Chapter 255: Another Seance Incident
Exorcist Guild, Commission Negotiation Room.
In front of Room 205.
Catherine signaled William to wait a moment, then stepped forward and knocked on the door.
"Please come in."
A male voice came from inside.
William followed Catherine in and immediately met two gazes.
There were two people in the room. One wore a black robe and had short gray hair.
The other wore a mask covering the upper half of his face, but judging from the gun holster at his waist and his leather outfit, he was obviously a demon hunter.
"This is Mr. Rossi, the accepter of the commission," Catherine proactively introduced.
"The other is..." She looked at Rossi.
"Kins," the demon hunter spoke, his voice somewhat deep.
Subsequently, Catherine introduced William to the two.
"Oh~ Mr. William, didn't expect to have a Church colleague in this commission," Rossi spoke with a smile.
"I sneaked over to the Guild from the Church, you have to keep it a secret for me!"
William raised an eyebrow.
The other party stating this matter so frankly showed that this guy named Rossi didn't care at all.
"It seems this one is relatively easy to get along with on the surface," he thought inwardly.
William then smiled and said: "Didn't Mr. Rossi also reveal my 'leverage'."
"Haha~ I like this guy!" Rossi looked at Catherine and said.
William looked at the demon hunter again; he felt this person looked somewhat familiar.
The latter seemed to feel his gaze, turned slightly sideways, and said in a muffled voice: "Since everyone is here, let's talk business."
"Mr. Kins is right." Rossi took out four files and placed them on the table.
"This commission comes from a friend of mine. According to the information she submitted, the rating of the commission should be an Anomaly."
He opened the file folder as he spoke.
"However, after reviewing it, I still decided to set the difficulty at Erosion."
"This might involve an ancient evil god, so I don't want our exorcism team to underestimate the enemy."
"Therefore, I waited until everyone was gathered to start the commission."
Rossi pointed to himself, then looked at the three people in the room.
"I am good at sealing evil spirits and demons. Ms. Catherine has unique methods in mental defense. Mr. Kins' firearms can deal direct damage to spirit bodies. And Mr. William..."
"He is skilled at restricting the movement of spirit bodies."
"So when facing evil next, everyone can leave the corresponding parts to their teammates to complete."
William rubbed his chin.
"This person explained the potential risks right from the start, and also analyzed and considered problems from everyone's standpoint..." he thought inwardly.
"Worthy of someone who can get on the leaderboard. After this speech, even I feel this guy is very reliable."
After everyone digested these words, Rossi spoke again.
"The victims of this commission are two children. According to their families' descriptions, the two kids are very good friends at school."
"A week ago, the two disappeared in the woods at school. This caused quite a stir locally. Five days later, they were found at a farm a few kilometers away."
"But according to the police investigation report, the two girls were in good condition when found, but their shoes and backpacks had long been lost in the dense forest..."
Catherine raised her hand: "You mean, they couldn't have appeared a few kilometers away so easily?"
Rossi nodded: "Unless someone cooperated and transported the girls there by car. But the police have already ruled out this possibility for us."
"This is their explanation for the time they were missing." He took out one of the documents.
William and the other two also picked up the documents in front of them.
A moment later, William raised an eyebrow.
"...Angela, a girl of African descent. When she was about to be born, her mother encountered a massive earthquake in Haiti. In the end, Angela was born safely, but her mother unfortunately died..."
"Angela had been very curious about her mother since childhood. She found her mother's relics in her room..."
"According to Angela's own account, to fulfill her wish of seeing her mother, she asked her good friend Katherine to go to the woods together to play the currently popular seance game..."
Seeing this, William rolled his eyes inwardly: "When will this crappy seance game be banned..."
Subsequently, he picked up the hospital's diagnosis report.
"...After examination, there was no obvious external injury on the two girls' bodies, and all indicators were normal. But..."
"But both showed a certain degree of 'temporal cognitive dislocation.' They firmly believed they had only stayed in the dense forest for a while, and didn't lose consciousness midway..."
William rubbed his chin.
This matter might be very mysterious from a medical perspective, but from a theological perspective...
It was probably caused by mental hallucinations, or other special abilities of the evil spirit.
He continued reading the descriptions from several parents; among them, the words of Angela's father were quite special.
"...After she came back, she seemed like a different person. She often glared straight at me, and her tone became cold."
"Once, Angela actually sneak attacked me from behind with a silk scarf. The door in the room seemed to close automatically too, but this was very likely my eyes playing tricks on me..."
