“This cult’s object of worship is that powerful!”
Karl knew perfectly well the efficacy of the Evil-Warding Talisman.
Wearing it could resist a life-force-absorbing array for quite a while.
But now it had shattered directly!
He immediately pulled out another protective talisman.
Since witnessing the supernatural, he had become more cautious, using two months’ savings to buy another one from Su Fan.
Karl just never expected he’d need it this soon!
Suddenly, the patrol car jolted violently.
Karl in the passenger seat immediately looked up.
“What’s happening?!”
“A huge fog just rolled in out of nowhere. I couldn’t see the road clearly.”
The rookie officer driving was sweating.
Karl hurriedly turned to look.
White fog now surrounded their patrol car, its origin unknown.
After a careful look, a chill ran down Karl’s spine!
This fog didn’t just appear.
It was billowing in from behind them.
And its speed wasn’t any slower than their four-wheeled vehicle!
The fog was chasing them!
Horrified, Karl was about to tell the rookie driver to speed up when he noticed the man’s condition was seriously off.
The rookie officer’s pale face was flushed, his whole body tense. His gaze wasn’t on the road but rapidly darting back and forth between the side mirrors.
He looked like he was being chased by some terrifying monster. Karl could almost smell the fear radiating from him.
“Joe! Joe!!”
Karl immediately shook and slapped him, but it had no effect!
HOOOOOOOOONK!
An ear-splitting horn blast tore through the air.
Blinding headlights of a massive truck were right in front of them!
In the emergency, Karl didn’t hesitate. He lunged over and yanked the steering wheel hard!
The patrol car swerved violently toward the roadside. The two inside were thrown left by the powerful centrifugal force!
Fortunately, their original speed wasn’t too high, so they didn’t roll over!
After narrowly missing the truck, Karl still tried to rouse Joe.
But then he saw, to his shock, that this rookie officer named Joe’s eyes had lost their pupils!
“I can’t see anything! Only fog! I can only see fog!
There are so many black shadows around! They’re coming! They’re coming!!!!”
Extreme terror caused his body to convulse violently. He dry-heaved repeatedly, a pitiful sight.
Under Karl’s disbelieving gaze, Joe’s right hand, the one that had been holding the wheel, seemed to gain a mind of its own and suddenly clamped around his own throat!
Lack of oxygen quickly turned Joe’s face bluish-purple.
Drool flowed from the corner of his mouth—he was trying to strangle himself to death!
Karl immediately used his gun butt, striking Joe hard on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.
Then he unbuckled his seatbelt, maneuvered the car to the side of the road, got out, and dragged the unconscious Joe into the back seat.
To prevent him from harming himself again, Karl also handcuffed him.
Throughout the process, Karl kept his gun drawn, not daring to let go.
After finishing all this, he was about to get back in the driver’s seat when he suddenly felt something rapidly approaching from behind!
Turn, raise gun, squeeze the trigger several times in quick succession—the motions flowed seamlessly!
But behind him, besides the empty road, there was no living creature or animal…
The few gunshots were the only sounds in the area.
No, something was watching him!
Karl’s intuition screamed at him.
What the eyes see isn’t necessarily real. Those things cannot be understood by normal logic.
Must leave this place immediately!
His hair stood on end as he scanned the surroundings.
During this, Karl’s gaze swept over a nearby streetlamp post. It seemed to have a strange symbol painted on it.
No time to examine it closely.
He immediately got into the car and drove away quickly with the unconscious Joe.
Not long after he left, figures emerged from the fog-shrouded open area beside the road, watching the siren-wailing patrol car disappear into the distance…
——
“That’s exactly what happened.”
Upon returning to the station, Karl immediately met with the detective.
The detective, having received the message, had already prepared a place to talk.
He waited for Karl to calm down before asking.
“How is Joe now?”
“I’ve taken him to the nearby hospital. The doctors say he’s not in life-threatening danger.”
Hearing this, the detective also breathed a sigh of relief.
Karl paused, then stated his view.
“Unlike before, this time it’s not just supernatural forces; there are also a considerable number of humans involved.”
“We can be one hundred percent certain it’s a cult, an evil deity, and its followers causing trouble.”
“Mobilizing a large police force might defeat them, but the problem is there’s no evidence they’re engaging in illegal activities…”
The detective frowned, worried.
In a land of religious freedom, dispersing a religious gathering without sufficient evidence of crime would inevitably cause public discontent.
Complaints were one thing, but if they got penalized for it and couldn’t stop the cult’s real plot, that would be disastrous.
“Is Su still not back yet?”
“I went to the antique shop during the day. He wasn’t in.”
Hearing Karl’s reply, the detective began pacing anxiously in the office.
“That community… Jamie mentioned it to me before.”
“He and Su passed by there while strolling around. Su specifically warned him not to go there unless necessary…”
“The supernatural presence in that community now is probably more troublesome than we imagined.”
