Chapter 258: An Unexpected Journey
Inside an alleyway by the street.
William opened his eyes and quickly climbed up from the ground.
Holding a crucifix in his hand, dense runes surfaced on his forehead and neck, while an invisible barrier enveloped his body.
Two circles of golden patterns appeared in his pupils as he sized up his surroundings inch by inch.
"Where is this? Wasn't I in the house..."
A narrow and gloomy alley, messy ground, relatively tall buildings on both sides, and the air filled with the stench of garbage.
This seemed to be an urban area, and Catherine and the others were not around.
After confirming there was no danger around, William checked himself.
At this moment, his clothes were somewhat damaged, but the surface of his body was not injured.
He recalled the scene just now—after the evil spirit's power erupted, fierce winds began to blow in the room, and William immediately activated the means he had set up in advance.
Despite this, the evil spirit's power still seemed difficult to suppress.
When cracks appeared in the surrounding space, William's vision went dark, and when he woke up again, it was now.
He looked not far away; the ground at the exit of the alley was bathed in dazzling sunlight. It was currently daytime.
William walked out of the alley.
He raised his hand to block his forehead, narrowing his eyes to look around.
A wide asphalt road lay across in front of him. On both sides were industrial-style buildings, red brick outer walls paired with old-fashioned fire escapes.
The street was also somewhat dirty, with newspapers and discarded bags thrown randomly on the ground.
The men mostly wore fedoras, white shirts on their upper bodies, and suit pants on their lower bodies, looking like gentlemen.
The women also wore hats and knee-length skirts.
The pedestrians' expressions were somewhat serious. Even while walking on the road, people held newspapers, constantly drawing something on them with pens.
Further away was another kind of scenery.
Numerous skyscrapers overlooked the surroundings, their outer reflective glass mirroring the golden sunlight.
This didn't look like a suburban town at all, but rather the financial center of a large city.
"Where did this send me..." William sweatdropped a bit.
He found a newsstand by the street to ask, but the answer he got surprised him a bit.
"This is f*cking New York, of course, Manhattan, New York! The only area in North America that can still maintain prosperity! Are you drunk, Mr. Priest..."
But another thing surprised William even more—according to the year printed on the newspaper, he was currently several decades in the past!
"What's this situation... A second transmigration?"
William covered his face; he had never encountered this kind of situation before.
But at this time, his theological abilities and panel progress were still there, which indicated he was still using his original body.
Therefore, William deduced he was still in the previous world.
Because there were too few clues at present, he had no idea about "how to go back," so he could only randomly pick a direction and move forward.
Before long, William came to a plaza.
"New York University..." he read the words on a nearby road sign.
At this time, a voice suddenly came from behind.
"Oh~ Mr. Priest, haven't you gone in yet? The cultural seminar is about to start."
William turned around and saw a middle-aged man wearing a suit.
"You are..."
"John, in charge of the preparation work for this archaeological seminar." John extended his hand.
"Please come with me, the materials brought by Father Merrin still need you guys to verify."
William raised an eyebrow.
"Father Merrin... isn't this the one in 'The Exorcist'? Could it be..."
He immediately nodded and followed this guy named John.
A few minutes later, inside a certain classroom.
Several boxes were piled up here, containing some antiques. At this moment, a few staff members were inventorying them.
"Oh... my god, someone finally came."
A staff member came in front of William and handed over a roster.
"These are the materials Father Merrin will use later. If there are no problems, please sign your name."
William smiled slightly and wrote down the name "Roen".
"Father Merrin is in classroom 07 next door. He just called for people to come move these items. Do you need me to..."
William looked at the large boxes and immediately said: "Thanks for your hard work, leave the rest to me."
The person breathed a sigh of relief: "Then I'll leave it to you."
William pushed the cart to classroom 07 and knocked gently on the door.
Before long, the door opened, and in front of him was an old man with graying hair.
Seeing William's face, the old man was obviously stunned for a moment, but still stepped aside: "Thanks for your hard work helping move them in."
William nodded.
He had already recognized that the other party was the sacrificed Father Merrin from The Exorcist.
Many students were sitting in the classroom. He instantly felt many gazes gather on him.
"Fellow students, this is the statue I excavated at the archaeological site, coming from Mesopotamian civilization and Assyrian mythology."
Father Merrin opened the box and took out a metal object.
William turned his head to look, then frowned slightly.
He saw the statue had a ghost-like head and wings on its back, very similar to the evil spirit he had seen not long ago.
