This should be an illusion, Teresa told herself rationally. But her physical sensations made it impossible to ignore everything before her eyes.
The corpses above her swayed more and more violently.
Bathsheba’s death was terrifying, but her eyes, which had been rolled back, suddenly turned downward towards Teresa!
Wave after wave of scorching heat baked her limbs not covered by clothing.
Her fair skin gradually began to redden.
Rolling thick smoke inevitably entered her respiratory tract. Teresa started coughing uncontrollably, which only made her inhale even more smoke.
The stinging sensation caused tears to well up in Teresa’s eyes. She covered her mouth and nose, panicking as she looked around.
Just then, a hand suddenly landed on Teresa’s shoulder.
Seeing such a horrifying sight, her instinct was to flee, but she suddenly felt a stream of pure, cool energy flow from her shoulder into her body.
Like a cool breeze passing by on a summer night, the scorching heat on her skin dissipated, and even the stinging pain in her mouth and nose completely faded away.
Teresa opened her eyes to look again. Before her, the wide river stretched out, meandering. She was still standing at the entrance of the Perron family’s home.
“Do you have any blood relation to Lorraine?”
A voice came from behind Teresa.
She turned her head and saw Su Fan, also noticing him withdrawing his hand from her shoulder.
Seeing this, Teresa understood where that stream of pure energy had come from.
“…I’m not really sure,” Teresa answered honestly after calming her mind a bit.
“I grew up in Romania. After my father died, I entered the monastery. I never heard him mention any relatives before…”
Su Fan examined her carefully.
The spirit vision ability Teresa displayed was actually closer to Lorraine’s than Elise’s.
He had clearly seen the change that occurred in Teresa’s body just now.
It was as if she was truly experiencing it firsthand.
“If nothing’s wrong, don’t just casually peer at things. Spirit vision causes serious harm to the medium themselves. That’s why Lorraine ended up in the hospital.”
Su Fan paused briefly, then continued to explain.
“Furthermore, this act is like turning on a searchlight in a dark forest, trying to see what’s inside.
Sure, you can see the other party, but they can also pinpoint your location in an instant.”
“Just now, Bathsheba probably sensed your gaze and tried to use that opportunity to kill you.”
“I understand,” Teresa nodded, but then quickly realized something was wrong.
“But, this seems like it was my subconscious action. I don’t know why it happened.”
“Avoid staring for too long at any evil scene you see,” Su Fan offered a solution.
“Or use some external object.”
“External object?” Teresa took out the cross she wore around her neck.
“This?”
“It’s an ability I have, a charm that can provide some immunity against evil spirit disturbances.”
“But I’m not sure if it would work on you, given your strong faith and special abilities.”
This was Su Fan’s honest thought.
After her close call during the spirit vision just now, Su Fan felt more and more that this nun’s background was not simple.
Thinking about it carefully, Lorraine could at most only perform spirit visions. Ed wasn’t a bishop or a specialized exorcist priest either.
The Vatican’s purpose in sending Teresa might not have been to assist the Warrens, but rather…
“Thank you for your kindness, but I want to try on my own first. If I have to trouble you for this, then there’s no point in me coming here.”
Just as Teresa finished speaking, Jack Lee’s voice called out from the house’s entrance.
“The equipment is all set up!”
——
Jack Lee, having finished adjusting the camera, was about to raise his means of making a living when he suddenly remembered something and stopped.
“Mr. Su Fan, do you mind being on camera?”
“When does your show usually air?”
“Late at night.”
“Then it’s fine. Go ahead and film.”
Jack Lee: …
As speechless as he was, work had to continue.
Su Fan ignored Jack Lee behind him and followed Carolyn towards the stairs.
“That night, the portraits of the children hanging here all fell and shattered… And there was this eerie woman’s laughter…”
“This is the room of the eldest daughter, Christine, and the fourth daughter, Cindy… Lately, Cindy has been sleepwalking for no apparent reason.
When Christine was taking her back to bed, she saw a terrifying woman crouching on the dresser…”
“This is the room of the second daughter, Andrea, and the third daughter, Nancy. When Nancy sleeps, she gets pulled by something invisible. Also, there’s often a foul smell in the house.
It’s like there’s a piece of rotting meat moving around. And all the rooms are very cold.”
As the group walked along, they didn’t notice anything unusual.
In Jack Lee’s camera feed, Su Fan had been very calm, but then he suddenly stopped and looked outside towards the back of the house.
“Is something wrong?” Jack Lee asked nervously, looking in the direction of Su Fan’s gaze.
But he didn’t see anything.
“It’s nothing much,” Su Fan said, watching as a pale-faced little boy walked away.
“Let’s keep going.”
The few who had been slightly on edge relaxed and returned to their previous easy-going conversation.
Only Teresa came up close to ask what had happened.
“It’s the ghost of a little boy. But there’s no bloodthirsty or malevolent energy around him.”
“Bloodthirsty and malevolent energy?”
“That’s something only ghosts who have killed people possess. The more people they’ve killed, the stronger that energy is.” Su Fan explained simply.
“That boy is probably the missing boy you mentioned earlier. It seems he was killed here.”
Hearing this, Teresa was suddenly stunned.
Bathsheba had killed her own children, trying to use God’s gifts against God.
Even after death, she never stopped trying to raise her status with the devil through blasphemy and desecration.
Who could have killed that innocent boy?
Why did his mother commit suicide?
By simply connecting the dots, the answer became clear.
Bathsheba had used her evil power to manipulate the mother and son who lived here previously, reenacting the scene from back then!
With this thought, she suddenly noticed the marks on the neck of Carolyn, who was leading the way ahead.
Those blue-black scratch marks couldn’t possibly have been left by an ordinary person.
Bathsheba was trying to use her old tricks, possessing Carolyn to take the lives of this family!
Teresa was horrified. She kept watching Carolyn while signaling to Su Fan, who was beside her.
Too close, don’t make any rash moves. Watch her to see if she’s possessed by the evil spirit!
Do you understand what I mean?
Su Fan glanced at her and gave a slight nod.
Got it.
Seeing that he understood her intention, Teresa breathed a sigh of relief.
But she never expected Su Fan to quickly step forward and, with a clean, swift karate chop, knock Carolyn unconscious!
