But soon, Su Fan erased this thought from his mind.
You can’t be too narcissistic.
If the evil spirit grew stronger, it probably meant all of them did. A change over such a wide area could only be caused by environmental factors.
Changing the environment all by yourself isn’t something just anyone can do.
He wasn’t that arrogant.
Just as Su Fan was thinking, a beast-like roar suddenly came from upstairs!
Then came the sound of hurried footsteps, followed by a girl’s tearful cry.
“Help! Somebody help!!”
The three people in the basement immediately realized something was wrong.
In that same instant, the lightbulb, which had been working fine, suddenly exploded!
As the basement door slammed shut and the only source of light vanished, the area below was plunged into complete darkness. —
Inside the living room on the first floor, the many girls were huddled together, comforting Andrea, who had been attacked by the evil spirit earlier.
Although Andrea wasn’t seriously hurt, the psychological shadow lingered, and her tears hadn’t stopped since earlier.
Her eldest sister, Christine, held her and gently patted her back, but her eyes kept darting around nervously.
Their father, Roger, had said he was going to check on their mother and the exorcist, but he still hadn’t come back.
The strongest person in the house wasn’t there, so she felt she had no choice but to put on a brave face.
After all, as the oldest sister, she was the pillar for her younger siblings and couldn’t show weakness.
But as time passed, Christine grew more and more panicked.
Even though it was noon and the light was bright,
she felt as if she could sense a pair of evil eyes hiding somewhere, watching her and her sisters.
“Nancy…”
Christine called out to the curly-haired, doll-faced girl who was getting water nearby.
“Go see what Dad is doing. Why hasn’t he come back yet?”
“Okay.”
Nancy handed the cup of water to Cindy, the fourth sister, and then headed toward the stairs.
Earlier, she had seen her mother lead three people upstairs, and her father had gone that way too, so he must still be up there.
The corner of the staircase was one of the few places in the house where the light didn’t reach.
Standing at the bottom, Nancy’s big, acorn-like, round eyes showed a hint of fear.
Thinking that her father was upstairs while all her sisters were downstairs helped calm her nerves a little.
Holding her breath, she ran up the stairs from the first step without stopping, all the way to the second floor.
Nothing happened.
After successfully climbing the stairs, Nancy was out of breath, but the fear that had been clinging to her faded a bit.
There were four rooms upstairs, and Nancy soon found her father in Andrea and Cindy’s room, keeping watch by the bed.
“Dad.”
Hearing his daughter’s voice, Roger turned around.
“Nancy? Why did you come up? Did something else happen to Andrea?”
“Nothing happened, but because you weren’t there, Dad, everyone was scared… Christine was scared too.”
Nancy wasn’t stupid; she could tell her eldest sister was just pretending to be strong.
“Dad, can you come downstairs and stay with us for a while?”
Hearing his daughter’s request, a troubled look appeared on Roger’s face.
Caroline had fainted for unknown reasons and needed someone to watch her.
According to what the young man had said earlier, it was likely she had been injured by the evil spirit.
While watching over her, the numerous bruises, big and small, all over his wife’s body only confirmed that suspicion.
But he couldn’t just ignore his daughters either.
After a moment’s thought, Roger almost instantly made a decision.
“Nancy, you go downstairs and tell Christine to bring Andrea and the others up here. Daddy can’t go down right now.”
“Why?”
A puzzled look appeared on Nancy’s small face.
“Daddy has to stay here and watch over Mommy. She fainted for some reason earlier. It’s probably because of that thing’s influence…”
After hearing her father Roger’s explanation, the confusion on Nancy’s face didn’t go away; it deepened.
“But, Mommy isn’t here.”
As soon as she said this, Roger was horrified and immediately turned his head.
He found that his wife, who had been lying unconscious on the bed just moments ago, had vanished from his side without a trace!
When?!
Roger instinctively took out the talisman Su Fan had given him earlier.
An exorcist really is an exorcist. Had he anticipated this situation?
Nervous, Roger was so busy looking around that he forgot to explain what was happening to Nancy.
Startled by her father’s tense expression, Nancy instinctively stepped into the room to get closer to him.
“Don’t come in!”
As Roger warned her, he suddenly saw his missing wife, hair disheveled, clinging like a spider to the corner of the wall above the door!
Her dull eyes erupted with terrifying murderous intent.
Nancy, who had stepped into the room, instinctively looked up to the left and saw her mother’s extremely distorted face!
Black, filthy blood dripped from Caroline’s mouth, staining her entire oral cavity black. Between her disheveled strands of hair, her eyes glowed with a sickly green light.
