After parting ways with Su Fan, Peter headed home.
He had left in a daze, and he returned in a daze.
But his state of mind was completely different between the two times.
When he left, Peter thought he was the family’s sinner, the one who caused his sister’s death.
But in less than two hours, Peter was told that his sister was a demon, and her death had another cause entirely.
And he now had to take on the responsibility of protecting his family from the cultists and the demon.
Peter returned to his room and sat on the edge of his bed in a daze, his mind still replaying the conversation with the young exorcist.
【This is a curse passed down from your ancestors.】
After a moment, he got up on his own and walked towards the room where his grandmother had lived before she died.
He twisted the doorknob, ready to enter, when he suddenly remembered that not long ago, his mother Linda had asked for this room to be locked.
He should go get the key first.
But the click of the door lock breaking snapped Peter out of his thoughts, freezing him in place.
He slowly pushed the door open and found a triangle drawn on the floor inside by some unknown person.
Someone had snuck into his house unnoticed and carved this pattern!
Peter shuddered, his breathing slowing slightly.
He looked around the room, saw no one, and then went to the box containing his grandmother’s belongings.
After rummaging through it, he found a photo album and a book titled Notes on Séance.
Suddenly, an intense chill washed over him. He spun his head around.
In the shadows of the room, his grandmother Ellen, who should be dead, was actually there, grinning eerily at him!
Peter was so scared he nearly screamed. That feather-light feeling from before was back!
【When people are in extreme grief or suffer a shock, their willpower becomes very fragile.】
The young exorcist’s voice echoed in his ears again.
Peter hurriedly tried to calm himself, but before he could feel any better, the figure of his grandmother in the shadows started walking towards him step by step!
His reason shattered. Peter’s mouth tasted bitter; he felt dizzy and lightheaded, and his soul began to leave his body again.
Suddenly, a cooling sensation came from his chest. It felt as if a force was soothing his heart, which was trying to leap out of his chest.
At the same time, another force roused his consciousness, like a rope pulling him strongly and powerfully back down from mid-air!
His soul, on the verge of leaving, returned to his body. Shaken, Peter looked towards the dark corner.
It looked no different than usual. The appearance of Grandma Ellen just moments ago seemed like an illusion.
Peter didn’t dare stay. He immediately grabbed the two books and ran back to his room, gasping for air, instinctively pressing his hand against the talisman on his chest.
He knew clearly that he had just brushed against death.
If not for the mysterious yellow paper the young exorcist had given him, his soul would have been scared right out of his body just now!
Peter tried hard to calm down, then opened the Notes on Séance.
It detailed how to summon demons and spirits.
The items needed for the ritual, the timing, what the participants needed to do – it was all clearly written.
After just a few pages, Peter found a card his grandmother had written to his mother Linda.
And on the next page was a record of a certain demon god.
As Peter flipped through it, he suddenly felt his head spin, his thoughts seeming to slow down significantly.
Not only that, but fear and panic began to uncontrollably flood his heart!
That terrifying feeling almost made it impossible for him to keep thinking clearly!
This is…
Did this book have the power to erode a person’s mind and reason?!
Peter couldn’t believe it.
The yellow paper on his chest worked again, continuously helping him dispel the negative emotions and calm his mind.
【Talismans like the Clarity Talisman and Tranquility Talisman have their uses, but their power runs out. The stronger the evil intrusion they resist, the faster they deplete.】
Peter didn’t dare hesitate. He kept flipping through the book.
Then he rummaged through drawers and found a camera, photographing the crucial parts.
Once that was done, he quickly shut the book.
As time passed, the intense negative emotions in his heart gradually subsided.
Peter steadied his breathing, but then noticed a slightly unusual sound.
“Rustle, rustle…”
The sound of a pen scratching on paper echoed in the room.
He turned his head and saw a black sketchbook.
The sketchbook was right in the middle of the bed.
But Peter distinctly remembered there was nothing there when he left the room.
The sketchbook opened by itself. On the blank pages, drawings began to appear on their own.
It seemed some invisible presence was sketching on it.
Peter’s heart started racing uncontrollably again.
He inched closer, and finally saw the content of the drawings.
They were twisted, agonized human faces.
A long-haired woman, mouth wide open, face covered in blood, holding a cord, her neck seemingly strangled by it, struggling desperately.
On another page, a white-haired man was screaming, engulfed in flames.
Then there was a young man, crying in pain, his eyes marked with X’s.
Behind him, a figure with black hair was dismembered, scattered limbs pierced by branches.
A group of people was holding these severed limbs and arms, holding a grand ceremony around a bonfire, as if celebrating the death of certain beings, or perhaps celebrating the birth of others.