"According to literature records, this should be an evil god named Pazuzu, the god controlling storms and diseases."
Father Merrin wrote its name on the blackboard.
"Pazuzu... it's actually an evil god," William pondered secretly.
"A thousand years ago, it caused chaos in the human world and was ultimately sealed underground by the Church."
At this time, a student in the seats raised his hand.
"Father Merrin, by digging it out, aren't you letting the evil god regain its freedom?"
As soon as this was said, scattered laughter immediately rang out in the classroom.
Father Merrin spread his hands: "What you said makes a lot of sense, but this is just a myth and legend. Just like now, most seemingly bizarre possessed people ultimately recover their health through psychological treatment."
He spoke with a smile, but a barely noticeable trace of worry flashed in his eyes.
"Alright, everyone, please look at this now."
Merrin drew a pattern of a coin on the blackboard.
"This is the silver coin unearthed together with the evil god at that time, also called the 'Apostle Badge'. It is an offering specially used by the Church to seal evil powers."
After introducing it a bit, he continued: "This silver badge is now kept in the Church and is an important clue for researching early Church culture."
"Father Merrin, I once read in Church texts that there are twelve such badges in total, corresponding to the initial twelve missionaries?" a girl spoke up.
"Your preview preparation is very detailed!" Merrin praised, "But actually, this is an erroneous record."
"In the Assyrian text 'Hymns' unearthed more than ten years ago, there were records of the silver badge..."
"This thing itself is an exorcism item. No matter where you are, you can feel the power coming from Heaven, which is why it was widely applied in sealing evil."
"The Church at that time made many silver badges; the number was far more than twelve."
"The latter actually comes from another saying—"
"The initial twelve missionaries, in order to resist the evil invading the human world, spilled their own blood on the silver badges, thereby blessing the badges with the power bestowed upon them by the Lord."
"Since then, twelve silver badges were distinct from the rest. Later believers also called them—the Holy Apostle Silver Badges."
As soon as his voice fell, a gleam of brilliance flashed in William's eyes.
"These holy relics are very powerful, containing power truly from Heaven. Relying on them, believers were able to survive the invasions..."
Someone asked curiously: "Is the one you excavated one of them?"
Merrin shook his head: "I am not clear on that. In the long river of history, these silver badges gradually went missing..."
"However, the unearthed literature records a method that can grant ordinary silver badges a holy blessing..."
William pricked up his ears.
"...It requires a silver badge, and simultaneously a Holy Clergy Member whose heart is extremely devout, brave, and pure, to spill their blood on it. At that time, miracles will reappear..."
Father Merrin sighed: "This definitely isn't talking about me, I'm a bit afraid of pain..."
"Hahaha..."
Laughter rang out below the podium.
Ring... Ring...
"Students, if you are interested in Church archaeological culture, you can send your research to my email..."
The students gradually left, leaving only two people in the classroom.
"Your name is..."
Father Merrin looked at William while packing up his things.
The latter stated his name.
"Father William? Please help me pack these things up, my back isn't very good."
William nodded and proactively stepped forward.
"Which... church are you from? I don't seem to have seen you before," Merrin said.
"West Philadelphia Community Church."
"Oh~ No wonder I saw your attire was a bit different..." Merrin nodded. "Are you here to replace Father Martin? I haven't been able to find him."
"No... I'm just passing by. That Mr. John seemed to have some misunderstanding..."
Hearing this, Merrin only then realized William wasn't a staff member for this seminar, so he hurriedly apologized to him.
"Please don't mind. I have always been very interested in Church texts."
"Oh~ Really? That's rare!" Merrin's eyes lit up. "Nowadays, few young Holy Clergy Members focus on this..."
The two chatted about some Church knowledge.
Relying on decades of future knowledge, even Merrin was surprised by William's Church erudition.
"I am somewhat interested in the Holy Apostle Badge..."
William took this opportunity to ask his true purpose—whether this badge possessed spatial power, such as going to Heaven.
"Hehe, Father William, this is just a legend." Merrin smiled and shook his head. "It's a method the Church uses to recruit believers."
"Even if the legend were true, not many people are interested in it."
"After all, the economic crisis has been severe these two years. Those factories have all moved abroad, and many people have lost their jobs..."
"Therefore, fewer and fewer people believe in the Church, to the point where even some Holy Clergy Members cannot maintain basic food and clothing."
William was slightly stunned.
Why did the style suddenly change from supernatural and evil to heavy realism...
Moreover, hearing these from a priest's mouth really felt a bit uncomfortable.
