Following Su Fan’s directions, Dean drove to a section of highway.
Although it wasn’t exactly a busy thoroughfare, there was a fair amount of traffic coming and going.
Dean, protective of his beloved car, parked it some distance away from the road.
“Looks like something did happen here not too long ago,” Sam noted, spotting fresh tire marks on the ground.
“With so many lamp posts, are we supposed to check every single one?” Dean looked around.
“No need,” Su Fan replied, simultaneously activating his Tong You ability.
His spiritual sense spread out from him like a tide, sweeping over everything in the vicinity, bringing all movements into his perception.
He soon became aware of every motion around him.
Quickly, a particular lamp post emanating a sinister aura caught Su Fan’s attention.
“Over here.”
The Winchester brothers followed Su Fan to the target spot.
Sure enough, they found a strange symbol on it.
“What does this symbol represent?”
“Not entirely sure,” Sam frowned.
Dean, on the side, took out a camera and snapped a photo of the symbol.
“If we’re not sure now, we’ll go back and look it up in the records,” he said.
Su Fan gazed towards the direction of the distant community, then took out the key to the antique shop.
“You two go to the antique shop to look up relevant information and set up a warding spell to prevent demons from entering.”
“You’re not coming back with us?” Sam was taken aback.
“No, I have other things to attend to,” Su Fan shook his head.
Seeing his decision, the brothers didn’t press further.
“Be careful on your own,” Dean reminded him before getting in the car with his brother and driving off towards the antique shop.
After they left, Su Fan turned and began walking along the highway.
The white mist could disturb people’s minds,
even manipulate their bodies.
With this ability, taking over houses in the community would be effortless.
Karl’s feeling had been right.
If they had insisted on investigating identities then, they would have inevitably faced an attack from the residents.
In a country with free gun ownership, not everyone carries a gun on the street, but they definitely keep firearms at home for self-defense.
As Su Fan walked, a sudden sense of danger arose within him.
A premonition.
This place was less than a kilometer from the community.
Had the other side already detected his approach?
Or was it warning him that proceeding further would bring peril?
Su Fan stopped.
Looking around, the land was flat and open, with no cover.
He activated Tong You again and saw that the sky above the community seemed to be shrouded in a layer of black gas.
The gas churned and surged, with human faces constantly appearing and disappearing within it.
Without exception, they emitted waves of weeping and wailing.
This hellish sight made Su Fan frown involuntarily.
No wonder the premonition had given a warning.
Taking one more step forward would bring him into the coverage of that gas.
At that point, the demon would surely detect his movement.
As spiritual energy filled his eyes, the scene Su Fan could see grew clearer.
A pale blue light drifted within the black gas, seemingly searching for something.
A girl, gender ambiguous, decapitated, blood gushing wildly…
A frenzied woman, crawling swiftly through the darkness like a spider…
A bespectacled man, burning in flames, turning into a charred corpse…
Finally, the white light settled on a young man. His expression was wooden as he received the worship of numerous figures…
Behind him, a wooden puppet with a rotting human head for its own head, wearing a crown, made a gesture akin to Jesus…
Evil, madness, abnormal scenes flooded Su Fan’s mind, wave after wave, growing more frequent, more intense, battering his psyche.
A pair of crimson, vertical-pupiled eyes opened in the darkness, enormous, gazing down from above!
A bone-chilling, low roar echoed all around.
In the endless blackness, Su Fan’s figure seemed on the verge of being swallowed.
When faced with something vast and grand, the human heart involuntarily feels sorrow and defeat at its own insignificance.
Astronauts leaving Earth, gazing into the profound universe, always feel a tremor.
The realization of the vastness of heaven and earth, the infinity of the cosmos—that is precisely it.
The low roars gradually began to take on a rhythm, even carrying a hint of temptation.
As if persuading Su Fan to submit to the dark entity’s majesty, to kneel and pledge allegiance to It!
Yet, Su Fan lifted his head.
A pair of calm black eyes met the crimson vertical pupils head-on!
[When the abyss gazes at you, you can choose to flee, or you can choose to gaze back into the abyss!]
[You made eye contact with an evil entity in the darkness. Being strong-willed, you experienced discomfort but came to no harm!]
[You have developed slight resistance to evil entities that disturb the human mind!]
As the prompt sounded in his mind,
instantly, the originally gloomy sky returned to its previous state of bright sunshine and cloudless expanse.
Su Fan withdrew his Tong You ability but did not enter the area.
The community had already been turned into that demon’s stronghold.
Barging in recklessly would only lead to disadvantage.
Before that, he needed to go to another place.
——
Inside the Los Angeles Police Department, the Detective was organizing materials in his office.
Not long after, an officer came in.
“Detective, the files you wanted.”
“Thanks, just put them on the desk.”
The Detective looked up at the other man, smiling and nodding.
But inadvertently, he caught sight of the pendant around the officer’s neck.
It wasn’t a cross, but a different kind of symbol.
Watching the officer leave, a flicker of worry passed through the Detective’s eyes.
Bizarre cases in the city were gradually increasing. Many death incidents were simply impossible to investigate.
The officers who had witnessed the voodoo magic at the welfare home all understood what was going on.
But not everyone was willing to spend five thousand dollars to buy a protective talisman from Su Fan.
Yet, for their work, they had no choice but to go to the scenes and handle the cases.
Over time, most of the officers in the LAPD had actually started turning to religion.
Some believed in Catholicism, some in Judaism, some in Puritanism…
No one could remain unmoved after witnessing supernatural entities.
Seeking spiritual solace amid fear and unease was normal. But as time passed, other miscellaneous cults also came into the Detective’s view.
He had repeatedly advised the officers who had joined these small, fringe cults not to participate in strange gatherings or rituals.
Believing in the right religion could indeed have some effect, but if one followed certain evil cults, it wouldn’t protect them; instead, it could lead to utterly tragic, irredeemable consequences.
However, the Detective’s advice hadn’t had any effect. On the contrary, it had drawn hostility and resentment from those officers.
They even sniped at him, suggesting he was just benefiting from Su Fan’s favor and talking without understanding their position.
Over time, the Detective stopped saying much more.
“What is happening to this world…”
The Detective couldn’t help but sigh.
