[Chapter 301: Something More Troublesome Still Remains]
"Whose sofa is this?" Daniel suddenly asked.
Peggy froze for a moment. "It's... the previous owner's. An old man named Bill Wilkins. He died in this house, right on this sofa. We didn't have the money to replace the furniture when we moved in, so we kept it."
Daniel nodded and withdrew his hand. "Just an old ghost who refuses to leave."
His tone was casual, even carrying a hint of contempt. "This is just the appetizer."
"An... old ghost?" Peggy's face turned pale with fright.
"He's watching us." Lorraine spoke suddenly, her body stiff, her gaze fixed intently on the shadows at the top of the stairs. "I can feel it... something is there."
"Let's go up and see." Daniel turned and walked toward the stairs.
The wooden steps creaked beneath his feet.
...
The second-floor hallway was even dimmer, with a door left ajar at the far end.
Daniel pushed the door open.
Four children were huddled together on a single bed, wrapped in quilts and shivering.
Seeing a stranger enter, the eldest girl -- Janet -- jerked her head up. Her eyes glazed over for a split second, then filled with terror.
"Who are you?" Janet asked.
Daniel didn't answer; instead, he stared at Janet's shadow.
In Daniel's Spiritual Sense, another hunched figure seemed to be overlapping with Janet's shadow.
"Come out, Bill." Daniel looked at Janet, but he was speaking to the thing inside her body. "Is it fun, occupying a little girl's body?"
Janet's body gave a violent jolt.
She lowered her head, and when she raised it again, the expression on her face had become extremely bizarre. The corners of her mouth were twisted, and her eyes were cloudy.
"This is my house..." From Janet's youthful throat came a raspy, aged man's voice that sounded like sandpaper rubbing together. "Get out... you... uninvited guests."
Peggy covered her mouth, stifling a scream.
Ed immediately raised a crucifix. "In the name of God..."
Daniel raised a hand to stop Ed.
He stepped forward, his gaze cold, with faint flashes of lightning flickering across his body.
"You think you're worthy of calling me an uninvited guest?" Daniel sneered. "An old ghost who refuses to leave even after death. I'm asking you, where is that nun?"
"Nun?" Bill controlled Janet's face, showing a flicker of confusion before turning sinister again. "I don't know any nun! I just want to watch TV! I want to drink tea! Get out!"
Daniel's brow furrowed slightly.
This reaction didn't seem faked. This old ghost called Bill truly seemed unaware of Valak's existence. It appeared Valak was hiding even deeper than imagined. It was like an apex predator hiding behind these low-level vengeful spirits, using them to manufacture fear and weaken the family's will.
"Refusing the easy way, I see."
Daniel had no patience to waste words on a gatekeeping old ghost. He raised his right hand and made a grabbing motion toward the air.
"Spirit Binding Rope, rise!"
Several orange-red cords of mana appeared out of thin air, instantly binding Janet tightly to the bed.
"Ah--! Let me go! It's hot! So hot!"
Bill let out a shrill scream, struggling frantically within Janet's body.
"Get out here!"
Daniel yanked back with one hand.
A grayish-white, hunched phantom of an old man was forcibly dragged out of Janet's body. With a thud, he slammed onto the floorboards.
Janet's body went limp, and she collapsed unconscious on the bed.
"A ghost! It really is a ghost!"
Seeing the phantom on the floor, Peggy's legs gave way from fright, and she slumped to the ground.
The phantom was an old man in a worn sweater, currently looking at Daniel in terror as if he were seeing some kind of monster.
"You... you can touch me?" Bill cried out in horror.
Daniel stepped on Bill's chest, pinning him firmly to the floor.
He released the pressure of a Supreme Anointed of Higher Ascendant Order without reservation.
The temperature on the entire second floor rose instantly, and the original chilling aura was mostly dispelled.
"I'll ask one more time." Daniel looked down, his gaze like lightning. "Besides you, who else is in this house?"
Bill's soul-form was nearly crushed by the stomp, and he twisted in agony.
"No... no more... it's just me... Wait... sometimes... sometimes there's a shadow..."
Bill's voice became even more terrified, even more afraid than when facing Daniel. His voice grew smaller and smaller, his soul-form nearly dissipating under Daniel's foot.
"I haven't seen its face... I don't dare look." Bill clutched his head, shivering. "It's just a massive black shadow, like a nun. Whenever it comes, I can't move. It ordered me to stay here, ordered me to scare this family. I am not allowed to leave, not even allowed to go to heaven."
Daniel's eyes narrowed slightly. "What is the purpose?"
"To lure people here." Bill pointed at Ed and Lorraine nearby, then looked at Daniel. "To lure this couple here. Later... it said an even stronger Exorcist would come. It told me to make a bigger scene, that I must keep you all here."
Ed and Lorraine felt a chill run down their spines.
So this was all a setup.
From the start of the Enfield Poltergeist Incident, all the activity was meant to lure them here to be wiped out in one go.
Daniel sneered. "Quite an appetite."
He released his foot and looked at the old ghost curled on the floor. "Where is it now?"
"I don't know... I really don't know!" Bill shook his head desperately. "It's everywhere, yet it seems like it's not here. I'm just a gatekeeper, I'm only responsible for scaring people... Great Master, please let me go. I want to go home. I want to leave this chair."
Daniel looked at this pitiful yet hateful old ghost.
"Since you want to go, I'll send you on your way."
Daniel formed a hand seal and chanted an incantation.
A mysterious resonant power descended from the air, enveloping Bill's body.
A look of relaxed relief appeared on Bill's face.
He bowed deeply to Daniel, and his body turned into specks of light, dissipating into the air.
[Ding! Transcended an F-Rank Ghost Soul, gained 1000 merit points.]
The System's notification sounded.
Daniel lowered his hand, and the gloomy, musty smell in the room faded somewhat.
Janet was still sleeping on the bed, her breathing much steadier.
"He's just... sent away?"
The Warrens were shocked. Usually, when they sent a ghost away, it required a great deal of effort and various rituals. Only then might they narrowly succeed.
But Daniel just formed a seal, chanted, and the ghost was simply gone.
They knew it wasn't destroyed, but truly transcended. This kind of ability was far beyond their reach.
For a moment, the way they looked at Daniel held even more reverence.
But Daniel's expression did not improve.
He turned around and looked at Peggy Hodgson, who was cowering in the corner.
This mother of four was clutching her mouth tightly, her face even paler than before. She had personally witnessed the old man's ghost that had tormented her family for months admit to an even more terrifying truth and then vanish.
"Ms. Hodgson." Daniel spoke. "That old ghost is gone."
Peggy was just about to breathe a sigh of relief.
Daniel continued, "But something more troublesome still remains."
"Wha... what?"
Peggy's legs were trembling; she could barely stand, leaning against the wall.
"That Bill was just a puppet." Daniel pointed at the floor. "The one who truly wants this house is a demon. It is right here, hiding in some corner, watching us."
*****
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