Hearing this, Karl immediately understood.
Su would definitely act to eliminate supernatural evils if he saw them, but that time he made an exception.
It proved that at the time, he didn’t have absolute confidence in winning.
An oppressive silence filled the not-too-spacious room.
“Look into nearby churches, see if there are any well-known pastors with a reputation. Ask them to come and try.”
Here, the detective paused.
“Your body cam recorded the whole thing, no issues, right?”
“I checked. It’s fine.”
“I can write a letter, use the footage from the body cam as evidence, and request the Church approve an exorcism, send people over.”
The detective looked out the window at the sky, dark as if without a single speck of light, then voiced his idea.
“We can’t always let Su risk his life fighting alone.”
“But I think it’s better to tell Su first.”
Karl hesitated before speaking.
“You know how it is, Detective. Su would rather have no help than have someone cause trouble.”
“…That is true. I wasn’t thinking it through.”
After hearing Karl’s words and thinking carefully for a moment, the detective realized he had been a bit rash.
“You first compile everything that happened into a text message and send it to Su.”
“We’ll wait for his reply on everything else.”
“Understood, Detective.”
——
On the way back to Hollywood, Dean and Sam began asking Su Fan what kind of demon he was planning to deal with this time.
Know your enemy, know yourself, and you’ll win every battle.
Su Fan didn’t avoid his past reaction. He frankly described all the details of his encounter at the crossroads.
“A crossroads? While legends do speak of crossroads demons, based on your description, it doesn’t quite match.”
The so-called crossroads demon is a being that can be summoned to grant wishes.
It fulfills the summoner’s every desire, then returns in ten years to claim their life and soul.
“So, you and that demon just had a brief encounter, no further contact?”
Seeing Su Fan nod, Sam’s gaze returned to the book in his hands.
“That makes it troublesome. We only have the one feature of ambiguous gender.”
“Demons matching that condition, there are dozens if not hundreds.”
The book he held was obtained from one of their father’s old friends.
That friend was a professional demon hunter, usually cleaning up lone demons that escaped from Hell.
Although he and their dad weren’t on good terms lately, he held no prejudice against Dean and Sam, the younger generation.
He lent it without hesitation, very straightforward.
“Even so, there probably aren’t that many powerful enough to make even Su wary at the time.”
Dean started munching on a burger again.
“Just check from highest rank down.”
“What ranking system should we use? Easy for you to say. So far, we’ve only encountered one demon.”
Just as the Winchester brothers were bickering, Su Fan received a text message.
It was from Karl.
It described in great detail the encounter he and his partner had.
This message should have been sent earlier, but before that, they were attacked by supernatural forces.
“The Detective is worried you’ll be in danger fighting that evil deity alone, so he contacted the Church.”
Reading this, Su Fan paused for a moment.
By convention, if you invite one party for exorcism, you shouldn’t invite another.
It’s essentially telling the invited exorcist, “I don’t trust your ability.”
Moreover, Su Fan didn’t want strangers, people he wasn’t familiar with, interfering with his actions.
He appreciated the Detective’s good intentions.
But as for reinforcements… better not.
With this thought, Su Fan immediately started typing on his phone.
[Don’t make unnecessary moves. I’m on my way back.]
After sending it successfully, Su Fan spoke up.
“Summoning different demons requires different symbols and arrays, right?”
“Only high-ranking demons are like that. For ordinary, weaker demons, a general-purpose array is usually enough.”
Sam, still arguing with Dean, took a moment to answer.
“Alright. Then let’s not rush to the antique shop first. Head in the direction I tell you.”
Karl’s text message was very long, long enough to need splitting.
But that also meant it contained many details.
Everything from the cultists posing as residents to the subsequent terrifying experience on the highway was faithfully recorded between the lines.
One part caught Su Fan’s attention.
On the highway where they were attacked by supernatural forces, Karl noticed some mysterious symbol on a streetlamp.
Combined with what the Winchester brothers said, based on this symbol, they could probably identify that demon’s true nature.
Su Fan’s mind conjured up the images of the little girl and the young boy he had seen before.
As his cultivation advanced, Su Fan’s memory grew increasingly powerful.
He could now perfectly recreate all the details of his initial encounter in his mind.
The girl’s appearance was an abnormal change caused by the demon’s prolonged possession of her body.
From this perspective, even if the demon was killed, her life couldn’t be saved.
The boy carrying her back seemed fine.
Judging by the situation at the time, the demon didn’t have much desire to kill. It was probably waiting for a special opportunity or for certain conditions to mature.
If things went smoothly, the boy and his parents’ lives could possibly be saved.
With this thought, Su Fan closed his eyes again to meditate and consolidate his spirit.
Slaying enemies, saving people—all these actions required strength as a foundation.
A fierce battle was inevitable. Su Fan had to adjust his condition to its peak to face the upcoming challenge.
