“A while ago, Jolene and I were busy giving public lectures at universities all around Los Angeles. We were just about to head out to investigate when we finished. And then…”
Ed paused there, not continuing that thought, and instead shifted the topic back to the three incidents.
“These are just the materials the clients sent over. Their authenticity still needs to be verified.”
“But please don’t worry, you won’t be short-changed on the payment.”
“I know.”
Su Fan nodded slightly and looked over at Jolene, whose complexion seemed a bit unhealthy.
From the start of the conversation, it had been her husband Ed talking with Su Fan; she hadn’t shown any desire to speak.
Clearly, profiling the big battle between Su Fan and Paimon had caused Jolene considerable harm.
She probably just wanted to get to the bottom of things, but hadn’t expected to suffer such an undeserved calamity.
“In the future, if you encounter a paranormal event with a wide range of impact, don’t profile it lightly.”
Jolene was startled by Su Fan’s sudden suggestion.
Ed also choked back the words he was about to say.
“I know you can see things others can’t through mediumship and profiling, but that ability comes with risks.”
“Some powerful, evil entities can cause great harm to the observer just by being looked at.”
“You’ve felt the consequences yourself, haven’t you?”
“That’s true…” Jolene admitted, then gave a wry smile.
“Maybe it’s just that my own abilities aren’t up to snuff…”
Ed immediately placed his hand over Jolene’s, which felt a bit cold, to comfort her low spirits.
“Thank you for the advice, Mr. Su.”
“I hope your upcoming exorcisms go smoothly.”
The couple stood up, said goodbye to Su Fan, and prepared to leave.
At the door, Ed suddenly stopped.
“Actually, there’s one more very important thing I need to tell you, Mr. Su.”
“There might be federal agents coming to visit you sometime soon.”
“I heard this from the Vatican.”
“I hope you can mentally prepare yourself. It’s best not to get into a direct confrontation with them.”
With that, Ed helped his wife out of the shop.
Su Fan’s expression didn’t change much.
Expected.
His previous exorcisms had been small-scale affairs, but this time, an entire community was affected. That’s a serious security threat.
Since they’re showing up now, it means they must have already noticed something unusual about Su Fan through various clues before, but just hadn’t paid much attention to it.
They probably thought Su Fan was just a small-time psychic who wasn’t a real threat.
Federal agents…
A slight smile touched the corner of Su Fan’s mouth.
Those two idiots he’d dealt with before, he’d fooled them plenty of times without any trouble.
Why would he get nervous just because these guys come knocking?
Whether there’s a conflict or not doesn’t depend on him, Su Fan, but on their attitude.
But right now, Su Fan didn’t have the free time to worry about any federal agents. His rehabilitation training was more important.
If they want to see him, they can take a number.
He picked up the few photos and a stack of moderately thick documents from the table.
While flipping through them, he noticed most of the annotations were written by Ed.
Of course, these notes were all based on the assumption that the information provided was true.
He’s this meticulous… no wonder an ordinary guy like him could marry Jolene, who was born with special abilities, and become her emotional pillar.
[The three stages of demonic and evil spirit activity are: Infestation — Oppression — Possession.]
[All three events are still at the infestation stage, but the severity varies.]
[Based on their mental state, the most dangerous one should be…]
Su Fan’s gaze shifted to the woman in the central set of photos.
Her husband was a cop who died in the line of duty, leaving her with just their two children.
Even though money was tight, she still focused on her children’s growth.
Not only that, but she also joined the community’s child protective services.
Her name was…
——-
“Anna!”
In the community service department’s office, a colleague waved a hand in front of the daydreaming woman’s eyes.
The woman seemed to snap back to reality and looked at her colleague a bit blankly.
“What’s up…?”
“‘What’s up?’ Brand wants to know how that spreadsheet he asked you to make is coming along… Hey, are you okay? I called you several times and you didn’t react.”
Another colleague chimed in.
“She probably hasn’t finished it. She’s been staring at her computer screen for, like, over 40 minutes now.”
He then looked at Anna.
“Didn’t you get enough sleep recently?”
“No, it’s nothing…” Anna forced a small smile.
“You’re not still feeling guilty about that crazy woman’s case, are you?”
The colleague who came to check on the spreadsheet saw Anna’s unhappy expression, decided not to push it, and patiently tried to console her instead.