"For some unknown reason, the fingernails on her body started falling off, and there were scratch marks on her legs. One day Angela suddenly convulsed on the ground, and I had to send her to the hospital again..."
The other girl, Katherine, also had a similar situation.
"...Once we went to church, Katherine crawled out halfway. For some unknown reason, her lower body bled a lot, and she also spewed foul words at the Lord and the priest..."
The information in the file was just this.
Based on the current situation, this was indeed a typical "Spirit Channeling Possession" case; the commission rating wouldn't be very high.
Seeing everyone had finished reading, Rossi asked: "What are everyone's thoughts?"
Catherine was the first to raise her hand: "The girls' wrong perception of time very likely comes from the mental influence of the evil spirit."
Rossi nodded: "I think so too."
"We'd better approach the two girls quietly, so those evil spirits won't do some extreme things," demon hunter Kins said.
"Makes sense." Rossi paused to think. "If the other party perceives the threat of Holy Power or other powers, they might take the girls as hostages."
William shook his head inwardly.
From the moment the girls were possessed, they had already become hostages.
If one approached exorcism with this mindset, they would be burdened back and forth, easily falling into the evil spirit's trap.
When it's time to give up, one must give up decisively.
"What about Mr. William?" Rossi turned his head. "Oh~ right, are you taking this commission? You can still change your mind now."
"No need, I'm joining."
William pointed at the document: "There's something I care more about. The evil spirit once possessed Katherine to enter the church. Looking at it this way, the other party doesn't seem to fear the Church's power."
"To be able to do these things openly, only the rank of a demon can do it, right?"
A strange look flashed in Rossi's eyes.
"That's right!" Catherine clapped her hands lightly. "The church itself is protected by the Holy Light; low-level evil spirits simply cannot approach."
Demon hunter Kins also looked at him, then turned his head away slightly.
"Father William is right. This is also the reason I called everyone here," Rossi said.
"Decades ago, my friend Chris also encountered a similar situation, so we must be very careful next."
After discussing some necessary matters, the four went to prepare respectively.
Following that, they headed to the agreed commission location.
Augusta Town, Georgia.
A four-door sedan slowly drove across the asphalt road.
This is located in the suburbs of Georgia, a certain distance from the city center, thus maintaining a rustic tranquility.
Single-family houses sat on both sides of the road, with occasionally a few residents coming out to take out the trash.
Before long, the car stopped in front of a gray house.
Honk~ Honk~
Rossi honked the horn twice, and soon an old woman with a head full of white hair came out of the house.
"Hey! Chris, very glad to see you!" Rossi smiled and stepped forward to greet the other party.
Catherine and Kins stood quietly aside.
William, however, sized up the surrounding environment.
"Mmh... didn't see the shadow of any luxury buildings along the way. Looks like there shouldn't be any cheap villas for sale," he thought inwardly.
Before coming, William deliberately called local real estate developers. He learned that the local residents were mostly ordinary middle class, so no one built super mansions here.
"And these are..."
Chris's voice attracted William's attention.
Although this lady was quite old, she was still very elegant. A set of off-white casual wear looked relaxed and spontaneous, looking very wealthy.
"In my mind she still looks like she did when she was young..." William couldn't help thinking.
Rossi walked over to the group: "Let me introduce them. These are colleagues I work with..."
At this moment, both William and Rossi had changed back into Church attire, and Chris obviously also had some understanding of the Exorcist Guild.
Therefore, the few quickly got to know each other.
"Oh~ look at my memory, how could I not invite you into the house!" Chris smiled.
"Please come in quickly. I'll brew some tea for you; we still have important things to discuss!"
The group immediately followed the old woman into the house.
"Careful, it's hot."
"Thank you."
After putting down the teapot, Chris sat on the sofa.
"After submitting the commission application to Mr. Rossi, I drove to Augusta." Her gaze was somewhat sorrowful.
"That day Mr. Fielding... oh, that's the father of one of the girls, Angela."
"After he came to find me, he finally believed that what happened to Angela couldn't be explained by science, so he decided to hold an exorcism ritual for his daughter."
"But after the church assessed it, they rejected this request."
Catherine looked puzzled: "Why is that? The Church's investment in evil incidents is very high right now."
Rossi explained: "Insufficient manpower."
"Some time ago, the Church suddenly transferred a large number of Holy Clergy Members away, so many places experienced a manpower shortage."
"That's what they said." Chris nodded.
"The priests who stayed behind lack experience in this area, so they could only refuse."