A wave of dread washed over Peter. Hugging the photo album, he kept backing away.
This drawing style was exactly like Charlie’s casual doodles when she was alive…
And he knew who the people depicted were.
Mom Linda, Dad Steve, Peter himself, and that young exorcist he’d just met!
It was always here, always watching my every move!
Peter stumbled out of his room, but somehow tripped over nothing and passed out.
When he woke up again, it was already dusk.
What woke him wasn’t anything else, but the sound of his parents arguing downstairs.
“I can’t believe it. At a time like this, you’d go to some support group!”
His usually mild-mannered father was losing his temper, a rare sight.
“You haven’t asked about the police matters, or anything about Charlie’s funeral! You’re making me face all of this alone! Do you think only you are in pain?!”
“No, no, Steve, listen to me. At the support group, I learned necromancy.”
Facing her husband’s anger, the mother’s voice no longer held its previous irritability. Instead, it carried an eerily gentle tone and a hint of strange excitement.
“We can use this séance ritual to talk to Charlie again!”
“…You’re crazy, Linda.”
“I’m not crazy. I saw it with my own eyes. That master made chalk write on the blackboard by itself. That’s the dead trying to talk to us, Steve!”
Linda had lost her usual neurotic edge. She was patient, as if she had become a different person.
“Come and try it with me. Come on.”
“Alright…”
“No, don’t do it!”
Peter struggled to get up, his bloodless lips moving, trying to shout a warning.
“That’s not Charlie, Mom. That’s not Charlie…”
He wanted to speak, but his spirit was too damaged. Fighting off the evil had consumed too much of his strength, leaving him unable even to produce a proper sound.
In that brief moment, Peter staggered, using the wall for support, and made it to the top of the stairs.
But the séance ritual seemed to be over.
He saw his mother.
On that familiar face he saw every day was a strange expression.
She opened her mouth, but what came out was a familiar rolled ‘r’ sound…
It was Charlie’s rolled ‘r’.
“Peter?”
Linda’s eyes held a vacant look Peter knew all too well, and her mouth produced a voice as childish as an eleven or twelve-year-old girl’s.
“No!!”
Peter, finding strength he didn’t know he had, let out a hoarse scream!
He tumbled down the stairs, not caring about the bumps and bruises.
Then, forcing himself upright, he flipped over the table holding the candles and other items!
At that moment, Linda’s expression suddenly returned to normal.
The thing that had been attached to her was suddenly stripped away, leaving her feeling completely bewildered..
She turned her head and saw Steve, terrified and speechless, and Peter, gasping for air.
Peter, emotionally charged, stepped forward and grabbed Linda by the shoulders.
“Mom! That’s not Charlie! That’s NOT Charlie!! It’s a demon! It’s Paimon!”
In his agitation, Peter was incoherent, his chest heaving like a bellows.
The huge conspiracy, the terrifying evil – he couldn’t explain it all to his mother in detail. He could only take out the talisman he had and try to stick it on his mother, Linda.
But Linda suddenly let out a piercing scream, snatched the talisman from Peter’s hand, and tore it to shreds!
“Why are you stopping me from seeing Charlie?! Why?!”
Linda screamed, grabbing Peter by the throat!
The veins on her arms bulged, her jaw clenched as if trying to grind her teeth to dust. Her bloodshot eyes were wide open, terrifying beyond belief.
Crazy! This whole family is going crazy!!
Her strength was frightening. Peter couldn’t even struggle; he was pinned to the floor!
Nearby, Steve finally snapped out of it.
He rushed forward, grabbing Linda’s arm, trying to stop her. He was casually flung aside, smashed into the dining table, and couldn’t move!
Blood trickled from his mouth. His vacant eyes caught sight of figures approaching the house.
Steve recognized these people.
They were the residents who had moved in recently.
But now, each one wore an eerie smile, some even clapping.
As if applauding the scene of a mother killing her son.
On the other side, Peter, severely deprived of oxygen, rolled his eyes back and began to foam at the mouth.
“No… Mom…”
He struggled to force out two syllables from his strangled throat…
One moment he saw his mother’s contorted face and reddened eyes, the next he saw a completely unfamiliar man grinning evilly at him.
So that’s it…
In his daze, he seemed to see the young exorcist again.
He recalled their final conversation echoing in his ears.
【Don’t worry, with these, I can definitely protect them. I won’t let the demon succeed.】
【That’s not necessarily true.】
【Why?!】
【Your obstacle was never just the demon, but the people it deceives.
Including your mother and father. Can you handle that?】