“Don’t overthink it… I mean, who locks their own kids in a cupboard to ‘protect’ them? A normal person wouldn’t do something like that.”
“It’s a real shame about those two kids dying unexpectedly, but you can’t blame yourself for everything.”
Everyone at work knew Anna’s situation – a single mom struggling to raise two kids – so they all tried to help her out whenever they could.
“Thanks for the comfort…” Anna nodded.
“Here, drink this hot chocolate. And if you’re really having trouble, talk to the higher-ups. I’ll handle Brand for you.”
“Thanks…”
The colleague gently placed her cup, which smelled of cocoa, on Anna’s desk and walked away.
The kind gesture made Anna feel a little better.
But only a little.
Some time ago, their department got a report about a woman in the community named Patricia suspected of abusing her two kids.
So, management decided to send someone to go with the police to forcibly take the children into protective custody.
Anna had been handling Patricia and her kids’ case for years, felt there must be some misunderstanding, and volunteered to go.
But unfortunately…
Patricia was indeed acting strangely and aggressively, just like the report said.
On top of that, she claimed an evil spirit would hurt her children and refused to cooperate.
With no other choice, the police forced the door open.
After searching the place, they found the two kids locked inside a cupboard.
When a restrained Patricia saw Anna open the cupboard, she got extremely agitated.
She screamed that Anna couldn’t do that, that something terrible would happen otherwise.
But nobody paid much attention to what this probably mentally unstable woman said.
They opened the cupboard. Aside from two terrified children, they saw nothing.
Then, while checking their physical condition, they found burn scars on the kids’ wrists.
When Anna asked if their mother had caused those scars, they both shook their heads ‘no’.
At the time, nobody believed their answers. They just figured the kids were defending their mother, even though she was abusing them.
Patricia was unquestionably taken away and detained, and the kids were placed in temporary foster care.
But the very next day, they got the terrible news that the two children had drowned.
When Anna and her colleagues rushed over, all they found were the two bodies in a creek.
The creek was very shallow – not even up to a child’s thigh. To drown there, it had to be murder.
Suspicion naturally fell on Patricia, who had shown abusive tendencies. But when Anna met with her, she heard a completely different story than what they had seen and thought.
Patricia locked her children in the cupboard to protect them from La Llorona.
La Llorona is the name of a widely-known female ghost in Mexican folklore.
Because of Anna and her colleagues’ actions, all of Patricia’s efforts were ruined.
The children were found by La Llorona and drowned in the river.
Even though the hatred and grief in Patricia’s eyes seemed real, Anna still couldn’t bring herself to believe in a vengeful ghost story.
That is, until she noticed identical burn marks appearing on her own children’s wrists.
Her older son, Chris, told Anna that a scary woman grabbed his wrist, leaving the mark.
Not long after, similar burn marks appeared on the wrist of her daughter, April.
These strange events made Anna increasingly paranoid.
But she still clung to everything she’d been taught growing up, and somewhere deep down, she prayed it was all just the kids messing around.
But reality quickly and cruelly shattered her illusions.
Chris started sleepwalking, seemingly drawn by something, always heading for the door.
Every night, Anna worried about her son’s safety, and her sleep quality plummeted.
That led to nervous exhaustion and a short temper.
Work that used to be easy started piling up under all this stress.
Anna was on the verge of a total breakdown.
She let out a sigh and reached for her hot chocolate to take a sip, but suddenly noticed the liquid inside seemed to be rotating slowly, counter-clockwise.
Curious, she picked up the cup and peered at it closely.
The brown liquid swirled lazily, tiny ripples occasionally breaking the surface.
Anna’s gaze slowly grew dazed.
And then… a horrifying, grotesque face suddenly appeared in the liquid!!
Anna jolted, let out a shriek, and instinctively flung the cup away.
The cup shattered, and the cocoa splattered everywhere.
The commotion drew everyone’s attention, their curious gazes turning towards Anna.
Still trembling with fear, Anna grabbed her car keys, stood up, quickly apologized to everyone, and rushed for the door. She didn’t even ask for time off from her boss.
She didn’t care about anything else. She just wanted to go home.
Her heels clicked urgently against the floor, and she soon made it outside.
The night was quiet, the streets empty.
Anna suddenly stopped, as if sensing something, and turned her head to the side.
At that very moment, a woman in a white dress stood silently in the distance…
