Blackwater Town's back mountain will be your end." The midwife nodded repeatedly, hastily packed her belongings, and left through the door. The moment she pushed open the wooden door, a black shadow streaked across the corridor, knocking her to the ground. The midwife screamed and fainted. The baby's swaddling clothes, which had been on the table, actually moved on their own in plain sight, emitting a cold chuckle... To be continued...