Kins suddenly spoke up: "Knowing to fear death, a very wise decision."
Catherine secretly poked him, signaling that there were still two companions from the Church present.
But Kins seemed not to care at all.
"Unfortunately, the two girls can't hold on that long." Chris shook her head.
"Recently, their condition has worsened again..."
"Skin ulcerations, dark yellow teeth, and a lot of hair fell out. The two girls not only look increasingly ugly but even their personalities have become irritable."
William narrowed his eyes.
This was a very typical soul-devouring phenomenon.
Once the girls' souls disappeared, their physical bodies would completely become containers for the evil spirits.
"Mr. Fielding has lost his patience, so he and the parents of the other girl decided to conduct an unofficial exorcism."
Rossi frowned: "This is too reckless!"
Chris nodded: "Yes, evil spirits are exceptionally cunning. Conducting an exorcism without authorization is very likely to fall into their trap."
"They found a local Voodoo witch and plan to conduct the ritual tonight."
Chris stood up as she spoke, smiling helplessly.
"If you hadn't come today, I was planning to personally go and dissuade them."
Hearing this, warning bells rang loudly in William's heart.
The protagonist of the previous generation, dedicated to researching exorcism culture, and also planning to personally stop the exorcism...
This kind of plot development mostly ends with Chris losing her life, right.
William secretly made up his mind; he had to keep a close eye on this old woman.
After all, he still had to ask her for information about the Apostle Badge.
At this time, Rossi suddenly approached Chris and signaled that he wanted to speak with her privately.
So the remaining three continued discussing the exorcism plan in the living room.
But William pricked up his ears, focusing his attention on the adjacent bedroom.
Benefiting from applying Holy Oil for a long time, his hearing had long surpassed that of ordinary humans.
Before long, Rossi's voice came from inside.
"...Ms. Chris, I've also been researching ancient evil god culture recently. You once described the situation during your daughter's exorcism in your book."
"The priest who helped exorcise Regan back then... seemed to be wearing a silver badge?"
Chris said: "Oh~ I have to think carefully about this..."
"That's right, Father Karras indeed wore a silver badge necklace. After his..."
Chris's voice suddenly choked up a bit.
"After he died fighting the demon, his friend Father Dyer gave the necklace to Regan. I always let her carry it on her, hoping Father Karras's spirit in heaven would protect her."
"May the Lord bless the soul of this brave priest." Rossi said.
"Is this necklace still around now? Maybe it could provide some help for our exorcism this time."
"Of course it is." Chris said, "But it's been with Regan all along, and she... we mother and daughter haven't seen each other for several years."
"Is it still because of that matter?" There was not the slightest disappointment in Rossi's tone.
"Yes. Regan has always been dissatisfied that I wrote about her possession in the book, but I only wanted to make more people realize that being possessed by a demon cannot be ignored..." Chris said.
"Your good deed commands my respect..."
Next, the two talked about some other trivial matters. Rossi expressed that after the exorcism ended, he planned to visit Regan to take a look at Karras's relic.
Seeing there was no new content, William withdrew his attention.
"Sure enough, he is also here for the Apostle Badge."
William looked thoughtful.
"This badge can seal powerful demons; could he be planning to deal with a certain guy?"
Currently, there was too little effective information; it was hard for William to deduce anything.
But since Father Rossi's goal aligned with his, he could let the other party help find clues first.
Before long, Chris and Rossi came out again.
The group rested and reorganized a bit, then drove to Fielding's house.
Evening.
Beside a certain main road, in front of a white house.
Several figures were going in and out of the house.
They moved the furniture inside out, and then took some candles and lime into the house.
A black sedan was parked by the road.
A man stepped out of the car, waving at a middle-aged woman beside the house.
"Father Maddox..."
"Ann, you are a nurse, you have to persuade them. What you are doing now is very dangerous."
The woman shook her head: "But... you know, this matter is not as simple as being sick... You being able to come here, could it be the Church?"
Maddox sighed.
"I understand what you mean, Ann. I just came to take a look. The Church still believes the girls should receive psychiatric treatment."
"This matter... I am powerless to help, sorry."
Ann looked disappointed: "What exactly happened to the Church, to need so many people..."
At this time, black man Fielding walked over.
"Mr. Priest, regardless of whether you will intervene today, we must do this."
Maddox looked hesitant: "What you are doing is very dangerous, you..."
Honk~
At this time, a car horn sounded at the intersection. The few people turned around and found another car approaching.
A moment later, five people got out of the car.
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