William could only nod in agreement.
"Alright young man, I should go too." Father Merrin picked up his backpack and handed a slip of paper to William.
"This is the storage location of that silver badge. If you are interested, you can go take a look. I will inform them in advance for you."
William stepped forward and took it with both hands: "Then thank you very much."
After bidding farewell to Father Merrin, William also left the campus.
He didn't expect that coming here by a stroke of luck this time would actually yield clues to the Holy Apostle Silver Badge.
From Merrin's introduction, this badge could connect to the power of Heaven.
And Heaven in this world was closely linked to the "Unknowable Space."
So this badge might truly possess spatial effects.
Therefore, William's hope of returning might just lie in this item.
"Such a holy item is probably strictly guarded, how do I get it out..."
Thinking of this, he suddenly realized something was wrong.
The Holy Apostle Silver Badge needed to be stained with the blood of a devout, pure believer.
This stealing... should have absolutely nothing to do with purity, right?
"I am guilty, I hope the Lord forgives my greed..." he hurriedly tried to make amends in his heart.
But if he didn't steal... if he didn't do this, what other way was there?
William was focusing on his thoughts when suddenly a person bumped into him.
"Sorry," that person whispered, then picked up his box that had fallen to the ground.
"Are you... a priest?" the other party spoke up.
"Yes." William nodded, also sizing up the other party.
The person in front of him had medium-long hair, wearing a black suit, looking like a boxer.
But the other party's inner shirt was a black turtleneck, the standard attire for early Church priests.
More importantly, William recognized the other party—Father Karras.
In the original work of The Exorcist, he lured the demon into his own body, and then took the evil away completely by committing suicide.
"Oh~ this is my first time seeing such attire," Karras said curiously.
"I didn't damage you by bumping into you, did I?" He looked at the tears in William's clothes and immediately asked.
"Don't worry, these damages were already there." William smiled slightly, shifting his gaze to the other party's neck.
A silver necklace hung there; it was a round badge engraved with a pair of wings.
"That's good." Karras breathed a sigh of relief. "I still have matters to attend to, I'll take my leave first."
He waved goodbye to William.
The latter watched from the spot for a while, and quickly followed.
Half an hour later.
At the entrance of the Manhattan State Psychiatric Hospital.
Father Karras hurried over here, and a man was waving at him.
"Uncle, what's wrong with Mom?" Karras's tone was a bit unsteady.
"She was yelling and screaming, not letting anyone get close, so I could only bring her here first..."
The two entered the hospital building all the way.
Karras was a priest and a psychiatrist, responsible for the church's confession services.
His father had passed away long ago, so he had always lived with his mother.
But due to his busy work, Karras rarely went home.
Leaving his elderly mother home alone.
Not long ago, Karras's mother accidentally injured her leg in a fall.
Due to the high medical costs in North America, combined with the current economic downturn, he couldn't afford his mother's treatment costs.
He could only give his mother some simple bandaging.
This also made him feel even more guilty.
But this wasn't Karras's first time facing such a situation.
His mother's brain blood vessels developed a pathology, which caused damage to some of her brain functions.
Therefore, besides Karras himself, it was difficult for others to get along with his mother.
And this illness had dragged on for a long time.
It wasn't until his mother fell last time that Karras realized what he truly cared about.
So he had just resigned from the church and returned today, intending to find a higher-paying job to stay by his mother's side.
Inside the ward.
Some patients lay blankly on their beds, while others looked excited, interacting with non-existent things in the air.
Seeing this scene, Karras reached out and wiped his face hard.
"Your mother's bed is in the last corner." The nurse pointed.
Karras took a deep breath and walked in.
During this time, patients would occasionally run towards him with a smile. He could only forcefully break free from these patients' hands.
Finally, Karras saw his mother lying on the hospital bed, her hands and feet all tied with restraints.
"Mom!"
Karras threw himself over.
His mother turned her head. Seeing it was her son, she immediately turned her head away again.
"Why did you send me here...!"
Outside the hospital.
Karras looked at his uncle: "Why couldn't she be arranged somewhere else?"
"Like where? A private hospital? Who has that money! Do you!"
Hearing this, Karras wiped his face again.
After his uncle left, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
Just as he was preparing to light it, he couldn't feel his lighter anywhere.
"Do you need this?"
A voice rang out behind him.
"It's you."
Karras turned his head, finding the person who arrived was the Holy Clergy Member he had bumped into not long ago.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is William."
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you