She let out a piercing, beast-like roar and lunged fiercely at Nancy!
Roger reacted quickly. He lunged forward, tackling Nancy to the ground and dodging Caroline’s attack!
But before he could get up, he saw his wife, now on the floor, heading for his daughter again!
Her limbs were twisted and bent at unnatural angles, like a bizarre humanoid spider, scuttling on all fours at an incredible speed!
Roger didn’t have time to stand. He lunged at her again, pinning her down!
Caroline, usually just an ordinary woman, suddenly erupted with astonishing strength. As she struggled and thrashed, she actually managed to throw Roger off, sending him crashing to the floor!
This terrifying scene unfolded right before her eyes. Nancy’s legs turned to jelly, and she collapsed, sitting on the floor.
The monster’s face looked exactly like her mother’s, but it was so strange and horrifying.
It rushed quickly toward Nancy, but at the critical moment, just as it was about to reach her, Roger caught up from behind and tackled it again!
“Go to the basement and call them! Hurry!!”
Roger yelled at the top of his lungs, his face turning red from the effort.
This shout finally snapped Nancy out of it.
She scrambled to her feet and ran outside, her tearful cries for help echoing throughout the entire house.
Roger, meanwhile, struggled desperately to stick the evil-repelling talisman he was holding onto his wife Caroline’s forehead.
In this life-or-death crisis, the strength Roger unleashed as a grown man was unimaginable.
Even with the evil spirit empowering her, Caroline gradually began to lose ground.
As the yellow talisman, glowing faintly with spiritual light, was pressed against her forehead, her struggles slowly lessened.
It’s working!
Roger’s heart was a mix of surprise and joy.
Earlier, seeing how young Su Fan was, and that he wasn’t one of the famous Ed and Lorraine Warren types,
Roger couldn’t help but have his doubts. But now, it was clear the young man was a truly skilled exorcist!
Something he casually gave out could suppress his possessed wife.
After all, Roger himself had tried with all his might and couldn’t do it.
That piece of yellow paper was simply incredible!
But then, a crack appeared on it!
Oh no!
The breath Roger had just started to release caught in his throat again.
He immediately turned to go call Su Fan and the others.
But as he turned his head, he saw a woman in a white dress standing right behind him!
They were so close their noses almost touched.
In that instant, Roger could feel the terrifying, evil aura radiating from her!
A chilling cold invaded Roger’s body instantly, seeping deep into his bones!
Her face was pale, her cheekbones prominent, with thin, dark veins writhing across her skin. Her eyes glowed like lanterns in the gloom, making her look incredibly horrifying!
The woman did nothing. She just stared at him silently.
Right then, Roger’s face, previously red from exertion, suddenly took on a dark, deathly pallor.
He fell straight backward, landing on the floor, his entire body convulsing.
He could feel his life force rapidly fading away. Panic filled his heart, but he was powerless to stop it.
In his tilting field of vision, the woman in white didn’t come closer. Instead, she turned and walked toward Caroline, who was still sealed by the yellow talisman.
The terrifying woman opened her mouth and vomited a massive amount of black filth, which flooded over the talisman Roger had just applied.
The faint spiritual light that had appeared vanished completely. At the same time, Caroline, who had closed her eyes, snapped them wide open. Her body sprang onto the ceiling in an eerie, jerky motion, then dropped back to the floor.
She slowly crawled toward Roger and opened her mouth.
The corners of her mouth tore, and Caroline’s maw gaped wide enough to bite off Roger’s entire head.
Roger’s eyes, slowly losing their light, reflected the image of that bloody maw creeping closer and closer…
——
Nancy basically tumbled down the stairs, completely ignoring the pain in her body.
She used every ounce of her strength to run as fast as she could to the basement door.
Just as she arrived, she saw the basement door slam shut with a bang for no apparent reason.
“Open up! Open up, please!!!”
Nancy charged forward, slamming her small shoulder against the basement door below, but it didn’t budge.
The sounds of fighting and tumbling coming from upstairs only made Nancy more frantic.
Her other sisters looked over, confused by Nancy’s frantic state, not understanding what was wrong.
Just then, a calm voice came from inside the room.
“Step back three meters.”
Nancy, whose mind was a frantic mess, felt as if a stream of clear, cool water had poured into her heart.
The voice had an unbelievable, calming power that brought back her senses.
Nancy instinctively did as she was told.
No sooner had she stepped back the required distance than she saw a figure crash through the basement door in mid-air!
Amidst a shower of splintered wood, the dark-haired young man leaped high, soaring over her head. He then kicked off the wall and, using that brief momentum, jumped directly up to the second floor!
